<article data-history-node-id="431073" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/gaza-death-toll-rises-68872" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/gaza-death-toll-rises-68872" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Gaza death toll rises to 68,872</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>The death toll in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the Israeli genocide in October 2023 has risen to 68,872, the Palestinian health ministry said on Tuesday. At least 170,677 others have been wounded.</p> <p>Four bodies, including one that was recovered from under the rubble and three that were recently killed, were brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past day.&nbsp;</p> <p>Since the ceasefire went into effect on 11 October, at least 240 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and a further 607 wounded.&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> </article>

Environment Minister Murray Watt tells The Saturday Paper he is convinced his reforms will pass before the end of the year, although the Greens and the Coalition are both wary of supporting them in their current form.

As anti-immigration sentiment is politicised around the world, new arrivals to Australia are being portrayed as detrimental to the economy – when in fact the opposite is true.

The Senate inquiry into climate misinformation invited both News Corp and Advance to its hearings – senators have received 5000 emails from Advance supporters, telling them to back off.

As anti-immigration sentiment is politicised around the world, new arrivals to Australia are being portrayed as detrimental to the economy – when in fact the opposite is true.

Mayibuye Melisizwe Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela, demands the immediate release of his cousin and other activists detained by Israeli authorities during a humanitarian flotilla to Gaza, condemni...

<article data-history-node-id="429661" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/turkey-says-137-gaza-flotilla-activists-arrive-istanbul" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/turkey-says-137-gaza-flotilla-activists-arrive-istanbul" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Turkey says 137 Gaza flotilla activists to arrive in Istanbul</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>Some 137 activists detained by Israel for taking part in the Global Sumud Flotilla&nbsp;seeking to deliver vital&nbsp;aid to Gaza&nbsp;are being flown to Istanbul, Turkey's foreign ministry said on Saturday.</p> <p>The individuals include 36 Turkish nationals, as well as citizens from the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Switzerland, Tunisia and Jordan, ministry sources told Reuters.</p> <p>The Turkish Airlines flight is expected to land sometime after 3:40pm local time (1240 GMT), the ministry said.</p> <p>Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said 26 Italians were on board, with another 15 still held in Israel and&nbsp;set to be expelled&nbsp;next week - along with activists from other nations.</p> <p>Israel has faced international condemnation after its military illegally intercepted all of about 40 boats in a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza and detained more than 450 activists.</p> <p>"I have once again given instructions to the Italian Embassy in Tel Aviv to ensure that the remaining compatriots are treated with respect for their rights", Tajani wrote on X.</p> <p>A first group of Italians from the flotilla - four parliamentarians - arrived in Rome on Friday.</p> <p>"Those who were acting legally were the people aboard those boats; those who acted illegally were those who prevented them from reaching Gaza", Arturo Scotto, one of the Italian lawmakers who took part in the mission, told a press conference in Rome.</p> <p>"We were brutally stopped ... brutally taken hostage", said Benedetta Scuderi, another Italian parliamentarian.</p> <p>According to Adalah, an Israeli rights group offering legal assistance to flotilla members, some of them were denied access to lawyers, and denied access to water and medications, as well as the use of toilets.</p> <p>Activists were also "forced to kneel with their hands zip-tied for at least five hours, after some participants chanted 'Free Palestine,'" Adalah said.</p> <p>Israel's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p> <p><em>Reporting by Reuters</em></p> </div> </div> </article>

<article data-history-node-id="429653" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israel-continues-attacking-gaza-despite-trump-order-immediately-stop" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israel-continues-attacking-gaza-despite-trump-order-immediately-stop" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Israel continues attacking Gaza despite Trump order to 'immediately' stop</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>Israel&nbsp;continued military operations in Gaza on Saturday even after&nbsp;US&nbsp;President Donald Trump ordered them to "immediately" stop their assault on the enclave.</p> <p>Gaza's civil defence&nbsp;agency said Israel&nbsp;carried out dozens of air strikes and artillery shelling on Gaza City and other areas in the strip.</p> <p>Spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP&nbsp;that 20 homes were destroyed in the overnight bombardments.</p> <p>"The situation is very serious in Gaza City," he said, adding that his teams were not able to reach all the casualties due to the "presence of tanks and the ongoing bombardment".</p> <p>Gaza City's Baptist Hospital said it received at least four dead&nbsp;from a strike on a home in Tuffah neighbourhood, while Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis reported two children killed and eight people wounded in a drone strike on a tent in a camp for displaced people.</p> <p>The Israeli&nbsp;military&nbsp;issued a statement in Arabic on Saturday&nbsp;warning residents of Gaza City not to return to the area as it was continuing its operations.</p> <p>"The IDF [Israeli military] troops are still operating in Gaza City, and returning to it is extremely dangerous,"&nbsp;the military's Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said on X.&nbsp;</p> <h3>Read more:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/trump-tells-israel-stop-bombing-gaza-hamas-mulls-ceasefire-proposal">Israel continues attacking Gaza despite Trump order to 'immediately' stop</a></h3> <figure role="group" class="media-block"> <div class="group-inner"> <div alt="A pro-Palestine demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a protest on a Milan highway on 3 October 2025 (Stefano Rellandini/AFP)" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5e6dc469-6335-4b6f-b471-1d1b57a87927" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"> <img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/GAZA_ITALY_AFP.jpeg" width="1400" height="788" alt="A pro-Palestine demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a protest on a Milan highway on 3 October 2025 (Stefano Rellandini/AFP)" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high"> </div> <figcaption>A pro-Palestine demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a protest on a Milan highway on 3 October 2025 (Stefano Rellandini/AFP)</figcaption> </div> </figure> <p><span style="background: url(&quot;https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png&quot;) rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"><img height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy"></span></p> </div> </div> </article>

The Australian government is spending millions of dollars a year to house asylum seekers, yet many say they can not afford food and are forced to skip meals

Modelled on Allied policy in post-war Germany, the plan conflates colonial resistance with Nazism, demanding unconditional surrender and dismantling Palestinian political identity

<article data-history-node-id="429623" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israel-begins-deporting-activists-gaza-aid-flotilla" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israel-begins-deporting-activists-gaza-aid-flotilla" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Israel begins deporting activists from Gaza aid flotilla</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>Israel on Friday deported four Italian activists, the first of hundreds detained from an aid flotilla bound for Gaza, shortly after the interception of the group's final boat brought an end to its mission.</p> <p>The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail last month, ferrying politicians and activists including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg towards Gaza, where the United Nations says famine is taking hold.</p> <p>The Israeli navy began intercepting the boats on Wednesday, and an Israeli official said the following day that boats with more than 400 people on board had been prevented from reaching the Palestinian territory.</p> <p>The military said Friday that the navy had stopped all 42 of the fleet's vessels "in an operation that lasted approximately 12 hours", and transferred flotilla members to Israel's Ashdod Port for processing by police.</p> <p>Israel's foreign ministry said it deported four Italian activists who were aboard the flotilla, adding that "the rest are in the process of being deported".</p> <p>Israeli police said "more than 470 flotilla participants were taken into custody by the military police, subjected to rigorous screening, and transferred to the prison administration".</p> <p>Authorities earlier said that none of the vessels had breached the maritime blockade of Gaza.</p> <p><em>Reporting by AFP.&nbsp;</em></p> </div> </div> </article>

<article data-history-node-id="429551" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/gaza-death-toll-rises-66225" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/gaza-death-toll-rises-66225" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Gaza death toll rises to 66,225</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza by Israeli forces since October 2023 has risen to 66,225, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The majority of those killed are women and children. At least&nbsp;168,938&nbsp;others have been wounded during that time.</p> <p>The ministry said that 51 bodies and&nbsp;222 wounded individuals were brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours.</p> </div> </div> </article>

<article data-history-node-id="429515" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/least-nine-vessels-unlawfully-intercepted-israel-tracking-data-says" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/least-nine-vessels-unlawfully-intercepted-israel-tracking-data-says" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">At least eight vessels unlawfully intercepted by Israel</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>At least eight vessels belonging to the global Sumud Flotilla have now been intercepted by Israel, according to tracking data provided by activists.&nbsp;</p> <p><meta charset="UTF-8">The vessels include the Deir Yassine, Huga, Spectre, Adara, Alma, Sirius,&nbsp;Aurora, Grande Blu, and Spectre.&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> </article>