An estimated 60,000 people entered the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta between July 29 and 31, and at least 34 people died attempting to cross. Ceuta’s border is heavily fortified to prevent migration between Morocco and Spain. Previous mass crossing attempts have been met by violence from Moroccan and Spanish security forces. European officials have said they will not allow people who crossed to move on to the European continent. Spain is sending troops to the enclave, as local authorities demand Madrid declare a state of emergency. (TNH, CNN, DW)

So-called Islamic State is staging a revival in semi-autonomous Puntland, taking advantage of political in-fighting between forces loyal to the federal government, and the state administration. Between June and July, the conflict monitoring group ACLED recorded seven armed clashes between the two rival sides. The standoff is part of a broader disputeover Mogadishu’s constitutional and electoral agenda. (TNH)

Amnesty international has called for the killings of at least 19 Malian soldiers in Tabrichat, in the Gao region, to be investigated as war crimes. Al-Qaeda-linked JNIM fighters and the separatist FLA both claimed responsibility for a July 18 ambush on the soldiers, who Amnesty said were hors de combat when they were killed. In a separate report, Human Rights Watch said the Russian paramilitary group Africa Corps carried out air-strikes in central Mali on June 15 that killed eight civilians, including three children. (TNH)

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said some of Israel’s actions in Lebanon, including the destruction of entire villages in the south, could amount to war crimes. Israeli forces continue to occupy parts of south Lebanon, and an agreement between Lebanon and Israel has been rejected by Hezbollah and criticized by other Lebanese leaders because it doesn’t appear to stipulate a full withdrawal. (TNH)

Similar findings were issued by the UN in March.

President Donald Trump said July 30 that Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups had agreed to a phased disarmament plan for Gaza, describing it as “a monumental step” in the Board of Peace-brokered ceasefire process. The agreement reportedly gives negotiators 14 days to devise a roadmap. Hamas said implementation depends on Israel’s withdrawal from the enclave and reconstruction. Trump said disarmament would be followed by the deployment of an international stabilization force and a new Palestinian police force. Israel has not endorsed the agreement, while Palestinian Islamic Jihad disputed reports of a consensus among Palestinian factions.

The announcement follows the dissolution of Hamas’ Gaza governing body, transferring authority to a technocratic committee. But implementation faces obstacles. Israel has repeatedly breached the limited ceasefire in place since October 2025, and humanitarian conditions remain catastrophic in Gaza: most people are displaced, aid access is constrained, and the landscape is covered by more than 60 million tonnes of debris. (TNH)

New York Attorney General Letitia James is slated to issue a crucial warning against illegal motorbikes after yet another rider was killed in a crash and a slate of local politicians and activists demanded she issue the overdue alert to consumers about the illicit vehicles that resemble legal e-bikes. (Streetsblog)

​From 1010 WINS:

A 17-year-old boy riding an e-bike was killed Wednesday morning following a collision with a vehicle in Lower Manhattan, according to police.

Authorities received a call reporting a pedestrian struck at 8:59 a.m. near the intersection of Centre Street and Chambers Street.

According to officials, the teenager was riding an e-bike heading north on Centre Street when he collided with a Chevy Tahoe driven by a 40-year-old woman.

EMS pronounced the victim dead at the scene. One other civilian was also evaluated for injuries.

No charges have been filed against the driver, and the investigation remains ongoing.

Los Angeles County deputies are searching for the person who spray-painted antisemitic graffiti on a Pasadena synagogue’s mural on July 24.

The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center said artists created the mural to foster hope and solidarity in the wake of the Eaton Fire after someone defaced one of the last remaining walls of the synagogue with antisemitic graffiti earlier this year. The latest round of vandalism included “multiple swastikas and anti-Zionist messages,” according to the center. (CBS News)

Twenty people were murdered in antisemitic attacks in 2025, making it the deadliest year for anti-Jewish violence outside of Israel since the bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994, according to a new report.

The J7 Large Communities’ Task Force Against Antisemitism documented more than 23,000 antisemitic incidents in 2025 across Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, which are home to more than 90% of Jews.

The number of antisemitic incidents across the seven countries was 136% higher than in 2022, according to the task force, which called antisemitism in these countries “our new normal.” (JNS)

United24 Media features an interview with a survivor of the blast in which 50 Ukrainian POWs were killed at Volnovakha Penal Colony No. 120 near Olenivka, in occupied Donetsk oblast on the night of July 28, 2022. The survivor claims Russian troops outside the facility fired a rocket-launcher into it, causing the massacre.