A very British bubble of global tensions and local solutions

A rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks has been reported in recent months. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

In 2010, the globetrotting I do on behalf of this column took me to Waltham Forest College in east London for an event comparing the student body with that before the second world war. In 1940 it was people with a common pigmentation and largely shared backgrounds. Seventy years later, I found speakers of 76 different languages.

I was struck by a conversation with two men studying English as a second language. One was a Bosnian Serb, the other Croatian. Carriers of emnities and hatreds. How does that play out in London, I asked them. We are just relieved that it isn't an issue here, they said. I spoke to one of the teachers about the potential for conflict. "Being away from that situation, their view is that 'we've all lost,'" she told me. "They just want to learn the language more than anything else."

The two men no doubt felt passionately about the rivalry they had left behind, but, for them, our island and specifically the college represented a virtuous bubble. As a strategy, that has much to commend it.

They came to mind last week as the leaders of the Board of Deputies of ^{British Jews and the Muslim Council of Britain unveiled an unprecedented joint declaration condemning Islamophobia and antisemitism. We know how dreadful are the events in Gaza and Israel at the moment. It's hard not to be moved and to construct a strong opinion. But how should that manifest itself here? We know what has been happening. Last week the Community Security Trust revealed 240 reports of antisemitic incidents in the UK in July, a 500% spike on the monthly average. We have seen the phenomenon before. Last year, it was said that almost half the mosques and Muslim centres in the country had suffered some kind of attack since 9/11. The world connects: when other continents sneeze, we inevitably catch the cold. That's truer than ever before in this age of social media and non-stop news.}

^{The UK has always been a place for activism. It has always looked outward and taken a view. And so the world's disputes will play out here. But at the same time, there is something peculiar about the way groups live here. The Bosnian and the Croat twigged it.}

^{We must always raise a voice; but we should also preserve the bubble. It isn't perfect, but it works.}

Israel estimates cost of Gaza conflict at £1.5bn

Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is looking to reduce government spending by 2% this year. Photograph: Jim Hollander/EPA

Israel has been presented with a hefty bill for 50 days of war in Gaza, as the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, moved to slash government spending by 2% this year to offset the $2.52 bn (£1.51bn) cost of the conflict.

With only the Israeli military and domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet exempt from the sharp spending reductions, the area to be hit hardest emerged as the Israeli education system, with critics – including members of Netanyahu's cabinet – predicting that the poorest Israelis will feel the brunt of the cuts.

Among those protesting was the welfare minister, Meir Cohen, who insisted there was no more fat in his budget to trim.

"From whom will we take? From those who have nothing to put in their children's sandwiches for school?" he complained on Israeli army radio.

Amid estimates by some economic observers that the war may have cost Israel a decline of 0.5% in its growth in GDP, Netanyahu defended the stringent across-the-board cuts before a cabinet meeting in the country's south on Sunday, insisting: "Security comes first."

The proposed emergency budget reductions, amounting to about $561m, will help fund a sharp hike in the budget of Israel's armed forces and Shin Bet amid estimates that the latest round of fighting in Gaza cost Israel $50m for each day of the war.

The Israeli budget for this year – even before the war and the latest proposed cuts – had already heralded a bout of belt-tightening that had seen a fierce fight over spending cuts, later reversed, to the Israeli defence forces.

On the Palestinian side experts have estimated that the bill for reconstruction after the conflict could be upwards of $6bn and take 20 years to accomplish under the current Israeli and Egyptian restrictions on imports of building materials into Gaza.

The Israeli budget cuts come amid evidence that Israel's economy – which had already been slowing to a sluggish 1.7% growth in the second quarter of this year, including the key hi-tech sector – had been hard hit by the weeks of conflict, not least tourism.

Netanyahu has also been facing demands to increase the scope of an already large compensation package for southern Israeli communities close to the Gaza Strip.

Speaking ahead of the cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu insisted: "We are starting to fill in what is lacking in the defence budget, As we saw recently, defence comes before all else.

"We will start to fill in what is missing in the defence establishment. This reflects our understanding of the priorities, with security coming before all else. We did great things, but this requires us to roll up our sleeves to enable the IDF, the Israel security agency [Shin Bet], and the security services to continue to defend Israel effectively."

The new austerity programme – which had been anticipated – emerged amid continuing criticism by Israelis of Netanyahu and his government, whose approval has plummeted since a long-term cease fire with Hamas was agreed last week.

The scale of the cuts have been dictated by the insistence of Netanyahu's finance minister, Yair Lapid, that he will not raise taxes to cover any shortfall.

The disclosure of the scope and potential impact of the proposed cuts came as Israel announced on Sunday a land appropriation in the occupied West Bank that an anti-settlement group termed the biggest in 30 years and a Palestinian official said would cause only more friction after the Gaza war.

Four hundred hectares (988 acres) in the Etzion settlement bloc near Bethlehem were declared "state land, on the instructions of the political echelon" by the military-run civil administration.

Israel Radio said the step was taken in response to the kidnapping and killing of three Jewish teenagers by Hamas militants in the area in June. The notice published by the military gave no reason for the decision.

The 20 photographs of the week

The crisis in Ukraine, the funeral of Michael Brown, the US Open in New York – the best photography in news, culture and sport from around the world this week

Fatou Bensouda: the truth about the ICC and Gaza | Fatou Bensouda

Has the international criminal court avoided opening an investigation into alleged war crimes in Gaza due to political pressure, as suggested in an article published in the Guardian earlier this week? The answer is an unequivocal “no”. As prosecutor of the ICC, I reject any suggestion of this in the strongest terms.

When an objective observer navigates clear of the hype surrounding this issue, the simple truth is that my office has never been in a position to open such an investigation due to lack of jurisdiction. We have always, clearly and publicly, stated the reasons why this is so.

The Rome statute, the ICC’s founding treaty, is open to participation by states. The prosecutor can only investigate and prosecute crimes committed on the territory or by the nationals of states that have joined the ICC statute or which have otherwise accepted the jurisdiction of the ICC through an ad hoc declaration to that effect pursuant to article 12-3 of the statute.

This means that the alleged crimes committed in Palestine are beyond the legal reach of the ICC, despite the arguments of some legal scholars that fundamental jurisdictional rules can be made subject to a liberal and selective interpretation of the Rome statute. They appear to advocate that as the object and purpose of the ICC is to end impunity for mass crimes, the court ought to intervene, even where clear jurisdictional parameters have not been met. This is neither good law nor does it make for responsible judicial action.

The Palestinian Authority sought to accept the jurisdiction of the ICC in 2009. My office carefully considered all of the legal arguments put forth and concluded in April 2012, after three years of thorough analysis and public consultations, that Palestine’s status at the UN as “observer entity” was crucial – since entry into the Rome statute system is through the UN secretary general, who acts as treaty depositary. Palestine’s status at the UN at that time meant it could not sign up to the Rome statute. The former ICC prosecutor concluded that as Palestine could not join the statute, it could also not lodge an article 12-3 declaration bringing itself under the ambit of the treaty, as it had sought to do.

In November 2012, Palestine’s status was upgraded by the UN general assembly to “non-member observer state” through the adoption of resolution 67/19. My office examined the legal implications of this development and concluded that while this change did not retroactively validate the previously invalid 2009 declaration, Palestine could now join the Rome statute.

That Palestine has signed various other international treaties since obtaining this “observer state” status confirms the correctness of this position. Nonetheless, to date, the statute is not one of the treaties that Palestine has decided to accede to, nor has it lodged a new declaration following the November 2012 general assembly resolution. It is a matter of public record that Palestinian leaders are in the process of consulting internally on whether to do so; the decision is theirs alone and as ICC prosecutor, I cannot make it for them.

By virtue of the nature of the court’s mandate, every situation in which the ICC prosecutor acts will be politically fraught. My mandate as prosecutor is nonetheless clear: to investigate and prosecute crimes based on the facts and exact application of the law in full independence and impartiality.

Whether states or the UN security council choose to confer jurisdiction on the ICC is a decision that is wholly independent of the court. Once made, however, the legal rules that apply are clear and decidedly not political under any circumstances. In both practice and words, I have made it clear in no uncertain terms that the office of the prosecutor will execute its mandate, without fear or favour, where jurisdiction is established and will vigorously pursue those – irrespective of status or affiliation – who commit mass crimes that shock the conscience of humanity. My office’s approach to Palestine will be no different if the court’s jurisdiction is ever triggered over the situation.

It is my firm belief that recourse to justice should never be compromised by political expediency. The failure to uphold this sacrosanct requirement will not only pervert the cause of justice and weaken public confidence in it, but also exacerbate the immense suffering of the victims of mass atrocities. This, we will never allow.

Ten things we learned this week

Failures in Rotherham led to sexual abuse of 1,400 children

Police and crime commissioner Shaun Wright has come under increasing pressure to quit over the abuse scandal. Photograph: South Yorkshire Police/PA

Four years after five men were convicted of grooming underage girls for sex in Rotherham, a report by the former chief inspector of social work, Prof Alexis Jay, condemned the failures of police and political leadership in the town. The report estimated that 1,400 children had been abused over a 16-year period, even though the council knew as far back as 2005 that sexual exploitation committed by mostly Asian men was a widespread problem.

The report blamed the police for failing to take victims seriously and accused the authorities of choosing to ignore previous reports into the issue. Pressure is growing on South Yorkshire police commissioner Shaun Wright, who was responsible for Rotherham children and young people’s services from 2005 to 2010, to resign, after the leader of Rotherham council, Roger Stone, quit immediately after the report came out.

Egypt and the UAE have secretly been bombing Libya

Why is the United Arab Emirates secretly bombing Libya?

As the attentions of the media have been firmly focused elsewhere in the Middle East, the situation in Libya has been steadily deteriorating.

On Tuesday, US officials claimed that the United Arab Emirates and Egypt were behind several air strikes on Islamist militias in Libya last week, representing an escalation of the conflict between Islamists and opposing governments across the region. The air strikes didn’t stop Islamist militias from capturing Tripoli and forcing Libya’s recently elected government to flee to the eastern city of Tobruk.

Guns are very dangerous

Charles Vacca, left, shows a nine-year old girl how to use an Uzi. Photograph: AP

A firearms instructor was accidentally shot dead by a nine-year-old girl at a shooting range in the Arizona desert. Mohave County sheriff’s officials said 39-year-old Charles Vacca died at the University Medical Centre in Las Vegas on Monday after being shot at the Last Stop outdoor shooting range.

Video of the moments leading up to the incident were released by the county sheriff’s office. Vacca was standing next to the girl, who wore pink shorts, instructing her how to shoot when she lost control of the weapon. The sheriff said the instructor was shot at least once in the head. A local paper reported that the girl had successfully fired the 9mm weapon in “single-shot” mode before Vacca changed the setting to “fully automatic” mode.

The conflict in Gaza is over for now

People celebrate the open-ended ceasefire brokered by Egypt in the Gaza Strip. Photograph: Xinhua/Landov/Barcroft Media

Fighting in Gaza has come to an end after Israel and the Palestinians agreed to a ceasefire, almost identical to the one agreed at the end of the previous conflict in 2012. The deal, negotiated by the Egyptian government, brings an end to seven weeks of violent clashes which claimed the lives of more than 2,100 Palestinians and 70 Israelis, 64 of which were soldiers. Both sides have claimed victory, but despite 50 days of bloodshed many will be left wondering what exactly has been achieved.

Syria and Isis are committing war crimes, says UN

Isis insurgents have been accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity by the UN. Photograph: ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy

UN investigators have ruled that both the Syrian government and Islamic State (Isis) insurgents are committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. A 45-page report issued in Geneva on Wednesday said that government forces have dropped bombs, including chemical weapons, in civilian areas and deaths in custody in Syrian jails are on the rise. Forensic analysis of 26,948 photographs allegedly taken from 2011-2013 in government detention centres support its “longstanding findings of systematic torture and deaths of detainees”. The report stated that “violence has bled over the borders of the Syrian Arab republic, with extremism fuelling the conflict’s heightened brutality.”

Life isn’t fair – at least in Britain

Judges sit in the House of Lords as they wait for the start of the State opening of parliament. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Britain is “deeply elitist” with a “closed shop at the top”, according to a government report published on Thursday. The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission statistics showed that the majority of the top spots in society are still held by people who either went to private school or attended Oxbridge, or both. “Locking out a diversity of talents and experiences makes Britain’s leading institutions less informed, less representative and, ultimately, less credible than they should be,” the report says. “That is not a recipe for a healthy democratic society.”

We all scream for ice cream

Iain Watters and Diana Beard became embroiled in a controversy over his ruined baked alaska dessert on the Great British Bake Off. Photograph: Mark Bourdillon/PA

There was drama in the Bake Off tent this week as Belfast-born Iain Watters had a meltdown following what may or may not have been the deliberate sabotage of his baked alaska. The episode, which culminated in Watters being eliminated from the show after throwing his ruined dessert in the bin, aired on Wednesday night and prompted widespread anger among viewers. The alleged culprit, Diana Beard, was vilified across social media, but both contestants and judges rushed to her defence, with Watters himself pointing out: “In the end, it’s only a reality show involving baking.”

Russian troops might have entered Ukraine after all

Photo is said to show Russian paratroopers captured by Ukrainian forces near a village in the Amvrosiivka district of Donetsk. Russia said the troops strayed into Ukraine by accident. Photograph: Vladimir Gontar/EPA

Both the US and Ukraine have accused the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, of sending troops across the border into eastern Ukraine to help pro-Russian separatists in the region. Russia has denied the claims, but Nato estimates there are now more than 1,000 Russian soldiers fighting in the country. “Russian forces have actually entered Ukraine,” Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko said in a statement, although he stopped short of calling it an invasion.

Christine Lagarde has no intention of resigning

IMF chief Christine Lagarde announced she was charged over a payout to a French business tycoon and denied any wrongdoing. Photograph: Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, has been placed under investigation in France, charged with negligence over her handling of a controversial €400m (£317m) payout to a French business tycoon when she was finance minister. But despite facing a possible one-year prison term and/or a €15,000 (£11,900) fine, Lagarde has insisted she did not break the law and would not step down as chief of the IMF. “I’m going back to work in Washington this afternoon,” she told reporters following the announcement on Tuesday.

Binyamin Netanyahu faces political turbulence after Gaza war

Binyamin Netanyahu's leadership throught a seven-week war against Hamas has caused a rift in his cabinet. Photograph: Jim Hollander/EPA

The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, is facing a bout of political turbulence after leading Israel through a seven-week war against Hamas in Gaza – a conflict that has caused a rift in his cabinet and drawn deep public scepticism.

Some observers are predicting an election next year after this week's ceasefire deal gave no clearly definable gains to either side in the conflict. However, at present there is no strong and credible challenger to Netanyahu, who is serving his third term as prime minister at the head of a coalition government.

Netanyahu, defence minister Moshe Ya'alon and military chief of staff Benny Gantz gave a press conference, broadcast live on Israel's main television channels, on Wednesday evening at which they presented the conclusion of the war as a military and political triumph for Israel.

Israel had secured a "great military accomplishment and a great diplomatic achievement" in the conflict, and Hamas had been dealt a "heavy blow", Netanyahu said. "From the start, we set a clear goal and that was to inflict serious damage on Hamas and the other terrorist groups and by doing so to bring extended quiet to all Israel's citizens," the prime minister said.

"Hamas was seriously beaten. We destroyed the tunnel systems which it built for years. In addition, Hamas is diplomatically isolated. Will we reach our goal of long-term quiet? I think that it is still too early to tell, but I can say that the severe damage caused to Hamas and to the terror organisations, and our ability to prevent them from rearming themselves by controlling the borders, those will increase the chances for this goal's implementation."

The Israeli public, however, was apparently not convinced. A poll published in Haaretz newspaper found that 54% of those surveyed believed there was no clear winner in the 50-day war.

Four cabinet ministers – including foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman and economy minister Naftali Bennett, both hardliners to the right of Netanyahu – opposed reaching a deal with Hamas to end the war, although no cabinet vote was taken on the agreement. During the conflict, Lieberman and Bennett advocated a harsher military strategy aimed at toppling Hamas and taking over the Gaza Strip.

Media commentators were scathing about Netanyahu's claim of beating Hamas. Ben Caspit, a hawkish columnist for the newspaper Ma'ariv, wrote: "The paradox is that most of what Netanyahu, Yaalon and Gantz said yesterday was correct. Yes, Hamas did take a very bad blow. Yes, the IDF did have many achievements. Yes, Hamas had no achievement in this war. But yes, we too, in the meantime, have achieved nothing. It could have been expected that the State of Israel, with the IDF, the GSS [security service], the Mossad, the Air Force and the best intelligence in the world, could have defeated Hamas, or at least dictated the pace of events and the timetable. In reality, Hamas dictated them."

A former director of Israel's Shin Bet security service, Yuval Diskin, said the war's results "were disappointing and were accompanied by what some have described as a sense of sourness.". Writing in Yedioth Ahronoth, he added: "The ceasefire that was achieved with Hamas has left the Israeli public frustrated."

That frustration appeared to be reflected in two polls this week. A survey by Channel Two found that 59% of those questioned did not agree that Israel had won against Hamas, while the poll for Haaretz found that 54% of people thought there was no winner, around a quarter said Israel had won, and 16% thought Hamas had won.

But in an indication of the lack of political alternatives to Netanyahu, 42% of respondents in the Haaretz poll put him at the top of a list of politicians most suited to be prime minister. Next were Labour leader Isaac Herzog on 12%, and Lieberman and Bennett, both on 11%. One in five people said they did not know who was best suited for the job.

Residents of villages close to the Israel-Gaza border, who bore the brunt of rocket and mortar fire, have expressed anxiety about their security and the viability of their communities if attacks resume in the future. Despite the indefinite ceasefire, many families have yet to return to their homes after relocating to relatively safer areas further from Gaza.

Israeli leaders are rarely popular once the fighting ends. Binyamin Netanyahu is no exception | Anshel Pfeffer

At the height of Israel’s first Lebanon war in 1982, Amiram Nir, the Israeli officer and journalist who went on to serve as the prime minister’s counter-terrorism adviser and later died in a mysterious plane crash, coined the phrase: “Quiet, we’re shooting.” Nearly all of Israel’s normally feisty and irreverent media observe this rule at times of war or during a major military operation. While soldiers are falling on the battlefield, criticism of the government is largely muted. Public opinion likewise falls in line and the prime minister and other civilian and military leaders receive levels of approval in the polls they could only dream of during peacetime.

It all ends come the ceasefire or when an operation gets bogged down into a lengthy war of attrition. Israelis have extremely high expectations, bordering on the unrealistic, from their army and intelligence services and for over four decades have punished the politicians for any perceived shortcomings – as prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is learning now. He has taken a nose dive in the latest polls and has received a bashing from the Israeli media over the last couple of days.

Only three weeks ago, 77% of Israelis responded to a poll commissioned by Haaretz saying they were satisfied with the way Netanyahu was conducting the Gaza offensive. A day after Tuesday night’s ceasefire he had already lost a third of that and was down to 50%. In another poll carried out for Channel 2 Netanyahu’s fall was even more dramatic, his approval rating descending in the space of a month from a high of 82% to only 32% this week. He is not the first Israeli leader to suffer such a reversal.

Israel successfully fought off a surprise attack on two fronts from Egypt and Syria in the 1973 Yom Kippur war, but public anger over the intelligence failure forced both Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan to resign and set the scene for the end of the labour movement’s 29 years in power. In 1982 the army dislodged the Palestine Liberation Organisation from its bases but the continued blood-letting led to Menachem Begin’s resignation and total withdrawal from public life, as well as an end to the first period of the Likud party’s dominance in Israeli politics. During both these wars the leadership enjoyed wide support from media and public, only to plunge into a trough in the aftermath.

Military setbacks were never the sole reason for changes in political fortunes; financial crises and corruption scandals played a major part as well. But the anticlimax, following the euphorically high ratings while the guns are blazing, sets in motion an immediate and steep decline. Israel’s previous prime minister, Ehud Olmert, was ultimately brought down by allegations of bribe-taking, but it was the second Lebanon war, perceived by most Israelis as ending in a stalemate with Hezbollah, which cast a permanent pall over the rest of his term.

It isn’t a phenomenon unique to Israel. Winston Churchill’s landslide defeat in the 1945 general election, less than two months after VE Day remains the prime historical example of the way a wartime leader can swiftly lose public support. George Bush also failed to win a second term in 1992 despite the success of the first Gulf war. In Israel, however, with its frequent bouts of warfare, it has become a pattern.

In addition to the dire polls, the Israeli media, largely supportive of Netanyahu throughout the 50-day military operation, have also piled in, with commentators on just about every channel and newspaper (with the exception of the Israel Hayom freesheet owned by Netanyahu’s American backer and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson) excoriating the prime minister for having lost the initiative throughout, allowing Hamas to dictate nearly every stage of the crisis and finally accepting a ceasefire agreement which contains no assurances against future rocket launches from Gaza or mention of a demilitarisation of the Palestinian organisations – a demand repeatedly raised by Netanyahu throughout the crisis.

Westerners viewing the conflict through the prism of international media may be surprised that the heavy toll in Palestinian casualties and destruction of thousands of buildings in Gaza barely features in local criticism of the government. Many observers have also noted quite correctly that if any side has come off worse in the confrontation, it was Hamas, which for all the devastation in Gaza has achieved none of its demands save for a return to the agreements achieved in 2012 and a vague commitment to address its demands in a further round of talks next month. But that is not the Israeli perspective.

The majority of Israelis feel their army acted with restraint and that the blame for civilian casualties lies squarely with Hamas which launched its rockets from heavily built-up areas. They do blame Netanyahu, however, for not using the military might at his disposal to achieve either the toppling of the Hamas government in Gaza or extracting firm commitments to dismantle its rocket arsenal. As Israelis see it, life in much of their country was brought to a standstill for seven weeks, residents of the kibbutzim around Gaza were forced to flee and 71 soldiers and civilians were killed for no gain. Now they’re back where it all started, with no guarantee that another round won’t take place very soon. They see no one else to blame for that except the prime minister. He had their support while the fighting was ongoing – now that he failed to deliver any tangible result, he has lost it.

This doesn’t spell political demise for him quite yet. The ray of light for Netanyahu in the polls is that there is still no alternative on the horizon to his premiership. In the Haaretz poll 42% of Israelis still see him as the most suitable candidate for the job. His closest rival, Labor’s lacklustre leader Yitzhak Herzog, polled only 12% while his challengers from the far-right, Avigdor Lieberman and Naftali Bennett, each received 11% and are deemed as too extreme by three-quarters of the electorate.

Most Israelis don’t love or revere Binyamin Netanyahu and they are deeply disappointed with the outcome of his war. If there was on the horizon a leader they felt was competent enough to replace him, he or she would have a good chance in the next elections. But for now there is no one.

Britain's Muslim and Jewish leaders urge followers to 'export peace' to Gaza

The Community Security Trust, which records hate crime against Jews in the UK, said antisemitic attacks rose to their highest level in five years after the conflict in Gaza had begun. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/AFP/Getty Images

Muslim and Jewish leaders in the UK have called for followers of both faiths to "export peace" to Gaza and stamp out racism.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BoD) issued a joint statement on Thursday morning, after Israel and Hamas agreed an open-ended truce.

Both sides have claimed victory following the recent conflict, which claimed the lives of 2,143 Palestinians, mostly civilians, as well 70 Israelis, all but six of them soldiers.

MCB and BoD said they condemned the civilian casualties and hoped for lasting peace, while also stating Muslims and Jews should "get to know one another".

Their statement said: "There is no doubt that Muslims and Jews have deeply held views about the conflict in Israel and Palestine. We acknowledge that our communities may disagree about the origins, current reasons and solutions to end the conflict. But there are also points of agreement.

"The death of every civilian is a tragedy, and every effort should be taken to minimise such losses. The targeting of civilians is completely unacceptable and against our religious traditions. We pray for a speedy end to the current conflict and for a lasting peace for all.

"In spite of the situation in the Middle East, we must continue to work hard for good community relations in the UK. We must not import conflict. We must export peace instead."

Earlier this month the Community Security Trust, which records hate crimes against Jews in the UK, said antisemitic attacks rose to their highest level in five years after the conflict in Gaza began, and both bodies urged an end to racism of all forms.

The statement said: "Whilst everyone has the right to voice their political opinion, be that in a rally or on social media, we must be mindful of how we convey our protest. There can be no excuse for racism, violence, or other forms of intimidation, when expressing views in the media, on the streets, outside shops or online.

"We condemn any expression of Islamophobia, antisemitism or any form of racism. We call for Muslim and Jewish communities to redouble efforts to work together and get to know one another.

"We need constructive dialogue to limit our disagreements and identify the widest possible range of areas for cooperation. There are more issues that unite us than divide us."

Gaza begins to pick up pieces after 'worst war'

Palestinian children search for usable stuff among the rubble of 15-storey Basha tower, which contained flats and offices before its partial collapse after Israeli air strikes. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Gaza began the long process of picking up the pieces of shattered lives and homes on Wednesday after 50 days of bloodshed and destruction.

The streets of Gaza City were clogged with tuk-tuks and donkey-drawn carts, many laden with women, children and pitiful possessions, heading towards homes which in thousands of cases have been reduced to rubble and twisted metal.

A conspicuous presence of Hamas-employed military and civilian police was a reminder that, despite the onslaught of the past seven weeks, the militant Islamic organisation that has ruled Gaza for more than seven years remains the only effective power in the tiny enclave. With a ceasefire now in place and so far holding, both sides began to weigh the war's outcome.

In Israel the prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has come in for harsh criticism for what has widely been perceived as a war of great costs but few gains.

"After 50 days of warfare in which a terror organisation killed dozens of soldiers and civilians, destroyed the daily routine [and] placed the country in a state of economic distress … we could have expected much more than an announcement of a ceasefire," analyst Shimon Shiffer wrote in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's biggest-selling newspaper. "We could have expected the prime minister to go to the president's residence and inform him of his decision to resign his post."

In the neighbourhood of Shujai'iya, scene of the most intensive battle of the war between Israeli troops and Gaza militants, the Musabeh family was picking through the debris of their home.

"There is nothing left, we lost everything," said Naima Musabeh, 49. "Where is the good from this? We are destroyed."

Her son Ali, 29, was bitter about the outcome of the conflict. "This war was for nothing. Yesterday they were giving out sweets in the street and shooting [in celebration], but I was crying when they said it was a victory."

Next door another branch of the Musabeh clan was clearing rubble with shovels and tin buckets from their garage to create a space to live in the only part of their house that was relatively intact. After weeks in a relative's basement, the adults of the 10-member family planned to spend Wednesday night sleeping on rugs in the garage.

Asked if the gains of the conflict outweighed the losses, Bahiya Musabeh was unsure: "We don't have any details [of the ceasefire agreement]. But this is our fate, we have to accept our destiny."

And what did she think of Hamas and other militant groups which rejected an Egyptian-proposed truce on the same terms as Tuesday's agreement a week into the conflict, when the death toll was around a 10th of its final total? "God protect them," she said.

The rehabilitation of Gaza is expected to take years, even if unlimited quantities of construction materials are permitted to enter. Under the terms of the ceasefire deal Israel will increase capacity at the Kerem Shalom industrial crossing to expedite the inflow of cement, steel and other materials, as well as allowing more people to leave Gaza. It will also extend its restricted fishing zone.

A joint assessment of needs by the Palestinian Authority and the UN is expected to last up to six weeks, with priority being given to displaced families, water and electricity supplies, and urgent healthcare.

Standing in front of a sweep of destroyed factories in Shujai'iya, Frode Mauring, head of the UN development programme, said the true extent of the damage was only now becoming clear: "In modern times, Gaza has not seen this level of destruction," he said.

The damage, he added, would have a "cascade of consequences".

From the perspective of a straight score-sheet, the number of deaths and the amount of destruction during the war was incomparably greater in Gaza than in Israel, said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political scientist at Gaza's Al-Azhar university. "But in Gaza we measure things in a different way. The Palestinian resistance with modest military capabilities was able to fight one of the strongest armies in the region for 50 days. The resistance and the people were not broken. The Palestinians showed resilience and steadfastness. You don't look at victory and defeat only from a military perspective."

Support for Hamas was strong on the streets of Gaza on Tuesday night, as mosques declared victory amid celebratory gunfire. But that was a snapshot of a particular moment, said Abusada: "I think Hamas's popularity will be affected negatively if reconstruction takes a long time."

Opinions in the Shimbari family from Beit Hanoun – who endured 41 days in an overcrowded and unsanitary UN school shelter along with thousands of others who had fled the fighting – were divided along generational lines. "What we want is a calm situation, this is the most important thing," said Alian Shimbari, grandfather of "about 65" youngsters. "This has been the worst war, and we don't want any more." His wife Faiyqa, 63, agreed. "We just want to live like others, to be safe, for our children to play outside without fear."

Around a dozen teenage grandsons had gathered to listen to their grandparents talk. When asked about whether support for Hamas had increased, the boys' unequivocal answers drowned out the response of their elders. They replied, without exception: "Yes."

Mixed blessings as babies born to Gazans sheltering in UN schools

Children holding candles circle a table with seven newborn Palestinian babies. Dozens of people gathered at the UNRWA school to celebrate the birth of these seven children from displaced families in Gaza city. Photograph: Hosam Salem/Demotix/Corbis

To have three granddaughters born in less than a fortnight would be a cause for celebration under any circumstances. But for Amma Attar, who has spent more than a month living with 36 family members in a UN school in Gaza after fleeing her home amid shelling and shooting, it is close to a miracle.

Mayar was born first, a few days after the family left their home in Beit Lahiya, in the north of Gaza, when Israeli tanks rolled over the border. Alaa arrived a week later, and Ola followed after another six days.

"We are lucky to have three healthy babies," said Attar, 60.

The extended family is now living in two classrooms at the Rimal Boys A school in Gaza City, along with about 1,800 others – including 10 newborn babies. The infants are among about 350 born to mothers in UN school shelters since the war in Gaza began.

The Attar family share a few foam mattresses and acrylic blankets; the unlucky ones sleep on the stone floor in airless rooms. The toilets and washrooms are across the school playground. Rubbish is accumulating; flies are everywhere. The babies are being breastfed by their mothers, supplemented with formula milk.

"It's hard to keep everything clean," said Attar, who is worried because one of the babies keeps vomiting. "This is nothing like home, but we have no option."

Their house has not been destroyed but the family is waiting for a permanent ceasefire before returning to what Attar calls "the frontline". Meanwhile, they and others are living on handouts of tinned tuna, corned beef, processed cheese, bread and biscuits.

By the end of last week, there were still about 235,000 displaced Palestinians in UN schools, although a few families had returned home. The start of the new school year, which was scheduled for this Saturday, has been delayed.

Gaza ceasefire: Israel and Palestinians agree to halt weeks of fighting

After 50 days of the Gaza conflict, more than 2,100 people were killed, most of them civilians, including about 500 children. Photograph: Majdi Fathi/Corbis

Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to an indefinite ceasefire, putting an end to seven weeks of catastrophic loss of life and destruction – but on terms that are likely to leave many on both sides of the conflict wondering what had been achieved.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the main militant groups in Gaza, the Palestinian Authority and Israel agreed to stop fighting on Tuesday evening, bringing relief to civilians on both sides of the border after rocket fire and air strikes continued in the hours running up to the ceasefire. One Israeli was killed and several injured by a mortar ahead of the announcement, according to Israeli media.

The terms of the deal – brokered by the Egyptian government, and reached on the 50th day of the conflict – are expected to be similar to those agreed at the end of the previous war 21 months ago. Israel will open crossings on its border to allow the movement of people and goods, and extend the permitted fishing zone off the coast of Gaza. Rafah, the border between Gaza and Egypt will also be opened; reconstruction of Gaza will begin.

More difficult issues will be deferred for further talks in about a month. They include Hamas's demands for an airport and seaport in Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners, and Israel's insistence of the disarmament of militant groups and the return of the remains of two of its soldiers killed in the fighting.

The deal follows at least eight temporary ceasefires during the course of the conflict.

A formal announcement was due to be made in Cairo. Ziad Nakhallah, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader and one of the members of the Palestinian negotiation team, told the Guardian: "We have reached an agreement for a ceasefire according to the 2012 deal, which includes opening the borders, and bringing in building materials. The Israeli delegation agrees, and each side is now calming the battlefield down."

In Gaza City, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said: "An agreement has been reached between the two sides and we are awaiting the announcement from Cairo to determine the zero hour for implementation."

Israel had accepted the ceasefire, although some cabinet members opposed it, Israeli media reported.

In Gaza, more than 2,100 people were killed, most of them civilians, including about 500 children. At least 11,000 people were injured and more than 17,000 homes were destroyed or badly damaged. Around a third of Gaza's 1.8m population has been displaced, and many are now living in United Nations shelters. Schools, hospitals, factories, farms, mosques and infrastructure such as power and water plants were hit. Reconstruction could take up to 10 years, say analysts.

On the Israeli side, 64 soldiers died and four civilians – including a four-year-old boy – were killed. Hundreds of families relocated from homes near the Gaza border to safer areas further north.

The Israeli military estimates that the weapons stocks of Hamas and other militant groups have fallen to less than a third of their pre-war levels, by being fired or destroyed in airstrikes.

Three of Hamas's top military commanders were killed last week, and the fate of its military chief, Mohammed Deif, is still unknown after his wife and two children were killed in a massive airstrike last Tuesday. However the organisation has gained kudos among Palestinians for putting up strong resistance against Israel's military onslaught.

Israeli leaders are likely to claim to have severely weakened Hamas over the past seven weeks, and restored "quiet" to areas within rocket range.

Egyptian leaders will hope to gain international credibility from brokering the ceasefire agreement after weeks of abortive talks hosted in Cairo.

Palestinian minister: investigate foreign citizens serving in Israel's army

Riad al-Malki has urged foreign states with citizens serving in the IDF to investigate them for alleged war crimes. Photograph: United Photos/Reuters

The Palestinian government has urged foreign states with citizens serving in the Israeli military to investigate them for alleged war crimes committed during the current war in Gaza.

Riad al-Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister, wrote to the governments of the UK, US, France, Australia, Canada, South Africa and five Latin American countries on Tuesday, reminding them that all states are obliged under international law to investigate alleged violations, including war crimes, committed by their nationals. Malki said that governments should warn their citizens that they could be liable for investigation and prosecution.

Thousands of soldiers with dual nationality are conscripted into the Israel Defence Forces, while non-Israelis also volunteer under the IDF's Mahal programme, which invites Jews from other countries to serve in combat and support roles for up to 18 months. The IDF did not respond to a request for figures.

Malki's letter, which was also sent to Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, sets out the requirements under international law for governments to investigate alleged violations over which they have jurisdiction, including the actions of their nationals.

It demands that foreign states identify nationals serving in the IDF, notify them of alleged war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza, and investigate allegations that foreign nationals "were involved in the commission and/or the aiding and abetting of war crimes during the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, and prosecuting these individuals where appropriate".

Malki's letter says that Israeli forces have "committed war crimes during the repeated assaults on Gaza in the present, as in the past. They have engaged in indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks. Such actions have caused death and injury to thousands of Palestinian civilians, including children, and massive destruction to civilian properties, in grave breach of international humanitarian and human rights law."

The Israeli military has "deliberately targeted vital civilian infrastructure" and "carried out attacks against clearly marked facilities sheltering displaced civilians, including six [UN] schools", the letter adds.

However, the absence of specific allegations against named individuals will limit the capacity of foreign governments to act. The UN has established an international commission of inquiry into possible war crimes and human rights violations committed by both sides in the current conflict, appointing William Schabas, a Canadian professor of international law, as its head.

The independent team is to investigate "all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law … in the context of the military operations conducted since 13 June 2014," the UN said in a statement. It will report by March next year to the UN human rights council.

Israel dismissed the UN move, and is to establish an internal inquiry into the military and political conduct of the war.

A group of eminent British lawyers wrote to the international criminal court earlier this month urging it to investigate alleged war crimes committed in Gaza. "The international community cannot continue to act simply as witness to such bloodshed and extreme civilian suffering," they said.

Last week, Hamas announced it had backed a Palestinian move to join the ICC, the first step in taking legal action against Israel for alleged war crimes. Israel vehemently opposes Palestinian membership of the ICC, and many international diplomats have warned that such a move could entrench Israel's aversion to resuming the stalled Middle East peace process.

It could also expose Hamas to scrutiny by the ICC. A UN investigation into the last conflict in Gaza, Operation Cast Lead in 2008-09, concluded that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes.

'Gaza violence is crushing the rights of young Palestinians to an education'

Middle Eastern politics is a sensitive subject, and nowhere more so than in the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which is why it is important to emphasise from the outset that the views in this piece are mine and mine alone.

The focus of my work is higher education but this is just one small element of the learning that everyone should be free to undertake because, simply, education is a birthright.

Whatever a person’s background, class, race, gender or religion, they should have the basic right to fulfill their potential. I, like many people, have had my life transformed by education, and remember very well the teachers who recognised potential in me and taught me to recognise it in myself.

Almost the entire Palestinian population is denied the basic right of education, a direct result of the continuing colonisation and occupation of Palestine by Israel. Even before the recent Israeli war on Gaza inflicted unprecedented destruction and carnage, life for Palestinians was a sort of subnormality.

They now face years, if not decades, before returning to those deeply unsatisfactory levels, and for the restoration of the shattered institutional infrastructure needed to support their right to education.

Israel’s attitude towards education has in many ways been highly progressive. The Zionist movement established educational institutions as a fundamental basis of building a nation – long before the state of Israel came into being. The Israel Institute of Technology, a public research university in Haifa, was established in 1912, followed by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1925.

In 2012 Israel was ranked by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development as the second most educated country in the world. It is a position to be proud of, yet it is completely at odds with the restricted right for Palestinians to participate in education, and advance their own nation building through learning institutions.

In 2007 the University and College Union voted to boycott Israeli universities for their support of the occupation of Palestine. It was and is an important signal to Israel, indicating that the world refuses to accept its violation of international law and of basic human rights.

Before 1967 Palestinian universities did not exist in the West Bank and Gaza. Most students wanting a university education joined neighbouring Arab universities in Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, among others.

The subsequent development of universities in the West Bank and Gaza has since been fraught with difficulty, including restrictions imposed by the Israelis at the outset. Universities were granted annual licences to conduct education by Israel, which kept a close watch on how Palestinians were delivering education.

Following the Oslo Accords in 1993 and 1995, education was transferred to the Education Authority of the Palestinian National Authority, yet not without the imposition of several additional restrictions by Israel. For example, core subjects such as the history of the Zionist movement, the history of Palestinian resistance, cultural studies of Palestine and others have been withdrawn, restricting Palestinians in understanding their own past and that of Israel.

There are further curriculum limitations on subjects such as engineering and science, as well as those involving research into materials science, product and industrial design and other mechanical and electronic engineering.

Today there are around 213,000 higher education students in Palestine, studying in 49 institutions. Most of those universities suffer from insufficient funding to operate effectively. Between 60 and 70% of university budgets are covered by student tuition fees – restricting access to those from poorer backgrounds – and the rest through funding from the European Union, the US and others.

Negligible funding is available for research and development, while poorly paid academic staff are forced to take second jobs, reducing their ability to deliver high quality teaching.

In the wake of the bombardment, Gaza’s 500,000 schoolchildren face a bleak start to a new academic year. Of 420 schools, 200 have been turned into refugee shelters, 25 have been completely destroyed and another 230 damaged, some of them so badly they will not be ready for September. Over 20 teachers were killed.

One of the three main universities in Gaza, the Islamic University, has been destroyed and the other two severely damaged.

Despite the continuing military pressure, university students and academics are determined to sustain their academic activities but the odds against them are frequently insurmountable.

This conflict serves the interests of no one, including university students in Israel. It may be a small consideration by comparison but their diminished access to international visitors able to broaden their education and their insights into world affairs is a loss – and another barrier to the mutual understanding needed.

Education is a right, regardless of the actions of any military protagonist, but in Gaza and for Palestinians generally, it is one that has been completely crushed. Its damaging legacy will continue well after the current conflict subsides and will further postpone any real chance of a lasting peace.

Professor Bashir Makhoul is pro vice-chancellor at Birmingham City University.

Join the higher education network for more comment, analysis and job opportunities, direct to your inbox. Follow us on Twitter @gdnhighered.

Israel bombs two Gaza City tower blocks

Palestinians gather around the remains one of the tower blocks hit by Israeli air strikes. Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters

Israel bombed two Gaza City high-rises with dozens of homes and shops on Tuesday morning, causing one building to collapse and severely damaging the other.

In the past, the military has hit targets in high-rises in pinpoint strikes, but left the buildings standing. Since Saturday, it has toppled or destroyed five towers and shopping complexes in an apparent new tactic aimed at increasing pressure on Hamas.

Tuesday's strikes levelled the 15-storey Basha Tower with apartments and offices and severely damaged the Italian Complex, built in the 1990s by an Italian businessman, with dozens of shops and offices.

Both buildings were evacuated after receiving warnings of impending strikes. Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said 25 people were wounded in the attack on the Italian Complex.

The Israeli military said it targeted sites linked to militants on Tuesday, but made no specific reference to the two buildings. Israel alleges Hamas often operates from civilian locations. The military has not said why it has begun collapsing large buildings, rather than carrying out pinpointed strikes against suspected militant targets located there.

Also on Tuesday, two people were killed in an air strike on a house in Gaza City, police said.

Israel's military said it carried out 15 air strikes in Gaza on Tuesday.

It said eight rockets were launched from the coastal strip at Israeli territory, including one that cause extensive damage to a home in the southern city of Ashkelon and lightly injured more than a dozen people there.

The latest strikes came as Egypt urged Israel and Hamas to resume indirect talks on a permanent ceasefire, based on an Egyptian proposal for a new border deal for blockaded Gaza.

The Egyptian offer calls for a gradual easing of restrictions on trade and movement in and out of Gaza and would give Hamas's Palestinian rival, Mahmoud Abbas, a foothold in Gaza.

Hamas seized Gaza from Abbas in 2007, triggering the blockade that has been enforced to varying degrees since then.

Israel and Hamas have not responded to Egypt's latest call.

Gaza's war has so far killed at least 2,133 Palestinians and wounded more than 11,000, according to Palestinian health officials. The UN estimates more than 17,000 homes have been destroyed, leaving 100,000 people homeless.

On the Israeli side, 68 people have been killed, all but four of them soldiers.

Ken Loach calls for cultural boycott of Israel

Ken Loach has called for a boycott of all cultural and sporting events supported by the Israeli state, and condemned the support offered to Israel by the US and UK.

Speaking at the Sarajevo film festival, Loach was presenting the Katrin Cartlidge Foundation award to two documentary-makers from Gaza, Abdel Salam Shehadeh and Ashraf Mashharawi. The former was unable to attend due to the airstrikes, while the latter, who was at the festival, told Reuters he would be unable to return.

“I can’t go back now because of the bombing and because of the closed border. I have to wait, but I know it is also our duty to come here and bring these voices of victims – they chase you,” said Mashharawi.

Ashraf Mashharawi speaks at the Sarajevo film festival on 22 August 2014. Photograph: Dado Ruvic/Reuters

In his speech, Loach drew parallels between the ordeal suffered by the residents of Sarajevo when their city was under siege and those living currently in Gaza.

“We need these film-makers to tell these stories because they are absolutely central to our understanding of the conflict,” he said.

According to Screen Daily, Loach then added: “Israel must become a pariah state.” He also reiterated his criticism of the British government earlier this summer, when he delivered a petition to David Cameron calling for an arms embargo on Israel.

“My country, to its shame, follows the bully that is the United States,” said Loach. “But we are not powerless. We can act together.”

• Tricycle Theatre and Israel: the politics of the cultural boycott

Gaza aid worker: we have stopped feeling anything in pictures

In Gaza, people do everything too quickly. We go to the toilet too quickly, fearing it will be targeted while we are inside. We do the work too quickly, fearing the offices will be targeted at any time. We distribute food and water quickly, fearing distribution points will be hit. We even pray too quickly, fearing we’ll be killed while praying.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs mosque lies damaged after an air strike.



Photograph: Azzam al-Saqqa/Christian Aid

I’m working in the office of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, a Christian Aid partner. The office is receiving calls for help, writing reports and contacting suppliers. Teams on the ground are delivering the services – it’s like a beehive. Everyone is busy doing something. I’m so proud of all they are doing.

On Saturday [9 August], there was a terrifying explosion outside the office.

A missile hits a building in Gaza. Photograph: Azzam al-Saqqa/Christian Aid

When the first missile hit, it was extremely loud and terrifying, and the building was shaking. I thought it was our building that was hit, and I wanted to evacuate. Then I looked from the window and saw a column of flames and smoke. Then, suddenly, another missile hit.

A huge cloud of dust obscures the building hit by the missile. Photograph: Azzam al-Saqqa/Christian Aid

We closed all windows because the smell of gunpowder and dust was terrible. I wish I could also capture the smell.

Staff continue to work after the explosion. Photograph: Azzam al-Saqqa/Christian Aid

We are all back to work, but our hearts are still beating fast. Staff are calling their families on their mobile phones to let them know they are OK, while continuing their work on the other phones.

There’s no time for grief or depression. Families are busy trying to protect themselves, or chasing aid or checking dead bodies in hospitals as they search for missing loved ones. Organisations are busy calling for support and monitoring aid distribution. People are taking the risk to open their small businesses to secure a few shekels to buy some bread and water. Families who lost their homes are too busy looking for safe shelters. We have stopped feeling anything.

A pharmacy lies in rubble.



Photograph: Azzam al-Saqqa/Christian Aid

After three days of sleepless nights, I fell asleep, then a massive explosion hit. The two seconds it took me to understand what was going on felt like forever.

The previously crowded beach is empty now. Photograph: Azzam al-Saqqa/Christian Aid

This is the beach on Friday 8 August. Before the conflict it used to be crowded. Children used to enjoy the beach, but now it is associated with death.

The UN camp in a former school. Photograph: Azzam al-Saqqa/Christian Aid

The first thing I noticed the moment I stepped into the school that is now a UN camp were the crowds. I saw thousands of people staying there. Women stayed inside classrooms, young men were sitting in corridors, some playing chess or cards, older people were talking and drinking tea, children were playing in the playground … others just sat and gazed at the people around them.

Supplies are unloaded at the school.



Photograph: Azzam al-Saqqa/Christian Aid

I saw dignified people despite the great need, frustration and anger. I was inspired by how quickly children’s smiles returned as they went back to play football just a minute after a terrifying drone missile hit a place close to the shelter. I saw families who, despite their great need, insist on sharing the little food they have with others.

Children play in the playground of the UN camp. Photograph: Azzam al-Saqqa/Christian Aid

I asked a mother in one of the rooms whether she feels safe and protected in the shelter. She was about to answer, but instead just took a breath and decided to keep silent because she didn’t want to show her tears.

People in the shelter have very little space, very few choices, but very big hearts.

Children pose for photographs in the playground. Photograph: Azzam al-Saqqa/Christian Aid

I have so many inspiring photos of children that I took in UN shelters. Kids told me about their big dreams. One girl wants to become a famous singer. A boy wants to become an astronaut. Another little girl wants to become a dentist, like her uncle. They have dreams and they want to realise them.

Israeli stealth drone downed at nuclear facility, Iran claims

Iran's Natanz nuclear facility is the country's main uranium enrichment site. Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA

Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed on Sunday that an Israeli stealth drone had been brought down above the Natanz uranium enrichment site in the centre of the country.

The semi-official Fars news agency reported that Iran's elite forces had intercepted and brought down an unmanned aircraft belonging to "the Zionist regime". The news was announced in a statement published by the guards, but it was not clear when the incident, if true, happened.

"This mischievous act once again reveals the adventurist nature of the Zionist regime [of Israel] and added another black page to this fake and warmongering regime's file which is full of crimes," said the Revolutionary Guards' statement.

The state news agency ISNA reported that the aircraft was "of the stealth, radar-evasive type and it intended to penetrate the off-limits nuclear area in Natanz … but was targeted by a ground-to-air missile before it managed to enter the area."

A spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards later told Iranian television that parts of the aircraft had been retrieved. Iran claimed to have reverse engineered a drone after capturing an American RQ-170 Sentinel in 2011.

"Major parts of the devices of the drone are intact and have been received by our friends that can be used for further information," said General Ramazan Sharif. He did not say when the aircraft was shot down, but said it was "identified upon arrival in Iranian airspace". He said authorities allowed it to fly for a short time to determine its destination.

Israeli political and military officials said they never respond to such claims. They have repeatedly threatened to take military action against Iran's nuclear installations, but have been reluctant to do so without US backing or participation.

Natanz is Iran's main uranium enrichment site, housing more than 16,000 centrifuges. About 3,000 more are at the Fordo plant, buried inside a mountain and hard to destroy.

Israel says Iran is developing nuclear weapons at the sites which it intends to use in attacks on the Jewish state. The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has repeatedly said the Iranian nuclear programme is an existential threat to his country. Iran insists it is enriching uranium is for civilian purposes.

Iran and the P5+1 powers – Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany – reached a six-month interim agreement under which Iran suspended part of its nuclear activities in return for a partial lifting of international sanctions.

In July, that deal was extended by four months until November to give the two sides more time to negotiate a final accord aimed at ending 10 years of tensions over Iran's nuclear programme. The sides remain split on how much uranium enrichment Iran should be allowed to carry out.

Washington wants Tehran to slash its programme by three-quarters, but Iran wants to expand enrichment tenfold by 2021, chiefly to produce fuel for its Bushehr nuclear power plant.

Israel opposes any agreement allowing Tehran to keep part of its uranium enrichment programme.

Israeli airstrikes destroy two high rise buildings in Gaza

Two multi-storey buildings in Gaza have been completely destroyed by Israeli air strikes in less than 24 hours, possibly signalling a new tactic in Israel’s military campaign.

A 12-storey apartment building in Gaza City was brought down on Saturday evening and a seven-floor office building in Rafah was razed early on Sunday.

The hits followed warnings by the Israel Defence Forces, in leaflets, text messages and automated phone calls. The text of a leaflet dropped from aircraft said: “The IDF intends to attack terrorists and terror infrastructure across the Gaza Strip … Israel is currently attacking, and will continue to attack, every area from which terror activities against Israel originate. Every house from which militant activity is carried out, will be targeted. For your own safety, prevent terrorists from utilising your property for terror agendas, and stay away from every site in which terrorist organisations are operating.”

It was signed “Beware – Israel Defence Forces”.

In the Gaza City strike a huge fireball followed by a black column of smoke rose into the sky after two Israeli missiles toppled the Zafer Tower, one in a group of several highrises in the area. Neighbouring buildings shook from the blasts.

The Israeli military said the missiles targeted a Hamas operations room in the building but did not explain why the entire tower with 44 apartments was brought down.

Gaza police said a warning missile had been fired five minutes earlier and some residents were able to rush out of the building in time. But 22 people were wounded, including 11 children and five women, according to Gaza hospital officials.

Maher Abu Sedo, an area resident, said the two strikes came within seconds of each other.

“The state of Israel has resorted to madness. In less than a minute 44 families have become displaced … They lost everything, their house, their money, their memories and their security”

In total around 100,000 Gazans have become homeless, with more than 17,000 homes destroyed or damaged beyond repair, according to UN figures. However Saturday’s strike marked the first time an entire apartment highrise was destroyed.

In Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, a seven-floor office building was destroyed and a two-storey commercial building with dozens of shops severely damaged, Gaza police said.

An office of the Hamas-run interior ministry was located in the seven-storey Zourab building. Police said seven people were wounded by the bombing of the commercial centre.

More than 100 rockets were fired from Gaza on Saturday, according to Israeli sources. On Friday a mortar shell killed a four-year-old boy in a kibbutz close to the Gaza border. Daniel Tragerman was due to be buried on Sunday morning.

Hamas executed four more alleged collaborators on Saturday, bringing the total to 25.



According to reports, the four were shot dead in Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza City in front of scores of spectators. Hamas said the men were convicted on evidence brought before a trial, but it withheld their names to protect their families.



Palestinian and international human rights organisations have condemned the wave of summary executions.

Israeli media said a large numbers of residents of southern Israeli communities near the Gaza border were leaving their homes and heading for safer areas following the boy’s death. “I say whoever can leave, whose presence is not crucial should leave,” said minister of public security Yitzhak Ahronovich.

Meanwhile the Israeli military said five rockets were fired from Syria at the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, falling in open areas, in the early hours of Sunday.

On Saturday at least two rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards Israel, Lebanon’s national news agency and security sources said, without saying who had launched them.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and Egyptian officials called on both sides to resume talks aimed at an agreed ceasefire to end the conflict in Gaza. Abbas, in Cairo after meeting President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, also urged a swift resumption of negotiations.

A senior Egyptian diplomat said Abbas had informed Sisi that Hamas was prepared to come to Cairo for further talks, but Hamas did not immediately confirm the report. Israel also had no immediate comment.

The Egyptian diplomat said Cairo expected to receive responses from both Israel and Hamas by Monday.

Hamas has said it will not stop fighting until the Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza is lifted.

Both Israel and Egypt view Hamas as a security threat and are reluctant to make sweeping concessions without guarantees weapons will not enter the economically crippled enclave.

Gaza strikes destroy highrises

Two multi-storey buildings in Gaza have been completely destroyed by Israeli air strikes in less than 24 hours, possibly signalling a new tactic in Israel’s military campaign.

A 12-storey apartment building in Gaza City was brought down on Saturday evening and a seven-floor office building in Rafah was razed early on Sunday.

The hits followed warnings by the Israel Defence Forces, in leaflets, text messages and automated phone calls. The text of a leaflet dropped from aircraft said: “The IDF intends to attack terrorists and terror infrastructure across the Gaza Strip … Israel is currently attacking, and will continue to attack, every area from which terror activities against Israel originate. Every house from which militant activity is carried out, will be targeted. For your own safety, prevent terrorists from utilising your property for terror agendas, and stay away from every site in which terrorist organisations are operating.”

It was signed “Beware – Israel Defence Forces”.

In the Gaza City strike a huge fireball followed by a black column of smoke rose into the sky after two Israeli missiles toppled the Zafer Tower, one in a group of several highrises in the area. Neighbouring buildings shook from the blasts.

The Israeli military said the missiles targeted a Hamas operations room in the building but did not explain why the entire tower with 44 apartments was brought down.

Gaza police said a warning missile had been fired five minutes earlier and some residents were able to rush out of the building in time. But 22 people were wounded, including 11 children and five women, according to Gaza hospital officials.

Maher Abu Sedo, an area resident, said the two strikes came within seconds of each other.

“The state of Israel has resorted to madness. In less than a minute 44 families have become displaced … They lost everything, their house, their money, their memories and their security”

In total around 100,000 Gazans have become homeless, with more than 17,000 homes destroyed or damaged beyond repair, according to UN figures. However Saturday’s strike marked the first time an entire apartment highrise was destroyed.

In Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, a seven-floor office building was destroyed and a two-storey commercial building with dozens of shops severely damaged, Gaza police said.

An office of the Hamas-run interior ministry was located in the seven-storey Zourab building. Police said seven people were wounded by the bombing of the commercial centre.

More than 100 rockets were fired from Gaza on Saturday, according to Israeli sources. On Friday a mortar shell killed a four-year-old boy in a kibbutz close to the Gaza border. Daniel Tragerman was due to be buried on Sunday morning.

Israeli media said a large numbers of residents of southern Israeli communities near the Gaza border were leaving their homes and heading for safer areas following the boy’s death. “I say whoever can leave, whose presence is not crucial should leave,” said minister of public security Yitzhak Ahronovich.

Meanwhile the Israeli military said five rockets were fired from Syria at the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, falling in open areas, in the early hours of Sunday.

On Saturday at least two rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards Israel, Lebanon’s national news agency and security sources said, without saying who had launched them.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and Egyptian officials called on both sides to resume talks aimed at an agreed ceasefire to end the conflict in Gaza. Abbas, in Cairo after meeting President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, also urged a swift resumption of negotiations.

A senior Egyptian diplomat said Abbas had informed Sisi that Hamas was prepared to come to Cairo for further talks, but Hamas did not immediately confirm the report. Israel also had no immediate comment.

The Egyptian diplomat said Cairo expected to receive responses from both Israel and Hamas by Monday.

Hamas has said it will not stop fighting until the Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza is lifted.

Both Israel and Egypt view Hamas as a security threat and are reluctant to make sweeping concessions without guarantees weapons will not enter the economically crippled enclave.

The 20 photographs of the week

The protests over the shooting of Michael Brown, the aftermath of the Israeli offensive in Gaza, the Arctic Race – the best photography in news, culture and sport from around the world this week

Hamas says it will back any Palestinian bid to join international criminal court

Mahmoud Abbas has said he will not make any decision on a bid without the written backing of all Palestinian factions. Photograph: Amr Nabil/AP

Hamas has signed a pledge to back any Palestinian bid to join the international criminal court, a move which could expose both the Islamist group and Israel to war crimes investigations.

The decision revealed by two senior Hamas officials on Saturday would help a bid led by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to join the court, a step that would transform his relations with Israel from tense to openly hostile and could also strain his ties with the United States.

Abbas has said he will not make any decision on a bid without the written backing of all Palestinian factions. Last month, he obtained such support from all factions in the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

The move by Hamas, which is not a PLO member, came after almost seven weeks of a cross-border war with Israel and several failed ceasefire efforts.

More than 2,090 Palestinians have been killed since fighting began on 8 July, including around 500 children, and about 100,000 Gazans have been left homeless, according to United Nations figures and Palestinian officials. Israel has lost 64 soldiers and four civilians, including a four-year-old boy killed by a mortar shell on Friday.

During the war, Gaza militants have fired more than 3,800 rockets and mortar shells at Israel, while Israel has launched about 5,000 air strikes at Gaza, the military said. Israel has said it has targeted sites linked to militants. UN and Palestinian officials say three-quarters of those killed in Gaza have been civilians.

On Saturday, an air strike on a house in central Gaza killed two women, two children and a man, according to medics at the Red Crescent. Six strikes also hit a house in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza, causing severe damage and wounding at least five people, Gaza police said.

Since the start of the Gaza war, Abbas has come under growing domestic pressure to pave the way for a possible war crimes investigation of Israel. Last month, he told senior PLO officials and leaders of smaller political groups he would only go ahead if Hamas supported the bid.

If Abbas were to turn to the court, Hamas could be investigated for indiscriminate rocket fire at Israel since 2000. Israel could come under scrutiny for its actions in the current Gaza war as well as decades of settlement building on war-won lands the Palestinians seek for a state.

Izzat Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said on Saturday that Hamas was not concerned about becoming a target of a war crimes investigation and urged Abbas to act "as soon as possible".

"We are under occupation, under daily attack and our fighters are defending their people," he said in a phone interview from Qatar. "These rockets are meant to stop Israeli attacks and it is well known that Israel initiated this war and previous wars."

But it is uncertain whether such arguments would hold up in court. After the last major round of Israel-Hamas fighting more than five years ago, a UN fact-finding team said both Israel and Hamas violated the rules of war by targeting civilians.

The Hamas decision to back a court bid came after meetings on Thursday and Friday in Qatar between Abbas and the top Hamas leader in exile, Khaled Mashaal.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas leader who participated in the meetings, wrote on his Facebook page early on Saturday that "Hamas has signed the paper" of support that Abbas had requested. Abu Marzouk's post was also reported on Hamas news websites.

There was no comment from Abbas aides.

A senior Palestinian official has said Abbas was expected to wait for the findings of a UN-appointed commission of inquiry into possible Gaza war crimes due by March before turning to the court.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss internal deliberations with reporters.

The office of Israeli prime minister, BinyaminNetanyahu, declined to comment. Israel opposes involving the court, arguing that Israel and the Palestinians should deal with any issues directly.

Mortar bomb fired from Gaza kills child aged four, say Israeli sources

Smoke rising from the remains of a mortar fired by Gaza militants into Israel. Photograph: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images

A mortar bomb fired from Gaza killed a four-year-old Israeli child in a border collective farm on Friday, Israeli security sources said.

The boy would be the fourth civilian in Israel to be killed in an attack from the coastal territory since the outbreak of conflict on 8 July, and the first Israeli death since an Egyptian-brokered truce broke down earlier this week.

More than 2,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, most of them civilians.

More details soon.

Hamas executes 11 suspected informers

Rescue workers search for victims under the rubble of a house destroyed in an Israeli air strike that killed three Hamas military commanders. Photograph: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Rex Features

Hamas has executed 11 suspected informers a day after three of its senior military commanders were killed in an Israeli air strike that was probably carried out on the basis of intelligence provided by collaborators.

According to a Hamas official, the men were killed at a Gaza police station following a court trial and sentencing. However, it is unlikely that a fair judicial process was followed. Pictures circulating on the internet showed bodies lying in pools of blood.

The Hamas-affiliated website Al Rai said the 11 were killed by firing squad on Friday morning and warned that "the same punishment will be imposed soon on others".

It suggested a link between the killing of the alleged informers and Israel's targeting of top Hamas leaders, saying that "the current circumstances forced us to take such decisions".

Three other alleged informers were executed on Thursday.

Collaboration with Israel is punishable by death under Palestinian law, although executions need presidential approval. Hamas has repeatedly carried out summary executions, drawing condemnation from Palestinian and international human rights organisations.

Israeli intelligence services rely heavily on informers in both Gaza and the West Bank. Sometimes individuals are coerced or blackmailed into becoming collaborators; sometimes the motive is financial. If exposed they risk death, and their families – whether they knew or not – are ostracised.

The killing of three military commanders was a blow to Hamas after weeks in which senior political and military figures had avoided being targeted by the Israel Defence Forces, largely by keeping underground in a network of bunkers and tunnels and refraining from using mobile phones.

The fate of Mohammed Deif, the chief of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, is still unclear following an air strike on a house in Gaza City on Tuesday that killed his wife and two children. Israeli officials said they were confident that Deif had died in the blast, but no conclusive evidence was produced.

Ismail Haniyeh, the most senior Hamas politician in Gaza, said in a statement that "despite the pain" of losing the military commanders, "the history of the Hamas movement has proven more than once that it is stronger after every targeted killing of one of its senior members. After a senior operative is killed, we immediately continue on our path without hesitating or stepping back."

Rocket fire from Gaza and Israeli air strikes continued on Friday, but at a relatively low intensity. Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to end the conflict shifted from Cairo to New York, with a United Nations security council resolution drafted by the UK, France and Germany securing US support.

According to reports in the Israeli media, the text calls for an immediate cessation of fighting, the opening of crossings in and out of Gaza, international supervision to prevent weapons smuggling and the construction of tunnels, and the Palestinian Authority to be the governing authority. No date has been set for debating and voting on the proposal.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, was in Qatar meeting the Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal to push him to return to a ceasefire and to encourage Qatar to support Egyptian efforts to mediate a truce, a Palestinian official said. Abbas was set to travel to Egypt later on Friday to meet Egyptian intelligence officials to discuss ceasefire efforts, the official added.

Gaza counts cost of war as more than 360 factories destroyed or damaged

The ruins of al-Awdah food factory, which was destroyed after days of air strikes and shelling. Photograph: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters

Gaza's economy will take years to recover from the devastating impact of the war, in which more than 360 factories have been destroyed or badly damaged and thousands of acres of farmland ruined by tanks, shelling and air strikes, according to analysts.

Israeli air strikes on Gaza have resumed since a temporary ceasefire brokedown on Tuesday after rockets were fired from Gaza. The Israeli Defence Force said it launched air stikes on 20 sites on Friday morning and Gaza health officials said two Palestinians were killed in an attack on a farm.

Almost 10% of Gaza's factories have been put out of action, said the Palestinian Federation of Industries. Most other industrial plants have halted production during the conflict, causing losses estimated at more than $70m (£42m), said the union of Palestinian industries. The UN's food and agriculture organisation (FAO) said about 42,000 acres of croplands had sustained substantial direct damage and half of Gaza's poultry stock has been lost due to direct hits or lack of care as access to farmlands along the border with Israel became impossible.

More than 9% of the annual fishing catch was lost between 9 July and 10 August, it added.

"The initial indications are that economic damage caused by the war is three times that of the 2008-9 conflict," said Gaza-based economist Omar Shaban, referring to the Israeli military operation, codenamed Cast Lead. "It's huge."

Unemployment would increase from the prewar rate of 40%, a result of factory destruction, he said. "Recovery will depend on the terms of the ceasefire agreement – whether the siege is lifted, and how quickly. But it will take a minimum of two to three years even if it is lifted."

Gaza's biggest factory, al Awda in Deir al-Balah, which made biscuits, juice and ice-cream, was destroyed after days of air strikes and shelling last month, which caused a massive fire. Its entire stock of raw ingredients was lost and valuable hi-tech machinery damaged beyond repair. The factory employed 450 people.

"This is a war on our economy," said owner Mohammed al-Telbani. "I started at ground zero, spent 45 years building this business and now it's gone."

Manal Hassan, the factory's manager, estimated the losses at $30m. "We kept a very large stock because of the difficulties of getting raw materials and spare parts into Gaza, so we had enough to keep production going for a year," she said. "This was a factory for making biscuits and ice-cream, not guns. There were no rockets fired in this area."

At the Nadi family farm in Beit Hanoun, Mahmoud Nadi said almost half the stock of 370 dairy cows had been killed in shelling from tanks positioned inside the border and air strikes. The family, which has farmed in the area for 15 years, fled to UN shelters in Jabaliya when the Israeli ground invasion started.

"When we came back, there were dead cows everywhere. We could hardly reach them because of the smell," he said. The milk yield from the remaining stock had plummeted due to the animals' trauma, he added.

Zaid Hamed Ermelat 71 whose camels were killled and upon which his livelyhood depends. Photograph: Sean Smith for the Guardian

In Beit Lahiya, camel farmer Zaid Hamad Ermelat returned to his land last week to find 20 animals – worth $2,800 a head – had been shot by ground forces. Their decomposing carcasses remained on the ground amid spent bullet casings from M16 rifles.

"This is our only income, supporting 17 members of the family," said the 71-year-old Bedouin, who came to Gaza as a refugee during the 1948 war. Asked what he would do to earn a living, he shrugged he would try to find work as a farm labourer.

In a nearby field, peppers were shrivelled on plants as farmers have been unable to harvest crops during the war.

At a cluster of farms in Juha Deek, nearly a mile from the border, almost every house, store and animal pen was wrecked, fruit and olive trees snapped or uprooted and cattle, sheep and goats killed by shrapnel, bullets or starvation as families fled for safety.

"How do I feel? Look at this," said Ahmed Abu Sayed, 22, gesturing at a view of destroyed buildings and tank-churned land. "This tells you how I feel."

The FAO said it would distribute enough fodder to feed 55,000 sheep and goats for 45 days once a permanent ceasefire had been established.

Israel kills three Hamas commanders

Israel dealt a blow to Hamas on Thursday by killing three of its most senior military commanders as uncertainty continued over the fate of the organisation's top military chief, Mohammed Deif, whose wife and children died in an air strike on Tuesday.

Hamas announced the deaths of Mohammed Abu Shamlah, Raed Attar and Mohammed Barhoum after a house in Rafah, in the south of Gaza, was demolished by a series of missiles. Five civilians were also killed, and at least 40 injured.

A joint statement from the Israel Defence Forces and the internal security agency Shin Bet said that Abu Shamlah and Attar had been killed, but made no mention of Barhoum. Defence minister Moshe Ya'alon said the assassinations were a "great operational and intelligence achievement".

It was unclear how Hamas's military command structure would be affected by the losses, but rockets continued to be launched from Gaza throughout Thursday and Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Israel's actions would "not succeed in breaking the will of our people or weaken the resistance". Israel would "pay the price", he added.

Israeli forces continued to attack sites in Gaza for the third day following the breakdown of the latest in a series of temporary ceasefires and the abandonment of negotiations in Cairo to reach a durable agreement to bring the six-week war to a halt.

Ya'alon authorised the call-up of 10,000 reservists in an indication that Israel did not anticipate a swift end to the renewed conflict and that it could escalate.

The IDF said it had targeted six Islamic Jihad fighters who were preparing to launch rockets from Gaza, adding that "a hit was confirmed". Four Palestinians were also killed at a cemetery in Gaza City while burying relatives who had died in overnight air strikes.

There was no definitive word on whether Deif, who tops Israel's most wanted list, had survived or was killed when Israel dropped five one-ton bombs on a house in Gaza City on Tuesday evening. His wife, Widad, 27, and seven-month-old baby Ali were killed; the body of his three-year-old daughter, Sara, was pulled out of the rubble on Thursday.

A document purporting to be Deif's death certificate circulated on the internet on Thursday, but Hamas officials dismissed it as a forgery.

The targeting of Deif and the three commanders in Rafah came after weeks in which Hamas's senior political and military leaders were out of reach in a network of underground bunkers and tunnels. Israel relies on a combination of hi-tech surveillance and human intelligence, in the form of informers on the ground, to track the movements of its targets.

"After 35 days in the bunkers and tunnels, they wanted to go out and this gave an opportunity to go after them," Amos Yadlin, a former head of IDF intelligence, told reporters in a telephone briefing. He said Israeli intelligence would now be seeking confirmation of Deif's death. "They [Hamas] are trying to hide it … When Israel is 100% sure, it will say."

The impact of killing military commanders would only be known in the future, but Yadlin added: "As time passes, there is no doubt they are damaged more and more."

Al-Majd, a Hamas-affiliated website, said that Hamas had executed three alleged collaborators and arrested seven others.

Deif has been the commander of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, since 2002. He has survived five previous attempts by Israel to assassinate him; the last, in July 2006, left him with severe injuries and possibly permanently disabled.

He is believed to be the mastermind behind Hamas's network of tunnels, the focus of Israel's military offensive on the ground in recent weeks. A rare audio recording of his voice emerged on 29 July, in which he declared Hamas would keep fighting until "our people live in freedom and dignity".

The IDF listed the alleged activities of Attar and Abu Shamlah. Attar was responsible for attacks including rockets, explosive devices and infiltrations into Israel which led the death of Israeli civilians, it said, alleging that he was directly involved in the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and weapons smuggling.

Abu Shamlah orchestrated the infiltration into Israel by 13 Hamas fighters last month, according to the IDF, and was "directly involved in multiple murderous attacks against Israel".

Lt Col Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the IDF, said: "This morning's strike sends a clear message to those responsible for planning attacks: we will strike those that have terrorised our communities, towns and cities, we will pursue the perpetrators of abduction of our soldiers and teenagers, and we will succeed in restoring security to the State of Israel."

Hamas's leader-in-exile, Khaled Meshaal, accused Israel of perpetrating a Holocaust in Gaza. "What Israel has done in the Gaza Strip over the last 45 days is a genuine Holocaust … They are killing children, destroying residential areas, mosques, hospitals and UNRWA-run schools," he said in an interview with Turkey's Anadolu agency.

Israel was "replicating what Hitler did years ago," he added: "We will not give up until Palestinian demands – at the top of which is lifting the Gaza siege – are fulfilled."

According to the Gaza ministry of health, the total death toll up to midnight on Wednesday was 2,065, with more than 10,300 injured. Three civilians have been killed in Israel since the start of the conflict, and 64 soldiers have died.