WORLD - The African Mirror

Sep

18

2025

UN Human Rights Chief condemns Israeli strike on Hamas negotiators in Qatar

WORLD

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has called on the international community to condemn Israel's strike on Hamas negotiators in Qatar during an urgent Human Rights Council debate in Geneva, describing the attack as a flagrant violation of Qatari sovereignty and international law. The strike targeted Hamas delegation members who were in Doha to negotiate a ceasefire, according to Türk's remarks to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council. "The attack violated the right to life under international human rights law and the principles of international humanitarian law," Türk said during the urgent debate session. The UN…

Sep

18

2025

By MERAV AMIR and HAGAR KOTEF

Israeli doctors reveal their conflicted stories of treating Palestinian prisoners held in notorious ‘black site’ Sde Teiman

WORLD

AT the end of our conversation, Nathan (a pseudonym) kept repeating, almost to himself: “Perhaps we should have done more. Perhaps we could have done more. Perhaps there was something we could have done about the camp itself. About the dogs. We kept on hearing the dogs. Every night.” Nathan, a senior surgeon in one of Israel’s bigger hospitals, was talking about the Sde Teiman camp, an army camp in the Negev desert in southern Israel, which, following the October 7 2023, attack on Israel, was turned into a holding facility for detainees from Gaza. Initially, this camp served to…

Sep

18

2025

By ARASH JAVANBAKHT

2 shootings, 2 states, minutes apart − a trauma psychiatrist explains how exposure to shootings changes all of us

WORLD

ON Sept. 10, 2025, the nation’s attention was riveted by the fatal shooting of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk on a college campus in Utah. At nearly the exact same time, a state away - in Colorado - an active shooting was underway on a high school campus in a sleepy mountain town, leaving two teens in critical condition and the shooter, a fellow student, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. While differing in context, these events share devastating commonalities that will haunt many Americans for decades and possibly generations to come. And they are only the latest of a very…

Sep

17

2025

By The African Mirror

UN Commission concludes Israel committed genocide in Gaza, cites top officials

WORLD

A United Nations Commission of Inquiry has concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and that senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, incited these acts - findings Israel denounced as "scandalous" and "fake." The 72-page report represents the strongest UN finding to date regarding Israel's conduct in Gaza, though the independent commission does not officially speak for the United Nations as a whole. "Genocide is occurring in Gaza," said Navi Pillay, head of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and former International Criminal Court judge. "The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli…

Sep

17

2025

By M. WAQAS HAIDER

Israel’s strike on Qatar was a serious blow against diplomacy in the Middle East

WORLD

THE recent Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Doha, where they had gathered to discuss a US-brokered peace proposal, has triggered substantial repercussions throughout the Middle East and beyond. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu characterised it as a “justified” operation against a militant organisation. But, by conducting the strike against a nation widely acknowledged as a neutral facilitator in peace negotiations, Israel has not only intensified its confrontations with Hamas but also destabilised the delicate framework of diplomacy and conflict resolution in the region. The BBC headlined its report by veteran Middle East correspondent: “Diplomacy in ruins”. The strike event…

Sep

16

2025

By JAMES SWEENEY

International law isn’t dead. But the impunity seen in Gaza urgently needs to be addressed

WORLD

PHILIPPE Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) says that Gaza is “becoming the graveyard of international humanitarian law”. International humanitarian law (IHL), regulates the conduct of armed conflict, which is the legal expression for war. It covers everything from what is a lawful target to the treatment of prisoners and injured people, and even to the testing of new weapons. The main rules of IHL can be found in the Geneva Conventions of 1949. Lazzarini, though, has gone so far as to say that we “have made the Geneva convention[s]…

Sep

16

2025

By GORDON LYNCH

Charlie Kirk: why the battle over his legacy will divide even his most ardent admirers

WORLD

WHEREVER you stand on his political views, Charlie Kirk’s murder is a tragedy on a personal level. He was just 31 and a husband and father of young children. But as a public figure, his death represents a dangerous moment, as it threatens to deepen divides between conservatives and liberals in America and beyond. Many commentaries on Kirk’s life will focus on his significance as a political activist and the important – some would say decisive – role he played in turning out the youth vote for Trump’s presidential election victory in 2024. But it is important to recognise how…

Sep

16

2025

By The African Mirror

Crisis deepens as nearly 100,000 Afghans return from Pakistan in one week amid earthquake recovery

WORLD

THE UN refugee agency warned Thursday of a deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan as mass returns from Pakistan coincide with earthquake recovery efforts in the same regions, while funding shortfalls threaten to cripple relief operations. Nearly 100,000 Afghans crossed back from Pakistan in the first week of September alone, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), pushing assistance capacities to breaking points as communities struggle to rebuild from recent devastating earthquakes. Since January, 2.6 million Afghans have returned from neighbouring countries, with 554,000 arriving from Pakistan since April under Islamabad's "Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan." August saw 143,000 returns,…

Sep

15

2025

By JONATHAN SILVER

The ‘Gaza Riviera’ is a fantasy plan that relies on urbicide and expulsion

WORLD

THE US and Israel have sparked international condemnation over their leaked vision for the reconstruction of a shattered Gaza. The urban development plan seems to have evolved since its emergence earlier in the year. It now includes economic drivers such as blockchain-based trade initiatives, data centres and “world-class resorts”. And its alignment to the proposed regional logistical network, the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC) aims to put it at the centre of a pro-American regional architecture. The images and details that have emerged in the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation (Great) Trust blueprint indicate a vision that clearly pays homage…

Sep

15

2025

By STEPHANIE A. (SAM) MARTIN

Who was Charlie Kirk? The activist who turned campus politics into national influence

WORLD

THE fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025, has drawn widespread condemnation and renewed attention to the climate of political violence in the United States. To many, Kirk was not just another partisan commentator. He was one of the most visible leaders of the young conservative movement. Kirk helped shape Republican politics on college campuses, in the media and within President Donald Trump’s coalition. To understand the significance of the attack — and why the reactions to it have been so strong — it helps to know who…