Global Pulse

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  • Israeli soldier visiting India accused of war crimes in Gaza’s Khan Younis

    Israeli soldier visiting India accused of war crimes in Gaza’s Khan Younis

    A Palestinian-backed humanitarian organisation, the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), has launched a second legal action in India, filing a formal war crimes complaint against an unnamed Israeli soldier accused of intentionally destroying civilian infrastructure in the besieged Gaza Strip. The complaint was submitted to Indian judicial authorities this Tuesday, marking the group’s second high-profile accountability push against an Israeli soldier traveling through the South Asian nation.

    HRF’s first complaint came in June 2024, targeting Eitan Gilboa, a soldier with Israel’s 271st Combat Engineering Battalion. Gilboa had publicly shared graphic content to his social media channels, including photos of his unit “turning entire neighbourhoods in Gaza into ash and dust” and personal video of himself celebrating the mass demolitions. After the complaint was filed, Indian national authorities took no investigative or legal action against Gilboa, who departed the country without facing any consequences for his alleged actions.

    The new, second case centers on an Israeli soldier whose identity has not been released to the public. According to HRF’s court filing, the soldier directly participated in the systematic, unlawful destruction of civilian residential and community property in Abasan al-Saghira, a town located in Gaza’s southern Khan Younis Governorate, between March and April 2024. The organisation argues that the soldier’s conduct meets the international legal definitions of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide.

    The legal team representing HRF in India emphasized that New Delhi is bound by the Geneva Conventions and broader international law to investigate credible allegations of grave humanitarian crimes. Speaking to Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity, the lead lawyer on the case stated: “India cannot become a ‘second home’ where Israeli soldiers accused of grave international crimes travel with impunity, and come to cleanse themselves of accountability after participating in the destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza. The obligation is clear: where there are credible allegations of grave breaches of international humanitarian law, India must act.”

    Since the outbreak of hostilities following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has reached unprecedented scale. Palestinian authorities estimate that approximately 250,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured in Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the enclave. Independent damage assessments confirm that roughly 82 percent of all residential and public structures across Gaza have been destroyed or damaged, while 90 percent of the territory’s critical energy infrastructure has been demolished.

    To build its latest case, HRF compiled evidence using a range of open-source intelligence tools, including high-resolution satellite imagery, social media footage posted by Israeli forces, and on-the-ground witness reports. The organisation’s analysis confirms that the targeted buildings in Abasan al-Saghira were deliberately demolished in planned operations, not destroyed as collateral damage during active combat. HRF notes that this pattern of systematic destruction matches independent findings published by Amnesty International regarding the intentional clearing of a “buffer zone” along Gaza’s eastern perimeter, and is consistent with the continuing expansion of Israel’s so-called “Yellow Line” security boundary deeper into Palestinian territory.

    Every year, tens of thousands of Israeli veterans travel to India after completing their mandatory military service. Many follow the popular post-service travel route known locally as the “hummus trail”, which crosses multiple popular tourist destinations across India’s states and union territories. HRF director general Dyab Abou Jahjah emphasized in a formal statement that the organisation’s core mission is to pursue accountability for alleged crimes in Gaza, saying “HRF exists to ensure that no one who participates in genocide escapes justice.”

    Diplomatic context frames the legal action, as the Israeli government, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior diplomatic officials, has repeatedly publicly praised India’s diplomatic support for Israel over the past two and a half years. To date, India has declined to back South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, has refused to join international calls for a mandatory arms embargo on Israel, and Indian private firms have continued to supply critical military components to Israeli defense industries.

  • US to send hospital ship to Peru as El Nino threat looms

    US to send hospital ship to Peru as El Nino threat looms

    In a bilateral announcement made Wednesday following high-level talks in Miami, United States Ambassador to Peru Bernie Navarro confirmed that the U.S. will deploy the hospital ship USNS Comfort to Peru’s northern Pacific coast in February 2027 to assist the South American nation in managing the widespread public health and infrastructure impacts of the ongoing El Niño climate phenomenon. The deployment forms part of a broader new cooperation roadmap between the two countries, finalized during meetings between Navarro and Peruvian Foreign Minister Carlos Espá. The agreement comes as the U.S. ramps up both humanitarian assistance and joint security engagement across Latin America, in the wake of recent devastating earthquakes in Colombia and Venezuela that have tested regional response capacity.

    During the Miami discussions, the two sides outlined a multi-pronged support package beyond the hospital ship deployment, including specialized technical expertise, new equipment donations, and joint surveillance overflights designed to help Peruvian authorities prevent, prepare for, and respond to extreme weather events tied to El Niño. The exact monetary value of the U.S. aid commitment was not released to the public following the talks. Espá also used the visit to meet with U.S. business leaders who have expressed interest in new investment opportunities in Peru’s mining and infrastructure sectors, opening a new economic channel of bilateral engagement alongside climate and security cooperation.

    Speaking in Spanish, Ambassador Navarro explained that the core goal of the bilateral meeting was to map out Peru’s specific needs ahead of the projected 2027 El Niño peak, and build a framework for faster, more coordinated emergency response. He noted that recent humanitarian response efforts following the Colombia earthquake highlighted gaps in cross-border coordination that this new partnership aims to address. The USNS Comfort is no stranger to Peru, having previously deployed to the country for humanitarian medical missions in both 2018 and 2019.

    Meteorologists have warned that the 2027 El Niño event could match or exceed the intensity of the record-breaking 1997 El Niño, one of the most destructive climate events in modern history. The 1997 event triggered widespread catastrophic damage across the Pacific basin, including deadly heatwaves, extreme rainfall, catastrophic flooding, and large-scale wildfires that displaced hundreds of thousands and caused billions of dollars in damage. For Peru, which sits on the eastern Pacific where El Niño forms, the phenomenon brings particularly severe public health and infrastructure risks, from contaminated floodwaters to disrupted access to care for vulnerable coastal communities.

    Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori, who took office on July 28, has identified preparation for the potentially catastrophic El Niño event as one of her administration’s top policy priorities, framing proactive investment in disaster response as critical to protecting lives and livelihoods across the country.

  • Australia ‘outraged’ after Israeli decision not to prosecute over killing of aid worker in Gaza

    Australia ‘outraged’ after Israeli decision not to prosecute over killing of aid worker in Gaza

    In a decision that has sparked sharp diplomatic anger between Canberra and Jerusalem, Israel has opted not to prosecute any military personnel over the April 2024 airstrike that killed Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom and six of her colleagues working with the global food security non-profit World Central Kitchen in Gaza.

    Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong released a formal statement Thursday condemning the outcome, which she confirmed Australian officials received notification of overnight Wednesday. Wong called the Israeli government’s choice “outrageous”, noting that it carries an extra layer of offense for being announced on World Humanitarian Day, an annual observance honoring the work of humanitarian aid workers across the globe.

    Notably, the decision to forgo prosecution comes even after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) itself acknowledged that the April strike on Frankcom and her colleagues’ convoy was caused by severe procedural breakdowns, incorrect target identification, and flawed command decision-making. Wong emphasized that the Israeli government’s refusal to hold any personnel accountable “falls far short of the accountability we expect” from a close diplomatic partner.

    To underscore Australia’s formal objection, Wong announced that she would summon Israeli Ambassador to Australia Hillel Newman for a formal meeting to convey Canberra’s position. She has also directed the Australian Ambassador to Israel to deliver the government’s stance directly to Israeli leadership, as the Australian government weighs what additional diplomatic steps it will take moving forward. Wong reaffirmed that Australia will not relent in its pressure on Israel to secure full accountability and justice for Frankcom, her six slain colleagues, and their grieving families.

  • Weather, war, inflation hit results at Super Retail Group

    Weather, war, inflation hit results at Super Retail Group

    Australia’s largest diversified retail group, Super Retail Group — which owns popular consumer brands including auto parts chain Supercheap Auto, sports apparel retailer Rebel, outdoor and boating supplier BCF, and outdoor gear brand Macpac — has announced a steep 7.2% decline in full-year after-tax profits, driven by a combination of poor weather, soaring fuel costs, geopolitical instability, and persistent household financial pressure, according to the company’s latest financial results released to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on Thursday.

    In its annual report, the firm specifically cited unseasonably poor weather across key southern Australian markets of Victoria and South Australia as a major drag on performance at BCF, its boating, camping and fishing division. Bad conditions cut into recreational marine and fishing activity, a core revenue driver for the brand. Compounding that impact, sky-high fuel prices significantly dampened consumer participation in outdoor leisure trips and road travel during the critical Easter trading window, one of the highest-sales periods of the year for outdoor and automotive retail. The combination of these factors kept many Australian consumers away from coastal waterways and long-distance road trips, directly cutting into demand for the group’s outdoor and recreational product lines.

    Geopolitical tension stemming from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has also added layers of economic uncertainty to the group’s operating environment, alongside broader macroeconomic headwinds including persistent inflation and rising interest rates that have squeezed household discretionary spending across Australia. Even with these challenges, the full-year results showed uneven performance across the group’s brand portfolio: CEO Paul Bradshaw described results at sports retailer Rebel as “pleasing”, and noted that Supercheap Auto recorded resilient trading activity. Sales at Supercheap Auto rose 3.9% year-over-year to hit $1.6 billion for the full financial year, with growth driven largely by higher average transaction volumes.

    Overall, the group grew total full-year sales by 3.2% to reach a record $4.2 billion, even as net profits fell. Total operating costs for the period climbed 5.6%, as the company absorbed higher input and logistics expenses. While gross margins expanded at Rebel and BCF, those gains were entirely offset by modest margin declines at Supercheap Auto and Macpac, pulling down overall profitability.

    Bradshaw acknowledged the persistent challenges facing the broader Australian retail sector in the coming year, but struck an optimistic tone about the group’s positioning. “Super Retail Group delivered a solid FY26 result, achieving record sales in the face of significant headwinds that included geopolitical instability in the Middle East, unfavourable weather and increasing interest rate pressure on households,” Bradshaw told the ASX. “While challenges in the broader retail landscape remain, I’m confident we have the team and strategy in place to meet evolving customer needs and deliver future growth.”

    Looking ahead, the company says ongoing geopolitical uncertainty from the Middle East conflict continues to cloud its near-term outlook, as executives monitor shifts in consumer spending and fuel prices to adjust strategies for the new financial year.

  • Israel’s Ben Gvir boasts of planned execution facility for Palestinian prisoners

    Israel’s Ben Gvir boasts of planned execution facility for Palestinian prisoners

    On Tuesday, a provocative announcement from Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir sent shockwaves across the international community, as he publicly confirmed the ongoing construction of a dedicated facility to carry out executions of Palestinian prisoners. In an Instagram video shared to his 150,000 followers, Ben Gvir stood at the active construction site and laid out the extreme details of the planned complex, including separate viewing galleries that would allow what he described as “crime victims” to observe the hangings of Palestinian detainees. “In this place, the terrorists will be executed,” Ben Gvir stated in the footage, adding that the project fulfills a core campaign promise he made to his political base. The minister also took the opportunity to mock critics of the policy, noting that those who once “ridiculed” and “giggled” at his proposal can now witness the project taking physical shape. This new execution facility moves forward after Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, passed a controversial death penalty bill earlier this year sponsored by Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party. The legislation grants the Israel Prison Service (IPS) sole authority over carrying out executions, which are set to be conducted by hanging within 90 days of a conviction, with three trained IPS volunteers already reportedly lined up to perform the sentences. Critics have quickly highlighted the explicitly discriminatory nature of the law, noting it is structured to apply exclusively to Palestinian detainees, not Israeli Jewish citizens convicted of identical offenses. Israeli media reports have confirmed that IPS began prepping execution sites and training personnel even before the Knesset gave final approval to the bill in March. Ben Gvir has doubled down on his inflammatory rhetoric in recent weeks: just last week, he promised a former Israeli soldier held hostage by Hamas in Gaza that he would clear the way for the ex-soldier to personally participate in executions, after the former captive stated he wanted to kill Palestinian detainees “with his own hands.” Ben Gvir went even further during the same public appearance, declaring that all Palestinian detainees held by Israel “don’t deserve to live” and openly calling for the mass killing and forced expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Ben Gvir’s latest announcement has already drawn sharp international condemnation. German Vice Chancellor and co-leader of the Social Democratic Party Lars Klingbeil has publicly called on the European Union to impose sanctions on the minister, noting that “These are statements that we, as the German government, cannot accept in any way,” and labeling Ben Gvir’s language as explicitly “dehumanizing.” Leading human rights organizations have long documented that Israel already carries out systematic extrajudicial killings of Palestinians with near-universal impunity. Ahead of the Knesset’s vote on the death penalty law in March, Yuli Novak, executive director of prominent Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, emphasized that “Israel already kills Palestinians systematically and faces no demands for accountability.” B’Tselem has further documented that under Ben Gvir’s leadership, IPS detention facilities operating in Israel and occupied territories have devolved into “a network of torture camps where inmates are subjected to continuous abuse and violence.” The organization added that the formal death penalty law “adds another official killing mechanism to the existing practices.” As of June 2024, official Palestinian data records that at least 104 Palestinian prisoners have died while in Israeli custody since the start of 2023, a death toll human rights groups attribute to systemic abuse, medical neglect, and extrajudicial killing by Israeli authorities.

  • What is postpartum psychosis and why is it central in the Lindsay Clancy trial?

    What is postpartum psychosis and why is it central in the Lindsay Clancy trial?

    A high-profile criminal trial unfolding in Massachusetts has thrust a little-understood severe maternal mental health condition into the national spotlight, as the defense for accused killer Lindsay Clancy builds its entire case around the devastating impacts of postpartum psychosis. In 2023, Clancy faces allegations that she took the lives of her three young children in a shocking act of violence that rocked the local community and drew national attention to gaps in maternal mental health care. What might have otherwise remained a straightforward homicide case has instead become a critical public conversation about postpartum psychiatric conditions, after Clancy’s legal team announced they would attribute the alleged acts to acute, untreated postpartum mental illness.

    Postpartum psychosis is a rare, extreme psychiatric emergency that typically emerges within the first weeks after childbirth, characterized by rapid onset of symptoms including delusions, hallucinations, extreme confusion, mania, and disrupted cognitive function. Unlike the more common and widely discussed “baby blues” or postpartum depression, which affect a far larger share of new mothers, postpartum psychosis is considered a life-threatening condition for both the parent and child, requiring immediate urgent psychiatric intervention. It impacts roughly 1 to 2 out of every 1,000 births globally, though many medical experts believe the condition is underdiagnosed and underreported due to limited screening protocols and stigma surrounding maternal mental illness.

    For Clancy’s defense, the condition is not just a background detail—it is the core of their argument to the jury. Legal representatives for the defendant contend that Clancy was experiencing a severe, unrecognized episode of postpartum psychosis at the time of the alleged killings, leaving her unable to form the criminal intent required for a first-degree murder conviction. The trial is expected to feature competing testimony from mental health experts, who will debate the link between Clancy’s reported symptoms and the violent acts, as well as the question of whether healthcare providers missed critical warning signs before the tragedy occurred. Beyond the courtroom, the case has reignited long-running debates about the need for more widespread screening for postpartum psychiatric conditions, better access to maternal mental health care, and greater public education about the risks and symptoms of severe postpartum illness, which many advocates say is still widely misunderstood by both the general public and many medical providers.

  • Crown Sydney and The Star fined millions for letting teenager gamble

    Crown Sydney and The Star fined millions for letting teenager gamble

    Two of Sydney’s highest-profile casino operators are facing combined fines of AU$2.25 million after a regulatory investigation uncovered a stunning failure in age verification: a 16-year-old boy used a fake driver’s license to enter and gamble at both venues multiple times over four months, even gaining elite customer status at one location.

    Between April and August 2025, the underaged teen accessed Crown Sydney 19 separate occasions, and in many visits was even accompanied by his own mother. During these entries, he was served free complimentary alcohol, allowed to place wagers, and ultimately worked his way up to silver-tier membership in the casino’s customer loyalty program. He also successfully entered The Star Sydney three times without any staff identifying his false identification.

    The breaches were uncovered following a joint probe by Liquor and Gaming NSW, which referred the case to the state’s independent Casino Commission (NICC) for disciplinary action. The regulator imposed a AU$1.75 million fine on Crown Sydney, where the vast majority of the teen’s activity occurred, while The Star Sydney received a AU$500,000 penalty for its own security lapses.

    Philip Crawford, Chief Commissioner of the NICC, noted that both casinos have already moved to overhaul their security protocols following the scandal, rolling out additional staff training and updating identity verification systems to catch fake documentation more effectively. Crawford acknowledged that both venues had accepted full responsibility for their systemic failures, but emphasized that the severity of the infractions could not be understated.

    “This does not diminish the seriousness of allowing a 16-year-old to enter casino gaming areas and gamble away a significant amount of money,” Crawford said. “In the case of Crown Sydney, this also included the illegal service and consumption of complimentary alcohol.”

    Separately, Liquor and Gaming NSW issued a five-year ban on the teen entering any casino in the state, with the ban set to go into effect once the minor turns 18. Dimitri Argeres, executive director of Liquor and Gaming NSW, called the breakdown in age verification safeguards unacceptable, noting that the incident left a vulnerable young person exposed to harm from gambling.

    “Where breaches are identified, we will investigate and refer matters to the NICC for disciplinary action,” Argeres said.

    In a statement following the ruling, a spokesperson for Crown Sydney emphasized that the venue takes its regulatory obligations to block underage access extremely seriously. The spokesperson noted that the teen used a convincing fraudulent license to bypass checks, and that Crown Sydney notified regulators immediately after discovering the underage entry, then fully cooperated with the subsequent investigation.

    “Crown has continued to strengthen its processes and controls, including enhanced ID fraud detection measures, additional staff training, and new verification technology,” the spokesperson added.

    Requests for comment from The Star Sydney have not yet returned a public response. This is not the first high-profile penalty for Australian casino operators in recent months: former Star Entertainment Group CEO was recently fined AU$700,000 over regulatory breaches, and another Australian casino was hit with a major fine over permitting 36-hour non-stop gambling bends.

  • Ecuador intel chief, five Americans killed in Kenya helicopter crash

    Ecuador intel chief, five Americans killed in Kenya helicopter crash

    A devastating helicopter crash in central Kenya on Wednesday claimed the lives of all seven people aboard, among them Ecuador’s top intelligence official and five American citizens, according to official statements from multiple regional and national authorities.

    The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) confirmed the crash took place in the early morning hours in Samburu County, a semi-arid region located north of Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi. The helicopter, operated for scenic tourist flights, had departed from the Loisaba wildlife reserve, a popular destination for luxury wildlife viewing and aerial excursions, before going down near Mount Ololokwe. A revered sacred site for the local Samburu community and a top hiking spot with a summit standing 2,000 meters above sea level, Mount Ololokwe draws hundreds of adventure tourists annually, with many operators offering helicopter overflight tours of the mountain and surrounding landscapes.

    Visual evidence shared by the Kenya Red Cross on the social platform X showed the crash site engulfed in open flames. Rescue teams immediately faced significant challenges accessing the wreckage due to the region’s rugged, uneven terrain. Fredrick Kabunge, director of Kenya’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Department (AAID), confirmed the full scope of casualties: one pilot and six passengers were on board, and there were no survivors. Samburu County police chief David Nkoroi told reporters late Wednesday that rescue and recovery operations had to be paused overnight, as falling darkness and the complex topography of the crash site made continued work unsafe. Operations were scheduled to resume at dawn Thursday.

    Ecuador’s Transport Minister Roberto Luque confirmed that 42-year-old Michele Sensi-Contugi, the head of Ecuador’s National Intelligence Center, and his wife Stephany were among the victims. Appointed to lead the intelligence agency in 2024, Sensi-Contugi was a former business executive and a close ally of Ecuador’s right-wing President Daniel Noboa, who has positioned the Latin American country as a key partner for the United States in its renewed campaign against transnational drug cartels. “Today Michele and Stephany left us too soon. Thinking of their family, especially their children and parents,” Luque wrote in a post on X mourning the couple’s death.

    A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department confirmed that five U.S. citizens were killed in the crash, though officials declined to release the identities of the American victims pending next-of-kin notification. However, Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo, a subsidiary of media giant NBCUniversal, confirmed that one of the deceased was Jose Alberto Suarez, a senior executive at the network’s Florida operations. In a joint statement, NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde and two other top executives expressed the company’s grief over Suarez’s death. “We are heartbroken to learn the tragic news that Jose was killed in a helicopter accident in Kenya,” the statement read. “Jose was an exceptional colleague who cared deeply about his teams, the communities they served and the important role our stations play in people’s lives.”

    Video footage shared on X of the crash site shows thick black smoke billowing into the sky above the base of Mount Ololokwe. As of Thursday morning, authorities have not yet determined the root cause of the crash, with KCAA confirming that formal accident investigations are ongoing. The crash marks the second deadly helicopter incident in Kenya this year: a March crash in western Kenya killed six people, including a sitting Kenyan member of parliament.

  • Israel kills nine in Gaza police station bombing

    Israel kills nine in Gaza police station bombing

    A new wave of Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip has left at least 10 Palestinians dead and dozens injured, pushing the already fragile, months-long ceasefire to the brink of collapse as international mediators work to de-escalate the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    The deadliest attack took place on Wednesday morning at the Gaza Governorate Municipalities Police Headquarters in Gaza City, where Israeli fighter jets dropped multiple explosive bombs on the multi-story facility. Gaza-based paramedic teams confirmed that at least nine people were killed in the strike, and another 15 suffered varying degrees of injury, with several remaining in critical condition as of Wednesday afternoon. Local Palestinian media reports indicate that several senior law enforcement officials were among the fatalities, including Colonel Faten al-Sahhar, the widely respected head of the Gaza Police Women’s Department.

    Gaza’s Ministry of Interior has condemned the targeted attack on the police station, stating that Israel’s deliberate strike on the territory’s law enforcement infrastructure is a clear attempt to sow disorder and panic across Gaza. A statement from the department called the assault a “brutal massacre” of security personnel working to maintain public order under already catastrophic conditions. A separate, smaller Israeli air strike in the central Gaza region on the same day killed an additional Palestinian, bringing the total death toll from Wednesday’s attacks to 10.

    This latest round of deadly violence follows a equally destructive strike on a crowded Gaza City cafe Tuesday that killed seven Palestinians, one of whom was a child. That attack marked the deadliest single Israeli strike in Gaza in more than a month, reigniting fears of a full-scale return to open conflict. The Hamas administration in Gaza has labeled the recent series of strikes a deliberate war crime, arguing their timing is no coincidence: Israel, Hamas claims, is actively working to sabotage international mediation efforts designed to solidify the existing fragile ceasefire.

    The Israeli military has issued a standard response to the strikes, claiming it targeted “Hamas operatives” who were plotting imminent attacks against Israeli military personnel deployed along the Gaza border. The military provided no concrete evidence to back up this assertion, a pattern that has repeated consistently across dozens of Israeli strikes in Gaza since the October ceasefire was signed.

    The current escalation comes just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a high-stakes meeting with U.S. Special Envoy Jared Kushner, who has been leading U.S.-backed mediation efforts between Israel, Hamas, and regional stakeholders. Following the closed-door meeting, Kushner publicly stated that the U.S. would give Israel authorization to “finish the job” against Hamas if the group refused to proceed with planned disarmament under the ceasefire framework.

    Kushner, whose personal family has maintained long-standing close political and financial ties to Netanyahu, traveled to Egypt earlier in the week to meet with Hamas leadership as part of the ongoing mediation push. Last month, Hamas announced it had agreed to a U.S.-brokered proposal that would see gradual disarmament and full implementation of the October ceasefire agreement, in exchange for a total end to all Israeli military strikes and a full withdrawal of Israeli occupying forces from all Gaza territory. Israel has flatly rejected the proposal, refusing to commit to either a permanent end to strikes or a full military withdrawal.

    Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qasem placed direct blame for the renewed escalation on the U.S.-led mediation body known as the Peace Council, arguing that the group has failed to pressure Israel to abide by the terms of the existing ceasefire agreement. “The Peace Council now faces a real test of its ability and seriousness in managing mediation and negotiations,” Qasem stated in a press briefing Wednesday. He added that senior officials from the U.S.-led body have released contradictory public statements that effectively provide diplomatic cover for Israel to expand its military aggression in Gaza.

    In a post-meeting interview with Fox News, Kushner doubled down on the U.S. position, stating that Washington will block all international funding for post-conflict reconstruction in Gaza until Hamas fully surrenders its weapons. He also reaffirmed the U.S. stance that it will not limit Israel’s self-described right to military action in Gaza if it claims any imminent threat exists against its territory or personnel.

    The original October 2024 ceasefire was negotiated to end two years of full-scale Israeli military operations in Gaza, which Gaza’s health ministry reports have killed more than 73,000 Palestinians to date, the vast majority of whom are civilians including women and children. The military campaign has also destroyed approximately 90 percent of all residential infrastructure across the Gaza Strip, leaving more than 1.5 million Palestinians displaced. Since the ceasefire was signed, Israel has repeatedly violated the terms, carrying out near-daily air strikes across the territory and maintaining a crippling total siege that blocks access to food, fuel, medical supplies, and other basic humanitarian goods. According to Palestinian health officials, more than 1,200 Palestinians, including at least 300 children, have been killed by Israeli forces in ceasefire violations since the agreement was signed.

  • Liberia charges former vice president with drug trafficking and other offenses

    Liberia charges former vice president with drug trafficking and other offenses

    Monrovia, Liberia – In a landmark legal move that has sent shockwaves through Liberia’s political landscape, the country’s Ministry of Justice announced Wednesday that former vice president Jewel Howard-Taylor has been formally charged with drug trafficking, money laundering, and a series of related criminal offenses tied to an alleged international narcotics smuggling ring.

    Howard-Taylor, who held the vice presidency from 2018 until the end of her term in early 2024, was detained late last week as she tried to depart Liberia via Roberts International Airport, according to an official statement from the ministry. Following her arrest, she was taken into custody and transferred to the headquarters of the Liberia National Police to face processing.

    The former second-in-command faces a total of eight criminal charges, which include unlicensed importation, unauthorized sale, distribution, and transportation of controlled substances, in addition to formal counts of drug trafficking, criminal solicitation, criminal facilitation, criminal conspiracy, and money laundering.

    This high-profile case carries added political weight: Howard-Taylor was previously married to Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president who was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Special Court for Sierra Leone for his role in sponsoring devastating atrocities during Sierra Leone’s 11-year civil war.

    Alongside the charges against Howard-Taylor, three foreign nationals have also been indicted in absentia for their alleged participation in the transnational network: Croatian citizens Nikolai Ivancic and Mihovil Vrovac, and Ukrainian national Tara Zaderieko. Law enforcement officials confirmed they are currently pursuing cross-border cooperation and legal measures to track down, arrest, and extradite the three fugitives to face trial in Liberia.

    Wednesday’s announcement comes just one month after Liberian authorities made the largest drug seizure in the nation’s history: approximately 2 tons of cocaine with an estimated street value of $336 million. That seizure also uncovered alleged connections to senior ranking Liberian police officials, though the Ministry of Justice emphasized that the two investigations are not connected.

    The charges against Howard-Taylor shine a new spotlight on the growing challenge of drug trafficking across West Africa, a region that has increasingly become a major transit hub for cocaine trafficked from producing countries in South America to consumer markets in Europe. Smuggling networks have long exploited the region’s porous national borders and inconsistent law enforcement capacity in multiple coastal and inland states to move large drug shipments with impunity, a trend that has drawn growing concern from regional and international anti-narcotics agencies in recent years.