A woman accused of expressing support for Hamas told a crowd the proscribed organisation is “fighting for freedom”, a court has heard.

On Monday, Bristol Crown Court heard Kwabena Devonish, 27, is alleged to have said she was “sick” of “being told to condemn Hamas”.

Devonish is accused of having expressed an opinion or belief in support of the proscribed organisation during a speech in November 2023.

The court heard Devonish had attended a march in Cardiff and addressed a crowd gathered at Ty William Morgan in Central Square.

Devonish was arrested in January 2024 after a video of the speech was posted on social media.

In a video played to the jury, Devonish said: “I would never condemn the resistance of Palestinians because their resistance is due to the occupation.

“So, if you want to talk about violence, if you want to talk about atrocities, then point the finger to the state of Israel.

“I am sick of being told to condemn Hamas, when Hamas are fighting for freedom, Hamas are fighting for the people.”

The court heard the march took place on November 11 2023 and was attended by about 500 people.

Diana Wilson, prosecuting, said: “There is no dispute this is Miss Devonish (in the video) and she is addressing a crowd, likely at the end of the march.”

Devonish, of Pentrebane, Cardiff, is charged with expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation, namely Hamas, contrary to the Terrorism Act 2000.

The trial continues.

An asylum seeker accused of murdering a pensioner in the street told police he was motivated by “the conflict in Gaza and to further his desire that Palestine would be free from the Zionists”, a court has heard.

Ahmed Alid, 45, denies murdering Terence Carney, 70, in Hartlepool town centre, as well as the attempted murder of his housemate Javed Nouri, and assaulting two female police officers who had interviewed him after his arrest.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the military would have to retain open-ended security control over the Gaza Strip long after the war against Hamas ends.

The remarks came as Israel’s military said its troops had entered Gaza’s second-largest city in its its pursuit to wipe out the territory’s Hamas rulers.

The war has already killed more than 15,000 Palestinians and displaced over three-quarters of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, who are running out of safe places to go.

The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll in the territory since October 7 has surpassed 15,890, with more than 41,000 wounded.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths, but said 70% of the dead were women and children.

Israel says it targets Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighbourhoods.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt, which mediated an earlier ceasefire, say they are working on a longer truce.

Hamas said talks on releasing more of the scores of hostages seized by militants on October 7 must be tied to a permanent ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Israel has intensified its bombardment of Gaza’s second largest city, Khan Younis, with dozens of injured people rushed to hospital as a new phase of the war continues.

Under US pressure to prevent further mass casualties, Israel said it is being more precise as it widens its offensive into southern Gaza after obliterating much of the north.

At the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, ambulances brought dozens of injured people in throughout the night. At one point, a car pulled up and man emerged carrying a young boy in a bloody shirt whose hand had been blown off.

Satellite photos taken on Sunday showed tanks and troops massing outside Khan Younis, the latest target of the offensive, which was home to more than 400,000 people before the war.

Israel has ordered people out of nearly two dozen areas instead of the entire region, as it did in the north.

But with most of Gaza’s population already packed into the south, cramming UN shelters and family homes, there are few places left to go. Israel has barred people who fled the north earlier in the war from returning.

Palestinians say that as Israel continues to strike across the besieged territory, there are no areas where they feel safe, and many fear that if they leave their homes they will never be allowed to return.

Israel has said it must dismantle Hamas’ extensive military infrastructure and remove it from power in order to prevent a repeat of the October 7 attack that ignited the war.

The surprise assault through the border fence saw Hamas and other Palestinian militants kill about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capture some 240 men, women and children.

The Israeli military has said it makes every effort to spare civilians and accuses Hamas of using them as human shields as it fights in dense residential areas, where it has a labyrinth of tunnels, bunkers, rocket launchers and sniper nests.

But the militant group is deeply rooted in Palestinian society, and its determination to end decades of open-ended Israeli military rule is shared by most Palestinians, even those opposed to its ideology and its attacks on Israeli civilians.

That will complicate any effort to eliminate Hamas without causing massive casualties and displacement.

Even after weeks of unrelenting bombardment, Hamas’ leaders in Gaza were able to conduct complex ceasefire negotiations and orchestrate the release of more than 100 Israeli and foreign hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners last week. Palestinian militants have also kept up their rocket fire into Israel, both before and after the truce.

The fighting has brought unprecedented death and destruction to the coastal strip.

The health ministry in Gaza said the death toll in the territory since October 7 has surpassed 15,890 people – 70% of them women and children – with more than 42,000 wounded. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. It says hundreds have been killed or injured since the ceasefire’s end, and many still are trapped under rubble.

An Israeli army official provided a similar figure for the death toll in Gaza on Monday, after weeks in which Israeli officials had cast doubt on the ministry’s count.

The official said at least 15,000 people have been killed, including 5,000 militants, without saying how the military arrived at its figures. The military says 84 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza offensive.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday that it was too soon to pass judgment on Israeli operations, but that it was unusual for a modern military to identify precise areas of expected ground manoeuvres and ask people to move out, as Israel has done in Khan Younis.

“These are the kinds of steps that we have asked them to undertake.” he said. “These are the conversations we’re having day in, day out.”

The US has pledged unwavering support to Israel since the October 7 attack, including rushing weapons and other aid to the country.

A bilingual and integrated Jewish-Arab school in Israel has won a global education prize in recognition of its efforts to heal longstanding divisions.

The Max Rayne Hand In Hand Jerusalem School – where Jewish and Arab students learn together in both Hebrew and Arabic – has been crowned winner of the T4 Education World’s Best School prize for overcoming adversity.

It comes as thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have been killed and hundreds of Israelis have been taken hostage by the militants in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war broke out nearly a month ago.

The leadership of the Max Rayne Hand in Hand Jerusalem School reflects the diversity of its student body, with an Arab elementary school principal and a Jewish secondary school principal.

There is also equal representation of Jewish and Arab staff, who work closely together to create an inclusive learning environment for all the students.

Dani Elazar, chief executive of Hand in Hand – which runs a network of bilingual, multicultural Jewish-Arab schools in Israel, said: “Winning an award as ‘the best school in the world’ would normally be a cause for celebration.

“With a war waging and thousands of precious lives lost, this is not the time for celebration. It is the time for resolution.

“We resolve to continue overcoming adversity, day by day, for the sake of a better future for all, Jews and Arabs alike. Overcoming adversity is precisely what the Max Rayne Hand in Hand School is doing at this very moment.

“We hope that the conferral of this award will raise people’s awareness that there is an alternative to hatred and fear. All children of this land deserve a better future. Together is the only way we will achieve it.”

Cadoxton Primary School in Barry, south Wales, reached the final three for the overcoming adversity category – but missed out to the school in Jerusalem.

The winners of the five World’s Best prizes – for community collaboration, environmental action, innovation, overcoming adversity, and supporting healthy lives – will all receive 50,000 US dollars (£40,000).

The Max Rayne Hand in Hand Jerusalem School intends to use the prize money to support its unique co-teaching model and to raise awareness of the values of shared society and equality among a wider audience.

Vikas Pota, founder of T4 Education, said: “My deepest congratulations to The Max Rayne Hand in Hand Jerusalem School. In dark times, you shine a light.

“By healing longstanding divisions between Jews and Arabs through the transformative power of education, you show that there is a path to understanding and with it peace.

“Educators across the world should look to the example of your school in the difference you have made to so many lives. And governments must look to the trailblazing work you have done as they seek answers to the great challenges we face today. Where you lead, they must follow.”

Last year, Dunoon Grammar School, a state secondary school in Scotland, was crowned winner of the global prize for community collaboration.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced £3 million in extra funding to protect schools, synagogues and other Jewish community buildings in the UK in response to Hamas’ attacks in Israel.

The money will be given to the Community Security Trust (CST) after the group, which acts on the behalf of British Jews on matters of policing and racism, said it had recorded a 400% spike in antisemitic incidents in the UK since the weekend’s assault.

No 10 said the additional money will enable the CST to place additional guards at schools it supports and allow for additional security staff outside synagogues on Friday nights and Saturday mornings when Jews are marking the sabbath.

Mr Sunak said: “This is now the third deadliest terror attack in the world since 1970.

“The United Kingdom must and will continue to stand in solidarity with Israel.

“At moments like this, when the Jewish people are under attack in their homeland, Jewish people everywhere can feel less safe.

“That is why we must do everything in our power to protect Jewish people everywhere in our country.

“If anything is standing in the way of keeping the Jewish community safe, we will fix it. You have our complete backing.”

It brings the total funding for Jewish community protection security for 2023-24 to £18 million.

The CST said it had recorded 139 antisemitic incidents, including assaults, in the past four days — a 400% increase on the same period in 2022.

The King held a private audience with the Chief Rabbi at Buckingham Palace to personally express his deep care and concern for the Jewish community in the UK who are suffering grief, fear and anguish, the palace said.

Following the meeting, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, who also met with Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday, said the King’s words offered strength to the Jewish community “at this dark time”.

Mr Sunak convened representatives from UK policing and the Jewish community with ministers at Downing Street on Thursday for discussions on policing protests.

The roundtable, chaired by Home Secretary Suella Braverman, comes ahead of expected protests and marches taking place across the UK this weekend.

No 10 said specific guidance will be provided to police on the beat on where and when to intervene.

It comes after Mrs Braverman wrote to police chiefs this week saying that waving a Palestinian flag and chanting pro-Arab songs could amount to a public order offence if it could be deemed to be in support of terror atrocities.

Israel’s new foreign minister will head to the United Arab Emirates next week for the first-ever visit by a top Israeli diplomat to the Gulf country, the Foreign Ministry said.

Foreign minister Yair Lapid’s visit comes after the two countries normalised relations last year in an agreement brokered by the Trump administration, the first of four similar deals with Arab states that had long shunned Israel over its conflict with the Palestinians.

Both Israel’s new government and the Biden administration have said they hope to reach similar accords with other Arab states.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Mr Lapid will visit the UAE on June 29-30, and will inaugurate an Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi and a consulate in Dubai.

Mr Lapid was the driving force behind a new Israeli government sworn in just over a week ago that ended prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s record 12-year rule.

Mr Netanyahu had held up the agreements with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco as among his biggest achievements.

Israelis have flocked to the UAE since the agreement was reached to enjoy futuristic Dubai.

The UAE is a major travel hub, and the agreement has made it much easier for Israelis to travel further afield.

The two countries have also signed a raft of agreements to co-operate in commerce, technology and other fields.

Israel’s i24NEWS announced it has secured a broadcast licence to operate in the UAE and will open its own bureau in Dubai Media City. The 24-hour channel, which aims to cover international news from an Israeli perspective, is already carried by the UAE’s Etisalat and du cable providers.

Shortly after the Israel-UAE accord was reached, the Trump administration authorised the sale of 50 advanced F-35 fighter jets to the UAE, which would make it only the second country in the Middle East, after Israel, to acquire them.

The Biden administration put that agreement on hold in January after it drew fierce criticism from Democrats in Congress, who argued that the sale had unfolded too quickly and without sufficient transparency. But in April, the administration decided to proceed with the 23 billion dollar arms sale, saying it would work with the UAE to ensure adherence to human rights standards and the laws of war.

The Palestinians strongly criticised the normalisation agreements because they broke down a long-standing Arab consensus that recognition of Israel should only be granted in return for concessions in the peace process, which has been stalled for more than a decade.

Even before the normalisation agreements, Gulf Arab countries had been quietly cultivating closer ties with Israel over their shared concerns about Iran. Senior Israeli officials reportedly paid secret visits to the UAE and other Arab countries in the years before ties were normalised.

We stand before Shavuot, the festival of the giving of the Torah. This Torah is always understood as Torat chaim, the teaching of life. In these terrible times across Israel and Gaza, we pray for the teaching of life.

We pray for the safety of everyone, an end to the violence, a restoration of calm and coexistence across shared cities and neighbourhoods, and leadership which can bring hope for the future to both Israelis and Palestinians. Our hearts go out to everyone bereaved, wounded, and living in anxiety and fear. Our thoughts are for our family and friends, – and everyone.

The first of the Ten Commandments spoken at Sinai is ‘I am the Lord your God.’ Since the human being is created in God’s image, the echo of that commandment can be heard in every person. God calls out in the unique sanctity of each life. There is therefore no place in true faith for race hate, vigilante groups, be they Jewish, Muslim or any other, or for cruelty, injustice and humiliation.

I will never forget my short visit to Israel towards the end of the fighting in Gaza in 2014. I visited Tel Hashomer hospital and listened to wounded soldiers. A family whose son was killed showed me his Siddur, his prayer book. Handwritten on the opening pages were his hopes for a life of goodness and generosity. He’d been due to get married in just a few weeks. Terrible!

I was taken to a hospital in East Jerusalem which was receiving wounded children from Gaza. I’ll never forget this searing experience. I asked an older man sitting by the bed of a child whether this was his son. ‘No,’ he said; the parents were dead, killed together with eighteen members of the family.

There is only more hurt in all this violence, another ring of pain and anger which will someday have to be overcome. Only respect for all human life, fairness and something to hope for can bring a truly safe future.

So I turn with respect and deep admiration to some of the messages sent in these last days. Here is a letter from The Abraham Initiatives:

We are planning a national campaign entitled: “Only Together.” The campaign, in Hebrew and Arabic, will feature images of Jews and Arabs in everyday life: shopping together; studying together at university; working together in hospitals fighting Covid-19. Our campaign will feature on the main TV channels…

Here is a joint statement sent by Rabbi Ofek Meir from headteachers of Jewish and Arab schools in Haifa:

Our role as educators is to raise the younger generation to be independent, critical thinkers, with values; and to be a generation who will create knowledge, opinions, narratives and culture; and who respect the other’s opinion, and who believe in the values ​​of equality and human rights. This is true anytime, anywhere, but especially now and in Haifa in particular.

This is from Rabbi Arik Ascherman, so often attacked for his defence of basic human justice:

One of the few positive developments has been the religious and other civil leaders who have begun to stand together and call for an end to the hate and violence that has led to Israeli Jews and Arabs lynching each other. Tonight around the country average Jewish and Arab citizens stood together to say no to the violence.

Here is from Rabbi Yoav Ende of the Masorti community of Hannaton:

Tonight, activists from Hannaton will join together with others from nearby communities and Arab villages for a joint demonstration of peace and hope; spreading a message of change, a message of a better Israel that can and must be here – showing that living together without conflict, without violence, is not only imperative, it is immediately achievable.

I see in my garden Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish, three of whose daughters were killed in Gaza, standing by the apple tree I planted in their memory, taking a photograph of it to send to his other children. I often reread sections of his book I Shall Not Hate.

Dr Abuelaish, Rabbi Yoav Ende, may our prayers ascend together.

Shabbat Shalom

Jonathan Wittenberg

A senior al Qaida operative was killed in Iran earlier this year by Israeli agents supported by US intelligence.

Abu Mohammed al-Masri was killed by assassins in Tehran during a period in which the Trump administration was ramping up pressure on Iran.

He was killed on August 7, the anniversary of the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Al-Masri was widely believed to have participated in the planning of those attacks and was wanted on terrorism charges by the FBI.

The US provided intelligence to the Israelis on where they could find al-Masri and the alias he was using at the time, while Israeli agents carried out the killing, according to two officials.

Another two other officials confirmed al-Masri’s killing but could not provide specific details.

His death is a blow to al Qaida, the terror network that orchestrated the September 11 attacks in the US and comes amid rumours in the Middle East about the fate of the group’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The officials could not confirm those reports but said the US intelligence community was trying to determine their credibility.

Two of the officials – one within the intelligence community and with direct knowledge of the operation and another former CIA officer briefed on the matter – said al-Masri was killed by Kidon, a unit within the secretive Israeli spy organization Mossad allegedly responsible for the assassination of high-value targets.

The official in the intelligence community said al-Masri’s daughter, Maryam, was also a target of the operation.

The US believed she was being groomed for a leadership role in al Qaida and intelligence suggested she was involved in operational planning, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.

Al-Masri’s daughter was the widow of Hamza bin Laden, the son of al Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Both the CIA and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, which oversees the Mossad intelligence agency, declined to comment.

Read more: Iran continues to stockpile and enrich uranium, says UN

The first flight carrying Israeli tourists to the United Arab Emirates landed in the city-state of Dubai on Sunday – the latest sign of the normalisation deal reached between the two nations.

FlyDubai flight No. FZ8194 landed at Dubai International Airport just after 5.40pm, bringing the tourists to the city after a roughly three-hour trip.

The low-cost carrier had sent one of its Boeing 737s to Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv on Sunday morning to pick the passengers up.

The flight flew across Saudi Arabia and then over the waters of the Persian Gulf to reach the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms also home to Abu Dhabi.

The arrival of tourists comes as Dubai in particular tries to revive its vital tourism industry amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The UAE and Israel have agreed to launch regular commercial flights between their countries soon, while other recent flights have carried business and governmental delegations.

FlyDubai plans to begin its flights to Tel Aviv later this month. The airline described Sunday’s flight as a “charter” for the incoming tourists.

It comes as Israel and the UAE, which had maintained covert contacts for years, brought their diplomatic relationship out into the open. It signed a normalisation deal with Israel alongside Bahrain at a White House ceremony in September, making them the third and fourth Arab nations to currently have peace with Israel.

But while Egypt and Jordan earlier signed peace deals, the UAE has said it anticipates having a “warm” peace with Israel.

The Emirates also hopes the deal will aid its efforts to purchase advanced F-35 fighter jets from the US.

The deals also unite three nations that remain suspicious of Iran.

But the agreements did not address the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, who view the pacts as a stab in the back from their fellow Arabs and a betrayal of their cause for a Palestinian state.

The agreements, which were seen as a foreign policy win for US president Donald Trump ahead of the November 3 election, now face the incoming administration of president-elect Joe Biden.

The first known direct commercial flight between Israel and Bahrain has landed in the island kingdom, just a week after it signed a deal alongside the United Arab Emirates to normalise relations.

Flight data showed an Israir Airlines Airbus A320 landed at Bahrain International Airport after a nearly three-hour flight from Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport.

Hours later, Bahrain acknowledged the flight carried a delegation of Israeli officials.

“A working team from the state of Israel visited Manama today to discuss areas of co-operation between the two countries,” Bahrain said in a brief statement.

“These talks come after the signing of the Declaration of Peace.”

Bahrain did not identify the officials taking part, nor say who they spoke to while in Manama.

There was no immediate acknowledgement of the flight from the Israeli government, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday spoke by telephone to Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

Bahrain’s state-run media did not acknowledge the flight.

Officials on the island off the coast of Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The US Embassy in Manama similarly did not respond to a request for comment.

The flight was made without ceremony, in sharp contrast to the first El Al flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates at the end of August.

That plane carried US and Israeli officials, including President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as media.

In Bahrain, civil society groups have criticised the move to normalise relations with Israel, saying that recognition should come only after Palestinians obtain their own independent state.

Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet and a British naval base, has a predominantly Shi’ite population ruled by a Sunni royal family.

Arab Spring protests there in 2011 ended with authorities cracking down with the help of Saudi and Emirati forces.

Bahrain and the UAE signed normalisation agreements on September 15 with Israel at the White House, part of a US diplomatic push as Donald Trump seeks re-election.

The UAE and Israel have moved quickly to explore commercial ties after their normalisation deal.

Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa previously had been quoted as saying he believed Arab countries should drop their boycott of Israel.

It is likely Saudi Arabia, a major benefactor for his nation, gave its assent to the normalisation deal.

Wednesday’s Israir flight flew over the kingdom, which has opened its airspace to Israeli flights to both Bahrain and the UAE.