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GAZA

Clooney’s fiancee named to UN Gaza probe team

Hollywood star George Clooney's fiancee Amal Alamuddin is to join fellow human rights experts probing Israel's Gaza offensive, the United Nations said in Geneva on Monday.

Clooney's fiancee named to UN Gaza probe team
Lawyer Amal Alamuddin. Photo: Justin Tallis/AFP/File

The Lebanese-born British lawyer was one of three top experts appointed to a commission of inquiry by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, which ordered the investigation last month.
   
Alamuddin's family, who are from Lebanon's Druze community, fled to Britain during the country's 1975-1990 civil war.
   
The 36-year-old, who is fluent in Arabic, French and English, studied at a French school in London and holds degrees from Oxford and New York University.
   
She is reportedly due to wed 53-year-old Clooney — who is known both for his acting and his peace campaigning — in Italy in September.
   
News that she had stolen the heart of one of Hollywood's most celebrated bachelors caused an international media frenzy back in April.
   
Alamuddin is no stranger to international investigations and conflicts.
   
She worked with the international tribunal examining the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri and assisted ex-UN head Kofi Annan in efforts to make peace in Syria.
   
Among her legal clients have been Ukraine's former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and the controversial founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange.
   
The other members of the inquiry team are Doudou Diene of Senegal, who has previously served as the UN's watchdog on racism and on post-conflict Ivory Coast, and Canadian international lawyer William Schabas.
   
In the face of fierce opposition from Israel and the United States, the 47-member UN Human Rights Council voted on July 23rd to create the commission of inquiry.
   
The decision came after a marathon seven-hour emergency session of the top UN human rights body, where the Israelis and the Palestinians traded accusations over war crimes.
   
The probe team has been tasked with reporting back to the council by March.

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ISRAEL

Israel intercepts Swedish Gaza-bound activist boat

The Israeli navy intercepted a Swedish-flagged activist boat bent on breaching its more than decade-long blockade of Gaza, the second in less than a week, the military said on Saturday.

Israel intercepts Swedish Gaza-bound activist boat
Photo: TT

“The ship was monitored and was intercepted in accordance with international law,” the military said in a statement, before the vessel, named Freedom for Gaza and carrying 12 people, was taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

“The (military) clarified to the ship’s passengers that they are violating the legal naval blockade and that any humanitarian merchandise can be transferred to Gaza through the Port of Ashdod,” the statement said.

The people on board were taken for “further inquiry.”

The organisers of the flotilla said the boat, which was carrying medical supplies, was intercepted in international waters.

“The demands of Ship to Gaza are that the ship with its crew and cargo will be returned to the site of the boarding, and that they will be allowed to go in peace through international and Palestinian waters in accordance to international law,” they said in a statement.

“This is a demand that the eleven years-long illegal and destructive blockade on Gaza will be lifted at last.”

Freedom was the second boat of the “Freedom Flotilla” to be intercepted en route to “break the blockade” on Gaza, organisers said.

Four boats left from Scandinavia in mid-May and stopped in some 28 ports along the way, with two remaining behind after a recent stop in the Italian port of Palermo.

On Sunday, the Israeli navy intercepted a Norwegian-flagged activist boat that was part of the flotilla.

Israel has fought three wars with Palestinian militants in Gaza since 2008 and says the blockade is necessary to keep them from obtaining weapons or materials that could be used for military purposes.

UN officials have called for the blockade to be lifted, citing deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian enclave run by Islamist movement Hamas where 80 percent of the two million population are dependent on aid.

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