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An Israeli strike flattened a high-rise in Gaza City on Saturday — the second in as many days — after the military warned people to move to a “humanitarian zone” ahead of a planned offensive against the urban hub.Israel has been warning for weeks of a new assault on the territory’s largest city, without issuing a timeline.It has stepped up air strikes and ground operations on the city’s outskirts, sparking fears it could worsen already dire conditions.On Saturday, Israeli aircraft dropped thousands of leaflets on western neighbourhoods calling on residents to evacuate, witnesses and an AFP journalist said.Nafez Anis, who has been living in a tent with his family in Gaza City, said he had read the leaflet, but was not planning on leaving. “Where should we go?” he told AFP. “We will wait, and when we see Israeli tanks approaching here, we will leave.”Gaza civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 56 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire during the day, including 19 near an aid distribution centre in the north.Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military requested precise timeframes and coordinates to look into the reports.On Saturday, the military said it struck a Gaza City high-rise, saying Hamas was using it “to monitor” Israeli troops and adding that it had taken “measures to mitigate harm to civilians”.Witnesses identified the building as the Sussi residential tower and said it was destroyed. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz shared a video showing the roughly 15-storey structure collapsing in a cloud of dust and smoke.Hamas condemned the attack and denied using residential or civilian buildings for military purposes.- ‘Death pursues us’ -The Israeli military has said it will target structures being used by Hamas, particularly tall buildings.It also issued an evacuation order for another high-rise on Saturday, warning of an imminent strike and telling people to leave for the south.A military spokesperson had earlier called on residents to leave for Al-Mawasi, on the Mediterranean coast to the south, where the army said humanitarian aid and medical care would be provided.”Take this opportunity to move early to the humanitarian zone and join the thousands of people who have already gone there,” spokesman Avichay Adraee said on social media.Israel first declared Al-Mawasi a safe zone early in the war, but has carried out repeated strikes on it since then, saying they targeted Hamas.Gaza City residents said they believed it made little difference whether they stayed or fled.”Some say we should evacuate, others say we should stay,” said Abdel Nasser Mushtaha, 48.”But everywhere in Gaza there are bombings and deaths,” he added, pointing in particular to the strikes on Al-Mawasi.”It no longer makes any difference to us,” said his daughter Samia Mushtaha, 20. “Wherever we go, death pursues us, whether by bombing or hunger.”- US in ‘deep negotiation’ -Israel has faced mounting domestic and international pressure to end the nearly two-year war.Thousands demonstrated in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Saturday evening to call for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.In Tel Aviv, protesters unfurled a massive banner saying: “President Trump, save the hostages now!”At the White House on Friday, Trump said the United States was in talks with Hamas over the captives being held in Gaza.”We’re in very deep negotiation with Hamas,” he said.Hamas agreed last month to a proposal for a temporary ceasefire and staggered hostage releases, but Israel has demanded the militant group release all the hostages at once, disarm and relinquish control of Gaza, among other conditions.The new head of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, wrapped up a visit to Israel on Saturday, his first since taking up post last month, the Israeli military said.Militants took 251 hostages during the October 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war. The Israeli military says 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 believed to be dead.The UN estimates nearly one million people remain in and around Gaza City, where it declared a famine last month. It has warned of a looming “disaster” if the assault proceeds.Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,368 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.burs-glp/dcp/kir/mjw/tc

More than 400 people were arrested in London on Saturday during a tense protest in support of the Palestine Action group, which has been banned under terror laws, police said.Several hundred people demonstrated in front of the UK parliament, with some holding placards that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”The capital’s Metropolitan Police force (Met) had warned people that it would not hesitate to arrest anyone who explicitly expressed support for the prohibited group.The Met said in a statement late on Saturday that it had arrested “more than 425 people… in relation to the protest”.”The majority of these arrests were made for supporting a proscribed organisation,” the force said.Polly Smith, a 74-year-old retiree, said those at the rally “are not terrorists”, adding: “The ban must be lifted.”Nigel, a 62-year-old CEO of a recycling company who declined to give his surname, said the government’s ban imposed in July was “totally inappropriate”.”They should spend more time working on trying to stop genocide, rather than trying to stop protesters,” he told AFP before being arrested as protesters chanted “Shame on you!” at police.Skirmishes broke out between officers and demonstrators who tried to prevent arrests.More than 25 people were arrested for alleged “assaults on police officers and other public order offences”, the Met said.Deputy Assistant Commissioner Claire Smart said officers had been subjected to “intolerable” abuse, including being punched, kicked and spat on.Palestine Action was banned under the UK’s Terrorism Act of 2000 following acts of vandalism including at a Royal Air Force base, which caused an estimated £7 million ($10 million) in damage.Critics, including the United Nations and campaign groups such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace, have condemned the ban as legal overreach and a threat to free speech.More than 800 people had already been arrested before Saturday’s demonstration, with 138 charged with supporting or encouraging support for a proscribed organization.Most face six months in prison if convicted but organisers of the rallies could be sentenced to up to 14 years if found guilty.The government has been granted permission to appeal an earlier ruling which allowed Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori to challenge the ban.A separate pro-Palestinian demonstration saw several thousand people take to the streets elsewhere in London on Saturday, as Israel launched new strikes on Gaza, with the stated aim of seizing Gaza City to defeat the militant group Hamas.

A gentle study of dysfunctional families by veteran American director Jim Jarmusch clinched the top prize at the Venice Film Festival Saturday, while a harrowing docudrama about the Gaza war took second.Jarmusch’s “Father Mother Sister Brother” starring Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver and Tom Waits, drew mostly positive reviews for its humorous portrayal of awkwardness and guilt.The “Broken Flowers” director, who wrote the script for three family get-togethers in upstate New York, Dublin and Paris, had called it “a kind of anti-action film”.”Thank you for appreciating our quiet film,” the 72-year-old said during his acceptance speech.  In a move that might disappoint campaigners against the Gaza war, the Venice jury under American director Alexander Payne did not reward “The Voice of Hind Rajab” with the Golden Lion.Instead, the film about a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli troops last year, which reduced many festival viewers to tears, was given the grand jury second prize.Franco-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania produced a dramatised re-telling of Hind Rajab Hamada’s ordeal after she was trapped in a car that came under fire while she and her relatives were fleeing Gaza City.It was the most talked-about movie on the Venice Lido and tipped by many as the likely winner after a 23-minute standing ovation at its premiere on Wednesday.Hind Rajab’s story “is not hers alone”, Ben Hania said as she accepted her award.”It is tragically the story of an entire people enduring genocide, inflicted by a criminal Israeli regime that acts with impunity,” she added. Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix and Oscar-winning directors Jonathan Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”) and Mexico’s Alfonso Cuaron (“Roma”) joined the film as executive producers after editing had been completed.Jarmusch signalled his opposition to Israel’s continued siege and bombardment of Gaza by wearing a badge saying “Enough” at the Venice awards ceremony.- Best actors -Elsewhere on Saturday, China’s Xin Zhilei won the best actress award for her role in “The Sun Rises on Us All”, directed by compatriot Cai Shangjun.The 39-year-old actress plays a woman trying to make amends with her former lover, who served time in prison for a crime she had committed.Italy’s Toni Servillo won the best actor award after wowing audiences in Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia”, playing an Italian president wrestling with whether to sign a euthanasia bill into law.Servillo was one of several award-winners to speak about Gaza from the stage, expressing “admiration” for activists on a flotilla of boats attempting to break Israel’s siege of Gaza.They “have decided to set sail with courage to reach Palestine and to bring a sign of humanity to a land where human dignity is daily and cruelly demeaned”, Servillo said.”Father Mother Sister Brother” is the first Jarmusch film to compete at Venice.Film bible Variety said it had his “trademark wry humor but also new notes of mellow, generous wisdom”.Screen called it a “tender family triptych”.In the secondary “Orizzonti” (“Horizons”) section of the festival, gay Mexican truck driver drama “En el Camino” by David Pablos scooped the top prize.- Major platform -Critics were broadly positive about the line-up of films in Venice this year. The festival is an important launch platform for big-budget international productions and arthouse films.Several previous winners of the prestigious Golden Lion have gone on to Oscar glory, such as “Nomadland” and “Joker”.”The Smashing Machine” by American director Benny Safdie, a touching film about late 1990s mixed martial-arts (MMA) pioneer Mark Kerr, picked up the third-place directing prize on Saturday.The Hollywood Reporter called the film starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson a “compellingly gritty and offbeat biopic”, while Johnson was even tipped by some for a best actor award.”Sotto le Nuvole” (Below the Clouds), a sumptuous documentary about Naples by acclaimed Italian documentary maker Gianfranco Rosi, won a special jury prize.The Gaza conflict has been a major talking point throughout this year’s festival.  An open letter calling on festival organisers to denounce the Israeli government over its offensive in Gaza has been signed by around 2,000 cinema insiders, according to the organisers.

Some 150 people were arrested in London on Saturday during a tense protest in support of the Palestine Action group, which has been banned under terror laws, police said.Several hundred people demonstrated in front of the UK parliament, with some holding placards that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”The capital’s Metropolitan Police force (Met) had warned people that it would not hesitate to arrest anyone who explicitly expressed support for the prohibited group.”We are not terrorists,” 74-year-old retiree Polly Smith told AFP, adding: “The ban must be lifted.”Nigel, a 62-year-old CEO of a recycling company who declined to give his surname, said the government’s ban imposed in July was “totally inappropriate”.”They should spend more time working on trying to stop genocide, rather than trying to stop protesters,” he told AFP before being arrested as protesters chanted “Shame on you!” at police.Skirmishes broke out between officers and demonstrators who tried to prevent arrests.Some of the alleged offences committed included “assault on a police officer”, the Met said on X.Palestine Action was banned under the UK’s Terrorism Act of 2000 following acts of vandalism including at a Royal Air Force base, which caused an estimated £7 million ($10 million) in damage.Critics, including the United Nations and campaign groups such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace, have condemned the ban as legal overreach and a threat to free speech.More than 800 people had already been arrested before Saturday’s demonstration, with 138 charged with supporting or encouraging support for a proscribed organization.Most face six months in prison if convicted but organisers of the rallies could be sentenced to up to 14 years if found guilty.The government has been granted permission to appeal an earlier ruling which allowed Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori to challenge the ban.A separate pro-Palestinian demonstration saw several thousand people take to the streets elsewhere in London on Saturday, as Israel launched new strikes on Gaza, with the stated aim of seizing Gaza City to defeat the militant group Hamas.

A gentle study of dysfunctional families by veteran American director Jim Jarmusch clinched top prize at the Venice Film Festival Saturday, while a harrowing docu-drama about the Gaza war took second.Jarmusch’s “Father Mother Sister Brother” starring Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver and Tom Waits, drew mostly positive reviews for its humourous portrayal of awkwardness and guilt.The “Broken Flowers” director, who wrote the script for three family get-togethers in upstate New York, Dublin and Paris, had called it “a kind of anti-action film”.”Thank you for appreciating our quiet film,” he said during his acceptance speech.  In a move that might disappoint campaigners against the Gaza war, the Venice jury under American director Alexander Payne did not reward “The Voice of Hind Rajab” with the Golden Lion.Instead, the film about a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli troops last year, which reduced many festival viewers to tears, was given the grand jury second prize.Director Kaouther Ben Hania produced a dramatised re-telling of Hind Rajab Hamada’s ordeal after she was trapped in a car that came under fire while she and her relatives were fleeing Gaza City.It was the most talked about movie on the Venice Lido and tipped by many as the likely winner after a 23-minute standing ovation at its premiere on Wednesday.Hind Rajab’s story “is not hers alone”, Ben Hania said as she accepted her award.”It is tragically the story of an entire people enduring genocide, inflicted by a criminal Israeli regime that acts with impunity,” she added. Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix as well as Oscar-winning directors Jonathan Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”) and Mexico’s Alfonso Cuaron (“Roma”) joined the film as executive producers after editing had been completed.Jarmusch signalled his opposition to Israel’s continued siege and bombardment of Gaza by wearing a badge saying “Enough” on the red carpet for the Venice awards ceremony. – Best actors -Elsewhere on Saturday, China’s Xin Zhilei won the best actress award for her role in “The Sun Rises on Us All” directed by Cai Shangjun. The 39-year-old actress plays a woman trying to make amends with her former lover, who served time in prison for a crime she had committed. Italy’s Toni Servillo won the best actor award after wowing audiences in Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia”, playing a principled politician facing a moral dilemma. The veteran film and stage actor portrayed an Italian president at the end of his career wrestling with whether or not to sign a bill to legalise euthanasia. Big-budget productions such as Netflix’s “Frankenstein” by Guillermo del Toro and “Jay Kelly” by Noah Baumbach as well as Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Bugonia” with Emma Stone went home empty-handed.In the secondary “Orizzonti” (“Horizons”) section of the festival, gay Mexican truck driver drama “En el Camino” by David Pablos scooped top prize.”Father Mother Sister Brother” is the first Jarmusch film to compete at Venice. The American had previously opted to showcase his productions at rival festival Cannes.Film bible Variety said his film had his “trademark wry humor but also new notes of mellow, generous wisdom”.Screen called it a “tender family triptych”.- Major platform – Critics were broadly positive about the line-up of films in Venice this year. The festival is an important launch platform for big-budget international productions and arthouse films.Several previous winners of the prestigious Golden Lion have gone on to Oscar glory, such as “Nomadland” and “Joker”.”The Smashing Machine” by American director Benny Safdie, a touching film about late 1990s mixed martial-arts (MMA) pioneer Mark Kerr, picked up the third-place directing prize on Saturday.The Hollywood Reporter called the film starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson a “compellingly gritty and offbeat biopic”, while Johnson was even tipped by some for a best actor award.”Sotto le Nuvole” (Below the Clouds), a sumptuous documentary about Naples by acclaimed Italian documentary maker Gianfranco Rosi, won a special jury prize.The Gaza conflict has been a major talking point throughout this year’s festival and many prize winners mentioned the war while on stage on Saturday night.  An open letter calling on festival organisers to denounce the Israeli government over its offensive in Gaza has been signed by around 2,000 cinema insiders, according to the organisers.

More than 300 South Koreans were among 475 people arrested by US immigration officials in a raid on a Hyundai-LG battery plant being built in the southern US state of Georgia, the foreign minister in Seoul said on Saturday.Thursday’s operation in the town of Ellabell was the largest single site raid carried out so far …

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