Cheltenham Literature Festival drops Israeli-linked partnership amid boycott threats

LONDON: Two journalists were killed in separate Israeli strikes in Gaza on Monday, marking the first such fatalities since clashes resumed last week.

Al Jazeera confirmed that Hossam Shabat, a journalist for the Al Jazeera Mubasher channel, was killed in eastern Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza. The Qatari network reported that witnesses claimed his car was directly targeted by the Israeli army, though no further details were provided.

In a separate incident, Palestine Today correspondent Mohammad Mansour was killed in an airstrike north of Khan Younis, along with his wife and son, after their home was hit without warning.

The Government Media Office in Gaza condemned the attacks, describing them as “systematic crimes against Palestinian journalists and media professionals.” In a statement, it called on the International Federation of Journalists, the Arab Journalists Union, and other global media organizations to denounce the killings.

Mohammed Mansour, a reporter for Palestine Today, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis.

Israel continues to kill Palestinian journalists pic.twitter.com/yo52t1xW9p

— Hind Khoudary (@Hind_Gaza) March 24, 2025

“We hold the Israeli occupation, the US administration, and the countries participating in the genocide, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, fully responsible for committing this heinous crime,” the statement added.

The deaths of Shabat and Mansour bring the total number of media workers killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, to at least 170, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The Government Media Office, however, claims the number is as high as 208.

CPJ’s CEO Jodie Ginsberg condemned Shabat’s killing, noting that he was one of six Al Jazeera journalists accused by the Israeli military of being “militants.”

She said: “That’s a pattern that we have seen repeatedly both in the current war and in previous ones as well. And now he appears to have been deliberately targeted on a direct hit on his vehicle.”

#Gaza: CPJ condemns Monday’s killing in Gaza of Palestinian reporters Hossam Shabat and Mohammed Mansour by the IDF and calls for an independent international investigation into whether they were deliberately targeted.

More: https://t.co/Z0JOOtlclW pic.twitter.com/GfTZJAnbsu

— CPJ MENA (@CPJMENA) March 24, 2025

Ginsberg stressed that the deliberate targeting and killing of a journalist or civilian constitutes a war crime. “Journalists and civilians must never be targeted,” she said, adding that CPJ is investigating several incidents in which Israel appears to have deliberately targeted journalists.

“That would amount to a war crime. Journalists and civilians must never be targeted,” she said adding that her organization had spoken to Shabat for its own reports on the news void developing in northern Gaza because of Israel’s war.

ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities detained 37 people for sharing “provocative” content on social media, the interior minister said Thursday, pressing ahead with a crackdown on dissenting voices that escalated with the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, a potential challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested after a dawn raid on his residence on Wednesday as part of investigations into alleged corruption and terror links. Several other prominent figures, including two district mayors, were also detained.
The detention of a popular opposition leader and key Erdogan rival deepened concerns over democracy and sparked protests in Istanbul and elsewhere, despite a four-day ban on demonstrations in the city and road closures. On Thursday, hundreds of university students held a peaceful march in Istanbul to protest the detentions.
It also caused a shockwave in the financial market, triggering temporary halts in trading to prevent panic selling.
Critics see the crackdown as an effort by Erdogan to extend his more then two-decade rule following significant losses by the ruling party in local elections last year. Government officials reject claims that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that the courts operate independently.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said authorities identified 261 social media accounts that shared provocative posts inciting public hatred or crime, including 62 that are run by people based abroad. At least 37 of the suspected owners were detained and efforts to detain other suspects were continuing, he wrote on the X social media platform.
Imamoglu’s arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition Republican People’s Party’s presidential candidate in a primary scheduled for Sunday. The party’s leader has said the primary will go ahead as planned.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed concern over the mayor’s detention, saying it was a “very, very bad sign” for Turkiye’s relations with the European Union.
Scholz said it was “depressing for democracy in Turkiye, but certainly also depressing for the relationship between Europe and Turkiye.”
“We can only call for this to end immediately and for opposition and government to stand in competition with each other, and not the opposition being brought to court,” he said.
Prosecutors accused Imamoglu of exploiting his position for financial gain, including the improper allocation of government contracts.
In a separate investigation, prosecutors also accuse Imamoglu of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, by allegedly forming an alliance with Kurdish groups for the Istanbul municipal elections. The PKK, behind a decades-long insurgency in Turkiye, is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara, Washington and other allies.
It was not clear when authorities would begin questioning the mayor, who can be detained without charges for up to four days. Analysts say Imamoglu could be removed from office and replaced by a “trustee mayor” if he is formally charged with links to the PKK.
Before his detention, Imamoglu already faced multiple criminal cases that could result in prison sentences and a political ban. He is also appealing a 2022 conviction for insulting members of Turkiye’s Supreme Electoral Council, a case that could result in a political ban.
This week, a university nullified his diploma, citing alleged irregularities in his 1990 transfer from a private university in northern Cyprus to its business faculty, a decision Imamoglu said he would challenge. The decision effectively bars him from running for president, since the position requires candidates to be university graduates.
Imamoglu was elected mayor of Turkiye’s largest city in March 2019, a historic blow to Erdogan and the president’s Justice and Development Party, which had controlled Istanbul for a quarter-century. Erdogan’s party pushed to void the municipal election results in the city of 16 million, alleging irregularities.
The challenge resulted in a repeat of the election a few months later, which Imamoglu also won. The mayor retained his seat following local elections last year, during which his party made significant gains against Erdogan’s governing party.