Politics
DWP’s own figures show work a serious health and suicide risk for young disabled claimants
As the Labour government’s much-touted Milburn review calls for an overhaul of the benefits system to tackle the so-called youth unemployment crisis, the Canary has uncovered how young disabled claimants are disproportionately more likely to be at risk of self-harm, suicide, or physical health deterioration if the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) forces them into work.
That’s according to the DWP’s own figures no less – as a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has now revealed.
Milburn review: punching down on disabled young people
On Thursday 28 May, the DWP released an ‘independent’ interim report exploring the “drivers” of the supposed rise in youth unemployment.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) non-executive director and former Blairite health secretary Alan Milburn has been leading the inquiry to kick young disabled people ‘Not in Employment, Education of Training’ – so-called NEETs – off benefits.
Predictably, the report was rife with ‘findings’ implying young people are faking the severity of their health conditions to game the welfare system.
Naturally then, Milburn’s takes look a lot like punching down on young chronically ill and disabled people. This includes the suggestion that Universal Credit’s health element and its lack of requirements to search for work are a “perverse incentive”.
Notably, the report reads that:
It is designed in ways that can drive young people into passive inactivity rather than into them actively seeking work. For a young person with a health condition who is unemployed and potentially seeking work, taking a pathway to inactivity can offer higher income, less hassle and lower risk.
And predictably, the report lays into neurodivergent people and those living with mental health conditions for this. Of course, this involves amping up the DWP’s favourite mantra that work is good for people’s mental health.
The obvious implication of all this is that young people are over-exaggerating their health conditions to claim benefits.
However, figures the DWP has released to the Canary via FOI blows a hole in Milburn’s problematic report.
This is because they show that young disabled people claiming Universal Credit’s limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) health element are disproportionately more likely to be under the department’s ‘Substantial Risk’ group.
Substantial risk: work a danger to claimants health
As the name suggests, these are all claimants the DWP has determined work would be actively dangerous to their – or others – physical or mental health. In other words, it’s disabled claimants who could be at risk of self-injury, suicide, harm to their health, or other people’s safety, if the department forces them to seek out employment.
Substantial Risk claimants can therefore qualify for Universal Credit LCW or LCWRA, or ESA without satisfying any of the descriptors in the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) claimants use to apply for these benefits.
And notably, the figures revealed how the DWP has applied substantial risk to 21% – around 1 in 5 – LCWRA claimants under the age of 24. This equated to 62,570 claimants.
For those between 25 and 34, it was little over half this at 11% (92,670 claimants). This trend continued: the older the age group, the lower the proportion of LCWRA claimants on substantial risk.
For 35 to 44, this was 8% (78,510) and 45 to 54 just 6% (54,600). 55 to 64-year-olds came in around 2.5% (24,610). Meanwhile, over 65s had just 0.2% (230) on substantial risk.
The point being, of course, that even the DWP’s own assessors – who notoriously under-award LCWRA – are identifying young claimants are more often a danger to themselves or others if it tries to shunt them into work. Given this, it’s hard to see how Milburn’s call for ‘reforming’ the benefit system is going to end well.
Milburn review: what’s to come?
The interim report stopped shy of making recommendations – these will come later. The DWP has said Milburn will publish these in the full report in September.
But there are already clues as to what Milburn might have lined up for this ‘overhaul’ of the welfare system.
In tandem with the right-wing propaganda rags, the Labour government has spent its time in power demonising young disabled people. Most of its attacks have targeted those with mental health or neurodivergent conditions. That is why it’s no coincidence Milburn’s interim report has implied people living with these conditions are not ‘disabled enough’ to deserve welfare support long-term.
In March 2025, then DWP boss Liz Kendall put forward proposals to entirely do-away with the health element for under 22s.
But disabled people and campaign groups have scathingly lambasted the idea. This was not least the case in response to the DWP’s own consultation on its welfare cut plans. More than 3,300 people told the department that support:
should be based on need, not age.
This two-tier system is not based on any actual health logic. Disabled people under 22 can just as legitimately not be able to work as anyone over that age.
Yet, the proposal would see the DWP deprive young disabled people of £429.80 a month. And it would be for no real reason beyond the government’s vehement desire to pitch itself as the ‘party of work’. Across a year, the stunt would cost disabled people under 22 around £5,158 in vital welfare payments.
Vile plans in the pipeline
Meanwhile, the Resolution Foundation – architect behind the Universal Credit cuts – recently called for benefit conditionality for young claimants. And the think tank appears deeply in bed with this Labour government’s agenda. That’s not least because its former director Torsten Bell is now a DWP minister. Bell stepped down from his role just shy of his election to parliament. And in 2024, another previous chair – Gavin Kelly – joined the DWP’s Labour Market Advisory Board (LMAB). The LMAB quite literally spells out its role to “tackle inactivity” in young people “driven by long-term health conditions”.
However, the figures the Canary crunched from the DWP show without question that any such plans would be nothing short of catastrophic. In fact, it would actively put young disabled people at serious health risk – and could even kill them. Of course, that’s disgracefully something the diabolical DWP is no stranger to. But Milburn’s report sure as hell wasn’t about to mention any of that.
Featured image via the Canary
On 27 May, 140,000 Muslims performed Eid prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site. However, celebrations were cut short after Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) began arresting and attacking worshippers and journalists.
Eid prayer attacks
In one instance captured on film, members of the IOF violently assaulted a Palestinian woman, as she made her way to the mosque. She was beaten, her hijab was violently torn off, and she was subsequently arrested.
Two Palestinian journalists were also detained. Freelance video journalist Saif al-Qawasmi was arrested inside the mosque before being handed a one-week ban from entering Al-Aqsa. Meanwhile, Jerusalemite journalist and spokesperson for the Islamic Waqf Department, Firas al-Dibs, was also arrested in the mosque courtyard during sermons.
Qawasmi has told Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that he has been banned six times since 2021. Qawasmi is best known for documenting Israeli crimes across occupied East Jerusalem. He has been arrested and interrogated countless times for reporting on Israel’s Al-Aqsa raids.
In 2024, he was violently assaulted by Israeli settlers at the Jerusalem Day ‘Flag March,’ while visibly wearing a press vest. His camera and footage were confiscated and he later received a four-month ban from entering the Al-Aqsa compound.
Al Dibs is also a political commentator who has spoken out about Israeli violence at one of Islam’s holiest sites. He also documents these developments in his capacity as a journalist. In 2025 and 2016, Israeli authorities banned him from entering the mosque compound citing “security reasons.” He believes he has been unjustly targeted for merely carrying out his duties as a Waqf media official
Arbitrary ban orders
Over the last few months, Israel occupation authorities have issued more than 10 arbitrary ban orders denying Palestinian journalists and photographers access to cultural and religious sites. Many have been prevented from entering Al Aqsa Mosque compound, and from reporting on-the-ground. Some of these ban orders can last for up to six months, while others are repeatedly renewed.
In February, defense minister Israel Katz, outlawed five Palestinian media outlets which report exclusively on Jerusalem, by misapplying the country’s anti-terror laws. Nothing new there.
Al-Aqsa Mosque was the first direction of prayer, and is also deeply connected to the Prophet Muhammad’s Night Journey and ascension to heaven. Because of this, the compound holds immense religious and symbolic importance for Muslims around the world.
For Israelis and “birth right” tourists, the same area — which they call the Temple Mount — is regarded as the holiest place in Judaism, believed to be the location of the ancient First and Second Temples. Torah law states that, because it is so sacred, entering the area is strictly forbidden.
In 2023, Israeli occupation minister, illegal settler and criminal, Itamar Ben-Gvir, was the first senior cabinet minister to visit the site since 2000. But Israeli settlers now often storm the Al-Aqsa compound, always under the protection of Israeli occupation forces.
Stripping Al- Aqsa stripped of its Muslim identity
For more than 100 years, the site has been administered internally by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf under Jordanian custodianship. The Israeli occupation authorities oversee security and external access. Under the long-standing status quo, Muslims should be able to pray freely at the compound. Non-Muslims, including Jewish visitors, may enter during limited hours and are not officially permitted to pray there.
In recent years, far-right Israeli activists and politicians have increasingly challenged these arrangements. They have advocated greater Jewish access and prayer rights at the site. Palestinians view these organised incursions as an attempt to alter the historic status quo and undermine the Islamic identity and sovereignty of Al-Aqsa mosque.
The Israeli occupation and the US are now reportedly planning a new arrangement for the mosque complex, which would strip Jordan of Al-Aqsa custodianship. US officials have told Middle East Eye that Trump wants to see al Aqsa Mosque stripped of its Muslim identity. If implemented, this plan would see the holy site turned into a “multi-faith centre.” It would facilitate large group prayers and give Jews “equal access” to the Muslim site. The Israeli occupation would also play a major role in appointing Muslim religious officials and approving the content of Friday sermons.
The plan has triggered fierce backlash from Arab nations, Palestinian officials, and international bodies. They warn that it threatens to destabilise the region.
Jordan also claims custodial responsibilities over major Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. As yet, their fate is unknown under this new plan.
Featured image via Faiz Abu Rmeleh / Getty Images
By Charlie Jaay
Palestine Solidarity Campaign Cymru (PSC Cymru) is today calling on the Hay Festival, one of the world’s most celebrated literary gatherings, to immediately end its sponsorship partnership with Airbnb.
This comes amid growing international condemnation of the company’s role in profiting from illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
The call arrives as the Hay Festival’s own partnership is already unravelling. UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, and forensic architect Professor Eyal Weizman (Goldsmiths, University of London) have both withdrawn from this year’s festival in direct protest at the Airbnb sponsorship.
Albanese described Airbnb as profiting from:
an economic system that supports occupation, annexation, and forced displacement.
The United Nations has formally named Airbnb in its database of companies implicated in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise in the occupied West Bank. The International Court of Justice has ruled these settlements unlawful.
Hay Festival and Airbnb launch unintentionally ironic award
Airbnb has partnered with the Hay Festival to launch a writing award called “Room to Write”. This claims to champion:
creativity and the importance of place and space in storytelling.
PSC Cymru says the irony could not be more stark. Airbnb is simultaneously listing properties on land from which Palestinians have been violently displaced and stripped of the right to tell their own story.
Hay Festival is not the first cultural institution to face this reckoning. When Airbnb sponsored Vivid Sydney, multiple artists withdrew from the festival, refusing to allow their work:
to be used to legitimise or sanitise unethical corporate relationships.
They cited Airbnb’s documented history of listing properties in illegal Israeli settlements. Vivid Sydney subsequently dropped Airbnb as a sponsor.
The message from the cultural world is becoming impossible to ignore. Airbnb’s settlement listings are incompatible with the values of any festival that champions ideas, human rights, free expression, and the power of storytelling.
PSC Cymru co-chair Bethan Sayed said:
It is deeply shocking, and bitterly ironic, that the Hay Festival has taken money from Airbnb to promote ‘the importance of place and space in storytelling’, while Airbnb profits from the violent erasure and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
Airbnb is complicit in a war crime. Its settlement listings help fuel the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homes and land, propping up Israel’s system of apartheid, and forcing Palestinians into isolated enclaves, subjected to violent settler attacks, cut off from their families, their communities, and their cultural and historic space.
By accepting Airbnb’s sponsorship, the Hay Festival is sending a clear message that Palestinian lives are not important, that stolen land is acceptable, and that war crimes are acceptable. Is it content to accept that the destruction of an entire people’s home, story, and identity is someone else’s problem?
We say: it is not. The Hay Festival would not platform a plagiarist, and it must not platform land theft. Close the book on Airbnb. End the sponsorship now.
PSC Cymru is calling on:
- The Hay Festival to terminate its partnership with Airbnb without delay.
- Authors, speakers, and literary figures to publicly condemn the sponsorship.
- Festival-goers to sign our e-action and demand Hay Festival ends its sponsorship deal with Airbnb.
Sign the e-action: No Room for Apartheid at Hay Festival. Close the Book on Airbnb.
Featured image via Getty Images
By The Canary
The occupation slaughtered families as it bombed at least one residential building in Gaza City trying to murder a journalist last night, 27 May 2026. Israel perpetrated the attack as Muslim families marked Eid al-Adha, one of Islam’s two main annual festivals. The colonisers also murdered civilians in Lebanon.
Warning — disturbing footage. One video is attached directly as Meta has disabled embedding.
Omar al-Gedi entered the building as it burned after the night-time airstrike. He filmed hideously-wounded victims being removed as fire-fighters tried to extinguish the flames:
He also captured a rescue worker carrying a dead child from the ruins of the building, with partially-severed limbs dangling. The footage is not blurred, to convey the true horror:
View this post on Instagram
Khaled Sultan filmed as shredded victims were loaded into ambulances:
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Israel appears to have been an attempt to kill another Palestinian journalist Eyad Azaam. The attack missed him but killed his young daughter — another added to the more than 700 journalists’ family members murdered by the colonisers:
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After the bombing, Aamer al-Sultaa filmed the bodes of martyrs awaiting identification and burial:
View this post on Instagram
Gaza nights of murder
Local reports indicate that at least two other children were beheaded and one was burned to death in the blaze. The attack marked the second night of Israel bombing Gaza during the Eid festival, a clear show of contempt for Palestinians, Islam and humanity. Again children were the victims:
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UK media parroted Israeli propaganda about ‘targeting terrorists’. Even if it were true, it would not excuse the crimes but the ‘journalists’ never point this out:
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Israel is a terror state. UK media and government are its enablers.
Featured image via Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images
By Skwawkbox
Actor and LGBTQ+ rights campaigner Ian McKellen will launch a march in central London on Saturday 30 May. It will protest against the criminalisation of LGBTQ+ people in 29 Commonwealth member states under colonial-era laws originally imposed by the UK.
The march starts at 12 noon, outside the Nigerian High Commission, 9 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5BX.
LGBTQ+ people still at risk in Commonwealth
Six Commonwealth countries have a maximum sentence of life in prison. In Uganda, Brunei and northern Nigerian states, same-sex relations can carry the death penalty.
Many of those attending the protest are LGBTQ+ refugees who have fled persecution in Commonwealth nations.
For 77 years, the two-yearly Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting has refused to recognise LGBTQ+ human rights, or even allow a discussion of the issue.
Campaigners say millions of LGBTQ+ people across the Commonwealth continue to face arrest, imprisonment, violence and discrimination, solely because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
It is organised by the Peter Tatchell Foundation alongside Out and Proud Africa LGBTI, Let Voice be Heard (Bangladesh), Gay Indian Network (GIN) and the African Equality Foundation.
The ‘Commonwealth Walk of Shame’ will begin with a speech by Ian McKellen to send off marchers to protest outside eight Commonwealth High Commissions that criminalise LGBTQ+ people: Nigeria, Uganda, Papua New Guinea, Trinidad & Tobago, Ghana, Jamaica, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
The march comes as the Commonwealth seeks to project itself as a modern organisation committed to democracy, equality and human rights.
Deborah Birunji Nabisere of Out and Proud Africa LGBTI, a lesbian who has fled persecution in Uganda, said:
I know what it means to live under laws designed to erase your humanity. We are marching because silence has protected persecution for far too long. Commonwealth leaders cannot celebrate unity while millions of LGBT+ citizens live in fear.
For many LGBT+ people across Africa and the Commonwealth, these laws are not abstract. They shape every part of daily life: whether you can speak openly, whether you can find work, whether you are safe walking home.
McKellen said:
No one should face prison, violence or death simply for being themselves and loving another person. Yet across most of the Commonwealth, LGBT+ people are still treated as criminals.
Many of these laws are relics of the British Empire. The least we in Britain can do is stand in solidarity with those fighting to overturn criminalisation. I am proud to support this march and the brave activists leading the struggle for LGBT+ equality.
Peter Tatchell said:
For decades, Commonwealth leaders have failed to end the persecution of LGBT+ people. We urge the new Commonwealth secretary-general, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey of Ghana, to begin her tenure by making clear that anti-LGBT+ victimisation is incompatible with Commonwealth values.
29 Commonwealth countries still criminalise homosexuality, mostly under British colonial-era laws, in direct violation of the Commonwealth Charter’s commitment to equality and non-discrimination.
Across the Commonwealth, millions of LGBT+ people continue to face arrest, imprisonment, violence and discrimination in employment, housing, education and healthcare.
Event details
‘Commonwealth Walk of Shame’ Against Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws
Date: Saturday 30 May 2026
Time: 12 noon
Location: Nigerian High Commission, 9 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5BX
Organisers:
- Peter Tatchell Foundation.
- Out and Proud Africa LGBTI.
- Let Voice be Heard (Bangladesh).
- Gay Indian Network (GIN).
- African Equality Foundation.
Featured image via Jeff Spicer / Getty Images for BFI
By The Canary
Politics
Carns calls drones “most effective killing weapon” the same day he deploys mine hunting drones to Hormuz
Former special forces soldier-turned-defence minister Alistair Carns boasted on Wednesday that drones were the “most effective killing weapons” at a summit in Riga, Latvia.
Thousands of miles away, the Ministry of Defence posted a video of Carns on Wednesday that showed him “droning about drones” on the RFA Lyme Bay, which they said had left Gibraltar for a mine-hunting mission in the Strait of Hormuz.
The post said:
RFA Lyme Bay has left Gibraltar, carrying underwater drones and cutting-edge minehunting kit, ahead of a potential deployment to safeguard navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. Alistair Carns explains why this autonomous tech is so vital as part of a Hybrid Navy
RFA Lyme Bay has left Gibraltar, carrying underwater drones and cutting-edge minehunting kit, ahead of a potential deployment to safeguard navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
@AlistairCarns explains why this autonomous tech is so vital as part of a Hybrid Navypic.twitter.com/mDNbfGWmeU
— Ministry of Defence
In Riga, Carns spoke of drones as the dominant weapon of modern warfare, emphasising their lethality and urging NATO to “redesign, restructure” around them. Carns sure loves to drone on about the future of killing.
Carns’ “Defensive” action
UK’s involvement in the US and Israel’s war of choice and aggression on Iran is “defensive” only in words.
On April 17th, Starmer, along with France’s Macron, announced a multinational mission to protect commercial shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz and called it “strictly peaceful and defensive” in London.
Starmer also said it would only begin once fighting ends.
However, American forces conducted what a U.S. official said on Wednesday were “self-defense” strikes in southern Iran for the second time in three days.
Real. pic.twitter.com/RJDJCDzRMo
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 27, 2026
At the same time, the White House posted a clownish meme mocking Iran’s navy on the “bottom of the ocean.” The National reported a surge in US military flights from the publicly owned UK’s Prestwick Airport before the latest Iran strikes,
Does all this point to America’s willingness to end its illegal war? Starmer is misleading us again and again.
Carns boasts about the lethality of drones in Riga. Amid all this, the same drones leave Gibraltar for Hormuz. So, which is it — a defensive mine hunter or a killing weapon?
Featured image via Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images
By The Canary
Academy Award-winning actor Javier Bardem and Children’s and Family Emmy Award-nominated actress Yasmin Finney star in SLAPP Suit.
It’s a new short film released globally by Greenpeace International on 28 May. SLAPP Suit dramatises the threat of, and resistance to, abusive SLAPP lawsuits. You can watch the film here.
Billionaire bullies and corporate polluters use Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) to bury activists, journalists, whistleblowers, and non-profit organisations in legal fees, drain their time and resources, and ultimately make the cost of dissent too high.
Greenpeace targeted by SLAPPs
US-based fossil fuel pipeline company Energy Transfer has been waging back-to-back abusive SLAPP lawsuits against Greenpeace in the US and Greenpeace International for nearly a decade. It’s a blatant attempt to silence free speech, erase Indigenous leadership of the Standing Rock movement, and punish solidarity with peaceful resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Academy Award-winning actor and activist Javier Bardem said:
I made this film with Greenpeace because they’re fighting a monumental legal battle about free speech, but really it’s about something much bigger: widespread attempts to silence activism.
The type of lawsuits used by pipeline company Energy Transfer are also being used to silence journalists, artists and ordinary people who care about their communities.
The question is not why to speak out. But how could we not, if we want to have the same freedom in the future?
The threat of corporate intimidation tactics like SLAPP lawsuits is far bigger than Greenpeace. Corporate polluters and greedy oligarchs know protest works. That’s why they’re trying to make the stakes so high no one will be willing to take the risk to defend people or the planet.
Children’s and Family Emmy Award-nominated UK actress Yasmin Finney said:
The right to protest in the UK is a huge battle. People demanding better is what built our country, but increasingly it’s becoming criminalised.
Not enough people believe or see that our rights are really under threat, and that’s why we made this film: Greenpeace’s legal fight against Energy Transfer is one example of resistance, but there are many more.
Bullies respond to strength and togetherness, and that’s what we need more of right now.
Big Oil companies Shell, Total, and ENI have also filed SLAPPs against Greenpeace entities in recent years. A couple of these cases have been successfully stopped in their tracks.
Meanwhile, Greenpeace organisations in the US and Greenpeace International continue the legal fight against the US$345 million judgment in Energy Transfer’s abusive lawsuit in North Dakota.
In Europe, Netherlands-based Greenpeace International is pursuing justice with a landmark anti-SLAPP case. It aims to hold Energy Transfer accountable for its back-to-back abusive lawsuits under Dutch law and the EU’s new anti-SLAPP directive.
Susannah Compton of Greenpeace International said:
The global threat of corporate intimidation tactics such as SLAPP lawsuits is an existential crisis for freedom of speech and protest for everyone who dares speak out against the powerful – whether Greenpeace would agree with them or not.
If we do not defend our right to resist, we surrender the future to a few oligarchs who see power as a tool for empire rather than a shared responsibility.
Featured image via Greenpeace
By The Canary
Content warning: this article features video footage of graphic injuries to children, and depicts video footage of dead children. Please exercise caution before reading ahead.
The so-called ceasefire in Gaza has been in place for 227 days, as of 27 May 2026, but the humanitarian catastrophe is worsening every day. Attacks and killings continue to devastate civilian life while the Israeli occupation evades its obligations regarding entry of humanitarian aid.
Martyrs and injured civilians arrive daily to under-resourced hospitals across the Strip. The Ministry of Health and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society report that bodies remain trapped under the rubble and on the roads, as ambulance and civil defence crews are still unable to reach most of them. As of 26 May, 785 bodies have been recovered.
Gaza men tried to defend community against IOF
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, five Palestinians were targeted and killed by the IOF in al Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.
They had confronted Israeli occupation backed armed militia members, who were attempting to advance in the Eastern area of the camp towards homes and a UN school, where displaced families were sheltering.
Later that same day, in a separate incident, a vehicle in Khan Younis was targeted by an Israeli occupation airstrike. Two Palestinians were killed and several wounded.
Hamas spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, called the massacre in the al Maghazi refugee camp “a continuation of the genocide and ceasefire violations”. In a statement, Qassem blamed the “Board of Peace” of inaction, silence, and adoption of the Zionist position.
He stressed:
The escalation of genocidal operations in Gaza underscores the extent of Zionist contempt for all efforts by mediators and guarantor states.
Two of the latest targets of the terrorist Israeli state have been children. These included Mennah Nabil Kamel Abu Libda, age six. She was killed and five others injured when an Israeli occupation airstrike targeted a tent sheltering displaced civilians. This was in the al Mawasi area of Khan Younis, in the south of the Strip.
The following day Mohammad Al-Khatib, who was just one month old, was being fed by his mother inside their displacement tent. They were both struck by a missile fired from an Israeli occupation helicopter. Mohammad’s leg was so badly injured that it had to be amputated. His mother was killed instantly.
Ceasefire violations exceed 3,000 since 11 October 2025
According to the Government Media Office, 3,005 violations and serious breaches of the agreement have been carried out by the Israeli occupation between 11 October 2025 and 27 May 2026.
These violations have killed 910 civilians and injured 2,747 others. It brings the total number of Palestinians killed and injured since the start of the genocide to 72,803 and 172,827 respectively.
The violations include bombings, direct attacks targeting civilians and the complete destruction of residential blocks. Repeated live fire incidents, and incursions into residential areas were also carried out. In addition, 82 civilians have been abducted and detained by the IOF during this time period.
Despite Trump’s “Peace Plan” promise of immediate and unhindered access to aid, the Israeli occupation continues its obstructions. Aid is systematically blocked or delayed, and restrictions remain on what can enter Gaza.
Border crossings continue to be closed while many of the most experienced and largest aid organisations are being deregistered. The result is that the amount of essential food supplies in Gaza is not enough to meet the minimum humanitarian needs of the population.
According to figures from the Government Media Office, between 11 October 2025 and 27 May 2026, just over 49,970 of the 135,600 trucks supposed to enter the Strip did so. This reflects a compliance rate of around only 35%.
The problem is made worse due to rising levels of poverty and displacement as well as income sources and local production being destroyed. The entry of fuel, food, and essential materials needed to build durable shelters, repair generators, water and sewage infrastructure also continue to be restricted.
No hospital in Gaza is fully functional
Severe restrictions have also caused a critical shortage of medicines. Therefore, there is still not a single hospital in Gaza which is fully operational. Thousands of amputees are in need of prosthetic limbs, but these too have been prohibited entry to the Strip by “Israel”.
UN agencies warn that Gaza’s health system is on the verge of total collapse. The devastating situation is compounded by shortages of fuel, electricity and medical personnel, and a lack of sanitation.
A total of 1.9 million of the 2.1 million population of Gaza has been displaced. They live in overcrowded, unhygienic conditions worsened by the hot weather. Together with the lack of basic services and nutritious food, these conditions are causing the spread of disease.
Save the Children, says that two out of three children in Gaza are now at risk of infection due to plagues of vermin and insects.
By obstructing the entry of aid, the occupation not only violates the ceasefire deal, but also, yet again, violates its obligations under international humanitarian law. Starving civilians as a method of warfare is illegal under international law. Restricting essential items, such as food and medicine, can constitute collective punishment. This is a recognised war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
It is time for the world to take action to end the Israeli occupation’s culture of impunity.
Featured image via Palestine Chronicle
By Charlie Jaay
Politics
Politics Home Article | Making Money Shouldn’t Be Universities’ Priority, Says Zack Polanski
Zack Polanski is set to speak to UCU members tonight (Alamy)
3 min read
Exclusive: The UK should stop treating university students like customers, Green Party leader Zack Polanski will say on Thursday.
Addressing members of the University and College Union (UCU) this evening, Polanski, who wants to abolish tuition fees, will accuse successive Westminster governments of seeing higher education as a “commodity”, rather than “a public good”.
In remarks shared with PoliticsHome ahead of his speech, Polanski is expected to warn that “tens of thousands” of academics nationwide are facing redundancies and job insecurity, while those who stay in the sector are suffering “shattered morale, crushing workloads, and stifled innovation – often while employed on exploitative, short-term contracts”.
“We all lose out when learning is treated as a commodity, when skills are seen as something to be sold at the highest cost possible, when curiosity and creativity are dismissed because they can’t be measured by exams,” he is set to say.
His speech comes as the higher education sector continues to face severe financial strain.
Earlier this month, a report by MPs on the House of Commons education select committee warned that dozens of universities are at risk of insolvency due to “unprecedented” economic pressure and that the Labour government has no clear plan to prevent it.
Many institutions have already cut courses and staff in a bid to save money.
The UCU’s general secretary, Jo Grady, told PoliticsHome late last year that universities face a financial calamity similar to the 2008 banking crisis, and accused ministers of being “asleep at the wheel”.
Restrictions on student visas brought in by the previous Conservative government are seen as a major reason for the financial pressure facing universities, with overseas students having become a key source of funding for British universities in recent years. The current Labour government has brought in further restrictions since entering office in a bid to reduce net migration.
Polanski is set to say that while countries like Finland have historically invested in universities, the UK has put “all its bets on financial services”.
“Look where that’s left us: A stagnating economy, poor productivity, and an education sector stretched to breaking point.
“Instead of education being prized as the public good it is, our universities have been forced to turn students into customers and focus on making money above all else, just to survive,” the London Assembly Member is expected to tell UCU members.
His speech is also the latest example of Polanski’s bid to develop ties with unions, some of which are unhappy with the performance of Keir Starmer’s Labour government.
Earlier this year, Polanski became the first Green leader to address the National Education Union, claiming that schools had been “pushed to the brink by the toxic twin pressures of ideologically driven reorganisation, and an unforgivable squeeze in budgets”.
Polanski is looking to maintain the Green Party’s momentum after this month’s local elections demonstrated the electoral threat it poses to Labour. The Greens won five councils and two mayoralities on 7 May, with its success coming largely at the expense of Starmer’s party.
At the same time, the Green leader is under pressure to improve the party’s vetting process amid reports of past inflammatory comments made by candidates. Chris Kennedy withdrew as the Green candidate in the Makerfield by-election after describing an attack on ambulances run by a north London Jewish charity as a “false flag”. He was replaced by local councillor Sarah Wakefield.
Tony Dyer, the Green deputy mayor in the West of England, last week admitted to PoliticsHome that his party’s vetting process “needs improvement”.
Robert Kenyon is Reform UK’s candidate in the Makerfield by-election. Kenyon recently experienced criticism for comments he made about Carol Vorderman. Now, after several days of hiding from media scrutiny, Kenyon has decided to double down:
“It was a crude attempt at a joke to probably about 50 followers… if you go into any building site, I think you’d hear a hundred times worse said” pic.twitter.com/vHA33K0ez5
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) May 28, 2026
NEW: Reform UK Makerfield candidate Robert Kenyon has refused to apologise for his comment about Carol Vorderman
Reform candidate doubles down
People have argued Kenyon could move past this controversy by simply saying sorry. After all, we live in a time in which most people have said something online they later came to regret. Many would understandably see his comments as a red line, of course, but an apology would at least demonstrate that he understands the rules of society; that he’s not just some sort of freak.
Instead of apologising, however, Kenyon said the following in conversation with the Manchester Evening News (MEN):
I’m not a polished politician.
I am rough around the edges. I have made mistakes in my life. I’m not perfect. Nobody is. Not a single person in the world is perfect.
I think everybody does say things that eventually they regret. It was a crude attempt at a joke to probably about 50 followers.
No offence was meant, and it’s not something I’d do now.
Is it really so hard to say ‘sorry’?
He wouldn’t even have to mean it; it’s not like we can read the guy’s mind.
Clearly, Kenyon is copying the ‘never apologise’ mentality of Donald Trump. The issue Kenyon will have is that he lacks the force of personality which allowed Trump to get away with it (not to mention the billions of dollars in the bank).
You’ll note Kenyon said “no offence was meant” too. This might work in some cases, but not when the comment was “I’d love to smell and lick your ars*hole”. If he doesn’t understand such a comment might cause offence, then the guy has the emotional intelligence of a tin opener.
Oh, and the comments from Kenyon got worse too.
On the attack
Kenyon also said:
There’s been a lot of noise about this indirect, sort of vulgar tweet that I’ve made, but I’ve not heard much about Carol’s thoughts on Labour not having the grooming gangs inquiry last year or what she thinks about biological males being allowed into single sex spaces.
Sorry, but does he expect Carol Vorderman to apologise to him? Over things she may or may not have even said?
Is this guy for real?
When the MEN asked if he’d like to apologise, Kenyon responded:
I think I’ve addressed the issue.
“Think” might be a strong description for what’s going on here, honestly.
Offence taken
Kenyon added:
I think that no offence was meant and it wasn’t a direct comment to her. If you go into any building site in the area or any public barracks, I think you’d hear a hundred times worse said.
It was just, like I said, a crass attempt at a joke and it’s not something I’d make now.
Why would he not make the joke now?
Does he think it was out of order?
And if so, isn’t an apology is in order?
This issue isn’t the only one Kenyon and Reform should apologise for either, as we’ve reported:
- Reform deploys ‘suspended’ antisemite to Makerfield by-election campaign.
- Reform’s Kenyon said ‘Russia within rights to invade Ukraine’.
- Reform’s Robert Kenyon: ‘Women get abortions for vanity’.
- Reform’s Makerfield candidate was a Remainer.
- Reform is pretending its Makerfield candidate was Action Man.
We’re not sure where Reform found this guy, but hopefully they drop him back there once he’s done losing this by-election.
Featured image via Jeff Spicer (Getty Images)
By Willem Moore
On 1 June, Israeli authorities will invite bids from private companies to construct 3,400 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank.
This would effectively cut off occupied East Jerusalem from the rest of the occupied West Bank. It would further fragment Palestinian territory, forcibly displace communities including Khan al-Ahmar and restrict access to essential healthcare.
This step would consolidate Israeli control over the corridor linking East Jerusalem to the Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc. Governments have widely recognised this outcome as undermining the viability of a contiguous Palestinian state and violating international law.
Some pushback from UK
In a joint statement on 22 May, the UK and partner governments warned that companies involved in such settlement activity may face “legal and reputational consequences.”
Palestinian families in Khan Al-Ahmar now face imminent forced displacement after Israeli authorities moved last week to revive long-standing demolition orders against the community.
Khan Al-Ahmar is one of 18 Bedouin and herding communities in the path of the plan. Around 4,000 Palestinians across the 18 communities could lose their homes and land.
Abu Khamees, a community leader in Khan Al-Ahmar, has lived under the shadow of demolition orders for years. Nothing, he says, prepared him for this:
Families here are not prepared to leave. We had been living in limbo for years given a temporary halt on the demolition order.
The decision for imminent forced displacement was like an electric shock to us. People are anxious about where to go with their children as well as how to access essential services like health and education.
People here have already been suffering because reaching healthcare has been extremely difficult, with interrupted services due to movement restrictions and checkpoints.
This is a nail in the coffin of the so-called two-state solution; with the forced displacement of our community Khan Al-Ahmar, and the completion of the E1 settlement project, which has been considered a redline by Western governments for decades.
This also jeopardises regional peace and stability. What is the international community willing to do after all these empty promises?
Medical Aid For Palestinians’ (MAP) mobile clinics have delivered essential healthcare to over 33,000 Palestinians across 22 communities since 2025. Many of these communities are in “Area C”, which covers approximately 60% of the West Bank and is under full Israeli military control.
Access to permanent health services here is denied due to Israel’s apartheid policies. In these areas, mobile care is often the only lifeline, reaching isolated communities that are cut off from hospitals and clinics due to movement restrictions and settlement expansion.
Israel’s illegal settlement expansion across the West Bank has systematically fragmented Palestinian communities, severing patients from hospitals and clinics through settler-only roads, checkpoints and the separation wall.
Settler violence has further deterred patients and healthcare workers from travelling. The result is a population denied timely, consistent access to the healthcare they urgently need.
West Bank settlement expansion and violence
Khan al-Ahmar is not an isolated case. A parallel E2 project south of Bethlehem would see around 2,500 new settlement units built in a corridor designed to sever the southern West Bank in half. Israeli authorities have already approved 3,401 new settlement units in the E1 area alone.
Israeli settlement expansion is compounded by escalating settler violence, which forms part of a broader coercive environment driving the displacement of Palestinians and entrenching de facto annexation.
In a single week (12-18 May 2026), settlers carried out more than 50 attacks, including arson targeting homes, farmland and a mosque.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) , 870 attacks have been recorded across more than 220 communities so far this year – an average of six per day.
Since January 2025, settler violence and related access restrictions have displaced thousands of Palestinians across the West Bank, with at least 38-45 rural and herding communities fully or largely emptied.
Aseel Baidoun, MAP’s deputy director of advocacy and communications based in the West Bank, said:
The threatened destruction of Khan al-Ahmar exposes the hollowness of years of international handwringing over illegal settlements. Governments have spent decades calling E1 a red line, warning it would shatter any prospects of a viable Palestinian state, while doing virtually nothing to curb Israel’s impunity.
If Khan al-Ahmar is erased from the map, it will not happen quietly or accidentally. It will happen after years of empty statements, diplomatic theatre, and deliberate political cowardice from governments that claim to support international law while allowing Israel to carve apart the West Bank piece by piece.
Empty condemnation while illegal settlements expand in plain sight is not diplomacy – it’s complicity in the ethnic cleansing.
MAP calls on the UK government to follow in the footsteps of the Netherlands, Spain, Slovenia, and Ireland and end trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
This move, which 119 MPs have backed, is consistent with the International Court of Justice’s July 2024 ruling that Israel’s decades-long occupation of the West Bank is unlawful.
Nearly two years on from the ICJ’s advisory opinion, the UK government has still not published its legal review or set out any concrete steps to implement it.
Featured image via Tamir Kalifa / Getty Images
By The Canary
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