Israel launches Gaza City ground offensive, UN confirms genocide
ISRAEL INVADES GAZA CITY
Israel has launched a ground offensive into Gaza City following days of aerial attacks. The military operation comes as a United Nations commission of inquiry declared Israel has and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
CNN reports the ground offensive, which the Israeli military reportedly estimates will take “several months to complete”, comes in defiance of international condemnation as well as backlash from the families of hostages held by Hamas.
The broadcaster’s live coverage contains images of children being pulled out of rubble after an Israeli strike targeted a residential area in Al-Shawa Square.
The BBC writes that thousands of Palestinians have been “forced to flee down a single coastal road to the centre of the Strip, joining hundreds of thousands who have already fled”.
The broadcaster highlights that large parts of Gaza City have already been destroyed, but around a million Palestinians had returned before this week’s Israeli offensive.
Fifty-nine people have been killed and at least 386 injured in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s health ministry says. “Three people, it adds, died as a result of famine and malnutrition, including one child,” the BBC reports.
The ABC reports UN Human Rights chief Volker Türk has called on Israel “to immediately stop the ground assault, saying that evidence was mounting of war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly more”.
The national broadcaster adds the Israel Defence Forces has said it believes up to “3,000 Hamas combatants” are in Gaza City. Defence Minister Israel Katz earlier posted on X: “Gaza is burning. The IDF strikes with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure, and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”
In its coverage of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry, which was established by the UN Human Rights Council, the ABC yesterday highlighted the report “concluded that Israeli authorities ‘intended to kill as many Palestinians as possible’ and have committed the crime against humanity of extermination.
“The report cites direct targeting of civilians, including children, and mass killings in ‘far larger numbers compared to previous conflicts’. It also found Israel deliberately inflicted life-threatening conditions by blocking food, water and medicine — actions ‘calculated’ to bring about the ‘destruction of Palestinians’.”
The Albanese government in Australia has been urged by the Greens to “acknowledge the genocide and take direct material actions in the wake of these findings”.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong did not say whether any new action would be taken in light of Tuesday’s report, saying instead that the government had previously “condemned Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians seeking to access water and food”.
She added: “We reiterate our demand on the Netanyahu government to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza, and to stop undermining a two-state solution.”
TRUMP THREATENS ABC JOURNO, CONFIRMS ALBO MEETING
Fresh from saying he’s going to sue The New York Times for US$15 billion (A$22 billion), US President Donald Trump has taken aim at the ABC’s Americas editor John Lyons and accused him of setting “a very bad tone” and “hurting Australia”.
In normal times, whatever they are, that sentence would seem utterly incredible and reading it would make you question your own sanity. But these are not normal times — this is just another chaotic day in the Trump 2.0 era.
To recap what happened while you were sleeping, Trump was doing one of his usual impromptu chats to the media on the White House lawn while the Marine One helicopter made so much noise in the background that no-one could hear a thing.
As the ABC handily transcribes through the noise, Lyons asked Trump on Tuesday local time how much wealthier he was now he’s president again, and whether it was appropriate for the US leader to be “engaged in so much business activity”.
Trump attempted to brush off the first line of questioning by claiming his children are running his business, and then waffled on about the new ballroom at the White House that only he cares about. The second question, though, prompted the 79-year-old to lash out.
“Well, I am really not [engaged in so much business activity]. My kids are running the business. I’m here. You know what the activity is? Where are you from?” Trump asked Lyons, to which the latter replied ABC’s Four Corners.
The apparent leader of the free world then, in a super professional manner, declared: “You are hurting the Australians, right? In my opinion, you are hurting Australia very much right now, and they want to get along with me. You know your leader is coming over to see me very soon. I am going to tell him about you; you set a very bad tone — you can set a nicer tone.”
When Lyons attempted to ask a follow-up question, Trump pointed at him and said, “quiet”.
All very grown up.
Now, you’ll have noticed in the threat to tell the teacher, Trump appears to confirm he will indeed be having a face-to-face meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shortly, which one assumes is a reference to Albanese being in New York for the United Nations General Assembly this weekend.
And those two pieces of “news” are what lead the way in most places this morning.
To give you a flavour: The Australian leads with “‘You’re hurting Australia’: Donald Trump lashes ABC reporter while confirming Albanese meeting”, the Nine papers declare: “‘You’re hurting Australia’: Trump threatens ABC journalist in fiery clash”, the ABC says: “Donald Trump takes aim at ABC journalist as he suggests he’ll meet Albanese ‘very soon’”, news.com.au goes with: “‘Hurting Australia’: Trump gives ominous threat to ABC reporter”, the Herald Sun tells us: “Donald Trump slams Australian reporter: ‘You set a very bad tone’”, and The Australian Financial Review takes Reuters copy and comes up with the inventive headline of “’You are hurting Australia’: Trump tussles with ABC reporter”. And so on and so on.
Before Albanese gets his potential meeting with Trump, the US president is heading to the UK for his second state visit, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and King Charles III rolling out the red carpet and putting on endless parades and processions.
Despite the pomp and nonsense, the sacking of the UK ambassador to Washington over his links to Jeffrey Epstein will no doubt dominate the questioning faced by the leaders.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
A cheating scandal has rocked the world stone skimming championships.
Over 2,000 people from 27 countries travelled to the island of Easdale, off the west coast of Scotland, for this year’s competition. Setting the scene, the BBC explains entrants must choose their own stones to skip and judges then use a measuring device — known as the “ring of truth” (yes, really) — to make sure they are no more than three inches in diameter.
Organiser Dr Kyle Mathews, who is also known as the “Toss Master” (yes, really), told the broadcaster the judges had heard “rumours and murmurings of some nefarious deeds”.
“There was a little bit of stone doctoring,” Matthews said. “They had shaped it so that it was perfectly circular and fitted our three-inch measurer.”
According to the Toss Master, the offenders “held their hands up” and apologised.
American Jonathan Jennings won this year’s competition, skimming his stones a cumulative distance of 177 metres.
Say What?
This lawsuit has no merit. It lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting. The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics.
The New York Times
A spokesman for the newspaper responding to the US president saying he is suing the NYT for US$15 billion (A$22 billion).
CRIKEY RECAP
Crikey believes there should be much greater scrutiny of which companies MPs and their families invest in. There is no current evidence of conflicts of interest and insider trading in Canberra, but it’s vital to guard against these risks.
Exclusive analysis of interest statements by Crikey and Open Politics shows more than 410 shareholdings in 228 listed public companies and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been declared since the May 2025 election. This is likely an undercount, as senators are not required to publicly disclose their families’ holdings, and a couple of share declarations were too vague to be included in our analysis.
Charlie Kirk’s martyrdom in the US is to be expected. Here, it’s baffling
The West — as well as The Australian — have at least mentioned, via republished articles from Reuters and AP respectively, the flurry of Kirk-related sackings. The ABC does not appear to have found this development newsworthy.
Perhaps taking their cues from this slightly lopsided response, Australian politicians have taken a huge interest in an overseas figure the vast majority of their constituents would have never heard of prior to September 10.
Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd was perhaps just reading the room when he posted that the thoughts “of all Australians” were with Kirk’s family and loved ones, while acting PM Richard Marles and Liberal MP James Paterson all delivered variations on the expected script for politicians after events like this.
Australia hands half a million to Israeli weapons company, Tesla chair’s salary, and an AFL star on Charlie Kirk
It seems our Department of Defence just can’t get enough genocide.
After Crikey exposed the scandal of ministers lying about the government’s contract with Israeli weapons company Elbit Systems — the firm that made the drone used by the Israeli Defense Forces to execute Zomi Frankcom — taxpayers continue to hand money to companies steeped in Israel’s war crimes in Gaza.
The latest is nearly half a million dollars handed to Israeli missile manufacturer Rafael.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Robert Redford, screen idol turned director and activist, dies at 89 (The New York Times) ($)
Alan Jones hit with nine new charges of indecent assault (The Sydney Morning Herald) ($)
PNG treaty teeters on the brink after ministerial no-show (The Australian) ($)
Era of dependence on government must end, says Ley (AFR) ($)
Defining moment arrives for AFL waterfront stadium (AAP) ($)
Charlie Kirk shooting suspect charged with murder, prosecutors to seek death penalty (The Washington Post) ($)
THE COMMENTARIAT
The Liberal Party is proving why the dinosaurs became extinct — Tony Wright (The Age): The Liberal Party has finally unlocked the secret that has puzzled scientists for centuries: the precise method by which the dinosaurs became extinct.
The lantern-jawed West Australian MP Andrew Hastie’s threat to quit the party if it doesn’t abandon the 2050 “net-zero” carbon emissions target, followed by approving noises from various colleagues, confirms the Liberal researchers’ work on the final days of the Cretaceous period is all but complete.
That Hastie chose the very day that Australia’s first National Climate Risk Assessment was released, which predicts something approximating the end of life as we know it if we don’t pull the emergency brake on climate change, is surely the sealant.
No defence for Richard Marles’ Orwellian dishonesty — Greg Sheridan (The Australian): In any event, when Marles makes his fatuous claims about the biggest increase in defence spending ever, he’s talking mainly about projected spending over the next 10 years. Promising that something will happen in 2035 cannot, in normal English language, mean you have done something by 2025.
The government has been in office for three-and-a-half years. Its record is what counts, not its over-the-horizon promises.
To promise to do something in 10 years’ time, and then to use that as the basis for the claim that you have already done it, is pure Orwell doublespeak, or Newspeak, as Orwell characterised government language in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Art predicted reality, quite grimly.
