Dozens killed in Israeli strike on Gaza cafe, hospital official says
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Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The Italian job: how Rome plans to work around NATO spending hike
By Giuseppe Fonte, Angelo Amante and Gavin Jones ROME (Reuters) -Italy, along with other NATO countries, has agreed to sharply increase defence spending over the next decade, but Giorgia Meloni's government is already working on imaginative ways to minimise any hit to its strained public finances. Unlike Spain, which openly said it could not go much above the old NATO target of 2% of national output, at a summit last week Italy toed the line imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, committing to 5% by 2035 – at least on the surface. Meloni, aware that opinion polls show raising defence spending is highly unpopular among Italians, sought to reassure them after the NATO summit. "These are necessary expenses, but we are committed to not diverting even a single euro from the government's other priorities," she told reporters. Italy's defence spending amounted to just 1.5% of output in 2024, near the low end of the 32 NATO members. The government this year met the previous 2% target by a raft of accounting changes, factoring in previously excluded items such as soldiers' pensions and the coastguard. But hitting the new goal will be far more difficult. On paper, it would require an increase in spending of more than 60 billion euros ($71 billion), a huge task for a country with the euro zone's second largest debt pile, at 135% of output. The European Commission, which is also urging EU states to hike defence spending, has adopted a so-called "escape clause" from its fiscal rules to allow increases of 1.5% of gross domestic product per year through 2028. Italy, however, has less scope to use this clause because its deficit is already considered too high. CIVILIAN INFRASTRUCTURE Italian officials said Meloni would double down on this year's approach by including items already budgeted for that have at best a tenuous link to defence, hoping the tactic is accepted by NATO and the European Commission. Italy, the euro zone's third largest economy, could prove a litmus test for other NATO countries that have also signed up to the 5% goal but face an uphill struggle to reach it. Rome is considering civilian infrastructure such as ports, shipyards, and even an ambitious, long-planned bridge connecting Sicily to the mainland, officials said. Overall, Italy plans to invest 206 billion euros to upgrade its railways and a further 162 billion for its roads and motorways, according to a parliamentary study based on government data. Many of these projects could now receive the defence and security label. "A large part of planned infrastructure investments fall within the NATO parameters because they have dual-use applications," Deputy Transport Minister Edoardo Rixi told Reuters. In response to a Reuters request for comment, the EU Commission said it was for Italy to determine whether an infrastructure's main purpose was military or civilian. A NATO official said countries must have "a credible path" to achieve their defence spending pledges "and they will provide plans on how they will support increases in their defence investments each year". In promising remarks for Italy's plans, he added: "We need civilian transportation networks that can support military mobility. As well as tanks, fighters and warships, we need roads, rail, and ports." Italy has already identified necessary strategic infrastructure projects worth a massive 483 billion euros to be completed over future years, meaning there is no shortage of potential schemes to be included. PLAYING FOR TIME The new NATO target includes a core component for defence spending, which must reach 3.5% of GDP by 2035, and a further element on broader security-related investments, worth 1.5%. Upgrading ports in the northern cities of Trieste and Genoa, as well as a shipbuilding and maintenance hub in nearby La Spezia, would be eligible for meeting NATO criteria, Rixi said. "If you need to build, repair and maintain military ships as well as transport troops and military equipment, you need to have adequate infrastructures to do so," he said. Time is also a key factor. With the centre-left opposition saying defence spending will subtract resources from the welfare state, Meloni wants to delay any increases until after the next election due in 2027, officials said. "The real challenge for Meloni is not the amount but the timing," said Francesco Galietti, founder of Rome-based political risk think-tank Policy Sonar. In 2027 Italy will also be able to fully tap the EU's fiscal leeway "escape clause", provided it gets its deficit below 3% of GDP in 2026 as planned. For this reason, Rome successfully lobbied NATO allies to avoid a minimum annual defence spending increase being imposed, an official with knowledge of the negotiations said, adding that Rome was also instrumental in delaying the 5% target year to 2035 from a previously planned 2032. "The message is clear, Italy will do what it must to meet its NATO commitments, but it will do so in its own time," Galietti said. ($1 = 0.8490 euros) (Additional reporting by Alvise Armellini, graphic by Sara Rossi, Editing by Gareth Jones)
News24
28 minutes ago
- News24
Netanyahu vows to destroy Hamas: ‘It will be no more', as ceasefire talks under way
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to defeat Hamas. At least 47 people were killed in Gaza on Wednesday. Hamas is considering the ceasefire proposal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday vowed to eradicate Hamas, even as the Palestinian militant group said it was discussing new proposals from mediators for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Israeli leader had yet to comment on US President Donald Trump's claim that Israel had backed a plan for a 60-day truce in its offensive against Hamas in the war-ravaged territory. But a week ahead of talks scheduled with Trump in Washington, he vowed to 'destroy' Hamas 'down to their very foundation'. Hamas said it was 'conducting national consultations to discuss' the proposals submitted in negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt. Nearly 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has recently expanded its military operations. The civil defence agency said that Israeli forces had killed at least 47 people on Wednesday. Among the dead was Marwan Al-Sultan, director of the Indonesian Hospital, a key clinic in the north of Gaza, Palestinian officials said. Trump on Tuesday urged Hamas to accept a 60-day ceasefire, saying that Israel had agreed to finalise such a deal. Hamas said in a statement that it was studying the latest proposals and aiming 'to reach an agreement that guarantees ending the aggression, achieving the withdrawal (of Israeli forces from Gaza) and urgently aiding our people in the Gaza Strip'. Netanyahu vowed however: 'We will free all our hostages, and we will eliminate Hamas. It will be no more,' in filmed comments in the city of Ashkelon near Gaza's northern border. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar earlier said that he saw 'some positive signs', amid high pressure to bring home the hostages. 'We are serious in our will to reach a hostage deal and a ceasefire,' he said. Our goal is to begin proximity talks as soon as possible. Gideon Saar Out of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants in October 2023, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. A Palestinian source familiar with the mediated negotiations told AFP that 'there are no fundamental changes in the new proposal' under discussion compared to previous terms presented by the US. The source said that the new proposal 'includes a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release half of the living Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for Israel releasing a number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees'. In southern Gaza, civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five members of the same family were killed in an Israeli air strike on Wednesday that hit a tent housing displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area. Despite being declared a safe zone by Israel in December 2023, Al-Mawasi has been hit by repeated Israeli strikes. Hani Alshaer/Anadolu via Getty Images AFP footage from the area showed makeshift tents blown apart as Palestinians picked through the wreckage trying to salvage what was left of their belongings. 'They came here thinking it was a safe area and they were killed. What did they do?' said one resident, Maha Abu Rizq, against a backdrop of destruction. AFP footage from nearby Khan Yunis city showed infants covered in blood being rushed into Nasser Hospital. One man carrying a child whose face was smeared with blood screamed: 'Children, children!' Among other fatalities, Bassal later reported five people killed by Israeli army fire near an aid distribution site close to the southern city of Rafah and a further death following Israeli fire near an aid site in the centre of the territory. They were the latest in a string of deadly incidents that have hit people trying to receive food. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers. Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it 'is operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities' in line with 'international law, and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm'. It said in a statement that a 19-year-old sergeant in its forces 'fell during combat in the northern Gaza Strip'. The military late on Wednesday issued a fresh evacuation warning to residents for three neighbourhoods of Gaza City, urging them to flee south to the Mawasi area. Doaa Albaz/Anadolu via Getty Images Israeli forces are 'operating with extreme intensity in the area and will attack any location being used to launch missiles toward the State of Israel', Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a message on Telegram. 'The destruction of terrorist organisations will continue and expand into the city centre, encompassing all neighbourhoods of the city,' Avichay wrote. The military earlier said that its air force had intercepted two 'projectiles' that crossed from northern Gaza into Israeli territory. Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas' 7 October 2023 attack which resulted in the deaths of 1 219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 57 012 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Turkish government 'seeking to sabotage' disarmament process, says PKK leader
Less than two months after the Kurdish PKK group decided to disband, ending decades of conflict with Turkey, one of its leaders on Wednesday accused some within the Turkish government of "seeking to sabotage" the PKK's agreed upon disarmament measures. The Kurdish PKK group on Wednesday said that some elements of the Turkish government are seeking to undermine a historic disarmament process meant to put an end to decades of conflict. The PKK, or Kurdistan Workers' Party, in May declared an end to its armed conflict and was expected to hold a series of ceremonies to destroy its weapons. But Mustafa Karasu, one of the group's founders and top leaders, told a Kurdish-linked television station that "a group at the heart of the state is seeking to sabotage the process". "We are ready, but it is the (Turkish) government that has not taken the needed steps," he said. Read moreAfter PKK's landmark disarmament, leader Ocalan urges 'major shift' to mend Kurdish-Turkish ties Karasu cited continued Turkish military strikes on PKK positions in northern Irak as well as the lack of improvement in the prison conditions of the PKK's founder Abdullah Ocalan. Read more on FRANCE 24 EnglishRead also:PKK rejects 'exile' of its members from Turkey after agreeing to disbandKurdish militant group PKK to disband and end armed struggle with Turkey
