Israelhas saidHamasmust accept a hostage deal inGazaor “be annihilated”, asDonald Trumpannounced that a ceasefire agreement was “very close”.
It comes amid dire conditions on the ground, with theUnited Nationswarning that Gaza’s entire population was at risk of famine.
Agence-France Presse (AFP) reported that on Friday, defence ministerIsrael KatzsaidHamasmust agree to a ceasefire proposal presented byUSenvoySteve Witkoffor be destroyed, after thePalestinianmilitant group said the deal failed to satisfy its demands. However, Hamas said it was still considering the text.
“The Hamas murderers will now be forced to choose: accept the terms of the ‘Witkoff deal’ for the release of the hostages – or be annihilated,” said Katz.
Negotiations to end nearly 20 months of war in Gaza have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough, with Israel resuming operations in March after a short-lived truce.
In the US, the Trump told reporters “they’re very close to an agreement on Gaza”, adding: “We’ll let you know about it during the day or maybe tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, food shortages in Gaza persist, with aid only trickling in after the partial lifting by Israel of a more than two-month blockade.
Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for theUN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha),called Gaza “the hungriest place on Earth”. He said:
In other developments:
Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), has described the difficulties faced by the UN in delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip as an “an operational straitjacket”.Laerke said the mission to deliver aid was “in an operational straitjacket that makes it one of the most obstructed aid operations not only in the world today, but in recent history”. Once truckloads entered Gaza, they were often “swarmed by desperate people”, he said.
Israel will not allow a planned meeting in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, to go ahead, an Israeli official said on Saturday,after media reported that Arab ministers planning to attend had been stopped from coming. The delegation included ministers from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Palestinian Authority officials said.
Israeli airstrikes have struck westernSyria, the Israeli military and Syrian state media have said, and reportedly one civilian has been killed in the first such attack on the country in nearly a month.“A strike from Israeli occupation aircraft targeted sites close to the village of Zama in the Jableh countryside south of Latakia,” state television said.
Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that Iran considers nuclear weapons “unacceptable”, reiterating the country’s longstanding position amid delicate negotiations with the United States. Iran has held five rounds of talks with the US in search of a new nuclear agreement to replace the deal with major powers Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The commander of Kurdish forces that control northeast Syria said on Friday that his group is in direct contact with Turkey and that he would be open to improving ties, including by meeting Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Foreign ministerAbbas Araghchisaid on Saturday thatIranconsiders nuclear weapons “unacceptable”, reiterating the country’s longstanding position amid delicate negotiations with theUnited States.
“If the issue is nuclear weapons, yes, we too consider this type of weapon unacceptable,” Araghchi, Iran’s lead negotiator in the talks, said in a televised speech, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). “We agree with them on this issue.”
Iran has held five rounds of talks with the US in search of a new nuclear agreement to replace the deal with major powers presidentDonald Trumpabandoned during his first term in 2018.
The two governments are at odds over Iran’s uranium enrichment programme, whichWashingtonhas said must cease but whichTehraninsists is its right under thenuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).
Nonetheless, Trump said on Wednesday that “we’re having some very good talks with Iran”, adding that he had warnedIsraeliprime ministerBenjamin Netanyahuagainst striking its nuclear facilities as it would not be “appropriate right now”.
Trump has not ruled out military action but said he wants space to make a deal first, and has also said that Israel, and not the US, would take the lead in any such strikes.
Lebaneseofficial media said anIsraelistrike killed one person in the south on Saturday despite a six-month-old ceasefire, asIsraelsaid it targeted aHezbollahmilitant.
The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said a man was killed when an Israeli drone targeted his car as he was heading to pray at a mosque inDeir al-Zahrani, about 20km (12 miles) from the Israeli border.
Israel has continued to bombLebanondespite the 27 November truce that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, including two months of open war.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Israeli army said the strike killed a regional commander “of Hezbollah’s rocket array”.
It said that during the conflict, the operative “advanced numerous projectile attacks … and was involved recently in efforts to reestablish Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure” in south Lebanon.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah fighters were to pull back north of theLitani River, 30km (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle military infrastructure to its south. Israel was to withdraw all forces from Lebanon but it has kept troops in five areas it deems “strategic”.
The Lebanese army has deployed in the south and has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure.
Gazais “the hungriest place on Earth”, according to theUN, which has warned that thePalestinianterritory’s entire population is at risk of famine.
Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for theUN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the territory was “the only defined area – a country or defined territory within a country – where you have the entire population at risk of famine. One hundred per cent of the population at risk of famine,” he said on Friday.
Laerke detailed the difficulties faced by the UN in delivering humanitarian aid to theGaza Strip. Nine hundred trucks of humanitarian aid had been authorised byIsraelto enter the strip since the blockade was partially lifted, but so far only 600 had been off-loaded on the Gaza side of the border, and a smaller number of shipments had then been picked up for distribution within the territory because of security considerations, he said.
Laerke said the mission to deliver aid was “in an operational straitjacket that makes it one of the most obstructed aid operations not only in the world today, but in recent history”.
Once truckloads entered Gaza, they were often “swarmed by desperate people”, he said.
Daniel Meron, Israel’s UN ambassador, rejected the claim, saying UN agencies “cherrypick the facts to paint an alternative version of reality and demonise Israel”.
“In a desperate effort to remain relevant, they lambast the best efforts of Israel and its partners to facilitate delivery of humanitarian aid to the civilian population. UN feedsHamas, we make sure aid gets to those in need,” he wrote on X.
In a reflection of the increasingly dire conditions inside the territory, a UN spokesperson said late on Friday that “armed individuals” hadraided a warehouse at a field hospital inDeir al-Balah, “looting large quantities of medical equipment, supplies, medicines, nutritional supplements that was intended for malnourished children”.
Israelwill not allow a planned meeting in thePalestinianadministrative capital ofRamallah, in theoccupied West Bank, to go ahead, an Israeli official said on Saturday, after media reported that Arab ministers planning to attend had been stopped from coming.
The delegation included ministers fromJordan,Egypt,Saudi Arabia,Qatarand theUnited Arab Emirates,Palestinian Authorityofficials said. The ministers would require Israeli consent to travel to the West Bank from Jordan, reports Reuters.
An Israeli official said the ministers intended to take part in “a provocative meeting” to discuss promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“Such a state would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the land of Israel,” the official said, according to Reuters. “Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security.”
A Palestinian Authority official said that the issue of whether the meeting in Ramallah would be able to go ahead was under discussion.
The move comes ahead of an international conference, co-chaired byFranceand Saudi Arabia, due to be held inNew Yorkon 17-20 June to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from theUnited NationsandEuropeancountries which favour a two-state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
French presidentEmmanuel Macronsaid on Friday that recognising a Palestinian state was not only a “moral duty but a political necessity”.
Israelhas saidHamasmust accept a hostage deal inGazaor “be annihilated”, asDonald Trumpannounced that a ceasefire agreement was “very close”.
It comes amid dire conditions on the ground, with theUnited Nationswarning that Gaza’s entire population was at risk of famine.
Agence-France Presse (AFP) reported that on Friday, defence ministerIsrael KatzsaidHamasmust agree to a ceasefire proposal presented byUSenvoySteve Witkoffor be destroyed, after thePalestinianmilitant group said the deal failed to satisfy its demands. However, Hamas said it was still considering the text.
“The Hamas murderers will now be forced to choose: accept the terms of the ‘Witkoff deal’ for the release of the hostages – or be annihilated,” said Katz.
Negotiations to end nearly 20 months of war in Gaza have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough, with Israel resuming operations in March after a short-lived truce.
In the US, the Trump told reporters “they’re very close to an agreement on Gaza”, adding: “We’ll let you know about it during the day or maybe tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, food shortages in Gaza persist, with aid only trickling in after the partial lifting by Israel of a more than two-month blockade.
Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for theUN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha),called Gaza “the hungriest place on Earth”. He said:
In other developments:
Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), has described the difficulties faced by the UN in delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip as an “an operational straitjacket”.Laerke said the mission to deliver aid was “in an operational straitjacket that makes it one of the most obstructed aid operations not only in the world today, but in recent history”. Once truckloads entered Gaza, they were often “swarmed by desperate people”, he said.
Israel will not allow a planned meeting in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, to go ahead, an Israeli official said on Saturday,after media reported that Arab ministers planning to attend had been stopped from coming. The delegation included ministers from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Palestinian Authority officials said.
Israeli airstrikes have struck westernSyria, the Israeli military and Syrian state media have said, and reportedly one civilian has been killed in the first such attack on the country in nearly a month.“A strike from Israeli occupation aircraft targeted sites close to the village of Zama in the Jableh countryside south of Latakia,” state television said.
Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that Iran considers nuclear weapons “unacceptable”, reiterating the country’s longstanding position amid delicate negotiations with the United States. Iran has held five rounds of talks with the US in search of a new nuclear agreement to replace the deal with major powers Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The commander of Kurdish forces that control northeast Syria said on Friday that his group is in direct contact with Turkey and that he would be open to improving ties, including by meeting Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.