Category World News

After launching a string of deadly strikes on the area and pressing for a punishing new ground offensive, Israel’s military has issued a second forced displacement order to residents of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.

The military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted the displacement order on X on Monday, and it also applies to Bani Suhaila and Abasan, two other nearby villages. Palestinians are urged to travel west toward al-Mawasi in the document.

The post read, “Khan Younis governorate will be regarded as a dangerous combat zone from this moment.”

As Israel’s expanded offensive progresses, the Israeli military issued a separate displacement order for parts of central Gaza, including the town of al-Qarara.

A famine is looming in the area where the new order is also being enforced by Israeli forces. At least 60 people have been killed since dawn in the Khan Younis area as a result of Israel’s relentless airstrikes, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

The majority of Gaza’s population has been repeatedly displaced by previous forced evacuation orders throughout Israel’s 19-month war. Many Palestinians have fled to Israeli-designated “safe zones,” including al-Mawasi, after being bombarded once more.

“Castody in a state”

The displacement order “signifies a potential full-scale attack” in Khan Younis, according to Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, who is reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

“Many families are engulfed in chaos,” the statement reads. According to Abu Azzoum, “They are trying to get everything they can from their properties and move to al-Mawasi, where the Israeli military has instructed them to go,” adding that two people were killed earlier in the day by an attack targeting al-Mawasi.

Any sense of security for Palestinians has been destroyed, according to Abu Azzoum, who issued the orders repeatedly.

Prior to the war, Israeli forces carried out a massive operation that destroyed most of Khan Younis. Israeli deadly strikes have also been deadly at Al-Mawasi, where tens of thousands of people have fled.

Israel announced in the midst of the newly launched air and ground offensive that it would relocate hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and distribute limited aid within the territory, a move that aid organizations and the UN have long criticized.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in a video message on Monday that the military would “take control of the entire Gaza Strip.”

He claimed that the government’s plan to allow “minimal” aid into Gaza is intended to lessen the pressure from allies, who, he claimed, cannot tolerate “images of… mass hunger.” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the aid will not be permitted to enter the Palestinian territory because the country’s two million Palestinians are “starving.”

Since early March, Israel has been putting Gaza under a total blockade, which has caused the country’s population to experience famine there because the country’s healthcare system is still under Israeli attack and is rapidly deteriorating as a result.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Sarhan, one of its commanders, was killed in Khan Younis, according to the military branch of the Palestinian-run Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza.

Sarhan was killed early on Monday morning in an Israeli-backed covert operation supported by Israeli drones and jets.

Russian authorities have designated Amnesty International as an “undesirable” organisation, alleging that the rights group propagates pro-war content backed by the Western allies of Ukraine, in the latest crackdown on Kremlin critics.

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement on Monday that Amnesty’s London office has acted as a “centre for the preparation of global Russophobic projects paid for by accomplices of the Kyiv regime”, according to state-run media.

It claimed that since the start of the war in February 2022, Amnesty has been “doing everything possible to intensify the military confrontation in the region”, including by “insisting on the political and economic isolation of our country”.

The office also emphasised that members of the international rights group “support extremist organisations and finance the activities of foreign agents”.

Amnesty did not immediately respond to the allegations.

The designation means the international human rights group must stop any work in Russia, and those accused of cooperating with or supporting it will be exposed to criminal prosecution.

This could even include anyone who shares Amnesty International’s reports on social media.

Russia currently recognises 223 entities as “undesirable” organisations, including some prominent independent, as well as Western-backed news outlets and rights groups. Some of those include Transparency International, Latvia-based outlet Meduza, and US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

Amnesty International was established in 1961 to document and report human rights violations around the globe and campaign for the release of those deemed unjustly imprisoned.

The organisation won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977, having been recognised “for worldwide respect for human rights” and efforts to combat torture, advocate for prisoners of conscience, and promote global adherence to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In addition to covering human rights violations during the Ukraine war, the group has documented massacres in the Gaza Strip and Israeli apartheid, as well as atrocities in Sudan and many other countries.

Moscow has intensified its crackdown on human rights groups and civil society organisations as relations with the West plummeted over the Ukraine war and the expansion of NATO.

This has included expanding the “undesirable” and “foreign agent” designations to shut down opposing voices, as well as the suppression of some minority groups ‘ rights.

The move on Monday came as US President Donald Trump was due to hold a phone call with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid efforts to end the fighting.

The diplomatic efforts follow inconclusive direct talks, the first in three years, between delegations from Ukraine and Russia in Turkiye’s Istanbul on Friday.

The brief talks yielded only an agreement to swap 1, 000 prisoners of war, according to the heads of both delegations, in what would be their biggest such exchange since the war began.

Gary Lineker, a former England captain and the face of football on British television for more than two decades, will leave the BBC, the public broadcaster said in a statement on Monday.

Lineker, 64, had been due to cover the 2026 FIFA World Cup for the BBC, but his early departure comes after he apologised last week for sharing a social media post about Zionism which featured a picture of a rat, historically used as an anti-Semitic insult.

Lineker said that he deleted the posts after learning of the offensive references.

According to multiple British media reports, the high-profile host is “bowing out by mutual agreement”.

He rose to become the BBC’s highest-paid star after presenting its Match of the Day (MOTD) highlights show for 25 years. The BBC announced last November that he would step down from MOTD this year, but carry on working for it until 2026.

“Gary has acknowledged the mistake he made. Accordingly, we have agreed he will step back from further presenting after this season,” BBC director general Tim Davie said in a statement.

Lineker repeated his apology on Monday, saying he would never consciously repost anything anti-Semitic.

“I recognise the error and upset that I caused, and reiterate how sorry I am,” he said. “Stepping back now feels like the responsible course of action.”

Voicing Palestinian support

In recent years, Lineker’s desire to put forward his political views on social media has caused headaches for the BBC, which has strict rules on impartiality.

He was temporarily taken off air in 2023 after he criticised the previous government’s immigration policy on social media. In 2018, he opposed Brexit and called for a second referendum.

But it was Lineker’s support for the Palestinians affected by the war on Gaza that most recently brought him into conflict with the BBC.

Lineker had already caused friction at the public broadcaster when he recently said Israel was to blame for the origins of the Gaza conflict, because it turned the occupied territory into an “outdoor prison”.

Speaking on May 9 in an interview with The Telegraph at the Football Business Awards, just days before he was accused of the anti-Semitic social post on X, Lineker expressed that his issues are with the Israeli government rather than Jewish people.

“Obviously, October 7 was awful, but it’s very important to know your history and to study the massacres that happened prior to this, many of them against the Palestinian people,” he said in the interview with The Telegraph, which was published last Thursday, on May 15.

“Yes, Israelis have a right to defend themselves. But it appears that Palestinians don’t – and that is where it’s wrong. Palestinians are caged in this outdoor prison in Gaza, and now it’s an outdoor prison that they’re bombing,” Lineker added.

In the same interview, the TV host also disputed whether Israel could justifiably argue that it was still acting in self-defence. “I understand that they needed to avenge, but I don’t think they’ve helped their own hostage situation at all,” Lineker said.

“People say it’s a complex issue, but I don’t think it is. It’s inevitable that the Israeli occupation was going to cause massive problems, and I just feel for the Palestinians.”

The former striker played for England for eight years until 1992 and had been a top scorer for Leicester City, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur in the 1980s and early 1990s.

He is also the co-founder of a podcasting production business, Goalhanger, which makes series such as the podcasts The Rest Is History and The Rest Is Football.

Lineker will leave his role at the BBC on Sunday after his final episode of Match of the Day.

The leader of Tanzania’s largest opposition party has testified in court during a hearing for the treason charge, which could lead to the death penalty.

Tundu Lissu issued a message of defiance to supporters on Monday as he took his place in the dock at Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in the capital, Dar-es-Salaam. The trial has heightened growing concerns about threats to democracy in East Africa.

According to a video of the courtroom shared by his Chadema party on X, Lissu entered with his fist raised in the air as his supporters chanted, “No reforms, no election.”

“We’ll be fine,” the message. As he addressed supporters, Lissu said, “Don’t worry at all.”

After being forced to appear via videolink from prison for an earlier hearing on April 24, the opposition leader, who finished second in the 2020 presidential election, insisted on going to the hearing in person.

Lissu, who was shot 16 times in a 2017 attack, was accused of treason last month for a speech that, according to prosecutors, called on the populace to rebel and obstruct presidential and legislative elections that were scheduled for October.

After demanding changes to an electoral system that it claimed favors the ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi, since the country’s independence from British rule in 1961, his Chadema party was exempt from the polls this year.

#NoReformsNoElection photo twitter.com/DYxD1RauWl

Samia Suluhu Hassan, who intends to run for re-election in October, has had a strong record with respect to the rights of his arrests. She has reaffirmed that the government is committed to upholding human rights.

However, several Kenyan rights activists, including a former justice minister, claim they were denied entry to Tanzania as they attempted to travel to Lissu’s trial.

According to X, former minister Martha Karua, a well-known lawyer and opposition figurehead, and former Supreme Court President Willy Mutunga were just two of the people who were detained when they landed at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar-es-Salaam.

Paul Mselle, Tanzania’s immigration spokesperson, did not respond to requests for comment right away.

After being denied entry and returned to Nairobi, Karua told the Kenyan broadcaster NTV on Monday that “we went out there in solidarity.”

“The state cannot be used as a personal tool,” he said. You can’t deport people who disagree with you or disagree with your opinions.

As we arrived at Julius Nyerere Airport in Dar es Salaam to observe @TunduALissu’s case, we, @WMutunga, @Honeyfarsafi, and I were detained.

Lawyers for Tanzania and human rights advocates were on the ground during the trip.

The detention has been halted without explanation. pic. https://twitter.com/ad8UVtT4me

Hussein Khalid and Mutunga were being detained on Monday in an interrogation room at the Julius Nyerere airport, according to Khalid, who spoke on X.

In response to growing concerns about democracy in East Africa, Karua claimed last month that Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda were “collaborating” in their “total erosion of democratic principles.”

Before elections are scheduled by June 2026 at the latest, Ethiopia’s most powerful opposition party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, was prohibited from any political activity last week.

President Salva Kiir has put his long-term rival First Vice President Riek Machar under house arrest after South Sudan repeatedly delayed holding its first national elections.

Four people have been killed and 20 have been injured by a car bomb that detonated near a market in Pakistan’s restive southwest, according to a government official.

Deputy Commissioner Abdullah Riaz said on Monday that the attack was occurring close to a market in the city of Qillah Abdullah in the province of Balochistan. Separatist groups have mounted violence in the province’s border with Afghanistan.

According to the official, the blast on Sunday night damaged several stores and a paramilitary force-occupied building’s exterior wall. No one was at the bombing’s immediate full-scale condemnation.

The Balochistan government’s official spokeswoman condemned the incident and said an investigation was being conducted.

An IED (also known as an IED) had been planted in a parked car, according to local security official Ghulab Khan, who reported to the AFP news agency. It appeared to point to the paramilitary site, but the attack was bungled.

He claimed that it appears the IED exploded before reaching its intended location. “Civil passers-by are the only ones who have been killed,” they say.

The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which was declared a “terrorist organization” by the United States in 2019, has long been a source of conflict in Balochistan.

In recent months, the ISIL (ISIS) local chapter has expanded its activities.

Four paramilitary officials were killed in the province in the wake of the attack in Qillah Abdullah.

Seven army soldiers were killed just two weeks ago when an IED struck their car. In an assault on a train carrying hundreds of passengers in March, BLA fighters carried out a mass murder of 33 people, mostly soldiers.

Since the Taliban’s rule over Kabul in 2021, violence has risen sharply in Pakistan’s border regions.

The Taliban have refuted Islamabad’s claim that it allowed its western neighbor to launch attacks.

India has also frequently accused Pakistan of supporting the BLA and the Taliban in Pakistan.

The BLA sought Indian support for Pakistan in a eponymous move this month.

In response to the escalating hostility between the nuclear-armed neighbors, the appeal was made in a May 11 statement.

The Baloch nation can end this terrorist state and lay the groundwork for a peaceful, prosperous, and independent Balochistan, according to the BLA. “If we receive political, diplomatic, and defense support from the world, especially from India,” the BLA said.

It assured New Delhi that its fighters would launch a new offensive against Pakistan’s military close to Afghanistan, where the Taliban have strongholds.