A United Nations inquiry commission has called for Israel to immediately release a Palestinian doctor it has jailed without charge for more than 18 months.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry ⁠on the Occupied Palestinian Territory made the appeal on Wednesday for Hussam Abu Safia, the 52-year-old director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, saying there are credible reports he has faced “continued and severe abuse”.

Abu Safia’s lawyer, Nasser Odeh, has warned that the doctor’s health is in ⁠⁠grave danger as he faces daily abuse. Rights groups and his family say he shows signs of having been regularly tortured.

During a recent visit, Abu Safia was found so severely wounded that Odeh struggled to recognise him, according to the rights group Physicians for Human Rights Israel.

Last month, footage of Abu Safia appearing via videolink before an Israeli court showed him looking noticeably thinner in his face and around his abdomen.

“The Commission calls for the immediate, unconditional and safe release of Dr. Abu Safiya and of all medical personnel held in arbitrary detention by Israel,” the commission said in a statement, using a slightly different spelling of the doctor’s name. “It also urges the Israeli authorities to provide immediate independent medical care for Dr. Abu Safiya.”

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Israeli authorities detained Abu Safia along with other medical staff and patients in December 2024. They classified him as an “unlawful combatant”, a designation Israel has used to hold Palestinians for prolonged periods without trial.

In the statement urging his release, the commission said Israeli authorities’ reported conduct towards Abu Safia reflects a broader pattern of violations that it identified in previous reports.

“The actions of the Israeli Prison Service guards towards Palestinian detainees raise grave concerns of violations of international law that ‌ likely amount to international crimes. Dr. Abu Safiya’s medical condition is the direct result of these actions.”

The Reuters news agency quoted an Israel Prison Service (IPS) spokesperson as rejecting the inquiry commission’s claims as “false, outrageous, and entirely without factual basis”.

The spokesperson did not specifically mention Abu Safia, although the IPS has previously rejected allegations that he or other doctors have faced mistreatment in prison.

In September 2025, the commission said ⁠Israeli authorities had committed genocide by targeting the healthcare system ⁠and medical professionals in Gaza since October 2023.

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On Monday, a separate UN rights body termed Abu Safia’s detention “arbitrary” and called for his immediate release. In its finding, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ‌said Israel’s ‌actions contravened multiple articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Abu Safia is one of 14 Palestinian doctors from Gaza currently held by Israel without charge.

Prior to his detention, he had been a prominent voice highlighting Gaza’s decimated healthcare sector and continued to work despite the death of one of his sons in an Israeli drone attack.

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In the months since the ceasefire, Israeli attacks have killed 1,084 people, including nine killed by strikes and gunfire across Gaza on Wednesday, according to local health officials. Among the dead were two children, as well as a truck driver who was gunned down at a roadblock along the Philadelphi Corridor, an Israeli-controlled strip of land that runs along Gaza’s border with Egypt.

The Israeli military said it shot the truck driver after he “ran towards the troops.” Another man was killed on the street by a drone in Gaza City.

The strike that killed Wahidi on Tuesday hit a car in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City at dusk, according to Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, the director of Shifa Hospital. He said three others were killed in the attack, including the driver, Ahmed Daghmush, 33, and two brothers, 10-year-old Hamza al-Deri and 8-year-old Fari.

The Israeli military said Wahidi, who helped organize the soccer screenings in Gaza on Tuesday, was not a target of the strike. It said the attack was aimed at a Hamas militant and that it was checking whether Daghmush was the target. Abu Selmiya said he was a taxi driver without any known links to militant groups.

The committee for which Wahidi worked is the relief arm of the Egyptian government, which provides food, shelter and other assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.

Many in the Palestinian diaspora live across the border in Egypt, which was a key mediator of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.Team Egypt’s Gaza fan base has only grown since the start of the tournament, with coach Hossam Hassan spotlighting the plight of the Palestinian people in press briefings and on the pitch. He dedicated his team’s victory over Australia on Friday to both Egyptians and Palestinians and waved a Palestinian flag.

AP NEWS.

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The Commission, which concluded last year that Israel had committed genocide against the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip, found that the intense scale and systematic nature of the Israeli military operations have continued – resulting in unprecedented death, injury and trauma of Palestinian children.

The Commission reiterates that the deliberate targeting of children is one of the key elements establishing the genocidal intent of the Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the Palestinian group, in whole or in part, in Gaza.

“The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” said Srinivasan Muralidhar, Chair of the Commission. “Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured, with continued disregard by Israel for the ceasefire and for the protection owed to Palestinian children under international law.”

Severe physical and mental injuries, mass trauma, orphanhood, separation, disability, repeated displacements, starvation, and the collapse of education and healthcare have erased childhood and will continue to affect children in Gaza throughout their lives.

Palestinian children have been arrested and subjected to torture and other severe forms of mistreatment in Israeli prisons and detention facilities, with no information on their whereabouts. Israeli security forces have also used sexual violence against children as part of the collective shaming and oppression, entrenched within a prolonged, ethnic, gendered, and intergenerational pattern of Israeli occupation and hostilities.

Israel’s targeting of neonatal and maternity care centres in Gaza have directly harmed the survival of newborns and Palestinians’ reproductive future, including rises in miscarriages, birth defects and lasting vulnerabilities among newborns, resulting in the destruction of Palestinian newborn life and the population’s continuity. Starvation imposed by Israel through blockade and siege have further caused the death of Palestinian children and severely impacted the health of many others, depriving them of essential nutrition and increasing disease risks amid reduced immunization, food insecurity and destroyed health services.

In parallel, the dismantling and destruction of orphanages and education facilities in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have obstructed children’s cognitive, social and emotional care and development and disrupted the foundations of Palestinian society.

“Even if the bombs and guns fall silent in Gaza and West Bank, Palestinian children will not simply recover overnight,” said Muralidhar. “The destruction of their health, education and development is irreversible.”

Palestinian children have suffered immense psychological harm, having been stripped of any sense of safety and future. Mental harm is an intergenerational condition, producing a distinctive “occupied psyche” in which the freedom to play, imagine, hope, and develop an identity has been eroded.

By targeting children, Israel is eroding the foundational structure of Palestinian society, weakening the demographic vitality, and overall capacity of the Palestinian people to sustain and exercise its right to determine its future as a people, the report said.

“The protection, care and survival of Palestinian children are inseparable from the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination,” said Muralidhar. “By targeting children, Israel is attacking the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine their future.”

The Commission calls for Israel to cease committing violations and crimes against and affecting Palestinian children. The Commission further calls for the end of Israel’s continuing presence in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in compliance with the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice.

The Commission has identified military units within the Israeli security forces responsible for killing and injuring of Palestinian children and makes recommendations to Israel and to all Member States to ensure accountability for such crimes.

The international community as a whole must uphold their international legal obligations and call for an end to the hostilities, for Israel to end its occupation and to prioritize accountability and access to justice for victims as an integral component of any political process, grounded in the meaningful participation of Palestinians, including children. UN Human Rights Commission

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Palestinian activists worldwide have launched a campaign to call on the breakaway East Libyan government to free the 10 Samud Land Convoy participants it arrested while they were trying to negotiate safe passage through its territory to deliver tons of aid to Gaza.

While the majority of the Samud Land Convoy participants have returned to their respective countries, the 10 – who were acting as negotiators – were arrested and charged with illegal entry – there is limited consular access to establish the status of their detention.

On her return to Cape Town, activist Fatima Hendricks said their travel through Libya was difficult. Their convoy had faced insurmountable hurdles as they travelled with 10 containers of food and medicine, ambulances, vehicles and mobile homes.

“But what did the military do? They (the East Libyan forces) came in their might to squash us. Our comrades are being held with very limited access. We demand their immediate release,” she said.

Meanwhile, Feroza Mayet, a spokesperson for the Samud Land Convoy, told Al-Qalam that aid for Gaza is in storage in East Libya, and negotiations are ongoing to have it transferred to Gaza.

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She said all of the 200 participants had Libyan visas and they were working with the Red Crescent to facilitate the convoy’s passage across Libya, with their final destination being Gaza.

She called on people of conscience to stand up and call for the release of the 10 negotiators.

Meanwhile, in a statement, human rights organisation Amnesty International said the 10 participants – four men and six women – were arrested while en route to Sirte to negotiate with local authorities to allow safe passage for the convoy to pass through.

“The Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) must ensure the immediate release of 10 members of the Global Sumud Land Convoy who have been arbitrarily detained for over two weeks in eastern Libya solely for attempting to deliver aid to Gaza amid Israel’s ongoing genocide, Amnesty International said today. 

Following periods of enforced disappearance ranging from two to nine days, prosecutors interrogated them before ordering their pretrial detention pending investigations into charges of “assembly without authorisation.” If convicted, they face up to six months in prison and/or a fine. 

“At a time when Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are grappling with Israel’s ongoing genocide and catastrophic humanitarian conditions, it is utterly disgraceful that individuals seeking to deliver humanitarian assistance and end Israel’s unlawful blockade have been met with arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and prosecution on bogus charges in Libya,” said Mahmoud Shalaby, Regional Researcher at Amnesty International. 

“No one should be punished for undertaking peaceful humanitarian action and trying to stop human rights abuses. The Libyan Arab Armed Forces must ensure the immediate and unconditional release of the activists, and in the meantime ensure that they have prompt and regular access to their families, consular representatives, lawyers and any medical care they require.” 

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“From 1 June and at least until 4 June 2026, the detainees, whose ages range from 30 to 70 and who are nationals of Argentina, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, Uruguay, and the USA, went on hunger strike to protest their detention and denial of access to their lawyers and families.  

The 10 are Achraf Khoja (Tunisia); Lucas Aquilera (Argentina); Maria Gimenez (Argentina); Ana Franca Baptista (Portugal); Leornarda Alberizia (Italy); Jenelle Jones (United States); Matias Alvarez (Uruguay); Laura Alsubaih (Poland); Alicia Armesto (Spain) and Domenico Centrone (Italy).

The statement added: “On 17 May 2026, the convoy comprising more than 200 participants who had intended to drive to Gaza over land halted its journey and camped at a location approximately 9km from Sirte due to security concerns about the concentration of armed men nearby. One week later, on 24 May 2026, a delegation of 10 convoy participants proceeded toward Sirte to seek permission from the local authorities for the convoy to continue its journey. An armed group affiliated with the LAAF arrested the group at a security checkpoint near Sirte, without informing them of the reasons for their arrest.  

“The 10 were then escorted into unmarked white vans and forced onto a plane to Benghazi, where they were held in an unknown detention facility without allowing them to contact their lawyers or families.”

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A Palestinian mother of two who fled the Zionist genocide together with a plane load of other refugees late last year says she is most grateful to have been warmly welcomed to South Africa, but she yearns for the soil of Gaza.

Many of those who arrived have had to do so quietly, relying on community networks, particularly from within South Africa’s Muslim community.

Al-Qalam spoke to one Palestinian woman who requested to remain anonymous. Let’s call her Nadira.

Nadira says her life, despite hardships, was rooted in purpose and identity.

“I am Palestinian from the Gaza Strip. I grew up there and experienced everyday life filled with resilience and challenges. I studied journalism, got married, and have two children. I carry with me a deep connection to the place, my family, and the memories that have shaped a large part of my identity and who I am.”

Leaving, she explains, was not a decision made freely.

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“The circumstances that forced me to leave Palestine were difficult and complex. It was the war of genocide, the constant fear of death, and the absence of all basic conditions for life. It was a painful decision, but it came in search of safety and an opportunity for a new beginning where I could continue and build a future for myself and my children.”

For many Palestinians in Gaza, daily life has been shaped by ongoing conflict, uncertainty, and the erosion of basic living conditions. For civilians, particularly families, the decision to leave is often not about choice, but survival.

Arrival in South Africa brought both relief and emotional strain. “The moment I arrived in South Africa was a mix of conflicting emotions. I felt relief at being in a safe place, but at the same time, there was deep sadness and longing for everything I had left behind. My first impression was that the country is diverse, culturally rich, developed, and its people are kind, but I felt a sense of alienation at first.”

Adjusting to a new country, she says, has been neither quick nor easy. “Adjusting to life here has been gradual and not easy. The hardest part has been being away from my family and sometimes feeling lonely, as well as trying to integrate into a new society with different customs. Over time, I began to understand the environment better and gradually adapted.”

Separation from loved ones remains one of the most difficult aspects of rebuilding life in a new country.

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At the same time, support from local communities has played a meaningful role in easing that transition. “Yes, I have received beautiful support from the local community, especially the Muslim community, psychological, moral, and also guidance to better understand the nature of the country. This has helped me continue and feel that I am not alone.”

Across South Africa, similar acts of support have helped many who arrived begin to find stability, even in the absence of formal systems.

For Nadira, that sense of belonging is still taking shape.“I do feel that I am gradually developing a sense of belonging here. The country is kind and its people are welcoming, but it does not take away my original belonging to Palestine, my homeland. I hope people understand that behind every migrant there is a story full of challenges and sacrifices, and that the journey was not an easy choice but a necessity imposed by the harsh conditions in my country. South Africa has been a safe haven and a place of refuge for me, and I hold it in great appreciation 

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The objective of the Mission is to open a humanitarian aid sea corridor to Gaza and challenge the conditions that allow for starvation and an almost two-decade-long siege of over 2 million people in a concentration camp.

The blockade on Gaza has resulted in one of the most devastating man-made famines in history. As per the most recent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification data, between 16 October and 30 November 2025, around 1.6 million people (77 percent of the population analysed) faced high levels of acute food insecurity. This includes more than half a million people in Emergency, and over 100,000 people in Catastrophe. This wilful deprivation echoes centuries of colonial deployment of malnutrition as a tool of subjugation, settler colonialism, and submission.

Israel and its co-conspirators in genocide have expanded this violent policy of weaponising starvation despite censure from major human rights organisations. They have bolstered the blockade despite the provisional measures laid out in the 28 March 2024 order of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ordered Israel to ensure the unhindered provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza. This is also an obligation under international law that the international ‘community’ has failed to enforce.  

In this context, the South Africans set sail where States have failed to fulfil their compulsory legal and moral universal duties to Palestinians and to all humanity to punish and prevent genocide as set out in the Genocide Convention.

They sail against structural impunity for apartheid, Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism, aggressive war, and settler colonial genocide. They sail in the spirit of the long history of mutual solidarity between anti-apartheid South Africa and Palestine.

They sail against starvation and imperial climate catastrophe. They sail against the genocidal racist regime of Zionism. They sail against the ongoing Nakba.

A spokesman for the Global Sumud Flotilla said the participants will “set sail with the spirit of solidarity that the South African people have with our Palestinian comrades and siblings. They sail with total commitment to the cause of Palestinian self-determination.”

“They sail because complicit States continue to arm the genocidal Israeli State. Mining conglomerates like Glencore continue to power the Israeli grid, fuelling multiple genocides and wars across the globe while grossly exploiting labourers and plundering the environment. As the South Africans sail, they carry our redoubled commitments to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement.”

From Palestine to Venezuela, from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Cuba, from South Africa to Sudan, they sail knowing our struggles are connected. They sail in solidarity with oppressed and subjugated people in South Africa, Africa, and all over the continent in the face of the colonial racial capitalist machine.

They sail in the footsteps of thousands who resisted and continue to resist apartheid, fascism, and genocide in Southern Africa, Palestine, and across the world. They sail in the slipstream of millions in the Global Majority who have risen to resist colonial domination throughout history.  

They sail against the winds of war as the tide turns at the end of a dying empire.

They sail to bear witness as judgment day looms.

They sail with the knowledge that all colonisers fall eventually.

They sail, in the words of writer and delegation co-chair Zukiswa Wanner, towards “a world already in the making, in which the solidarity of those who stand on the side of justice is as global as the profits of the plunderers.”

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The Muslim Ummah from around the world breathed a sigh of relief when the Zionist entity eventually opened the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque for Fajr salaat on Thursday morning after a painful 40-day closure.

This will be the first Jumuah after six weeks that thousands of Muslims will be allowed through the gates to pray, although for how long it will remain open is anyone’s guess in view of the fragile ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran.

Durban Islamic scholar Sheigh Rafeek Hassen told Al-Qalam that Muslims welcomed the opening of the Al-Aqsa Masjid after 40 days of oppressive closure by the Zionist regime. “The Zionists and their surrogate supporters USA and the rest,  keep reminding us  about  October 7^th, 2023, but Muslims forget that October 7^th started off as “Al Aqsa Flood”  Arabic: Tufan Al-Aqsa which was  the name given by Hamas to their October 7, 2023, attack against Israel. It refers to protecting the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem from alleged Israeli aggression and occupation, aiming to reverse the status quo, end the Gaza blockade, and boost Palestinian liberation efforts. 

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“When Al Aqsa Masjid – the third holiest place of worship in the Muslim world was closed even for the blessed Month of Ramadan – NOT A SINGLE Muslim country batted even an eyelid. Jordan, which was mandated by the UN to oversee the administering of Al Aqsa – just looked on. One of the conditions in that agreement was that ONLY Muslims are allowed to worship on the temple mount call Haram al Sharieff by the Muslims. This has been repeatedly violated by the Zionist regime that forcefully allowed right-wing Jewish zealots under the protection of the army to come and offer prayers.

“Once will argue that most of the Muslim countries in the region are “sell-outs” and lackeys of the illegal Zionist entity. However, the Palestinians are very aware of this fact and perhaps one of the motivations for giving the October 7th resistance the name “Al Aqsa flood” was to draw the attention of GLOBAL Muslim Ummah to get active and involved. Alas, apart from a few Muslim groups and activists who are not Muslims – this call fell on “deaf ears” A sign of an Ummah that yes felt the pain but did nothing. There is a Hadith of the Prophet to the effect that if we see a wrong we must stop with our hands [ physically] if we not strong enough to do that, then at least speak out against the wrong, and if we not able to that as well, then at least feel the pain of the wrong in your hear “BUT THAT IS THE WEAKEST FORM OF IMAAN” 

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“I think the Muslim ummah needs to critically look at themselves in the light of this Hadith and make an honest assessment of ourselves in the light of this Hadith. Allah says in the Quran in Chapter 11 Ayah 13, “Allah will not change the condition of a people, unless they first change themselves.”  

May Allah transform us from just “Feeling Muslims” to “Doing Muslims.”

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F. Scott Fitzgerald held that one of the signs of a first-class mind was the ability to hold two opposing ideas in one’s head. The complexity of the current geopolitical situation globally probably requires our minds to hold at least three contradictory and opposing ideas at the same time if we are to navigate and make sense of the world today, especially the Middle East as the theatre of conflict.

What We Know

What most citizens of the world increasingly know as true is that a genocide is being perpetrated against the Palestinian people, their lands occupied, and their prospects for a state are diminishing. They know that Israel is the perpetrator, and the USA is the enabler with arms and permission. Furthermore, it is becoming quite clear that diplomatically, South Africa and the Hague Group are holding them accountable in the ICJ, but also that Iran in the neighbourhood is the only country providing resistance and support militarily to the Palestinians through proxies. We also know that much of the neighbourhood is tied to Israel and the USA through the Abraham Accord – signed or unsigned – and therefore, have tied their long-term future, economically, to the West. We also know that the USA has maintained hegemony over the world with a combination of hard power (military) and soft power (aid and trade), but that the supremacism of Trump has shifted to domination – cutting all aid, imposing tariffs, threatening allies and enemies alike, and effecting a regime change agenda.

 Consequently, Trump is accelerating geopolitical shifts from USA unilateralism (dictating the global agenda) to a cautious multi-polarity (the emergence of multiple poles of influence) that could eventually see a multi-lateralism (contesting poles of power). Following regime change in Venezuela, it was always going to be Iran’s turn next. At Israel’s behest, and combining with the USA, they attacked Iran and assassinated its Supreme Leader, expecting that this would achieve the primary objective of regime change beyond false pretexts like nuclear weapons, democracy for Iranians, and an imminent attack on the USA.

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Managing the dilemma

Iran’s response – its resilience, strategic choices, and operational capability – created confusion and a dilemma. Public opinion alternated between moments of clarity (it’s wrong to attack without provocation and rules); moments of confusion (why is Iran attacking other Muslim countries), and moments of division (are they even Muslim). Such moments become moments of strategic, ethical, and theological dilemma. A first-class mind must have the ability to weigh, sift, sequence, and prioritise multiple opposing ideas and beliefs, using tools from ethical and strategic frameworks: discerning the lesser of two evils; distinguishing crime from sin, the domain of the human from the divine; permissibility as default while impermissibility needs proof; choosing the easier rather than the difficult; and avoiding undue suspicion. How does this play out currently?

Dilemma One – Is this a cosmic battle between good and evil?

Iran is not an unadulterated force for good and its practices often dubious. It has been shaped by a combination of historical experience and ideological zeal. Historically, when it went democratic under Mossadegh, a USA-led coup re-installed a brutally despotic Shah; when it won liberation in 1979, it was subjected to a western-inspired, regionally supported destructive war conducted by Saddam; ever since it has been sanctioned and isolated; and whenever it negotiated (the Nuclear Deal), the USA reneged. History shaped Iran’s zeal: ideology under siege reinforces victimhood, and victimhood engenders totalitarianism; totalitarianism controls freedoms and rights, difference and diversity; and thus, surveillance and security are the antidotes to uprisings and regime change agendas.

The first-class mind can absorb this dilemma between historical injustice and totalitarian injustice. But the first-class mind must also be capable of understanding that the architect of the historical injustice cannot own the right to be the custodian of what it has subverted in Iran (democracy, rights, and freedom), in the Arab Spring, what it by-passes in the neighbourhood of Iran, and how it perpetrates the genocide of the Palestinians. The first-class mind defends Iran’s sovereignty and reduces its siege AND advances its people’s claim to democracy, rights, and freedoms.

Dilemma Two – why attack the Arab Muslim lands?

The Arab States have a conundrum: they are no match for Israel militarily because the USA does not sell them weaponry superior to what Israel is provided, and for which Israel does not have an antidote; in a world accelerating to a post-fossil fuel energy regime, oil and gas may have a century to go, and will not sustain them unless they are fast-tracked into a post-oil world by the USA through its proxy, Israel. Therefore, the combination of military powerlessness and economic dependence has frog-marched them to the Abraham Accord with Israel.

This conundrum leads to a trade-off. The Abraham Accord carries the seeds of both realism and betrayal: realism recognises Israel as a fact in the Middle East, but betrayal gives Israel silence amidst genocide. Realism sees the urgency of a post-oil economy, while betrayal allows the USA to have military bases in Arab lands, and realism now means such bases are only realistically against Iran, but betrayal implicates the one housing the aggressor in war. Therefore, when Iran’s military defence is founded on attacking both the direct aggressors (USA and Israel) and their bases in ‘neutral’ Arab lands -whether the military base itself, the fuel and other supply lines, or the accommodation housing evacuated soldiers, then Iran’s strategic calculus says to the Arab lands: call off your masters otherwise we all go down together.

The first-class mind has sympathy for collateral damage of innocent citizens and infrastructure, and the consequent instability and choking of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. It will have an impact on all of us. But these should have been in the calculus of the aggressor, not the responsibility of the defender facing an existential threat. The first-class mind can well comprehend that you cannot house the aggressor and expect someone you barely tolerated as a Muslim to act in a spirit of Muslim solidarity.

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Dilemma Three – Are Iranians even Muslim?

Only when Iran responded by attacking USA bases in Arab lands, did we see the mobilisation of some of their clergy: they mobilised historical anti-Shia stereotypes (cursing of companions, how they pray, their belief system) and encouraged the idea of excommunication from Islam. This was for the consumption of the Muslim masses. At home, they counted the costs of a strategic error of housing the USA military. Hysteria for the masses, strategic recalculation for the leadership. Only when Iran attacked the Arab lands did we hear the fervent prayers for protection of Muslim lands, while no real fervour in praying for an end to genocide, for the deaths of 180+ girls at a school in Iran, or for an end to US-Israel aggression in the month of Ramadan.

A first-class mind can be bewildered or dismayed by aspects of Shia theology but be content to leave the final judgement to the Divine. It will wonder why there would be public pronouncements of the Shia being non-Muslim, but the same people issue Hajj and Umrah visas for Shias, especially if the holy precincts are barred for non-Muslims. A first-class mind will compare the silence of the majority in the face of Palestinian genocide with the punishment of Iran and the emasculation of its 3-H proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis) and ask: Who else is defending Palestine? Ultimately, a first-class mind can dismiss sectarian rhetoric to understand how the USA-Israel war is strategically reshaping the Muslim world into zones of domination and extraction.

Quo Vadis?

Indeed, a first-class mind must sift and weigh the dilemmas and conclude: firstly, rules must always apply, because its opposite – impunity – is what makes might right and the world a jungle; secondly, there is no neat delineation of good and evil, but rather the lesser of two uncomfortable choices – who is the constant perpetrator and who the occasional? Who is the historical victim? and who has the moral authority to advise regarding rights, freedom and democracy. Thirdly, if Iran is destroyed, who else lies outside the hegemonic consensus that could inspire and assist resistance at the frontlines with Israel when the neighbourhood is tied into the Abraham Accord; fourthly, is this not the time for the Abraham Accord to argue that USA military bases and co-operation with Israel’s defence is a fundamental compromise as well as a magnet for endangering the Arab lands, and should end; and finally, if Iran’s battle for survival means inviting the USA to engage, not merely from the air, but in a ground war of blood and mud, the world would experience another Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, while unleashing the next generation of armed and trained militias.

A first-class mind is rooted in values, has ultimate strategic objectives, and is tactically astute, sometimes prioritising some objectives, delaying others, and co-existing uncomfortably with yet others.

*Ebrahim Rasool is the former Premier of the Western Cape and former Ambassador to the USA.

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The United Ulama Council of South Africa has condemned the recent closure of Masjid Al-Aqsa, which it warned was aimed at consolidating “Israeli control over Islamic holy sites in Al-Quds”.

“Our eyes must remain unwaveringly fixed on Masjid al-Aqsa, with relentless focus and awareness, and we must urgently escalate both physical mobilisation and spiritual action, together with duʿāʾ, during this sacred climax of Ramadan. This belligerent closure will not—and cannot—be tolerated.

“UUCSA commends South Africans who planned to travel to Al-Aqsa for ṣalāh and iʿtikāf—may Allah ﷻ still facilitate your journey and accept your intention, and recompense you for any losses. May He swiftly reopen the Masjid, filling it without restrictions, and grant the Ummah the blessing of ṣalāh in Al-Aqsa, free from occupation”.

Meanwhile, Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Turkiye, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have condemned Israel’s continued closure of the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan for the 12th consecutive day.

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In a statement published on Wednesday, the foreign ministers of the eight Arab and Islamic countries said Israeli restrictions on Palestinian access to the old city of Jerusalem and its places of worship constituted a “flagrant violation to international law, including international humanitarian law, the historical and legal status quo, and the principle of unrestricted access to places of worship”.

“The Ministers affirmed their absolute rejection and condemnation of this illegal and unjustified measure, as well as Israel’s continued provocative actions at Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Al-Sharif and against worshippers. They stressed that Israel has no sovereignty over occupied Jerusalem or its Islamic and Christian holy sites,” the statement read.

The statement added that the entire area of Al-Aqsa Mosque was “exclusively” for Muslims and that the Jerusalem Endowments and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs department, affiliated with the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, is the “legal entity with exclusive jurisdiction”.

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“The Ministers called on Israel, as the occupying Power, to immediately cease the closure of the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque, remove access restrictions to the Old City of Jerusalem, and refrain from obstructing Muslim worshippers’ access to the mosque,” the statement said, calling on the international community to compel Israel to stop its “ongoing violations”.

Israeli forces have imposed strict restrictions on worshippers and access to the Old City, citing “security” measures as a result of the ongoing war against Iran.

But the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday said the continued closure emphasised the policies were a “blatant violation of Palestinian rights”, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Hamas has also condemned the continued closure and said on Tuesday that it sets a “dangerous historical precedent” and a “blatant violation” of the freedom of worship.

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As the US-Israel war on Iran began last week and Gaza’s crossings were shut, panic has spread through the densely populated enclave, raising fears of a famine returning. 

Palestinians rushed to markets to stock up on essentials, as soaring prices and shortages of key items, particularly vegetables, signalled the impact of the closures.

Gaza depends almost entirely on border crossings for the entry of food and essential goods, meaning any sudden closure is quickly reflected in local markets and household budgets.

For Ibrahim Madoukh, a father of eight from al-Sahaba neighbourhood in Gaza City, the price surge has already begun to affect his family’s fragile livelihood.

Since the October ceasefire, Madoukh has been selling falafel from a small stall to support his family. Demand had been steady, he said, largely because he kept his prices low.

But rising ingredient costs have forced him to increase prices, while customers – many already struggling financially – are buying less.

“The economic situation in Gaza has been deteriorating since the war,” Madoukh said. “Many people can no longer afford what is available in the market.”

After hearing about the crossing closures, Madoukh rushed to buy supplies before they disappeared. Instead, he found markets crowded with residents trying to do the same.

The price increases were immediate and dramatic. A kilogram of onions that once cost three shekels (around $1) now sells for 15 shekels (around $5). Cooking oil has jumped from 5 shekels (around $1.5) to 13 shekels (around $4), while the price of parsley has risen eightfold.

“Traders say prices are rising because the crossings are closed and supplies are running out,” he said.

Madoukh has already been forced to raise the price of his falafel from two pieces for 1 shekel to one piece for 2 shekels.

Even so, many families still cannot afford it.

“Before the crossings closed, displaced children sometimes came to my stall asking for falafel because they were hungry and had no money,” he said. “I used to give it to them, but now I can’t. I’m already losing money.”

Israel closed all crossings into Gaza last Saturday, halting the movement of people, aid and goods, shortly after the war with Iran began. 

The Karem Abu Salem crossing with Israel was partially reopened on Tuesday, allowing limited entry of fuel and humanitarian aid, while other crossings, such as the Rafah border with Egypt, remain shut.

The UN has called for more crossings to reopen to scale up humanitarian support, particularly as many NGOs in the Strip face restrictions.

Metres from Madoukh’s falafel stall, Ahmed al-Shoubaki, 39, was stocking up on supplies for his family. Carrying a large bag filled with tins, tahini, ghee, spices and olive oil, he carefully asked a vendor about the price of sugar. 

 “Since the crossings closed on Saturday, I’ve been going to the market every day to buy whatever I can and store it at home,” Shoubaki told Middle East Eye. 

“My wife and I agreed to keep the staples like flour, cooking oil, and canned goods untouched, buying only daily necessities from the market while they last.”

Before the Israeli genocide in Gaza, Shoubaki worked as a painter, but shortages of materials forced him to switch careers. He opened a small food stall selling kebab and grilled chicken, which he had to close last month due to declining sales. 

His story mirrors the experience of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza who have lost their livelihoods as entire sectors have ceased operating.

“The economic situation in Gaza has collapsed. There is no work, so no one can cope with rising prices,” he said. 

“When I heard about the (Iran) war, I spent more than $1,000 – almost all my savings – buying supplies to last a month. I don’t know how I’ll manage later, but I had to do it. My children cried from hunger last Ramadan; I can’t let that happen again.”

Shoubaki condemned the suffering imposed on Gaza, which he says has no role in the Iran-Israel conflict.

“Why must Gaza pay the price for wars it’s not involved in? Our lives are already hell from siege, destruction, and hunger. 

“Death would be more merciful than living through this continuous suffering. I fear the crossings will remain closed for a long time, and our suffering will only continue.”

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