China condemns 'coercion' after Trump floats tariffs on Russia allies
15/07/2025
Israel strikes military tanks in southern Syria
15/07/2025
Syria: 'Sweida has been a real focal point of violence'
Middle East
15/07/2025
'Whole range of factors: environmental, human and societal, contributing to worsening of disasters'
Environment
14/07/2025
Excavations begin at child mass grave site in Ireland
Europe
14/07/2025
Markets shrug off Trump tariff threat against EU
Economy
14/07/2025
'It's simply horrific that a family would risk their life to find food and water for their beloved'
Middle East
14/07/2025
Far-right groups and migrants clash in southeastern Spain town
Europe
14/07/2025
New Gaza-bound aid boat leaves Italy
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Euronews
7 hours ago
- Euronews
Slovenia becomes first EU country to ban weapons trade with Israel
Slovenia will be 'the first European country' to ban weapons trade with Israel in response to Tel Aviv's actions in Gaza, Prime Minister Robert Golob told the country's Press Agency (STA) on Friday. 'At the initiative of Prime Minister Dr. Robert Golob, the government today adopted a decision prohibiting the export and transit of military weapons and equipment from or through the Republic of Slovenia to Israel, as well as the import of such goods from Israel into the Republic of Slovenia,' according to a statement cited by STA and published on the Slovenian government's webpage. The statement added that Golob's decision stems from his promise to 'act independently' against Israel if the EU 'failed to adopt concrete measures by mid-July'. 'Due to internal disagreements and lack of unity, the European Union is currently unable to fulfil this task,' the statement said. EU member states have now repeatedly failed to rally enough support to respond to Israel's ongoing actions in Gaza. Despite a review of the EU-Israel association agreement which revealed that the country's actions in Gaza were violating human rights, the EU 27 couldn't agree on any of the 10 sanctions proposed to them, including a partial suspension of Israel's access to the EU's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. An embargo on arms to Israel was never tabled among options for action at EU level. United Nations and EU rules state that human rights violations and war crimes should give rise to arms sales embargoes. In addition, following the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands have already halted or restricted exports. Israel imports almost 70% of its arsenal from the US, the world's largest arms exporter but Germany is Israel's second supplier. Since 7 October 2023, it has exported €485 millions' worth of weapons. Italy ranks third, supplying less than 1%. Slovenia has been one of the most vocal EU countries calling for EU action against Israel. The country recognised a Palestinian state in June last year and has since repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Gaza and increased aid deliveries to the enclave. It has also declared two far-right Israeli ministers, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as personae non grata.
France 24
9 hours ago
- France 24
US envoy visits Gaza sites as UN says hundreds of aid-seekers killed
The visit by Steve Witkoff came as a report from global advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) also accused Israeli forces of presiding over "regular bloodbaths" close to the US-backed aid points. The UN's rights office in the Palestinian territories said at least 1,373 people had been killed seeking aid in Gaza since May 27 -- 105 of them in the last two days of July. "Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli military," the UN office said, breaking down the death toll into 859 killed near the US-backed food sites and 514 along routes used by UN and aid agency convoys. The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, posted on X that he and Witkoff had visited Gaza "to learn the truth" about the private aid sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is supported by the United States. "We received briefings from IDF (the Israeli military) and spoke to folks on the ground. GHF delivers more than one million meals a day, an incredible feat!" Huckabee said. "Hamas hates GHF because it gets food to people without it being looted by Hamas." The foundation, on its own X account, posted that it had been a "privilege and honor" to host Witkoff and Huckabee as the group delivered its 100-millionth meal in Gaza, fulfilling Trump's "call to lead with strength, compassion and action". Gaza's civil defence agency said 11 people were killed by Israeli fire and air strikes on Friday, including two who were waiting near an aid distribution site run by GHF. GHF largely sidelined the longstanding UN-led humanitarian system just as Israel was beginning to ease a more than two-month aid blockade that exacerbated existing shortages of food and other essentials. 'Beyond imagination' In its report on the GHF centres on Friday, Human Rights Watch accused the Israeli military of illegally using starvation as a weapon of war. "Israeli forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families," said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch. "US-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarised aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths." Responding to the report, the military said GHF worked independently, but that Israeli soldiers operated "in proximity to the new distribution areas in order to enable the orderly delivery of food". It accused Hamas of trying to prevent food distribution and said that it was conducting a review of the reported deaths, adding it worked to "minimise, as much as possible, any friction between the civilian population" and its forces. After arriving in Israel on Thursday, Witkoff held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over how to resolve the almost 22-month-old war, feed desperate civilians and free the remaining hostages held by Palestinian militants. Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and free the captives, but is under international pressure to end the bloodshed that has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians and threatened many more with famine. Following his discussions with Witkoff, Netanyahu met Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul of Germany, another staunch Israeli ally, who nonetheless delivered a blunt message. "The humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination," Wadephul told reporters after the meeting, urging the government "to provide humanitarian and medical aid to prevent mass starvation from becoming a reality". "I have the impression that this has been understood today," he added. Hostage video On Thursday, the armed wing of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad released a video showing German-Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski, 21, watching recent news footage of the crisis in Gaza and pleading with the Israeli government to secure his release. "Even the strongest person has a breaking point," his family said in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel. "Rom is an example of all the hostages. They must all be brought home now." On Friday, Wadephul also met relatives of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip. According to the German foreign office, among the 49 hostages still held, a "single-digit" number are German-Israeli dual nationals "Germany continues to do everything in our power to achieve the release of the hostages," Wadephul said, expressing outrage at the video release. This "horrible" footage reveals "once again the utter depravity of the kidnappers", he added. The Hamas-led October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures. Of the 251 people taken hostage, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 declared dead by the Israeli military. The retaliatory Israeli offensive has killed at least 60,249 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP cannot independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence and other parties. © 2025 AFP
LeMonde
11 hours ago
- LeMonde
France halts Gaza arrivals pending probe into student's antisemitic posts
France will suspend its programme to receive Palestinians from conflict-torn Gaza pending the outcome of an investigation into how a student accused of sharing antisemitic posts was allowed into the country, the French foreign minister said Friday, August 1. The move comes after officials said the female student from Gaza will have to leave France after the Sciences Po Lille university revoked her accreditation over the online posts. "No evacuation of any kind will take place until we have drawn conclusions from this investigation," Jean-Noël Barrot told Franceinfo radio. All Gazans who have entered France will undergo a second screening, he added. France has helped more than 500 people leave Gaza since the latest war between Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel started, including wounded children, journalists, students and artists. The conflict, triggered by Hamas's murderous October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, has seen Israel retaliate with a deadly military campaign and an aid blockade in Gaza that some rights groups have qualified as "genocide." Lille's chief prosecutor told Agence France-Presse on Thursday a probe had been opened against the student for allegedly trying to "justify terrorism" and "justify a crime against humanity." Screenshots of posts the student allegedly shared in September – published by pro-Israel accounts on X – include an image of Adolf Hitler and words appearing to call for the death of Jews. The account attributed to the student has been taken offline, after French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau demanded it be closed down. "She must leave the country," the foreign minister confirmed, adding that discussions were ongoing to determine her destination.
