“Until The New York Times takes accountability for its biased coverage and commits to truthfully and ethically reporting on the US-Israeli war on Gaza, any putative 'challenge' to the newsroom or the editorial board in the form of a first-person essay is, in effect, permission to continue this malpractice,” the signatories to the letter wrote.

“Only by withholding our labor can we mount an effective challenge to the hegemonic authority that the Times has long used to launder the US and Israel’s lies,” the writers added.

The letter was signed by dozens of high-profile activists, artists, and US politicians including Rima Hassan; Chelsea Manning; Rashida Tlaib; Sally Rooney; Elia Suleiman; Greta Thunberg; Viet Than Nguyen; and Dave Zirin.

“We owe it to the journalists and writers of Palestine to refuse complicity with the Times, and to demand that the paper account for its failures, such that it can never again manufacture consent for mass slaughter, torture, and displacement,” the authors wrote.

Some other prominent names joining the boycott include Chris Hedges; Marc Lamont Hill; Noura Erakat; Vijay Prashad; Mariame Kaba; Robin DG Kelley; Mohammed el-Kurd; Susan Stryker; Jia Tolentino; Eve L Ewing; Dean Spade; Nyle Fort; Susan Abulhawa; and Rashid Khalidi.

Three demands
The signatories issued three demands to The New York Times.

First, it called on the newspaper to conduct “a review of anti-Palestinian bias and produce new editorial standards for Palestine coverage”.

The signatories called for new sourcing and citation practices, along with a new style guide for how the paper uses vocabulary to describe the Israel-Palestine conflict. The letter also called for a ban on any journalist who has served in the Israeli military.

The writers also called on The New York Times to retract a December 2023 article titled “Screams Without Words,” which alleged that Palestinians who took part in the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attack committed sexual assault against Israeli women.

That article relied largely on the testimony of an unnamed Israeli special forces paramedic. A spokesperson for the kibbutz where the article claimed the assaults took place later denied the allegations made by The New York Times.

Anat Schwartz, one of the report's authors, was later investigated by the paper after it emerged that she had liked a social media post calling for Gaza to be turned into a “slaughterhouse”.

Prior to the article, family members of the girls killed during the attack, who were the alleged victims of the sexual assault, gave several interviews that appeared to contradict the claims made in the story. However, none of these interviews were used in the New York Times piece.

The letter’s signatories also demand that The New York Times' editorial board call for a US arms embargo on Israel.

The signatories said their demands were neither “impossible nor unreasonable”. The authors noted that the paper updated its style guide during the late 1980s AIDS crisis and also apologised for erroneous reporting following the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

“There is no US newspaper more influential than The New York Times. Editors and producers in newsrooms across the West take cues from its coverage, it is widely considered the ‘paper of record’ in the United States,” the letter said.

“Since Israel began its genocidal war on Gaza, The New York Times has obfuscated, justified, and outright denied the occupier's war crimes, thus continuing the paper’s decades-long practice of acting as a bullhorn for the Israeli government and military,” the signatories added.

The decree stipulates that if the president dies or becomes incapacitated, the vice president will assume the role for up to 90 days, during which elections for a new president must be held.

If elections cannot be held within that period due to exceptional circumstances, the Palestinian Central Council may extend the interim term once, the decree adds.

The move has drawn sharp criticism from opponents, who have called it unconstitutional. Under Palestinian law, the speaker of parliament – last elected from Hamas in 2006 – is next in line for succession.

However, the new declaration places the vice president – a recently created position – next in line in the absence of a functioning parliament, which has not been elected since 2006.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said the PA’s “unilateral changes to the political system” violate basic law and are an attempt to “exploit the situation for the benefit of specific factions”.

He said the move “distorts the political system and complicates any prospects for reform”.

Qassem added that Hamas would continue efforts to reform the political system “within a framework of national consensus” and pursue “true Palestinian unity to confront the unprecedented challenges facing the Palestinian cause”.

In April, Sheikh was appointed vice president of the state of Palestine and the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) – two newly created positions.

The decision was criticised at the time by Hamas, as an "entrenchment of monopoly and exclusion".

Sheikh, a close confidant of Abbas, previously served as the minister responsible for coordinating security matters with the Israeli occupation.

As a result, he enjoys close ties with Israeli military leaders and maintains good relations with American diplomats. Despite his standing, he commands little support among Palestinians.

Sheikh would have received only three percent of the vote if a presidential election had been held in 2022, according to a survey conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.

His reputation has also been dented by allegations that he sexually harassed a female employee in 2012.

Foreign Policy magazine recently revealed that $100,000 in hush money was paid to ensure the claim against him was withdrawn.

Sheikh has refused to address questions regarding the allegations.

Those killed on Tuesday included 19 aid seekers, as the European Union and 26 countries, including Canada, France and the United Kingdom, condemned the “unimaginable levels” of suffering in Gaza and called for urgent action to halt and reverse the unfolding famine in the war-torn territory.

Survivors of the latest attacks on aid seekers, which took place near the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza, described horrific scenes.

“There was gunfire all around; we didn’t know what was happening. People were dying in front of us, bullets flying between our legs, and we couldn’t do anything,” said a man who gave his name as Sayyid.

Another survivor, Mohammed Abu Nahl, described crawling on his stomach, “with bullets flying all around”, as the wounded and dead lay all around him.

“The dead were lying beneath us, and we were pulling them out,” he said. “I came here just to feed my children. I have no money to buy food. If I had food and water, I wouldn’t come here. What should I do? Steal? Loot?

The killings at Zikim take the death toll of aid seekers to more than 1,838 since late May, when the notorious United States-backed GHF began its operations in the Gaza Strip.

The Nasser Medical Complex, meanwhile, announced the deaths of six-year-old Jamal Fadi al-Najjar and 30-year-old Wissam Abu Mohsen from malnutrition.

The worsening crisis has prompted strong denunciation from dozens of Western nations.

As the number of Israeli-imposed hunger-related deaths continues to rise, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday urged Israel to allow it to stock medical supplies in Gaza before the Israeli military proceeds with its plan to seize Gaza City, a move that has also drawn international condemnation.

Palestinian Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said that Israel’s bombardment of Gaza City has intensified for three consecutive days. The military is using “all types of weapons… bombs, drones, and also highly explosive munitions that cause massive destruction to civilian homes”.

Rescue operations have also come under fire. The Civil Defence said one of its members, Abdul Rahman Maher Abu Latifa, was killed in an Israeli strike on his tent in al-Mawasi. Both his parents were also killed. The service said 137 of its members have been killed since the war began.

Another paramedic, Noah al-Shagnoubi, described being attacked while trying to help wounded people in Gaza City.Israel is also blocking the entry of more than 430 food items into Gaza, despite allowing some aid trucks through last month under international pressure, Gaza’s Government Media Office said on Tuesday.

In a statement, it said the banned items include “frozen meat of all kinds, frozen fish, cheese, dairy products, frozen vegetables, and fruits”, along with “hundreds of other items needed by the starving and sick”.

This comes a day after Israel targeted and killed a team of Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza City, an attack that has sparked protests in countries across the world.

Al-Obeid, 41, was killed on Wednesday when Israeli forces attacked people waiting near an aid distribution centre in southern Gaza, the Palestinian Football Association said.

He was nicknamed the “Pele of Palestinian football” – after the Brazilian professional footballer widely regarded as one of the best football players of all time.

During his long career, the Gaza player scored more than 100 goals, making him one of the brightest stars of Palestinian football.

With al-Obeid’s death, the number of athletes and their family members killed in the Strip since the start of Israel’s war has risen to 662.

The number of football-related deaths in Gaza now stands at 321, including players, coaches, administrators, referees and club board members.

At the international level, al-Obeid played 24 international matches with Al-Fida’i, scoring two goals, the most famous of which was a scissor kick goal against the Yemeni national team during the 2010 West Asian Football Federation Championship.

The football star leaves behind a wife and five children.

“Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine. That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them. Oh’ Canada!!!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Thursday. Canadian Prime Minster Mark Carney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s post comes a day after Carney announced that Canada is planning to recognise the State of Palestine at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September if certain conditions are met, following recent announcements by France and the UK.

Canada and the US are working on negotiating a trade deal by August 1, the date Trump is threatening to impose a 35 percent tariff on all Canadian goods not covered by the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.

Carney said recognising Palestinian statehood was necessary to preserve hopes of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a longstanding Canadian goal that was “being eroded before our eyes”.

Carney added that Abbas would have to “hold general elections in 2026 in which Hamas can play no part, and to demilitarise the Palestinian state”, if Canada were to go ahead with recognition of this state.

The US has rejected moves to recognise a Palestinian state, saying the policy rewards Hamas. The Trump administration has been uncompromising in its support for Israel, despite accusations by UN experts and rights groups that the US ally is committing a genocide against Palestinians.

Trump himself has said that starvation was clearly taking place in Gaza, despite Israeli denials. His Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to arrive in Israel on Thursday for ceasefire and aid talks.

With Wednesday’s announcement, Carney positioned Canada alongside France, after President Emmanuel Macron said his country would formally recognise a Palestinian state during the same UN meeting.

The Israeli embassy in Ottawa said “recognising a Palestinian state in the absence of accountable government, functioning institutions, or benevolent leadership, rewards and legitimises the monstrous barbarity of Hamas on October 7, 2023”.

Carney stressed that Canada has been an unwavering member of the group of nations that hoped a two-state solution “would be achieved as part of a peace process built around a negotiated settlement between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority”.

As these countries deploy words months after the United Nations and other groups warned of an oncoming famine, there has been little action on other fronts.

Some of these countries have recognised the Palestinian state while France last week angered Israeli officials by announcing it would do the same in September.

Still, many critics have pointed out that as countries make these statements, many of them continue to benefit from trade with Israel and have not imposed sanctions or taken any other action that could push Israel to end its genocidal war on Gaza.

Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom all have more than $1bn in imports, exports or both with Israel, according to 2023 figures from the Observatory of Economic Complexity.

Among the top items being traded are cars and other motor vehicles, integrated circuits, vaccines and perfumes.

About $3.58bn in integrated circuits is the largest individual product going to Ireland, making up the overwhelming majority of Ireland’s imports from Israel.

Meanwhile, Italy exports to Israel more than any other country that signed the statement. Its $3.49bn of exports included $116m in cars in 2023.

Of those countries that issued the statement, Ireland and Spain recognised Palestine in 2024 and have spoken strongly against Israel’s actions in Gaza. Still, that hasn’t stopped them from continuing trade with Israel.

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

All of them are still trading with Israel.

France, Germany and the UK called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and “unconditional release of all hostages” after they held an emergency call to discuss the war and the hunger crisis created by Israel’s siege and aid blockade on the enclave.

The attack forced two Palestinian families to evacuate their homes and relocate to al-Auja, near the city of Jericho.

This incident is part of a growing pattern of settler violence targeting Bedouin communities, aimed at driving them from lands coveted by Israeli settlers. The settlers frequently attack livestock as a way to destroy the livelihood of Palestinian families and facilitate the seizure of their lands.

Mahmoud Kaabneh, one of the residents forced to flee, told Middle East Eye that on Thursday evening, settlers attacked the home of his brother Salem and attempted to steal donkeys. When the family intervened to stop them, more settlers arrived and began assaulting the homes of Salem and his cousin Suleiman, along with their families.

In the early morning hours, residents continued searching for their sheep and discovered that settlers had slaughtered dozens of them.

"More than 100 sheep were killed – some slaughtered with knives, others beaten to death, and many left with deep wounds. Some of them were stolen," Kaabneh said.

"We've been displaced since 13 October 2023,” he said. "Each time we're attacked, our children and women are beaten, our sheep stolen. Once, they took everything we owned – our homes, belongings – and we were left with nothing but the clothes on our backs."

Aref Daraghmeh, a local anti-settlement activist, said at least 30 Bedouin families have been forced to leave the Jordan Valley due to increased settler violence since the start of the war on Gaza, including 20 families in the past three months alone.

Recently, settlers have begun a tactic known locally as flag-based settlement, in which they plant an Israeli flag near the tents of Palestinian residents. If the flag is disturbed or even blown over by the wind, settlers use it as a pretext to attack Palestinians.

This tactic has terrified residents, Daraghmeh told MEE, adding that settlers have also been using tractors to ram into homes and animal shelters.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health has disputed the allegation from the controversial United States- and Israel-backed organisation that armed agitators were responsible for the incident on Wednesday morning at the site in Khan Younis.

In an earlier statement, the GHF had said 19 victims were trampled and another was stabbed “amid a chaotic and dangerous surge”.

Without providing any evidence, it said the stampede had been provoked by “elements within the crowd – armed and affiliated with Hamas”.

Gaza’s Health Ministry released a statement saying 21 Palestinians had been killed at the GHF site on Wednesday. It noted that 15 of the victims died as a result of a stampede and suffocation after tear gas was fired at crowds of aid seekers.

“️For the first time, deaths have been recorded due to suffocation and the intense stampede of citizens at aid distribution centres,” the ministry added.

Since the GHF started operating in the enclave in late May, at least 875 people have been killed trying to get food, according to the United Nations, which said on Tuesday that 674 of these deaths had occurred “in the vicinity of GHF sites”.

The UN has described the GHF sites as “death traps”, calling them “inherently unsafe” and a breach of humanitarian impartiality standards.

The latest deaths near aid distribution centres came as an Israeli attack on a camp of displaced people in al-Mawasi killed nine people.

In total, at least 43 Palestinians, including 21 people who were seeking aid, have been killed since dawn on Wednesday, according to medical sources.

In the first incident, described by Israeli sources as a “new disaster” and a “fierce battle,” clashes erupted east of Gaza City.

According to Israeli reports, at least one Israeli soldier was killed and three others were seriously injured. The Hannibal Protocol was activated amid fears of a possible soldier capture, though the soldier was later located.

The Hannibal Directive is a controversial military protocol that permits the use of indiscriminate firepower, even against Israel’s own civilians, in an effort to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers.

In the second incident, the Qassam Brigades announced that its fighters struck an Israeli armored personnel carrier north of Khan Yunis using a Yassin 105 missile, confirming that helicopters intervened to evacuate the wounded.

Last Tuesday, Israel acknowledged the killing of five soldiers from the Netzah Yehuda Battalion of the Kfir Brigade, along with 14 others wounded, in battles in northern Gaza.

More than 100 people were killed in the previous day’s bombing, which also displaced thousands of families from northern Gaza.

According to medical sources in Gaza, at least 32 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli bombardments since dawn, including 24 in Khan Yunis alone.

One of the deadliest attacks occurred early this morning, when an Israeli drone strike targeted tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Yunis.

A medical source at Nasser Medical Complex confirmed that six people were killed and over 10 others injured, most of them children. Several of the wounded are in critical condition. Images circulated by activists show young victims covered in blood being treated at the hospital.

Meanwhile, the Al-Qassam Brigades later claimed responsibility for launching Q-20 rockets at Israeli military positions north of Khan Yunis, targeting the nearby settlements of Nir Yitzhak and Miftahim.