2nd lead

A senior Foreign Office minister, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, resigned on Tuesday, in protest at the UK government's policy regarding the Gaza conflict.

Warsi said in her resignation letter to Prime Minister David Cameron that the government’s “approach and language during the current crisis in Gaza is morally indefensible, is not in Britain’s national interest and will have a long term detrimental impact on our reputation internationally and domestically”.

She said the UK’s stance was “not consistent with the rule of law and our long support for international justice”, adding that “the British government can only play a constructive role in solving the Middle East crisis if it is an honest broker and at the moment I do not think it is.”

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Warsi called for a halt in arms exports to Israel.

“It appalls me that the British government continues to allow the sale of weapons to a country, Israel, that has killed almost 2,000 people, including hundreds of kids, in the past four weeks alone. The arms exports to Israel must stop,” Warsi said.

“Our position not to recognise Palestinian statehood at the UN in November 2012 placed us on the wrong side of history and is something I deeply regret not speaking out against at the time,” she added.

The deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, added to the growing criticism of Israel's offensive into Gaza, calling for arms export licenses to the country to be suspended.

Israel had "overstepped the mark," said Clegg.

 

The Nigerian Army committed atrocities during its operations against Boko Haram militants in the country’s north-east, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

Gruesome footage, obtained by the human rights group, appears to show extrajudicial executions and other serious human rights violations, by individuals who appear to be members of the Nigerian army and the “Civilian Joint Task Force” (CJTF), state-sponsored militias.

AI in a statement that called for an “immediate, independent, impartial and thorough investigation into the pattern of serious and systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by all sides”.

Nigeria's Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Chris Olukolade, said that senior officers and forensic experts will investigate the footage "in order to ascertain the veracity of the claims with a view to identifying those behind such acts".

“This shocking new evidence is further proof of the appalling crimes being committed with abandon by all sides in the conflict. Nigerians deserve better – what does it say when members of the military carry out such unspeakable acts and capture the images on film?” said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said that at least 5 more aid workers have been killed in Maban county and accused a militia group of targeting and killing civilians based on their ethnicity , reports Voice of America.

According to the UNMISS two aid workers were killed in Bunj town, died in an ambush whilst returning to the town, and one other is missing, presumed dead.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) warned that peace talks with the government could collapse if the Colombian government was working to achieve the complete surrender of  Farc militants without addressing the root causes of the conflict, reports The Guardian.

Russia sharply increased the number of troops and vehicles positioned on the eastern border of Ukraine in the past few days in response to recent Ukrainian advances against pro-Russian separatists, reports the Financial Times.

Ukraine’s Army spokesperson on Tuesday called on Russia to halt the build-up of forces along its border as fears grew of a Moscow invasion to stop Ukraine’s advances against the separatist rebels.

The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, ordered the air force to provide support to Kurdish forces combating Sunni Militants, reports the BBC.

Iraq’s army spokesman, Qassem Atta in a statement on Monday, said,

“The  commander in chief of the armed forces has issued orders to the leadership of the air force and the army’s aviation units to provide air support to Peshmerga forces."

A 72-hour ceasefire was agreed between Hamas and Israel followed by talks in Cairo was agreed Monday, reports Reuters.

The agreement, which was facilitated by Egypt, was accepted by both sides after representatives met with Egyptian officials in Cairo to formulate a plan to end the violence.

Officials in Gaza say that 1,834  mostly civilian Palestinians have been killed, whilst Israel says that it has lost 64 soldiers in combat and 3 civilians.

The agreement comes after Israel on early Monday withdraw most of its ground troops from Gaza after destroying a vast network of Hamas tunnels.

FCO investigates reports of British national death in Gaza

The British Foreign Office is urgently trying to investigate claims that a British national working as an aid worker as died in Gaza, reports The Independent.

The British Premier, David Cameron, speaking on reports of a British National death, said,

“I’m extremely concerned about these reports and we are doing everything we can to get to the bottom of them and find out exactly what has happened.”

France condemns 'massacre' in Gaza, calls for world to 'impose' political solution

France, in a damning statement condemned Israel’s ‘massacre’ in Gaza, whilst urging the international community to impose a political solution between Palestine and Israel, reports the Independent.

The French Foreign Minister, in a statement on the ongoing conflict, according to the Jerusalem Post, said,

“This is why we need a political solution, of which the components are known, and which I believe should be imposed by the international community, because the two parties - despite countless efforts - have unfortunately shown themselves incapable of completing talks.”

"How many more deaths must there be to stop what must be called the carnage in Gaza? The tradition of friendship between France and Israel is old and Israel's right to security is total, but this right does not justify the killing of children and the massacre of civilians," Laurent Fabius added.

Talks between South Sudan's president, Salva Kiir and his rival Riek Machar, resumed on Monday in the Ethopian capital, Addis Ababa.

"This session of negotiations must make progress, we must end the war," the chief mediator Seyoum Mesfin was quoted by the BBC as saying.

The talks, which began following internal conflict between the government and rebel groups backing Riek Machar in December, came to a halt in June.

2nd lead

At least 10 people were killed at a United Nations school in Rafah following an Israeli airstrike according to Palestinian officials, as fighting continued in the Gaza strip.

The attack, the second on a UN school this week, also killed at least one UN staffer. Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, said:

"It is believed that there was an air strike that hit outside the gate of an UNRWA school, a designated shelter for at least 3,000 displaced residents."

The Telegraph obtained a video of the aftermath of the strike here.

 

International condemnation of UNRWA school shelling

The United States condemned the attack as "disgraceful" and added that the coordinates of the school had "been repeatedly communicated to the Israeli Defense Forces".

"The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians," the US added in a statement released on Sunday shortly after the attack.

Full statement:

The United States is appalled by today's disgraceful shelling outside an UNRWA school in Rafah sheltering some 3000 displaced persons, in which at least ten more Palestinian civilians were tragically killed. The coordinates of the school, like all UN facilities in Gaza, have been repeatedly communicated to the Israeli Defense Forces. We once gain stress that Israel must do more to meet its own standards and avoid civilian casualties. UN facilities, especially those sheltering civilians, must be protected, and must not be used as bases from which to launch attacks. The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians. We call for a full and prompt investigation of this incident as well as the recent shelling of other UNRWA schools.

We continue to underscore that all parties must take all feasible precautions to prevent civilian casualties and protect the civilian population and comply with international humanitarian law.

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said the attack was "a moral outrage and a criminal act", AFP reports.

"This madness must stop," he added.

Describing the attack as "unacceptable", the French president Francois Hollande said "those responsible for this violation of international law answer for their actions."