LIVE: Israel kills 60 in Gaza; Hamas says working on truce to ‘stop famine'
Hamas says it's working around the clock and engaging mediators 'in order to stop famine and stop this criminal war'.
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Al Jazeera
5 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
France's move to recognise Palestinian state condemned by US, Israel
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Washington 'strongly rejects' French President Emmanuel Macron's plan to recognise a Palestinian state, as the administration of President Donald Trump announced it would not attend an upcoming United Nations conference seeking a two-state solution for Palestinians. Posting on X late on Thursday, Rubio criticised Macron's 'reckless decision', which he said 'only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace'. Earlier, Macron had said he would formalise France's decision to officially recognise a Palestinian state at the UN's General Assembly in September. 'In keeping with its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the State of Palestine,' Macron wrote on X. At least 142 countries out of the 193 members of the UN currently recognise or plan to recognise a Palestinian state. But several powerful Western countries – including the US, the United Kingdom and Germany – have refused to do so. Fellow European Union members Norway, Ireland and Spain indicated in May that they had begun the process to recognise a Palestinian state. But Macron's decision would make France – one of Israel's closest allies and a G7 member – the largest and arguably most influential country in Europe to make the move. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the decision, saying such a move 'rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy'. 'A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel – not to live in peace beside it,' he said in a post on X. 'Let's be clear: the Palestinians do not seek a state alongside Israel; they seek a state instead of Israel,' Netanyahu added. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz also described the move as 'a disgrace and a surrender to terrorism'. He added that Israel would not allow the establishment of a 'Palestinian entity that would harm our security, endanger our existence'. While supporting a two-state solution remains the long-held official stance of the US, President Donald Trump has himself expressed doubts about its viability. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump suggested the US could 'take over' Gaza, displace the territory's more than two million Palestinian population, and transform it into the 'Riviera of the Middle East'. Trump's plan has been condemned by rights groups, Arab states, Palestinians and the UN as tantamount to 'ethnic cleansing'. In June, Washington's ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, also said he did not think an independent Palestinian state remained a US foreign policy goal. His comments prompted Department of State spokesperson Tammy Bruce to say Huckabee 'speaks for himself' and policy-making is a matter for Trump and the White House. On Thursday, State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the US will not attend an upcoming conference set to be held at the UN on the two-state solution. The conference – co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, and scheduled to take place between July 28-30 – seeks to chart a roadmap to end the decades-long conflict and recognise a Palestinian state. Speaking to reporters, Pigott said there was 'nothing further' to say about the issue other than that Washington 'will not be in attendance'. There is mounting pressure on Israel to end its deadly war on Gaza, waged in the wake of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel, which saw some 1,139 people killed and more than 200 captives taken to the Palestinian enclave. Israel's subsequent 21-month assault on Gaza has resulted in almost 60,000 Palestinians being killed, with a further 144,000 wounded. Months-long ceasefire negotiations – brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar – have so far failed to yield a breakthrough. On Monday, 28 countries – including the UK, Japan and numerous European nations – issued a joint statement telling Israel the war on Gaza 'must end now'. The joint statement also condemned 'the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food'.
Al Jazeera
13 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
US, Israel recall teams from Gaza ceasefire talks after Hamas proposal
United States special envoy Steve Witkoff has said he is cutting short talks aimed at reaching a truce in Israel's war on Gaza, after the latest proposal from Hamas showed 'a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire'. Witkoff made the announcement in a statement on Thursday, just hours after the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had also recalled its negotiating team from Qatar amid the latest diplomatic flurry. There was no immediate comment from Hamas. The group has repeatedly accused Israel of blocking a ceasefire agreement. Earlier in the day, Hamas had submitted its latest response to a ceasefire framework floated by mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US. Netanyahu's office confirmed receipt of the response, and said it was under review. Neither side disclosed the contents. Both Israel and Hamas are facing growing international pressure to reach an agreement as the humanitarian and hunger crisis in the territory continues to deteriorate sharply amid Israel's severe restrictions on the entry of aid. At least 115 people have died from malnutrition since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, mostly in recent weeks, as the United Nations and aid agencies have warned that Gaza's residents were facing mass starvation. 'While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith,' Witkoff said in a statement. 'We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza,' Witkoff said, without elaborating. Witkoff, a businessman with no formal diplomatic experience prior to his appointment, said the US remains 'resolute' in seeking an end to the war in Gaza, adding it was 'a shame that Hamas has acted in this selfish way'. The current proposal under discussion has been reported to include a 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living captives and the remains of 18 others. In turn, Palestinians imprisoned by Israel would be released and aid supplies would be ramped up as the two sides held negotiations on a lasting truce. Details of the current sticking point were not immediately clear, but officials from both sides have previously pointed to a dispute over what would happen in the wake of any new ceasefire. Israel has repeatedly said it plans to deploy the military long term in Gaza, seeking a complete defeat of Hamas, despite warnings that such a goal is unrealistic. Earlier this month, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz reportedly laid out a plan for the forced transfer of Palestinians to a 'humanitarian city' within Gaza, a maximalist approach that critics say would violate international law. Israel's government has also faced domestic pressure over the plan, amid fears it would foreclose ceasefire negotiations and block the release of captives still held in Gaza. Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera's Shihab Rattansi said it remained unclear whether the US withdrawal from the talks was a 'negotiating tactic'. 'It's a very sternly worded tweet, talking about 'alternative options for a more stable environment for the people of Gaza,'' he said. 'We know that Trump simply hasn't ruled out ethnic cleansing, so-called 'self deportation', in his words, of Palestinians.' 'Right now, we simply don't know whether it's a negotiating position or the end of the negotiations,' Rattansi said. Israel's war in Gaza has killed at least 59,587 Palestinians since it began in the wake of the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed at least 1,139 people. This week, more than 100 aid groups blamed Israel's restrictions on aid for 'mass starvation' in the enclave.
Al Jazeera
19 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
How Israel pushed Gaza to breaking point, ‘starving, alone, and hunted'
Through its unrelenting war on Gaza, Israel has killed over 59,000 Palestinians, injured 143,000 others, and pushed hundreds of thousands into forced starvation caused by its blockade on the enclave and its militarised distribution system. More than 100 Palestinians have starved to death as a result in recent weeks, 80 of them children. Whatever its ultimate intention, according to analysts, Israel has pushed the people of Gaza to the breaking point. 'Israeli policy has left Gaza uninhabitable,' said Derek Summerfield, a United Kingdom-based psychiatrist who has written on the effects of war and atrocity. 'It's destroyed the idea of a society and every institution that might serve it, from universities to hospitals to mosques. It's become a sociocidal war,' he added, describing a conflict intended to destroy a society's entire structures and sense of identity. 'People have been left with nothing, and are feeling they can't go on.' The constant spectre of death and the complete devastation of Gaza have driven many Palestinians there to desperation. Some are trying to leave – even temporarily – due to the horrors they have experienced and in a conflict that may continue for months or years to come. Others continue to cling to their homes in defiance of escalating Israeli aggression. The mass starvation that aid agencies have warned about has become a reality for Palestinians in Gaza, as aid workers and journalists join the ranks of the hungry and the malnourished. On Wednesday, more than 100 aid agencies issued an open letter urging the Israeli government to work with the United Nations and allow aid into Gaza. Al Jazeera has called for action to protect all journalists trapped in Gaza, many of whom are no longer able to report due to their own acute hunger and deteriorating health. AFP agency made a similar call. 'Famine isn't just physical, it's mental,' said Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University, who has written extensively on famine. 'It dehumanises and degrades the sufferer … It's the experience of – and then the memory of – having searched through garbage for food and everything you have done to survive.' 'You need to remember, starvation is an act, and as often as not a criminal one,' he continued. 'It's also one that takes time. It's not like dropping a bomb… Starvation can take 60 to 80 days. Semi-starvation, such as we're seeing in Gaza, can take longer. 'Israel has had ample and stark warnings that its actions are leading to mass starvation. This should surprise no one.' 'This isn't just about starving kids. It's about dismantling a society and reducing its people to desperate, starving victims,' de Waal added. 'It also encourages the abuser to think of the sufferer as dehumanised, so it becomes self-justifying.' Through its 21-month war, Israel's leaders have repeatedly claimed their war on Gaza was to 'defeat Hamas' and rescue the captives held in the territory. However, with every new offensive, its critics around the world have accused it of either turning a blind eye to the humanitarian consequences of its actions or actively seeking to punish Palestinians and force starvation upon them. 'I don't know if you can call this a strategy,' said Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House. 'I don't know how much is planned, how much is tactical, cynical, opportunistic or just incompetence. It all depends where you look.' Mekelberg broke down the factions competing for final say in Israeli policy, from the messianic ambitions of ultranationalist government ministers, such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who would like to see the Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank expelled, to a security establishment that Mekelberg described as divided over whether it should continue or end the war. 'Lastly, you have the cynical and the opportunistic,' he continued, 'which is essentially Benjamin Netanyahu and his adherents. To them, this is all about politics and surviving for another day,' Mekelberg said of the prime minister, who is on trial on multiple corruption charges. The consequences of Israel's actions in Gaza will last generations, analysts said. Those who survive Israel's current war will carry its scars, as will their descendants, while those who leave are unlikely to be allowed to return. 'Israel has adopted a formula in the last few weeks where it is making conditions in Gaza intolerable and unable to support human life,' said Mouin Rabbani, co-editor of Jadaliyya. 'If it can reduce life to such a level and at the same time increase the level of chaos and anarchy [across Gaza], the thinking is that people will leave.' Once they have been forced from their homeland, either through the conditions that Israel has imposed, or via the one-way entrance into what Israeli government ministers call a 'humanitarian city', while many critics call it a concentration camp, it intends to construct along the border with Egypt, they won't be allowed back, Rabbani said. Hardly a day has gone by since Israel's assault upon Gaza began in October 2023 that its war has not dominated headlines. In recent weeks, as starvation and the extent of the near-total destruction that Israel has visited upon the enclave have grown, so too has the disquiet among the international community. However, in the face of the protests, and with ceasefire negotiations supposedly ongoing, Israel's war has shown few signs of slowing. That has left Gaza's population, in the words of Summerfield, left to 'wander Gaza; starving, alone and hunted'.
