Middle East crisis

Gaza war
EU Commission proposes sanctions against Israel

The EU Commission wants to restrict trade with Israel and impose sanctions on two Israeli ministers, says the Union's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas according to Reuters. The proposals are a response to Israel's warfare in Gaza.

- The Israeli government's advance into Gaza City is a new escalation and will further deepen the humanitarian crisis, she says at a press conference according to TT.

- Today I have presented a robust sanctions package against Hamas terrorists, extremist ministers in the Israeli government and violent settlers. The Commission has also adopted a proposal to partially freeze trade conditions, she continues.

The ministers in question are Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. The details of the proposal will be presented later today.

Museum Treasures Rescued from Gaza at Last Minute

After nine hours of frantic negotiations with the Israeli military, a desperate hunt for trucks and six hours of frantic packing, thousands of archaeological artifacts were saved from destruction by Israeli bombs, reports the AP.

The museum items were stored in a warehouse in Gaza City. Israel claimed that Hamas had lookouts and surveillance equipment in the building and razed it to the ground on Sunday, as part of an expanded offensive on the city.

At the last minute, the human rights organization Première Urgence Internationale managed to rescue the objects, which include world heritage sites from the Byzantine Empire and some of the oldest evidence of Christianity in Gaza. They are now being stored in another location in the city. However, several objects were damaged and some had to be left behind in the stressful move, the news agency writes. 

Genocide Issue
UN Expert: Israel's Response is Boring – Seems Written by AI

Israel strongly opposes the conclusions of the UN-appointed investigation that concluded that the nation bears responsibility for a genocide in Gaza. Among other things, the three human rights experts who wrote the report were accused of "Hamas propaganda", which caused one of the authors to react.

Chris Sidoti says that the Israeli responses have become "so boring", writes Sky News.

- They say the same thing every time. They produce responses with ChatGPT these days. And they spend so much money on propaganda in the State Department that you would think they would manage to come up with something of their own, says Sidoti.

He sees it as a sign that Israel has not read the material and says that he wishes Israel had seen the evidence.