Lawsuit demands Trump administration reveal Gaza Humanitarian Foundation funding

Palestinian women return from the site of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), in the central Gaza Strip, on 4 August 2025 (Reuters)

Aug. 20, 2025 - The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) said on Wednesday that it filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for its failure to comply with a Freedom of Information Act (Foia) request demanding the financial records of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

"The Center for Constitutional Rights is particularly interested in information that could reveal whether the administration's distribution of funds has any link to President Trump's 'Gaza Riviera' plan, which would cleanse the area of Palestinians and redevelop it for investors," the statement said.

US military contractors who staff the GHF have also been seen in videos shooting at aid seekers - something former US special forces soldier Anthony Aguilar confirmed after leaving the organisation.

More HERE

BBC witnesses West Bank attack by masked Israeli settlers

Aug. 18, 2025 - BBC News has witnessed an attack by dozens of Israeli settlers on Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank.   The settlers in the illegal outpost of Or Nahman attacked local Palestinian farmers, setting fire to vehicles and destroying their property. 

The violence comes as the Israeli government plans to sign off the building of thousands of new homes elsewhere in the territory.  That plan, which is illegal under international law, would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state” according to one far-right minister in the Israeli government. 

Israeli settlers have been expanding their illegal seizures of Palestinian land since the start of the war in Gaza.   Israel says that it does not support the creation of unauthorised new settlements.  However many Palestinians accuse Israel’s government of complicity in the attacks and land seizures.

A BBC team was in the West Bank near the illegal outpost settlement of Or Nahman when Palestinian communities came under attack.

Israeli military says first stages of assault on Gaza City have begun

Aug 20, 2025 - The Israeli military says it has begun the "preliminary actions" of a planned ground offensive to capture and occupy all of Gaza City and already has a hold on its outskirts.

A military spokesman said troops were already operating in the Zeitoun and Jabalia areas to lay the groundwork for the offensive, which Defence Minister Israel Katz approved on Tuesday and which will be put to the security cabinet later this week.

About 60,000 reservists are being called up for the beginning of September to free up active-duty personnel for the operation.

More HERE

Israel approves illegal settlement plan that would split occupied West Bank....not even trying to hide the genocide

Palestinian hamlets are seen at the E1 area, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, between the illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim and the occupied West Bank town of Eizariya [File: Nasser Nasser/AP]

Aug. 20, 2025  - Israel has given final approval for a controversial settlement project in the occupied West Bank that experts say would damage plans for any future territorially contiguous Palestinian state in the territory.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who announced the plan on August 14, hailed the decision as “historic” and framed the approval as a rebuke to Western countries that announced their plans to recognise a Palestinian state in recent weeks.

“The Palestinian state is being erased from the table not with slogans but with actions,” Smotrich, a settler himself, said on Wednesday.

More HERE

Most Americans support international recognition of Palestine: Poll

A Palestinian flag partially obscures the dome of the US Capitol building during a July 28 protest in Washington, DC, the United States [Kent Nishimura/Reuters]

Aug. 20,2025 - Most Americans believe that all countries should recognise Palestine as a state, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll suggests, as public support for Israel in the United States continues to plunge amid the atrocities in Gaza.

A majority of respondents – 59 percent – also said that Israel’s military response in Gaza has been excessive.

More HERE

As Gaza starves, GoFundMe accused of blocking ‘millions of dollars’ raised

Jana Ayad, a malnourished Palestinian girl, rests on a bed at the International Medical Corps field hospital, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir el-Balah, southern Gaza, June 22, 2024 [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]

Listen (16:45)

GoFundMe has been accused of blocking “millions of dollars” of life-saving aid from reaching Gaza.

Charity leaders, activists and desperate Palestinians in Gaza have condemned the crowdfunding website for shutting down or blocking withdrawals for Palestine-related fundraising pages – and have accused bosses of having “blood on their hands”.

More HERE

Protesters go on strike in Israel demanding ceasefire and release of Gaza hostages

People take part in a protest demanding the end of the war, the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and against Prime Minister Netanyahu's government in Tel Aviv, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Aug. 17, 2025 - Protesters in Israel demanding a hostage deal escalated their campaign Sunday with a one-day nationwide strike that blocked roads and closed businesses, as police blasted crowds with water cannons and made dozens of arrests.....MORE