Israel FM says Golan to ‘remain part of' Israel in any Syria peace deal
'In any peace agreement, the Golan will remain part of the State of Israel,' Saar told a news conference in Jerusalem, referring to the territory Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognized by the United Nations.
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Asharq Al-Awsat
37 minutes ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
International Charities and NGOs Call for End to Controversial Israeli-backed Aid Group in Gaza
Dozens of international charities and non-governmental organizations, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Amnesty, called Tuesday for an Israeli and US-backed aid mechanism for Gaza to disband over repeated incidents of chaos and deadly violence against Palestinians heading toward its sites. At least seven Palestinians were killed seeking aid in southern and central Gaza between late Monday and early Tuesday. The deaths came after Israeli forces killed at least 74 people in Gaza earlier Monday with airstrikes that left 30 dead at a seaside cafe and gunfire that left 23 dead as Palestinians tried to get desperately needed food aid, witnesses and health officials said. Next week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump and other administration officials. Netanyahu's visit comes as Trump has signaled he is ready for Israel and Hamas to wind down the war in Gaza, which is likely to be a focus of their talks. The war has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says more than half of the dead were women and children. The health ministry on Tuesday afternoon said the bodies of 116 people killed by Israeli strikes had been brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours, The AP news reported. Charities, NGOs call for end to Gaza Humanitarian Fund More than 165 major international charities and non-governmental organizations, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Amnesty, on Tuesday called for an immediate end to the Gaza Humanitarian Fund. 'Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,' the group said in a joint news release. The call by the charities and NGOs was the latest sign of trouble for the GHF, a secretive US and Israeli-backed initiative headed by an evangelical leader who is a close ally of Trump. GHF started distributing aid on May 26, following a nearly three-month Israeli blockade that has pushed Gaza's population of more than 2 million people to the brink of famine. In a statement Tuesday, the organization said it has delivered more than 52 million meals over five weeks. 'Instead of bickering and throwing insults from the sidelines, we would welcome other humanitarian groups to join us and feed the people in Gaza,' the statement said. 'We are ready to collaborate and help them get their aid to people in need. At the end of the day, the Palestinian people need to be fed.' Last month, the organization said there has been no violence in or around its distribution centers and that its personnel have not opened fire. More than 500 Palestinians killed around GHF sites According to Gaza's Health Ministry, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed around the chaotic and controversial aid distribution program over the past month. Palestinians are often forced to travel long distances to access the GHF hubs in hopes of obtaining aid. The GHF is the linchpin of a new aid system that wrested distribution away from aid groups led by the UN The new mechanism limits food distribution to a small number of hubs under guard of armed contractors, where people must go to pick it up. Currently four hubs are set up, all close to Israeli military positions. Israel had demanded an alternative plan because it accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid. The United Nations and aid groups deny there is significant diversion. They reject the new mechanism, saying it allows Israel to use food as a weapon, violates humanitarian principles and won't be effective. The Israeli military said it had recently taken steps to improve organization in the area. Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of hiding among civilians because they operate in populated areas. At least 7 Palestinians killed seeking aid At least seven Palestinians were killed late Monday and early Tuesday in three separate locations while seeking aid, hospitals said. Three of the deaths by Israeli fire occurred in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis, while four were killed in central Gaza. More than 65 others were wounded, according to the Awda hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp, and the Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City, which received the casualties. The casualties were among thousands of starved Palestinians who gather at night to take aid from passing trucks in the area of the Netzarim route in central Gaza. Meanwhile, an 11-year-old girl was killed Tuesday when an Israeli strike hit her family's tent west of Khan Younis, according to the Kuwait field hospital that received her body. And the UN Palestinian aid agency said Israel's military struck one of its schools sheltering displaced people in Gaza City on Monday. The strike left no casualties but caused significant damage to the facility, UNRWA said. Netanyahu's Washington trip Speaking to a meeting of his Cabinet on Tuesday, Netanyahu did not elaborate on the contents of his upcoming Washington visit, except to say he will discuss a trade deal. Iran, following the 12-day war with Israel, is also expected to be a main topic of discussion. After brokering a ceasefire between Iran and Israel, Trump has signaled that he's turning his attention to bringing a close to the fighting between Israel and Hamas. 2 killed in the occupied West Bank The Palestinian Health Ministry in the occupied West Bank said Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in the territory, including a 15-year-old, in two separate incidents. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the teen's shooting. In the second incident, it said a 'suspicious individual' was seen trying to cross into Israel from the southern West Bank, prompting soldiers to open fire. Dialysis services suspended amid fuel shortage The Shifa hospital in Gaza City suspended services at the dialysis unit amid a shortage of fuel required to operate power generators, the Health Ministry announced on Tuesday. The unit provides treatment to dozens of kidney failure patients in northern Gaza. It called for international agencies to press Israel to quickly allow the delivery of fuel to Shifa and other overwhelmed hospitals across Gaza. 'The continued lack of fuel means the inevitable death of all patients and wounded in hospitals,' it said. Funeral prayers for 7 family members killed in airstrike Mourners held Muslim funeral prayers Tuesday for seven people from the same family who were killed in an airstrike the previous day in central Gaza. The strike hit a family house in the central town of Zawaida late Monday, killing two parents, two siblings and three grandchildren, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah, which received the casualties.
Al Arabiya
37 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
Greece, EU to Press Libya on Migrant Crossings as Mediterranean Numbers Surge
The European Union's commissioner for migration says Europe will take a firm approach with authorities in Libya following a spike in illegal migration across the Mediterranean. Commissioner Magnus Brunner plans to travel to Libya next week with government representatives from Greece, Italy, and Malta seeking tougher measures from Libyan authorities to stop boats carrying migrants from leaving for Europe. 'That is actually a question which bothers us quite a lot at the moment. Libya is of course at the top of the agenda and we're traveling together to Libya next week because we have to be fast, I think, and firm,' Brunner said Tuesday at a conference in Athens. Brunner, who discussed the upcoming visit at a meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said the delegation would meet with representatives from both the UN-recognized government in western Libya and a rival authority in the east. Greece recently announced plans to send warships to international waters in the region following a surge in crossings from Libya to the southern Greek island of Crete–a more perilous route than the more frequently used passage between Turkey and nearby Greek islands. In 2023, hundreds died when the fishing trawler Adriana, carrying migrants from Libya to Italy, sank off Greek waters.
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
Netanyahu to visit White House as Gaza truce pressure mounts
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House next week for talks with President Donald Trump, a US official said Monday, as Washington ramps up the pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza. The July 7 visit — Netanyahu's third since Trump returned to power in January — comes after Trump said that he hoped for a truce in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory within a week. A Trump administration official confirmed the visit to AFP on condition of anonymity. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier that Netanyahu had 'expressed interest' in a meeting with Trump and that both sides were 'working on a date.' 'This has been a priority for the president since he took office, to end this brutal war in Gaza,' Leavitt told reporters in a briefing. 'It's heartbreaking to see the images that have come out from both Israel and Gaza throughout this war, and the president wants to see it end.' A senior Israeli official, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, is due to visit the White House this week for talks to lay the ground for Netanyahu's visit, Leavitt said. Netanyahu became the first foreign leader to visit Trump in his second term in February, when the US president surprised him by suddenly announcing a plan for the United States to 'take over' Gaza. The Israeli premier visited again in April. The end of Israel's 12-day war with Iran has provided a window of opportunity for a deal, with Trump keen to add another peace agreement to a series of recent deals he has brokered. 'We think even next week, we're going to get a ceasefire,' Trump told reporters on Friday. He followed up by pressing Israel in a post on his Truth Social network on Sunday to 'make the deal in Gaza.' But on the ground, Israel has continued to pursue its offensive across the Palestinian territory in a bid to destroy Hamas. Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed at least 51 people on Monday, including 24 at a seafront rest area. Trump meanwhile appeared to leverage US aid to Israel at the weekend as he called for that country's prosecutors to drop corruption charges against Netanyahu. 'The United States of America spends billions of dollars a year, far more than on any other nation, protecting and supporting Israel. We are not going to stand for this,' Trump posted. The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages during ISIS's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Of these, 49 are still believed to be held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 56,531 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable.
