Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that Gazans are experiencing an “epic” humanitarian crisis, as calls for a lasting ceasefire grow during the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas.
“The people of Gaza are in the midst of an epic humanitarian catastrophe before the eyes of the world,” said Mr Guterres. “We must not look away.”
The word body has scaled up the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza during the truce, but the UN chief said the level of aid “remains completely inadequate to meet the huge needs”.
Mr Guterres welcomed the two-day truce extension arrangement reached by Israel and Hamas with the assistance of the governments of Qatar, Egypt and the US.
“Intense negotiations are taking place to prolong the truce which we strongly welcome but we believe we need a true humanitarian ceasefire,” he said at a UN Security Council meeting led by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
The truce has brought a temporary halt to fighting that began on October 7, when Hamas militants poured over the border into Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 240. Israel's ensuing air and ground campaign in Gaza has killed more than 15,000 people, according to Hamas authorities.
Meanwhile, said Mr Guterres, an estimated 45 per cent of all homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed and 80 per cent of civilians in Gaza have been displaced.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Maliki said his people are facing an “existential threat” amid the conflict.
“The massacres cannot be allowed to resume,” he told the UN Security Council. “This is not a war. This is a carnage that nothing and no one can justify.”
He emphasised the importance of enabling the Palestinian people to return to their homes and start the process of rebuilding their lives, while also calling for the lifting of the Israeli-imposed siege.
Mr Wang reiterated his country’s opposition to the collective punishment of people in Gaza as well as the forced transfer and attacking of Palestinian civilians.
He called for increased international and regional diplomatic efforts and the revitalising the political prospects of the two-state solution, adding that the resumption of fighting in the northern enclave could turn into a “calamity that devours the whole region”.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, along with his counterparts from Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia and Malaysia, called the pause a “small glimmer of hope” which has resulted in much needed aid entering Gaza and the release of some of the hostages.
But, he stressed, the aid that is entering is by “far less than is needed”.
“The danger is if this truce expires … we will return to the killing at the scale that we have seen, which is unbearable,” he said.
The US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged Israel to take “every possible measure to prevent civilian casualties as it exercises right to safeguard its people from acts of terror”.
“We know Hamas continues to use civilians as human shields purposefully cruelly putting Palestinian civilians in harm's way,” she said. “But this does not lessen Israel's responsibility to protect civilians, consistent with international humanitarian law.”
Washington, she added, would like to see “this humanitarian pause extended”.
“Israel has been very clear that it is prepared to continue the pause and fighting for every day that Hamas releases an additional 10 hostages. The ball is now in Hamas’s court, and if Hamas decides not to extend this deal, the responsibility will rest squarely on its shoulders,” she noted.
Khalifa Al Marar, UAE Minister of State, condemned Israel’s collective punishment policies against the Palestinian people, as well as the attempts to displace them.
“The future and the governance of Gaza must remain in the hands of the Palestinian people. Any presumptions or plans that seek to separate the leather strip from the state of Palestine are unacceptable,” the minister told the UN Security Council.
He also stressed the need for the international community to adopt unified rules condemning breaches of international humanitarian law, including the indiscriminate bombing of civilians and UN facilities.
The UAE minister accused Israel of continuing to build and expand its settlement activities, further dividing Palestinian land and violating international law and Security Council resolutions.
“These illegal practices must stop now.”
Company info
Company name: Entrupy
Co-founders: Vidyuth Srinivasan, co-founder/chief executive, Ashlesh Sharma, co-founder/chief technology officer, Lakshmi Subramanian, co-founder/chief scientist
Based: New York, New York
Sector/About: Entrupy is a hardware-enabled SaaS company whose mission is to protect businesses, borders and consumers from transactions involving counterfeit goods.
Initial investment/Investors: Entrupy secured a $2.6m Series A funding round in 2017. The round was led by Tokyo-based Digital Garage and Daiwa Securities Group's jointly established venture arm, DG Lab Fund I Investment Limited Partnership, along with Zach Coelius.
Total customers: Entrupy’s customers include hundreds of secondary resellers, marketplaces and other retail organisations around the world. They are also testing with shipping companies as well as customs agencies to stop fake items from reaching the market in the first place.
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White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
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Brief scores:
Toss: Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi, chose to field
Environment Agency: 193-3 (20 ov)
Ikhlaq 76 not out, Khaliya 58, Ahsan 55
Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi: 194-2 (18.3 ov)
Afridi 95 not out, Sajid 55, Rizwan 36 not out
Result: Pakhtunkhwa won by 8 wickets
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
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Price: Dh136,814
Business Insights
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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6.30pm: Baniyas (PA) Group 2 Dh125,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
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10pm: Handicap (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Most F1 world titles
7 — Michael Schumacher (1994, ’95, 2000, ’01 ’02, ’03, ’04)
7 — Lewis Hamilton (2008, ’14,’15, ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20)
5 — Juan Manuel Fangio (1951, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57)
4 — Alain Prost (1985, ’86, ’89, ’93)
4 — Sebastian Vettel (2010, ’11, ’12, ’13)
