Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin would be “the most effective way forward” amid stalled diplomatic attempts to end the war as he celebrated Ukraine’s Independence Day.
Ukraine launched drone strikes on Russia, triggering a fire at a nuclear power plant as Ukrainians marked their independence day with the conflict now in its fourth year.
After a push by U.S. President Donald Trump to broker a Ukraine-Russia summit, hopes for peace dimmed when Russia on Friday ruled out any immediate Putin-Zelensky meeting.
But Zelensky said Sunday the “format of talks between leaders is the most effective way forward,” renewing calls for a bilateral summit with Putin.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier accused Western countries of seeking “a pretext to block negotiations” and slammed Zelensky for “demanding an immediate meeting at all costs.”
Zelensky vowed to “to push Russia to peace” as he spoke at a ceremony attended by U.S. envoy Keith Kellogg — whom he awarded with the Ukrainian Order of Merit — and other Western officials.
With the war having already claimed tens of thousands of lives, Russia has recently claimed new advances, including taking two villages in the eastern Donetsk region Saturday.
Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Sunday that three other villages had been reclaimed in Donetsk, that has emerged as the focal point for peace talks.
Ukraine’s Independence Day drone attacks in Russia included one shot down over the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in western Russia.
Russian authorities said Ukrainian drones had also been shot down over areas far from the front, including St. Petersburg in the northwest.
Ten drones were shot down over the port of Ust-Luga on the Gulf of Finland, sparking a fire at a fuel terminal owned by Russian energy group Novatek, local authorities said.
‘Ukraine is a fighter’
Speaking at the ceremony to marked the anniversary of Ukraine’s 1991 independence after the break-up of the Soviet Union, Zelensky said: “This is how Ukraine strikes when its calls for peace are ignored.”
“Today, both the U.S. and Europe agree: Ukraine has not yet fully won, but it will certainly not lose. Ukraine has secured its independence. Ukraine is not a victim; it is a fighter.”
He said the presence of foreign troops in Ukraine once the war ends would be “important” as Kyiv seeks to work on potential security guarantees with its allies.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on a visit to Kyiv said it was not “the choice of Russia how the future sovereignty, independence, liberty of Ukraine is guaranteed.”
Zelensky thanked other world leaders including Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s King Charles and Pope Leo for sending messages to mark the occasion.
Norway announced it would contribute 7 billion kroner ($700 million) as part of its joint pledge with Germany to provide Ukraine with two complete U.S. Patriot systems that Germany already possesses.
The systems are in Germany and will be delivered to Ukraine “as soon as possible,” the Norwegian government said.
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Israel says it has carried out strikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen’s capital Sanaa.
The attacks happened after the Iranian-backed militants said they fired a ballistic missile towards Israel on Friday.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said on Sunday it struck the regime’s “military infrastructure”, including a site “in which the presidency palace is located, the Asar and Hizaz power plants, and a site for storing fuel”.
The IDF also said the strikes were carried out in response to “repeated attacks” by the Houthis against Israel, such as “the launching of surface-to-surface missiles and UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) toward Israeli territory in recent days”.
Image: Pic Karar Almoayed
The presidential palace is within a military site where the Houthi regime operates, and the power plants were used as a “significant electricity supply facility for military activities”, the IDF added.
The Houthi-run health ministry said that at least two people were killed and 35 others were wounded.
Referring to the missile fired at Israel on Friday, an Israeli air force official said the weapon most likely carried several sub-munitions “intended to be detonated upon impact”.
“This is the first time that this kind of missile has been launched from Yemen”, the official said.
The Israeli strikes were the first to hit Yemen since a week ago, when Israel said it targeted energy infrastructure it believed was used by the rebels.
On Sunday, residents in Sanaa said they heard loud explosions near a closed military academy and the presidential palace.
They said they saw smoke plumes near Sabeen Square, a central gathering place in the capital.
“The sound of explosions were very strong,” said Hussein Mohamed, a Yemeni resident, who lives close to the presidential palace.
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Another resident, Ahmed al Mekhlafy, also said he felt the force of the strikes. “The house was rocked, and the windows were shattered,” he said.
Nasruddin Amer, deputy head of the Houthi media office, claimed the Israeli strikes will not deter the rebels, and vowed to continue their attacks on Israel.
Read more from Sky News: Israel hits outskirts of Gaza City Two married couples found dead after Germany crash
Since Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas began in October 2023, the Houthis have attacked vessels in the Red Sea in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians.
They have also frequently fired missiles towards Israel, most of which have been intercepted.
Israel has responded with strikes on Houthi-controlled areas, including the vital Hodeidah port.
In late 2014, a civil war erupted in Yemen when the Houthis seized Sanaa.
The Houthis have established control over much of the north and other large population centres, while the internationally recognised government is based in the port city of Aden.
A Ukrainian journalist who was held incommunicado by Russia for more than three years has been released on Sunday as part of the latest prisoner exchange between Moscow and Kyiv.
For more than three years, Dmytro Khilyuk, 50, was one of the thousands of Ukrainian civilians detained in Russia, something illegal under international law.
Khilyuk’s elderly parents had no information about his whereabouts but kept campaigning for his release, attending meetings with politicians in Ukraine and abroad, going to protests and tirelessly writing to Russian authorities.
A video from the exchange on Sunday released by Ukrainian authorities showed Khilyuk calling his mother just moments after crossing into Ukraine.
“I knew you cared about me and worried about me. Mum, don’t cry. I’ll be home soon,” he can be heard saying.
Khilyuk and his father Vasyl were detained by Russian troops while attempting to get basic supplies during the occupation of their village, Kozarovychi, north of Kyiv. While Vasyl Khyliuk was released a few days later, Dmytro disappeared without a trace.
Moscow repeatedly denied holding him, despite numerous accounts from fellow prisoners placing him in detention facilities in Russia.
The Russian Investigative Committee and the Russian Prison Service in Bryansk both officially informed the Khyliuks’ lawyer in December 2022 and January 2023 that he was not in Russia and that they had no information about him.
CNN visited Khilyuk’s parents in 2024, shortly after Moscow finally admitted that Dima — as his parents call him — was in Russian custody.
All his parents had from Dima directly was a short, handwritten note dated April 2022, in which he told them he was “alive and well” and which the Khilyuks did not receive until August that year.
According to Khilyuk’s lawyer, he was never charged or convicted of any crime.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Khilyuk was among eight civilians released on Sunday, sharing photos of the group on his official Telegram channel.
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of POWs said the eight civilians were released alongside soldiers and other security force members. It said all of the released were are privates and sergeants and almost all spent more than three years in captivity.
Ukraine did not say how many people were included in the exchange. The Russian Defence Ministry said earlier on Sunday that 146 Russian servicemen were returned from Ukraine in exchange for 146 Ukrainian prisoners of war, adding that eight Russian civilians from the Kursk region were also returned.
Kyiv has not commented on the claim that Russian civilians were included in the exchange. Previously, when Russian civilians were released from Ukraine, Kyiv said they were Russian saboteurs and collaborators.
Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s Chief of Staff, said that former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko was also released on Sunday. Yermak said Mykolayenko spent more than three years in Russian captivity, having refused to be exchanged in 2022, insisting that a critically ill fellow prisoner be released first.
Speaking on Sunday, Mykolayenko said that he has “seen nothing but bars and concrete in recent years.”
He described Sunday as his “second birthday” and said: “It is a wonderful coincidence that my mother’s birthday is tomorrow. Mum, I love you very much. She is 91 years old … I did not know if I would find her alive and well.”
The Ukrainian government said another journalist, Mark Kaliush, was also freed on Sunday, as was Serhiy Kovalyov, a medic who treated injured soldiers and civilians during the siege of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.
Their release marks a rare moment of hope for the families of Ukrainians detained in Russia.
According to Kyiv, at least 16,000 Ukrainian civilians are known to be detained in Russia, although the real number is likely to be much higher.
Some 37,000 Ukrainians, including civilians, children and members of the military, are officially recognized as missing.
Many have been detained in occupied territories, detained for months or even years without any charges or trial, and deported to Russia. They include activists, priests, politicians and community leaders as well as people who appear to have been snatched by Russian troops at random at checkpoints and other places in occupied Ukraine.
Some 30 Ukrainian journalists are currently detained in Russia, most without ever being charged or convicted of anything, according to Ukraine’s Institute of Mass Information.
The detention of civilians by an occupying power is illegal under international laws of conflict, except in a few narrowly-defined situations and with strict time limits.
There is no established legal framework for the treatment and exchange of civilian detainees in the same way there is for prisoners of war.
Srinagar: Extremely heavy rains lashed most parts of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, causing flash floods in several low-lying areas and damaging a major bridge on the Jammu-Pathankot highway.
According to Kashmir Media Service, authorities have issued an advisory asking people to stay away from rivers and landslide-prone areas.
The Meteorological Department has predicted moderate to heavy rainfall with the possibility of cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides till August 27.
At least 45 students of the Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIM) in Jammu were shifted to a safer place after the ground floor of their hostel complex was submerged in floodwaters. The rescue operation to save the students continued for over five hours and all the stranded students were shifted to safer places.
Normal life was disrupted in Jammu city due to heavy rains. Roads were submerged in several places, including Janipur, Roop Nagar, Talab Tulu, Jewel Chowk, New Plot and Sanjay Nagar, and flood water entered houses and a dozen vehicles were swept away in the floodwaters in the city.
A traffic officer said the 250-km long Srinagar- Jammu highway and the 434-km long Srinagar-Leh highway were open for traffic despite the heavy rains. However, the Mughal Road, connecting Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu with Shopian in the Kashmir Valley, and the Santhan Road, connecting Kishtwar and Doda districts with various districts of Jammu, remained closed.
A bridge collapsed in the middle near Lugate Mor on the Jammu-Pathankot highway. Water levels in major rivers and streams, including Basantar in Samba, Ajh and Ravi in Kathua, Chenab in Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban and Jammu and Tawi in Udhampur and Jammu rose sharply.
Officials said there was no report of any casualty, so far.
Israel struck Yemen’s Houthis on Sunday after the Iran-backed rebels fired a new type of missile at Israel.
The Israeli military said it struck a military site where the presidential palace is located, as well as two power plants and a fuel storage site.
At least four people were killed and 67 others were wounded in the strikes on the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported on Sunday, citing the country’s Ministry of Health.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said “the strikes were conducted in response to repeated attacks by the Houthi terrorist regime against the State of Israel and its civilians.”
More than 10 fighter jets participated in the strikes, according to an Israeli air force official, who said the furthest target was approximately 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) from Israel.
“For every missile the Houthis launch at Israel, they will pay many times over,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. “Today we brought upon the Houthis a blow of darkness and blackout—and going forward, there will be a blow of the firstborn as well.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks showed the “strength and determination” of his country. “The Houthi terror regime is learning the hard way that it will pay—and is paying—a very heavy price for its aggression against the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said.
Al-Masirah said there was “Zionist aggression ongoing on the capital Sanaa,” a city controlled by the Houthis.
A member of the Houthi leadership, Mohammad al-Farrah said that the Houthis would continue to support the people of Gaza and would “not retreat from it until the aggression is lifted, the siege is broken, and the starvation of Gaza’s people is stopped.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei praised the attacks as the “right course of action,” saying on X that “what the brave people of Yemen are doing today is the right thing to do.”
The strikes follow the Houthis’ launch of a missile against Israel on Friday.
An Israeli air force official said that for the first time, a Houthi missile contained a number of sub-munitions, which were intended to be detonated upon impact.
Police in the Tel Aviv district said Friday they were several sites where interception fragments had landed.No injuries were reported.
Israeli aircraft and tanks have pounded the eastern and northern outskirts of Gaza City destroying buildings and homes, as Israeli leaders vowed to press on with an expanded large-scale offensive on the city.
Witnesses reported the sound of continuous explosions overnight from Saturday night into Sunday morning in the areas of Zeitoun and Shejaia. Meanwhile, tanks shelled houses and roads in the nearby Sabra neighbourhood and several buildings were blown up in the northern area of Jabaliya.
Fire lit the skies from the direction of the explosions, causing panic and prompting some families to stream out of the city. Other residents said they would prefer to die and not leave.
About half of Gaza’s roughly 2 million people currently live in Gaza City. A few thousand have already left, carrying their belongings on vehicles and rickshaws.
“I stopped counting the times I had to take my wife and three daughters and leave my home in Gaza City,” Mohammad, 40, told Reuters. “No place is safe, but I can’t take the risk. If they suddenly begin the invasion, they will use heavy fire.”
Others said they would not leave, despite the explosions. “We are not leaving, let them bomb us at home,” said Aya, 31, who had a family of eight, adding that they could not afford to buy a tent or pay for the transportation, even if they did try to leave. “We are hungry, afraid and don’t have money.”
Israel approved a plan earlier this month for an expanded military offensive to seize control of Gaza City. It is not expected to move forces into the largely destroyed city centre for a few weeks, leaving room for mediators Egypt and Qatar to try to resume ceasefire talks.
Still, Israeli forces have bombed the city and surrounding areas, and said on Sunday that forces had returned to combat in the Jabaliya area in recent days.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, on Sunday vowed to press on with the offensive, which has raised alarm abroad and objections at home. On Friday, Katz said that Gaza City would be razed unless Hamas militants agreed to end the war on Israel’s terms and release all the hostages it still holds.
Hamas said in a statement on Sunday that Israel’s plan to take over Gaza City showed it was not serious about a ceasefire.
It said a ceasefire agreement was “the only way to return the hostages”, holding the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, responsible for their lives.
UN-backed experts declared on Friday that an “entirely man-made” famine is taking place in Gaza’s largest city and its surrounding area amid deteriorating conditions that threaten increasing deaths across the devastated territory.
“This famine is entirely man-made, it can be halted and reversed,” the report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said. “The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is present and is rapidly spreading … If a ceasefire is not implemented to allow humanitarian aid to reach everyone in the Gaza Strip, and if essential food supplies and basic health, nutrition and [sanitation and water] services are not restored immediately, avoidable deaths will increase exponentially.”
UN agency says Gaza famine is direct result of Israel’s actions – video
On Sunday, the Gaza health ministry said eight more people had died of malnutrition and starvation, raising deaths from such causes to 289 people, including 115 children, since the war started.
Israel is fighting allegations at the world’s top court of committing genocide in Gaza, where it has killed more than 60,000 people. Separately, the international criminal court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant. It also issued an arrest warrant for the Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, but later withdrew it after he was killed.
The Associated Press reported that Israeli forces had killed four people seeking food aid on Sunday as they travelled through a military zone south of Gaza City – an area regularly used by Palestinians trying to reach a food distribution point.
Al-Awda hospital and two witnesses told the Associated Press that the four Palestinians were killed when troops opened fire on a crowd heading to a site run by the Israeli-backed US contractor Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, in the Netzarim corridor area. It occurred hundreds of metres away from the site, the witnesses said.
“The gunfire was indiscriminate,” Mohamed Abed, a father of two from the Bureij refugee camp, told Associated Press, adding that while many had fled, some people fell to the ground after being shot.
Abed and Aymed Sayyad, another Palestinian seeking food among the crowd, said troops opened fire when a group near the front of the crowd pushed forward toward a distribution site before its scheduled opening.
The Israeli military and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report
The Israeli Air Force on Sunday carried out strikes in Yemen’s Houthi-held capital of Sanaa, reportedly killing at least four people and injuring scores, in response to the Iran-backed group’s repeated attacks on Israel.
The strike came shortly after the military said that an IAF investigation into a Friday night ballistic missile attack from Yemen found that, for the first time, the Houthis used a projectile with a cluster bomb warhead. Part of the missile hit a home in central Israel, causing damage. The woman living there had taken refuge in her reinforced shelter and was unharmed.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said the strikes on Sunday in Sanaa targeted a military compound where Yemen’s presidential palace is located, a fuel depot, and two power stations.
The IDF said the strikes came as a response to the Houthis’ ballistic missile and explosive drone attacks on Israel, the latest on Friday.
According to the military, the Yemeni presidential palace in Sanaa is “located within a military site from which the military operations of the Houthi terrorist regime forces are conducted.” Some local media reported that the palace had been abandoned for years.
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The two power plants that were targeted “served as a significant electricity supply facility for military activities,” the IDF said.
The IDF said that the Houthis’ use of the plants “constitutes further proof of how the Houthi regime uses civilian infrastructure for military purposes.”
The strikes killed four people and injured 67 in a “near-final toll,” a Houthi health ministry spokesperson said on X.
The strikes involved around a dozen IAF aircraft, including fighter jets and refuelers. Multiple refueling operations were carried out during the lengthy flight to and from Yemen.
Some 35 munitions were dropped on the four targets, according to the IDF.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir observed the strike from the IAF’s command center at the military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
“Whoever attacks us, we will attack him,” said Netanyahu. “Whoever plans to attack us — we attack him. I think the entire region is learning Israel’s strength and determination.”
“The Houthi terrorist regime is learning the hard way that it will pay and is paying a very heavy price for its aggression against Israel,” he added in a video statement released by his office.
L-R: Defense Minister Israel Katz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, and IAF chief of staff Brig. Gen. Omer Tischler at the IAF’s command center, August 24, 2025. (Elad Malka/Defense Ministry)
Katz, meanwhile, claimed Israel “destroyed the Houthi presidential palace in Yemen,” though there have been no such reports out of Yemen. Netanyahu only indicated that the IAF struck the palace.
“We continue to impose an air and naval blockade and are hitting infrastructure targets that are used to promote Houthi terrorism,” said Katz. “For every missile they launch at Israel, the Houthis will pay many times over.”
Sunday’s strike marked the 15th time that Israel has attacked the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, located some 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) away.
Most of the strikes have been carried out by Israeli Air Force fighter jets, though the previous one, on August 17, was carried out by Israeli Navy missile boats, the second such strike.
حفلة شواء تقوم بها الطائرات الإسرائيلية في صنعاء الآن ???? والقيادات الحوثية تفر بالعبايات إلى صعدة وعمران pic.twitter.com/u1e4rplKqQ
In the past week, the Houthis have launched two ballistic missiles and at least one drone at Israel.
The Houthis last attacked Israel on Friday night with a ballistic missile that was not intercepted.
According to assessments in the IAF, the missile’s warhead broke up in the air during its descent, deploying several sub-munitions. One munition struck the yard of a home in the central town of Ginaton, causing slight damage.
The munitions do not have their own propulsion or guidance and simply fall to the ground, where they are designed to explode on impact.
A fragment of a Houthi missile that broke apart and fell in Ginaton, August 22, 2025. (Ynet screenshot)
The military said that the failure to intercept the projectile was under investigation and that it was unrelated to the type of warhead the missile was carrying. The IAF had launched interceptor missiles in an attempt to shoot down the smaller fragments falling down.
“The air defense systems, with an emphasis on the upper layer, are capable of dealing with and intercepting such missiles, as they have intercepted in the past,” the IDF said.
Iran launched ballistic missiles with cluster bomb warheads at Israel at least twice during the 12-day war in June — those that the IAF failed to intercept.
The Houthis in Yemen are supplied by Iran.
Ilana Hatoumi, whose home was hit by a part of a Yemeni missile fired at Israel, speaks to Channel 12, August 24, 2025 (Video screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Ilana Hatoumi, whose home in central Israel was damaged in the attack on Friday, told Ynet news shortly after the strike: “I was sitting in the shelter, I heard a boom, everything exploded, and that’s it.”
“The glass is gone. We’re fine, I’m healthy. Nothing happened, everything can be fixed, it’s only material damage,” she said.
On Sunday, she elaborated in a Channel 12 interview: “There were two explosions at home… The entire home shook… The power went out… I thought it was very close, but I didn’t imagine it was in my home.”
“I came out to a shattered kitchen. All the windows, all the floor, the floor was filled with glass.” She said other rooms also suffered damage, and she surveyed it with a flashlight due to the power being out.
In June, after an Iranian ballistic missile scattered small bombs in central Israel, an Israeli military official said the cluster bomb warhead poses a threat to a much wider area than Iran’s other warheads, but the explosion from each of the cluster bombs is far smaller.
A munition from an Iranian cluster bomb that fell in central Israel, June 19, 2025. (Courtesy)
Additionally, many of the sub-munitions from Iran’s cluster bomb missiles did not explode, according to the military official. The unexploded ordnance still poses a danger to anyone who happens upon them.
Human rights groups have long campaigned for cluster bombs to be banned due to the random, indiscriminate nature of the threat they pose, unlike other types of munitions that can be used to precisely target combatants or military assets while minimizing harm to civilians.
In total, 112 countries have signed a 2008 convention banning the production, storage, sale, and use of cluster munitions. Iran and Israel are not among them.
The text of the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions says cluster bombs “kill or maim civilians, including women and children, obstruct economic and social development… impede post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction (and) delay or prevent the return of refugees and internally displaced persons… for many years after use.”
The Houthis — whose slogan calls for “Death to America, Death to Israel, [and] a Curse on the Jews” — began attacking Israel and maritime traffic in November 2023, a month after the October 7 Hamas massacre.
They held their fire during a ceasefire that was reached between Israel and Hamas in January 2025. By that point, they had fired over 40 ballistic missiles and dozens of attack drones and cruise missiles at Israel, including one that killed a civilian and wounded several others in Tel Aviv in July, prompting Israel’s first strike in Yemen.
Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched 71 ballistic missiles and at least 23 drones at Israel. Several of the missiles have fallen short.
Lazar Berman and Reuters contributed to this report.
Emine Erdogan, the wife of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has appealed to US first lady Melania Trump to advocate for children in Gaza and call on Israel to end the humanitarian crisis.The appeal comes after the US first lady’s earlier outreach to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which she called for the protection of children during the war in Ukraine.
‘Won’t Obey Law’: Israelis REVOLT In Tel Aviv, Declare DISOBEDIENCE, Attack Ministers Over Hostages
What did Emine Erdogan say to Melania Trump?In the letter, published by Turkey’s Anadolu news agency, Erdogan said she trusted Melania Trump would extend that compassion to those in Gaza.Erdogan asked Melania Trump to write to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, appealing for measures to end the crisis.“I have faith that the important sensitivity you have shown for the 648 Ukrainian children who have lost their lives in the war will be extended to Gaza as well,” Emine Erdogan wrote in the letter published by the Turkish presidency.“These children, driven into deep psychological ruin and having completely forgotten how to smile, scream into microphones that they want to die, carrying the exhaustion of a war they cannot cope with in their innocent hearts,” she wrote.“I believe that your call on behalf of Gaza would fulfill a historic responsibility toward the Palestinian people,” the missive added.The White House did not immediately respond.During his Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump hand-delivered a letter to the Russian leader from Melania Trump, urging him to consider the children impacted by the conflict and bring an end to the war. At the start of talks at the White House on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy handed a letter to Trump from his wife, Olena, thanking the Slovenian-born US first lady for the letter to Putin.How many children have died in Gaza?Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry on Saturday said at least 62,622 people have been killed since the war began, including those missing and now confirmed dead. The ministry said the total number of malnutrition-related deaths rose by eight to 281.The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but the United Nations and multiple humanitarian organizations consider the casualty numbers broadly reliable.Around half of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants are children, and the UN says the majority of civilians killed have been women and children. In July, the UN Office for Operations Chief Jorge Moreira da Silva told DW that 18,000 to 20,000 children had been killed since the conflict began.Israel launched its Gaza operation after the Hamas terror attacks in southern Israel on October 7 that killed some 1,200 people, with Hamas along with other Palestinian groups taking hostages from Israel. Of the 251 people abducted during the October 7 attack, about 50 remain in Gaza. Israel believes roughly 20 of them are still alive.Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by many countries, including the United States, Israel and Germany.
RIYADH: Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been outspoken in his criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu. While stopping short of accusing his successor of committing genocide, he has repeatedly said that what is happening in Gaza constitutes war crimes.
Speaking to Katie Jensen, host of the Arab News current affairs program “Frankly Speaking,” Olmert said that although Israel’s response was justified following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack, the conflict had become untenable — and a “death trap for Israelis.”
“The whole war which started after the … violation of the temporary ceasefire agreement in March of 2025 is an illegitimate war,” said Olmert, who served as prime minister from 2006 to 2009.
“And in the illegitimate war, which is opposed by the majority of the Israelis, over 70 percent, in which lots of Israeli soldiers will be killed, when there is a serious danger to the lives of the hostages, and there will be thousands of Palestinians killed for a war which has no objective, which can’t reach any goal, which will do nothing good for any party involved, such a war is a crime, and I’ve accused the Israeli government of doing it.”
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert being interviewed by Katie Jensen on “Frankly Speaking.” (AN photo)
He added that many Israelis now believe the war primarily serves Netanyahu’s personal interests rather than the families of the remaining hostages and the security of wider Israeli society.
“This is what everyone says in Israel now,” he said. “This is an unneeded and unnecessary war, that there is not any national interest of Israel which can be served by continuing the war. And therefore, the inevitable conclusion is that it serves the personal interests of the prime minister. This is something which has been said by everyone.
“Expanding the war now against Gaza, which is so densely populated with more than a million people and where Hamas is hiding inside the most densely populated areas with non-involved citizens, is a death trap for Israelis, for something which doesn’t serve any national interest is a crime, and you have to ask yourself: What does it serve? And therefore many people conclude that it serves a personal interest.”
When asked by Jensen whether he still believes Netanyahu belongs in The Hague to face war crimes charges, Olmert said he did not recall making such a statement. This is despite a widely shared clip from an interview with UK broadcaster Piers Morgan on June 2, in which Olmert was asked directly whether Netanyahu should face trial in The Hague.
“Look, there should be a voice. And if as a result of the fact that I was prime minister and I’m fairly well-known in the international community that people want to hear what I have to say, I have to say it. Yes,” Olmert told Morgan in the clip.
Although he now appears to have walked back those comments, Olmert did endorse describing Israel’s Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as terrorists, calling them “messianic” and “extremists.”
Ben-Gvir has provoked outrage by leading Jewish prayers at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, violating long-standing agreements and drawing condemnation from Palestinian, Arab, and international leaders.
He has also advocated for Israeli sovereignty over Gaza, and promoting mass “voluntary” Palestinian emigration. Western governments have sanctioned him for incitement to violence and past criminal convictions for supporting terrorism and racism.
Smotrich, also sanctioned by Western states, has been criticized for inflammatory statements backing settlement expansion in the West Bank, incitement against Palestinians, and positions seen by EU partners and rights groups as undermining Palestinian rights and peace prospects.
Jensen teed up the issue with this question: “When we look at some of the comments from (Netanyahu’s) ministers, people like Smotrich, who said there is no such thing as Palestinian people — he stood under a map of ‘Greater Israel’ while saying that — he also said the Palestinian village of Huwara should be wiped out.
“Or comments from Ben-Gvir, who went on Israeli television and said his right to move freely in the West Bank is more important than Palestinians’ freedom of movement … If we consider these men’s words and actions, in your view, are these men terrorists?”
Olmert was unequivocal in his response.
“Look, this is an easy part of the question,” he said. “Yes, they are in a way in the sense that Ben-Gvir was convicted for taking part in what is considered to be terrorist actions in the past. But I think that this situation is more, somewhat more complex.
“Let’s face it. On one hand, there are these messianic groups, which are totally, totally unacceptable. For the majority of the Israelis, there’s no question about it. They are extreme, they are messianic.
“Yes, indeed, they want to expel all the Palestinians from the West Bank and annex the West Bank. And so they want to do it in Gaza. But I think that the majority of the Israelis are against it.”
Unlike Netanyahu, who has leaned into the rhetoric of his far-right ministers, Olmert said he would never have supported the notion of a “Greater Israel” — a political concept espoused by extremists that envisions expanding Israeli territory to include swathes of Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and even land between the Nile and the Euphrates.
Olmert warned that such rhetoric and policies were costing Israel friends and allies.
“There is a deep division between a major part of the public opinion, which is in favor of changing course, and a part which is now governed by the Netanyahus and the group of thugs which are known to be the cabinet ministers,” he said.
“Now, what they are doing, they are causing a very big damage to the reputation of the state of Israel, to the integrity of the state of Israel, and to the perception of what Israel stands for.
“And that causes a huge difficulty in the relations of Israel with the traditional friends of Israel, European countries, France, Germany, Great Britain, Canada, other countries. And it also creates difficulties that will become more and more difficult to deal with, with America.
“And unfortunately also it creates difficulties with our very important friends in Egypt and Jordan, and also in the Emirates. And it certainly prevents the possible movement towards a normalization process with Saudi Arabia.”
Netanyahu has faced corruption charges since 2019, including allegations of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. His trial, which began in 2020, has been repeatedly delayed on security grounds. He denies all charges.
There are also outstanding arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, relating to alleged war crimes in Gaza. Israel itself faces charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice.
Olmert himself resigned as prime minister in 2009 amid corruption allegations and was later convicted and imprisoned for bribery and breach of trust. Despite this, he insists his voice carries weight, arguing that most Israelis now oppose Netanyahu.
Indeed, mass demonstrations across Israel in recent weeks opposing an expansion of the war in Gaza highlight a dramatic shift in public attitudes toward the trajectory of the right-wing coalition government.
“Had I been prime minister, it would have been entirely different,” said Olmert. “I would have adopted what I represented at the time that I was prime minister, talking about the two-state solution, negotiating, (and) hopefully trying to force a Palestinian leadership to comply.”
Olmert said the failure of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process to date could not be blamed entirely on Israel. He recalled that during his tenure he had offered the Palestinians a state, but says they rejected the proposal.
“Let’s not forget that in 2008, 2009, when I was prime minister, I proposed to the president of the Palestinian Authority a comprehensive peace plan based on the (19)67 borders,” he said.
His plan included an Israeli withdrawal from much of the West Bank, land swaps for annexed settlements, a corridor linking Gaza and the West Bank, shared or international administration of Jerusalem’s holy sites, and the symbolic acceptance of a limited number of Palestinian refugees into Israel, with compensation and resettlement for the rest.
The Palestinians rejected the deal over concerns about the right of return, the rushed timetable for consideration, doubts over Olmert’s political survival, and dissatisfaction with the terms on Jerusalem and land allocation.
Regardless of fault, the repeated collapse of peace efforts in this period culminated in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack and Israel’s ensuing war on Gaza, which has since killed at least 60,000 Palestinians and left the enclave devastated.
One of the war’s greatest scandals to date has been the creation of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in early 2025. Critics have denounced the GHF for sidelining UN-led relief mechanisms in favor of a US- and Israeli-backed scheme that placed military personnel and private US contractors in charge of distributing aid in militarized zones.
Reports have documented hundreds of deaths and injuries among Palestinians seeking food at GHF aid sites. Groups including Medecins Sans Frontieres described the locations as scenes of “orchestrated killing” and demanded the program’s immediate suspension.
Olmert said he did not know whether Israelis had deliberately targeted civilians at GHF sites, but insisted it was Israel’s responsibility to feed Gazans.
“I think that there is a lot of fake information about precisely the circumstances regarding the humanitarian supplies and how Hamas is trying to provoke in order to reach out for food for their own needs, knowing that Hamas is not particularly careful about the lives of Palestinians and … how much is it a result of very unacceptable practices of Israeli soldiers. I don’t know,” he said.
“I say one thing and this is at the bottom line, which I think is what counts. Israel controls Gaza, we are in charge there. Therefore, it is incumbent upon Israel to provide the humanitarian needs in Gaza to everyone that needs it, effectively, comprehensively, and without the interference or the provocations of whoever wants to disturb it. This is our responsibility.”
