Category World News

Dozens of global writers and scholars have signed a declaration of solidarity to support hunger-striking prisoners from the proscribed Palestine Action group.

Author Naomi Klein, novelist Sally Rooney, activist and academic Angela Davis, philosopher Judith Butler and journalist George Monbiot are among the signatories backing three British activists in the United Kingdom who are refusing food until their demands are met.

Heba Muraisi and Kamran Ahmed have been on hunger strike for 71 and 64 days, respectively, as part of a protest that began in November. A third prisoner, Lewie Chiaramello, is also refusing food on alternating days due to type 1 diabetes.

The activists are being held in different prisons over their alleged involvement in break-ins at the UK subsidiary of the Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems in Bristol and a Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Oxfordshire. They deny all the charges against them, which include burglary and violent disorder.

The hunger-striking prisoners are demanding bail and the right to a fair trial, as well as a reversal of the UK government’s designation of Palestine Action as a “terrorist organisation”.

They are also calling for the closure of all Elbit sites in the UK and an end to what they describe as censorship inside prison, including the withholding of mail, phone calls and books.

Five of the eight people who took part in the initial protest have ended their hunger strikes due to health concerns.

All eight of the activists will have spent more than a year in custody without trials, exceeding the UK’s usual six-month pre-trial detention limit.

There is growing international pressure on the UK government to take action to preserve the lives of the Palestine Action prisoners.

Former hunger strikers from Ireland, Palestine and Guantanamo Bay have issued an urgent appeal calling on British ministers to meet families and legal representatives of the activists.

Friends and relatives of the prisoners have told Al Jazeera that they are determined to continue refusing food until all of their demands are met, despite their rapidly deteriorating health.

On New Year’s Eve, hundreds in Belfast gathered in solidarity with the Palestine Action activists on hunger strikes. Their chants echoed past murals that do not merely decorate the city, but testify to its troubled past.

Along the Falls Road, Irish republican murals sit beside Palestinian ones. The International Wall, once a rolling canvas of global struggles, has become known as the Palestinian wall. Poems by the late Palestinian writer Refaat Alareer, killed in an Israeli air attack in December 2023, run across its length. Images sent by Palestinian artists have been painted by local hands.

Three Palestinians have been killed in the southern Gaza Strip in Israel’s latest violation of October’s ceasefire in its genocidal war on the besieged enclave, according to sources in Gaza, as an anti-Hamas militia has claimed an attack that has killed a senior security officer.

An Israeli quadcopter drone struck down three Palestinians in Khan Younis on Monday, the sources told Al Jazeera.

According to the sources, a Palestinian woman was also wounded by Israeli gunfire in the al-Batn al-Sameen area of Khan Younis.

The attacks came after Israeli army forces carried out air strikes and shelling across several parts of the enclave on Monday.

The three people killed were identified as Wissam Abdullah Salem al-Amour, Mahmoud Subhi Breika and Atef Samir al-Bayouk, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The Israeli army has killed more than 71,400 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,000 in its war, which began in October 2023. It has left the enclave in ruins with its homes, hospitals, schools and civilian infrastructure decimated.

Despite a ceasefire that began on October 10, the Israeli army has continued its attacks, killing more than 440 Palestinians and wounding over 1,200 since then, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

Israel has violated the ceasefire at least 1,193 times from October 10 to Friday through the continuation of attacks by air, artillery and gunfire, the Government Media Office in Gaza said.

Police chief killed

The Gaza Ministry of Interior said the police chief of Khan Younis, Lieutenant Colonel Mahmoud Al-Astal, was killed by gunfire from a car that fled the scene in the al-Mawasi area along Gaza’s coast, west of Khan Younis.

The ministry said Al-Astal’s killing was carried out by “agents of the occupation”.

Security services have opened an investigation into the assassination and are working to track down the perpetrators, who are likely to be in an anti-Hamas militia working with the Israeli military, the ministry suggested.

The 40-year-old was killed in “a shooting carried out from a vehicle occupied by several agents” of Israel who fled the scene, a statement by the ministry said.

A militia leader active in areas under Israeli occupation claimed responsibility for the assassination.

The shooting comes about a month after the killing of Ahmed Zamzam, an officer in Gaza’s Interior Ministry.

Zamzam was shot dead in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has opened an investigation and warned of possible disciplinary action for “unacceptable behaviour of players and officials” as they clashed on the pitch on Saturday at the end of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarterfinal between Algeria and Nigeria.

“CAF has referred the matters to the disciplinary board for investigation and has called for appropriate action to be taken if the identified persons were to be found guilty of any wrongdoing,” said African football’s governing body in a statement on Monday.

Tensions spilled over on the pitch at the end of the January 10 game in Marrakesh, Morocco, which Nigeria won 2-0 thanks to second-half goals by Victor Osimhen and Akor Adams.

Referee Issa Sy was shielded from irate Algeria team staff and was escorted off the field. Video clips showed Sy was still being pursued in the mixed zone for media and broadcasters as he made his way to his cabin.

Any disciplinary action could have an impact on the Super Eagles as they prepare for their semifinal showdown on Wednesday against Morocco.

“CAF strongly condemns any inappropriate behaviour which occurs during matches, especially those targeting the refereeing team or match organisers,” CAF said.

Video showed accredited media fighting in the mixed zone as they waited for players to pass through for interviews after the match.

Algeria’s federation also confirmed it had filed a complaint with CAF over Sy’s performance.

“The Algerian Football Federation cannot ignore the refereeing performance observed during the last match, which raised numerous questions and caused considerable confusion,” it said in a statement.

“Certain decisions ‌have damaged the credibility of African refereeing and do nothing to enhance the value of continental football on the international stage.”

CAF said it was also investigating incidents in Friday’s last-eight tie between the hosts and Cameroon.