Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda and Al Jazeera’s AJ+ have won an Emmy in the Outstanding Hard News Feature Story category for their documentary, It’s Bisan From Gaza – and I’m Still Alive.

Owda has been at the forefront of reporting from Gaza since Israel launched its assault on the territory last October, bringing the stories of Palestinians to a global audience amidst 11 months of war and devastation.

“This award is a testament to young Palestinian journalists and their professionalism. Bisan’s reporting has humanised the Palestinian story after decades of mainstream media’s systematic dehumanisation of Palestinians. Winning this Emmy is a win for humanity. We feel extremely proud of this bright moment amidst ongoing genocide, and Bisan will continue reporting,” Dima Khatib, Managing Director of AJ+ Channels, said on Thursday.

The award came a month after Creative Community for Peace, a pro-Israel nonprofit organisation, issued a letter criticising the nomination of the 25-year-old’s short film documenting the initial days of Israeli bombardment and its devastating impact on everyday people in the Gaza Strip.

The letter alleged Owda was affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which she has denied. The PFLP is a left-wing Palestinian political movement, and is designated a “terrorist organisation” by several Western countries, including the United States.

In August, Adam Sharp, the president and chief executive of the National Academy of Television and Arts and Sciences (NATAS), defended the nomination, saying that two panels, including experienced journalists, had made the decision and that the academy had not found any evidence that Owda was affiliated with the PFLP.

He said that past nominees had “been controversial, giving a platform to voices that certain viewers may find objectionable or even abhorrent”, but they were honoured “in the service of the journalistic mission to capture every facet of the story”.

At the time, Al Jazeera issued a statement, saying it stood with Owda “in the face of efforts to silence her reporting from Gaza”.

The media group described Owda as a “renowned journalist and influencer” who “has significantly contributed to bringing news from Gaza to the world with her unique style”.

Al Jazeera said the allegations were “baseless” and “an attempt to silence Bisan and present a real threat to her safety on the ground”.

“The call for the Emmy nomination to be rescinded is nothing more than an attempt to deny an important perspective to the global audience on the war and its devastating impact on innocent civilians,” the statement read.

In the past 11 months, more than 130 journalists, including three from Al Jazeera, have been killed by Israeli forces, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Other media rights groups have different numbers based on their own criteria, however, the Government Media Office in Gaza count of the number of dead journalists and media workers is 173.

“We urge the international journalistic community to support Bisan and other media professionals, ensuring they can carry out their essential work without fear of being targeted, intimidated or killed,” Al Jazeera’s statement said.

In May, Owda and AJ+ also won a Peabody Award for coverage of the devastating impact Israel’s war on Gaza has had on Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

Additionally, Al Jazeera English’s Fault Lines received the News Emmy for Outstanding Climate, Environment, and Weather Coverage for its film “Shark Fin Hunters,” which exposes wildlife trafficking that poses enormous risks for the future of the oceans.

“We are delighted and honoured to win this prestigious award,” said Issa Ali, Acting Managing Director of Al Jazeera English. “The great journalism that we do, and that done by our colleagues in other media organisations, is more important than ever in today’s world. This award is a wonderful recognition of the talent, dedication, and hard work of our teams.”

A deadly Israeli attack on a school in Gaza has renewed calls for the United States to stop providing staunch support for Israel, including weapons transfers that rights advocates say are fuelling atrocities in the Palestinian enclave.

The Gaza civil defence agency said more than 100 Palestinians were killed and dozens more were injured on Saturday when Israel launched an attack on al-Tabin school in Gaza City.

“The US & allies are claiming a ceasefire is near. But all Palestinians see is more death, dislocation, & despair. The genocide continues,” James Zogby, co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute, wrote on social media.

“It past time to end the charade. Israel doesn’t want peace or a ceasefire. Why are we still sending Israel weapons?”

On Saturday morning, CNN journalist Allegra Goodwin said in a post on X that the US news network had confirmed a “US-made GBU-39 small diameter bomb” was used in the deadly Israeli attack on al-Tabin school. Al Jazeera could not immediately verify that report.

The attack comes as US President Joe Biden has faced months of public pressure to cut off the supply of weapons to Israel amid its war on Gaza, which has killed more than 39,700 Palestinians since early October.

Israel receives at least $3.8bn in US military assistance annually, and Biden signed off on $14bn in additional aid to the US ally earlier this year.

Rights groups also have documented Israel’s use of US-made weapons “in serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, and in a manner that is inconsistent with US law and policy” during the war.

But a US Department of State spokesperson announced on Friday that Washington would send an additional $3.5bn to Israel to spend on US-made weapons and military equipment.

‘Ripped to pieces’

The assault on the Gaza City school, which had served as a shelter for thousands of displaced people, also comes amid a renewed push by the US, Qatar and Egypt to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire agreement.

But experts have said continued Israeli attacks across Gaza risk derailing those efforts, with some accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking to sabotage any possible deal to end the war.

The Gaza City school attack was described by paramedics and others at the scene as horrific, with “bodies ripped to pieces”.

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, said Palestinians sheltering inside the school compound were praying when Israeli forces targeted them with at least three air attacks.

“The civil defence team said that they were able to find 100 dead bodies, but they’re saying that there are more bodies still trapped. Most of the bodies are so disfigured, they’re unable to recognise who these Palestinians are,” Khoudary said.

“People who survived this attack are saying that this is one of the worst days they witnessed since the war started in the Gaza Strip.”

Israel has said, without any evidence, that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters were operating from the school – a claim that was rejected by Hamas.

US National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said in a statement on Saturday that “far too many civilians continue to be killed and wounded” and called for a ceasefire and a hostage deal.

Echoing Israel’s claims without providing evidence, he added: “We know Hamas has been using schools as locations to gather and operate out of, but we have also said repeatedly and consistently that Israel must take measures to minimise civilian harm.”

‘No more bomb shipments’

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has urged the US to end its “blind support [for Israel] that leads to the killing of thousands of innocent civilians, including children, women, and the elderly”.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement that US weapons transfers to Israel made it “directly responsible for this massacre [at al-Tabin school] and for the continuation of the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip for the tenth month running”, as reported by the Wafa news agency.

US rights advocates also renewed their push for the Biden administration to end its arms transfers to Israel following the school attack.

Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of US-based advocacy group Democracy for the Arab World Now, criticised the arms sales as “Pavlovian conditioning for a feral army”.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a US-Muslim civil rights organisation, also said the Gaza City attack merits a serious response from the Biden administration.

“If President Biden gives a damn about human life, he will respond to this act of state terrorism by immediately stopping the flow of weapons to the Israeli government and forcing Netanyahu to agree to the ceasefire deal that he keeps sabotaging,” CAIR wrote on X.

“No more calls for Israel to investigate itself. No more bomb shipments. This US-enabled genocide must end now.”

Former Israeli government adviser Daniel Levy also told Al Jazeera on Saturday that the $3.5bn US military finance package for Israel showed the “dishonesty and duplicity of the US administration”.

Levy said Washington showed “humiliating weakness” when it stated that Biden “got really angry” in a recent call with Netanyahu, but then handed the Israeli prime minister another $3.5bn in funding for weapons.

“We have to see that it’s not just weakness. It’s also ideological alignment. The US government is the guarantor of the axis of Zionist extremism,” Levy said. “They may not like some of the details, but this is what they are backing.”

Mali has announced it is severing diplomatic ties with Ukraine, accusing a senior official of having admitted Kyiv’s role in a heavy defeat in July that killed dozens of mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group as well as Malian soldiers.

The northern Tuareg rebels say they killed at least 84 mercenaries and 47 Malian soldiers over three days of fighting late last month in the north of the West African country, in what appeared to be Wagner’s heaviest defeat since it stepped into the conflict two years ago.

On July 29, Andriy Yusov, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (GUR), told the public broadcaster Suspilne that the Malian rebels had received “all the information they needed, which allowed [them] to carry out their operation against the Russian war criminals”.

Mali said it had learned “with deep shock” of the remarks and that Yusov had “admitted Ukraine’s involvement in a cowardly, treacherous and barbaric attack by armed terrorist groups that resulted in the death of members of the Malian Defence and Security Forces”.

It said it would break off relations “with immediate effect”, a statement from government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga said.

Mali also cited comments by Ukraine’s Ambassador to Senegal Yurii Pyvovarov, who was summoned by Senegal on Saturday over a video published on Facebook in which Pyvovarov provided “unequivocal and unqualified support for the terrorist attack” in Mali.

Ukraine’s actions violated Malian sovereignty and constituted unacceptable foreign interference and support for international terrorism, according to Maiga.

On Sunday, Mali announced it was cutting diplomatic ties with Ukraine, reacting to comments made by Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency that Malian rebels had received the “necessary” information to conduct the attack.

Yusov did not directly confirm Kyiv’s involvement in the conflict in the comments, published on public broadcaster Suspilne’s website on July 29.

Ukraine on Monday denied any involvement in northern Mali fighting that led to the death of Malian soldiers and Wagner fighters in July, describing Mali’s decision to sever diplomatic ties over the incident as “short-sighted and hasty”.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry on Monday expressed regret over the decision made by Mali’s transitional government, saying that it was done without a thorough study of the incident’s facts and circumstances.

“Ukraine unconditionally adheres to the norms of international law, the inviolability of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries,” it said in a statement.

Three days of intense fighting erupted near the Algerian border on July 25 at a military camp at Tinzaouatene.

Mali’s army has admitted it suffered a “large number” of deaths during the clashes but has not released figures.

This week, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov reaffirmed his support for Bamako in a telephone call with his Malian counterpart Abdoulaye Diop.

The West African nation’s military seized power in a 2020 coup and has made it a priority to retake the country from separatists and hardline groups linked to al-Qaeda and the ISIL (ISIS) group.

They have also moved closer to Russia, and Wagner has been operating in Mali since late 2021, replacing French troops and international peacekeepers.

The mercenary group is thought to have an estimated 1,000 fighters in Mali, but has also been accused of helping to carry out raids and drone strikes that have killed civilians.

Malian authorities deny the allegations.