A fire broke out in the historic mosque-turned-cathedral in Córdoba on Friday but the monument was saved as firefighters quickly contained the blaze, the Spanish city’s mayor has said.
Widely shared videos had shown flames and smoke billowing from inside the tourist attraction visited by 2 million people a year.
“The monument is saved. There will be no spread, it will not be a catastrophe, let’s put it that way,” José María Bellido said on Cadena television.
The fire brigade had earlier said the fire was under control but not extinguished.
The spectacular blaze broke out at about 9pm (8pm UK time), raising fears for the early medieval architectural gem and evoking memories of the 2019 fire that ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
ABC and other newspapers reported that a mechanical sweeping machine had caught fire on the site.
Considered a jewel of Islamic architecture, the site was built as a mosque – on the site of an earlier church – between the 8th and 10th centuries by the southern city’s then Muslim ruler, Abd al-Rahman, an emir of the Umayyad dynasty.
After Christians reconquered Spain in the 13th century under King Ferdinand III of Castile, it was converted into a cathedral and architectural alterations were made over following centuries.
The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a peace agreement at the White House on Friday, in a deal brokered by the US that brings decades of conflict to an end.
The two countries in the South Caucasus signed agreements with each other, as well as the US, that will reopen key transportation routes while allowing the US to seize on Russia’s declining influence in the region. The deal includes an agreement that will create a major transit corridor to be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, the White House said.
Donald Trump said that naming the route after him was “a great honour for me” but “I didn’t ask for this.” A senior administration official, on a call before the event with reporters, said it was the Armenians who suggested the name.
Separate from the joint agreement, both Armenia and Azerbaijan signed deals with the United States meant to bolster cooperation in energy, technology and the economy, the White House said. Further details were not released.
Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan shook hands to mark the moment, with Trump in the middle, reaching up and clasping his own hands around theirs.
The two nations have been locked in conflict for nearly four decades as they fought for control of the Karabakh region, known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh. The area was largely populated by Armenians during the Soviet era but is located within Azerbaijan. The two nations battled for control of the region through multiple violent clashes that left tens of thousands of people dead over the decades, all while international mediation efforts failed.
Most recently, Azerbaijan reclaimed all of Karabakh in 2023 and had been in talks with Armenia to normalize ties.
Trump has sought a reputation as a peacemaker and made no secret of the fact that he covets a Nobel peace prize. Friday’s signing adds to a series of peace and economic agreements brokered by the US this year.
Both Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s leaders said the breakthrough was made possible by Trump and his team, and joined a growing list of foreign leaders and other officials who have said Trump should receive the Nobel peace prize.
“We are laying a foundation to write a better story than the one we had in the past,” Pashinyan said, calling the agreement a “significant milestone”.
“President Trump in six months did a miracle,” Aliyev said.
Trump remarked on how long the conflict went on between the two countries. “Thirty-five years they fought, and now they’re friends and they’re going to be friends a long time,” he said.
That route will connect Azerbaijan and its autonomous Nakhchivan exclave, which are separated by a 32km-wide (20-mile) patch of Armenian territory. The demand from Azerbaijan had held up peace talks in the past.
For Azerbaijan, a major producer of oil and gas, the route also provides a more direct link to Turkey and onward to Europe.
Trump indicated he’d like to visit the route, saying, “We’re going to have to get over there.”
Asked how he feels about lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Trump said “very confident”.
The signing of a deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet republics, also strikes a geopolitical blow to their former imperial master, Russia. Throughout the nearly four-decade conflict, Moscow played mediator to expand its clout in the strategic South Caucasus region, but its influence waned quickly after it launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Trump administration began engaging with Armenia and Azerbaijan in earnest earlier this year, when Trump’s key diplomatic envoy, Steve Witkoff, met Aliyev in Baku and started to discuss what a senior administration official called a “regional reset”.
Negotiations over who will develop the Trump Route – which will eventually include a rail line, oil and gas pipelines, and fiber optic lines – will probably begin next week, and at least nine developers have expressed interest already, according to the senior administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
India faces an ultimatum from the United States with major political and economic ramifications both at home and abroad: end purchases of Russian oil or face painful tariffs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leader of the world’s most populous nation and its fifth-biggest economy, must make some difficult decisions.
“It is a geopolitical ambush with a 21-day fuse,” said Syed Akbaruddin, a former Indian diplomat to the United Nations, writing in the Times of India newspaper.
New Delhi called Washington’s move “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.
Modi has appeared defiant. He has not spoken directly about Trump but said on Thursday “India will never compromise” on the interests of its farmers.
Agriculture employs vast numbers of people in India and has been a key sticking point in trade negotiations.
It all seems a far cry from India’s early hopes for special tariff treatment after Trump said in February he had found a “special bond” with Modi.
“The resilience of US-India relations… is now being tested more than at any other time over the last 20 years,” said Michael Kugelman, from the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.
Russia accounted for nearly 36 percent of India’s total crude oil imports in 2024, snapping up approximately 1.8 million barrels of cut-price Russian crude per day.
Buying Russian oil saved India billions of dollars on import costs, keeping domestic fuel prices relatively stable.
Switching suppliers will likely threaten price rises, but not doing so will hit India’s exports.
Modi has sought to bolster ties with other allies.
That includes calling Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday, who said they had agreed on the need “to defend multilateralism”.
Ashok Malik, of business consultancy The Asia Group, told AFP: “There is a signal there, no question.”
Modi, according to Indian media, might also visit China in late August. It would be Modi’s first visit since 2018, although it has not been confirmed officially.
Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said in response to an AFP question on Friday that “China welcomes Prime Minister Modi” for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.
Opposition politicians are watching keenly.
Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the key opposition Congress party, warned the government was “disastrously dithering”.
He also pointed to India’s longstanding policy of “non-alignment”.
“Any nation that arbitrarily penalises India for our time-tested policy of strategic autonomy… doesn’t understand the steel frame India is made of,” Kharge said in a statement.
A tense phone call between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump over a ceasefire between India and Pakistan has emerged as a key flashpoint in the dramatic collapse of ties between the two leaders, according to a report published by American financial publication Bloomberg.
The two leaders spoke during the June G7 summit in Canada, where Modi attended as a guest.
At Trump’s request, the two held a 35-minute call, which Indian officials say, centred on Trump’s insistence that Washington deserved credit for brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan following four-days of clashes in May.
Modi, according to the Indian account, rejected Trump’s claims, asserting that the talks to cease military hostilities took place directly through military channels between New Delhi and Islamabad, and only at Pakistan’s request. “India has not accepted mediation in the past and will never do so,” Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters after the call.
Misri’s claim was in sharp contrast with President Trump’s insistence that he had brokered the truce between India and Pakistan. Islamabad has also repeatedly said that Modi approached the American leader with a request to play a role in cessation of hostilities between the two nuclear neighbours.
Tensions escalated sharply after the Indian leader learned that Trump planned to host Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, for a lunch at the White House the following day. According to officials briefed on the matter, that moment brought the diplomatic tension to a head.
Bloomberg reports that on June 17, Trump extended an invitation to Modi for a formal dinner at the White House. However, the Indian premier declined the invite, fearing that the meeting could be used to orchestrate a direct encounter with Field Marshal Munir.
The fallout quickly spilled into the public sphere. Within weeks, Trump imposed additional 25% tariffs on Indian exports, citing New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil as a core concern. With some duties now reaching as high as 50%, India is facing one of the steepest tariff barriers of any US trading partner. The tariffs are expected to take effect on August 17, unless a trade deal is reached in time.
Speaking at a press event this month, Trump described the Indian economy as “dead”, slammed India’s “obnoxious” trade barriers, and accused the country of showing little concern for Ukrainian casualties in its neutral stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The breakdown in relations marks a stark reversal in a strategic partnership that has been nurtured for decades. Both countries have long viewed each other as critical democratic allies, particularly as a counterweight to growing Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific.
“The carefully crafted consensus of successive administrations has brought the two largest democracies together for almost three decades,” said Eric Garcetti, who served as US Ambassador to India until January. “The administration’s actions could endanger this progress if not brought to quick resolution. I hope cooler minds prevail in both capitals. There’s too much at stake.”
Since the contentious June call, Modi and Trump have reportedly not spoken again. India’s Ministry of External Affairs did not respond to media requests for comment, while the White House also declined to clarify the US role in the India-Pakistan ceasefire or provide updates on bilateral relations.
Meanwhile, State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott, during a Thursday briefing, said Trump was “taking action to address concerns about trade imbalances and India’s continued purchases of Russian oil.”
WASHINGTON — The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan shook hands Friday at a White House peace summit before signing an agreement aimed at ending decades of conflict.
President Donald Trump was in the middle as Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan flanked him on either side. As the two extended their arms in front of Trump to shake hands, the U.S. leader reached up and clasped his hands around theirs.
The two countries in the South Caucasus signed agreements with each other and the U.S. that will reopen key transportation routes while allowing the U.S. to seize on Russia’s declining influence in the region. The deal includes an agreement that will create a major transit corridor to be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, the White House said.
Trump said at the White House on Friday that naming the route after him was “a great honor for me” but “I didn’t ask for this.” A senior administration official, on a call before the event with reporters, said it was the Armenians who suggested the name.
Trump has sought to be known as a peacemaker and made no secret of the fact that he covets a Nobel Peace Prize. Friday’s signing adds to a series of peace and economic agreements brokered by the U.S. this year.
Both leaders said the breakthrough was made possible by Trump and his team.
“We are laying a foundation to write a better story than the one we had in the past,” Pashinyan said, calling the agreement a “significant milestone.”
“President Trump in six months did a miracle,” Aliyev said.
Trump remarked on how long the conflict went on between the two countries. “Thirty-five years they fought, and now they’re friends and they’re going to be friends a long time,” he said.
That route will connect Azerbaijan and its autonomous Nakhchivan exclave, which are separated by a 32-kilometer-wide (20-mile-wide) patch of Armenian territory. The demand from Azerbaijan had held up peace talks in the past.
For Azerbaijan, a major producer of oil and gas, the route also provides a more direct link to Turkey and onward to Europe.
Trump indicated he’d like to visit the route, saying, “We’re going to have to get over there.”
Asked how he feels about lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Trump said “very confident.”
Aliyev and Pashinyan on Friday joined a growing list of foreign leaders and other officials who have said Trump should receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in helping ease long-running conflicts across the globe.
The peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda helped end the decades-long conflict in eastern Congo, and the U.S. mediated a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, while Trump intervened in clashes between Cambodia and Thailand by threatening to withhold trade agreements with both countries if their fighting continued. Yet peace deals in Gaza and Ukraine have been elusive.
US takes advantage of Russia’s waning influence
The signing of a deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet republics, also strikes a geopolitical blow to their former imperial master, Russia. Throughout the nearly four-decade conflict, Moscow played mediator to expand its clout in the strategic South Caucasus region, but its influence waned quickly after it launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Trump-brokered deal would allow the U.S. to deepen its reach in the region as Moscow retreats, senior U.S. administration officials said.
The Trump administration began engaging with Armenia and Azerbaijan in earnest earlier this year, when Trump’s key diplomatic envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Aliyev in Baku and started to discuss what a senior administration official called a “regional reset.”
Negotiations over who will develop the Trump Route — which will eventually include a rail line, oil and gas pipelines, and fiber optic lines — will likely begin next week, and at least nine developers have expressed interest already, according to the senior administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
Separate from the joint agreement, both Armenia and Azerbaijan signed deals with the United States meant to bolster cooperation in energy, technology and the economy, the White House said.
Trump previewed much of Friday’s plan in a social media post Thursday evening, in which he said the agreements would “fully unlock the potential” of the South Caucasus region.
“Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to ‘TRUMP,’” Trump said on his Truth Social site.
The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict has lasted for decades
The two nations were locked in conflict for nearly four decades as they fought for control of the Karabakh region, known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh.
The area was largely populated by Armenians during the Soviet era but is located within Azerbaijan. The two nations battled for control of the region through multiple violent clashes that left tens of thousands of people dead over the decades, all while international mediation efforts failed.
Most recently, Azerbaijan reclaimed all of Karabakh in 2023 and had been in talks with Armenia to normalize ties. Azerbaijan’s insistence on a land bridge to Nakhchivan had been a major sticking point, because while Azerbaijan did not trust Armenia to control the so-called Zangezur corridor, Armenia resisted control by a third party because it viewed it as a breach of sovereignty.
But the prospect of closer ties with the United States, as well as being able to move in and out of the landlocked nation more freely without having to access Georgia or Iran, helped entice Armenia on the broader agreement, according to U.S. officials.
Meanwhile, Russia stood back when Azerbaijan reclaimed control of Karabakh in the September 2023 offensive, angering Armenia, which has moved to shed Russian influence and turn westward. Azerbaijan, emboldened by its victory in Karabakh, also has become increasingly defiant in its relations with Moscow.
• Pakistan sees it as attempt to expand ‘genocidal’ military campaign against Palestinians; PM Shehbaz calls it ‘dangerous escalation’ • Hamas terms it ‘a new war crime’; EU leaders urge ‘rethink’; stanch ally Germany suspends arms shipments
ISLAMABAD/JERUSALEM: Israel’s new plan to “take control” of Gaza City sparked outrage from the international community, with Pakistan warning that the planned occupation was merely a front for Tel Aviv to expand its “genocidal” military campaign against Palestinians.
The plan, approved by PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, comes amid growing international concern has been growing over the suffering in Gaza — where a UN-backed assessment has warned that Israel’s blockade of aid is causing a famine — and concerns for the safety of prisoners still held by Hamas.
Under the newly approved plan to “defeat” Hamas, the Israeli army “will prepare to take control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside combat zones”, Netanyahu’s office said Friday.
Earlier, Netanyahu had said Israel planned to seize complete control of the Gaza Strip, but did not intend to govern it.
He told Fox News on Thursday that Israel wanted to maintain a “security perimeter” and to hand the Palestinian territory to “Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us”.
Netanyahu’s office said the cabinet had adopted “five principles”, including Gaza’s demilitarisation and “the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority”.
The main campaign group for prisoners’ families also slammed the plan, saying it amounted to “abandoning” the captives.
Hamas on Friday said the “plans to occupy Gaza City and evacuate its residents constitutes a new war crime”.
It warned Israel that the operation would “cost it dearly”, and that “expanding the aggression means sacrificing” the hostages held by militants.
Pakistan’s reaction
Reacting to the Israeli plan to occupy Gaza, Pakistan’s Foreign Office warned that this would only intensify the humanitarian catastrophe in the territory and undermine international peace efforts.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also lambasted it as a “dangerous escalation”.
“We strongly condemn the Israeli cabinet’s approval of a plan to take illegal and illegitimate control of Gaza City. This tantamounts [sic] to a dangerous escalation in an already catastrophic war against the people of Palestine,” the prime minister said in a post on X.
He added that the expansion of military operations will only worsen the already existing humanitarian crisis and derail any prospect for peace in the region.
“We must not lose sight of the root cause of this ongoing tragedy: that is, Israel’s prolonged, illegal occupation of Palestinian territory. As long as this occupation endures, peace will remain elusive,” the premier added.
The Foreign Office statement said it “condemns in the strongest possible terms the reported Israeli plan for a complete military takeover of Gaza”.
“This not only represents yet another flagrant violation of international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions, but also the occupying power’s intention to further expand its ongoing genocidal military campaign.”
The statement urged the international community to “ensure an immediate end to Israeli impunity and its genocidal military campaign; take concrete measures for the provision of unimpeded humanitarian supplies to millions of Palestinians in dire need; and hold Israel accountable for its heinous crimes.”
Separately, at a weekly media briefing, Foreign Office spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan said the Gaza crisis remains central to Pakistan’s diplomacy.
“Issue of Gaza is in the hearts of our people. We have made Pakistan’s principled diplomatic position on the subject abundantly clear,” he said, noting that the deputy prime minister recently chaired a special briefing on the Middle East situation at the United Nations in New York.
International backlash
The plan also triggered swift criticism from across the globe, with China, Turkey, Britain and the UN’s rights chief as well as numerous Arab governments issuing statements of concern.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the plan must be “immediately halted”.
Israel should instead allow “the full, unfettered flow of humanitarian aid” and Palestinian armed groups must unconditionally release hostages, he added.
“The Israeli government’s decision to further extend its military operation in Gaza must be reconsidered,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on X.
European Council chief Antonio Costa also criticised the plan, warning “such a decision must have consequences” for EU-Israel ties.
“This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, adding that it would “only bring more bloodshed”.
“Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory,” a foreign ministry spokesperson told AFP.
“The correct way to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to secure the release of hostages is an immediate ceasefire.”
Staunch Israeli ally Germany, meanwhile, took the extraordinary step of halting military exports out of concern they could be used in Gaza.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said it was “increasingly difficult to understand” how the Israeli military plan would help achieve legitimate aims.
“Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice,” he added.
The Saudi foreign ministry said that Riyadh “categorically condemns its persistence in committing crimes of starvation, brutal practices, and ethnic cleansing against the brotherly Palestinian people”.
A statement issued by the Royal Court said King Abdullah condemned a move “which undermines the two-state solution and the rights of the Palestinian people”.
Egypt’s foreign affairs ministry also said it condemned the plan “in the strongest possible terms”.
With input from AFP and Baqir Sajjad Syed in Islamabad
A TENSE phone call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump — a day before the latter was scheduled to host Field Marshall Asim Munir at the White House — became the basis for the current breakdown in relations between New Delhi and Washington, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
Trump’s recent imposition of a whopping 50pc tariff on Indian goods — a punishment of sorts for New Delhi’s continued imports of Russian oil — was the latest in a series of moves that left little doubt that he is not too happy with India.
According to Bloomberg, while the rupture in ties was abrupt, there had been strains in the relationship.
The US president has, on more than two dozen occasions so far, boasted of how he managed to talk the two nuclear armed neighbours back from the brink in May of this year.
Modi turned down invite to Washington after G7 summit out of fear US president might arrange meeting with Pakistan’s army chief, claims Bloomberg report
In stark contrast, PM Modi and other Indian officials have repeatedly denied any such pressure, insisting instead that the ceasefire was brought about through existing channels, and at Pakistan’s insistence.
On Friday, Bloomberg reported that “tensions came to a head” between the two leaders in the call with Trump’s repeated claiming of credit and India’s downplaying of the matter.
The two leaders had spoken over the phone at the insistence of Trump on the sidelines of June’s G7 summit in Canada, which Modi attended as a guest.
Trump had famously left the summit early and returned to Washington, effectively scuttling chances of a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of that summit.
“Modi felt like he needed to set the record straight in the call after his aides discovered that Trump planned to host a lunch the following day at the White House for Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir,” the report said, quoting officials in New Delhi.
“While India had no problem if Trump met Pakistan’s civilian leaders, hosting Munir was seen as giving legitimacy to a military that Modi’s government accuses of supporting militant groups,” they said.
“Wary that Trump would look to orchestrate a meeting between Munir and Modi, the Indian leader turned down an invitation to stop by the White House on the way back from Canada,” the report said.
India saw a shift in tone from the White House after that phone call, according to the officials in New Delhi.
“Once Trump began publicly attacking India, they added, it was clear the episode marked a turning point in the broader relationship,” the report said.
White House after that phone call, according to the officials in New Delhi.
“Once Trump began publicly attacking India, they added, it was clear the episode marked a turning point in the broader relationship,” the report said.
‘Pay the price’
For New Delhi, one of the main sticking points in trade negotiations has been Washington’s de-mand to access India’s vast agricultural and dairy market.
India has remained steadfast about its labour-intensive agricultural sector, unwilling to risk angering farmers, a powerful voting bloc.
“We will not compromise with the interests of our farmers, our dairy sector, our fishermen,” Modi said during a speech at a conference in New Delhi, his remarks widely seen as his first public response to the tariffs.
“I know I will have to pay a personal price for this, but I am ready for it,” he added, without giving further details.
ISTANBUL: Wildfires in Turkiye forced authorities to suspend shipping in the busy Dardanelles Strait and evacuate villages on Friday as firefighters battled the blazes.
Turkiye “temporarily” shut the busy strait in both directions, the transport ministry said, after the fires broke out in the northwestern province of Canakkale and spread, fanned by heavy winds.
Authorities evacuated three villages and a care home that housed 52 elderly people.
Images broadcast by Turkish media showed firefighters being forced to abandon one of their trucks on a forest road as flames engulfed it. Authorities warned of further strong winds at the weekend with temperatures expected to reach 35 degrees Celsius.
Linking the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara, the Dardanelles Strait is a popular tourist destination because it is also the site of the ancient ruins of the city of Troy. Last month, one wildfire killed 10 forest workers and rescuers who were fighting a blaze near Eskisehir, in Turkiye’s west.Authorities say the risk of fires will remain high until October.
Scientists say human-caused climate change is raising the likelihood and intensity of wildfires.
Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has joined fresh international condemnation of Israel’s plans to control more of Gaza in a new ground offensive, warning it risks breaching international law and putting the lives of hostages and civilians in renewed danger.
Wong joined the foreign ministers of Germany, Italy, New Zealand and the UK in a joint statement on Saturday, saying the plans by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to control Gaza City will make an already perilous situation worse.
They said the “worst-case scenario” of mass famine was already unfolding in Gaza.
“The plans that the government of Israel has announced risk violating international humanitarian law. Any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law,” the statement said.
“It will aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, endanger the lives of the hostages, and further risk the mass displacement of civilians.”
Netanyahu’s war cabinet on Friday went against the advice of Israel’s military leaders to agree on a further escalation in the 22-month war, planning a full takeover of Gaza’s largest city that is likely to result in mass displacement of an estimated 1 million Palestinians.
Sign up: AU Breaking News email
The moves sparked international outrage.
Germany’s government moved quickly to suspend the delivery of weapons that could be used in the fighting. The plan has not been opposed by the US president, Donald Trump, Netanyahu’s strongest backer internationally.
Wong and her counterparts said terror group Hamas and the Israeli government should work with the international community to end the war through an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
Such a development must enable the provision of a massive, immediate and unimpeded humanitarian assistance, “as the worst-case scenario of a famine is unfolding in Gaza”.
“Hamas must release all hostages without further delay or precondition and must ensure they are humanely treated and not subject to cruelty and humiliation,” the statement said.
“We call on the government of Israel to urgently find solutions to amend its recent registration system of international humanitarian organisations, to ensure these vital actors of humanitarian aid can continue their essential work again in line with humanitarian principles to reach the civilians in need in Gaza.
“Their exclusion would be an egregious signal.”
skip past newsletter promotion
after newsletter promotion
Hamas said in a statement that Netanyahu’s plans meant he had abandoned the surviving hostages seized by the group in its surprise attack on Israel in October 2023, which triggered the war. The statement accused the Israeli prime minister of “sacrificing them to serve his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda”.
Countries including Australia have called for a political solution in Gaza that does not involve any of the Hamas leadership. Israel said it wanted to eventually hand control of Gaza over to a group of friendly Arab forces who are opposed to Hamas.
Netanyahu has released a list of five key objectives for the escalated fighting: disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, demilitarising the entire Gaza Strip, taking security control of the territory, and establishing “an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority”.
Wong said on Friday Israel should not go down its planned path, and permanent forced displacement would be a violation of international law.
But frequent statements from world leaders appear not to be deterring Israel.
Netanyahu’s office told international media the Israeli army would prepare to “take control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside combat zones”.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was expected to discuss the war during a meeting with his New Zealand counterpart, Christopher Luxon, in Queenstown on Saturday.
