International News Briefs for Wednesday, August 13, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Wednesday, August 13, 2025.
Israeli Forces Kill 123 Palestinians in a Day Amid Campaign to Seize Gaza City
Aug 13, 2025
A delegation of Hamas officials has arrived in Egypt for a new round of talks on securing a ceasefire deal for the Gaza Strip. Their trip comes as Israeli forces press deeper into Gaza City as part of a plan to forcibly displace nearly 1 million Palestinians and push them into camps further south. Over the past 24 hours, at least eight Palestinians, including three children, have reportedly starved to death due to Israel’s monthslong blockade on food, including infant formula. Meanwhile, Israeli attacks over the last day killed at least 123 people and injured nearly 440 others. Among the dead were Palestinians bombed by Israel as they sold water on the streets of Gaza City.
Osama Mortaji: “This street, which is full of displaced people from Beit Hanoun and from all over the Gaza Strip, was hit by a missile. There are three martyrs here, women and children selling water. As you can see, here’s the blood, and here’s the shrapnel. We are innocent people sitting in our homes, not knowing when this war, this genocide by the Israeli occupation army, will end. Enough, people. Enough, world. Wake up. We are dying here day after day, martyrs for no reason.”
Israeli settlers have shot and killed another Palestinian in the occupied West Bank. Thirty-five-year-old Thamin Khalil Reda Dawabsheh died of his wounds this morning after he was shot by settlers in the town of Duma, south of Nablus. According to a Palestinian rights group, he’s at least the 10th Palestinian killed by Israel settlers since the beginning of the year.
Protesters Demand Justice for Anas al-Sharif and Other Journalists Assassinated by Israel
Aug 13, 2025
Protests and vigils continue worldwide demanding accountability and justice following Israel’s targeted assassination of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif along with four of his colleagues and another journalist outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Sunday. Here in New York, hundreds of protesters gathered outside The New York Times offices Tuesday decrying what advocates say is the Western media’s complicity with Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and the relentless killing of Palestinian journalists. In Texas, protesters mobilized outside The Dallas Morning News headquarters, demanding U.S. reporters to speak out against Israel’s attacks on the media. Similar actions took place in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C., where demonstrators rallied outside the offices of NBC, Fox News, ITN and The Guardian. Protesters gathered in Mexico City Tuesday in solidarity with Gaza journalists. Mexico is the deadliest country in Latin America for media workers.
Meanwhile, the Hind Rajab Foundation and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights have filed a complaint at the International Criminal Court against Anas al-Sharif’s killers.
Israeli Peace Activists Demand Closure of Notorious Gaza Aid Group
Aug 13, 2025
The United Nations confirmed Tuesday that U.N. officials met with the chair of the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation at a U.S.-hosted event on Gaza’s crisis. It was the U.N.’s first direct contact with the foundation since Israel barred international humanitarian aid distribution in Gaza, turning over control to GHF — a shadowy U.S.- and Israel-backed organization whose aid distribution sites have been widely condemned as “death traps.” Over 1,800 Palestinians have been killed while attempting to collect food since GHF took over Gaza’s aid operations, with at least 19 aid seekers killed yesterday alone.
On Tuesday evening, Israeli peace activists in Tel Aviv condemned Israel’s starvation campaign against Gaza as they protested outside a hotel where GHF officials were reportedly staying.
Ilan Volkov: “We oppose every action that the Gaza Humanitarian Fund are doing. They must close now. Aid must flow to the 400 points that are existing with UNRWA and all the other agencies that are ready to do their work so the food comes to everybody.”
Foreign Ministers of 26 Nations Demand Israel Restore Humanitarian Aid to Gaza
Aug 13, 2025
Top diplomats from 26 nations, including many U.S. allies, are calling for urgent action to end Israel’s siege of Gaza. The foreign ministers of Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and others write in a joint statement that Israel must take immediate, permanent and concrete steps to restore large-scale access for the U.N. and international humanitarian aid groups. They’re also calling for the opening of border crossings into Gaza and an end to lethal force directed against civilians seeking food at U.S.- and Israeli-run aid distribution sites. Germany and Hungary did not sign the statement, nor did the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s leader has condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza as “utterly appalling” and “unacceptable.” Prime Minister Christopher Luxon made the comments earlier today after lawmakers debated New Zealand’s plan to recognize Palestinian statehood.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon: “I think Netanyahu has gone way too far. I think he has lost the plot. And I think that, you know, what we’re seeing overnight with the attack on Gaza City is utterly, utterly unacceptable.”
Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces Kill 40 in Camp for Displaced People in Darfur
Aug 13, 2025
In Sudan, at least 40 civilians have been killed in an attack by Rapid Support Forces on a camp sheltering displaced people in Darfur. RSF fighters on Monday reportedly stormed the Abu Shouk camp — which has been devastated by famine — opening fire on homes, executing civilians; others were killed by stray bullets. This comes as cholera is ripping through displacement camps across Darfur, with hundreds of cases reported and at least 80 deaths. UNICEF says more than 640,000 children under the age of 5 are at risk of contracting the deadly infection.
Zelensky and European Leaders to Hold Call with Trump Ahead of Putin Summit
Aug 13, 2025
President Trump is holding virtual talks with European officials and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today, ahead of a bilateral meeting Friday in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ahead of today’s talks, all EU leaders — with the exception of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán — signed a joint statement warning that Ukrainian borders should not be redrawn by force. Joining the call was Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk: “Ukraine cannot lose this war, and no one has the right to put pressure on Ukraine when it comes to territorial concessions or other decisions that would smell of capitulation.”
President Zelensky once again rejected any ceasefire deal that will require Ukraine to trade territory for an end to the war — a concession Trump is pressing for. On Tuesday, Zelensky downplayed reports that Russian forces had advanced six miles deeper into Ukraine’s Donetsk region, but Ukraine’s military is warning of a Russian troop buildup for a new offensive set to begin in September.
Pentagon Readies Rapid Deployment Force for U.S. Cities
Aug 13, 2025
Image Credit: X/@USArmy
The first U.S. National Guard troops have deployed to Washington, D.C., a day after President Trump announced a federal takeover of the D.C. police force. Federal officials say some 800 National Guard troops will be deployed alongside 500 federal law enforcement agents. On Tuesday, The Washington Post revealed the Trump administration is planning a so-called Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force composed of hundreds of National Guard troops set to rapidly deploy to other U.S. cities targeted by Trump. The force would be comprised of two groups of 300 soldiers permanently assigned to the force, stationed at military bases in Alabama and Arizona.
State Department Scrubs Reporting on Human Rights Abuses Committed by Trump’s Allies
Aug 13, 2025
Image Credit: U.S.Department of State
The Trump administration on Tuesday released its annual human rights reports for every country in the world. Gone from the documents are entire sections on human rights abuses including gender-based violence, attacks on LGBTQ+ and women’s rights, and discrimination along racial or ethnic lines. Several of the updated reports omit evidence of abuses in countries whose leaders are allied with Donald Trump. The U.S. report on Israel was slashed by over 80% and removes almost all criticisms of the Israeli government — with no mention of the humanitarian catastrophe caused by Israel’s blockade of Gaza. A report on Hungary no longer documents extensive government corruption, nor a crackdown on LGBTQ+ people, instead concluding, “There were no credible reports of significant human rights abuses.” That’s the same conclusion in the executive summary of the 2024 report on El Salvador, which has been slashed by three-quarters and no longer cites abuses that many asylum seekers previously used as evidence for their cases. By contrast, the 2023 human rights report on El Salvador, written by the Biden State Department, cites arbitrary killings, enforced disappearances, torture, life-threatening prison conditions, attacks on the independence of the judiciary, widespread gender-based violence and more. On Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce defended the changes.
Tammy Bruce: “We weren’t going to release something compiled and written by the previous administration. It needed to change, based on the point of view and the vision of the Trump administration.”
Meanwhile, the updated report on South Africa alleges the mistreatment of white Afrikaner farmers, while Brazil’s human rights report criticizes the prosecution of Trump ally and former President Jair Bolsonaro for attempting a coup.
Federal Appeals Court Grants DOGE Access to Sensitive Personal Data of Millions
Aug 13, 2025
Image Credit: Unsplash/Markus Spiske
A panel of federal appeals court judges ruled Tuesday that teams with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency may access the personal data of millions of U.S. residents held by the Office of Personnel Management and the Departments of Education and the Treasury. The 2-1 ruling by Republican-appointed judges on the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals comes over the objections of labor unions, which sued to block DOGE’s access to the databases, citing federal privacy laws. DOGE will now have additional information on addresses, employer details and other statistics on tens of millions of people, as well as student debt for more than 40 million borrowers.
White House Orders Smithsonian to Align Exhibitions with Trump’s Views
Aug 13, 2025
The White House is planning a far-reaching review of Smithsonian museum exhibitions in order to ensure they align with President Trump’s interpretation of U.S. history. That’s according to The Wall Street Journal, which obtained a letter from a White House official instructing that Smithsonian exhibits should be “accurate, patriotic, and enlightening — ensuring they remain places of learning, wonder, and national pride for generations to come.” This comes after the Smithsonian removed references to Trump’s two impeachments during his first term in office.
Meanwhile, CNN is reporting the White House moved its official portrait of former President Barack Obama from a prominent position that could be viewed by White House visitors. Portraits of George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, were also moved out of public view.
Federal Judge Orders ICE to Improve Conditions at Notorious Manhattan Detention Site
Aug 13, 2025
Image Credit: New York Immigration Coalition
A federal judge in New York on Tuesday issued a temporary order mandating the Trump administration immediately improve deplorable conditions faced by immigrants in ICE’s shadowy detention facility on the 10th floor of 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. Immigrants have described being held in cells for days or weeks at a time, after ICE agents took them into custody at routine immigration appointments or court hearings, often in the same building. They’ve been confined to overcrowded cells, without access to showers, medication or a change of clothes, forced to sleep on the concrete floor, left hungry and without contact to the outside. The order also directs Trump officials to ensure people detained can make free, unmonitored and confidential calls to their lawyers within 24 hours of being taken into custody.
L.A. Immigrant Advocates Hold Boycotts to Protest Corporate Collusion with ICE
Aug 13, 2025
Image Credit: Courtesy of Mel Buer
In Los Angeles, a coalition of labor and immigrant rights organizations held a series of boycotts and protests Tuesday against corporations like Walmart, Home Depot and Target, which activists say are complicit in Trump’s mass deportation efforts. Martin Manteca is an organizer with the California Gig Workers Union.
Martin Manteca: “Trump and his administration continue to break the law. They are the ones breaking the law, ignoring the judge’s decision and continuing to kidnap people. So, we’re going to resist, because we are on the right side of history, and we want everyone not to be afraid, not to go into hiding, but to come out in the streets, live your lives, go to work and fight back.”
The 24-hour boycott came after intensifying immigration raids at Home Depots and other locations that are known gathering places for day laborers.