Closing summary
Donald Trump on Friday backed aid for the Palestinians, saying people in Gaza are starving and adding that he expected “a lot of good things” in the next month. According to Reuters, when asked whether he supported Israeli plans to expand the war in Gaza, the US president told reporters: “I think a lot of good things are going to happen over the next month, and we’re going to see. We have to help also out the Palestinians. You know, a lot of people are starving on Gaza, so we have to look at both sides.”
The Associated Press (AP) is reporting the death toll from Israeli strikes in Gaza on Friday has increased to 93. Heavy strikes were reported on Friday in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya and in the Jabalia refugee camp, where Palestinian emergency services said many bodies were still buried in the rubble.
Israel’s military said Friday it struck two ports in Yemen that were controlled by the Houthi militant group. It claimed that the Hodeida and Salif ports were used by the Houthis to transfer weapons. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
A senior Hamas official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday that the group expects the United States to pressure Israel into lifting its aid blockade of Gaza after the group released a US-Israeli hostage this week. “Hamas is awaiting and expecting the US administration to exert further pressure on the Netanyahu government to open the crossings and allow the immediate entry of humanitarian aid – food, medicine and fuel – to the hospitals in the Gaza Strip,” Taher al-Nunu said, adding that aid entry was part of an understanding with US envoys in exchange for Edan Alexander’s release.
Edan Alexander, the Israeli-American hostage released Monday after backdoor US-Hamas diplomacy, left the hospital Friday, according to a statement released by his parents, who said his recovery is far from over. Yael and Adi Alexander said their son still needed medical treatment for his injuries suffered during the Hamas attack on 7 October, 2023, and over his 18 months in captivity. His hands are injured from a tunnel collapsing on him, they said.
The World Bank on Friday said it would restart operation in Syria after a 14-year pause, after Saudi Arabia and Qatar had paid off the country’s outstanding debts, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). The bank’s operation in Syria were halted when the civil war broke out in 2011, preventing the country from gaining access to its development loans, grants, and technical expertise.
The Council of Europe on Friday said Gaza was suffering from a “deliberate starvation”, and warned that Israel was sowing “the seeds for the next Hamas” in the territory. “The time for a moral reckoning over the treatment of Palestinians has come – and it is long overdue,” said Dora Bakoyannis, rapporteur for the Middle East at the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Seventeen Palestinian children and their caregivers were recently sent back to Gaza after receiving medical treatment in Jordan, reports the Associated Press (AP). More than two dozen children and their caregivers were evacuated from Gaza in March as part of a Jordanian initiative to provide medical care. The 17 patients who completed their treatment went home.
An Israeli official said the strikes in Gaza on Friday were preparatory actions in the lead-up to a larger operation and to send a message to Hamas that it will begin soon if there is not an agreement to release hostages. The official was not authorised to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press (AP).
Dozens of Israelis have protested in support of a soldier imprisoned for refusing to fight in Gaza, AP reports. The protesters expressed support for Daniel Yahalom, a reserve soldier who is serving five days in prison for refusing to participate in what he called an unjust fight.
US president Donald Trump said on Friday that American journalist Austin Tice, captured in Syria more than 12 years ago, has not been seen in years, reports Reuters. Trump was asked if he brought up Tice when he met Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, during a visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump said he did not consult ally Israel about the US decision to recognise Syria’s new government, despite deep Israeli suspicion of President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s administration, reports Reuters.
US president Donald Trump said on Friday that Iran should make a quick decision on an American proposal for a nuclear deal or “something bad will happen”. Speaking in Abu Dhabi as he capped a Gulf tour, Trump said his administration had handed Iran a proposal for a agreement, adding that “they know they have to move quickly or something bad is going to happen”.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement they would hunt down the Houthis’ top leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, after the Israeli military said the ports of Hodeidah and Salif were being used to transfer weapons.
“If the Houthis continue to fire missiles at the State of Israel, they will be severely harmed, and we will also hurt the leaders,” they said, adding that al-Houthi could join the list of militant figures killed by Israel, such as Hamas’ Yahya Sinwar and Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah.
Residents in Hodeidah said they heard four loud booms and saw smoke rising from the port following Israeli strikes.
Israel’s military said Friday it struck two ports in Yemen that were controlled by the Houthi militant group.
It claimed that the Hodeida and Salif ports were used by the Houthis to transfer weapons.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Internally displaced Palestinians move along Al Rashid road in the west of Gaza City today.
Freed Israeli-American hostage has left the hospital, parents say
Edan Alexander, the Israeli-American hostage released Monday after backdoor US-Hamas diplomacy, left the hospital Friday, according to a statement released by his parents, who said his recovery is far from over.
Yael and Adi Alexander said their son still needed medical treatment for his injuries suffered during the Hamas attack Oct. 7, 2023, and over his 18 months in captivity. His hands are injured from a tunnel collapsing on him, they said.
Alexander returned to his grandmother’s home in Tel Aviv, where his parents said he will stay for the time being.
“Today we were able to take down Edan’s hostage photos from the wall with a great sigh of relief and an enormous sense of comfort,” they said, calling for the return of 58 hostages still in Gaza.
Hamas urges US to press Israel to lift Gaza blockade after hostage release
A senior Hamas official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday that the group expects the United States to pressure Israel into lifting its aid blockade of Gaza after the group released a US-Israeli hostage this week.
“Hamas is awaiting and expecting the US administration to exert further pressure on the Netanyahu government to open the crossings and allow the immediate entry of humanitarian aid – food, medicine and fuel – to the hospitals in the Gaza Strip,” Taher al-Nunu said, adding that aid entry was part of an understanding with US envoys in exchange for Edan Alexander’s release.
According to Reuters, the Houthi-run Al Masirah TV is reporting that Israel attacked Yemen’s Salif port in Hodeidah along the country’s western coast on Friday.
The Guardian has been unable to independently verify the report.
World Bank announces plans to restart Syria operations
The World Bank on Friday said it would restart operation in Syria after a 14-year pause, after Saudi Arabia and Qatar had paid off the country’s outstanding debts, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The bank’s operation in Syria were halted when the civil war broke out in 2011, preventing the country from gaining access to its development loans, grants, and technical expertise.
After the ousting of former president Bashar al-Assad last year, the United States and other western nations have reengaged with the new government in Damascus, with many countries beginning the process of peeling back the sanctions.
Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia and Qatar paid off Syria’s outstanding debts of about $15.5m to the Washington-based institution, allowing operations to resume, the World Bank announced in a statement.
“After years of conflict, Syria is on a path to recovery and development,” it said, adding that the first project with the new Syrian government would focus on improving access to electricity. The bank said:
The proposed project is the first step in a planned increase in World Bank Group support designed to confront Syria’s urgent needs and invest in long-term development.
This will help to stabilise the country and the region.
Updated
Seventeen Palestinian children and their caregivers were recently sent back to Gaza after receiving medical treatment in Jordan, reports the Associated Press (AP).
More than two dozen children and their caregivers were evacuated from Gaza in March as part of a Jordanian initiative to provide medical care. The 17 patients who completed their treatment went home.
The AP reports that a Jordanian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, acknowledged that some Palestinians asked to stay beyond the treatment, but he said the plan was always to return them.
“We are not going to allow the displacement of Palestinians outside Gaza,” he said.
Jordan’s government said the children who left made room for others to come. On Wednesday, four cancer patients arrived from Gaza to start care.
Forcing people to return to a place where they could face serious harm would be a violation of international human rights law, according to rights groups. Under the law, all returns must be safe and voluntary, and the evacuating country should ensure that adequate services are available in their place of origin, reports the AP.
Death toll from Israeli strikes in Gaza on Friday rises to 93
The Associated Press (AP) is reporting the death toll from Israeli strikes in Gaza on Friday has increased to 93.
Heavy strikes were reported on Friday in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya and in the Jabalia refugee camp, where Palestinian emergency services said many bodies were still buried in the rubble.
Israel dropped leaflets on Beit Lahiya ordering all residents to leave, whether they lived in tents, shelters or buildings. “Leave southwards immediately,” the leaflets read, reports Reuters.
Residents said Israeli tanks were advancing towards the southern city of Khan Younis.
Council of Europe denounces 'deliberate starvation' in Gaza
The Council of Europe on Friday said Gaza was suffering from a “deliberate starvation”, and warned that Israel was sowing “the seeds for the next Hamas” in the territory.
“The time for a moral reckoning over the treatment of Palestinians has come – and it is long overdue,” said Dora Bakoyannis, rapporteur for the Middle East at the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“No cause, no matter how just or pure, can ever justify every means,” Bakoyannis said in a statement, adding:
The mass killing of children and unarmed civilians, the deliberate starvation, and the relentless pain and humiliation inflicted upon Palestinians in Gaza must end.
Since 2 March, Israeli forces have blocked all humanitarian aid entering Gaza for its 2.4 million inhabitants, now threatened with famine, according to several NGOs.
Bakoyannis said that “it takes a smart and brave nation to recognise when its actions are causing more harm than good. What is unfolding in Gaza helps no one”.
An Israeli official said the strikes in Gaza on Friday were preparatory actions in the lead-up to a larger operation and to send a message to Hamas that it will begin soon if there is not an agreement to release hostages. The official was not authorised to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press (AP).
The same official said that cabinet members were meeting on Friday to assess the negotiations in Qatar, where ceasefire talks are taking place, and to decide on next steps.
Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer told the AP on Friday that Israel’s military is intensifying its operations as it has done since Hamas stopped releasing hostages. “Our objective is to get them home and get Hamas to relinquish power,” he said. He said Israel will continue pressuring Hamas while negotiating, saying that it’s getting results.
Israel said on Friday it was continuing its operations against militants in Gaza and that it struck 150 targets in the past day, including anti-tank missile posts and military structures. In northern Gaza, it eliminated several militants who were operating in an observation compound, it said.
The strikes lasted for hours into Friday morning and sent people fleeing from the Jabaliya refugee camp and the town of Beit Lahiya. They followed days of similar attacks that killed more than 130 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
After the strikes, dark smoke was seen rising over Jabaliya as people grabbed what they could of their belongings and fled on donkey carts, by car and foot, reports the Associated Press (AP).
“The army entered upon us, bombing, killing. . … We got out of the house with difficulty, killing and death, we did not take anything,” Feisal Al-Attar, who was displaced from Beit Lahiya, told the AP.
Updated
Dozens of Israelis have protested in support of a soldier imprisoned for refusing to fight in Gaza, AP reports.
The protesters expressed support for Daniel Yahalom, a reserve soldier who is serving five days in prison for refusing to participate in what he called an unjust fight.
He is part of a small but growing number of Israelis who are refusing to show up for service as the war drags on and Israel intensifies its operations in Gaza.
The Israeli military confirmed Yahalom was going to prison and said he was not the first to receive a prison sentence for refusing to serve during the current Israel-Hamas war.
“This boy always cares about others even before himself … He cares about the suffering of our brothers who are dying underground, and he is willing to pay the price,” said his mother, Haya Yahalom.
Here is an interesting take from Reuters, who have spoken to a man living in a camp in the Gaza Strip.
He talks about the reality of the situation on the ground for ordinary Palestinians and highlights the lack of help forthcoming from US president Donald Trump.
Reuters reports:
In Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, men picked through a sea of rubble following the night’s strikes, pulling out sheets of metal as small children clambered through the debris.
Around 10 bodies draped in white sheets were lined up on the ground before being taken to hospital. Women sat crying nearby and one lifted a corner of a sheet to gaze at the dead person’s face.
Ismail, a man from Gaza City who gave only his first name, described a night of horror. “The non-stop explosions resulting from the airstrikes and tank shelling reminded us of the early days of the war. The ground didn’t stop shaking underneath our feet,” Ismail told Reuters via a chat app.
“We thought Trump arrived to save us, but it seems Netanyahu doesn’t care, neither does Trump,” he added.
US president Donald Trump said on Friday that American journalist Austin Tice, captured in Syria more than 12 years ago, has not been seen in years, reports Reuters.
Trump was asked if he brought up Tice when he met Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, during a visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
“I always talk about Austin Tice. Now you know Austin Tice hasn’t been seen in many, many years,” Trump replied. “He’s got a great mother who’s just working so hard to find her boy. So I understand it, but Austin has not been seen in many, many years.”
Tice, a former US Marine and a freelance journalist, was 31 when he was abducted in August 2012 while reporting in Damascus on the uprising against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted by Syrian rebels who seized the capital Damascus in December. Syria had denied he was being held.
US officials pressed for Tice’s release after the government fell. Former US president Joe Biden said at the time he believed Tice was alive.
Gaza rescuers say toll from Israeli strikes Friday rises to 74
Gaza rescuers said Israeli strikes and shelling on Friday killed 74 people in the war-battered Palestinian territory, updating a previous toll.
Civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Basal reported “74 martyrs as a result of the ongoing Israeli bombardment across the entire Gaza Strip since last night until this moment,” most of them in the north of the Palestinian territory, after the agency earlier reported more than 50 dead, while hospitals placed it at 64 (see 10.32am BST).
It is the sixth consecutive year that the number of people facing “high levels of acute food insecurity” has risen, reaching 295.3 million according to the latest Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC).
The figure represents almost a quarter – 22.6% – of the population of 53 countries analysed by GRFC experts.
“Intensifying conflict, increasing geopolitical tensions, global economic uncertainty and profound funding cuts are deepening acute food insecurity,” the report said.
People facing the most chronic lack of food – as categorised by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – more than doubled last year.
More than 95% of them lived in the Gaza Strip or Sudan, although Haiti, Mali and South Sudan had significant populations suffering similar food shortages.
The category – described as “catastrophe” by the IPC – is characterised by starvation, death, destitution and high rates of acute malnutrition.
In Sudan, the worsening civil war led to famine being officially declared with more than 24 million facing acute food insecurity.
Conditions also deteriorated within the Gaza Strip, with experts last year stating that half the population was projected to be suffering the IPC’s “catastrophe” scenario.
“Following the closure of all crossings into the Gaza Strip in early March, and the collapse of the two-month ceasefire, food access has been severely restricted,” the report said.
The warnings were corroborated on Monday when the latest report by the IPC said Gaza’s population of about 2.1 million Palestinians was at “critical risk” of famine as the Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid continued.
Donald Trump has said people are starving in Gaza and the US would have the situation in the territory “taken care of”. Gaza has suffered a further wave of intense Israeli airstrikes overnight.
On the final day of his Gulf tour in Abu Dhabi, the US president told reporters:
We’re looking at Gaza. And we’re going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving.
Israeli officials have consistently denied the tight blockade imposed on the devastated territory more than 10 weeks ago has caused hunger in Gaza and Trump’s comments will be seen as further evidence of tensions between Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, and its closest ally.
There had been widespread hope that Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates could lead to a fresh pause in hostilities or a renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Instead, the raids and bombardment over the past 72 hours have raised the levels of violence in Gaza higher than for several weeks, with the death toll coming close to what was seen in the first days of Israel’s renewed offensive in Gaza after a fragile ceasefire collapsed in March.
Some officials in the Palestinian territory put the number killed by Israeli attacks on Wednesday and Thursday as high as 250. Estimates varied on the number of casualties overnight and on Friday morning in Gaza.
Mohammed al-Mughayyir, a spokesperson for Gaza’s civil defence agency, said on Friday morning that 50 people had been killed since midnight.
President Donald Trump said he did not consult ally Israel about the US decision to recognise Syria’s new government, despite deep Israeli suspicion of President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s administration, reports Reuters.
“I didn’t ask them about that. I thought it was the right thing to do. I’ve been given a lot of credit for doing it. Look, we want Syria to succeed,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One, shortly after departing Abu Dhabi at the close of a four-day Middle East trip.
Trump said on Tuesday he would order the lifting of sanctions on Syria, a major policy shift before meeting al-Sharaa.
United Nations peacekeepers reported an “unacceptable” confrontation with locals in south Lebanon on Friday and called on Lebanese authorities to ensure their freedom of movement “without threats”, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A spokesperson for the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (Unifil) said that troops were confronted by a “large group of individuals” during a routine patrol, calling the incident “unacceptable” and calling on Lebanon to “ensure that Unifil peacekeepers can carry out their mandated tasks without threats or obstruction”.
Trump urges Iran to move quickly on nuclear deal or 'something bad will happen'
US president Donald Trump said on Friday that Iran should make a quick decision on an American proposal for a nuclear deal or “something bad will happen”.
Speaking in Abu Dhabi as he capped a Gulf tour, Trump said his administration had handed Iran a proposal for a agreement, adding that “they know they have to move quickly or something bad is going to happen”.
Trump left Abu Dhabi on Air Force One on Friday, ending a multi-day trip to the Gulf states, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist.
Trump backs aid for Palestinians, saying 'a lot of good things are going to happen over the next month'
Donald Trump on Friday backed aid for the Palestinians, saying people in Gaza are starving and adding that he expected “a lot of good things” in the next month.
According to Reuters, when asked whether he supported Israeli plans to expand the war in Gaza, the US president told reporters:
I think a lot of good things are going to happen over the next month, and we’re going to see. We have to help also out the Palestinians. You know, a lot of people are starving on Gaza, so we have to look at both sides.
US president Donald Trump has urged Iran to move quickly on nuclear deal, warning that otherwise “something bad will happen”. This quote is from a breaking news line on the wires.
More details soon …
Rubio meets UK, France and Germany for talks on Iran and Ukraine
US secretary of state Marco Rubio on Friday met the French, British and German national security advisers in Istanbul for talks on Iran and Ukraine, a US official said.
Rubio, who is also president Donald Trump’s national security adviser, met the three European powers on the sidelines of their talks with Iran on its nuclear programme as well as separate diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine on ending their war, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
New York University is withholding a student’s diploma after he condemned Israel’s deadly war on Gaza during his graduation ceremony speech.
On Wednesday, Logan Rozos, an undergraduate student speaker from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, delivered his commencement speech in which he said:
The only thing that is appropriate to say in this time and to a group this large is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine.
Rozos told the crowd that “as I search my heart today in addressing you all”, it is his “moral and political commitments [that] guide me” into condemning Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, which has killed at least 53,000 Palestinians over the last year and a half.
Rozos went on to say:
The genocide currently occurring is supported politically and militarily by the United States, is paid for by our tax dollars and has been livestreamed to our phones for the past 18 months. And that I do not wish to speak only to my own politics today, but to speak for all people of conscience, and all people who feel the moral injury of this atrocity.
Rozos’s anti-war speech was met with widespread cheers and applause from students across the auditorium. Some attendees booed Rozos, with one person appearing to yell “bullshit!” from the crowd.
Following Rozos’s speech, NYU released a statement saying that it “strongly denounces the choice by a student at the Gallatin School’s graduation today … to misuse his role as student speaker to express his personal and one-sided political views”.
US president wraps up Middle East tour with visit to interfaith centre
US president Donald Trump has arrived at the Abrahamic Family House. The interfaith complex in Abu Dhabi features a mosque, church and synagogue – houses of worship for the three Abrahamic faiths.
It was built after the United Arab Emirates signed on to the Abraham accords in 2020, during Trump’s first term. The agreement – which Trump has encouraged other Middle Eastern and north African countries to join – saw the UAE recognise Israel.
The Associated Press (AP) reports that the visit to the white-marble place of worship concludes Trump’s first major foreign trip of his second term.
Updated
Trump announces more than $200bn of deals between US and UAE
Donald Trump has announced deals totaling more than $200bn between the United States and the United Arab Emirates, including a $14.5bn commitment among Boeing, GE Aerospace and Etihad Airways, as he pledged to strengthen ties between the US and the Gulf state during a multiday trip to the Middle East.
The White House said on Thursday that Boeing and GE had received a commitment from Etihad Airways to invest $14.5bn to buy 28 US-made Boeing 787 and 777X aircraft powered by GE engines.
“With the inclusion of the next-generation 777X in its fleet plan, the investment deepens the longstanding commercial aviation partnership between the UAE and the United States, fueling American manufacturing, driving exports,” the White House said.
Antonoaldo Neves, the CEO of Etihad, said last month that the airline planned to add 20 to 22 new planes to its fleet of roughly 100 aircraft this year, as it aims to expand to more than 170 planes by 2030 and boost Abu Dhabi’s economic diversification strategy.
Etihad, which is owned by Abu Dhabi’s $225bn wealth fund ADQ, has been through a multiyear restructuring and management shake-up, but has expanded under Neves.
Death toll from Israeli strikes across Gaza Strip on Friday rises to 64
Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip on Friday killed at least 64 people, hospitals said. Earlier, Gaza’s civil defence agency put the death toll at 50, but survivors had also said that many people were still under the rubble.
At least 48 bodies were brought to the Indonesian hospital and another 16 bodies were taken to Nasser hospital, health officials said, as strikes overnight into Friday morning hit the outskirts of Deir al-Balah and the city of Khan Younis.
Here is a video of the US president, Donald Trump, speaking about Gaza (as reported earlier at 9.14am BST):
Trump agrees deal for UAE to build largest AI campus outside US
The United Arab Emirates and the United States have signed an agreement for the Gulf country to build the largest artificial intelligence campus outside the United States, one of several deals around AI made during Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East.
But the agreement has also raised concerns, since it would have faced restrictions under the previous administration over Washington’s fears that China could access the technology.
The agreement to build the campus would give UAE expanded access to advanced AI chips. The US and UAE did not say which AI chips could be included in the data centers, but sources told Reuters the UAE could be allowed to import 500,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips per year starting in 2025.
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang was seen in televised footage conversing with Donald Trump and UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at a palace in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
The agreement is a major win for the UAE, which has been trying to balance its relations with its longtime ally the US and its largest trading partner China. The Gulf state has been spending billions of dollars in a push to become a global AI player. But its ties to China had limited access to US chips under former president Joe Biden.
The deal reflects the Trump administration’s confidence that the chips can be managed securely, in part by requiring datacentres be managed by US companies.
In 2006, Ahmed al-Sharaa was sitting in a US prison in Iraq, then an al-Qaida fighter waging jihad against what he viewed as an American occupation of the Middle East. Nearly two decades later, on Wednesday, he posed for a photo with the US president, Donald Trump, in Riyadh after discussing normalising ties with Israel and granting US access to Syrian oil.
The transformation of Sharaa over the last 20 years from al-Qaida fighter to the president of Syria, sharing the world’s stage with foreign leaders like Trump, is staggering. For Syrians, the pace of change has been whiplash-inducing.
In just six months after the toppling of former president Bashar al-Assad, Syria has gone from a global pariah under some of the world’s most intense sanctions regimes to a country of promise. On Tuesday, Trump announced he would end all US sanctions on Syria, a move he said “gives them a chance at greatness”.
In Syria, a weary country is finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Eyes were glued to television screens which replayed video of Sharaa meeting Trump and hands gesticulated fervently as debates over the sanctions ending raged throughout the country.
“You need to wait a bit, there are steps that need to be taken by the experts,” an elderly man cautioned his peer, pausing for breath as they struggled to cycle up the narrow streets of old Damascus. Their slow ascent on rickety-framed bicycles is a common sight in Damascus, where cars and fuel have become increasingly out of reach for much of the country’s war-battered, sanctions-laden population.
US president Donald Trump began the final day of his Middle East trip with a meeting of US and UAE business executives alongside UAE president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Energy, health care, aviation, entertainment and other business leaders were in attendance to highlight ties between the two countries -a central focus of Trump’s trip to the region.
Soon, Trump will tour the Abrahamic Family House, a complex that houses a church, mosque and synagogue and is a symbol of interfaith tolerance, reports the Associated Press (AP). Trump has encouraged other countries in the region to join the Abraham accords and recognise Israel, as the UAE did in 2020. The president will then depart back to Washington.
Trump says 'a lot of people are starving' in Gaza
Donald Trump on Friday said the United States would have the situation in Gaza “taken care of”, telling reporters that people were starving in the besieged Palestinian territory.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the US president told reporters during the final leg of his Gulf tour:
We’re looking at Gaza. And we’re going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving.
Israel’s main group representing families of hostages still being held in Gaza said Friday that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was missing an “historic opportunity” to get them released, as US president Donald Trump concludes a visit to the region.
“The hostages’ families woke up this morning with heavy hearts and great concern in light of reports about increased attacks in Gaza and the imminent conclusion of President Trump’s visit to the region,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The group added:
Missing this historic opportunity would be a resounding failure that will be remembered in infamy for ever.
A doctor at the Indonesian hospital in the northern city of Beit Lahia in Gaza, who requested anonymity, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that 30 dead and dozens of injured, mostly children and women, had arrived at the hospital.
Mohammed Saleh, acting director of al-Awda hospital in Jabalia, told AFP that the hospital had received five dead and “more than 75 injured” as a result of the bombardment.
“The Israeli occupation bombed the house next to mine, hitting it directly while its residents were inside,” Yousef al-Sultan, 40, from the al-Salatin area, west of Beit Lahia, told AFP, reporting “airstrikes, artillery shelling and gunfire from quadcopter drones”.
“There is a massive wave of displacement among civilians. Fear and panic grip us in the middle of the night,” he said.
Gaza rescuers say 50 killed in Israeli strikes since midnight
Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Friday that 50 people had been killed in Israeli strikes on the Palestinian territory since midnight.
“The number of martyrs killed in Israeli shelling targeting civilian homes in the northern Gaza Strip between midnight and early this morning has risen to 50 … Our teams are still working in those areas,” civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Updated
Opening summary
Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people in Gaza on Friday morning. An Associated Press (AP) journalist counted the bodies at the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza, where they were brought. Survivors said many people were still under the rubble.
The widespread attacks across northern Gaza come as US president Donald Trump finishes his visit to Gulf states but not Israel.
An Israeli blockade of Gaza is now in its third month. On Thursday, Trump said he wanted the US to “make” the devastated territory “into a freedom zone”.
Trump’s statement recalled the plan he put forward in February for the US to take control of Gaza to reconstruct it as a luxury leisure and business hub. The scheme implied the possible permanent displacement of many or all of the territory’s 2.3 million people and triggered global outrage.
The most recent strikes lasted hours into Friday morning sending people fleeing from the Jabaliya refugee camp and the town of Beit Lahiya and followed days of similar attacks that killed more than 130 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed earlier in the week to push ahead with a promised escalation of force in Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip to pursue his aim of destroying the Hamas militant group.
In comments released by Netanyahu’s office on Tuesday, the prime minister said Israeli forces were days away from entering Gaza “with great strength to complete the mission … It means destroying Hamas”. It was unclear if Friday’s bombardment was the start of the operation.
In other developments:
Israel’s military killed five Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, hours after a pregnant woman died in a shooting. Islamic Jihad said five of its members had been killed while clashing with Israeli forces who surrounded their house in the town of Tammun. It was unclear whether they had any link to the shooting.
Israeli settlers meanwhile attacked Palestinians and blocked roads in the occupied West Bank, while WhatsApp groups for Israeli settlers in the West Bank were rife with calls for vengeance, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). Far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called for “nests of terror” to be flattened.
Trump announced deals totalling more than $200bn between the United States and the United Arab Emirates, including a $14.5bn commitment among Boeing, GE Aerospace and Etihad Airways. The White House said on Thursday that Boeing and GE had received a commitment from Etihad Airways to invest $14.5bn to buy 28 US-made Boeing 787 and 777X aircraft powered by GE engines.
Trump has said that the US’s air campaign against the Houthi rebels was “very successful, but maybe tomorrow, an attack will be made, in which case we go back on the offensive”. He made the comments on a visit to al-Udeid airbase in Doha, Qatar. Prior to that visit, the president attended a business forum in Qatar.
Trump said on Thursday that the US was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, and Tehran had “sort of” agreed to the terms. “We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace,” Trump said on a tour of the Gulf, according to a shared pool report by AFP.
Hamas on Thursday accused Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of undermining mediation efforts for a hostage release and ceasefire deal by carrying out military operations in Gaza. “War criminal Netanyahu undermines mediation efforts through deliberate military escalation, showing indifference to his captives, endangering their lives,” Hamas said in a statement referring to hostages held in the Palestinian territory.
“Israel’s blockade has transcended military tactics to become a tool of extermination”, Human Rights Watch (HRW) interim executive director Federico Borello said in a statement on Thursday. HRW said: “The Israeli government’s plan to demolish what remains of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure and concentrate the Palestinian population into a tiny area would amount to an abhorrent escalation of its ongoing crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and acts of genocide.”
