Canada to recognise Palestinian state if conditions met, following UK and France
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
12 minutes ago
- The Independent
Videos of emaciated Israeli hostages in Gaza increase pressure on Netanyahu for a ceasefire
New images of emaciated Israeli hostages held in Gaza have horrified Israelis and added pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire with Hamas, even as his government considers another expansion of the nearly 22-month war. The videos released late last week by militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad show two skeletal hostages pleading for their lives. In one, Evyatar David says he is digging his own grave and speaks of days without food. In the other, Rom Braslavsky writhes in agony on a dirty mattress and says injuries in his foot prevent him from being able to stand. The Associated Press does not normally publish videos of hostages filmed under duress, but is publishing brief excerpts after receiving consent from their families. The videos led tens of thousands of Israelis to take to the streets on Saturday night and demand a ceasefire deal, in one of the largest turnouts for the weekly protests in recent months. 'In this new video, his eyes are extinguished. He is helpless, and so am I,' Braslavski's mother, Tami, said in a statement. Warnings of famine in Gaza The videos were released as warnings about famine among Palestinians are growing in Gaza. Images of starving Palestinians have drawn international condemnation of Israeli policies limiting aid deliveries into the territory. Families of the hostages fear that the lack of food threatens the remaining hostages, too. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages are believed to be alive. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was shocked by the images of the two hostages and met with the Red Cross to ask that it bring hostages food and medicine — access that the organization says it has never been granted by Hamas. 'When I see these, I understand exactly what Hamas wants,' Netanyahu said on Sunday. 'They do not want a deal. They want to break us using these videos of horror.' Netanyahu said the videos renewed his determination to release the hostages and eliminate Hamas. He added that the militant group is starving the hostages 'like the Nazis starved the Jews.' The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was 'appalled by the harrowing videos' and called for access to the hostages. Hamas' military wing said it was ready to respond positively to Red Cross requests to deliver food to hostages, if humanitarian corridors for aid deliveries are opened in a 'regular and permanent manner' in Gaza. It also asserted that the hostages 'eat the same food as our fighters and the general public' and denied any intentional starvation of them. Israel's mission to the U.N. said it requested an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the hostages, which will take place Tuesday. Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said he will travel to New York for the meeting. The videos were being used by Hamas 'to force upon us their conditions on remaining in power in Gaza,' Sa'ar asserted. Netanyahu on Monday said he will convene the Cabinet this week to instruct Israel's military on how to achieve the goals of defeating the enemy, releasing the hostages and assuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel: 'all of them, without exception.' More starvation deaths The videos of the hostages emerged as experts warn that Gaza faces 'a worst-case scenario of famine ″ because of Israel's blockade. No aid entered Gaza between March 2 and May 19, and aid has been limited since then. The United Nations says at least 850 people have been killed attempting to access aid near chaotic and dangerous distribution sites set up by Israel and the United States in May. Gaza's Health Ministry said Monday that five more Palestinian adults died of malnutrition-related causes in the past 24 hours. A total of 87 adults have died of malnutrition-related issues since the ministry started counting such deaths in late June, it said. Ninety-three children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war in Gaza began, the ministry said. Israel's government has denied that people are starving to death in Gaza. About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked the war, and another 251 were abducted. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up over half the dead, is part of the Hamas government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable casualty count. Israel has disputed the figures but hasn't provided its own. ___
Western Telegraph
21 minutes ago
- Western Telegraph
No 10 declines to say if Palestine to be recognised with Hamas in power
Number 10 also refused to be drawn on whether the release of all Israeli hostages was a condition for recognition, but insisted they must be freed 'unconditionally and immediately'. Concerns have been raised over the UK's plans to recognise a Palestinian state after Hamas member Ghazi Hamad appeared to claim the 'fruits' of October 7 had caused the world to 'open its eyes to the Palestinian issue'. Asked on Monday whether formalising the move without a ceasefire could embolden Hamas to hold onto Israeli captives, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said the Government would assess the situation in September. 'The Prime Minister has been absolutely clear that, on October 7, Hamas perpetrated the worst massacre in Israel's history,' he said. 'Every day since then that horror has continued… as the Foreign Secretary said over the weekend, Hamas are rightly pariahs who can have no role in Gaza's future.' Asked whether a Palestinian state could be recognised while Hamas are still holding hostages, the spokesman said that 'we'll make an assessment ahead of the UN General Assembly on how far the parties have met the steps that we've set out'. 'We've been very clear that Hamas can have no role in the future governments of Gaza… We've also been clear that they must disarm, must release all the hostages. On whether the step could be taken while Hamas remain in power, the official said the Government was clear that 'Hamas are not the Palestinian people'. 'It is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to have recognition along the lines and the steps that we've previously set out,' he said. 'We've also been very clear it cannot be in the hands of Hamas, a terrorist group, to have a veto over recognition of Palestine.' Videos released by militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad last week appeared to show Israeli hostages in a visibly fragile state. Number 10 condemned the images as 'completely abhorrent'. Meanwhile, Mr Hamad reportedly told the Al Jazeera news outlet: 'The initiative by several countries to recognise a Palestinian state is one of the fruits of October 7.' About 1,200 people were killed by Hamas militants in the 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war and another 251 were abducted. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but its figures are seen by the UN and other independent experts as the most reliable count of casualties. The UK and Jordan have been working together to air drop aid amid warnings of widespread malnourishment in Gaza. It comes as Britain seeks to put pressure on Israel to change course with a plan to recognise a Palestinian state in September ahead of the UN General Assembly. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK would only refrain from recognising Palestine if Israel allows more aid into Gaza, stops annexing land in the West Bank, agrees to a ceasefire and signs up to a long-term peace process over the next two months.
Spectator
42 minutes ago
- Spectator
Kate Forbes's exit is proof the SNP has lost its way
In little over a week, the Scottish National Party (SNP) has lost two of its greatest political stars. Mhairi Black, the left-wing MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, threw in the towel last week, citing the 'toxicity' of politics and the party's lack of support for transgender rights. Now, the deputy leader of the SNP, Kate Forbes – regarded as a social conservative – has stepped down to spend more time with her family. The trickle of nationalist departures risks turning into a flood. Forbes's departure is the greater shock. Many regarded the 35-year-old MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch as the leading leadership challenger from the right of the party. As the SNP's first female Finance Secretary, she championed a return to pro-business economics and strongly defended the oil and gas industry. Her statement today that she doesn't want to miss 'the precious early years of family life' – she has a three-year-old daughter – came as a complete surprise. Mhairi Black, on the other hand, had long expressed her disillusionment with Westminster politics and had made it clear last year that she was standing down as an MP. However, her many supporters on the left of the SNP hoped she might seek a political future in Holyrood. Instead, she announced on 25 July that she was quitting the SNP for good. Black was highly regarded as an articulate and dynamic champion of the youth vote. When she was elected to Paisley and Renfrewshire South in 2015, defeating the Labour cabinet minister Douglas Alexander, she became the youngest MP to be elected since 1832 at 20 years old. Black went on to become deputy leader of the SNP in Westminster and, with a prominent media profile, including a show at the Edinburgh Festival, was seen by many as the future of Scottish nationalism. But last week, she cited the SNP leadership's 'capitulations on LGBT rights, trans rights in particular' as the reason she could no longer remain a party member. She also criticised the SNP leader, John Swinney, for equivocating on the issue of Palestinian 'genocide'. There is little doubt that Black regarded Kate Forbes as a leading figure in those 'capitulations'. The deputy leader made clear that she 'unequivocally' supported 'single-sex spaces and women's rights', and Forbes openly praised the gender-critical author J.K. Rowling as a 'national treasure'. A committed Christian and member of an evangelical sect, Forbes also said she personally did not support abortion, although she accepted that it was the law of the land. She admitted that she would have voted against same-sex marriage had she been in Holyrood when the matter was debated in 2012. Black argued that the SNP could not remain a party of young people while clinging to such policies. Centrists may argue that the departures of these two controversial figures, in a sense, cancel each other out, allowing the party to stabilise behind John Swinney, the ultimate centrist dad. But this development will only further demoralise the party as it seeks to avoid defeat in next year's Holyrood election and has barely recovered from its drubbing in last year's general election when it lost 38 seats. The loss of two high-profile women only adds to the sense that the SNP has lost direction since the equally sudden departure of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon in February 2023. Of course, many will blame the difficulties that women face in politics, though neither Sturgeon nor Mhairi Black had young children to look after. The attrition rate for female politicians in Scotland is high. The former women leaders of the Scottish Labour party, Kezia Dugdale, and the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson, also left politics at short notice. However, as far as the SNP is concerned, it is probably more a consequence of the failure of nationalist politics than of personal issues or misogyny. Kate Forbes stood for the party leadership as recently as 2023 and lost narrowly to Humza Yousaf, who is himself standing down at next year's Holyrood elections. The former SNP minister, Fergus Ewing, who left the party last month, has said: 'With Alex Salmond's passing last year, the SNP lost the best leader it ever had; with Kate's decision, the SNP has lost the best leader it never had.' The SNP has haemorrhaged electoral support since the departure of Nicola Sturgeon and is now polling in the low 30s. The current leader, John Swinney, has been heavily criticised for his lacklustre leadership and his failure to translate support for independence, which is running at over 50 per cent in many recent opinion polls, into support for the party of independence. This latest shock will only increase murmurs of discontent about Swinney's leadership. The main beneficiary is likely to be the party's Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, who is beginning to look like a shoo-in for SNP leader if and when John Swinney takes the long walk.
