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After two years of war, Gaza is buried under more than 61 million tonnes of debris and three quarters of buildings have been destroyed, according to UN data analysed by AFP.The fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, which came into effect on October 10 under pressure from US President Donald Trump, opens the way for the reconstruction of the devastated territory.This will require managing the immense amount of rubble.As of July 8, 2025, the Israeli army had damaged or destroyed nearly 193,000 buildings in the densely populated territory, representing about 78 percent of existing structures before the conflict began on October 7, 2023, according to satellite analysis by the United Nations' UNOSAT programme.In an assessment of images from September 22-23 of Gaza City, the UN agency estimated that an even higher proportion -- 83 percent -- of buildings there had been damaged or destroyed.The total 61.5 million tonnes of debris is nearly 170 times the weight of New York's Empire State Building and is equivalent to over 169 kilogrammes of debris for each square metre of Gaza's small territory.Nearly two-thirds of the debris was made in the first five months of the war, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).The destruction of buildings also accelerated in the months leading up to the current ceasefire.Eight million tonnes of debris were generated from April to July 2025, mostly in the southern part of the territory between Rafah and Khan Yunis.A preliminary analysis published by UNEP in August warned the debris poses a serious health risk to the exposed population.The UN agency suggests that at least 4.9 million tonnes of debris could be contaminated with asbestos from old buildings, particularly near refugee camps such as those in Jabaliya in the north, Nuseirat and al-Maghazi in the centre, and Rafah and Khan Yunis in the south.UNEP also reports at least 2.9 million tonnes of debris could be contaminated with "hazardous waste from known industrial sites".

Britain, Australia, Canada and Portugal on Sunday recognised a Palestinian state in a coordinated, historic shift in decades of Western foreign policy, triggering swift anger from Israel.Other countries, including France, are due to follow Monday at the annual UN General Assembly opening in New York.Israel has come under huge international pressure over its war against Hamas in Gaza, which has sparked a dire humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the statehood moves, later vowing to expand Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.Netanyahu spoke after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain was formally recognising the State of Palestine "to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution".The UK and Canada became the first members of the Group of Seven advanced economies to take the step, with Australia following suit.Portugal said Sunday it recognises a Palestinian state, making it the latest Western nation to make the symbolic move as the war in Gaza shows no sign of ending."Recognizing the State of Palestine is therefore the fulfilment of a fundamental, consistent, and widely agreed policy," Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel told reporters in New York."Portugal advocates the two-state solution as the only path to a just and lasting peace, one that promotes coexistence and peaceful relations between Israel and Palestine," he added.Three-quarters of UN members now recognise Palestinian statehood, with at least 144 of the 193 member countries having taken the step.Canada "offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future", Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote on X.Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the move "recognises the legitimate and long held aspirations of the people of Palestine to a state of their own".Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas hailed the recognitions as "an important and necessary step toward achieving a just and lasting peace".French President Emmanuel Macron insisted in an interview with a US television network that releasing the hostages captured in 2023 would be "a requirement very clearly before opening, for instance, an embassy in Palestine".It is a watershed moment for Palestinians and their ambitions for statehood, with the most powerful Western nations having long argued it should only come as part of a negotiated peace deal with Israel.Although a largely symbolic move, it puts those countries at odds with the US and Israel.US President Donald Trump said last week after talks with Starmer during a state visit to the UK that "one of our few disagreements" was over Palestinian statehood.A growing number of longtime Israeli allies have shifted their long-held positions as Israel has intensified its Gaza offensive.The Gaza Strip has suffered vast destruction, with a growing international outcry over the besieged coastal territory's spiralling death toll and a UN-declared famine.The UK government has come under increasing public pressure to act, with thousands of people rallying every month on the streets. A poll released by YouGov on Friday showed two-thirds of British people aged 18-25 supported Palestinian statehood.

Spain on Monday banned ships and aircraft carrying weapons to Israel from calling at Spanish ports or entering its airspace due to Israel's military offensive in Gaza, measures the Israeli foreign minister denounced as antisemitic.Spain, which recognised a Palestinian state in May 2024 and has been a vocal critic of Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip, responded to Gideon Saar's comments by summoning its ambassador in Tel Aviv back for consultations.On top of the ban on ships and aircraft delivering weapons or military-grade jet fuel to Israel, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government said it would not allow anyone who has participated directly in "genocide" in Gaza to enter Spain.Israel launched its assault on the Gaza Strip in October, 2023, after fighters from Hamas attacked Israeli communities, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages.Spain's Foreign Ministry said that Sanchez's measures were in line with public sentiment in Spain and reflected Madrid's support for peace, human rights and international law.It said Spain was committed to fighting antisemitism, pointing to the granting of Spanish citizenship to 72,000 Sephardic Jews - descendants of those expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th century.

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 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, 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 humour but also new notes of mellow, generous wisdom". Screen called it a "tender family triptych". 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 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.

The Qatar Press Center (QPC) condemns the killing of 20 Palestinians, including five journalists and several ambulance and civil defence crews while evacuating the wounded, in an Israeli air strike on the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.Quoting a medical source, WAFA reported that the journalists killed were: Mohammed Salama, a photojournalist for Al Jazeera; Hussam al-Masri, a photojournalist for Reuters; journalist Mariam Dagga, who works for several media outlets, including Independent Arabia and AP; and journalist Moaz Abu Taha for the American NBC network. Fellow journalist Ahmed Abu Aziz succumbed to his wounds following the Israeli massacre.This brings the number of journalists killed since the beginning of the aggression on Gaza to 245. The QPC affirms that the new Israeli massacre of journalists while performing their professional duties is part of a systematic policy pursued by the occupation army since the beginning of its war of extermination against the people of Gaza on October 7, 2023, targeting journalists’ locations, homes, and tents to prevent them from conveying the truth to the world and to silence their voices forever. The QPC reiterates its call on the international community, UN, human rights, and media organisations, to condemn the targeting of journalists in Gaza and to take urgent action to hold the Israeli occupation accountable before international courts for war crimes against journalists and media professionals. Impunity has encouraged the Israeli occupation forces to continue their series of assassinations, arrests, and intimidation of journalists, in full view of the world.Cameras documented the martyrdom of the journalists live on air. A circulating video shows a group of journalists and paramedics rushing to Nasser Hospital after the fourth floor was bombed, to begin rescuing the victims and wounded.However, they were surprised by a second Israeli airstrike targeting them, resulting in an increase in the number of casualties among photographers and medical personnel.The Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip condemned the recent Israeli massacre, noting that the number of journalist martyrs in the Strip had risen to 245 following the latest attack.The office called on the International Federation of Journalists to condemn the crimes against journalists and held Israel responsible for the brutal crimes committed in the Gaza Strip.

Medical sources have reported that 70 Palestinians were killed in ongoing Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since the early hours of Tuesday.According to the sources, 30 Palestinians were killed in the northern part of the Strip, 20 in the central area, and 20 in the south.Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli occupation forces have been waging an unprecedented aggression on the Gaza Strip, involving killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, while disregarding all international appeals and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt the assault.So far, the Israeli aggression has killed 62,819, injured 158,629, the majority of whom are children and women. Over 9,000 are missing hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that has killed 303 people, including 117 children to date is spreading.

Catholic and Greek Orthodox priests and nuns will remain in Gaza City despite Israel's plan for a military takeover, the religious communities said in a joint statement on Tuesday."At the time of this statement, evacuation orders were already in place for several neighbourhoods in Gaza City. Reports of heavy bombardment continue to be received," the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem said."We do not know exactly what will happen on the ground, not only for our community, but for the entire population", they said.Hundreds of displaced people have sheltered since the outbreak of the war in the Greek Orthodox compound of Saint Porphyrius and the Catholic Holy Family compound, including children and those with special needs.Stray Israeli fire hit the Holy Family church in July, killing three and wounding 10 others, including the parish priest."Among those who have sought shelter within the walls of the compounds, many are weakened and malnourished due to the hardships of the last months," the statement said."Leaving Gaza City and trying to flee to the south would be nothing less than a death sentence."For this reason, the clergy and nuns have decided to remain and continue to care for all those who will be in the compounds".There are some 645 Catholic and Orthodox Christians left in the Gaza Strip, including five priests and five nuns, the Latin Patriarchate told AFP on Tuesday.Israel's cabinet approved in early August a plan for the military to take over Gaza City, despite mounting pressure both at home and abroad to wrap up a war which has created a humanitarian crisis and devastated much of the territory.The United Nations declared a famine in Gaza on Friday.Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 62,744 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

The State of Qatar condemned the Israeli occupation forces' bombing of Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, which resulted in the deaths of innocent, defenseless civilians, and considered it a new episode in the ongoing series of heinous crimes committed by the occupation forces against the brotherly Palestinian people and a flagrant violation of international law.In a statement on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that the occupation forces' targeting of journalists and relief and medical workers requires urgent and decisive international action to provide the necessary protection for civilians and ensure that the perpetrators of these atrocities do not escape punishment.The Ministry also reiterated the urgent need for global solidarity to end the brutal genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, address the catastrophic humanitarian conditions there, and move forward towards achieving a just and sustainable peace in the region, ensuring the establishment of an independent and fully sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.