Following 260 days of war, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip continue to live amidst famine and an ongoing genocidal onslaught by the Israeli military. Since Israel began the invasion of Rafah on May 6, the cycle of destruction and genocide has continued unabated. In June, the world was treated to horrible scenes of slaughter of innocent civilians when the Israeli military carried out strikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp, first on June 6 killing 33 Palestinians, then on June 8 when Israeli forces entered the camp disguised as humanitarian aid trucks to rescue hostages, where 274 Palestinians, including 64 children and 57 women were killed and entire residential blocks were wiped out to rescue 4 Israeli hostages. The massacre showed how closely the US worked with Israel, providing all weapons and ammunitions to kill Gazans on one hand, while using the excuse of the “humanitarian” pier as a cover to aid Israel in military operations leading to the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians. While the Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that Israel was wrong to think it could eliminate Hamas, the IDF nonetheless has continued in its genocidal spree – on June 20, 45 Palestinians were killed in IDF designated ‘safe zones’ in Rafah and Central Gaza, from where shocking videos emerged of beheaded babies and strewn pieces of human flesh, while on the same day 22 people were killed in a shelling near the Red Cross Office; on June 22 Israeli strikes killed 42 Palestinians in Gaza City while 22 were killed in Al-Shati area.

Nevertheless, Israel has faced staunch resistance from the Palestinian resistance movement in Gaza, which has uploaded videos of devastating attacks on Israeli convoys and soldiers on an almost daily basis. Hezbollah and Houthi movements have also kept up attacks on Israel on a limited scale, the former releasing extensive reconnaissance videos of secret Israeli military sites that have confounded and shocked the Israeli administration and military. On a related note, the need for more military men in the IDF as the threat of a regional war looms has pushed the Israeli courts to rule that ultra-Orthodox men previously exempt from military services must be drafted, a move that has threatened to unravel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, and led to large-scale demonstrations from ultra-Orthodox Israeli groups. Meanwhile, Israel has continued settler-colonial operations in the West Bank, as Israeli authorities approved the seizure of 12.7 square kilometres of land in the occupied West Bank. In the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo Accords. Among other notable events in July included UN official Chris Sidoti calling “The Israeli army is one of the most criminal in the world,” and UN environmental impact report stating thirty-nine million tonnes of debris was created by the war, while water and sanitation systems in Gaza destroyed by Israeli forces, and international criticism of International Women's Media Foundation for revoking award of Palestinian reporter Maha Husseini after pressure from a US conservative group.

Meanwhile, the material and human catastrophe of the war has been piling up, with no end in sight. The number of Palestinian casualties in Gaza as of July 3 is at least 37,953 dead, including more than 15,000 children, while the number of Palestinians wounded has reached more than 87,266. The number of missing people is more than 10,000. In the Occupied West Bank, there have been at least 561 deaths, of whom more than 138 are children, while more than 5,300 are injured. According to the latest data from the UN, WHO and the Palestinian government as of June 30, more than half of Gaza homes have been destroyed or damaged, 80% of commercial facilities, 88% of school buildings, 17 out of 35 hospitals are partially functioning, 130 ambulances have been destroyed, while 267 places of worship have been damaged. Every hour in Gaza, 15 people are killed, of whom 6 are children, while 35 people are injured and 12 buildings are destroyed. As of April 5, more than 100 journalists, predominantly Palestinians, had been killed since October 7. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), 96 Palestinian, three Lebanese, and four Israeli journalists were killed. ‎

References: 2023 Israel–Hamas war. (2023, October 25). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved July 6, 2024, from 2024 Nuseirat rescue operation. (2024, July 4). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved July 6, 2024, from AJLabs. (2023, October 9). Israel-Gaza war in maps and charts: Live tracker. Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera. Israeli army spokesman: Anyone who thinks Hamas can be eliminated is wrong. (2024, June 20). Middle East Eye. Israeli high court rules ultra-orthodox men must serve in the military. (2024, June 25). Middle East Eye. Israel's war on Gaza caused major environmental damage, UN says. (2024, June 19). Middle East Eye. Women's media Foundation criticised for revoking Palestinian journalist's award. (2024, June 20). Middle East Eye.

Keir Starmer’s Labour Party surged to a landslide victory in a parliamentary election on Friday, ending 14 years of often tumultuous Conservative government. Labour won a massive majority in the 650-seat parliament with Rishi Sunak's Conservatives suffering the worst performance in the party's long history as voters punished them for a cost-of-living crisis, failing public services, and a series of scandals. However, while Labour won a 170-seat majority, with 412 seats against 121 seats for the Conservatives, Labour’s share of the national vote was just 33.8 per cent, the party coming to power with the lowest share of the popular vote of any incoming government in British history. Moreover, voter turnout was just at 60 per cent, the second lowest since 1885. The Conservatives faced a massive backlash, recording their lowest-ever vote. The party suffered a massive 20-point decline since 2019, with 11 senior ministers losing their seats, including former prime minister Lizz Truss, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and prominent Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg. Apart from picking up several Conservative seats, Labour’s main gains came via the collapse of the Scottish National Party (SNP), which lost almost 40 seats to Labour, including all six Glasgow seats.

On the other hand, the Labour Party suffered significant election setbacks at the expense of pro-Palestine candidates in areas with large Muslim populations amid discontent against Kier Starmer on Labour’s position on the war in Gaza. Long counting on the backing of Muslim and other minority groups, the party saw its vote fall on average by 10 points in seats where more than 10% of the population identify as Muslim- Heavyweight Labour candidate Jonathan Ashworth lost his seat to independent Shockat Adam in Leicester South, Jeremy Corbin won as an independent against Labour in Islington North, while pro-Gaza independents also won in Blackburn, and Dewsbury & Batley. Several other Labour lawmakers only just held on to their seats winning by very slim margins, such as Wes Steeting in Ilford North by 528 votes and Jess Philips in Birmingham Yardley by 693 votes, as they were challenged by pro-Gaza candidates. While Labour has said it wants the fighting in Gaza to stop, it has also backed Israel's right to defend itself, angering some among the 3.9 million Muslims who make up 6.5% of Britain's population – Starmers' comment on a radio show in October that Israel “has the right” to withhold power and water from Palestinian civilians in Gaza caused outrage among many left-wing and Muslim voters.

References: Edwards, C. (2024, July 5). The Labour Party’s position on Gaza appears to have cost it votes in the UK election. CNN. Landslide victory against tories, but collapse in labour’s popular vote heralds UK government of crisis. (2024, July 5). World Socialist Web Site. Pro-Gaza candidates dent Labour's UK election victory. (2024, July 5). reuters.com. Pro-Gaza candidates squeeze labour vote in some constituencies. (2024, July 5). BBC Breaking News, World News, US News, Sports, Business, Innovation, Climate, Culture, Travel, Video & Audio.

Climate change and the ill effects of extreme heat on human lives and societies took the centre stage again as the world grapples with another extremely hot summer. Authorities in Saudi Arabia have reported that more than 1,300 pilgrims had died during the Hajj pilgrimage which took place during intense heat. The authorities, however, added that most of the deceased did not have official permits. The dead came from more than 10 countries stretching from the United States to Indonesia, and some governments are continuing to update their totals. Earlier, Arab diplomats had told the AFP that Egyptian pilgrims accounted for 658 deaths - 630 of them unregistered pilgrims. According to Saudi Arabia's National Meteorological Centre, temperatures in Mecca this year climbed as high as 51.8C (125F) and was counted as a major reason behind most of the pilgrim deaths. Officials said that a high number of the deaths were of unregistered pilgrims from Egypt, who in many cases did not have access to amenities meant to make the pilgrimage more bearable, including air-conditioned tents.

On the other hand, the BBC reported that more than 500 people had died in Pakistan as temperatures in Karachi soared above 40C (104F), with the high humidity making it feel as hot as 49C, reports said. The body count was based on reports from social welfare organisations such as Edhi, whose ambulance services said that they had picked up 568 dead bodies from the streets over six days between June 22-28, which is higher than the usual 30-40 dead bodies sent to the Karachi city morgue on a daily basis. The temperatures have been similarly high in other parts of South Asia as well, and daily life of the general people is much more miserable due to the regular power cuts which cut off the fans and air conditioning many rely on to keep cool. It is expected that upcoming monsoon rains will bring much-needed relief to the region and its people.

References: Pakistan: More than 500 die in six days as heatwave grips country. (2024, June 27). BBC Breaking News, World News, US News, Sports, Business, Innovation, Climate, Culture, Travel, Video & Audio. Saudi Arabia says 1,301 Hajj pilgrims died in extreme heat. (2024, June 23). Middle East Eye.

The issue of immigration is shaping up to be a key issue in the 2024 US presidential campaign and featured prominently in the debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in their presidential debate held on June 28. While Trump accused Biden of allowing millions of unauthorised migrants to enter the country, claiming that the border had been left open under the current administration, Biden attempted to explain what he would do to continue lowering the number of migrants crossing illegally, despite that number hitting an all-time high during his tenure, in effect displaying continuity of Trump policies regarding the issue of immigration, albeit in a sugarcoated fashion. On June 4, Biden instituted a broad asylum ban on migrants caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in what many say is a bid to get on top of the immigration issue. Migrants caught crossing illegally could be quickly deported or turned back to Mexico under the measure, although there will be exceptions for unaccompanied children, people who face serious medical or safety threats and victims of trafficking, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.

Biden took office in 2021 vowing to reverse some of Trump's restrictive immigration policies, but has ended up in the opposite direction, due to what officials say are record levels of migrants caught crossing the US border illegally. Even as Biden rolled out the new measures, he criticised Trump's most controversial policies, including separating migrant families at the border and comments denigrating illegal immigrants in the U.S. Critics have pointed out that the new restrictions resemble similar policies implemented by Trump and use a legal statute known as 212(f) that served as the underpinning for Trump's travel bans blocking people from several majority-Muslim nations and other countries. The measures have been criticised as illegal by rights organisations such as ACLU and Amnesty International, which right-wing voices have dubbed it as too little, too late. The new anti-immigrant measures come after Biden pushed unsuccessfully for months to pass a Senate bill crafted by a bipartisan group that would toughen border security but Republicans rejected it after Trump’s opposition.

References: Biden imposes sweeping asylum ban at US-Mexico border. (2024, June 5). Reuters. Biden’s new executive order denies asylum claims to most migrants crossing the border unlawfully. (2024, June 4). NPR.

A UK Supreme Court judgement to allow British citizen Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin to pursue libel action against the UK Home Office for its 2019 publication of allegations of the said citizen’s complicity in crimes against humanity during the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence is being deemed as a historic one. Mueen-Uddin, a prominent Muslim community leader who served as Secretary-General of the General Council of Mosques, Director of Muslim Spiritual Care Provision in the NHS, as well as a founder member and chair of Muslim Aid, had always denied the Bangladeshi authorities’ allegations as being entirely false and politically-motivated. He had sued the UK Home Office for libel after it refused to apologize or meet demands for redress in relation to its 2019 publication. On 20 June, the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the lower Courts to strike out the claim as an abuse of process, confirming that Mueen-Uddin should be permitted to pursue his claim at trial. Apart from the obvious, what this judgement has also done is raise serious questions about the fairness of the war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh.

The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) was a domestic war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh set up in 2009 to investigate and prosecute suspected collaborators of the Pakistan army who had allegedly conducted war crimes and crimes against humanity in the 1971 war. However, it had been convened by special legislation which necessitated the amendment of the Bangladeshi constitution, so as to remove fundamental procedural protections from the individuals accused. Moreover, the tribunal was not constrained by the ordinary rules of evidence and procedure and was allowed to rely on newspaper reports from the time, and later even hearsay accounts, as admissible evidence of “guilt,” which formed the basis of multiple death sentences handed out to defendants by the court, leading many to decry the trials as politically motivated and judicial murders. Most or all of the defendants at the ICT hailed from the Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which form the core of the political opposition to Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League in Bangladesh.

Since its constitution in 2009, the ICT helped the Bangladeshi government to enact the death sentences of opposition Jamaat-e-Islami leaders Abdul Quader Mollah, Kamaruzzaman, Ali Ahsan Mojahid, Motiur Rahman Nizami, Mir Quasem Ali, and opposition BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury. It also sentenced to life veteran Jamaat leader Gholam Azam and popular scholar Delwar Hossain Sayeedi to life sentences, both of whom have died in harsh living conditions in prison. Among others, Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin was also called in to face trial for allegations of war crimes in 1971, but chose not to attend due to grave concerns surrounding the conduct of due process; his fears proved right when the ICT sentenced him to death in absentia based on 1971 opinion news reports in a hastily conducted trial. The political nature of the ICT, its collusion with the Bangladeshi government, and its lack of any judicial independence were exposed in the 2012 Skype controversy published by the Economist and Amar Desh; since then, the ICT has been universally condemned by human rights organisations, the United Nations, EU and UK Parliaments.

References: Bokhari, D. H. (2024, July 4). Kangaroo courts of Bangladesh: The unfair trial of Mueen-Uddin. Paradigm Shift. International crimes tribunal (Bangladesh). (2024, February 27). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved July 6, 2024, from Supreme Court rules unanimously against home Secretary in landmark libel claim. (2024, June 20). Chambers and Partners.