Palestinian | Pakistan

London police said on Saturday a man had been charged with criminal damage for graffitiing a statue of Britain’s World War II prime minister Winston Churchill with pro-Palestinian slogans. The monument in the central Parliament Square was smeared with red paint early on Friday and “Zionist war criminal” among the slogans written on it. The Metropolitan Police said Caspar San Giorgio, 38, of no fixed address, was charged early on Saturday, some 24 hours after his arrest. He had been detained within minutes of officers being alerted to the incident, according to the force. He was due to appear at a London magistrates’ court later on Saturday. The words “free Palestine” and “stop the genocide” were also sprayed on the statue, which workers cleaned off on Friday. The incident prompted Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office to call the damage “completely abhorrent” and commend police for the swift arrest. “Churchill was a great Briton,” a spokesman said. The 3.6 metre Churchill statue has been vandalised a number of...

Muslim and European countries, including Pakistan, on Wednesday condemned Israeli attempts aimed at the “unacceptable de facto annexation” of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. A joint statement by Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Brazil, France, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Egypt, Pakistan, Luxembourg, Norway, Palestine, Portugal, Qatar, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, the League of Arab States and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said that recent changes made by Israel to reclaim land in the occupied West Bank as “state property” are “wide-ranging” and accelerate illegal settlement activity and further entrench Israeli administration. Earlier this month, the Israeli government approved a proposal to register large areas of the occupied West Bank as “state property” for the first time since the Israeli occupation of the territory in 1967, in clear violation of international law, which states that an occupying power cannot confiscate land in occupied territories....

Pakistan has dispatched a special aircraft carrying 100 tons of tents to provide relief assistance to the Palestinian people.

Israel said on Sunday it was terminating the humanitarian operations of the international charity Doctors Without Borders in Gaza after the organisation failed to provide a list of its Palestinian staff. “The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism is moving to terminate the activities of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the Gaza Strip,” the ministry said. The decision follows “MSF’s failure to submit lists of local employees, a requirement applicable to all humanitarian organisations operating in the region”, it added, stating that the group will cease its work and leave Gaza by February 28. In December, the ministry announced it would prevent 37 aid organisations, including MSF, from operating in Gaza from March 1 for failing to provide detailed information about their Palestinian staff. It had alleged that two MSF employees had links with Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which the medical charity vehemently denies. On Sunday, the ministry said MSF had committed in early January ...

Pakistan has told the UN Security Council that the realisation of Palestinian statehood through a credible, time-bound political process remains the central objective of international efforts. Speaking at a Security Council open debate on the Palestinian question on Wednesday, Pakistan emphasised that the establishment of “an independent, sovereign, and contiguous state of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital” is the ultimate goal supported by the international community and essential for regional stability. Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said the unresolved Palestinian question lies at the heart of Middle East instability. He highlighted decades of Israeli occupation marked by dispossession, repression, and the denial of Palestinians’ inalienable rights, including self-determination. Referring to continued Israeli aggression in Gaza, Ahmad noted that over the past two years, the crisis has escalated to an unprece...

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was backing the newly appointed “Palestinian Technocratic Government” in Gaza, where Washington has announced the launch of a second phase in a ceasefire that went into effect in October but remains fragile. “I am backing a newly appointed Palestinian Technocratic Government, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, supported by the Board’s High Representative, to govern Gaza during its transition,” Trump said on social media. Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas signed off in October on Trump’s plan, which says the Palestinian technocratic body will be overseen by an international so-called “Board of Peace” that is meant to supervise Gaza’s governance for a transitional period. In another post, Trump said the “Board of Peace,” of which Trump himself is the chair, was formed, and its members would be announced shortly. Israel and Hamas have accused each other of ceasefire violations in Gaza, where, since the start of the truce in October, over 440 ...

NEW DELHI: Police in India-occupied Kashmir summoned a local cricketer for questioning on Friday after a video showing him wearing a helmet bearing a Palestinian flag sparked online outrage. According to the Indian Express newspaper, police initiated a 14-day preliminary inquiry after the video circulated on social media, purportedly showing Furqanul Haq, a resident of Pulwama, wearing the helmet during a local league match in Jammu. Police said the inquiry was ordered in view of the “sensitivity of the matter and its potential public order implications” and would examine the facts, the cricketer’s intent, and any possible linkages. Under the law, police can conduct preliminary inquiries with prior permission from a deputy superintendent of police for cognisable offences punishable by three to seven years of imprisonment. The controversy occurred during a match of the Jammu and Kashmir Champions League at Muthi, 10 kilometres from Jammu, after Furqan walked in to bat for his team, JK Eleven Kings, against Jam...

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday adopted a resolution calling for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied Palestinian territory, with Pakistan, which voted in favour of the text, reiterating that Palestinians must be allowed to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination. The resolution, titled ‘Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine’, was adopted with 151 countries voting in favour, 11 voting against and 11 abstaining, according to the summary posted by the UN. According to the summary, the UNGA, through the resolution, “stressed the need for urgent, collective efforts to launch credible negotiations on all final status issues in the Middle East peace process and called for the timely convening of an international conference in Moscow — as envisioned by Security Council resolution 1850 (2008) — to advance a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement”. “The Assembly also called on both parties to act responsibly, urgently reverse negative trends and create the co...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday said Pakistan was ready to commit its troops to the Gaza peace force, but distanced the country from any role in disarming the Palestinian resistance group Hamas. A cornerstone of the United States-brokered Gaza Peace Agreement is the establishment of the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), composed mainly of troops from Muslim-majority countries. According to officials close to the discussions, an announcement is expected soon from the federal government regarding the decision. Officials familiar with the deliberations, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said discussions within the government and military establishment were at an “advanced stage”. According to them, the tone of internal consultations suggests that Islamabad is inclined to take part in the mission. Last week, the UN Security Council (UNSC) adopted a US-drafted resolution endorsing President Donald Trump’s plan to end the conflict in Gaza. The ...

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Tuesday his country wanted to normalise relations with Israel through US President Donald Trump’s Abraham Accords, but first needed a “clear path” to Palestinian statehood. “We want to be part of the Abraham Accords. But we want also to be sure that we secure a clear path to a two-state solution,” the prince said in the Oval Office alongside Trump. “We’re going to work on that, to be sure that we can prepare the right situation as soon as possible,” he added. Trump said that he received a “positive response” from the Saudi crown prince about joining the Abraham Accords. The US president made the remarks in response to a question during a joint press conference with the Saudi Crown Prince, also known as MBS, during his visit to Washington. View this post on Instagram When asked about selling F-35 stealth fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, Trump replied in the affirmative, adding that they would be “pretty similar” to those owned by Israel, the jet’s sole operator in the M...

Gaza’s Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday said it had received the bodies of 15 Palestinian prisoners under the US-brokered ceasefire exchange deal. “The tenth batch of the bodies of Palestinian martyrs has arrived at Nasser Medical Complex in the Gaza Strip, numbering 15 martyrs,” the hospital said in a statement, noting that 285 bodies were received under the agreement in total. They were returned in exchange for the latest hostage body handed back from Gaza on Tuesday, that of Israeli-American soldier Itay Chen. Under the terms of the US-brokered agreement in effect since October 10, Israel returns 15 bodies of Palestinians for every body it receives of an Israeli hostage who had been held in Gaza. At the start of the truce, Hamas held 48 hostages in Gaza — 20 alive and 28 deceased. The militants have since released all the surviving captives, as well as 21 of the deceased’s remains. Israel has accused Hamas of dragging its feet in returning the bodies of deceased hostages, whi...

Israel’s coordinator for hostages and missing persons said on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports a bill that would authorise the execution of Palestinian prisoners. The far-right Jewish Power party, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, submitted the bill, which will go to a first reading in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) on Wednesday. The draft law states: “The death penalty shall be imposed on any person who intentionally, or through indifference, causes the death of an Israeli citizen out of racist motives, hatred, or intent to harm the State of Israel.” Bills in Israel must pass three readings in the Knesset to become law. Israel’s public broadcaster KAN reported that Coordinator Gal Hirsch told the Knesset’s National Security Committee on Monday that Netanyahu had expressed support for the measure. Hirsch said he had previously opposed the bill “because of the risk it posed to the lives of the living hostages in Gaza”. “The hostages are now alive, and therefore my oppos...

The former advocate general of the Israeli military, who had resigned last week after admitting to leaking a video to the media that allegedly showed Israeli soldiers raping a Palestinian prisoner, was arrested hours after she was reported to have gone missing, according to the The Times of Israel. Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi had resigned from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) over a criminal inquiry into the leaking of a video that allegedly showed soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee arrested during the Gaza conflict. She said that she was stepping down because she had approved the video’s leak in August last year. In a report on Sunday, the Times of Israel said that Tomer-Yerushalmi was reported missing by her family, which prompted a search by authorities. “The large search, involving police, rescue forces, and the military, was carried out after she was unreachable for several hours, and her car was later found at Hatzuk Beach near Tel Aviv. Hebrew media outlets reported that she had l...

The main Palestinian political factions, including Hamas, said on Friday they had agreed that an independent committee of technocrats would take over the running of post-conflict Gaza. During a meeting in Cairo, according to a joint statement published on the Hamas website, the groups agreed to hand “over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a temporary Palestinian committee composed of independent technocrats”. It said the committee would “manage the affairs of life and basic services in cooperation with Arab brothers and international institutions”. The statement also said the factions had agreed to work on unifying a common position “to confront the challenges facing the Palestinian cause”. It called for a meeting of all forces and factions to “agree on a national strategy and to revitalise the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people”. Hamas is not part of the PLO, which is dominated by its longtime rival Fatah. An informed source told AFP ...

Pakistan is among four possible destinations that are being considered to receive exiled Palestinian captives, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC), a non-governmental organisation established in 1993 to support political prisoners in Israeli occupation jails. They were freed in exchange for Israelis held in Gaza, but instead of going home, 154 former Palestinian prisoners were exiled to Egypt, where they are confined to a hotel and kept under tight surveillance. All of them had been sentenced by an Israeli military court to life in prison on charges of murder, belonging to Palestinian resistance groups banned by Israel and more. But when a ceasefire took effect in Gaza earlier this month, the group was put on buses and sent to Egypt, where authorities have put them in a five-star hotel that they cannot leave without clearance. Egypt first received 150 exiled prisoners in January, and more than eight months later, most of them are still in the same hotel, their fate undecided. PPC official Hasan ...

Palestinian state bedrock of Pakistan policy: PM

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday told the United Nations Security Council that now was the time for action to resolve the ongoing crisis in the Gaza Strip and also welcomed the increasing recognition of a Palestinian state by more countries. FM Dar is part of a delegation being led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at a high-level segment of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) from today, drawing the attention of the international community towards the “grave crisis” in Gaza and calling for “decisive action” to end the suffering of Palestinians, according to a statement by the government. World leaders gather in New York every September for several days of speeches at the annual UNGA session. Addressing a UNSC session on the Middle East, FM Dar said: “Gaza has become a graveyard for humanity and the global conscience. We call upon the Security Council and the broader international community to act decisively, to uphold human dignity, to ensure accountab...

Pakistan has welcomed the recent announcements by several countries recognizing the State of Palestine, calling the move a victory for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

Britain, Australia and Canada on Sunday recognised a Palestinian state in a seismic shift in decades of Western foreign policy, triggering swift Israeli anger. Portugal was also to recognise Palestinian statehood later on Sunday, as Israel came under huge international pressure over the conflict in Gaza triggered almost two years ago by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognises the State of Palestine,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a message on X. Britain and Canada became the first G7 countries to take the step, with France and other nations expected to follow at the annual UN General Assembly, which opens Monday in New York. “Canada recognises the State of Palestine and offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote on X. Meanwhile, Australia announced ...

ISLAMABAD - The National Assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution reaffirming Pakistan’s historic and unwavering support for the Palestinian people and their struggle for freedom, dignity and justice.