senior political analyst Marwan Bishara says President Trump’s optimism over the peace plan is more of a strategy than a prediction, aimed at pressuring others to deliver results. He notes that Trump’s push for the deal also serves as a distraction from domestic troubles.
US President Donald Trump says Israel and Hamas have “signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan”. “This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace,” he posted on on his social media platform, Truth Social. “All Parties will be treated fairly! This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!”
An Australian anaesthesiologist working at Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital has described the horrors of working amid Israel’s offensive on the territory’s largest urban centre. Speaking to Al Jazeera from the hospital, where she had been based for less than a week, Dr Saya Aziz said the situation was “catastrophic”. “I don’t think anyone has anything quite like it,” she said. “You’ll hear a big huge bomb, then you’ll know within 5-10 minutes, you’re going to get a mass casualty. You’ll hear the wailing, the screams, the chaos … family members bringing in the patients.”
In a historic move, the UK, Australia and Canada have officially recognised the state of Palestine. The announcement comes ahead of a formal declaration at the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said this decision is part of an effort to revive a two-state solution.
Lebanon's Health Ministry says five people, including three children, have been killed in an Israeli air strike on the southern city of Bint Jbeil. An Israeli drone fired two missiles, destroying a car and a motorcycle. Israeli forces regularly carry out strikes on Lebanon, saying it is targeting Hezbollah, despite agreeing to a ceasefire in November.
A group of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists are urging the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of captives. "It’s Time Coalition" has released a campaign calling for an immediate ceasefire and “the building of security and dignity for both people.” It describes itself as a group of 60 organisations working together with determination and courage to bring peace.
This week: Displaced Palestinians are forced to live on garbage dumps. The US again vetoed a un resolution to end the war on Gaza. An update on Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. Today is Sunday, September 21. It is day 716 of the war in Gaza, where more than 65,208 Palestinians have been killed.
Michail Fotiadis from medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says the situation in al-Mawasi where Israel ordered hundreds of thousands of people is “heartbreaking”. “Everybody is looking for a place to pitch a tent, but the materials are not available. The situation is really dire for the population. Access to water is very difficult,” Fotiadis told Al Jazeera from al-Mawasi, described by Israel as a “humanitarian zone”. He said more Palestinians continue to arrive from northern Gaza with nothing after escaping Israel’s military onslaught.
Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Amir-Saeid Iravani, addresses members of the UN Security Council after a vote on a resolution that would permanently lift UN sanctions on Iran, at UN headquarters in New York.
The suffering in Gaza continues as Israeli attacks intensify, targeting residential neighborhoods in Gaza City and displacing tens of thousands within just a few days. Families are being forced to flee toward central and southern parts of the Strip, often walking for hours without transportation or safe shelter. Many are now living in tents purchased at high prices, facing harsh conditions and severe shortages of food and water.
A national day of action is underway in Israel - organised by the families of captives still held in Gaza. The mass action is expected to shut down schools, businesses and public transport across the country. Several rallies are planned, including a big demonstration in Tel Aviv. Protesters say they want to pressure the government into signing a Gaza ceasefire and captive release deal with Hamas. They fear Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to seize Gaza City will endanger the lives of their loved ones.
The focus of the Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling in recent days has been the Zeitoun and Sabra neighbourhoods, a little east of Gaza City. There have been endless Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling, and continuous bombardment. People are saying the explosions do not stop. Zeitoun neighbourhood is being wiped off the map. This is the same exact scenario that took place in Rafah, in parts of Khan Younis, in Jabalia, in Beit Lahiya, in Beit Hanoon, where Israeli forces concentrate on that area. We’re seeing houses, schools, public facilities, government buildings – everything in Zeitoun is being destroyed.
Israel is using “bureaucratic measures to block aid, and the impact of that means that it will only deepen starvation in Gaza”, Bushra Khalidi, policy lead in the occupied Palestinian territory for Oxfam, a global charity, has told Al Jazeera. “Most major international NGOs since the second of March have been virtually unable to deliver a single truck of life-saving supplies, and we have millions of dollars of food, medicine and essential goods from multiple NGOs that are just standing there in the regional borders, just waiting to get in,” Khalidi said. “Israeli authorities are rejecting aid requests from these long-established NGOs. There’s been 60 plus such denials issued since July alone,” she said. “Registration rules are demanding, extremely intrusive and [include] unsafe disclosure of Palestinian staff lists, donor information and other sensitive data. Our view is that this violates international law, data protection laws [and] ultimately it puts staff at risk,” she said. “Gaza has become the most dangerous place for humanitarian workers to be in. We have seen systematic attacks on aid convoys, humanitarian trucks, warehouses, premises. So for us, refusing to comply with providing private information about our staff, it’s natural,” Khalidi said.
Israeli journalists held a vigil in Tel Aviv condemning Israel's killing of Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza, accusing the military of systematically targeting media workers to suppress reporting. Oren Ziv, an Israeli journalist with +972 Magazine, explained that while most Israeli society and mainstream media celebrated these killings, a small group was protesting to show solidarity with Palestinian journalists working under impossible conditions. He argued Israel is deliberately silencing Gaza's last remaining journalists ahead of its planned assault on Gaza City, while also blocking international media access for nearly two years. Ziv criticized the Israeli media for completely aligning with the government's narrative, failing to report on Gaza's starvation crisis or civilian casualties, which leaves the public unaware of the war's brutality. Though small anti-war protests exist - including by refuseniks calling the war "genocide" - they're largely ignored by mainstream outlets. While polls show disturbing levels of public support for extreme violence against Gazans, Ziv noted most Israelis would accept a ceasefire deal for hostages, suggesting Netanyahu's renewed offensive aims to distract from this growing domestic pressure.
Two NGOs are bringing a case before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, against senior Israeli military commanders for allegedly authorising the murder of the four Al Jazeera journalists and two freelancers. The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) have named the Israeli chief of general staff and seven others. They also accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “presiding over a strategy to eliminate journalists.” Their case is based on investigations reconstructing the attack, intelligence reports and expert military analysis.
Ian Williams, President of the US Foreign Press Association, told Al Jazeera that Israel’s deliberate targeting of Al Jazeera journalists reveals a systematic effort to control Gaza’s narrative. He condemned Israel’s posthumous smearing of reporters like Al Jazeera’s slain correspondent Anas al-Sharif as “Hamas operatives” – a tactic he compared to McCarthyism, noting over 270 journalists killed. Williams accused Western media executives (not journalists) of complicity through censorship, drawing parallels to historical repression of figures like Nelson Mandela. The veteran correspondent warned Israel’s weaponisation of “terrorist” labels – while itself negotiating with Hamas – mirrors authoritarian strategies from the Spanish Inquisition. He hailed slain Palestinian journalists as martyrs for truth amid Israel’s information blackout. Williams emphasised journalism’s duty to show Israel’s actions, not just parrot its claims, calling Gaza the ultimate test of press freedom. Al Jazeera’s reporting, he stressed, remains vital to breaking this siege on truth.
Former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert criticised Netanyahu’s government for rejecting a two-state solution and prolonging the Gaza war, which he called militarily aimless. While condemning ministers’ calls to restrict aid to Gaza as "unforgivable negligence", he denied claims of a deliberate Israeli starvation policy, despite acknowledging widespread suffering. Olmert admitted to "war crimes" occurring but rejected accusations of genocide, arguing failures stemmed from incompetence, not state policy. He urged Palestinian Authority reforms to enable future talks, while backing domestic efforts to oust Netanyahu. Facing pushback on Israel’s aid restrictions, Olmert conceded systemic failures but dismissed UN and NGO allegations of intentional collective punishment. Olmert concluded by insisting context mattered, even as civilian casualties mount.
Gideon Levy, a journalist and columnist for Israeli news outlet Haaretz, has spoken about the Israeli army’s targeted killing of the Al Jazeera team in Gaza, including journalist Anas al-Sharif. Levy called Anas a “courageous journalist who enabled us to see what was going on in Gaza” and said his killing follows a longstanding pattern of Israel targeting journalists whose coverage it is threatened by. “Ever since the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin [in the occupied West Bank], you see that journalists are targeted,” Levy said. “It was true about Shireen Abu Akleh, even though the Israeli army denied it at first, as it usually does. It’s true until this very moment. The figures tell us the whole story, and the figures are horrifying.” However, Levy said the killings cannot stop the world from seeing the reality on the ground in Gaza. “Israel cannot shut up Gaza,” he said. “So, even if this is the intention, Gaza will not be less covered now because of those killings. Gaza is becoming such a horrible place that even Netanyahu cannot prevent the world from knowing.”
Ahmed Al-Najjar, speaking from Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, has paid tribute to five Al Jazeera staff killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City, describing it as the most devastating loss the enclave’s journalist community has faced.
Israel has killed at least 237 journalists and media workers since it launched its war on Gaza. Many of them worked for Al Jazeera. Janine di Giovanni is the executive director of The Reckoning Project and a senior fellow in human rights at Yale University. She says she's worked 35 years as a war correspondent, but the genocide in Gaza is the worst she's ever seen.