Hamas-led factions say Palestinian resistance will not stop until ‘occupation' ends, in response to New York declaration
A declaration issued on Tuesday by Saudi Arabia and France, backed by Egypt, Qatar and the Arab League, called for Hamas to disarm and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, which they say should rule across all Palestinian territories.
Saudi Arabia and France are seeking further global support for the declaration outlining steps towards implementing a two-state solution. )
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Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Israel intercepts Huthi missile fired from Yemen
The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen on Friday, which the Iran-backed Huthi rebels said they had launched. Protesters, predominantly Houthi supporters, demonstrate in solidarity with Palestinians in Sanaa, Yemen, on August 1, 2025.(Reuters) "Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted," the Israeli military said. The Huthis targeted Israel's Ben Gurion airport "using a 'Palestine 2' hypersonic ballistic missile", their military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement. The rebels have launched repeated missile and drone attacks against Israel since their Palestinian ally Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war. The Huthis, who say they are acting in support of the Palestinians, paused their attacks during a two-month ceasefire in Gaza that ended in March, but renewed them after Israel resumed major operations. Israel has carried out several retaliatory strikes in Yemen, targeting Huthi-held ports and the airport in the rebel-held capital Sanaa.
India.com
an hour ago
- India.com
Why is Israel evacuating its employees and their families from UAE's diplomatic mission? Why is Abu Dhabi enraged with Israeli ambassador?
New Delhi: Israel has ordered the evacuation of most of the employees and their families posted at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) diplomatic mission. This decision has been taken after the National Security Council (NSC) issued a travel warning for Israelis living in the Gulf. The NSC quoted intelligence as saying that terrorist groups including Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and global jihadist groups have intensified efforts to target Israelis and Jews in the UAE. Apart from this, tensions have increased between the two countries over an 'action' of the Israeli ambassador. The UAE had expressed displeasure with Tel Aviv over the ambassador and demanded his recall. Why is Israel concerned for its citizens in UAE? The NSC said in a statement, 'We are insisting on this travel warning because we know that terrorist organizations (Iranian, Hamas, Hezbollah and Global Jihad) are increasing their efforts to harm Israel.' Israeli officials have blamed recent military operations against Iran and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza for the increased threat. Officials have expressed concern that these factors could prompt retaliatory strikes. Why has threat level increased for Israeli citizens? Security officials believe that anti-Israel provocations and the situation after the attack on Iran have increased the threat to Israeli citizens and their representatives abroad. The Israeli and UAE foreign ministries have not yet commented on the evacuation of Israeli mission staff. When were UAE-Israel relations established? The relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates were normalized in 2020 through the US-brokered Abraham Accords led by Donald Trump. This was the first such agreement between Israel and an Arab country. Earlier, like other Arab countries, the UAE did not recognize Israel. Diplomatic contacts between the two were largely informal and limited. This normalization of relations between the two countries was historic, followed by the exchange of ambassadors, establishment of embassies and cooperation in various fields including trade, tourism and security. Since then, the activism of the Israeli and Jewish community has increased in the UAE. Why is UAE furious at Israeli ambassador? The recent tension between Israel and the UAE began over Israeli ambassador Yossi Shelly, when Abu Dhabi expressed strong displeasure over one of his actions. Israeli media outlet Channel 12 News reported that Shelly crossed the red line in Abu Dhabi. According to the report, Shelly went to a bar with friends in Abu Dhabi where he behaved indecently. The report quoted the official as saying that he behaved indecently with women, which is very wrong. When the Emirati government came to know about the incident, it expressed deep displeasure with Israel in this regard. The incident was kept away from the media for several months and it is not clear whether any document of this exists or not.
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First Post
2 hours ago
- First Post
Trump pushes to expand Abraham Accords with Azerbaijan, Central Asian nations, say sources
The Trump administration is in advanced talks with Azerbaijan and preliminary discussions with Central Asian nations to expand the Abraham Accords, according to sources. The initiative aims to solidify symbolic ties with Israel, despite regional tensions and the ongoing war in Gaza. read more The administration of US President Donald Trump is in discussions with Azerbaijan about the possibility of the country, along with some Central Asian partners, joining the Abraham Accords, with the aim of strengthening their current relationships with Israel, according to five sources familiar with the matter. As part of the Abraham Accords, signed in 2020 and 2021 during Trump's first term, four Muslim-majority nations agreed to normalise diplomatic ties with Israel following US mediation. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Azerbaijan and all Central Asian countries, on the other hand, already have longstanding relations with Israel, so any expansion of the accords to include them would be largely symbolic, focussing on strengthening ties in areas such as trade and military cooperation, according to the sources, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss private conversations. Such an expansion would demonstrate Trump's willingness to consider less ambitious agreements than his administration's objective of persuading regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia to re-establish ties with Israel while conflict rages in Gaza. The kingdom has repeatedly said that it will not recognise Israel until Israel recognises a Palestinian state. A rising death toll in Gaza and malnutrition caused by Israel's blockade of supplies and military operations have fuelled Arab outrage, hindering efforts to expand the Abraham Accords to include additional Muslim-majority nations. The war in Gaza, where over 60,000 people including tens of thousands of women and children have died according to local health authorities, has provoked global anger. Canada, France and the United Kingdom have announced plans in recent days to recognize an independent Palestine. Another key sticking point is Azerbaijan's conflict with its neighbor Armenia, since the Trump administration considers a peace deal between the two Caucasus nations as a precondition to join the Abraham Accords, three sources said. While Trump officials have publicly floated several potential entrants into the accords, the talks centered on Azerbaijan are among the most structured and serious, the sources said. Two of the sources argued a deal could be reached within months or even weeks. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump's special envoy for peace missions, Steve Witkoff, traveled to Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, in March to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Aryeh Lightstone, a key Witkoff aide, met Aliyev later in the spring in part to discuss the Abraham Accords, three of the sources said. As part of the discussions, Azerbaijani officials have contacted officials in Central Asian nations, including in nearby Kazakhstan, to gauge their interest in a broader Abraham Accords expansion, those sources said. It was not clear which other countries in Central Asia - which includes Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan - were contacted. The State Department, asked for comment, did not discuss specific countries, but said expanding the accords has been one of the key objectives of Trump. 'We are working to get more countries to join,' said a US official. The Azerbaijani government declined to comment. The White House, the Israeli foreign ministry and the Kazakhstani embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Any new accords would not modify the previous Abraham Accords deals signed by Israel. Obstacles remain The original Abraham Accords - inked between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan - were centered on restoration of ties. The second round of expansion appears to be morphing into a broader mechanism designed to expand US and Israeli soft power. Wedged between Russia to the north and Iran to the south, Azerbaijan occupies a critical link in trade flows between Central Asia and the West. The Caucasus and Central Asia are also rich in natural resources, including oil and gas, prompting various major powers to compete for influence in the region. Expanding the accords to nations that already have diplomatic relations with Israel may also be a means of delivering symbolic wins to a president who is known to talk up even relatively small victories. Two sources described the discussions involving Central Asia as embryonic - but the discussions with Azerbaijan as relatively advanced. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But challenges remain and there is no guarantee a deal will be reached, particularly with slow progress in talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The two countries, which both won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh - an Azerbaijani region that had a mostly ethnic-Armenian population - broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. In 2023, Azerbaijan retook Karabakh, prompting about 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia. Both sides have since said they want to sign a treaty on a formal end to the conflict. Primarily Christian Armenia and the US have close ties, and the Trump administration is wary of taking action that could upset authorities in Yerevan. Still, US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump himself, have argued that a peace deal between those two nations is near. 'Armenia and Azerbaijan, we worked magic there,' Trump told reporters earlier in July. 'And it's pretty close.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
