Brazil 'welcomes' France's announcement recognizing the State of Palestine
'The recognition of the Palestinian state by a growing number of countries [...] helps address the aspirations for peace in the region, as well as the freedom and self-determination of the Palestinian people,' the ministry added in a statement.
President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday France's official recognition of the State of Palestine during the United Nations General Assembly in September in New York.
Brazil has recognized the State of Palestine since 2010 and supports a 'two-state solution' to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Brazil's left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has accused Israel of 'genocide' in the Gaza Strip, a besieged, starving, and devastated Palestinian territory following 21 months of war triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Islamist Hamas movement on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The Brazilian government announced this week its intention to join a legal action before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) initiated by South Africa, accusing Israel of committing 'genocide' in Gaza.
At least 142 countries already recognize or plan to recognize the State of Palestine, according to a count by AFP.
Several states have made this decision following the outbreak of the current war in the Gaza Strip.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Nahar Net
4 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Gaza aid truck drivers face increasing danger from desperate crowds and armed gangs
by Naharnet Newsdesk 06 August 2025, 17:51 Truck drivers trying to deliver aid inside Gaza say their work has become increasingly dangerous in recent months as people have grown desperately hungry and violent gangs have filled a power vacuum left by the territory's Hamas rulers. Crowds of hungry people routinely rip aid off the backs of moving trucks, the local drivers said. Some trucks are hijacked by armed men working for gangs who sell the aid in Gaza's markets for exorbitant prices. Israeli troops often shoot into the chaos, they said. Drivers have been killed in the mayhem. Since March, when Israel ended a ceasefire in its war with Hamas and halted all imports, the situation has grown increasingly dire in the territory of some 2 million Palestinians. International experts are now warning of a "worst-case scenario of famine" in Gaza. Under heavy international pressure, Israel last week announced measures to let more aid into Gaza. Though aid groups say it's still not enough, getting even that amount from the border crossings to the people who need it is difficult and extremely dangerous, the drivers said. Driving aid trucks can be deadly Thousands of people packed around the road Monday as two trucks entered southern Gaza, AP video showed. Young men overwhelmed the trucks, standing on the cabs' roofs, dangling from the sides and clambering over each other onto the truck beds to grab boxes even as the trucks slowly kept driving. "Some of my drivers are scared to go transfer aid because they're concerned about how they'll untangle themselves from large crowds of people," said Abu Khaled Selim, vice president of the Special Transport Association, a nonprofit group that works with private transportation companies across the Gaza Strip and advocates for truck drivers' rights. Selim said his nephew, Ashraf Selim, a father of eight, was killed July 29 by a stray bullet when Israeli forces opened fire on crowds climbing onto the aid truck he was driving. Shifa Hospital officials said they received his body with an apparent gunshot to the head. The Israeli military said it was unaware of the incident and that "as a rule" it does not carry out deliberate attacks on aid trucks. Earlier in the war, aid deliveries were safer because, with more food getting into Gaza, the population was less desperate. Hamas-run police had been seen securing convoys and went after suspected looters and merchants who resold aid at exorbitant prices, Now, "with the situation unsecured, everything is permissible," said Selim, who appealed for protection so the aid trucks could reach warehouses. The U.N. does not accept protection from Israeli forces, saying it would violate its rules of neutrality, and said that given the urgent need for aid it would accept that hungry people were going to grab food off the back of the trucks as long as they weren't violent. Flooding Gaza with renewed aid would ease the desperation and make things safer for the drivers, said Juliette Touma, communications director at UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. The danger for drivers is growing Ali al-Derbashi, 22, was an aid truck driver for more than a year and a half, but he quit after his last trip three weeks ago because of the increasing danger, he said. Some people taking aid off the trucks are now carrying cleavers, knives and axes, he said. He was once ambushed and forcibly redirected to an area designated by Israel as a conflict zone in its war against Hamas. There everything was stolen, including his truck's fuel and batteries, and his tires were shot out, he said. He was beaten and his phone was stolen. "We put our lives in danger for this. We leave our families for two or three days every time. And we don't even have water or food ourselves," he said. In addition to the danger, the drivers faced humiliation from Israeli forces, he said, who put them through "prolonged searches, unclear instructions, and hours of waiting." The war began Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 others. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to the latest figures by Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians and operates under the Hamas government. The threats come from everywhere Nahed Sheheibr, head of the Special Transport Association, said the danger for the drivers comes from everywhere. He accused Israel of detaining drivers and using them as human shields. The Israeli military did not comment on the accusation. In recent days, men linked to a violent Gaza clan fired at drivers, injuring one, and looted a convoy of 14 trucks, he said. They later looted a convoy of 10 trucks. Hossni al-Sharafi, who runs a trucking company and was an aid driver himself, said he is only allowed to use drivers who have no political affiliation and have been approved by Israel to transport aid from crossings. Al-Sharafi said he was detained by Israeli forces for more than 10 days last year while transporting aid from the southern Kerem Shalom crossing and interrogated about where the truck was headed and how the aid was being distributed. Israeli officials did not comment on the accusations. Some drivers spoke of being shot at repeatedly by armed gangs. Others said their trucks were routinely picked clean — even of the wooden pallets— by waves of desperate people, many of whom were fighting each other for the food, while Israeli troops were shooting. Hungry families who miss out on the aid throw stones at the trucks in anger. Anas Rabea said the moment he pulled out of the Zikkim crossing last week his aid truck was overwhelmed by a crowd. "Our instructions are to stop, because we don't want to run anyone over," he said. "It's crazy. You have people climbing all over the cargo, over the windows. It's like you're blind, you can't see out." After the crowd had stripped everything, he drove another few hundred meters and was stopped by an armed gang that threatened to shoot him. They searched the truck and took a bag of flour he had saved for himself, he said. "Every time we go out, we get robbed," he said. "It's getting worse day by day."
Nahar Net
4 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Russia says no longer bound by self-imposed moratorium on intermediate-range missiles
by Naharnet Newsdesk 06 August 2025, 17:51 Russia has declared that it no longer considers itself bound by a self-imposed moratorium on the deployment of nuclear-capable intermediate range missiles, a warning that potentially sets the stage for a new arms race as tensions between Moscow and Washington rise again over Ukraine. In a statement Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry linked the decision to efforts by the U.S. and its allies to develop intermediate range weapons and preparations for their deployment in Europe and other parts of the world. It specifically cited U.S. plans to deploy Typhoon and Dark Eagle missiles in Germany starting next year. The ministry noted that such actions by the U.S. and its allies create "destabilizing missile potentials" near Russia, creating a "direct threat to the security of our country" and carry "significant harmful consequences for regional and global stability, including a dangerous escalation of tensions between nuclear powers." It didn't say what specific moves the Kremlin might take, but President Vladimir Putin has previously announced that Moscow was planning to deploy its new Oreshnik missiles on the territory of its neighbor and ally Belarus later this year. Asked where and when Russia could potentially deploy intermediate-range weapons, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that it's not something to be announced in advance. "Russia no longer has any limitations, Russia no longer considers itself to be constrained by anything," Peskov told reporters. "Therefore Russia believes it has the right to take respective steps if necessary." "Decisions on specific parameters of response measures will be made by the leadership of the Russian Federation based on an interdepartmental analysis of the scale of deployment of American and other Western land-based intermediate-range missiles, as well as the development of the overall situation in the area of international security and strategic stability," the Foreign Ministry said. Russia's move follows Trump's nuclear messaging The Russian statement follows President Donald Trump's announcement Friday that he's ordering the repositioning of two U.S. nuclear submarines "based on the highly provocative statements" of Dmitry Medvedev, who was president in 2008-12 to allow Putin, bound by term limits, to later return to the office. Trump's statement came as his deadline for the Kremlin to reach a peace deal in Ukraine approaches later this week. Trump said he was alarmed by Medvedev's attitude. Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council chaired by Putin, has apparently sought to curry favor with his mentor by making provocative statements and frequently lobbing nuclear threats. Last week. he responded to Trump's deadline for Russia to accept a peace deal in Ukraine or face sanctions by warning him against "playing the ultimatum game with Russia" and declaring that "each new ultimatum is a threat and a step toward war." Medvedev also commented on the Foreign Ministry's statement, describing Moscow's withdrawal from the moratorium as "the result of NATO countries' anti-Russian policy." "This is a new reality all our opponents will have to reckon with," he wrote on X. "Expect further steps." INF treaty abandoned in 2019 Intermediate-range missiles can fly between 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,400 miles). Such land-based weapons were banned under the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Trump withdrew from the pact in his first term, citing Russian violations, which Moscow denied. It, in turn, alleged the U.S. had committed violations. The treaty was terminated in 2019, but the Kremlin declared its self-imposed moratorium on their deployment until the U.S. makes such a move. The collapse of the INF Treaty has stoked fears of a replay of a Cold War-era European missile crisis, when the U.S. and the Soviet Union both deployed intermediate-range missiles on the continent in the 1980s. Such weapons are seen as particularly destabilizing because they take less time to reach targets, compared with intercontinental ballistic missiles, leaving no time for decision-makers and raising the likelihood of a global nuclear conflict over a false launch warning. Russia's missile forces chief has declared that the new Oreshnik intermediate range missile, which Russia first used against Ukraine in November, has a range to reach all of Europe. Oreshnik can carry conventional or nuclear warheads. Putin has praised the Oreshnik's capabilities, saying its multiple warheads that plunge to a target at speeds up to Mach 10 are immune to being intercepted and are so powerful that the use of several of them in one conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack. Putin has warned the West that Moscow could use it against Ukraine's NATO allies who allowed Kyiv to use their longer-range missiles to strike inside Russia.
Nahar Net
4 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Amal says govt. violated ministerial statement, Thursday session a 'chance for correction'
by Naharnet Newsdesk 06 August 2025, 17:11 The Amal Movement announced Wednesday that the Lebanese government 'should have dedicated its efforts to consolidate the ceasefire and put an end to the Israeli killing machine' instead of taking its Tuesday decision to monopolize arms in the state's hand before the year's end. The government 'contradicted what was mentioned in the president's inaugural speech and violated its Ministerial Statement, and accordingly tomorrow's session represents a chance for correction and for restoring Lebanese solidarity,' the Movement added in a statement. Amal's minister Tamara al-Zein and Hezbollah minister Rakan Nassereddine had walked out of Tuesday's session in protest at its decisions. The government "tasked the Lebanese Army with setting an implementation plan to restrict weapons" to the army and other government forces "before the end of this year," with the plan to be presented to the cabinet by the end of this month, PM Nawaf Salam told a press conference after a nearly six-hour cabinet session headed by President Joseph Aoun. Salam also announced that Cabinet would discuss the latest U.S. paper in its session on Thursday. The Iran-backed Hezbollah emerged badly weakened from more than a year of hostilities with Israel, including two months of all-out war that saw its arsenal pummeled and a slew of senior commanders killed, among them leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Long the strongest political force in Lebanon -- with detractors accusing it of using the threat of its weaponry to impose its will on domestic decisions -- Hezbollah has also seen that influence diminish since the conflict. Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem, in a televised address while the cabinet meeting was underway, said the Iran-backed group would not disarm while Israeli attacks continue. "Any timetable presented for implementation under... Israeli aggression cannot be agreed to," he said. Israel has kept up regular raids on Lebanon despite the November truce, mostly saying it is striking Hezbollah targets, and has threatened to keep doing so until the group has been disarmed. Qassem also criticized a recent proposal presented by Barrack on disarming the group. Hezbollah is the only faction that kept its weapons after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, doing so in the name of "resistance" against Israel, which occupied the country's south until 2000. Last month, Barrack urged Lebanon to "act now" to impose a state weapons monopoly.
