Photos of Israelis demanding the release of hostages and an end to the war with Hamas
Read more on what to know about ceasefire talks for the 22-month war sparked by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack into Israel.
This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
27 minutes ago
- The Independent
Putin and Zelensky have only met once before – here's what happened
Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky may soon meet Russian president Vladimir Putin again, for the first time since 2019. A summit in Paris six years ago was the first and only time the two presidents ever met, flanked by French president Emmanuel Macron and Germany's then-chancellor Angela Merkel. At the time, Putin and Zelensky were looking to hash out a ceasefire deal for war in Donbas in Ukraine's east, where Russia-backed forces were fighting Ukrainian troops. The two world leaders are now potentially set for another meeting as part of US president Donald Trump's bid to end the devastating Ukraine war. However, this is far from set in stone with Putin's initial suggestion that it could take place in Moscow quickly rejected by the Ukrainian president. What happened in 2019? Ukrainian forces and Russian separatists had been embroiled in conflict in Donbas, in Ukraine's east, since 2014. Zelensky and Putin travelled to Paris in December 2019 for the Normandy Format Summit, a diplomatic forum designed by French, German, Russian and Ukrainian diplomats after the outbreak of conflict. The Ukrainian president had been elected just months earlier in spring that year - his first role in political office - beating former foreign minister Petro Poroshenko to the presidency. The summit in Paris led to progress, but was not groundbreaking. The two sides agreed to implement 'all necessary ceasefire support measures' before the end of 2019 and to release all the prisoners of war. Both sides also expressed their desire to implement the Minsk agreements signed in 2014 and 2015, the first attempt to achieve a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia after Putin's forces rolled into and took over the Crimean peninsula. What did the leaders say about each other? The mood between the pair was chilly at first. There was no public handshake and they are said to have largely avoided eye contact during the meeting. Clean shaven and sporting a suit, 2019 Zelensky cut a strikingly different figure compared to his more familiar appearance now as a war-time leader. After the summit, Putin hailed the talks as an 'important step' towards de-escalation. He expressed what at the time appeared to be cautious hope: "All this gives us the grounds to suppose that the process is developing in the right direction.' Zelensky also hailed the meeting as a 'big step towards peace'. When he was asked by reporters who he believed had emerged victorious from the exchanges with his Russian counterpart, he said: "I don't know who (beat) who. I think it would be appropriate to be diplomatic as we've just started talking. Let's say for now it's a draw." What happened afterwards? Despite a number of prisoner exchanges, the 2019 meeting was not a catalyst for any major long-term change in Russo-Ukrainian relations - and little over two years later Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Several key sticking points remained after the 2019 negotiations. Kyiv continued to demand the withdrawal of Russian-backed troops and a complete ceasefire, with a return of border control to Ukraine. Russia insisted that before Ukraine regained control of its eastern border, local elections should be held in the occupied territories. Putin also demanded that Donbas have a special constitutional status in Ukraine, to give it a degree of autonomy. In January 2022, just weeks before the full-scale Russian invasion, the summit in Paris took place again, but was attended by officials from the same four countries, rather than their leaders. Senior diplomats met in February 2022 in an attempt to prevent a conflict. After the Russian invasion on 24 February, Zelensky said the invasion had 'ruined' the progress made by the Normandy Format.
The Independent
27 minutes ago
- The Independent
An Italian funeral for a Palestinian woman evacuated from Gaza becomes a call to 'make noise'
Funeral services were held Wednesday for a young Palestinian woman who died in Italy shortly after being evacuated from Gaza last week, exposing Italians to the desperate plight of Palestinians in the besieged territory. The funeral of Marah Abu Zuhri, attended by several hundred people, was interrupted repeatedly by chants of 'Free Palestine' and featured speeches by local authorities denouncing Israel's policy in Gaza and expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people. As Palestinian flags fluttered, mourners stood in prayer before Zuhri's coffin, which was was draped in a Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh scarf in the town of Pontasserchio, near Pisa. Zuhri, 19, had been evacuated to Italy with what Israel had called leukemia, but Italian doctors said they found no initial evidence of that and instead found 'profound wasting" and an undiagnosed or misdiagnosed condition. The United Nations and partners have said 22 months of war have devastated Gaza's health system, and food security experts have said the 'worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out.' Israel is moving ahead with a new military offensive on some of the territory's most populated areas, Mayor Matteo Cecchelli said he wanted to honor Zuhri's life with a public service in the town's Park of Peace, to 'make noise' about what he called a political and humanitarian 'catastrophe' in Gaza. 'The reality is that every day in the Gaza Strip, people are dying in the deafening silence of world governments," he said to applause. "We cannot remain silent today in this field of peace. There are those who have decided to make noise and have decided to be here to express their dissent towards this genocide.' Israel asserts that it abides by international law and is fighting an existential war in Gaza after Hamas' deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed some 1,200 people and took more than 250 others hostage. Israel has rejected genocide allegations related to its war in Gaza and called them antisemitic. Zuhri arrived in Italy overnight on Aug. 13-14 as one of 31 sick or injured Palestinians evacuated on an Italian humanitarian airlift that has brought nearly 1,000 ill Palestinians and their families to the country since the war began. Israel said she had leukemia and had been offered an evacuation earlier but claimed that Hamas had exploited her case, without offering evidence. The U.N. World Health Organization, which coordinates patients' evacuations, didn't respond to a request for comment. Gaza's Health Ministry has asserted that evacuations are often delayed or canceled by Israeli authorities. It says over 18,000 patients and wounded require treatment outside Gaza. Zuhri was admitted to the hematology ward of Pisa University's Santa Chiara Hospital, a known oncological hospital in Tuscany, but died there on Aug. 15. The hospital said she arrived with a 'very complex/compromised clinical picture and in a state of profound wasting.' She suffered a sudden respiratory crisis and subsequent cardiac arrest, which killed her, it said. The head of the hematology department at the Pisa hospital, Dr. Sara Galimberti, said Zuhri arrived with a diagnosis of suspected acute leukemia, but tests the hospital conducted came back negative, with no signs of the 'bad cells' that would indicate leukemia. Galimberti told reporters that Zuhri likely had been misdiagnosed, and that her condition was nevertheless seriously compromised and had been for a while. "The patient was in a complete condition of wasting, and completely bedridden despite being 19 years old,' she said. The hospital conducted a nutritional consultation and began a hypercaloric therapy and transfusional support, but Zuhri died before a full diagnosis was possible, Galimberti said. The doctor said the woman's mother, Nabeela Abu Zuhri, declined an autopsy on religious and personal grounds. The mother, who accompanied her daughter on the flight, spoke briefly at the funeral, thanking Italy for trying to save her daughter and asking for prayers for Palestinians. She said she was 'leaving a part of my heart, a part of me, with you' before returning to Gaza. The imam of Pisa, Mohammad Khalil, who translated for her, tried to calm the crowd and focus on Zuhri, but he also spoke of food shortages and hunger in Gaza. The United Nations has said starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest levels since the war began. The U.N. says nearly 12,000 children under 5 were found with acute malnutrition in July — including more than 2,500 with severe malnutrition, the most dangerous level. The World Health Organization says the numbers are likely an undercount. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly asserted that no one in Gaza is starving, with 'no policy of starvation in Gaza.' AP reporting has found that malnourished children were arriving daily at a Gaza hospital, with some dying from hunger, including ones with no preexisting conditions. ___ Winfield reported from Rome.
The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
What are the prospects of a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war?
For six months Donald Trump has been calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine. His position abruptly changed after his summit last week with Vladimir Putin in Alaska. The US now supports a final settlement of the war first, which is Russia's negotiating position. What changed? And where does Trump's latest flip-flop leave prospects for an end to the fighting? Since spring the White House has been urging Russia to accept a ceasefire in Ukraine. As Donald Trump put it in March: 'I think the ceasefire is very important. If we can get Russia to do it, that'll be great.' The US president threatened to impose sanctions on Moscow, and on buyers of its oil such as India, if it refused. He gave various deadlines, which came and went. Until last week the US continued its demand for a 30-day pause in the fighting, to which Kyiv agreed. Speaking on his plane to Alaska on Friday, before a meeting with Putin, Trump repeated his demand. There would be 'severe consequences' if a ceasefire didn't happen. 'I'm not going to be happy,' he said. The US president's position dramatically shifted after his meeting Putin. Exactly why is uncertain. But in the face of Russian opposition, Trump dropped his call for a ceasefire and instead embraced the Kremlin's preferred 'plan' to end the war. This envisages a comprehensive peace settlement first. Until that happens, Moscow will carry on bombing. Trump also agreed to Russia's territorial claims. Putin wants Ukraine to cede the northern part of Donetsk oblast – including the fortress cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk – which Russian troops have been unable to conquer since 2014. By way of so-called concession, Russia reportedly said it would freeze the frontlines in southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces. The change in US policy on a Ukraine ceasefire was the summit's most significant outcome. It amounts to a major concession to the Russians. In his meeting on Monday with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, Trump explained his new way of thinking. He said there was no need for a truce and claimed he had ended six conflicts without one. 'I didn't do any ceasefire,' he said. He said he would still 'like them [the Russians] to stop' but said a pause in hostilities might disadvantage 'one side or the other'. Russia wants to continue its war. Over the summer Russian troops have seized villages in the Donbas, and have entered the Dnipropetrovsk region – which borders Donetsk oblast – for the first time. Russia's progress is gradual and achieved with heavy casualties. Putin believes he is winning and that time is on his side. His maximalist demands are unchanged since the 2022 invasion. He wants Zelenskyy removed, severe limits put on the size of Ukraine's army, and a veto on its Nato membership. Any ceasefire would in effect divide territory along the existing 1,000-km long frontline. A permanent peace plan, by contrast, could involve one side giving land to the other as part of a deal. Putin's conditions are unacceptable to Kyiv, and amount to Ukraine's surrender. Ukrainians believe he is using Trump to take what Russian forces have been unable to capture on the battlefield – with DC the quickest route to victory in Donetsk. When negotiations fail – the most likely outcome in the short term – Putin will inevitably blame Zelenskyy. Frustrated. European leaders have urged Trump to put pressure on Russia to agree a ceasefire before any negotiations take place. On Monday, they reinforced this message in the White House. Britain's Keir Starmer joined Zelenskyy in Washington, with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Finland, Nato and the EU. Their task was to protect Zelenskyy – in the end his meeting with Trump went better than the last encounter in February – and to tactfully convey Ukraine and Europe's principled anti-landgrab position. The Europeans are opposed to any deal that would reward Russian aggression. Germany's chancellor, Friedrich Merz, expressed his support for a ceasefire. 'Let's work on that and let's try to put pressure on Russia,' the German leader told Trump. France's president, Emmanuel Macron, said European governments would eventually need to be included in any peace talks. After Trump's unexplained U-turn, Ukraine's EU allies are using a new formula to try to win him over to the idea of a ceasefire – 'stop the killing'. Wars can stop without formal peace treaties. In 1953 an armistice ended the war between North and South Korea. It established a demilitarised zone between the two states, the DMZ, dividing the peninsula. Military commanders from the US, China and North Korea signed the deal. South Korea's leader refused, because it left Korea split. Technically, the two Koreas are still in a state of war. The ceasefire, though, has lasted more than eight decades, despite breeches by Pyongyang. This model could work in Ukraine. No Ukrainian government is likely to accept Russian occupation over parts of its territory. But it might be prepared to acknowledge the Kremlin's de facto control as part of temporary settlement. Putin, however, is against the idea of a Korea-style armistice. His goal is to subjugate Ukraine – all of it, or as much as he can get – and to fold it into a reinvigorated greater Russia.
