Updates: Israel's war on Gaza continues

The UN investigator who this week accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza said she sees parallels with the butchery in Rwanda, and that she hopes one day Israeli leaders will be put behind bars.

Navi Pillay, a South African former judge who headed the international tribunal for the 1994 Rwanda genocide and also served as UN human rights chief, acknowledged that justice "is a slow process".

"But as late South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela said, it always seems impossible until it's done", she told AFP in an interview.

"I consider it not impossible that there will be arrests and trials" in the future.

A US immigration judge ordered pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil be deported to Algeria or Syria over claims that he omitted information from his green card application, court documents showed on Wednesday.

Khalil's lawyers said they intend to appeal the deportation order while saying a federal district court's separate orders remain in effect that prohibit the government from immediately deporting or detaining him as his federal court case proceeds.

Immigration judge Jamee Comans said Khalil "willfully misrepresented material fact(s) for the sole purpose of circumventing the immigration process and reducing the likelihood his application would be denied."

Khalil's lawyers submitted a letter to a federal court in New Jersey overseeing his civil rights case and said he will challenge Comans' decision.

"It is no surprise that the Trump administration continues to retaliate against me for my exercise of free speech," Khalil said.

"When their first effort to deport me was set to fail, they resorted to fabricating baseless and ridiculous allegations in a bid to silence me for speaking out and standing firmly with Palestine, demanding an end to the ongoing genocide."

Pro-Palestinian slogans rang out around London’s Ovo Arena Wembley on Wednesday, with the 12,500-capacity venue sold out for Britain´s biggest fundraising event for the people of Gaza.

The livestreamed "Together for Palestine" (T4P) concert, with tickets at £70 ($95) each, was the latest in a series of pro-Palestinian events in the British capital, which has seen a wave of marches and demonstrations since the conflict began nearly two years ago.

British musician and political activist Brian Eno organised the fundraiser to support charities working in the Palestinian territory and to encourage celebrities to speak out.

The line-up included actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Florence Pugh, documentary maker Louis Theroux, whose last film saw him travel to the occupied West Bank to interview Israeli settlers, as well as Palestinian voices and human rights activists.

Eno told AFP that no venue would accept an event with the word "Palestine" in it this time last year.

But "things have changed," he said. "Israel thought starving a whole population would be fine with everyone... I think that changed people´s minds."

The United Nations last month officially declared a famine in Gaza, blaming "systematic obstruction" of aid by Israel during the war.

T4P participants said it was unacceptable to remain silent.

The crowd, many waving Palestinian flags, cheered Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, who has faced harsh criticism from Israel and some of its allies.

"The genocide in Gaza is a defining moment," the Italian human rights expert told AFP.

"Anyone who holds a position of power, including to narrate, has the responsibility to take part in this, to make people understand that they shouldn´t feel fear to speak."

Palestinian artwork curated by Gazan artist Malak Mattar decorated the stage, depicting the situation in Gaza.

"We want to empower people to take action," Mattar said. "We owe the people of Palestine our solidarity."

Britain will formally recognise a Palestinian state this weekend, after US President Donald Trump, who opposes the decision, has left the country at the end of his state visit, the Times newspaper reported.

The Times, without citing its sources, said Britain would make an announcement once Trump has completed his trip on Thursday. Britain's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Starmer, who is under pressure from some in his Labour Party to take a harder line against Israel, had said Britain would recognise Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly next week unless Israel took substantive steps to alleviate the situation in Gaza.

Britain has long supported the policy of a "two-state solution" for ending the conflict in the region but previously said this could only come when the time was right.

At least 83 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza so far today, Al Jazeera reported, citing medical sources.

The figure includes 61 people who were killed in Gaza City, where Israel is pressing its ground assault.

The planned recognition by several countries of a Palestinian state at a UN summit sends a clear message to Israel on its "illusions" of continuing its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, Palestinian foreign minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin told AFP on Wednesday.

Several countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, France and the United Kingdom have announced plans to formally recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations summit co-chaired by Riyadh and Paris on September 22 in New York.

Shahin, who said she was "shocked" by the European Union's inaction over the nearly two-year war in Gaza, said this new diplomatic push is the long-awaited fulfilment of a promise made by the international community to the Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted "there will be no Palestinian state", and last month Israel approved a major West Bank settlement that the international community has warned threatens the viability of a future such state.

A low-cost, high-power laser-based system aimed at destroying incoming missiles has successfully completed testing and will be ready for operational use by the military later this year, Israel's Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.

Co-developed by Elbit Systems and Rafael Advance Defense Systems, "Iron Beam" will complement Israel's Iron Dome, David's Sling and Arrow anti-missile systems, which have been used to intercept thousands of rockets fired by Hamas fighters in Gaza, by Hezbollah from Lebanon and by the Houthis in Yemen.

Current rocket interceptors cost at least $50,000 each while the cost is negligible for lasers, which focus primarily on smaller missiles and drones. "Now that the Iron Beam’s performance has been proven, we anticipate a significant leap in air defence capabilities through the deployment of these long-range laser weapon systems," the ministry said.

After years in development, the ministry said it tested Iron Beam for several weeks in southern Israel and proved its effectiveness in a "complete operational configuration by intercepting rockets, mortars, aircraft, and UAVs across a comprehensive range of operational scenarios".

The Israeli military said it was opening an additional route for 48 hours that Palestinians could use to leave Gaza City as it stepped up efforts on Wednesday to empty the city of civilians and confront thousands of Hamas fighters.

Hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering in the city and many are reluctant to follow Israel's orders to move south because of the dangers along the way, dire conditions, a lack of food in the southern area and fear of permanent displacement.

"Even if we want to leave Gaza City, is there any guarantee we would be able to come back? Will the war ever end? That's why I prefer to die here, in Sabra, my neighbourhood," Ahmed, a schoolteacher, said by phone.

At least 63 people were killed by Israeli strikes and gunfire across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, with most of the casualties in Gaza City, local health authorities said.

They said the latest fatalities took the Palestinian death toll from the two-year war between Israel and Hamas past 65,000. Palestinian officials and rescue workers say the true figure is likely higher as many remains are trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings.