Qatar Vows to Retaliate After Israel’s Unsuccessful ‘Operation Summit of Fire’ in Doha
21st Century Wire | September 10, 2025
After nearly two years of balancing diplomatic efforts, Qatar found itself at the centre of the very conflict it had sought to mediate. An Israeli airstrike on Doha on Tuesday, aimed at members of Hamas’s political bureau, disrupted months of negotiations aimed at resolving the conflict in Gaza and may hinder Qatar’s ability to facilitate a ceasefire between the opposing parties. Hamas stated that the strike conducted by Israel under the name “Operation Summit of Fire“, which took months of preparation according to Israeli media, did not take the lives of Khalil al-Hayya or other high-ranking officials; however, it did result in the deaths of his son, three bodyguards, and a Qatari security officer.
Earlier this week, Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, had met with Hamas representatives to discuss a proposal that Trump envoy Steve Witkoff had presented the week before in Paris. The Hamas representatives, possibly including some who had just flown in from Turkey, opted to reconvene on Tuesday to discuss the proposal further. Israel, aware of the group’s assembly in Doha, seized this opportunity to launch its attack.
On Tuesday, Israel targeted Hamas leadership in the West Bay Lagoon area, close to the Qatari Defence Minister’s HQ, and in the vicinity of the central business district, home to many foreign embassies, wealthy residences, schools and supermarkets. The strike targeted high-ranking Hamas officials as part of the Hebrew State’s ongoing campaign against the resistance group. This strike — which Israel claimed was executed following an attack that left six dead at a bus stop in Jerusalem on Monday — struck residential buildings that housed several members of the Hamas Political Bureau, as the group’s key figures convened to deliberate on a US ceasefire proposal concerning the Gaza Strip.
Many believe that Israel, in partnership with the United States, might have lured Hamas into a trap, using a 100-word proposal, which is believed to have been crafted by Israel, aiming to bring Hamas’s leading political figures under one roof in Doha under the guise of negotiations, only to eliminate them. Hamas was expected to provide an answer on Tuesday evening to a US proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza. This clearly mirrors the approach taken by Trump earlier this year to soothe the Iranians through continuous nuclear talks while secretly planning the assassination of senior officials in Tehran.
Qatar had been apprehensive about a potential attack ever since Eyal Zamir, the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, cautioned on August 31 that “most of the remaining Hamas leadership is abroad, and we will reach them as well.” In response, Qatar sought guarantees from the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, and the White House that such an assault would not take place on Qatari territory. Although these assurances were provided, Israel once again violated its commitment and went ahead with the air strike, breaking all sorts of international laws while directly challenging Qatar’s sovereignty.
Ahmed Hashim, professor of war studies at Deakin University, believes that “Israel used its modified Adir version of the US F-35 fighter jets, accompanied by its customised F-15I Ra’ams for ‘air cover’, to carry out this illegal operation. Professor Hashim explained that Israel usually keeps about 46 Adir F-35 jets at its Nevatim air base, which is 2,250 kilometres from Doha. Professor Hashim added that “The Adirs can be fitted with fuel tanks that allow them to fly about 2,200km, but they do not need to be flown all the way to a target.”
“I don’t think the planes were over the Doha district. They struck from a distance with precision. And I think they were guided there by intelligence provided by ground.”
Many questions have remained unanswered. For instance, how the Israeli jets could have flown undetected over Saudi Arabia, and most likely Jordan, to reach Qatar, or what projectile Israel used, and why Qatari Air Defenses were not activated? Israeli media are reporting that the strikes involved 15 Israeli fighter jets, firing 10 munitions against a single target, which implies the Israelis knew exactly where the Hamas officials were located. According to an ABC report, retired Lieutenant General Mark Schwartz, who served as US security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, said the comments made by the White House indicated that the US leadership was notified of the attack as it was unfolding, “unfortunately, too late” to stop it.
Netanyahu, who has labelled the assault as “justified”, continues to pursue his vision of a Greater Israel along with his ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has openly condemned the Israeli actions and has cowardly distanced himself from the Hebrew state, which has taken full responsibility for the operation. Furthermore, flight trackers’ data suggest that the UK may have provided support for the operation.
The United States claimed it had issued a warning to Qatar prior to the strike.; however, Qatar contests this claim, stating that the Americans communicated with Doha only 10 minutes after the attacks, notifying them that Israel had carried out an airstrike against Hamas in Doha.
Nevertheless, Qatar has clearly affirmed its commitment to continue mediating in the Gaza conflict, even in light of Israel’s unprecedented assault on its territory. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani vowed on Tuesday to retaliate against Israel for its strike against Hamas’s political leadership in Doha. At a press conference, the Qatari prime minister stated:
“The State of Qatar is committed to acting in a decisive way against anything that would target its territories and will reserve the right to retaliate and will take all the needed measures to retaliate.”
VIDEO: Qatari PM calls the Israeli attack ‘state terrorism’ (Source: Al Jazeera English)
.
The Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar has unsettled Gulf allies and strained US relations, prompting concerns about sovereignty and the latitude afforded to Israel. While numerous Gulf nations have succumbed to the US security extortion model to safeguard their oil and gas assets, the dependability of the United States in the Middle East is expected to come under serious scrutiny.
Israel’s “Abraham Accords” now face uncertainty, as experts indicate that the topic of normalisation is currently at a halt in the Gulf Arab nations, at least for the time being…
Moscow slams Israel over Qatar strike
RT | September 10, 2025
Russia has condemned Israel’s strike on Qatar’s capital Doha as a blatant violation of international law and the UN Charter, saying the attack undermines efforts to reach a peaceful settlement between Israel and Hamas, Moscow’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
Israel struck a residential building in Doha on Tuesday in an operation involving about 15 warplanes and at least ten missiles. The raid, which reportedly left several Hamas members dead, including the son of senior official Khalil al-Hayya, was aimed at taking out the group’s political wing, according to the IDF.
Hamas said its top leadership survived what it called an assassination attempt against negotiators involved in settlement talks.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the strike on Qatar, “a country that plays a key mediating role in indirect talks between Hamas and Israel on ending the nearly two-year war in Gaza and securing the release of hostages,” could only be viewed as an attempt to undermine international peace efforts. Moscow urged all sides to act responsibly and refrain from steps that could further escalate the conflict.
Moscow reiterated its stance, calling for an “immediate ceasefire in Gaza” and urging a comprehensive resolution of the Palestinian issue. The Russian Foreign Ministry said “such methods of fighting those whom Israel considers its enemies and opponents deserve the strongest condemnation.”
Qatar, which is hosting Hamas officials as part of its mediation efforts, said a local security officer was among the six people killed in the strike.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani condemned the attack as an act of “state terrorism” and warned that his country reserved the right to respond. He accused his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu of undermining regional stability and said the incident has derailed US-brokered mediation efforts.
Israel, which blames Hamas for the deadly October 2023 assault on southern Israel, has vowed to hunt down the group’s leaders “wherever they are.”
Gaza’s authorities say Israel attacks since October 7, 2023 have claimed the lives of at least 64,000 people. Human rights observers have accused Israel of committing genocide by making the enclave uninhabitable and worsening famine conditions through restrictions on aid.
The West Bank is on the verge of catastrophe
By Robert Inlakesh | Al Mayadeen | September 9, 2025
The Israeli regime seeks to collapse the notion of the so-called “two-state solution” once and for all, as part of its broader final solution to the Palestinian question. In order to do this, even the Palestinian Authority will have to fall, and with it will come a new series of horrors for the occupied West Bank.
Since October 7, 2023, the Zionist entity has waged a regional campaign that its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has branded the “seven-front war”. The publicly stated goal of this regional war is to achieve “total victory”. While many analysts continue to cover the Gaza war as a separate issue from the other fronts, this is a misreading of the realities we are seeing on the ground.
When looking at how the West Bank factors into the ongoing regional war, it would make no sense to view it outside of its proper context. To begin with, the October 7 operation was used as a pretext for the acceleration of the most extreme goals sought after by the Zionist entity.
The Israelis had suffered their greatest ever military blow, shattering their power projection model and shaking the very foundations of Zionism’s core pillars. In reaction to this, the supremacist entity decided to go all out in every conceivable way, although this came quicker on some fronts than others.
Specifically looking at the occupied West Bank, the Israelis did not waste any time in deploying a large number of soldiers to the territory and began immediately placing countless new movable checkpoints, dirt mounds, cement barriers, and gates to isolate villages from one another, ensuring the further fragmentation of an already divided territory.
In conjunction with this, Israeli settlers were armed with a seemingly unlimited supply of light weapons and encouraged to begin carrying out pogroms against villages and collections of communities, with the aim of ethnic cleansing. This was fully backed by the Israeli military, which had even begun creating settler-controlled units the year prior, including the infamous “Desert Frontier”, which sought to legitimize settler extremist militias that had once been deemed terrorists by the Zionist entity itself.
Then came the imposition of curfews, lockdowns targeting specific areas, and road closures that would leave West Bank Palestinians stranded. Military raids also increased, as did the murder rate against Palestinian civilians, which reached levels not witnessed since the Second Intifada.
The Israelis committed countless on-the-ground raids and airstrikes, focused primarily in the northern West Bank, where young Palestinian fighters had formed groups since 2021 to confront the occupying entity’s raids on their refugee camps and villages.
Following these frequent attacks, which often resulted in civilian massacres along with the killing of fighters, in August of 2024, the Zionist regime announced “Operation Summer Camps”, aimed at destroying the armed resistance in the northern West Bank. The operation ultimately failed to inflict a defeat on the resistance groups, taking its largest toll on the civilian populations living in the Nur al-Shams and Jenin refugee camps.
By September 9, 2024, the Palestinian Authority (PA) had reached a deal with the Israeli military that would see its forces work alongside the occupying army to root out the Palestinian resistance forces. In early December, the PA’s security forces then launched their “Operation Protect The Homeland”, where they arrested Palestinian Resistance fighters, killed civilians, and removed IEDs planted in Jenin that were set to target Israeli military jeeps.
By January, amid a failure of the PA to uproot the resistance from Jenin alone, the Israeli military launched a renewed military effort alongside the PA that would lead to the mass displacement of tens of thousands of civilians. The Israeli forces launched airstrikes, carried out assassinations, desecrated mosques, blew up homes, and imposed siege warfare on both the Jenin and Nur al-Shams refugee camps.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority was further demonized and delegitimized by the incoming Trump administration in the United States, after failing to prove its effectiveness at combating the Palestinian resistance alone.
A steep economic decline has also plagued the West Bank since October 7, 2023, plunging hundreds of thousands into poverty, as the Israeli settlers and military continue to construct new settlements and uproot olive trees and have ethnically cleansed over 30 communities and villages, while imposing a regime of all-out intimidation across the territory.
The results have proven catastrophic; the Zionist regime is taking over more of the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil, entering Area A of the West Bank at will despite it being technically under PA control, while refusing to release tax revenue back to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
Although the Palestinian Authority has repeatedly sought to combat resistance, runs security coordination for the Israeli occupying entity, frequently blames the genocide in Gaza on Hamas, and attempts to follow the rules laid out by its US, EU, and UK sponsors, it is now being totally delegitimized and pushed to the brink of collapse.
The PA is the perfect example of what happens when you lay down your arms, denounce resistance, and cooperate with the Israelis in search of a so-called “peace agreement”. The Zionists only take this as a weakness and continue to pursue their agendas, except that there is no substantial resistance now to protect the people.
With Western nations like Canada, France, Belgium, Australia, and the UK all declaring they will recognize the State of Palestine, the Israelis have reacted by pursuing a policy that completely eliminates the Palestinian Authority and its global standing. The E1 settlement project is one step; imposing annexation is another, yet perhaps the biggest factor here may be the Israeli refusal to release the necessary funds that the PA needs to keep afloat.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump notably banned the Palestinian Authority’s officials from travelling to the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York this month, while his own officials openly talk about the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria”; the Israeli settler name for the occupied territory.
Another major issue is the ongoing Israeli-manufactured water crisis in the occupied West Bank, making it so that some residents of Ramallah only get water access at home twice per week, causing them to go to public areas to fill up on supplies.
The Israeli settlers have exacerbated this crisis by destroying and poisoning water wells and pipes. It is of note that Palestinians are not permitted to drill for water without specific permits, and the West Bank’s natural basin has long been hijacked by the Israelis, who supply their West Bank settlements with all the water they need.
So far, the population of the West Bank has not risen up into an Intifada either, so the Israelis get away with whatever they choose. In addition to this, the armed resistance that was in its early phases in the north of the territory has been forced into hiding and is no longer active.
Unlike the Gaza Strip, which had built a sophisticated underground tunnel network and armed itself with every weapon it could create or smuggle in, the West Bank is all but defenseless. However, the West Bank does have one advantage over Gaza: there are settlements littered throughout it, and the population there is very close to the occupiers physically.
Whether the Israelis choose to suddenly collapse the Palestinian Authority, annex portions of the territory, and begin a mass ethnic cleansing campaign, or they simply seek to slowly achieve this goal over time, the people of the West Bank have one way to combat it: a mass popular uprising. This uprising also must involve frequent violent assaults on Israeli settlements and operations that cross over into the territories occupied in 1948.
Currently, many people in the West Bank, particularly those living in the major cities, have not shown such resolve and determination. Instead, they have been slowly ground down into the material distractions that the Israelis intended for them to occupy themselves with, using their loans and credit cards to purchase cars and handbags or live cafe lifestyles they cannot afford.
The biggest employers in the West Bank are the Palestinian Authority, Israeli businesses, and Western NGOs, while the loans that people take are often impossible for people to pay back. Therefore, they have become enslaved to the material system of occupation. This is why you only really see armed resistance coming from a handful of villages and refugee camps, where the people have nothing to distract themselves from the occupation they live under.
The West Bank is perhaps one of the most sophisticated and ruthless social engineering testing grounds in modern history. In order for the people to break free, they will have to fight. This uprising will bring about countless horrors, some similar to what we have seen in Gaza, but the alternative is simply losing everything without a fight. Perhaps fewer people will die in such a short period, but the result of doing nothing will unfortunately be the loss of their homeland. The path of resistance is the only way that victory and liberation are even possible.
The Israelis will not allow for 3.3 million Palestinians to live in what the regime considers “Israel’s biblical heartlands”; they seek “Greater Israel” with as few Palestinians there as possible. There is no “two-state solution”, no “peace deals”, no “security agreements”, only an agenda to completely destroy the Palestinian people and implement the genocidal regime’s final Solution. Although the situation appears bleak, the people are still strong and will undoubtedly resist.
PCHR Report Exposes Israel’s War on Journalists and Media Institutions in Gaza
21st Century Wire | September 9, 2025
Yesterday marked a devastating event for the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) as their headquarters in Al-Roya Tower, Gaza City, was obliterated by an airstrike from the Israeli Occupation Force. This attack is part of a disturbing pattern of systematic assaults on high-rise buildings throughout the city. Just following PCHR’s announcement of their new report, “Assassination of Truth: Killing of Journalists amid Genocide in Gaza,” Avichay Adraee, spokesman for the Israeli Occupation Forces, casually declared the intention to target and demolish Al-Roya Tower, home to PCHR’s vital work. The timing and intent behind these actions raise serious questions about the protection of human rights and freedom of expression in these turbulent times.
The PCHR office, perched on the 12th floor of the Al-Roya Tower, has unfortunately faced relentless bombardment and significant damage since the onset of the conflict. In addition, the Israeli Occupation Forces raided the premises, even converting it into a military base during their previous ground operations in Gaza City. As a result, the office has been rendered inoperable, highlighting the heavy toll on journalists working in Gaza. It is also important to mention that the PCHR offices located in Khan Younis and Jabalia were demolished last year.
PCHR’s new report paints a vivid and harrowing picture of the crimes committed, backed by compelling firsthand accounts from victims, witnesses, and their families, along with insights from legal experts and international sources. It shines a light on the shocking obliteration of 112 media institutions—ranging from TV and radio stations to newspaper headquarters—forcing journalists in Gaza to operate under extreme peril, often from makeshift tents, all while living with the constant threat of assassination.
The report reveals a troubling pattern: since October 7, Israel has actively targeted individuals who are brave enough to document the crisis in Gaza, effectively trying to suppress the truth and documented evidence of the Gaza genocide. Shockingly, during this period, Israeli Occupation Forces have killed 221 journalists, injured 415 more, and have arbitrarily detained at least 86 individuals. Many have faced torture and inhumane conditions, with 16 still in detention and 4 having mysteriously disappeared, according to PCHR. It’s a stark reminder of the dangers faced by those committed to reporting the realities on the ground.
The report calls on the global community to urge the Israeli authorities to promptly permit foreign journalists and international media representatives to access the Gaza Strip.
Hamas: US proposal does not aim to end Gaza war
MEMO | September 9, 2025
A senior official in the Hamas movement, Bassem Naim, said on Monday evening that the initial ideas presented by the United States are “clearly intended to be rejected, rather than to reach an agreement that ends the war, ensures a full withdrawal of the occupation forces, and secures a prisoner exchange.”
In a statement sent to Quds Press, Naim explained that the American proposal suggests receiving all prisoners on the first day, linking withdrawal to the formation of a government acceptable to Israel and tasked with security duties. It also includes defining Hamas, considering pardons for its members, and disarming the resistance, “without any mention of reconstruction.”
The Hamas official stressed that the movement and other resistance factions seek “an agreement that stops the war and genocide, and opens the way for a political solution that fulfils legitimate national goals.”
Earlier on Monday, US President Donald Trump said that “the Israelis have accepted the terms of his proposal for a possible prisoner exchange and ceasefire in Gaza, and now it is Hamas’s turn to agree.”
Trump also spoke of the possibility of “reaching a deal soon to end the war on Gaza based on one of the proposals,” issuing what he described as “a final warning” to Hamas about the consequences of rejecting the new offer.
Suspected drone attack hits Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla in Tunis
Al Mayadeen | September 9, 2025
The Global Sumud Flotilla announced it will hold a press conference today to update the media and the public on the drone attack sustained by one of its boats, the Family Boat. While all participants are safe, details about the attack remain limited, it said.
The conference will include remarks from Francesca Albanese, members of the steering committee, and civil society leaders, as well as direct testimonies from those who were aboard the Family Boat during the attack, in addition to updates on the flotilla’s ongoing mission to break “Israel’s” illegal blockade of Gaza.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, the largest civilian effort to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza, suffered an alleged attack when one of its leading vessels was struck while anchored in Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia.
According to Wael Nawar, a member of the flotilla, the attack was carried out by an Israeli drone and targeted the fleet’s largest ship, which sails under the Portuguese flag. He confirmed that all crew and passengers aboard the vessel were unharmed.
Egyptian committee: Cowardly escalation
The Egyptian committee of the flotilla condemned the incident as “a criminal aggression by a Zionist war drone and a cowardly escalation.” It described the strike on Tunisian territory as a military violation against an Arab state, reaffirming that Egyptian participation in the international fleet would continue despite the threats.
UN expert raises alarm
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese confirmed reports that the flotilla’s main vessel was hit and said she is working to verify the facts. She further warned that two additional boats en route to Tunisia are “in urgent need of protection.”’
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent reported that strict security measures were imposed at the port following the attack, adding that the ship was apparently hit with an incendiary device.
Tunisian authorities cite technical malfunction
In contrast, the spokesperson for Tunisia’s National Guard denied that local security or military units had detected any aerial activity over the port. Preliminary investigations, he noted, suggest the incident may have resulted from an internal malfunction aboard the vessel rather than an external strike.
The Tunisian Interior Ministry later released a statement saying that “reports circulating about a drone crashing onto a ship docked at Sidi Bou Said port are baseless.”
Earlier in May, a drone strike targeted a vessel of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla team in international waters off the coast of Malta, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition reported. Israeli authorities were widely condemned by activists for executing the attack; however, Tel Aviv never claimed responsibility.
In that earlier incident, Yasemin Acar, press officer for the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, confirmed to CNN that armed drones hit the ship twice, targeting the front of the vessel and causing a substantial breach in the hull. A fire erupted on board, and the ship began to sink. “There is a hole in the vessel right now, and the ship is sinking,” Acar said.
Largest flotilla yet to break the siege
The Global Sumud Flotilla includes hundreds of international activists from 44 countries, among them Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and Portuguese politician Mariana Mortágua. The mission, comprised of dozens of aid-laden boats, seeks to break “Israel’s” years-long naval blockade of Gaza by delivering humanitarian supplies and asserting international solidarity.
Despite the attack and mounting threats, organizers insist the mission will proceed, describing it as a historic show of defiance against the ongoing siege.
Israeli occupation attacks Hamas negotiators in Qatar, bombs Doha

Al Mayadeen | September 9, 2025
In a statement, the Israeli occupation military, in coordination with its internal security agency, Shin Bet, claimed to have carried out an airstrike on the Qatari capital, Doha, claiming to target the senior leadership of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.
Israeli Channel 12, citing military sources, reported that the strikes targeted members of the Hamas negotiating delegation while they were discussing the latest US-mediated proposal in Doha.
Reuters correspondents confirmed hearing loud explosions in the Qatari capital, noting plumes of smoke rising over the Katara district.
This brazen Israeli strike on Hamas’ negotiating delegation in Doha exposes once again the pattern of aggression that has defined Israeli and American conduct, using violence at the very moment when talks for peace are on the table. Just as Washington and Tel Aviv undermined dialogue before they attacked Iran in June, they now repeat the same tactic against the Palestinian resistance, targeting representatives engaged in negotiations.
Far from seeking peace, such actions demonstrate a deliberate sabotage of negotiations and reveal that only Palestinians show a genuine commitment to ending the war, while the Israeli occupation regime and the US weaponize diplomacy as cover for escalation.
Hamas reaffirms commitment to ceasefire proposals
The development comes as Hamas reiterated its commitment, alongside other Palestinian factions, to the ceasefire framework put forward by mediators on August 18.
In a statement, Hamas emphasized its openness to “any ideas or proposals” that would secure a permanent ceasefire, guarantee the full withdrawal of occupation forces from Gaza, ensure the unconditional entry of humanitarian aid, and achieve a genuine prisoner exchange through serious negotiations brokered by mediators.
US President Donald Trump announced Sunday evening on his Truth Social account that “the Israelis have accepted my terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well.”
In his post, Trump wrote: “Everyone wants the hostages home. Everyone wants this war to end! The Israelis have accepted my Terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well. I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one!”
According to Israeli Channel 12, Trump conveyed a new proposal through his envoy Steve Witkoff, bypassing the usual mediators Qatar and Egypt. The reported plan includes the release of all Israeli captives, both living and deceased, on the first day of the deal in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners serving long sentences.
Hamas says received US proposal
The Islamic Resistance Movement in Palestine, Hamas, confirmed Sunday evening that it has received new American ideas through mediators aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
In a statement, Hamas said it welcomes any real initiative that contributes to ending the ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people.
Hamas expressed its readiness to immediately join negotiations to reach a comprehensive deal that would include:
- The release of all prisoners on both sides
- A clear declaration of an end to the war
- A complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip
- The creation of a Palestinian independent committee to administer Gaza, to begin work immediately
The movement also demanded clear guarantees to ensure that “Israel” abides by any commitments, citing past agreements that were repudiated.
Hamas noted that it had already approved a mediator-brokered US proposal in Cairo on August 18, 2025, but “Israel” failed to respond and instead escalated its massacres and ethnic cleansing policy.
Spanish PM reveals 9 measures to halt genocide in Gaza
Al Mayadeen | September 8, 2025
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday announced nine new measures aimed at stopping the “genocide in Gaza,” stating, in a televised address, “What Israel is doing is not defending itself, it is exterminating a defenseless population.”
He said that although Spain has de facto been applying an export ban on weapons to “Israel” since 2023, the government will now urgently legislate a “permanent” ban, a measure that will be joined by prohibiting ships transporting fuel to Israeli forces from using Spanish ports and banning aircraft carrying defense material from Spanish airspace.
The Spanish Premier added that individuals “directly involved in the genocide, violating human rights and war crimes in Gaza” will be prohibited from entering Spain.
Other measures include banning imports from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, limiting Spanish consular services to Spanish citizens living in the occupied territories to the bare minimum, and increasing Spain’s presence in Rafah with additional troops and new joint projects with the Palestinian Authority to provide food and medicine.
Spain will also increase its contribution to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) by €10 million ($11.7 million) and commit €150 million in additional humanitarian aid for Gaza in 2026.
“We know these measures will not be enough to put an end to the war crimes, but we hope they serve to apply pressure to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people,” Sanchez stated, adding that “Spain alone cannot stop the war, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try.”
Assassination of Yemeni Ministers: How the Media Normalizes Israel’s Crimes
Israel carried out the unprecedented act of assassinating the head of the Sanaa government and 11 of his ministers to punish Yemen for its unwavering solidarity with Gaza, making it one of the few countries in the world to take seriously the obligation to prevent the crime of genocide. The media, complacent or even complicit, never deem it necessary to point out that targeting a civilian administration constitutes a blatant war crime. This silence only encourages Israel to push ever further the limits of its monstrosity.
By Alain Marshal | September 6, 2025
On August 28, a massive Israeli strike on Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, targeted a council of ministers of the de facto authority in Yemen, assassinating Prime Minister Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi and 11 members of his government: Secretary of the Council of Ministers Zahid Mohammed Al-Amdi, the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Mohammed Qasim Al-Kabsi, as well as the Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Jamal Ahmed Ali Amer), Economy (Moeen Hashim Ahmed al-Mahaqri), Justice (Ahmed Abdullah Ali), Energy (Dr. Ali Saif Mohammed Hassan), Information (Hashim Ahmed Abdulrahman Sharaf Al-Din), Agriculture (Dr. Radwan Ali Ali Al-Rubai’i), Social Affairs and Labor (Samir Mohammed Ahmed Baja’ala), Tourism and Culture (Dr. Ali Qasim Hussein Al-Yafei), and Youth and Sports (Dr. Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Mawlid).

Yemen’s Martyrs
Israel, which has been perpetrating an openly acknowledged genocide in Gaza and the West Bank — broadcast live for nearly two years — and which has attacked no fewer than five other countries during this period (Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, not to mention all the countries whose airspace it has violated), has clearly claimed responsibility for this attack. War Minister Israel Katz declared that Israel had delivered “an unprecedented knockout blow against the senior-most figures of the Houthi security-political leadership in Yemen, in a daring and brilliant operation […]. The fate of Yemen is the fate of Tehran — and this is only the beginning.” There is therefore little doubt about Israel’s intentions.
Despite this deliberate and acknowledged attack, the word “assassination” was nowhere to be found in the Western media: the AFP dispatch, reprinted by Mediapart (allegedly the most prominent French media outlet supporting Palestine) and many other newspapers, refers only to the “death” of the head of government and members of his cabinet, “killed” in Israeli raids, as if the causal link between the bombings and the deaths were indirect. AFP adopts the terms “Houthis,” “rebels,” and “Iranian-backed,” noting that “the internationally recognized Yemeni government, driven out of Sanaa, has its headquarters in Aden, the major city in the south.” Without specifying that the Aden regime, supported by Saudi Arabia (which itself has been waging a genocidal war against Yemen since 2015, with Western backing), has no more legitimacy to represent Yemen and its people than the Taiwan-based Kuomintang had to occupy China’s seat at the UN (which it did from 1945 to 1971).
Moreover, Israel’s action was rationalized, even legitimized, with AFP categorically stating that the strikes against Yemen were “in response to missile and drone attacks by rebels against Israeli territory.” As for Yemen’s own position — that its attacks are nothing more than a response aimed at ending the genocide in Gaza and the blockade starving its two million inhabitants — the article distances itself and places full responsibility on the Houthis: “The houthis claim to be launching these attacks in ‘solidarity’ with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who are caught up in the war triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.”
The pattern is recurring: whatever Israel says, however grotesque, is taken at face value (Israel is only defending itself, retaliating against Hamas, against Yemen, and against all of humanity if need be), while whatever its adversaries say — even when it is self-evident — is treated with suspicion and put in quotation marks to signal distance. The underlying suggestion is that Israelis are not being targeted as occupiers who dispossess Palestinians of their rights and subject them to systematic extermination, but as Jews, out of pure anti-Semitism or out of hatred for “freedom” and “Western values,” a recurring discourse from Reagan, Bush, Netanyahu, and others. In the media and civil society, so-called “reactionary” voices openly adopt this vocabulary, while so-called “progressive” voices generally do so implicitly — even though the French CGT union spelled it out in its magazine Ensemble, La Vie Ouvrière №19 (November 2023), which described Hamas’ action of October 7 as “ignoble,” denouncing, with regard to the Nova rave party held at the gates of the Gaza concentration camp, a targeting “by religious fanaticism [of] youth and [of] the expression of freedom […] At least 260 people were killed, by gunfire or explosives, because they were Jewish.”
In a recent article, Mediapart’s founder Edwy Plenel himself described Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza as “Israel’s war in retaliation for October 7,” a blatantly negationist statement that obscures more than a hundred years of Zionist history — a colonial movement explicitly aimed at the expulsion, even the annihilation, of the indigenous people, a sine qua non condition for its success. The total destruction of the Gaza Strip and the will to empty it of its population are clearly in continuity with the ethnic cleansing of the Nakba (1948) and the Naksa (1967), October 7 having been nothing more than a catalyst, a pretext seized Machiavellianly by Netanyahu’s fanatical government to liquidate the Palestinian cause once and for all and to work openly towards “Greater Israel.” Until then, the sham “peace process” had allowed colonization to progress slowly but surely, but now the time has come for the “final solution.” The media’s complicity in the liquidation of the Palestinian cause did not begin on October 7, and rather than acknowledging their errors, they persist in denial — even as the Israelis have dropped the mask and are stating more clearly than ever that they will never tolerate a Palestinian state or Palestinian sovereignty, even symbolic.
Just as they flout history to pander to Zionist propaganda, our journalists have no regard for international law — otherwise they would point out that targeting a political leadership, even one not recognized by the international community, even in wartime, is an egregious crime. Israel Katz proudly underscores the “unprecedented” nature of these assassinations and fully assumes the targeting of civilians, but our “journalists” do not care. They have thoroughly internalized their duty of loyalty to Israeli talking points, even going so far as to condone the systematic targeting of hospitals (by taking seriously the alleged existence of Hamas command centers beneath them), medical personnel, and even journalists (by crediting their supposed links to the Palestinian Resistance). Corporatism no longer applies when it comes to covering the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the occupying army, the armed wing of Western imperialism. Let us recall that the attack on Hezbollah’s pagers was praised by our media — including Mediapart, which described it as “a stroke of tactical genius by the Israeli military and spies” (before discreetly retracting this statement, calling it a mere “strategic success”). Yet, with its implications — potentially turning any everyday object into a bomb — this terrorist attack is even more dangerous than 9/11, threatening to transform the entire world into a dystopia.
To grasp how utterly unacceptable the absence of political reaction (with the exception of the Axis of Resistance) and the complacent media coverage following the decapitation of the Yemeni government — whose role is purely administrative — really are, let us imagine for a moment that a Western head of government and his cabinet were targeted by a foreign power: François Bayrou in France, Friedrich Merz in Germany, Keir Starmer in the United Kingdom, for example. Let us even imagine that Zelensky, whose country is at war (NATO and the EU are regarded as co-belligerents), were killed in a Russian strike. Who would dare doubt the international outrage that this would provoke? Who could ignore the ensuing diplomatic, economic, or even military apocalypse? Who would not be moved to tears at the mere thought of the mournful hagiographies that would flood editorial columns?
A simple alleged GPS jamming of the plane carrying Ursula von der Leyen to Bulgaria (to visit a munitions factory — an act of the highest neutrality), without any evidence (Flight Radar denied any interference with the GPS signal from takeoff to landing), provoked indignation among our politicians and media, who set aside fact-checking and exhausted the vocabulary of outrage: “victim,” “blatant Russian interference,” “We are of course aware of, and in a sense accustomed to, the threats and intimidation that form an integral part of Russia’s hostile behavior,” “The head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, announced that she would summon the Russian ambassador in the wake of the incident.”
But when it comes to Yemeni leaders, the structural racism of our societies — especially entrenched among our journalists and editorialists — combined with the abject submission of our capitals and their media echo chambers to Israeli and American interests, suffices to relegate this flagrant war crime to a mere footnote, a veritable carte blanche granted to Israel, encouraging it to continually push back the red line of its crimes and atrocities. Israel’s impunity is guaranteed unconditionally.
Bound only by the demands of our conscience, and not by the fear of losing our job for failing to comply with a tacit or assumed pro-Israeli editorial line, we take the liberty of forcefully reminding everyone that international humanitarian law prohibits the targeting of civilian leaders, by virtue of the fundamental principle of distinction between civilians and combatants:
1949 Geneva Conventions (1977 for the Additional Protocols):
- “Persons taking no active part in the hostilities […] shall in all circumstances be treated humanely […]. To this end, the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons: violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds […].” (Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 3)
- “In order to ensure respect for and protection of the civilian population and civilian objects, the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives.” (Additional Protocol I, Article 48)
- “A civilian is any person who does not belong to [the Armed forces]. In case of doubt whether a person is a civilian, that person shall be considered to be a civilian.” (Additional Protocol I, Article 50)
- “The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against dangers arising from military operations. […] Civilians shall enjoy the protection afforded by this section, unless and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities.” (Additional Protocol I, Article 51)
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, 1993:
- “If essentially the total leadership of a group is targeted, it could also amount to genocide. Such leadership includes political and administrative leaders, religious leaders, academics and intellectuals, business leaders and others — the totality per se may be a strong indication of genocide regardless of the actual numbers killed. […] Thus, the intent to destroy the fabric of a society through the extermination of its leadership, when accompanied by other acts of elimination of a segment of society, can also be deemed genocide.” (Final Report of the Commission of Experts Established Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 780 (1992), Annex to the Letter dated 24 May 1994 from the Secretary-General to the President of the Security Council, S/1994/674)
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 1998:
- “The Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of war crimes in particular when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes. For the purpose of this Statute, ‘war crimes’ means: […] Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities.” (Rome Statute, Article 8, “War Crimes”)
It therefore appears that, even in times of war, a Minister of Defense or a President of the Republic, as head of the armed forces, only loses civilian status if they take a direct part in hostilities — something that remains extremely rare, since operational command lies with military officers. What then can be said of a Prime Minister, a Minister of Justice, or a Minister of Culture? These are purely and simply extrajudicial killings, which by definition have no legal basis.
Furthermore, a “combatant” is only recognized as such on the battlefield or in barracks, and regains civilian status as soon as he is at home. If, as Israel does, we consider that members of Lebanese Hezbollah, Ansar Allah in Yemen, the Palestinian resistance, or Iranian commanders remain combatants even while asleep in their family homes, it would logically follow that targeting soldiers and reservists of regular armies would also be legitimate wherever they are found — even when on leave with their families — even if it means killing, injuring, or maiming their wives and children along with them.
Similarly, Israel’s declared intention to “eliminate” — a term used by certain “journalists,” such as in this article in Le Figaro — the entire Ansar Allah command structure, because of its unwavering support for Gaza, combined with its repeated strikes against the country’s civilian infrastructure (ports, airports, power grids, fuel depots, the presidential palace, industry, residential neighborhoods, etc.), clearly amounts to a war crime or even an intent to commit genocide, as defined by the jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for Time (1976–1988) and later for The Independent (1989–2020), held, like Amira Hass (Haaretz), that the role of journalists is to challenge established authority and centers of power, particularly in the context of war. Yet the overwhelming majority of the media does precisely the opposite, working to rationalize, legitimize, and even normalize the unacceptable — from the assassination of political leaders (see this Mediapart article entitled In Iran, the Twilight of the Supreme Leader, a textbook case of incitement to murder), to the mass murder of starving women and children as they try to find food, to ethnic cleansing and genocide.

In conclusion, let us recall that the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) establishes in its first article that: “The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.”
Faced with the inaction of the international community, is it not Yemen, through its naval blockade of Israel and its active support for the Palestinian cause, that takes the obligation to prevent the crime of genocide most seriously? By contrast, the “civilized West” not only fails to impose sanctions on Israel, but refuses to stop providing it with military, economic, and diplomatic support, thereby becoming complicit in the extermination of the Palestinians.
As Israel’s frenzy of bloodshed and destruction continues daily, not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and of course Yemen, it is difficult not to recall the lessons of history: any regime founded on barbarism and hubris is doomed to an ignominious end — and its sycophants and apologists to an equally humiliating fate.
Contact: alainmarshal2@gmail.com
China’s Warning
By Manlio Dinucci | Global Research | September 8, 2025
The global dominance that the United States, the greatest power in the West, wants to maintain at all costs violates the most basic norms of international law: the Trump Administration revoked the visas of representatives of the State of Palestine, preventing them from attending the United Nations General Assembly in September.
This claim to dominance is provoking growing opposition from the Global South. This is confirmed by the warning issued by China with the largest military parade in Beijing.
The official statement from the State Department states that the Trump administration has revoked the visas of members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) ahead of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly, “in the interest of our national security” because “the PLO and PA are responsible for undermining the prospects for peace through their appeals to the UN International Court of Justice to obtain unilateral recognition of a hypothetical Palestinian state.”
In addition, the Trump Administration announced the suspension of visas for all Palestinian passport holders, preventing them from entering the United States for medical treatment, university attendance, visits to relatives, and business activities. At the same time, the Trump administration announced that it is studying “the post-war plan for Gaza”: it provides for the “voluntary transfer” of the entire Palestinian population to transform Gaza into a luxurious “Middle East Riviera.” In this way, while Israel continues its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, the United States is dismantling the foundations of the State of Palestine.
However, the global dominance that the West’s greatest power wants to maintain at all costs, violating the most basic norms of international law, is provoking growing opposition from the Global South. This is confirmed by the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, whose members include China, Russia, Belarus, Iran, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, with several other countries participating. At the meeting held in China, President Xi Jinping reiterated the basic principles:
“First, we must respect the principle of sovereign equality. We must uphold that all countries, regardless of their size, strength, and wealth, are equal participants, decision-makers, and beneficiaries in global governance. We must promote greater democracy in international relations and increase the representation and voice of developing countries.”
*
This article was originally published in Italian on Grandangolo, Byoblu TV.
Manlio Dinucci, award-winning author, geopolitical analyst and geographer, Pisa, Italy. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).
UK arrests nearly 900 over support for Palestine Action activist group
Al Mayadeen | September 7, 2025
Nearly 900 people were arrested in the United Kingdom over the weekend during a protest in London in support of the banned pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action, according to the Metropolitan Police.
Authorities confirmed that 857 individuals were arrested under the Terrorism Act of 2000 for supporting a proscribed organization, with another 33 detained for separate offences, including alleged assaults on police officers.
Solidarity with Gaza targeted in crackdown
The protest, described by organizers as an expression of solidarity with Gaza, was held outside the UK Parliament and drew around 1,500 participants.
Many demonstrators carried signs condemning “Israel’s” aggression and genocide in Gaza and expressing support for Palestine.
This comes as “Israel” intensified its bombardment of Gaza and launched new strikes with the stated aim of seizing Gaza City to defeat the Palestinian resistance.
Critics have accused the UK government of using counterterrorism laws to suppress peaceful activism.
The United Nations and other human rights groups have condemned the July decision to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, citing threats to civil liberties and free speech.
Police claim violence; organizers insist protest was peaceful
Of the 33 non-terrorism-related arrests, 17 were allegedly for assaults on officers. The police claimed their officers faced “intolerable” abuse. However, organizers from Defend Our Juries (DOJ), who coordinated the “Lift the Ban” rally, described it as “the picture of peaceful protest.”
Reports noted that many of those arrested were older individuals, some holding signs like “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
If convicted, the majority face up to six months in prison, while organizers could face sentences of up to 14 years.
Public figures, UN slam ban as legal overreach
The ban on Palestine Action was pushed by former interior minister Yvette Cooper, who accused the group of engaging in “aggressive and intimidatory attacks” against public and private institutions.
She also claimed that court-imposed reporting restrictions have limited public understanding of the group’s actions.
Nonetheless, public support for Palestine Action has grown since the group’s proscription, with many viewing the UK’s actions as an attempt to silence those who speak out against the war on Gaza and stand in solidarity with Palestine.

Notes