\n<\/p>\n
Good morning. While you were asleep, Donald Trump claimed a deal had been reached for the \u201ccomplete disarmament of Hamas\u201d in Gaza. His announcement, characteristically, does not seem watertight, with briefings from both sides revealing points of contention, and as such is being treated with caution by some world leaders.<\/p>\n
As anyone paying attention knows, the conflict has seen Israel and Hamas accused of war crimes, and two years ago, the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu. Elsewhere in the region, the Israel-US military operation in Iran has been repeatedly declared as \u201cillegal\u201d. That label now <\/strong>feels almost obsolete on the global stage, as laws are ignored, norms tossed aside, and multinational institutions degraded.<\/p>\n Cynics might suggest nothing new here; that the international rules-based order has always been illusory, wielded by the powerful to be followed (and disregarded) at will, to suit self-serving whims and ambitions. But even the mirage appears to have faded. And nowhere is this more acutely felt than in conflict zones, by those who are unwell or injured \u2013 and the healthcare workers treating them, in particular.<\/p>\n For today\u2019s First Edition, we ask how this deathly reality came to be. Beirut-based Guardian reporter William Christou<\/strong><\/em> reflects on Israel\u2019s ongoing campaign of attacks on Lebanese healthcare workers, and we ask Natasha Sax<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 a legal expert with M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res (MSF), who has worked in Gaza, Iraq and Lebanon \u2013 why international law is failing. Before that, today\u2019s top stories.<\/p>\n England news <\/strong><\/em>| Hundreds of people have been evacuated and a major incident declared after a wildfire spread over more than 80 hectares (200 acres) on the coast of Suffolk, just a few miles from the Sizewell B nuclear power station.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n UK politics <\/strong><\/em>| Labour has accused Reform UK of being \u201cup to its neck in sleaze\u201d as it called on the Electoral Commission to urgently investigate substantial donations made to the party by the mother of a convicted fraudster.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Middle East <\/strong><\/em>| Donald Trump has said a deal has been reached for Hamas to disarm and for Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza, however briefings from both sides exposed disputes over its implementation that could prove difficult to overcome.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Europe <\/strong><\/em>| The Spanish government is deploying extra troops and police officers to its north African enclave of Ceuta after thousands of people swam and waded into the tiny territory from neighbouring Morocco in a matter of hours.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n UK news <\/strong><\/em>| The co-founder of Palestine Action has won permission to challenge the ban against the group at the UK\u2019s highest court.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n <\/span>Healthcare workers remain to treat those injured in conflict even in the worst of conditions. <\/span> Photograph: Mariam Dagga\/AP<\/p>\n Palestine tops the list of countries with the most healthcare workers killed in the past five years. There, Israel\u2019s relentless attacks on Gaza\u2019s medical infrastructure are well documented. Lebanon ranks second, with 569. It\u2019s a subject William has covered extensively, his latest report turning to the psychological impact on medics and their families.<\/p>\n Countries with the most healthcare workers killed since 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span>Top 10 countries with the most healthcare workers killed since 2021.<\/span> Illustration: Guardian graphic\/insecurityinsight.org, Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition<\/p>\n During the last two wars <\/strong>in Lebanon, William tells me, Israel\u2019s targeting of healthcare workers has been \u201cconsistent\u201d. Since fighting escalated again this March, at least 135 Lebanese medics have been killed, with nearly 400 others injured. Including the last war in 2024, the death toll is close to 400.<\/p>\n Particularly common are \u201cdouble-taps\u201d: Israel striking a target, waiting for paramedics to arrive, then striking again. \u201cIn April there was a quadruple tap,\u201d William says. In Mayfadoun, southern Lebanon, paramedics responded to the injured after an Israeli airstrike. \u201cThat team was hit,\u201d says William. \u201cAnother team went out. They were also hit. Another crew went: hit, again.\u201d Four medics were killed, and six wounded.<\/p>\n Southern Lebanon has borne the brunt, where Israel has been conducting what UN-appointed human rights experts describe as forced displacement. \u201cThe way healthcare officials put it to me,\u201d William says, \u201cis that it\u2019s an attempt to degrade the ability to sustain life in these areas, similar to what\u2019s been seen in Gaza, so the population leaves for ever.\u201d<\/p>\n When international agencies withdraw, local medics remain long after.<\/p>\n \u201cThey stay, knowing the risk of death,\u201d says William. \u201cSome die, others watch their colleagues be killed.\u201d A group of medics he met attempted to figure out the criteria Israel uses to target them. \u201cIt was impossible, so they gave up eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n Many of them are unpaid. \u201cOne man I spoke to recently said that after the 2024 war, he promised he\u2019d never do it again. But this time, he couldn\u2019t stop himself from volunteering. There\u2019s a sense of duty to their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n William remembers many of their stories. There\u2019s Hafez Yahya, a civil defence medic killed by an Israeli drone strike in May. He\u2019d been a volunteer for 25 years. \u201cI also met Mohammed Suleiman,\u201d says William, \u201cwhose 16-year-old son Joud was one of three paramedics killed by an Israeli drone strike in March while bringing food to people in Nabatieh.\u201d<\/p>\n They were wearing paramedic uniforms. It\u2019s inconceivable.<\/p>\n Countries with most attacks on healthcare<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span>Number of incidents due to conflicts that have affected healthcare since January 2021.<\/span> Illustration: Guardian graphic\/insecurityinsight.org, Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition<\/p>\n Just 10 years ago, the United Nations security council condemned the \u201cprevailing impunity\u201d for attacks on medics, hospitals and other healthcare facilities in conflicts, urging they not \u201cremain unpunished\u201d. A decade on, the situation has deteriorated. Hospitals and medics are under attack; in Ukraine, in Sudan, in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Myanmar and far beyond in unprecedented numbers.<\/p>\n I ask Natasha Sax if these attacks are the result of gaps in international law. \u201cNot at all,\u201d she tells me. Healthcare in conflict zones is governed by international humanitarian law (IHL), \u201cone of the most comprehensive and densely codified bodies of law anywhere\u201d.<\/p>\n The legal framework for protecting hospitals, medical workers and ambulances is set out in the Geneva conventions, signed in 1949 by every internationally recognised state in the wake of the second world war. \u201cSuch universal agreement is basically unheard of in international law,\u201d says Natasha. \u201cThe issue is a lack of will to implement it.\u201d<\/p>\n Enshrined in law<\/strong><\/p>\n IHL is clear: medical units such as hospitals and pharmacies \u2013 their patients, too \u2013 have special legal status. Parties have a duty to respect (not attack or actively harm) and protect: a positive obligation to ensure they can function. On the ground, Natasha says, this simply isn\u2019t happening. \u201cMass displacement orders stopping access, local water and sewage systems destroyed, besieging, raiding and turning hospitals to rubble? We see all of this today \u2013 clear violations.\u201d<\/p>\n There are narrow exceptions to these rules. Even then, harm to civilians and infrastructure must be proportional to military advantage gained; the impact on patients (present and future) must be considered. Evacuation warnings are a must, weapons and methods that minimise harm \u2026 the list continues.<\/p>\n All of this, Natasha says, is ignored today with alarming regularity. She points to Gaza. <\/strong>Here, half of hospitals are totally non-functional, the remaining 18 only operating partially. The consequences for the civilian population are both present and future.<\/p>\n Medical personnel are covered by IHL too: entitled to work, protected from acting against medical ethics, or punishment for providing assistance. The law dictates everyone is entitled to healthcare in conflict zones, whether civilian or previously fighting: in a medic\u2019s care, all are patients. \u201cIHL guarantees the workers who treat them are protected. Except, in many conflicts, we are seeing them killed, arrested, detained and persecuted.\u201d<\/p>\n This is no accident<\/strong><\/p>\n In the last 10 years, MSF recorded 255 security incidents, of which 107 took place in medical facilities. These increases are reflected in wider WHO data. <\/strong>Globally, incidents have more than doubled since 2021.<\/p>\n In 2015, a deadly US attack on an MSF trauma centre in Kunduz, Afghanistan killed 42 people. Simultaneously, medics were systematically targeted in Yemen and Syria. States strongly denounced the situation, with UN Resolution 2286 (pdf) unanimously passing one year later. \u201cBut we have not seen change materialise,\u201d says Natasha. \u201cMore than that, we once had condemnation, now we have normalisation. It\u2019s almost on a daily basis that healthcare is attacked. There is no outcry. The silence is shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n Infrastructure for accountability already exists. At the domestic level, states are obliged to ensure their military complies with IHL. There\u2019s the international humanitarian fact-finding commission \u2013 a Geneva-based investigative body, founded in 1991 \u2013 that can perform investigations of possible breaches. \u201cWe call it the sleeping beauty, as it\u2019s so under utilised,\u201d says Natasha. To date, it has launched investigations into just two localised incidents. And there\u2019s always the international criminal court for prosecutions, if states were willing.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople want to think a new treaty or law will fix things,\u201d says Natasha. Except, there is no need: protections for patients and medics are clear, enforceable and bind us all \u2026 at least on paper. \u201cBut they\u2019re being manipulated, misused, cynically interrupted or wilfully ignored with near total impunity,\u201d she says. \u201cThe law seems to have turned into a suggestion, rather than a binding framework.\u201d<\/p>\n Modern warfare technology allows militaries to operate with precision \u2013 assaults are rarely indiscriminate. These attacks, therefore, appear more than incidental. \u201cWhen we see these patterns,\u201d says Natasha, \u201cit raises the question: is it reckless negligence, or an intentional strategy to deny certain populations of healthcare?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Maria and Czeslaw Krupa in Krakow Sport Arena<\/span> Photograph: Image courtesy of Stephanie Postle Krupa\/Copyright: The Krupa family<\/p>\n Accustomed as we\u2019ve become to the slurry of awful post-Brexit<\/strong> immigration horror stories, reading about the couple stuck in Krak\u00f3w after living in UK for 80 years still got me. Michael<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Aditya Chakrabortty is asking the real questions in his video on whether British graduates<\/strong> are being conned. As someone whose profession bears no relation to my degree, I\u2019ve often wondered this. Micha Frazer-Carroll, newsletters team<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n As a fan of top food-guy Jimi Famurewa (and having edited his restaurant reviews in a previous life), I\u2019ve been looking forward to his new video series, Feed<\/strong>. The first, on third culture bakeries, doesn\u2019t disappoint. Michael<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n I loved this piece by Eromo Egbejule exploring why artists<\/strong> are flocking to the tranquil city of Grand Bassam, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire. Creatives are trading spiralling rents for fresher food, cheaper markets and scenic beachfronts. Micha<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n The wildfires<\/strong> spreading through Europe are terrifying. This visual guide offers a clear, engaging need-to-know outline of the scale of the emergency. Be warned: it\u2019s confronting. Michael<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n skip past newsletter promotionFree newsletter | Every weekday<\/p>\n Sign up to First Edition<\/span><\/p>\n Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n <\/span>Emily Campbell celebrates breaking the Commonwealth Games record and winning the gold medal.<\/span> Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Commonwealth Games <\/strong><\/em>| Emily Campbell set a new Commonwealth record in +86kg final, before revealing she will be appearing on Celebrity MasterChef next month.<\/p>\n Football <\/strong><\/em>| Fifa has responded to the threat of boycott from European nations with a statement saying that \u201cnobody is selling football\u201d, while blaming the media for disrupting its consultation process over controversial plans to sell chunks of the World Cup to US-based private investment.<\/p>\n Football <\/strong><\/em>| London City Lionesses will kick off the new Women\u2019s Super League season against Manchester United on Friday 4 September.<\/p>\n Our critics\u2019 roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now<\/em><\/p>\n <\/span>Darkly atmospheric and powerful \u2026 Shaboozey.<\/span> Photograph: Publicity image<\/p>\n Music TV<\/strong><\/em> Film<\/strong><\/em> Game<\/strong><\/em> <\/span> Photograph: The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cReform is \u2018up to its neck in sleaze\u2019, says Labour as it calls for inquiry\u201d, is the Guardian<\/strong>\u2019s front page today.<\/p>\n \u201cUefa backs World Cup boycott\u201d, is the Times<\/strong>\u2019 front page, the Sun<\/strong> says \u201cFootball\u2019s staying home\u201d, and the i Paper<\/strong> writes \u201cGame changer: Europe tackles Infantino by boycotting the World Cup\u201d. The Express<\/strong> also goes with \u201cEngland join boycott of World Cup\u201d while the Mirror<\/strong>\u2019s take is \u201cRed card for Infantino\u201d.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, the Mail<\/strong> says \u201cBurnham admits oil drilling can ease cost of living\u201d, the Telegraph<\/strong> writes \u201cLabour\u2019s \u00a318bn council raid\u201d, and the FT<\/strong> has \u201cBoE holds rates steady but sees risks ahead if war drags on\u201d. Lastly, Metro<\/strong>, on the heatwave, splashes \u201cCruel summer\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/span> Photograph: The Guardian<\/p>\n US-Iran strikes risk regional war in Middle East<\/strong><\/p>\n The US military has carried out a wave of airstrikes against Iran in response to Tehran targeting American bases in Jordan. The strikes were launched after Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran \u201cvery hard\u201d following a days-long pause in fighting. Iran has expanded its military strikes in the region, raising fears of an all-out war. Lucy Hough speaks to Guardian senior international reporter, Peter Beaumount.<\/p>\n <\/span> Illustration: Ben Jennings\/The Guardian<\/p>\n A bit of good news to remind you that the world\u2019s not all bad<\/em><\/p>\n <\/span>Flautist (and artistic director) Jane Mitchell is airborne in Aurora Orchestra\u2019s Shostakovich\u2019s Fifth by Heart at the BBC Proms in August 2025.<\/span> Photograph: Andy Paradise<\/p>\n In what they hope will prove a spectacular feat of memory, this weekend the Aurora Orchestra will attempt to perform Mahler\u2019s (almost hour long) First symphony entirely by heart. For the musicians, it\u2019s exhilarating \u2013 and for those listening, they hope, it\u2019ll be transformative.<\/p>\n Twelve years ago, the orchestra attempted a similar feat with Mozart\u2019s 40th. This weekend\u2019s piece is almost twice as long, and requires double the number of musicians.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to find ways to give audiences the same breathtaking experience I have,\u201d says artistic director Jane Mitchell.<\/p>\n Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday<\/strong><\/p>\n And finally, the Guardian\u2019s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Good morning. While you were asleep, Donald Trump claimed a deal had been reached for the \u201ccomplete disarmament of Hamas\u201d in Gaza. His announcement, characteristically, does not seem watertight, with briefings from both sides revealing points of contention, and as such is being treated with caution by some world leaders. As anyone paying attention knows,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[1839,1043,1042,6344,178,5051,84,8677,674,23465,261],"class_list":{"0":"post-51573","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-attacks","9":"tag-briefing","10":"tag-friday","11":"tag-happen","12":"tag-hospitals","13":"tag-impunity","14":"tag-iran","15":"tag-lebanon","16":"tag-ukraine","17":"tag-usisrael","18":"tag-war"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Five big stories<\/h2>\n
\n
In depth: \u2018When international agencies withdraw, local medics remain\u2019<\/h2>\n
What else we\u2019ve been enjoying<\/h2>\n
\n
Sport<\/h2>\n
Something for the weekend<\/h2>\n
<\/strong><\/em>Shaboozey: The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other <\/strong>Western<\/strong> Tales<\/strong> | \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606
It\u2019s fair to say that if Shaboozey never released another note of music, his place in history would still be assured. He wasn\u2019t the only Black country-leaning artist brought to a wider audience by a guest appearance on Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s 2024 album Cowboy Carter, but no one else capitalised on the exposure quite so remarkably. As a demonstration of his eclecticism, The Outlaw Cherie Lee works well. The pop-facing tracks hit, the strike rate when he diversifies is higher than his naysayers would suggest, and there\u2019s an impressive boldness about his evident desire to draw R&B, soul and hip-hop artists into his world. The overarching storyline is tight and well handled. Perhaps most importantly, the album never feels like the work of an artist whose career has been destabilised by a huge, unexpected and unrepeatable hit, but rather the work of an artist digging in for the long haul. Alexis Petridis<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Jared Leto: Hollywood\u2019s Dark Secret<\/strong><\/em> | \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605
<\/strong>Jared Leto has long been a person with something of a reputational issue. The public-facing side of this was bad enough, but for years there have been upsetting rumours about what he does in private. After a lengthy investigation, this BBC documentary has finally brought at least some of them to light. This is, as you might imagine, not a fun thing to watch. The film documents allegations of what are said to be decades of systematic criminal misconduct against teenage girls. What is particularly galling about Hollywood\u2019s Dark Secret is that this is not the first time someone has tried to investigate these claims. Maybe the floodgates will finally open. Stuart Heritage<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Spider-Man: Brand New Day<\/strong><\/em> | \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606
Just a few weeks ago, Tom Holland was telling us that his role as Telemachus in Christopher Nolan\u2019s Odyssey was his \u201clast chance to play a boy\u201d. Well, Holland is back as the supposedly scrappy, gawky, arachnid young superhero Spider-Man. Zendaya saves this film, rescuing it from silliness and the generic deja vu overfamiliarity that is always threatening to sink it. Something in MJ\u2019s civilian status, her non-superhero identity, brings Zendaya\u2019s grownup acting presence to the fore in ways denied to everyone else on screen, including Holland. It\u2019s an entertaining spectacle, but really without the novelty of movie-iterations like the more experimental Spider-Verse animations. A more radical reboot is needed. Peter Bradshaw<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
Halo: Campaign Evolved (PC, Xbox, PS5) | \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/strong>\u2606
I had my misgivings after the opening level of this 25th-anniversary remake of Xbox\u2019s most iconic shooter, in which the freshly defrosted supersoldier Master Chief fends off an alien attack on a disintegrating spaceship. After that, however, I spent much less time thinking about what has been changed, and much more thinking about what hasn\u2019t. Nobody really makes single-player shooters like Halo any more: tense, adaptable, challenging. Halo: Campaign Evolved reminded me what we\u2019ve been missing. It is a good remake of a brilliant game. For millions of younger players, it is a perfect, modernised introduction to everything that was great about the 00s-style first-person shooter. For those of us who were there at the time, it\u2019s a welcome return trip. Keza Macdonald<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nThe front pages<\/h2>\n
The Latest<\/h2>\n
Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings<\/h2>\n
The Upside<\/h2>\n
Bored at work?<\/h2>\n