Barclays and BP are hardly strangers to criticism. But even those UK PLC heavyweights must have been taken aback when last week – along with the likes of Google, Amazon and educational institutions such as the the University of Edinburgh – they were accused by the United Nations of exploiting an “economy of genocide” by maintaining ties with Israel.

The U.S. State Department said on Friday it was aware of the reported death of a U.S. citizen in the Israeli-occupied West Bank after reports emerged of Israeli settlers fatally beating a Palestinian American.

Talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza are stalling over the extent of Israeli forces' withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, Palestinian and Israeli sources familiar with the negotiations in Doha said on Saturday.

Hamas has criticized the United States sanctions against Francesca Albanese, a senior United Nations Human Rights Council official, for her alleged antisemitism, support for terrorism and "open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West".

An independent U.N. investigator and outspoken critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza said “it was shocking” to learn that the Trump administration had imposed sanctions on her.

The United Nations on Thursday rejected as "unacceptable" sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on an independent UN rapporteur over her criticism of Israel and called for them to be reversed.

The United States has imposed sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, citing her alleged bias against Israel. The move comes amid her ongoing investigations into potential human rights violations in Gaza.

The United Nations says “the imposition of sanctions on special rapporteurs is a dangerous precedent.” It follows the Trump administration announcement Wednesday that it is issuing sanctions against Francesca Albanese, an independent investigator tasked with probing human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories.