Middle East crisis live: a quarter of Gaza's children are malnourished, says Médecins Sans Frontières
Date: 2025-07-25T08:03:55.000Z
Title: Opening summary
Content: Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Middle East.
The humanitarian crisis inside Gaza deepens as Médecins Sans Frontières has said a quarter of Gaza's young children and pregnant or breastfeeding women screened at its clinics in Gaza last week were malnourished, AFP reports.
The head of the main UN agency serving Palestinians has said his frontline staff are fainting from hunger, as the number of people dying of starvation in Gaza continued to rise.
It comes as Emmanuel Macron has announced France will recognise Palestinian statehood, saying he hoped it would bring 'lasting peace' to the Middle East.
Macron announced the decision on X on Thursday evening and published a letter sent to the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, confirming France's intention to become the first major western power to recognise a Palestinian state.
The move prompted angry responses from Israel, while Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said it was' 'reckless'. It was welcomed by the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Spain, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Stay with us as we follow the developments.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Guardian
2 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
France calls on EU to pressure Israel to move on Palestinian two-state solution
Jean-Noel Barrot, the French foreign minister, told reporters at the United Nations that while there is international consensus that the time for a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is now, world powers need to back up their words with actions. 'The European Commission, on behalf of the EU, has to express its expectations and show the means that we can incentivise the Israeli government to hear this appeal,' he said. Mr Barrot spoke on the first day of a high-level UN meeting on a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is being co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia. The conference, which was postponed from June and downgraded to the ministerial level, is taking place in New York as international condemnation of Israel's handling of the war in Gaza reaches a fever pitch. Both Israel and its closest ally, the United States, refused to participate in the meeting, which Mr Barrot said is being attended by representatives of 125 countries, including 50 ministers. The aim of the conference, Mr Barrot said, is 'to reverse the trend of what is happening in the region – mainly the erasure of the two-state solution, which has been for a long time the only solution that can bring peace and security in the region.' He urged the European Commission to call on Israel to lift a financial blockade on two billion euros he says the Israeli government owes the Palestinian Authority; stop settlement building in the West Bank, which threatens the territorial integrity of a future Palestinian state; and end the 'militarised' food delivery system in Gaza by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has resulted in hundreds of killings. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the two-state solution on both nationalistic and security grounds. The US has echoed its sentiment and on Monday called the conference 'unproductive and ill-timed'. 'The United States will not participate in this insult but will continue to lead real-world efforts to end the fighting and deliver a permanent peace,' State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement. 'Our focus remains on serious diplomacy: not stage-managed conferences designed to manufacture the appearance of relevance.' Ahead of the meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would recognise Palestine as a state at the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly in September. The bold but mostly symbolic move is aimed at adding diplomatic pressure on Israel. France is now the biggest Western power and the only member of the Group of Seven major industrialised nations to recognise the state of Palestine, and the move could pave the way for other countries to do the same. More than 140 countries recognise a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe. At the conference opening, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa called for all countries who have not yet recognised Palestine as a state to do so 'without delay'. 'The path to peace begins by recognising the state of Palestine and preserving it from destruction,' he said. The other issue being discussed at the conference is normalisation between Israel and the Arab states in the region. Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi foreign minister, stressed that normalisation of relations with Israel 'can only come through the establishment of a Palestinian state'. With global anger rising over desperately hungry people in Gaza starting to die from starvation, US President Donald Trump on Monday called for increasing aid to Palestinians, a rare glimpse of daylight between him and Mr Netanyahu, who has said there is no starvation. Both Mr Barrot and Mr Farhan said on Monday that the US is an essential actor in the region and that it was the president in January who secured the only ceasefire in the 21-month war. 'I am firmly in the belief that Trump's engagement can be a catalyst for an end to the immediate crisis in Gaza and potentially a resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the long term,' Mr Farhan said.
North Wales Chronicle
3 hours ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Starmer to convene urgent Cabinet meeting on Gaza to set out pathway to peace
The Prime Minister will call senior ministers in during the summer recess for the meeting on Gaza on Tuesday afternoon, the PA news agency understands. Sir Keir shared plans he is working on with France and Germany to 'bring about a lasting peace' with US President Donald Trump when they met in Scotland, Downing Street said. And he plans to share details with Arab states and other key allies in the coming days. Sir Keir is facing mounting calls to recognise Palestinian statehood immediately. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'This week, the Prime Minister is focused on a pathway to peace to ensure immediate relief for those on the ground, and a sustainable route to a two-state solution. 'We are clear that the recognition of the Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if, but it must be one of the steps on the path to a two-state solution as part of a wider plan that delivers lasting security for both Palestinians and Israelis.' Amid international alarm over starvation in Gaza, Israel announced at the weekend that it would suspend fighting in three areas for 10 hours a day and open secure routes for aid delivery. The UK confirmed it was taking part in airdrops of aid into the territory. Aid agencies have welcomed the new measures but said they were not enough to counter the rising hunger in the Palestinian territory. Sir Keir said that the British public is 'revolted' at the scenes of desperation in Gaza as he appeared alongside Mr Trump at his Turnberry golf course on Monday. 'It's a humanitarian crisis, it's an absolute catastrophe. 'Nobody wants to see that. I think people in Britain are revolted at seeing what they're seeing on their screens, so we've got to get to that ceasefire.' The US president hinted at sticking points in US-led negotiations over a peace deal, saying Palestinian militant group Hamas had become 'very difficult to deal with' in recent weeks. He suggested this was because they only held a small remaining number of Israeli hostages. Sir Keir has likened the plan he is working on with France and Germany to the coalition of the willing, the international effort to support Ukraine towards a lasting peace. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said the plan would build 'on the collaboration to date that paves the way to a long-term solution on security in the region'. Sir Keir is meanwhile facing calls from a growing number of MPs to recognise a Palestinian state immediately. More than 250 cross-party MPs have now signed a letter calling for ministers to take the step, up from 221 on Friday. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds on Monday dismissed the idea that there is a split at the top of Government over when to recognise a Palestinian state, saying 'we all want it to happen'. Health Secretary Wes Streeting is among those to have signalled a desire for hastened action, calling for recognition 'while there's still a state of Palestine left to recognise', while Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the Government wants to recognise a Palestinian state 'in contribution to a peace process'.
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Thailand-Cambodia ceasefire comes into effect as opposing military chiefs to meet
A truce agreement between Thailand and Cambodia came into effect in the early hours of Tuesday, testing whether it will halt the worst fighting between the neighbouring countries in more than a decade. Both sides agreed an 'unconditional' ceasefire would start at midnight on Monday to end battling over a smattering of ancient temples in disputed zones along their 800km (500-mile) border. In Cambodia's Samraong city – 20km from the border – an AFP journalist heard a steady drumbeat of artillery strikes throughout Monday before blast sounds stopped in the 30 minutes leading up to midnight. Jets, rockets and artillery have killed at least 38 people since Thursday and displaced nearly 300,000 more – prompting intervention at the weekend from Donald Trump, who has taken credit for the ceasefire deal. The US president has threatened both countries with high tariffs and warned that trade negotiations would be paused until the fighting stopped. The peace deal was set to see military commanders from both sides meet at 7am local time (0000 GMT), before a cross-border committee is convened in Cambodia to further salve tensions on 4 August. 'When I heard the news I was so happy because I miss my home and my belongings that I left behind,' Phean Neth, 45, said on Monday evening at a sprawling camp for Cambodian evacuees on a temple site away from the fighting. 'I am so happy that I can't describe it.' A joint statement from both countries as well as Malaysia, which hosted the peace talks, said the ceasefire was 'a vital first step towards de-escalation and the restoration of peace and security'. A spokesperson for UN secretary general, António Guterres, said on Monday evening that 'he urges both countries to respect the agreement fully and to create an environment conducive to addressing longstanding issues and achieving lasting peace'. The US state department said its officials had been 'on the ground' to shepherd peace talks. The joint statement said China also had 'active participation' in the talks, hosted by the Malaysian prime minister and chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) regional bloc, Anwar Ibrahim, in his country's administrative capital, Putrajaya. Cambodia's prime minister, Hun Manet, thanked Trump for his 'decisive' support, while his counterpart, Thailand's acting prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai, said it should be 'carried out in good faith by both sides'. On the eve of the talks, Thailand's military said Cambodian snipers were camped in one of the contested temples, and accused Phnom Penh of surging troops along the border and hammering Thai territory with rockets. It said there was fighting at seven areas in the rural region, marked by hills surrounded by jungle and fields where locals farm rubber and rice. The Thai king, Maha Vajiralongkorn, marked his 73rd birthday on Monday but a notice in the country's Royal Gazette said public celebrations scheduled for Bangkok's Grand Palace had been cancelled amid the strife. With reporting from Rebecca Ratcliffe and Agence France-Presse
