Human Rights Glance
The United States has criticised its allies for failing to stop a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that was raided and seized by Israeli naval forces earlier this week.
US Department of State spokesperson Tommy Pigott on Thursday described the flotilla as a “baseless, counterproductive stunt”.
He said Washington expects allies to "take decisive action", including denying port access, docking, departure and refuelling to vessels involved in the mission.
"This flotilla circumvents mechanisms designed to ensure humanitarian assistance is received by civilians," Pigott said in a statement.
"The United States will explore using available tools to impose consequences on those who provide support to this pro-Hamas flotilla and supports our allies’ legal actions against."
US criticises allies over failure to stop Gaza aid flotilla
Red State Sued Over 'Punitive' Bathroom Law
Six transgender Idahoans filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday challenging the state’s new bathroom law, which civil rights experts say is the most restrictive in the nation.
The law, which is set to go into effect in July, carries criminal penalties for people if they enter a bathroom or locker room that does not align with their sex assigned at birth in both government-owned buildings and private businesses.
Anyone who “knowingly” enters such a bathroom could face a year in jail for a misdemeanor first offense, or up to five years in prison for a felony second offense.
Idaho’s bathroom law is the “most punitive and broadest sweeping law in the country,” said Paul Carlos Southwick, the legal director for the ACLU of Idaho. So far, it is the only state to criminalize transgender people’s bathroom usage in private businesses.
'Piracy': Israel raids Gaza-bound aid flotilla off Greek coast
According to the Global Sumud Flotilla aid mission, at least 15 boats were raided, with those on board “abducted” by Israeli forces and unaccounted for.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said approximately 175 activists from more than 20 boats were in Israeli custody.
The Global Sumud Flotilla said various vessels were “systematically disabled” after being raided, leaving activists stranded at sea.
“After smashing engines and destroying navigation arrays, the military retreated - intentionally leaving hundreds of civilians stranded on powerless, broken vessels directly in the path of a massive approaching storm,” it said.
Shortly before the raid, activists said they were approached by military speedboats identifying themselves as Israeli. Soldiers reportedly pointed lasers and semi-automatic weapons at those on board, ordering them to get on their hands and knees. They added that boat communications were being jammed.
“No state has the right to claim, police, or occupy international waters. Yet, that is exactly what Israel has done, extending its regime of control outward, occupying the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Europe."
In Gaza, life flickers as power cuts shatter livelihoods and healthcare
After hours spent carefully preparing her cakes, Abrar Abdu stood stunned in silence before her oven.
In her small, darkened workshop in Gaza City, the only light came from her phone’s torch, illuminating more than 27 ruined cakes - the result of a sudden power cut and a faulty oven.
Abdu, 34, who runs a small cake business in the Palestinian enclave, was forced to apologise to customers after failing to deliver their orders, refund every payment and absorb the full cost of the wasted ingredients.
“I have incurred devastating financial losses due to the chronic instability of the electricity generators,” she told Middle East Eye.
The losses have pushed her to the brink, she added, threatening not only her liveLike Gaza’s 2.2 million residents, Abdu has struggled to secure a reliable electricity supply since Israel severed all power lines to the strip at the start of the genocide in 2023.
The territory’s sole power plant shut down on 11 October that year after running out of fuel amid the blockade on energy supplies.
'If the current situation persists, Gaza will sink into total darkness'
- Mustafa Abu Hassira, association of generator in Gaza
Since then, Gaza has been plunged into near-total darkness, with residents relying on limited solar power or costly private generators.
Israel must stop using water as a weapon of collective punishment in Gaza
Israeli authorities are using access to water as a weapon against Palestinians, including by systematically depriving people in Gaza of water in a campaign of collective punishment, according to a report released today by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
MSF calls on Israeli authorities to immediately restore unhindered access to water, sanitation, and hygiene for Gaza’s 2.1 million residents. Israel's allies, including the United States, must use their leverage to pressure Israel to do so.
Deliberately denying Palestinians access to water is an integral part of Israel’s genocide. Through data and medical testimonies, the MSF report, “Water as a Weapon: Israel’s Destruction and Deprivation of Water and Sanitation in Gaza,” documents how the weaponization of water by Israeli authorities is not an isolated act, but part of a recurrent, systematic, and cumulative pattern. The denial of access to water is occurring alongside the direct and continued killing of civilians, the devastation of health facilities, and the flattening of homes, which has caused mass displacement. Together, these actions constitute a deliberate infliction of destructive and inhumane conditions on Palestinians in Gaza.
Israeli authorities know that without water life ends, yet they have deliberately and systematically obliterated water infrastructure in Gaza — while consistently blocking water-related supplies from entering.
Israeli authorities know that without water life ends, yet they have deliberately and systematically obliterated water infrastructure in Gaza — while consistently blocking water-related supplies from entering.
Former Mossad Chief Compares West Bank Israeli Settler Violence to That of Nazis During Holocaust
Tamir Pardo, the former chief of Israel’s powerful Mossad intelligence agency, drew international attention on Monday by saying that what he witnessed during a tour of the Occupied West Bank reminded him of the treatment of the Jewish people during the Holocaust by Nazi Germany in the 1930s ad 40s.
Pardo, who served as Mossad director from 2011 to 2016, expressed sorrow and shame over what he saw, invoking his Jewish family’s history.
Observers noted that Pardo’s statements—which echo, at least in certain key ways, those of experts and humanitarian advocates who have documented the abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT)—would come under harsh rebuke by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) or other pro-Israel hardliners in the United States if spoken by others.
“The former head of the Mossad is comparing the actions of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank to Nazis in the Holocaust,” said journalist Mehdi Hasan. “If someone said that in the West they’d be accused of antisemitism under the IHRA definition.”
Rights Group Demands Release of Gaza’s Dr. Abu Safiya After Israeli Court Extends Detention
An Israeli human rights group is demanding the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, after a court ordered his detention extended.
Physicians for Human Rights Israel on Tuesday blasted the Beersheba District Court for extending the detention of Abu Safiya, who has been held in prison since December 27, 2024, without being charged with any criminal offenses.
The court justified keeping Abu Saifya detained under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law, which allows for the detention of Palestinians for long periods without trial.
“The court upheld the detention despite arguments that detaining a doctor while performing his medical duties constitutes unlawful detention,” said Physicians for Human Rights Israel. “Dr. Abu Safiya is currently held in Negev Prison under harsh conditions, without access to his medication or receiving medical treatment, despite the deterioration of his health.”
The group added that it is demanding “the immediate release of Dr. Abu Safiya along with 13 other detained doctors, as well as all medical personnel currently held in Israel. We call on the international community to intervene and put an end to this abuse.”
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