Israeli embassy staff in Greece have been evacuated from their homes in Athens. The decision follows protests and rising anger over Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
A senior Israeli security official confirmed the evacuation to Israel Hayom. The official cited “the situation in Greece” as the reason.
Public outrage is growing. Greek citizens are calling for an end to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.
A major protest movement, March to Gaza, declared August 10 a national day of action. Demonstrations will take place across Greek islands and tourist hotspots.
In a statement, March to Gaza said:
“The Greek people will not remain silent in the face of genocide committed by Israel with the support of the West and the Greek government.”
The movement urged citizens to turn islands, beaches, mountain peaks, and shelters into spaces of solidarity.
The statement also condemned efforts to turn Greece into a safe haven for those who support or participate in the massacre in Palestine.
Tensions spiked after Israel’s ambassador to Greece, Noam Katz, attacked Athens Mayor Haris Doukas. Katz accused the mayor of not doing enough to protect the city from peaceful protesters, whom he called “organized minorities”. He also claimed Doukas made Israeli tourists feel unsafe.
Mayor Doukas responded sharply on social media:
“We don’t take lessons in democracy from those who kill civilians and children standing in food lines.”
He added that Athens has always opposed violence and racism.
For weeks, anti-genocide protests have spread across Greek islands. In Syros, protesters blocked the Israeli cruise ship Crown Iris from docking. Several protests were also reported across the country according to the Quds News Network.
Any escalation in Israeli military attacks, especially ground operations in the Gaza Strip, would cause unprecedented civilian slaughter and collapse the already failing humanitarian response.
The planned escalation, if carried out, would mark an unprecedented chapter in Israel’s ongoing genocide, committed openly before an international community that continues to provide political, financial, and military cover to the perpetrators. These forthcoming crimes would be premeditated, arising not from sudden developments on the ground but from a deliberate and public policy. The international community bears full responsibility through its silence and inaction, alongside the direct complicity of numerous states.
Strong indications suggest that the Israeli government intends to escalate its genocidal campaign, culminating in the full military occupation of the Gaza Strip. Over the past week, political and military actions led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have intensified, including discussions in closed-door meetings explicitly raising the option of a full-scale invasion and occupation. The cabinet has also begun deliberating executive measures to prepare for the operation.
Available data indicate that Prime Minister Netanyahu has approved the general framework of a plan aimed at seizing control of the entire Gaza Strip by force.
The planned military escalation violates international law, including international humanitarian law and the Genocide Convention. It follows months of forcibly confining over two million Palestinians to less than 15 per cent of the Gaza Strip, the systematic destruction of housing, the elimination of approximately 84 per cent of hospitals and health facilities, the collapse of over 95 per cent of water and sanitation systems, and the closure of all schools. This reflects a deliberate strategy of imposing coercive living conditions intended to destroy the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip, a protected national group, within a pattern of acts that constitute the crime of genocide.
Euro-Med Monitor’s field assessment indicates that the Gaza Strip is currently undergoing the worst phase of humanitarian collapse since the onset of the genocide in October 2023. Over 90 per cent of the population has been forcibly displaced across devastated areas in repeated waves driven by relentless bombing and destruction.
Famine has escalated to the point of claiming hundreds of lives, with the entire population now facing severe food insecurity. Meanwhile, the health system has nearly collapsed due to overwhelming pressure and the depletion of medicines and essential supplies.
Israel’s plan to further escalate military operations reflects a dangerous level of brutality and underscores the impunity it continues to enjoy. Over the past 22 months, Israeli forces have committed some of the gravest crimes against Palestinian civilians, systematically stripping them of their humanity. The Gaza Strip now faces unprecedented destruction, sustained by unconditional US political and military support and widespread international complicity that has enabled these crimes to continue without accountability.
The Gaza Strip is now the most densely populated area on Earth, with nearly 2.3 million people forced into no more than 55 square kilometres, lacking infrastructure or any form of protection.
Any ground assault would inevitably result in unprecedented human casualties, particularly among women and children, who often make up over 70 per cent of the victims of Israeli attacks. This would amount to mass killing in a confined space from which civilians have no means of escape.
Since 26 July, Israel has pursued a deceptive scheme, falsely claiming improvements in the humanitarian situation in Gaza while in reality maintaining the blockade and starving the population.
Incoming aid meets less than 15 per cent of basic needs. This superficial increase is intended to appease global public opinion and reduce pressure over the unfolding famine. The greater danger lies in using this as a cover to escalate the genocide and consolidate military control over the Strip. This includes forcing civilians into detention and deportation camps in preparation for their displacement, while reshaping Gaza’s geography and demography to serve the Israeli colonial-settler project in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The involvement of several states in pro forma measures, such as increasing aid airdrops without addressing the root causes of starvation and blockade, risks providing false political or humanitarian cover for policies aimed at the destruction of the Gaza Strip and its population. An immediate review of these states’ responsibilities is essential, along with concrete measures to ensure their contributions are not used to legitimise or conceal genocidal policies. They must take urgent action to halt ongoing crimes and uphold their obligations under international law.
States must urgently push for the restoration of humanitarian access and the lifting of the illegal blockade, as this is the only way to stop the accelerating humanitarian deterioration and ensure the entry of aid, given the imminent threat of famine.
The establishment of safe humanitarian corridors under UN supervision is vital to ensure the delivery of food, medicine, and fuel to all areas of the Gaza Strip, with the deployment of independent international monitors to verify compliance and ensure the rapid rehabilitation of the agricultural and livestock sectors as part of both emergency relief efforts and long-term recovery.
All states, individually and collectively, must urgently fulfil their legal obligations to halt the genocide in the Gaza Strip in all its forms. This includes taking concrete measures to protect Palestinian civilians in the enclave, ensure Israel’s compliance with international law and the International Court of Justice rulings, and guarantee full accountability for crimes committed against Palestinians. Euro-Med Monitor also calls for the enforcement of the International Criminal Court arrest warrants issued for the Israeli Prime Minister and former Defence Minister, and for their swift surrender to international justice without regard to immunity.
The international community is urged to impose economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions on Israel and its more powerful allies, particularly the United States, for their grave and systematic breaches of international law; these sanctions should include comprehensive arms embargoes and the suspension of all forms of political, financial, military, and intelligence cooperation. In addition, Euro-Med Monitor calls for freezing the assets of responsible Israeli, US, and any complicit EU officials, banning their travel, halting their military and security companies’ access to international markets, and suspending trade privileges and bilateral agreements that facilitate Israel’s ongoing Western-backed crimes against the Palestinian people.
Countries with universal jurisdiction courts must issue arrest warrants for Israeli political and military leaders involved in the ongoing genocide and initiate legal proceedings to fulfil their international legal obligation to prosecute serious crimes and combat impunity. They must also hold accountable their citizens found to have committed violations against Palestinians, in line with their national and international legal obligations and within their territorial or personal jurisdiction.
Furthermore, the International Criminal Court (ICC) must expedite its investigation into crimes committed in the Gaza Strip, broaden its scope to include genocide and forced displacement, and issue additional arrest warrants for Israeli officials involved in these crimes. States Parties to the Rome Statute must fulfil their legal obligations by executing ICC arrest warrants without delay, thereby upholding international justice and ensuring accountability for grave crimes against victims.
More than 500 journalists and media organizations have signed a petition calling for “immediate, unsupervised foreign press access” to the besieged Gaza Strip.
“What’s happening in Gaza today reveals a far broader crisis: the erosion of press freedom as a pillar of democracy,” the petition stated. “The people most directly affected are not only the millions of civilians in Gaza enduring war beyond public scrutiny, but also global citizens everywhere whose right to receive free and independent information is being denied.
No foreign journalists have been allowed into the enclave since Israel began its genocidal assault in October 2023, leaving Palestinian journalists on the ground to report on the situation.
“Nearly 200 journalists, “overwhelmingly Palestinian,” have been killed while reporting from Gaza, the petition noted, while foreign journalists “remain barred from entering the territory, blocked by Israeli-imposed restrictions that silence independent observation.”
“This is not just a humanitarian blackout, it is an information blackout that undermines the public’s right to know and journalism’s democratic function to hold power accountable,” it stressed.
‘Extraordinary Work’
As of July 25, the number of journalists killed in Gaza has risen to 232, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office. The worsening famine in Gaza has pushed some journalists to embark on a deliberate hunger strike in a desperate attempt to draw attention to the ongoing suffering of starving civilians in the besieged enclave.
The petition emphasized that it is “equally vital” to acknowledge “the extraordinary work” of Palestinian journalists inside Gaza, who, despite unimaginable danger, loss, and now starvation, continue to document the war “with extraordinary courage and professionalism.”
“Many have lost entire families; some can no longer operate cameras or speak clearly due to exhaustion and hunger,” it noted.
“Our goal is not to replace or diminish their efforts, but to stand alongside them, to complement their work and help ensure the world receives a fuller, independent account,” the petition added.
‘Playbook of Authoritarianism’
It further warned that if the press blackout continues, “it sets a dangerous precedent: that governments and military actors, through censorship, obstruction, and force, can shut down access to truth in times of war.”
“This is the very playbook of authoritarianism: control the narrative, silence independent voices, and sever the link between reality and public understanding,” the petition stressed. “To defend press access in Gaza is to defend the democratic ideal that truth is not the property of the powerful. If we fail to act, we signal that truth can be managed, that facts can be withheld when inconvenient.”
‘Defend Right to Report’
They further stated that “This is not activism; it is journalism, and it is urgent. The choice before us is simple: defend the right to report, or allow its erosion, one sealed border at a time.”
Leading journalists have signed the ‘Freedom to Report’ petition, including Pulitzer-prize winning journalists Chris Hedges, Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan, documentary film maker Louis Theroux as well as organizations such as Reporters Without Borders.
The signatories represent countries across the world, including the US, UK, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Türkiye, Norway, Brazil, and South Africa.
Over 60,000 Killed
Since Israel’s reneging on the ceasefire on March 18, it has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip through a bloody and ongoing aerial bombardment.
On October 7, 2023, following a Palestinian Resistance operation in southern Israel, the Israeli military launched a genocidal war against the Palestinians, killing over 60,000, wounding more than 147,000, with over 14,000 still missing.
Despite habitual condemnation by many countries around the world of the Israeli genocide, little has been done to hold Israel accountable.
Israel is currently under investigation for the crime of genocide by the International Court of Justice, while accused war criminals — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — are now officially wanted by the International Criminal Court.
The Israeli genocide has been largely defended, supported, and financed by Washington and a few other Western powers.
UN experts, Tuesday, called for the immediate dismantling of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), warning that its operations are deepening the suffering of Palestinians and undermining international humanitarian law.
In a statement, the experts said Palestinians are “paying the ultimate price of the international community’s legal, political and moral failure” as the death toll in Gaza surpasses 60,000, with over 90% of the population forcibly displaced.
The GHF established by Israel in February 2025 with the backing of the US, was set up to distribute aid in the Gaza Strip. However, UN experts described it as “an utterly disturbing example of how humanitarian relief can be exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas in serious breach of international law.”
“Under any circumstances, when war crimes are overlooked in exchange for temporary relief, impunity can become normalised. Yet, in this case, we are leaving a State accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in charge of feeding the population affected by the genocide without oversight and with impunity. This overt hypocrisy is disturbing,” the experts said according to Anadolu.
Since the GHF began operating in late May, Israeli forces and foreign military contractors are said to have opened fire on people seeking aid at its distribution sites. Since then, nearly 1,400 people have been killed and over 4,000 injured while attempting to access food, including at least 859 fatalities around GHF facilities alone, according to the UN.
The experts condemned the use of “humanitarian camouflage” by Israel, calling the foundation’s name “an insult to the humanitarian enterprise and standards.”
“Seeing children dying of hunger in their parents’ arms should shake us out of our complacency,” they said. “Blocking or delaying aid is not just inhumane – it is a war crime where it is intended to starve civilians and in the context of a well-documented and globally denounced genocide.”
“The credibility and effectiveness of humanitarian assistance must be restored by dismantling the GHF, holding it and its executives accountable, and allowing experienced and humanitarian actors from the UN and civil society alike to take back the reins of managing and distributing lifesaving aid,” the statement said.
The experts urged member states to impose a full arms embargo on Israel, suspend trade and investment agreements that harm Palestinians, and ensure accountability for corporate entities complicit in violations.
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