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Amnesty accuses Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza
Amnesty International has accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza war, which Israel strongly denies.
The UK-based human rights group said its conclusion was based on “dehumanising and genocidal statements” by Israeli officials, digital images and witness testimony and must serve as “a wake-up call” to the international community.
Israel’s foreign ministry described the 295 page report as “entirely false and based on lies”, while the Israeli military said the claims were “entirely baseless and fail to account for the operational realities” it faces.
In the past day, meanwhile, local medics say at least 50 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza.
The biggest number of people were killed in the al-Mawasi tent camp for displaced people, where Israel says it was targeting Hamas operatives.
Amnesty says that its research over months “has found sufficient basis to conclude that Israel has committed – and is continuing to commit – genocide against Palestinians”.
The 1948 Genocide Convention, enacted following the mass murder of Jews in the Nazi Holocaust, defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary general, said Israeli actions “include killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction”.
“Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them,” she continued.
The report by the global campaign group comes as the UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice at The Hague, continues to examine allegations by South Africa that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Israel has called the case “wholly unfounded” and based on “biased and false claims”.
Responding to the allegations by Amnesty, Israel’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Oren Marmorstein, described the human rights group as a “deplorable and fanatical organisation”.
“The genocidal massacre on 7 October 2023, was carried out by the Hamas terrorist organisation against Israeli citizens,” he stated, adding that Israel as acting in self-defence and “fully in accordance with international law”.
The Israeli military said it was “actively working to dismantle Hamas’ military infrastructure” in Gaza and that it “takes all feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians during operations”.
About 1,200 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, were killed during the Hamas-led attacks 15 months ago, which triggered the Gaza war.
Since then, at least 44,532 people have been killed in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen as reliable by the UN.
In the past day, Israel has continued to carry out attacks across the length of the Palestinian territory.
At least 23 people were killed and many more wounded in an air strike on a camp for displaced people in al-Mawasi in Khan Younis. Social media video shows residents battling fires overnight.
At the nearby Nasser Hospital, a local BBC cameraman filmed the arrival of the wounded, including blood-stained children and a disabled man. The bodies of two small children were among the dead brought wrapped up in blankets.
Israel’s military said its attack targeted senior Hamas operatives acting in what it considers a humanitarian zone. “Following the strike, secondary explosions were identified, suggesting the presence of weaponry in the area,” it said in a statement.
It said it had taken steps “to mitigate the risk of harming civilians” and accused Hamas of using civilians “as human shields for terrorist activity”.
On Thursday, BBC footage showed people picking through the mangled wrecks of shacks and piles of ash.
“The strike hit us without any warning and did this big massacre,” Mohammed Abu Shahli said. “The people here are refugees from different places – from Rafah and the north. They came to a place they thought was safe.”
His head bandaged, Abdul Rahman Jamaa said seven members of his family were killed including his father and three brothers.
He told the BBC: “There are no protected safe areas as the Israelis say. These are all lies. May God protect us.”
[BBC]
Todd Murphy is firming to play his first home Test, after the SCG’s head curator declared the pitch’s green covering would be near-irrelevant come day one.
With administrators still on edge after last week’s two day debacle in Melbourne, an extremely green SCG surface raised eyebrows in Sydney on Thursday.
But chief curator Adam Lewis insisted on Friday that should not be a concern, and he was hopeful Sydney would extend into a fifth day.
“You want to see green tinge three days out,” Lewis said. “If you’re not seeing any live grass three days out, then that’s when it’s a worry, … I’m really comfortable with where we’re sitting.
“We had a little bit of sun this morning. They’re saying a bit more sun tomorrow. That will take the greenness out of the pitch. We’re really happy with the pitches at the moment. We’re looking good.”
Lewis admitted he felt for MCG counterpart Matt Page last week, but said he felt no external pressure to ensure the fifth Test in Sydney went the distance.
It’s estimated that Cricket Australia (CA) has lost in the vicinity of AUD15 million in profits this summer, with the opening Test in Perth also finishing inside two days.
Even Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joked at a function with teams on Thursday night that they had to ensure the game went to day three, in order to support the McGrath Foundation fundraiser.
One of the hardest grounds in the world to bowl on between 2014 and 2023, last year’s SCG Test was over in just two-and-a-half days.
Lewis said that his ground staff would go with 6mm of grass this year compared to 7mm last season, while also reducing its density. That in itself generally acts to flatten out the wicket and produce less movement, while also inviting the chance of spin late in the match.
“We just thought … we could thin our density out a little bit,” Lewis said. “That’s what we’ve done this year. We’ve practised that in the Shield matches and we’ve received very good marks.”
CA CEO Todd Greenberg said he too was confident the SCG Test would last the distance.
“I’ve had more phone calls and conversations about wickets and millimetres of grass than I thought I’d ever have,” Greenberg said. “But I’m hopeful and confident we will have a long and productive Test match here.”
All of which should spell good news for Murphy. Australia’s coaching staff had a prolonged conversation around the pitch on Friday morning, after leaving Murphy out and going with four quicks at the MCG.
Murphy then spent most of Friday’s training session bowling to Australia’s top order, while Alex Carey also had an extended run keeping to him.
With seven Tests to his name overseas, Murphy would be expected to come in for Jhye Richardson if he does play in Sydney.
England have promised to take the attack to Murphy, who played two Tests during the 2023 Ashes were he conceded 4.72 an over.
“Whoever plays, I think that’s the mantra of our team, is to try and put pressure on people,” opener Zak Crawley, said. “Todd’s a very good bowler, but I can envisage us trying to put some pressure on him, like we would all their bowlers.
That’s going to come with some risks, and if it’s turning it’s definitely going to be a threat. But I think we’ll try and put pressure on all their bowlers.”
The other question for Australia will be whether Cameron Green remains in the side, after Beau Webster was spotted fielding in the gully during slips training on Friday. Green has averaged 18.66 with the bat in this series. The SCG was the scene of Webster’s debut a year ago against India.
[Cricinfo]
Palestine was the deadliest place to work as a journalist in 2025, with the Middle East as a whole the most dangerous region for media professionals, according to a global journalist union.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said the region accounted for 74 deaths last year – more than half of the 128 journalists and media workers killed – in a new report released on Wednesday.
The Middle East was followed by Africa with 18 deaths, Asia Pacific (15), the Americas (11) and Europe (10), according to the report. The vast majority of those killed were men, but the list included 10 women.
“128 journalists killed in a single year is not just a statistic; it is a global crisis. These deaths are a brutal reminder that journalists are being targeted with impunity, simply for doing their job,” IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said.
Palestinian journalists were the biggest cohort of victims: 56 Palestinian media professionals were killed in 2025. Yemen followed, with 13 deaths, Ukraine, with eight, and Sudan, with six, according to the IFJ.
The Paris-based media union cited Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif as the most “emblematic” of the 56 journalists murdered in Palestine last year covering Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Al-Sharif, 28, was killed on August 10 alongside several colleagues when Israeli forces struck a media tent outside Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital.
The attack also killed Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, Al Jazeera camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, freelance camera operator Momen Aliwa and freelance journalist Mohammed al-Khalidi.
IFJ also cited an Israeli strike in early September on a Yemeni newspaper office as “one of the worst-ever attacks on a media office”. Thirteen journalists and media workers at the Houthi-affiliated “26 September” newspaper were killed, along with more than 20 other people.
Another nine deaths were ruled as accidents, while others – including two journalists in Syria and two in Iran – were “targeted and killed” because of their work, IFJ said.
While the Middle East was the deadliest region for the third year in a row in 2025, the Asia Pacific accounted for the largest number of journalists and media workers behind bars. Most cases in 2025 were in China and Hong Kong, which together accounted for 143 journalists, followed by 49 in Myanmar and 37 in Vietnam.
Europe was another detention hotspot last year, accounting for 149 imprisoned journalists. IFJ attributed the figure, up 40 percent from a year earlier, to “intensified repression in Azerbaijan and Russia”.
[Aljazeera]
United States President Donald Trump has said that he will delay the implementation of tariffs on upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets and vanities for one year, amid growing concerns over cost-of-living issues.
Trump signed an order on Wednesday night, during the New Year’s Eve holiday, pausing a planned 50 percent tariff on cabinets and vanities and a 30 percent tariff on upholstered furniture.
But the order maintained the 25 percent tariff he put in place for those products in September.
The US president had previously described the furniture tariffs as a step to “bolster American industry and protect national security”.
Polls indicate that rising prices and the cost of living are major concerns for people in the US as the country approaches its 2026 midterm elections, scheduled for November.
Voters hold President Trump’s policies, and tariffs in particular, at least partly responsible for their economic woes. A Politico poll released in December found that 30 percent of respondents cited tariffs as the primary reason prices were high, and 32 percent said that Trump bears “full responsibility” for the state of the economy.
A majority of respondents cited the cost of living as a top issue facing the country, while 32 percent cited the state of the economy. Democratic politicians have sought to hammer Trump and his Republican Party on affordability concerns, which Trump has waved away as a “hoax” perpetuated by his political rivals.
The Italian foreign ministry said on Thursday that the US had also agreed to slash proposed import duties on pasta products from 13 companies.
Previously, the Trump administration had threatened the pasta companies with additional tariffs of 92 percent, in addition to import taxes on European Union products.
Italy’s foreign ministry said that the US Commerce Department had agreed to bring that rate down to 2.26 percent for La Molisana and 13.98 percent for Garofalo, two Italian food companies the administration had accused of undercutting other pasta producers through unfairly low prices.
The other companies will face a rate of 9.09 percent.
“The recalculation of the duties is a sign that US authorities recognise our companies’ constructive willingness to cooperate,” the foreign ministry said.
[Aljazeera]
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