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Blinken says US-Saudi pacts could be ‘weeks away’ from completion
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the United States and Saudi Arabia are very close to concluding a set of agreements on nuclear energy, security and defence cooperation, which are part of a wider normalisation deal with Riyadh and Israel, Reuters reports.
Speaking at a hearing in the House of Representatives, Blinken said the finalising of the agreements “could be weeks away” but cautioned that for the wider normalisation to proceed, there must be calm in Gaza and the formulation of a pathway for Palestinian statehood.
“Those agreements are in principle very close to being able to be concluded. Now of course we will come to Congress with them when they’re ready to be reviewed, but we’re — could be really weeks away from being able to conclude them,” Blinken told the House Appropriations Committee.
“However, in order for normalisation to proceed, Saudi Arabia has made very clear that even with the agreements between us completed, they have to have two things: they have to have calm in Gaza and they have to have a credible pathway to a Palestinian state,” Blinken added.
France says conditions not right to recognise Palestinian state
France said on Wednesday conditions were not right to officially recognise a Palestinian state and that such a decision must be more than just symbolic or political posturing.
Remarks by Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne distanced France from Ireland, Spain and Norway, which said on Wednesday they would recognise a Palestinian state on May 28, hoping to accelerate efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza war.
"France does not consider that the conditions have yet been met for this decision to have a real impact on this process," Sejourne said after talks in Paris with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
Smotrich calls for ‘punitive measures’ on Palestinian authority
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says he will no longer transfer tax funds to the Palestinian Authority (PA) after Norway, Spain, and Ireland said that they will recognise a Palestinian state, Al Jazeera reports.
In a post on X, the far-right minister added that he would cancel the setup in which Norway collects the PA’s tax funds.
“Norway was the first to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state today, and it cannot be a partner in anything related to Judea and Samaria,” he said.
Israel collects tax on behalf of the Palestinians and makes monthly transfers to the PA under the Oslo Accords but in November 2023, it froze funds meant for Palestinians in Gaza.
In February 2024, Palestinian and Israeli officials agreed that Norway would serve as an intermediary for holding revenues that Israel had withheld.
Only 30-35pc of Hamas fighters killed since October 7: report
US government intelligence indicates that only 30-35 per cent of Hamas fighters have been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza since October 7, while 65pc of the group’s tunnels remain intact, al Jazeera reports citing Politico reports.
Citing a person familiar with US intelligence, the outlet says Biden officials have also expressed concern that Hamas has been able to recruit thousands of new fighters over the last several months.
Last week, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said Joe Biden’s administration does not believe that Israel’s stated strategy of pursuing “total victory” over Hamas in Gaza is feasible.
Gallant expands law that allows evicted Israeli settlers to return
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that Defense Minister Gallant has announced he will expand the law to allow Israeli settlers, who were evicted during a 2005 disengagement plan, to return to settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Haaretz reports that the expanded law includes areas where the settlements of Sa-Nur, Ganim and Kadim were located.
Israel orders recall of ambassadors to Ireland and Norway
The Israeli foreign ministry said it had ordered an immediate recall of its ambassadors to Ireland and Norway in response to those nations’ decisions to recognise a Palestinian state, Reuters reports.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the decision to recognise a Palestinian state undermined Israel’s right to self-defence and efforts to return the 128 hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.
“Israel will not be silent,” Katz said. “We are determined to achieve our goals: restoring security to our citizens and the removal of Hamas and the return of the hostages.” “There are no more righteous goals than these,” Katz said.
Attacks on health care in ‘war zones’ surge 25pc last year, NGOs say
Attacks on medics and health facilities in “war zones” jumped in 2023 to the highest level since records began 11 years ago, a group of non-governmental organisations said, with nearly half attributed to state forces, Reuters reports.
The Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, composed of 40 groups including medical charities, reported 2,562 incidents of violence or obstructions including arrests, killings and kidnappings of doctors and strikes across hospitals in 30 conflicts including Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan.
The coalition attributed 489 incidents in Gaza last year to Israeli forces, including medic deaths or injuries and strikes or raids on hospitals.
PLO thanks countries recognising Palestinian statehood
Hussein al-Sheikh, the secretary-general of the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, has expressed gratitude after the announcements by Spain, Ireland and Norway that they will recognise Palestinian statehood.
“Historical moments in which the free world triumphs for truth and justice after long decades of Palestinian national struggle, suffering, pain, occupation, racism, murder, oppression, abuse and destruction to which the people of Palestine were subjected,” he said on X.
“We thank the countries of the world that have recognized and will recognize the independent State of Palestine,” al-Sheikh added.
Netanyahu will use Norway, Ireland, Spain’s decisions to push ‘victimhood’ narrative
Akiva Eldar, a political columnist at Israeli publication Haaretz, has told Al Jazeera that the recognition of the Palestinian state by Norway, Spain and Ireland goes against “Netanyahu and the majority of the Israeli Knesset’s philosophy never to agree to a Palestinian state, especially not unilaterally”.
“Just a few months ago, the majority of the Knesset passed a very weird resolution against any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state,” he said.
Eldar added that he believes that Netanyahu will frame the recognition “as another demonstration of anti-Semitism, victimhood” and use it in his narrative “that the world is against us”.
Hamas official says European recognition is a ‘turning point on Palestinian issue’
Bassem Naim, a senior member of Hamas’s political bureau, says it was the “brave resistance” of the Palestinian people that spurred Norway, Ireland and Spain to announce that they will recognise Palestine as a state.
“These successive recognitions are the direct result of this brave resistance and the legendary steadfastness of the Palestinian people,” he told AFP.
“We believe this will be a turning point in the international position on the Palestinian issue.”
Israel recalls envoys to Norway, Ireland for ‘urgent consultations’
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz is recalling his country’s ambassadors to Norway and Ireland over the two governments’ expected moves to formally recognise a Palestinian state.
“Today, I am sending a sharp message to Ireland and Norway: Israel will not go over this in silence,” Katz said in a statement.
“I have just ordered the return of the Israeli ambassadors from Dublin and Oslo to Israel for further consultations in Jerusalem,” he added.
Norway recognition of Palestine state a ‘momentous occasion’
This is a major statement.
We are expecting this to be followed by Ireland a little bit later. Malta, Slovenia and Spain are also publicly saying that they are going to look at recognising the state of Palestine.
This is a momentous occasion for the Palestinians.
It’s perhaps unsurprising that Norway has taken the lead on this because they were behind the Oslo Accords – the agreement in 1993 that really did two things: it recognised the Palestine Liberation Organization, the PLO, as the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people; and it also put into place the Palestinian Authority (PA), which had limited powers within the occupied West Bank.
This is going to be a boost for the PA.
It’s going to come as somewhat of a problem for the Israelis though, because they have already said that they want a moderate force within Gaza for the “day after”. But they are not really looking at the PA.
Israeli military says it has killed ‘significant’ Hamas operative
The Israeli military has said that it “struck and eliminated” a Hamas anti-tank missile operative in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
It named the operative as Ahmed Yasser Alkara, describing him as a “significant” Hamas fighter who participated in the October 7 attacks on southern Israel and has carried out attacks on Israeli soldiers in Gaza.
Also killed in the airstrike targeting Alkara was Hamas fighter Saib Raed Abu Riba and Islamic Jihad fighter Ans Muhammad Abu Ragila, according to the Israeli military.
The Israeli military has also said that it carried out an airstrike that killed five Hamas fighters allegedly sheltering in the Faami Aljerjawi School in Gaza City.
Eighth person confirmed dead in Israeli assault on Jenin
The death toll from Israel’s military raid on the Jenin refugee camp has risen again, with eight people now confirmed killed, the Wafa news agency reports, citing the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
At least 21 people have also been injured in the raid in the occupied West Bank which began on Tuesday, including two who are in critical condition, according to Wafa. The Israeli military has also detained and fired on ambulance crews trying to treat the injured in Jenin.
A teacher and a doctor, both of whom were on their way to work, as well as a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old, were among eight people killed on Tuesday – one of the deadliest in Jenin in months.
The Israeli military said it was carrying out a “counterterrorism” operation, but one medic said he witnessed Israeli forces “firing at any moving body in the street”.
UK to support doctors treating Palestinian evacuees in Qatar
The United Kingdom has pledged 140,000 pounds ($178,000) to help support doctors and health practitioners treating Palestinian evacuees in Qatar.
The funding will go towards training medical professionals in best practices in trauma care and cover an assessment of the mental health needs of Palestinian patients in the Gulf country.
Gaza war: What does victory look like for the US and Israel?
After nearly 230 days of war on Gaza, Israeli officials still say they are seeking an “absolute victory”.
Analysts say Israel shows no signs of ending its attack on the Palestinian territory and its aim may be to destroy Gaza and displace its population permanently.
So what is Israel really trying to achieve?
US pressured Israel to reverse block on AP video feed of Gaza
The Associated Press [AP] is one of the biggest names in American journalism.
The White House moved in and used the diplomatic levers and the strength of its support for Israel to try and get that decision reversed as soon as it could. And that video feed is now up and running, and the pictures are back, being beamed around the world to clients around the world, including Al Jazeera.
The White House had also expressed concern about the Israelis getting in the way of journalists doing their job. They said something similar when Al Jazeera was blocked from broadcasting in Israel about four weeks ago. But they didn’t put any pressure on the Israelis.
This time they did. And they said they wanted the Israelis to consider reversing that decision as quickly as possible. And here we are, a few hours later, and that’s exactly what’s happened.
Under the foreign press law, what the Israelis argued was that the shot of Gaza that was being used, the picture that was being broadcast, could perhaps give information away. Yet, it was a very broad, wide shot. And most of the time, it was essentially a pall of smoke over northern Gaza. You couldn’t see troop movements, you couldn’t make out that sort of detail.
So there was great concern that this was the Israelis pushing that law a bit too far. And certainly, that was the view expressed by freedom of speech and journalism advocates in the US.
Blinken says he’ll work with Congress on ICC response, with sanctions a possibility
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that sanctions against International Criminal Court (ICC) officials are a possible response to a request for arrest warrants to be issued for Israeli leaders over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Blinken at a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing that he wanted “actions, not just words” over Karim Khan’s request for warrants to be issued against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
Graham then asked Blinken if he would support a “bipartisan effort to sanction the ICC”.
“I welcome working with you on that,” Blinken responded.
Earlier, we reported that Blinken said the Biden administration would be happy to work with lawmakers to formulate “an appropriate response” to the ICC prosecutor’s request and called the move “profoundly wrong-headed”.
Israel’s military repeatedly attacks besieged northern Gaza hospitals
Palestinian medics say Israeli missiles struck the emergency department of Jabalia’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, prompting panicked staff to rush patients on hospital beds and stretchers to the rubble-strewn street outside.
“The first missile when it hit, it hit the entrance of the emergency department. We tried to enter, and then a second missile hit, and the third hit the building nearby,” said Hussam Abu Safia, the head of the hospital.
“We cannot go back inside to them… The emergency department provides a service for children, the elderly and people inside the departments of the hospital.”
Residents and medics say Israeli tanks are besieging the al-Awda Hospital, also in Jabalia, for the third day.
In Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said northern Gaza’s sick and wounded were running out of options.
Gaza border crossings ‘essentially’ closed, UN says operations ‘near collapse’ in territory
The UN says all of the major checkpoints where aid is supposed to come into Gaza, essentially, are not working.
The Rafah crossing, the UN says, remains closed.
The Karem Abu Salem [known as Kerem Shalom in Israel] crossing, while technically open, the UN says in practice is not really usable.
And the Erez crossing [Beit Hanoon], in the north, closed on May 9 and hasn’t been opened since. Another crossing called Erez west, in the north, only allows such little aid in that it is negligible.
A UN humanitarian worker in Gaza says their operations there are near collapse.
Norway has become the first European country to say it will detain Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if the ICC issues an arrest warrant, while France, Slovenia and Belgium have also expressed their support for the UN court.
Blinken says Gaza truce still possible but set back by ICC move
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that a Gaza ceasefire deal was still possible but he charged that an International Criminal Court arrest bid for Israeli leaders was setting back diplomatic efforts.
Testifying before Congress, Blinken was repeatedly disrupted by protesters critical of US support for Israel. Several were evicted after shouting that he was a "war criminal," but protesters -- many showing symbolically reddened hands --were later allowed to sit silently behind him.
