For today, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, National Public Radio, and Common Dreams, and to commentary from Consortium News; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE entry for this date and two ASSANGE entries are HERE, HERE, and HERE.) — MCM
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Top UN court orders Israel to halt military offensive in Rafah; Israel is unlikely to comply, by Mike Corder| AP THE HAGUE — The top United Nations court ordered Israel today to immediately halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah — but stopped short of ordering a cease-fire for the enclave. Although Israel is unlikely to comply with the order, it will ratchet up the pressure on the increasingly isolated country. READ MORE . . .
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Heavy fighting in northern Gaza, Israeli tanks advance further in Rafah, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi | Reuters CAIRO — Israeli forces stepped up military strikes on Gaza today, residents and medics said, with heavy fighting reported in Jabalia in the north and tanks pushing further into Rafah in the south. READ MORE . . .
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The bodies of 3 more hostages are recovered from Gaza by the Israeli army, by Sam Mednick | AP TEL AVIV — The bodies of three more hostages killed on Oct 7. were recovered overnight from Gaza, Israel’s army said today, as the top United Nations court prepares to rule on whether Israel must halt its military operations and withdraw from the enclave. READ MORE . . .
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Food bound for Gaza rots in the sun as Egypt’s Rafah crossing stays shut. From Reuters. Some of the food supplies waiting to enter the Gaza Strip from Egypt have begun to rot as the Rafah border crossing remains shut to aid deliveries for a third week. Rafah was a main entry point for . . . READ MORE . . .
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FROM MAY 23 Aid groups warned humanitarian operations in Gaza may collapse. In Rafah, they have. Reported by Tom Bowman, Aya Batrawy and Ailsa Chang | NPR UN groups have run out of food in Rafah and say the same could happen within days in other parts of Gaza, while a new pier built by the U.S. struggles to get aid to Palestinians under siege. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.
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FROM MAY 21 Israeli scholar sees hope for democratic Palestine ‘to replace this apartheid state,‘ by Edward Carver | Common Dreams / Consortium News Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, a prominent anti-Zionist, expressed hope for a free, democratic Palestine in which Jewish and Arab people can coexist, during an interview on Tuesday with Democracy Now! following his interrogation by U.S. federal agents last week. READ MORE . . .
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FROM MAY 22 CN Live! — A turning tide? Assange & Netanyahu. Joe Lauria of Consortium News hosts former British diplomat Craig Murray, journalist Chris Hedges, legal and political analyst Alexander Mercouris, and U.S. constitutional expert Chip Gibbons to discuss both the extradition case in a British court of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange and the arrest warrant by an international court’s prosecutor for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Click HERE to watch and listen. NOTE: Discussion of the Netanyahu arrest warrant begins about 58 minutes in.