International criticism of Israel’s plan – who’s said what?published at 14:02 British Summer Time
14:02 BST
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European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said that a “ceasefire is needed now”
Israel’s plan to expand its military operations into Gaza City has sparked international criticism, including from Israel’s allies.
Here’s a brief look back at what we’ve heard:
United Nations’ human rights chief Volker Türk warned the Israeli plans would cause “more massive forced displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering” in Gaza.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the decision “must be reconsidered”, while president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas described the move as a “fully-fledged crime”.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he would suspend the export of arms to Israel that could be used in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the decision “wrong”, adding it would “only bring more bloodshed”.
In Israel, hostages’ families said the plan is “endangering the hostages” in Gaza, while thousands have protested the decision to expand the war.
Arab nations including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia also condemned the proposals, describing the “persistence” as “ethnic cleansing”.
China‘s foreign ministry said “Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory”, and called for an immediate ceasefire.
During a trip to the UK, US Vice-President JD Vance said the Trump administration wanted to see Hamas eradicated so Israeli civilians were not attacked again, but also to solve the “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza.
New Delhi: India is bracing for the impact of new US tariffs, with experts warning of the economic and political consequences of an unprecedented duty on exports, marking one of the highest tariffs the US has ever imposed on a major trading partner.
In an unexpected move last week, US President Donald Trump imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods, citing New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil. His Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said the oil imports amounted to “financing” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The move increased the total duty on Indian exports to 50 percent. While India’s Ministry of External Affairs vowed to “take all actions necessary to protect its national interests,” experts do not see much room for negotiations, as the tariff regime is set to take effect next month.
“It will have economic repercussions if things are not changed. Fifty percent is a lot, and it will affect us. Right now, there is an exemption for pharmaceuticals, but in other areas, there will be an impact,” Manoj Joshi, distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, told Arab News.
“We don’t have much leverage. We don’t have many options. The US is the one taking these actions, so unless and until the US withdraws these taxes, there is not much India can do.”
The US and India have been in tariff talks since the beginning of the year, in the wake of the US ongoing global tariff campaign. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a personal visit to Washington, D.C., in February to meet Trump and discuss strengthening bilateral ties, trade relations, and the procurement of new US weapons and aircraft.
In April, the Trump administration imposed a 25 percent reciprocal tariff on Indian goods in response to India’s continued purchases of Russian oil and to rectify trade imbalances. A new deal was expected in July, but Trump did not approve it, leading to a breakdown in talks.
The US threatened to increase tariffs on India if it were not given broader access to several key sectors, including automobiles, steel, aluminum, and dairy products — a concession New Delhi resisted.
“India is not going to compromise on agriculture and dairy products. India will find it very difficult to stop buying Russian oil. There is not much room for any kind of concessions from India’s side,” Joshi said.
The US is India’s largest export market, accounting for 18 percent of its exports and 2.2 percent of its gross domestic product. The latest estimates by Indian economists suggest that the new tariff could reduce GDP by 0.2 to 0.8 percentage points.
It could also have an impact on India’s global standing.
After emerging as a new superpower when it hosted the G20 Summit in 2023 and over the past few years betting everything on its strategic partnership with the US, India may now be forced to recalibrate its relations, including with its rival China.
India is a member of the QUAD — Quadrilateral Security Dialogue — a forum that also includes the US, Japan, and Australia and focuses on regional security and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
India’s engagement with the bloc has increased in recent years, shifting from its earlier engagement with BRICS — a grouping that includes also Brazil, Russia, China, and Indonesia, and is the most powerful geopolitical forum outside of the Western world, accounting for 45 percent of the world’s population and 35 percent of its economy.
In the wake of tensions with the US, Modi is expected to visit China for a summit of the multilateral Shanghai Cooperation Organization and meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in late August. This will be his first official trip to China in over six years. The last visit took place before the 2020 Galwan Valley border clashes, which significantly strained India-China ties.
Modi’s office said on Saturday that he had invited Vladimir Putin to visit Delhi by the year’s end. It would be the Russian president’s first trip to India since December 2021.
“Consequences would be there so long as Trump is there. But the whole episode has exposed the leadership of India,” said Mohan Guruswamy, policy analyst specializing in economic and security issues.
“India has been ignoring its traditional allies. It has been pursuing QUAD and trying to appease the US, forgetting China and Russia. It has been pursuing the US and calling them strategic allies, and now the US has given it a shock.”
More than 600 pilgrims in Iraq were briefly hospitalised with respiratory problems after inhaling chlorine as a result of a leak at a water treatment station, authorities said on Sunday.
The incident took place overnight on the route between the two Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, located in the centre and south of Iraq, respectively.
This year, several million Shia Muslim pilgrims are expected to make their way to Karbala, which houses the shrines of the revered Imam Husain and his brother Abbas.
There, they will mark the Arbaeen — the 40-day period of mourning during which the community commemorate the death of Husain, grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
In a brief statement, Iraq’s health ministry said that “621 cases of asphyxia have been recorded following a chlorine gas leak in Karbala”.
“All have received the necessary care and left the hospital in good health,” it said.
Security forces charged with protecting pilgrims meanwhile said the incident had been caused by “a chlorine leak from a water station on the Karbala-Najaf road”.
Much of Iraq’s infrastructure is in disrepair due to decades of conflict and corruption, with adherence to safety standards often lax.
In July, a massive fire at a shopping mall in the eastern city of Kut killed more than 60 people, many of whom suffocated in the toilets, according to authorities.
Authorities say the incident happened overnight between the two Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.
More than 600 Shia pilgrims in Iraq have been briefly hospitalised with respiratory problems after inhaling chlorine as the result of a leak at a water treatment station, according to authorities.
The incident took place overnight on the route between the two Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, in the centre and south of Iraq, respectively.
This year, several million Shia Muslim pilgrims are expected to make their way to Karbala, which houses the shrines of the revered Imam Hussein and his brother Abbas.
There, they will mark the Arbaeen, the 40-day period of mourning during which Shia commemorate the death of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.
‘All pilgrims treated’
In a brief statement, Iraq’s Ministry of Health said “621 cases of asphyxia have been recorded following a chlorine gas leak in Karbala.
“All have received the necessary care and left hospital in good health,” it added.
Security forces charged with protecting pilgrims said the incident had been caused by “a chlorine leak from a water station on the Karbala-Najaf Road”.
Much of Iraq’s infrastructure is in disrepair due to decades of wars, internal conflicts and corruption, with adherence to safety standards often lacking.
In July, a huge fire at a shopping centre in the eastern city of Kut killed more than 60 people, many of whom suffocated in the toilets, according to authorities.
Europe’s leaders have raised the pressure on Donald Trump to involve Ukraine in a planned summit with Vladimir Putin, as Germany warned the White House against any deal hatched “over the heads of Europeans and Ukrainians”.
Speaking before a bilateral meeting expected to take place between the US and Russian leaders on Friday in Alaska, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said he hoped and assumed that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, would also be involved.
Merz told the broadcaster ARD that Berlin was working closely with Washington to try to ensure Zelenskyy’s attendance at the talks.
“We cannot accept in any case that territorial questions are discussed or even decided between Russia and America over the heads of Europeans and Ukrainians,” he said. “I assume that the American government sees it the same way.”
Vladimir Putin (left) and Donald Trump are expected to meet in Alaska this Friday. Photograph: Ilya Pitalev/SPUTNIK/AFP/Getty Images
The secretary general of Nato, Mark Rutte, said the summit would be about testing Putin on how serious he was about “bringing this terrible war to an end.”.
In pointed remarks, Rutte added: “It will be, of course, about security guarantees, but also about the absolute need to acknowledge that Ukraine decides on its own future, that Ukraine has to be a sovereign nation, deciding on its own geopolitical future.”
Announcing there would be an emergency meeting of EU ministers for Monday, Brussel’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, echoed that sentiment.
“President Trump is right that Russia has to end its war against Ukraine. The US has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously. Any deal between the US and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included, for it is a matter of Ukraine’s and the whole of Europe’s security,” Kallas said.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, said: ‘Any deal between the US and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included.’ Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters
The US vice-president, JD Vance, speaking a day after meeting the UK foreign minister, David Lammy, during his holiday in England, said Washington was working towards talks between Putin, Zelenskyy and Trump. But Vance said he did not think it would be productive for the Russian president to meet his Ukrainian counterpart before speaking with Trump.
“We’re at a point now where we’re trying to figure out, frankly, scheduling and things like that, around when these three leaders could sit down and discuss an end to this conflict,” he told Fox News.
As the diplomacy ramped up, there was no let-up in hostilities. Five people were killed in Russian shelling and drone attacks in Ukraine on Sunday, authorities said, while Russia said one person had been killed in a Ukrainian drone strike in its southern Saratov region.
Five people were killed in Russian shelling and drone attacks in Ukraine on Sunday. Photograph: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images
On Saturday, two people died and 16 others were injured when a Russian drone hit a minibus in the suburbs of the Ukrainian city of Kherson, said the region’s governor, Oleksandr Prokudin. Two others died after a Russian drone struck their car in the Zaporizhzhia region, according to the regional governor.
On Saturday night, European leaders issued a coordinated statement that said the “path to peace” in Ukraine could not be decided without Kyiv. Welcoming Trump’s attempts to end the war, leaders from the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Poland and Finland, along with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, emphasised that negotiations could only take place in the context of a ceasefire or reduction of hostilities.
It added: “Only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed.”
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On Sunday, Zelenskyy welcomed the support, saying on X: “The end of the war must be fair, and I am grateful to everyone who stands with Ukraine and our people today for the sake of peace in Ukraine, which is defending the vital security interests of our European nations.
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“Ukraine values and fully supports the statement by President Macron, Prime Minister Meloni, Chancellor Merz, Prime Minister Tusk, Prime Minister Starmer, President Ursula von der Leyen, and President Stubb on peace for Ukraine.”
In a Telegram post on Saturday, Zelenskyy had said that any decisions made without Kyiv were “dead decisions” and “[would] never work”.
On Saturday, David Lammy hosted JD Vance, along with Ukrainian and European partners aimed at driving peace in Ukraine. Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP
On the same day, at Chevening, a country mansion in Kent traditionally used by the foreign secretary, Lammy hosted Vance along with Ukrainian and European partners aimed at driving peace in Ukraine.
If the Trump-Putin summit goes ahead, it will be the first time a US president has met the Russian leader since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The last meeting Putin had with a US president was with Joe Biden in Geneva in June 2021.
Details of a potential deal have not been announced, but Trump said ending the war would involve “some swapping of territories to the betterment of both”, meaning Ukraine could be required to renounce significant parts of its territory.
Zelenskyy on Saturday stressed that Ukrainians would “not give up their land to occupiers”.
A European official confirmed a counterproposal was put forward by European representatives at the Chevening meeting but declined to provide details.
Friedrich Merz told ARD that Germany was working closely with the US to try to ensure Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s attendance at the talks. Photograph: Nadja Wohlleben/Reuters
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the counterproposal included demands that a ceasefire must take place before any other steps were taken and that any territory exchange must be reciprocal, with firm security guarantees.
It was not clear what, if anything, had been agreed at Chevening, but Zelenskyy called the meeting constructive.
“All our arguments were heard,” he said in his evening address to Ukrainians. “The path to peace for Ukraine should be determined together and only together with Ukraine. This is [a] key principle.”
Merz said he hoped for a breakthrough at the summit, despite lingering uncertainty of the attenders. “We hope that there will be a breakthrough on Friday,” he said. “Above all [we hope] that there will finally be a ceasefire and that there can be peace negotiations in Ukraine.”
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have held rallies and marches in cities around the world in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, demanding an end to Israeli attacks on the besieged and bombarded enclave as Israel-imposed starvation engulfs the entire population.
In London, the Metropolitan Police said it arrested more than 466 people at a protest on Saturday against the British government’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action.
British lawmakers proscribed Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation in July after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes as part of a series of protests. The group accuses the UK government of complicity in what it calls Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
Protesters, some wearing black-and-white Palestinian scarves and waving Palestinian flags, chanted, “Hands off Gaza” and held placards with the message “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
In Turkiye’s Istanbul, thousands of protesters demanded more aid be allowed into the Strip, with organisers calling on the international community to take urgent action to end the humanitarian crisis.
Many also took to the streets in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to protest against the blockade and Western support for Israel, demanding the immediate and unrestricted delivery of aid into Gaza.
Several pro-Palestine rallies were also held across Spain, including in the capital, Madrid, to protest Israeli attacks and the starvation in the enclave. Carrying Palestinian flags, protesters shouted, “End to genocide”.
In Switzerland’s Geneva, thousands gathered at the Jardin Anglais to protest against famine and malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza resulting from the Israeli blockade. The crowd staged a sit-in, shouting in English, French and Arabic to demand an end to international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.
Large rallies showing support for those suffering in Gaza have also been held in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.
The request for the UN security council was reportedly endorsed by all members of the security council except Panama, which is its current chair, and the US, Israel’s most powerful ally and biggest arms supplier.
The security council is the UN’s most powerful body; it has the authority to issue legally binding resolutions that can be backed up by sanctions and peacekeepers.
There are five permanent members of the council (China, the Russian Federation, France, the UK and the US). They can vote against, and effectively veto, any proposal put forward by the council.
The ten non-permanent members are currently Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Somalia.
UN security council to meet over Israel’s Gaza City takeover plan
The UN security council will shortly hold an emergency session to discuss Israel’s plan to capture and occupy Gaza City, which if carried out would give Israel control of about 85% of the strip (the Israeli military currently controls about 75% of the territory).
The meeting, requested by Denmark, France, Greece, the UK and Slovenia, is scheduled to start at 10am (14:00 GMT) in New York and will see UN rapporteurs outline the likely disastrous consequences of seizing Gaza’s main city.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was among foreign leaders urging Israel to reconsider its decision to advance into Gaza City.
Buildings destroyed in Israeli airstrikes surround makeshift shelters for displaced Palestinian people in Gaza City. Photograph: Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty Images
Regional power Saudi Arabia, which has said it could not normalise ties with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state, condemned any move to occupy Gaza.
Germany, Israel’s second-biggest arms supplier and strongest backer in Europe, on Friday suspended the delivery of weaponry that could be used in Gaza.
Foreign ministers from the UK, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and Australia released a joint statement rejecting the plan on the same day, saying it would “aggravate” the already “catastrophic” situation in Gaza.
“Any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law,” they added.
Tens of thousands protest in Israel over plan to escalate war on Gaza
Welcome to our live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday night to oppose Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to escalate his war on Gaza.
The plan lists five so-called “principles” for ending the war: disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, demilitarising the Gaza Strip, taking security control of Gaza, and setting up “an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority”.
The demonstration against the plan, estimated to have attracted more than 100,000 protesters by organisers, saw calls for an immediate end to the military assault and for the release of hostages.
Authorities did not provide an official estimate for the size of the crowd, though it dwarfed other recent anti-war rallies.
Public opinion polls show an overwhelming majority of Israelis favour an immediate end to the war to secure the release of the remaining 50 hostages held by militants in Gaza. Israeli officials believe about 20 hostages are still alive.
Families of hostages lead a march around the Kirya complex in Tel Aviv during an anti-government protest and rally against an expansion to the war on Gaza. Photograph: Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images
In other developments:
The Israeli government has faced sharp criticism at home and abroad, including from some of its closest European allies, over the announcement that the military would expand the war to seize Gaza City. The full cabinet is expected to give its approval as soon as Sunday.
The Palestinian Authority on Saturday lambasted the Israeli government’s decision to expand its assault in Gaza, as it called on the international community to push for the entry of aid into the strip. According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, the PA’s presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the Israeli government’s moves were “an unprecedented challenge and provocation to the international will to achieve peace and stability”.
Several Arab and Muslim countries on Saturday condemned as a “dangerous escalation” Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City. About 20 countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, said the plan constituted “a flagrant violation of international law, and an attempt to entrench the illegal occupation and impose a fait accompli… in contravention of international legitimacy”. Muslim nations must work in total unison and work to mobilise the international community against Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City, Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday after talks in Egypt. Speaking at a joint press conference in El Alamein with his Egyptian counterpart after meeting Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Fidan also said the Organisation of Islamic cooperation had been called to an emergency meeting.
More than 450 people were arrested in central London on Saturday at the largest demonstration relating to Palestine Action since the group was proscribed as a terrorist organisation. On Saturday night, police said that as of 9pm, 466 people had been arrested for showing support for Palestine Action. There were a further eight arrests for other offences including five assaults on officers. Police said the total of 474 was the most arrests it had made related to a single operation in at least the past decade.
The UK announced another £8.5m for UN aid to Gaza after Israel unveiled plans to expand its military operations in the territory. Development minister Baroness Jenny Chapman said the money would “help address urgent need” in Gaza, but only if Israel allowed the region to be “flooded with aid”.
Five Lebanese soldiers were killed in a blast on Saturday while removing munitions from a Hezbollah military facility in south Lebanon, a military source told AFP.
Iran’s judiciary said Saturday it was investigating the cases of 20 people arrested over their suspected links with Israel after the 12-day war between the two arch-foes.
Ukrainian drones reportedly struck oil refineries in Russia’s Saratov region overnight on Sunday, Aug. 10, sparking fires and sending plumes of smoke into the air.
Videos from locals, shared by Russian outlet Astra, showed towering red flames lighting up thick plumes of smoke against the purple dawn.
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Saratov Regional Governor Roman Busargin confirmed that drone strikes took place in the early hours of Sunday, acknowledging that “one of the industrial enterprises” was hit without specifying whether it was the oil refineries.
The region, located approximately 500 kilometers (311 miles) from the Ukrainian border in the Kharkiv region, is home to Russia’s Engels-2 strategic air base and an assortment of oil facilities.
Busargin first warned of possible drone strikes at 2:49 a.m. on Telegram before reporting damages to the industrial site approximately an hour later.
“There is damage at one of the industrial enterprises. All necessary emergency services are working at the scene,” Busargin wrote.
At 4:20 a.m., Busargin said one person died from the attack after a drone “fell in the courtyard of a residential building.”
The level of damage dealt to the facilities remains unclear.
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) reported flight restrictions for Saratov’s Gagarin International Airport at around 3 a.m. that were subsequently lifted at around 5 a.m., coinciding with the time of the reported attack.
Other Topics of Interest
Russian Strike Sets Central Ukraine Train Station Ablaze
A video shared by the chairman of Ukraine’s state-owned rail operator showed a train station engulfed in flames overnight after a Russian strike, sending sparks into the night sky.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed to have downed 121 Ukrainian drones overnight between 8 p.m. on Saturday and 6:10 a.m. on Sunday Moscow time in its Sunday morning update, eight of which were in the Saratov region.
The strike came after US President Donald Trump’s Friday deadline for Moscow to move toward a ceasefire passed – without resulting in sanctions or a ceasefire.
Trump had earlier threatened additional sanctions on Russia’s energy sector – a key lifeline for its economy and a source of funding for the war in Ukraine – in a bid to push Moscow into negotiations.
Sunday’s attack also followed the announcement of planned talks on Ukraine between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, set for Aug. 15 in Alaska – without Ukraine’s participation.
