Israeli minister hints at annexing parts of Gaza
JERUSALEM/CAIRO/GAZA — Israel could threaten to annex parts of Gaza to increase pressure on the militant group Hamas, an Israeli minister said on Wednesday, an idea that would deal a blow to Palestinian hopes of statehood on land Israel now occupies.
The comment by security cabinet member Zeev Elkin came a day after Britain said it would recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes steps to relieve suffering in Gaza and agrees to a ceasefire in the war with Hamas.
France, which said last week it would recognize a Palestinian state in September, and Saudi Arabia issued a declaration on Tuesday, backed by Egypt, Qatar and the Arab League, outlining steps toward implementing a two-state solution.
As part of an end to the Gaza war, they said Hamas "must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority."
Israel has denounced moves to recognize a Palestinian state as rewarding Hamas for its October 2023 attack that precipitated the war.
Possible ultimatum to Hamas
Accusing Hamas of trying to drag out ceasefire talks to gain Israeli concessions, Elkin told public broadcaster Kan that Israel may give the group an ultimatum to reach a deal before further expanding its military actions.
"The most painful thing for our enemy is losing lands," he said. "A clarification to Hamas that the moment they play games with us they will lose land that they will never get back would be a significant pressure tool."
Mediation efforts aimed at reaching a deal that would secure a 60-day ceasefire and the release of remaining hostages held by Hamas ground to a halt last week, with the sides trading blame for the impasse.
Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the situation in Gaza, where a global hunger monitor has warned that a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding. The Gaza health ministry reported seven more hunger-related deaths on Wednesday, including a two-year-old girl with an existing health condition.
'Monstrous'
Though recognition of a Palestinian state is largely seen as a symbolic move, Gazan man Saed al-Akhras said he hoped it marked a "real shift in how Western countries view the Palestinian cause."
"Enough! Palestinians have lived for more than 70 years under killing, destruction, and occupation, while the world watches in silence," he said.
Meanwhile, families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza appealed for no recognition of a Palestinian state to come before their loved ones were returned.
"Such recognition is not a step toward peace, but rather a clear violation of international law and a dangerous moral and political failure that legitimizes horrific war crimes," the Hostages Family Forum said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said Britain's decision "rewards Hamas' monstrous terrorism." Israel made similar comments last week after France's announcement.
Two Hamas officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the demand for the group to hand its weapons to the PA, which now has limited control of parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Hamas has previously rejected calls to disarm, while Israel has ruled out letting the PA run Gaza.
Netanyahu said this month he wanted peace with Palestinians but described any future independent state as a potential platform to destroy Israel, so control of security must remain with Israel.
His cabinet includes far-right figures who openly demand the annexation of all Palestinian land. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday that reestablishing Jewish settlements in Gaza was "closer than ever," calling Gaza "an inseparable part of the Land of Israel."
Aid going in, but not enough
A 2-year-old girl being treated for a build-up of brain fluid died overnight of hunger, her father told Reuters on Wednesday.
"Mekkah, my little daughter, died of malnutrition and the lack of medication," Salah al-Gharably said by phone from Deir Al-Balah. "Doctors said the baby has to be fed a certain type of milk ... but there is no milk," he said. "She starved. We stood helpless."
The deaths from starvation and malnutrition overnight raised the toll from such causes to 154, including at least 89 children, since the war's start, most in recent weeks.
On Sunday the Israeli military announced steps to ease the supply of food into Gaza, including daily pauses in military operations in some areas and corridors for aid.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the United Nations and its partners had been able to bring more food into Gaza in the first two days of pauses, but the volume was "still far from enough."
"Most aid is still being offloaded by crowds before reaching where it is supposed to go. But market monitoring shows prices for basic goods are starting to drop—which could point to better operating conditions if aid flows further increase," it said in an update.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked communities in southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 60,000 people and laid waste to much of the territory, the Gaza health ministry says. — Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
GMA Network
15 hours ago
- GMA Network
Up to a million young Catholics expected for grand Pope Leo vigil
Empty chairs are set up on the day Pope Leo XIV attends a vigil for the Jubilee of Youth in Tor Vergata, in Rome, Italy August 2, 2025. REUTERS/Remo Casilli ROME, Italy - Up to a million young Catholic believers are expected Saturday for a night-time vigil led by Pope Leo XIV, the culmination of a week-long pilgrimage, a key event in the Jubilee holy year. The "Jubilee of Youth" – when the Vatican invites Catholics aged 18 to 35 to the seat of the global Church's power – has seen thousands of young pilgrims from around the world flood Rome this week. It is taking place just under three months since 69-year-old Leo – the first American pope – took over the papacy. Large groups of pilgrims have packed the streets of Rome all week, waving the flags of their countries or cities and chanting religious songs. Excitement has mounted over the course of the week for the new pope's final appearance to the youths on Saturday. "I feel mainly curiosity, as we don't know him very well yet," Parisian student Alice Berry, 21, told AFP. "What does he have to say to us? What is his message for young people?" Uncertainty, anxiety Various events have been planned for them by the Church throughout the city, including at Circus Maximus, where on Friday approximately 1,000 priests were on hand to take confession. Some 200 white gazebos lined the hippodrome where chariot races were once held in Ancient Rome, where youth lined up to speak to priests in 10 different languages. Spanish was one of the main languages heard on the streets of the Italian capital. The pilgrimage is taking place as economic uncertainty hits young people across the world and as climate change anxiety rises among the under-30s. Many young pilgrims said they wanted to hear the Vatican's position on climate change, wars and economic inequalities. Samarei Semos, 29, said she had traveled three days from her native Belize to get to Rome. "We are still trying to understand his leadership," she said of the new pope, adding she hoped he would have a strong say about "third world countries". The pilgrimage also comes amid global alarm over starvation in Israel-blockaded Gaza, and more than three years into Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Night vigil The Vatican has praised Catholic youths who traveled to Rome from war-scarred countries like Ukraine or Syria, with Pope Leo repeatedly calling for the youths to "pray for peace". The voices of the amassed young people "will be heard to the end of the earth," Pope Leo told them earlier this week. The Vatican has said that more than 146 countries are represented. The mass that is the climax of the event will take place in Rome's Tor Vergata area in a vast open-air space with a newly built stage for the pope. It is the same area used 25 years ago for the last youth jubilee under Pope John Paul II. More than 4,300 volunteers will be working the event to welcome the young pilgrims, along with over 1,000 police, according to organizers. In an unprecedented move, Leo hosted a mass Tuesday for Catholic social media influencers, signalling the Vatican's openness to supporting the Internet-savvy youth. Rome authorities have tightened security in the city – which has seen an unprecedented number of people, with both tourists and pilgrims inundated the city. —Agence France-Presse
GMA Network
16 hours ago
- GMA Network
Trump fires US labor official over jobs data
US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Democratic Republic of the Congo's Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner and Rwanda's Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington DC on June 27, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno WASHINGTON/NEW YORK — US President Donald Trump on Friday fired a top Labor Department official on the heels of a market-shocking weak scorecard of the US job market, accusing her without evidence of manipulating the figures and adding to already growing concerns about the quality of economic data published by the federal government. In a second surprise economic policy development, the door for Trump to make an imprint on a Federal Reserve with which he clashes almost daily for not lowering interest rates opened much earlier than anticipated when Fed Governor Adriana Kugler unexpectedly announced her resignation on Friday afternoon. The two developments further rattled a stock market already reeling from his latest barrage of tariff announcements and the weak jobs data. The benchmark S&P 500 Index .SPX sank 1.6% in its largest daily drop in more than two months. Trump accused Erika McEntarfer, appointed by former President Joe Biden, of faking the jobs numbers. There is no evidence to back Trump's claims of data manipulation by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the statistical agency that compiles the closely watched employment report as well as consumer and producer price data. A representative for the BLS did not respond to a request for comment. Friday began with BLS reporting the US economy created only 73,000 jobs in July, but more stunning were net downward revisions showing 258,000 fewer jobs had been created in May and June than previously reported. "We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Data concerns A Trump administration official who requested anonymity said that while all economic data is noisy, the White House has been dissatisfied with how large the revisions have been in the recent data and issues with lower survey responses. The problem started during COVID and has not been addressed in the years since. "There are these underlying problems that have been festering here for years now that have not been rectified," the person said. "The markets and companies and the government need accurate data, and like, we just weren't getting that," the official said. The BLS has already reduced the sample collection for consumer price data as well as the producer price report, citing resource constraints. The government surveys about 121,000 businesses and government agencies, representing approximately 631,000 individual worksites for the employment report. The response rate has declined from 80.3% in October 2020 to about 67.1% in July, BLS data shows. A Reuters poll last month found 89 of 100 top policy experts had at least some worries about the quality of US economic data, with most also concerned that authorities are not addressing the issue urgently enough. In addition to the concerns over job market data, headcount reductions at BLS have resulted in it scaling back the scope of data collection for the Consumer Price Index, one of the most important gauges of US inflation, watched by investors and policymakers worldwide. Trump's move fed into concerns that politics may influence data collection and publication. "Politicizing economic statistics is a self-defeating act," said Michael Madowitz, principal economist at the Roosevelt Institute's Roosevelt Forward. "Credibility is far easier to lose than rebuild, and the credibility of America's economic data is the foundation on which we've built the strongest economy in the world. Blinding the public about the state of the economy has a long track record, and it never ends well." Fed change sooner than expected Meanwhile, Kugler's surprise decision to leave the Fed at the end of next week presents Trump an earlier-than-expected opportunity to install a potential successor to Fed Chair Jerome Powell on the central bank's Board of Governors. Trump has threatened to fire Powell repeatedly because the Fed chief has overseen a policymaking body that has not cut interest rates as Trump has demanded. Powell's term expires next May, although he could remain on the Fed board until January 31, 2028, if he chooses. Trump will now get to select a Fed governor to replace Kugler and finish out her term, which expires on January 31, 2026. A governor filling an unexpired term may then be reappointed to a full 14-year term. Some speculation has centered on the idea Trump might pick a potential future chair to fill that slot as a holding place. Leading candidates for the next Fed chair include Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh and Fed Governor Chris Waller, a Trump appointee who this week dissented with the central bank's decision to keep rates on hold, saying he preferred to start lowering them now. Trump, as he was leaving the White House to spend the weekend at his Bedminster, New Jersey, estate, said he was happy to have the open slot to fill. "I would not read any political motivation into what [Kugler is] doing, although the consequence of what she's doing is she's calling Trump's bluff," said Derek Tang, an analyst at LH Meyer, a research firm. "She's putting the ball in his court and saying, look, you're putting so much pressure on the Fed, and you want some control over nominees, well, here's a slot." — Reuters
GMA Network
21 hours ago
- GMA Network
Colombia ex-president Uribe sentenced to 12 years of house arrest, will appeal
A man holds a placard that reads 'Uribe must go to prison. Colombia demands justice' following former Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe's criminal conviction and sentence of 12 years of house arrest, outside the Paloquemao judicial complex, in Bogota, Colombia, August 1, 2025. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez BOGOTA - Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe was sentenced by a judge on Friday to 12 years of house arrest for abuse of process and bribery of a public official, in a long-running case over connections to former right-wing paramilitaries. Uribe was convicted of the two charges on Monday by Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia in a witness-tampering case that has run for about 13 years. He has always maintained his innocence. Heredia read the sentence to the court in an afternoon hearing on Friday. Uribe will be fined $578,000, Heredia's ruling said, and barred from public office for more than eight years. Uribe, whose legal team has said it will appeal, is to report to authorities in Rionegro, in Antioquia province, where he resides, and then "proceed immediately to his residence where he will comply with house arrest," the ruling said. The conviction made Uribe the country's first ex-president to ever be found guilty at trial and came less than a year before Colombia's 2026 presidential election, in which several of Uribe's allies and proteges are competing for top office. It could also have implications for Colombia's relationship with the United States. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that Uribe's conviction was a "weaponization of Colombia's judicial branch by radical judges" and analysts have said there could be cuts to US aid in response. Uribe, 73, and his supporters have always said the process is a persecution, while his detractors have celebrated it as deserved comeuppance for a man who has been accused for decades of close ties with violent right-wing paramilitaries but never convicted of any crime until now. "In my condition as a convict, because of this ruling, I request very respectfully before you an appeal," Uribe said during the hearing, where he and his lawyers appeared virtually, adding his legal team will formally appeal in writing to overturn the convictions in their entirety. Heredia has attacked his defense team and his family during the trial, Uribe added, an accusation the judge has denied. He still has a right to be considered innocent, Uribe said, adding the case is meant to "destroy a voice for the democratic opposition." Testimonies from former paramilitaries Uribe, who was president from 2002 to 2010 and oversaw a military offensive against leftist guerrillas, was charged over allegations he ordered a lawyer to bribe jailed paramilitaries to discredit claims he had ties to their organizations. Those claims stemmed from leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda, who collected testimonies from former paramilitaries who said Uribe had supported their organizations in Antioquia, where he once served as governor. Uribe alleged in 2012 that Cepeda orchestrated the testimonies in a plot to tie him to the paramilitaries, but the Supreme Court ruled six years later that Cepeda had not paid or pressured the ex-paramilitaries. Instead, the court said it was Uribe and his allies who pressured the witnesses. Cepeda has been classed as a victim in the case and attended both Monday and Friday's hearings in person. Two jailed former paramilitaries testified that Diego Cadena, the lawyer formerly representing Uribe, offered them money to testify in Uribe's favor. Cadena, who is also facing charges, has denied the accusations and testified, along with several other ex-paramilitaries, on Uribe's behalf. Each charge carried a potential sentence of six to 12 years. Uribe, who was placed under house arrest for two months in 2020, is head of the powerful Democratic Center party and was a senator for years both before and after his presidency. He has repeatedly emphasized that he extradited paramilitary leaders to the United States. Colombia's truth commission says paramilitary groups, which demobilized under deals with Uribe's government, killed more than 205,000 people, nearly half of the 450,000 deaths recorded during the ongoing civil conflict. Paramilitaries, along with guerrilla groups and members of the armed forces, also committed forced disappearances, sexual violence, displacement and other crimes. Uribe joins a list of Latin American leaders who have been convicted and sometimes jailed, including Peru's Alberto Fujimori, Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Ecuador's Rafael Correa, Argentina's Cristina Fernandez and Panama's Ricardo Martinelli. —Reuters
