Israel continues deadly attacks on Gaza ahead of potential White House talks on ceasefire

 

Israel continues deadly attacks on Gaza ahead of potential White House talks on ceasefire

Joe Coughlan (now) and Yohannes Lowe (earlier)

Mon 30 Jun 2025 13.51 BST

Israel is continuing its relentless bombardment of Gaza after tens of thousands of Palestinians fled eastern parts of Gaza City in the north of the territory on Sunday after Israel warned of a major new offensive.

At least 25 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Monday, health authorities said in an updated toll, including 10 people killed in Zeitoun in southern Gaza City.

Two people seeking aid were also killed by Israeli fire near an aid distribution centre in southern Rafah, sources at the Nasser medical complex told Al Jazeera.

The attacks come as Israeli officials are due in Washington for a new ceasefire push by the US, which is fuelling the war by providing weapons to the Israeli military.

Israel’s strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer is expected at the White House later today for talks on Iran and Gaza, an Israeli official said.

In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet is expected to convene to discuss the next steps in its widening assault on Gaza.

The Israeli prime minister has been accused of deliberately prolonging ceasefire negotiations – and blocking their progress – to ensure his own political survival by having the war continue.

THE GUARDIAN

At least 38 killed by Israeli strikes on Monday

 

At least 38 killed by Israeli strikes on Monday

At least 38 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, according to updated figures from health authorities, Reuters reports.

30 June 2025

Included in the casualties were 10 people killed in Zeitoun and at least 13 killed southwest of Gaza City. Medics said most of the 13 were hit by gunfire, but residents also reported an airstrike.

Palestinians in northern Gaza reported one of the worst nights of Israeli bombardment in weeks after the military issued mass evacuation orders on Monday, while Israeli officials were due in Washington for a new ceasefire push by the Trump administration.

The Israeli military said it struck militant targets in northern Gaza, including command and control centres, after taking steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.

There was no immediate word from Israel on the reported casualties southwest of Gaza City.

Palestinians inspect the damage at an UNRWA school sheltering displaced people that was hit in an Israeli air strike the day before in Gaza City on Monday, June 30, 2025.Photograph: Mahmoud Issa/Reuters

Israeli tanks pushed into the eastern areas of Zeitoun suburb in Gaza City and shelled several areas in the north, while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said.

Salah, 60, a father of five children, from Gaza City, told Reuters:

Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes.

In the news we hear a ceasefire is near, on the ground we see death and we hear explosions.

THE GUARDIAN

 

Edward Burtynsky / African Studies

 

Edward Burtynsky

AFRICAN STUDIES

ARTIST STATEMENT

The 54 countries of Africa are divided physically through its center by the Sahara Desert and encompass a broad spectrum of governments and economies. This project, focussing on sub-Saharan Africa, has taken me to Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Madagascar and Tanzania but the complex and diverse nature of this vast continent cannot be defined neatly in a book of images. Over the past seven years, during the course of my observations across sub-Saharan Africa, the title African Studies came to mind, as it most appropriately reflects this experience.

 

PHOTOGRAPHY

Edward Burtynsky: ‘My photographs are like Rorschach tests’

The photographer’s images of environmental degradation are both stunning and haunting, and make up a captivating new survey

Veronica Esposito

Thu 26 Jun 2025 18.13 

Few if any photographers have done more than Edward Burtynsky to shape our view of the large-scale industrial production that is a constant, ever-expanding part of the capitalist system. Since the 1980s, he has created more than a dozen multiyear series, tackling extractive industries like mining and oil refining in India, China and Azerbaijan, traveling to such disparate places as Western Australia, Chile’s Atacama desert and the so-called ship graveyards of Bangladesh.

Obituaries / Lalo Schifrin

 

Obituary

Lalo Schifrin obituary

Composer of the Mission: Impossible theme tune as well as music for a host of Hollywood films including Bullitt and Dirty Harry

Adam Sweeting

Fri 27 Jun 2025 14.54 

The career of the composer and conductor Lalo Schifrin, who has died aged 93, was incomparably rich and varied, spanning musical genres from jazz and classical to Latin American, funk, rock and avant garde. He conducted (among others) the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and composed music ranging from piano concertos and symphonies to an album of songs in the Aztec language for the tenor Plácido Domingo.

Chapter 95 / A Brief History of Royal Decorations, Military Badges and Lapel Pins

Franz Joseph Order, Officer's Cross breast badge, 'There are 5 classes of FJO – knight, officer (since 1901), commander, commander with star and grand cross. Badge for grand cross and commander/ commander with star is the same and has the size of 70mm/38mm.  Grand cross was on sash and commanders were worn on neck ribbon. Grand cross is also having breast star which is larger than breast star of commander with star. 

Chapter 95

A Brief History of Royal Decorations, Military Badges and Lapel Pins

Royal decorations, military badges and medals together with lapel pins are part of visual communication conveying  various message of majesty, power , bravery and at times  pure vanity. Detachable badges in metal or cloth are a key element of military uniforms. They can be worn on a cap, collar, shoulder, arm, or cuff. They can be stitched, or attached with brass pins or ‘sliders’. They can identify the rank of the serviceman, their particular regiment or ship, qualification or specialist trade, and distinguish those with gallantry awards, long service or who have been previously wounded. Servicemen may also wear badges of larger formations (such as Brigades, Divisions or Armies), within which their unit is currently serving. Lapel Pins are worn to show affiliation with an organization or cause, they have become a new collectible trend . Exceptionally cheap to produce, custom enamel pins are bringing individual flair to hats, jackets and lapels around the world, and giving artists the chance to make their work into an affordable and collectible commodity.

Chapter 96 / The History of the Fisheye Lens and Album Jackets

 

Chapter 96

The History of the Fisheye Lens and Album Jackets 

Since their commercial manufacturing, Fisheye lenses have introduced a new lexicon in the grammar of communication design. In particular, since the early 1960s, this lexicon has been widely utilized by graphic designers in the creation of album covers.

Chapter 97 / Ghajar School of Graphic Design - Painting

Chapter 97

 School of Graphic Design - Painting

Iranian art from the Ghajar period (1779-1925) has long been neglected and is little understood, it is characterized by large-scale works and the incorporation of various elements in the grammar of graphics. The Ghajar murals and wall decorations, as well as the setting for which they were designed, conveyed a feeling of grandeur and opulence. Iranian art of the 19th century carries the sensation of modernity, while fascinating by the delicacy of its style. Visitors approached these images through a series of ceremonial spaces, courtyards, gardens and walkways. The images were designed to convey a certain transcendental indication; the proportions were elongated, the features highly stylized, the colors saturated, the repeated patterns and the jewelry effects obtained with the gilding, the accumulated gesso and the lacquer. In royal residences, painting functioned as units with a rich range of decorative programs. The great scholar Oleg Grabar criticized the Ghajar art as being both too Iranian and too universal; but these are precisely the source of its exceptional energy and vigor. The large oil paintings of the Fath Ali Shah period have been appreciated by auction houses worldwide for their ability to obtain the highest price, as the English scholar RW Robinson said: "Persia was then a land of paintings, more than ever before or since. ”