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Reuters
41 minutes ago
- Reuters
Lebanese president steps up calls for Hezbollah to disarm
BEIRUT, July 31 (Reuters) - Lebanese President Joseph Aoun stepped up his calls for Hezbollah to disarm on Thursday, suggesting failure to do so would give Israel an excuse to continue attacks and saying the issue would be on the agenda of a cabinet meeting next week. The comments reflect mounting pressure over the issue of Hezbollah's arms, which has loomed over Lebanon since the Iran-aligned group was pummeled in a war with Israel last year. Washington wants Hezbollah disarmed - a demand echoed by the Beirut government as it aims to establish a monopoly on weapons. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said in a televised speech on Wednesday that calls for its disarmament served only Israel. In a speech to army officers, Aoun said the government would next week discuss Lebanon's amendments to a U.S. roadmap to disarm Hezbollah, deemed a terrorist group by Washington. Lebanon's counter proposal demands an immediate halt to Israel's attacks, its withdrawal from positions held in the south, the establishment of state control over all Lebanon and the disarmament of armed groups including Hezbollah, he said. Aoun urged all parties "to seize this historic opportunity ... and push for the exclusivity of weapons in the hands of the army and security forces". He said the government would set a timeframe to implement the steps. Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah, backed by Tehran, was the only Lebanese group allowed to keep its weapons at the end of the 1975-90 civil war on the grounds it needed them to fight Israeli troops who occupied the south but withdrew in 2000. Hezbollah's arsenal has long divided Lebanese, with critics saying it has undermined the state and dragged Lebanon into conflicts. Washington has been pushing Lebanon to commit to disarming Hezbollah before talks can resume on halting Israeli military operations, Reuters reported earlier this week. Hezbollah has so far refused, though the group has been considering scaling back its arsenal. Addressing Hezbollah and its followers but without naming them, Aoun called on those who "have faced the aggression" to "rely solely on the Lebanese state". "You are too honorable to risk the state-building project, and too noble to provide pretexts for an aggression that wants to continue the war against us," he said. Israel killed many Hezbollah commanders and thousands of its fighters last year, while also destroying much of its arsenal. The U.S. proposal delivered in June would require Hezbollah to disarm within four months in exchange for the withdrawal of Israeli troops occupying several posts in south Lebanon, and a halt to Israeli air strikes. Hezbollah had already relinquished a number of weapons depots in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese army in line with a U.S.-brokered truce designed to end last year's war. Aoun said the proposals to be discussed next week include seeking $1 billion annually for 10 years to support the army and the security forces and plans for an international conference to later in the year to support reconstruction efforts.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Trump envoy in Israel amid rising Gaza death toll of Palestinians seeking aid
Donald Trump 's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, arrived in Israel to discuss the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and a potential ceasefire. The visit follows a deadly incident where at least 91 Palestinians were killed and over 600 wounded while attempting to access aid in Gaza, with Israel's military stating they fired warning shots. Aid delivery to Gaza remains critically low, with only 270 trucks entering on Wednesday, far short of the 500-600 trucks per day deemed necessary by aid organisations. International pressure on Israel is increasing due to the humanitarian crisis, with even close allies like Germany urging more aid and a ceasefire. The conflict began with Hamas's attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, and Israel's subsequent offensive has resulted in over 60,000 Palestinian deaths.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Scores killed in Gaza as Trump says Hamas surrender is ‘fastest way to end humanitarian crisis' – Israel-Gaza war live
Update: Date: 2025-07-31T15:47:14.000Z Title: At least 111 Palestinians, including 91 aid seekers, have been killed and 820 injured in Israeli attacks across', 'Gaza', 'in the past 24 hours Content: Majority of those killed in past 24 hours were seeking aid, says health ministry Jane Clinton (now) and Tom Ambrose (earlier) Thu 31 Jul 2025 17.47 CEST First published on Thu 31 Jul 2025 08.42 CEST From 1.44pm CEST 13:44 At least 111 Palestinians, including 91 aid seekers, have been killed and 820 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says. Israel's war on Gaza has killed 60,249 Palestinians and injured 147,089 since 7 October, 2023, the ministry said on Telegram. The total number of aid seekers killed since 27 May, when Israel introduced a new aid distribution mechanism, has reached 1,330, with more than 8,818 injured, the statement said. 5.47pm CEST 17:47 Aid packages, dropped from an airplane, descend over Gaza today, as seen from the central Gaza Strip. 5.00pm CEST 17:00 Portugal's centre-right government will consult the main political parties and conservative president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa about the potential recognition of a Palestinian state, prime minister Luis Montenegro said on Thursday. Unlike neighbouring Spain, whose leftist government recognised Palestinian statehood in May 2024 alongside Ireland and Norway and called on other EU countries to do the same, Portugal has taken a more cautious approach, saying it wanted to work out a common position with other EU countries first. French president Emmanuel Macron announced last week his country, a heavyweight in the EU, plans to recognise a Palestinian state, becoming the first major Western state to do so. His move came amid a rising global outcry over starvation and devastation in Gaza as Israel wages war against Hamas militants there. Britain and Canada have since said they could also recognise a Palestinian state. 'The government decided to promote consultations with the president and the political parties represented in parliament with a view to consider the recognition of the Palestinian state in a process that could be concluded ... at the UN General Assembly in September,' Montenegro said in a statement. 4.20pm CEST 16:20 More than seventy women, ranging in age from 13 to over 70, from the village of Umm al-Kheir in Masafer Yatta, in the West Bank, have gone on hunger strike, demanding the return of the body of Awdah al-Hathaleen, a resident of the village who was murdered by an Israeli settler on Monday. Al-Hathaleen, who was an activist and a journalist, helped make the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land. His body is being held by Israel, and the police are imposing conditions for its release, such as limiting the number of participants in the funeral to just 15, and requiring his burial in one of the nearby cities rather than in the village itself. The women said they will continue the hunger strike until his body is returned. They added that the hunger strike is also a protest against the ongoing detention of the six residents of the village who remain in jail - Awdah's brothers and cousins. The women also expressed anger at the nightly raids into their homes since the killing. In a statement they said: They broke into the home of the martyr's wife, even though it's well known that she is in 'iddah, the four-month mourning period prescribed by Islam, during which no man may see her except her brother, father, or other close male relatives who are permitted to. The army entered her room while she was in her 'iddah. The children began to scream. When the soldiers came in, they tried to break the gate with a vehicle, to damage it by force, to ram the door in order to enter. The men of the village have announced that they, too, will join the hunger strike if Al-Hathaleen body is not returned within 24 hours. 4.01pm CEST 16:01 William Christou At least 69 people have been killed and dozens more wounded while waiting for aid in Gaza over the last 24 hours, as the US envoy, Steve Witkoff, visits Israel for ceasefire discussions. On Wednesday night, crowds of hungry people had gathered at the Zikim crossing with Israel, waiting for trucks loaded with humanitarian aid to enter the besieged strip when they were shot. Al-Saraya field hospital said it had received more than 100 dead and wounded after the shooting, while the death toll was expected to rise, the Associated Press reported. Later on Thursday morning, 19 people seeking aid were killed by Israeli soldiers while outside aid distribution points in the central Gaza Strip and in Rafah in south Gaza. Gaza is in the throes of famine, according to the international authority on food insecurity. Seven children died of hunger on Wednesday, bringing the total number of malnutrition deaths to 154, the Gaza health authority said. As Gaza's famine has deepened, social order has broken down. It is common for crowds of hundreds of desperate people to wait for the rare aid truck to enter Gaza and to loot the vehicle once it comes arrives. You can read the full report here: 3.24pm CEST 15:24 The Palestinian Authority said Israeli settlers set fire to homes and cars in a West Bank village on Thursday, killing one man, in the latest attack in the occupied territory, AFP reports. 'Forty-year-old Khamis Abdel-Latif Ayad was martyred due to smoke inhalation caused by fires set by settlers in citizens' homes and vehicles in the village of Silwad at dawn,' the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement. Witnesses provided corresponding accounts of the attack on Silwad, a village in the central West Bank near several Israeli settlements. Raafat Hussein Hamed, a resident of Silwad whose house was torched in Thursday's attack, said that 'a car dropped them (the settlers) off somewhere, they burned whatever they could and then ran away'. Hamed said the assailants 'come from an outpost', referring to wildcat settlements that are illegal under Israeli law, as opposed to formally recognised settlements. 3.19pm CEST 15:19 The United States said on Thursday it would deny visas to Palestinian Authority officials, accusing the body which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank of seeking to 'internationalize' the situation, AFP reports. The organisation is 'taking actions to internationalize its conflict with Israel such as through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ),' the State Department said, also accusing the Palestinian Authority of 'continuing to support terrorism.' The statement did not specify who was being targeted, only saying it would 'deny visas' to 'members' of the Palestine Liberation Organization and 'officials' from the Palestinian Authority (PA). The measures against the PA, whose leader Mahmoud Abbas has been widely recognised for years as a key partner in efforts to resolve the conflict, come as growing numbers of countries consider recognising a Palestinian state. Canada and France are among the latest nations to announce they will grant recognition during the UN General Assembly meeting, which takes place in September in New York. The US visa denials could possibly complicate attendance to the meeting by Palestinian leaders. 3.10pm CEST 15:10 Portugal is considering recognising the Palestinian state in September, the country's prime minister Luís Montenegro said, AFP reports. Updated at 3.10pm CEST 2.54pm CEST 14:54 British prime minister Keir Starmer has said that he 'particularly' listens to hostages who were held captive by Hamas after a British-Israeli woman held hostage by Hamas criticised his pledge to recognise a Palestinian state. Asked about criticism over the decision and a warning from peers that it could breach international law, Starmer said that 'we do need to do everything we can to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza'. Speaking to ITV West Country while on a visit to Swindon, the prime minister said: I particularly listen to the hostages, Emily Damari, who I have spoken to, - I've met her mother a number of times, and they've been through the most awful, awful experience for Emily and for her mother. And that's why I've been absolutely clear and steadfast that we must have the remaining hostages released. That's been our position throughout and I absolutely understand the unimaginable horror that Emily went through. Alongside that, we do need to do everything we can to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where we are seeing the children and babies starving for want of aid which could be delivered. That is why I've said unless things materially change on the ground, we'll have to assess this in September, we will recognise Palestine before the United Nations General Assembly in September. 2.48pm CEST 14:48 Aid packages, dropped from an airplane, descend over Gaza earlier today, as seen from the central Gaza Strip. 2.39pm CEST 14:39 France's foreign minister on Thursday said a US and Israel-backed aid distribution system in Gaza had generated a 'bloodbath' and had to cease activity. 'I want to call for the cessation of the activities of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the militarised distribution of humanitarian aid that has generated a bloodbath in distribution lines in Gaza, which is a scandal, which is shameful, and has to stop,' Foreign and European Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters after meeting his Cyprus counterpart in Nicosia. 2.18pm CEST 14:18 The UK government will not get into a 'to and fro' with Hamas over its plans to recognise a Palestinian state, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said, adding: 'We don't negotiate with terrorists.' Speaking to reporters in Swindon, he said: 'Look, our requests that all hostages must be released and that Hamas can play no future role in the governance of Gaza or a Palestinian state are long-standing. 'We don't negotiate with terrorists, Hamas are terrorists, and that's why we don't get into a to and fro with them as to what we want them to do. That's absolute in terms of our request. 'What we are seeking to do is use the moment of recognition of a Palestinian state in a way that allows us to genuinely try and move this conflict forward, end it - not just in the short-term, but for the long term as well. 'Of course, get aid into Gaza, which is absolutely key, but use this moment to try and genuinely say what we have witnessed is so appalling, so horrific, there's suffering on both sides, but we have to try surely and move this on for good, and that requires a two-state solution. 'That is why recognition of the Palestinian state is so important.' 2.02pm CEST 14:02 Here is a recap of events so far today. US special envoy Steve Witkoff has arrived in Israel in a bid to salvage ceasefire talks and tackle a humanitarian crisis in Gaza where a global hunger monitor has warned that famine was unfolding. Israeli media reported that Witkoff will visit US-Israeli-backed GHF aid sites in Gaza during his trip to Israel. Donald Trump has said in a post on his Truth Social that the 'fastest way to end humanitarian crises in Gaza' is for 'Hamas to surrender and release hostages'. Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson urged the European Union to suspend the trade component of the bloc's association agreement with Israel. In a post on social media, he said: 'The situation in Gaza is utterly deplorable, and Israel is not fulfilling its most basic obligations and agreed-upon commitments regarding humanitarian aid.' Germany's foreign minister Johann Wadephul said on Thursday that talks on a two-state solution 'must begin now', warning Berlin would respond to 'unilateral steps', Reuters reports. In a statement before heading to Israel AFP reports he said that the recent UN conference on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - boycotted by the US and Israel - showed that 'Israel is finding itself increasingly in the minority'. At least 111 Palestinians, including 91 aid seekers, have been killed and 820 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run Health Ministry says. The BBC has shown footage of humanitarian aid being airdropped into Gaza. Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun said on Thursday that Lebanese political parties need to seize the opportunity and hand over their weapons sooner rather than later. He said his country was determined to disarm Hezbollah, a day after the group's chief said those demanding its disarmament were serving Israeli goals. Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani said his country wants Russia 'by our side' and called for 'mutual respect' between the two nations following the overthrow of Syria's previous Moscow-backed government last year, AFP reports. Iran on Thursday described as 'malicious' fresh US sanctions targeting a shipping empire controlled by the son of a top political advisor to Iran's supreme leader, AFP reports. 1.49pm CEST 13:49 Here is an image coming to us over the wires of humanitarian aid being airdropped on Gaza by the Egyptian Air Force. 1.45pm CEST 13:45 The BBC has been showing footage of airdrops from Jordan and UAE taking place in Gaza. 1.44pm CEST 13:44 At least 111 Palestinians, including 91 aid seekers, have been killed and 820 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says. Israel's war on Gaza has killed 60,249 Palestinians and injured 147,089 since 7 October, 2023, the ministry said on Telegram. The total number of aid seekers killed since 27 May, when Israel introduced a new aid distribution mechanism, has reached 1,330, with more than 8,818 injured, the statement said. 1.30pm CEST 13:30 Donald Trump has posted on his Truth Social on the Gaza humanitarian crisis: The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!! Updated at 1.32pm CEST 1.12pm CEST 13:12 Here are some images coming to us over the wires. 12.47pm CEST 12:47 Germany's foreign minister Johann Wadephul said on Thursday talks on a two-state solution 'must begin now', warning Berlin would respond to 'unilateral steps', Reuters reports. 'A negotiated two-state solution remains the only path that can offer people on both sides a life in peace, security, and dignity,' he said in a statement issued shortly before his trip on Thursday to Israel and the Palestinian territories. 'For Germany, the recognition of a Palestinian state comes more at the end of that process. But such a process must begin now.' AFP reports that Wadephul said that the recent UN conference on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - boycotted by the US and Israel - showed that 'Israel is finding itself increasingly in the minority'. 12.16pm CEST 12:16 Reuters has reported on the desperate situation in Gaza. In a makeshift tent on a Gazan beach, three-month-old Muntaha's grandmother grinds up chickpeas into the tiniest granules she can to form a paste to feed the infant, knowing it will cause her to cry in pain, in a desperate race to keep the baby from starving. 'If the baby could speak, she would scream at us, asking what we are putting into her stomach,' her aunt, Abir Hamouda said. Muntaha grimaced and squirmed as her grandmother fed her the paste with a syringe. Muntaha's family is one of many in Gaza facing dire choices to try to feed babies, especially those below the age of six months who cannot process solid food. Infant formula is scarce after a plummet in aid access to Gaza. Many women cannot breastfeed due to malnourishment, while other babies are separated from their mothers due to displacement, injury or, in Muntaha's case, death. Her family says the baby's mother was hit by a bullet while pregnant, gave birth prematurely while unconscious in intensive care, and died a few weeks later. The director of the Shifa Hospital described such a case in a Facebook post on April 27, four days after Muntaha was born. 'I am terrified about the fate of the baby,' said her grandmother, Nemah Hamouda. 'We named her after her she can survive and live long, but we are so afraid, we hear children and adults die every day of hunger.' Muntaha now weighs about 3.5 kilograms, her family said, barely more than half of what a full-term baby her age would normally weigh. She suffers stomach problems like vomiting and diarrhoea after feeding. Health officials, aid workers and Gazan families told Reuters many families are feeding infants herbs and tea boiled in water, or grinding up bread or sesame. Humanitarian agencies also reported cases of parents boiling leaves in water, eating animal feed and grinding sand into flour.
