On December 30, Israel announced it was banning thirty-seven humanitarian aid groups from Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem for failing to comply with new Israeli registration requirements—impacting about 15 percent of the organizations operating in Gaza, including Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam.

Though Israel’s High Court temporarily halted the ban, humanitarian leaders warn that the measures come at a time when Gaza’s civilian population remains heavily dependent on international assistance for food and health care following months of war and widespread infrastructure destruction.

The Iran war is a war of choice. But that doesn’t tell us much, does it? All wars are wars of choice. The questions are: was it a necessary choice? Was it a good choice? Was it a rational choice? Were the consequences considered? Who made the choice and why? We still don’t know the answers to these questions.

The Iran war is a war of aggression, launched by two nuclear powers against a non-nuclear nation that has been weakened by years of economic sanctions, targeted assassinations, industrial sabotage and cyber-attacks. This is a war of aggression that was initiated during bad-faith negotiations by the US, where diplomacy was used as a cover for a looming bombardment. The gloating over the ease with which US and Israeli airstrikes decimated Iran’s leadership was appalling, given the circumstances under which it occurred. Wars of aggression are crimes. But who is left to enforce international laws? If you can get away with a genocide, as the US’s war partner has done, every conceivable atrocity is fair game. Israel turned Gaza into rubble and still the bombs fall.

Russian soldiers on the front line aren’t just dying in combat with Ukrainian troops — many are being killed by their own commanders. In a new investigation, the outlet Verstka identified 101 servicemen accused of involvement in field executions, referred to within the Russian army as “zeroings out.” Their alleged crimes include cases where soldiers were tortured to death, shot, or sent on suicide missions as punishment for “disobedience” or refusal to fight. Meduza shares Verstka’s key findings, translated into English.

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday condemned the “atrocious violence” of the U.S.-Israeli-led war against Iran and, for the first time, called on leaders who launched the war to heed his ceasefire demand.

“On behalf of Christians in the Middle East and of all women and men of good will, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict: Cease fire!” the first U.S.-born pontiff told thousands of the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Angelus address. “Cease fire so that avenues for dialogue may be reopened. Violence can never lead to the justice, stability, and peace that the people are waiting for.”