Closing summary
US special envoy Steve Witkoff has arrived in Israel in a bid to salvage ceasefire talks and tackle a humanitarian crisis in Gaza where a global hunger monitor has warned that famine was unfolding. Israeli media reported that Witkoff will visit US-Israeli-backed GHF aid sites in Gaza during his trip to Israel.
Donald Trump has said in a post on his Truth Social that the “fastest way to end humanitarian crises in Gaza” is for “Hamas to surrender and release hostages”.
More than seventy women, ranging in age from 13 to over 70, from the village of Umm al-Kheir in Masafer Yatta, in the West Bank, have gone on hunger strike, demanding the return of the body of Awdah al-Hathaleen, a resident of the village who was murdered by an Israeli settler on Monday. Al-Hathaleen, who was an activist and a journalist, helped make the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.
The UK government will not get into a “to and fro” with Hamas over its plans to recognise a Palestinian state, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said, adding: “We don’t negotiate with terrorists.” Speaking to reporters in Swindon, he said: “Look, our requests that all hostages must be released and that Hamas can play no future role in the governance of Gaza or a Palestinian state are long-standing.
Portugal’s centre-right government will consult the main political parties and conservative president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa about the potential recognition of a Palestinian state, prime minister Luis Montenegro said on Thursday. Unlike neighbouring Spain, whose leftist government recognised Palestinian statehood in May 2024 alongside Ireland and Norway and called on other EU countries to do the same, Portugal has taken a more cautious approach, saying it wanted to work out a common position with other EU countries first.
France’s foreign minister on Thursday said a US and Israel-backed aid distribution system in Gaza had generated a “bloodbath” and had to cease activity. “I want to call for the cessation of the activities of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the militarised distribution of humanitarian aid that has generated a bloodbath in distribution lines in Gaza, which is a scandal, which is shameful, and has to stop,” Foreign and European Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters after meeting his Cyprus counterpart in Nicosia.
Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson urged the European Union to suspend the trade component of the bloc’s association agreement with Israel. In a post on social media, he said: “The situation in Gaza is utterly deplorable, and Israel is not fulfilling its most basic obligations and agreed-upon commitments regarding humanitarian aid.”
Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul said on Thursday that talks on a two-state solution “must begin now”, warning Berlin would respond to “unilateral steps”, Reuters reports. In a statement before heading to Israel AFP reports he said that the recent UN conference on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - boycotted by the US and Israel - showed that “Israel is finding itself increasingly in the minority”.
British prime minister Keir Starmer has said that he “particularly” listens to hostages who were held captive by Hamas after a British-Israeli woman held hostage by Hamas criticised his pledge to recognise a Palestinian state. Asked about criticism over the decision and a warning from peers that it could breach international law, Starmer said that “we do need to do everything we can to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”.
At least 111 Palestinians, including 91 aid seekers, have been killed and 820 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run Health Ministry says.
The BBC has shown footage of humanitarian aid being airdropped into Gaza.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said on Thursday that Lebanese political parties need to seize the opportunity and hand over their weapons sooner rather than later. He said his country was determined to disarm Hezbollah, a day after the group’s chief said those demanding its disarmament were serving Israeli goals.
Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani said his country wants Russia “by our side” and called for “mutual respect” between the two nations following the overthrow of Syria’s previous Moscow-backed government last year, AFP reports.
Iran on Thursday described as “malicious” fresh US sanctions targeting a shipping empire controlled by the son of a top political advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, AFP reports.
The United States said on Thursday it would deny visas to Palestinian Authority officials, accusing the body which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank of seeking to “internationalize” the situation, AFP reports. The organisation is “taking actions to internationalize its conflict with Israel such as through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ),” the State Department said, also accusing the Palestinian Authority of “continuing to support terrorism.”
The Palestinian Authority said Israeli settlers set fire to homes and cars in a West Bank village on Thursday, killing one man, in the latest attack in the occupied territory, AFP reports. “Forty-year-old Khamis Abdel-Latif Ayad was martyred due to smoke inhalation caused by fires set by settlers in citizens’ homes and vehicles in the village of Silwad at dawn,” the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.
Aid packages, dropped from an airplane, descend over Gaza today, as seen from the central Gaza Strip.
Portugal’s centre-right government will consult the main political parties and conservative president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa about the potential recognition of a Palestinian state, prime minister Luis Montenegro said on Thursday.
Unlike neighbouring Spain, whose leftist government recognised Palestinian statehood in May 2024 alongside Ireland and Norway and called on other EU countries to do the same, Portugal has taken a more cautious approach, saying it wanted to work out a common position with other EU countries first.
French president Emmanuel Macron announced last week his country, a heavyweight in the EU, plans to recognise a Palestinian state, becoming the first major Western state to do so.
His move came amid a rising global outcry over starvation and devastation in Gaza as Israel wages war against Hamas militants there. Britain and Canada have since said they could also recognise a Palestinian state.
“The government decided to promote consultations with the president and the political parties represented in parliament with a view to consider the recognition of the Palestinian state in a process that could be concluded ... at the UN General Assembly in September,” Montenegro said in a statement.
More than seventy women, ranging in age from 13 to over 70, from the village of Umm al-Kheir in Masafer Yatta, in the West Bank, have gone on hunger strike, demanding the return of the body of Awdah al-Hathaleen, a resident of the village who was murdered by an Israeli settler on Monday.
Al-Hathaleen, who was an activist and a journalist, helped make the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.
His body is being held by Israel, and the police are imposing conditions for its release, such as limiting the number of participants in the funeral to just 15, and requiring his burial in one of the nearby cities rather than in the village itself.
The women said they will continue the hunger strike until his body is returned.
They added that the hunger strike is also a protest against the ongoing detention of the six residents of the village who remain in jail - Awdah’s brothers and cousins.
The women also expressed anger at the nightly raids into their homes since the killing.
In a statement they said:
They broke into the home of the martyr’s wife, even though it’s well known that she is in ‘iddah, the four-month mourning period prescribed by Islam, during which no man may see her except her brother, father, or other close male relatives who are permitted to. The army entered her room while she was in her ‘iddah. The children began to scream. When the soldiers came in, they tried to break the gate with a vehicle, to damage it by force, to ram the door in order to enter.
The men of the village have announced that they, too, will join the hunger strike if Al-Hathaleen body is not returned within 24 hours.
At least 69 killed seeking aid in Gaza as US envoy Steve Witkoff visits Israel
At least 69 people have been killed and dozens more wounded while waiting for aid in Gaza over the last 24 hours, as the US envoy, Steve Witkoff, visits Israel for ceasefire discussions.
On Wednesday night, crowds of hungry people had gathered at the Zikim crossing with Israel, waiting for trucks loaded with humanitarian aid to enter the besieged strip when they were shot. Al-Saraya field hospital said it had received more than 100 dead and wounded after the shooting, while the death toll was expected to rise, the Associated Press reported.
Later on Thursday morning, 19 people seeking aid were killed by Israeli soldiers while outside aid distribution points in the central Gaza Strip and in Rafah in south Gaza.
Gaza is in the throes of famine, according to the international authority on food insecurity. Seven children died of hunger on Wednesday, bringing the total number of malnutrition deaths to 154, the Gaza health authority said.
As Gaza’s famine has deepened, social order has broken down. It is common for crowds of hundreds of desperate people to wait for the rare aid truck to enter Gaza and to loot the vehicle once it comes arrives.
You can read the full report here:
Updated
Palestinians say settlers’ arson attack kills man in West Bank
The Palestinian Authority said Israeli settlers set fire to homes and cars in a West Bank village on Thursday, killing one man, in the latest attack in the occupied territory, AFP reports.
“Forty-year-old Khamis Abdel-Latif Ayad was martyred due to smoke inhalation caused by fires set by settlers in citizens’ homes and vehicles in the village of Silwad at dawn,” the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.
Witnesses provided corresponding accounts of the attack on Silwad, a village in the central West Bank near several Israeli settlements.
Raafat Hussein Hamed, a resident of Silwad whose house was torched in Thursday’s attack, said that “a car dropped them (the settlers) off somewhere, they burned whatever they could and then ran away”.
Hamed said the assailants “come from an outpost”, referring to wildcat settlements that are illegal under Israeli law, as opposed to formally recognised settlements.
US to refuse visas to Palestinian Authority officials
The United States said on Thursday it would deny visas to Palestinian Authority officials, accusing the body which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank of seeking to “internationalize” the situation, AFP reports.
The organisation is “taking actions to internationalize its conflict with Israel such as through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ),” the State Department said, also accusing the Palestinian Authority of “continuing to support terrorism.”
The statement did not specify who was being targeted, only saying it would “deny visas” to “members” of the Palestine Liberation Organization and “officials” from the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The measures against the PA, whose leader Mahmoud Abbas has been widely recognised for years as a key partner in efforts to resolve the conflict, come as growing numbers of countries consider recognising a Palestinian state.
Canada and France are among the latest nations to announce they will grant recognition during the UN General Assembly meeting, which takes place in September in New York.
The US visa denials could possibly complicate attendance to the meeting by Palestinian leaders.
Portugal to consider recognising state of Palestine in September
Portugal is considering recognising the Palestinian state in September, the country’s prime minister Luís Montenegro said, AFP reports.
Updated
British prime minister Keir Starmer has said that he “particularly” listens to hostages who were held captive by Hamas after a British-Israeli woman held hostage by Hamas criticised his pledge to recognise a Palestinian state.
Asked about criticism over the decision and a warning from peers that it could breach international law, Starmer said that “we do need to do everything we can to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”.
Speaking to ITV West Country while on a visit to Swindon, the prime minister said:
I particularly listen to the hostages, Emily Damari, who I have spoken to, - I’ve met her mother a number of times, and they’ve been through the most awful, awful experience for Emily and for her mother.
And that’s why I’ve been absolutely clear and steadfast that we must have the remaining hostages released. That’s been our position throughout and I absolutely understand the unimaginable horror that Emily went through.
Alongside that, we do need to do everything we can to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where we are seeing the children and babies starving for want of aid which could be delivered.
That is why I’ve said unless things materially change on the ground, we’ll have to assess this in September, we will recognise Palestine before the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Aid packages, dropped from an airplane, descend over Gaza earlier today, as seen from the central Gaza Strip.
France’s foreign minister on Thursday said a US and Israel-backed aid distribution system in Gaza had generated a “bloodbath” and had to cease activity.
“I want to call for the cessation of the activities of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the militarised distribution of humanitarian aid that has generated a bloodbath in distribution lines in Gaza, which is a scandal, which is shameful, and has to stop,” Foreign and European Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters after meeting his Cyprus counterpart in Nicosia.
The UK government will not get into a “to and fro” with Hamas over its plans to recognise a Palestinian state, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said, adding: “We don’t negotiate with terrorists.”
Speaking to reporters in Swindon, he said: “Look, our requests that all hostages must be released and that Hamas can play no future role in the governance of Gaza or a Palestinian state are long-standing.
“We don’t negotiate with terrorists, Hamas are terrorists, and that’s why we don’t get into a to and fro with them as to what we want them to do. That’s absolute in terms of our request.
“What we are seeking to do is use the moment of recognition of a Palestinian state in a way that allows us to genuinely try and move this conflict forward, end it - not just in the short-term, but for the long term as well.
“Of course, get aid into Gaza, which is absolutely key, but use this moment to try and genuinely say what we have witnessed is so appalling, so horrific, there’s suffering on both sides, but we have to try surely and move this on for good, and that requires a two-state solution.
“That is why recognition of the Palestinian state is so important.”
Summary
Here is a recap of events so far today.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff has arrived in Israel in a bid to salvage ceasefire talks and tackle a humanitarian crisis in Gaza where a global hunger monitor has warned that famine was unfolding. Israeli media reported that Witkoff will visit US-Israeli-backed GHF aid sites in Gaza during his trip to Israel.
Donald Trump has said in a post on his Truth Social that the “fastest way to end humanitarian crises in Gaza” is for “Hamas to surrender and release hostages”.
Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson urged the European Union to suspend the trade component of the bloc’s association agreement with Israel. In a post on social media, he said: “The situation in Gaza is utterly deplorable, and Israel is not fulfilling its most basic obligations and agreed-upon commitments regarding humanitarian aid.”
Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul said on Thursday that talks on a two-state solution “must begin now”, warning Berlin would respond to “unilateral steps”, Reuters reports. In a statement before heading to Israel AFP reports he said that the recent UN conference on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - boycotted by the US and Israel - showed that “Israel is finding itself increasingly in the minority”.
At least 111 Palestinians, including 91 aid seekers, have been killed and 820 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run Health Ministry says.
The BBC has shown footage of humanitarian aid being airdropped into Gaza.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said on Thursday that Lebanese political parties need to seize the opportunity and hand over their weapons sooner rather than later. He said his country was determined to disarm Hezbollah, a day after the group’s chief said those demanding its disarmament were serving Israeli goals.
Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani said his country wants Russia “by our side” and called for “mutual respect” between the two nations following the overthrow of Syria’s previous Moscow-backed government last year, AFP reports.
Iran on Thursday described as “malicious” fresh US sanctions targeting a shipping empire controlled by the son of a top political advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, AFP reports.
Here is an image coming to us over the wires of humanitarian aid being airdropped on Gaza by the Egyptian Air Force.
The BBC has been showing footage of airdrops from Jordan and UAE taking place in Gaza.
At least 111 Palestinians, including 91 seeking aid, killed in Gaza in past 24 hours, Hamas-run health ministry says
At least 111 Palestinians, including 91 aid seekers, have been killed and 820 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed 60,249 Palestinians and injured 147,089 since 7 October, 2023, the ministry said on Telegram.
The total number of aid seekers killed since 27 May, when Israel introduced a new aid distribution mechanism, has reached 1,330, with more than 8,818 injured, the statement said.
Trump says 'fastest way to end humanitarian crises in Gaza' is for Hamas 'to surrender and release hostages'
Donald Trump has posted on his Truth Social on the Gaza humanitarian crisis:
The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!
Updated
Here are some images coming to us over the wires.
Talks on two-state solution 'must begin now', German foreign minister says
Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul said on Thursday talks on a two-state solution “must begin now”, warning Berlin would respond to “unilateral steps”, Reuters reports.
“A negotiated two-state solution remains the only path that can offer people on both sides a life in peace, security, and dignity,” he said in a statement issued shortly before his trip on Thursday to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
“For Germany, the recognition of a Palestinian state comes more at the end of that process. But such a process must begin now.”
AFP reports that Wadephul said that the recent UN conference on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - boycotted by the US and Israel - showed that “Israel is finding itself increasingly in the minority”.
Reuters has reported on the desperate situation in Gaza.
In a makeshift tent on a Gazan beach, three-month-old Muntaha’s grandmother grinds up chickpeas into the tiniest granules she can to form a paste to feed the infant, knowing it will cause her to cry in pain, in a desperate race to keep the baby from starving.
“If the baby could speak, she would scream at us, asking what we are putting into her stomach,” her aunt, Abir Hamouda said.
Muntaha grimaced and squirmed as her grandmother fed her the paste with a syringe.
Muntaha’s family is one of many in Gaza facing dire choices to try to feed babies, especially those below the age of six months who cannot process solid food.
Infant formula is scarce after a plummet in aid access to Gaza. Many women cannot breastfeed due to malnourishment, while other babies are separated from their mothers due to displacement, injury or, in Muntaha’s case, death.
Her family says the baby’s mother was hit by a bullet while pregnant, gave birth prematurely while unconscious in intensive care, and died a few weeks later. The director of the Shifa Hospital described such a case in a Facebook post on April 27, four days after Muntaha was born.
“I am terrified about the fate of the baby,” said her grandmother, Nemah Hamouda. “We named her after her mother...hoping she can survive and live long, but we are so afraid, we hear children and adults die every day of hunger.”
Muntaha now weighs about 3.5 kilograms, her family said, barely more than half of what a full-term baby her age would normally weigh. She suffers stomach problems like vomiting and diarrhoea after feeding.
Health officials, aid workers and Gazan families told Reuters many families are feeding infants herbs and tea boiled in water, or grinding up bread or sesame.
Humanitarian agencies also reported cases of parents boiling leaves in water, eating animal feed and grinding sand into flour.
Syrian foreign minister says he wants Russia 'by our side'
Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani said his country wants Russia “by our side” and called for “mutual respect” between the two nations following the overthrow of Syria’s previous Moscow-backed government last year, AFP reports.
“The current period is full of various challenges and threats, but it is also an opportunity to build a united and strong Syria. And, of course, we are interested in having Russia by our side on this path,” he told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during a visit to Moscow, according to a Russian translation of his comments.
Sweden calls on EU to suspend trade pact with Israel
Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, urged the European Union to suspend the trade component of the bloc’s association agreement with Israel.
In a post on social media, he said:
The situation in Gaza is utterly deplorable, and Israel is not fulfilling its most basic obligations and agreed-upon commitments regarding humanitarian aid.
Sweden therefore demands that the EU, as soon as possible, freezes the trade component of the association agreement. Economic pressure on Israel must increase. The Israeli government must allow unrestricted humanitarian aid in Gaza.
At the same time, pressure on Hamas must increase so that the hostages are released immediately and unconditionally.
Sweden welcomes the fact that more countries in the Middle East are demanding that Hamas be disarmed and not have a role in the future governance of Gaza.
You can follow developments in Europe over on our Europe Live with Jakub Krupa here.
AFP is reporting more on Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s speech (see earlier post).
In a speech to mark Army Day Aoun said Lebanon was at “a crucial stage that does not tolerate any sort of provocation from any side”.
“For the thousandth time, I assure you that my concern in having a (state) weapons monopoly comes from my concern to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty and borders, to liberate the occupied Lebanese territories and build a state that welcomes all its citizens”, he said, addressing Hezbollah’s supporters as an “essential pillar” of society.
Israeli media are reporting that US special envoy Steve Witkoff will visit US-Israeli-backed GHF aid sites in Gaza during his trip to Israel.
It comes as at least 30 people were killed waiting for aid in northern Gaza on Wednesday.
We have more from Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (see earlier post).
He said his country was determined to disarm Hezbollah, a day after the group’s chief said those demanding its disarmament were serving Israeli goals.
Beirut is demanding “the extension of the Lebanese state’s authority over all its territory, the removal of weapons from all armed groups including Hezbollah and their handover to the Lebanese army”, Aoun said in a speech to mark Army Day, AFP reports.
In The Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast Surgeon Nick Maynard describes the unfolding famine he witnessed during his volunteering in Gaza, while our chief Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison, analyses whether the UK’s proposed recognition of Palestine will alleviate the suffering there.
You can listen to this here:
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said on Thursday that Lebanese political parties need to seize the opportunity and hand over their weapons sooner rather than later, as Washington increases pressure on Hezbollah to give up its arms.
He added that the country would seek $1 billion annually for 10 years to support the army and security forces in Lebanon, Reuters reports.
Iran on Thursday described as “malicious” fresh US sanctions targeting a shipping empire controlled by the son of a top political advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, AFP reports.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei called “the new US sanctions against Iran’s oil trade a malicious act aimed at undermining the economic development and welfare of the Iranian people”.
Here are some images coming to us over the wires.
Updated
IDF gunfire kills 30 Palestinians waiting for aid, Gaza defence ministry says, as US special envoy due to visit Israel
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Middle East crisis.
Israeli gunfire killed at least 30 Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in northern Gaza on Wednesday, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency.
Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that “at least 30” people were killed and 300 wounded.
The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of casualties in the incident north of Gaza City, as the United Nations said that pauses in Israel’s offensive against Hamas were not enough to help the population through a deepening hunger crisis.
The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, said that four days into Israel’s “tactical pauses”, people were still dying from hunger and malnutrition, alongside casualties among those seeking aid.
Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said his facility had received 35 bodies from the shooting, which reportedly struck about three kilometres (two miles) southwest of the Zikim crossing point for aid trucks entering Gaza.
Amid deadlocked talks on a ceasefire, US special envoy Steve Witkoff is scheduled to visit Israel on Thursday.
Witkoff has been involved in indirect ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas. The discussions broke down last week when Israel and the US recalled their delegations from Doha.
A US official told reporters that Witkoff “will meet with officials to discuss next steps in addressing the situation in Gaza.”
His visit comes as Canada followed France and the UK when it announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.
Updated
