Israel's Netanyahu plans to meet with Trump next week, report says
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Asharq Al-Awsat
21 minutes ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Hamas Rejects Trump Remarks on Gaza Talks Breakdown
Hamas officials expressed surprise on Saturday at US President Donald Trump's accusation that the group "didn't really want" a ceasefire and hostage release deal for Gaza. Trump made the allegation of Friday a day after Israel and the United States quit indirect negotiations with Hamas in Qatar that had lasted nearly three weeks. "Trump's remarks are particularly surprising, especially as they come at a time when progress had been made on some of the negotiation files," Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP. "So far, we have not been informed of any issues regarding the files under discussion in the indirect ceasefire negotiations", he added Nunu, who is close to Hamas's most senior political officials, said he was "surprised" that Israel and the United States had left the talks. Announcing the recall of US mediators on Thursday, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff accused Hamas of not "acting in good faith". Though not part of the Hamas negotiating team, Hamas politburo member Izzat al-Rishq insisted the group had shown "flexibility" in the talks. "The American statements deliberately ignore the real obstructionist to all agreements, Netanyahu's government, which continues to put obstacles, deceive and evade commitments," he said. Both Hamas officials called on the United States to be more even-handed in its role as mediator in the quest for a ceasefire after more than 21 months of fighting. "We call for an end to the US bias in favour of Netanyahu, who is obstructing any agreement", Nunu said.
Leaders
31 minutes ago
- Leaders
UK, France, Germany Urge Israel to End Gaza's Humanitarian Catastrophe
Britain, France and Germany are currently pressing on Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and put an immediate end to a 'humanitarian catastrophe,' according to The Associated Press. Urgent Call This move came after French President Emmanuel Macron announced his plan to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September. On Thursday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that he would hold an 'emergency call' with France and Germany to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. 'I will hold an emergency call with E3 partners tomorrow, where we will discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need while pulling together all the steps necessary to build a lasting peace,' he said in a statement on Thursday. The joint statement, issued after a call between Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, urged for an immediate ceasefire and said that 'withholding essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.' The three leaders also stressed their readiness to take more steps to support an immediate ceasefire and a political process that ensures lasting security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region. Macron's Surprise Announcement Crucially, Macron's unexpected announcement revealed some differences among the European allies concerning how to end the Israel-Hamas war that has started in October 2023. The E3 supports the establishment of a Palestinian state in principle. However, Germany is not planning to recognize the Palestinian state in the short term, according to Reuters. A German government spokesperson said on Friday that his country's top priority now is to make 'long-overdue progress' towards a two-state solution. Germany's position on Israel in the context of the Gaza war is deeply shaped by its sense of special responsibility to atone for the Holocaust, during which six million European Jews were killed under Hitler's regime between 1933 and 1945. Mounting Pressure in UK As for the UK, the British PM has been facing mounting pressure to officially recognize Palestinian statehood, both from opposition lawmakers and from members of his own Labour Party government. British MP Jeremy Corbyn has recently unveiled an independent 'Gaza tribunal' to investigate the UK's involvement in Israeli genocide in Gaza, according to Arab News. The Independent MP, who was the former Labour Party leader, has been criticizing Israeli military operation in Gaza since October 2023. On June 4, Corbyn introduced a bill into the UK House of Commons urging the government to establish an independent inquiry into UK's complicity in Israeli war in Gaza, including the supply of weapons, surveillance aircraft and use of Royal Air Force bases. Independent Gaza Tribunal However, the bill was rejected at its second reading earlier this month. As a result, Corbyn announced that he would hold a Gaza tribunal in September as 'the public deserves to know the full scale of their government's complicity in genocide.' The British government has been facing increasing pressure from MPs, including many from its own Labour Party, to take a decisive step against Israel. Call for Palestinian State Recognition Approximately 60 British Labour MPs have recently urged the UK government to immediately recognize the Palestinian state and halt what they labeled as 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza, according to The Guardian. A group of centrist and left-wing MPs write a letter this week to the Foreign Secretary David Lammy asking him to act immediately to stop Israel's reported plan to establish a so-called 'humanitarian city' of tents in the ruins of Rafah, in southern Gaza. 'By not recognizing [Palestine] as a state, we undermine our own policy of a two-state solution and set an expectation that the status quo can continue and see the effective erasure and annexation of Palestinian territory,' the letter said. The MPs also described the plan as 'ethnic cleansing' warning that such a move means the forcible transfer of civilians and the erasure of Palestinian presence as well. It is with great urgency and concern that we are writing to you regarding the Israeli Defense Minister's announcement on Monday of his plans to forcibly transfer all Palestinian civilians in Gaza to a camp in the ruined city of Rafah without allowing them to leave,' the letter added. Since the beginning of Hamas-Israel War in Gaza in 2023, the Israeli strikes have killed more than 57,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 137,000, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Related Topics: Gaza Talks at Crossroads: US Pulls Negotiators as Mediators Report Progress Canada Condemns Israel over Gaza's 'Humanitarian Disaster' UK to Hold Urgent Talks with France, Germany over Gaza War Short link : Post Views: 34
Arab News
32 minutes ago
- Arab News
No evidence Hamas stole aid from UN: Israeli military officials
LONDON: Israeli government claims that aid supplied by the UN into Gaza was regularly stolen by Hamas were not substantiated by evidence. The New York Times said it spoke to two Israeli military officials and two other Israelis with knowledge of the matter on condition of anonymity. They suggested that the UN's methods for getting aid into the enclave were 'largely effective' before Israel sealed off access to the territory in March this year following the collapse of a ceasefire. Israel and the US backed a new group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, giving it a near-monopoly on delivering aid supplies into Gaza in May. The GHF has been fiercely criticized for its methods by the UN and other global bodies, as well as national governments including the UK and France, amid reports of mass shootings at its distribution centers and independent claims that famine has subsequently swept the enclave. Israel, which accused UN employees of taking part in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on the country, justified the move by saying aid distributed by the UN and other groups was being taken and stockpiled by Hamas, with Benjamin Netanyahu saying in March: 'Hamas is currently taking control of all supplies and goods entering Gaza.' But, the Israeli officials told the NYT, these claims ran counter to evidence the military had suggesting the UN's methods of aid delivery were robust. Hamas was able to steal supplies from smaller aid organizations, they said, because they lacked the planning and security capacity of the UN. A Reuters report on Friday said the US government had reached the same conclusion that Israeli claims the UN was failing to deliver aid because of theft by Hamas were untrue. Israeli military officials met in March with government advisers to express concerns about the GHF's ability to distribute aid, urging them to allow continued UN access to areas the GHF was failing to sufficiently supply, the sources told the NYT. This request was denied by the Netanyahu administration, but the government later relented, allowing limited UN access to Gaza after the scale of hunger and the ineffectiveness of the GHF began to become apparent. Since May 19, the Israeli officials told the NYT, half of aid entering Gaza has been overseen by the UN, which was previously the biggest supplier, and other groups, with the rest overseen by the GHF. Former UN official Georgios Petropoulos, who helped oversee aid coordination with Israel into Gaza for over a year of the war, said: 'For months, we and other organizations were dragged through the mud by accusations that Hamas steals from us.' He added: 'If the UN had been taken at face value months ago, we wouldn't have wasted all this time and Gazans wouldn't be starving and being shot at trying to feed their families.' About 1,100 Palestinians have been shot by Israeli soldiers and private contractors at the four GHF aid distribution centers operating in Gaza, according to local health authorities. Many thousands more are at risk of famine, with doctors in the enclave saying malnutrition is rife, especially among children. The GHF has also been criticized for failing to provide enough aid at the sites it runs. A group of more than 100 international organizations have warned of 'mass starvation,' and urged Israel to lift its restrictions on them delivering aid into Gaza. On July 23 a group of 28 national governments, including the UK, France and Canada, as well as the EU, signed a statement condemning what they called the 'drip-feeding of aid' into Gaza. Since being permitted access in May, the UN says Israel has also failed to provide enough safe entry routes into Gaza for it to deliver aid. The Israeli government has accused the UN of not collecting aid supplies based near a border crossing to send into Gaza as a reason for the lack of supplies into the territory. Earlier this week it refused to extend the visa of senior UN official Jonathan Whittall, who oversees humanitarian affairs in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, over claims he 'spread lies about Israel.' In a statement, the Israeli military said it was 'well documented' that Hamas 'exploited humanitarian aid to fund terrorist activities.' Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer claimed this week that there was 'no famine caused by Israel' in Gaza, blaming Hamas and the UN for food shortages. Almost 62,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began operations in Gaza in October 2023. Many thousands more have been wounded, with millions displaced, lacking access to clean water, food, medical aid and shelter.
