US President Donald Trump has warned that countries which side with the policies of the Brics alliance that go against US interests will be hit with an extra 10% tariff.
“Any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy,” Trump wrote on social media.
Trump has long criticised Brics, an organisation whose members include China, Russia and India.
The US had set a 9 July deadline for countries to agree a trade deal, but US officials now say tariffs will begin on 1 August. Trump said he would send letters to countries telling them what the tariff rate will be if an agreement is not reached.
Since taking office in January, Trump has announced a series of import tariffs on goods from other countries – arguing they will boost American manufacturing and protect jobs.
In April, on what he called “Liberation Day”, he announced a wave of new taxes on goods from countries around the world – with some as high as 50% –although he quickly suspended his most aggressive plans to allow for three months of talks up until 9 July.
During this period, the US implemented a 10% tariff on goods entering the States from most of its international trading partners.
So far, the US has only struck trade agreements with the UK and Vietnam, as well as a partial deal with China.
However, Britain and America have still not reached a deal over taxes for UK steel imported by the US.
Asked whether the taxes would change on 9 July or 1 August, Trump said on Sunday: “They’re going to be tariffs, the tariffs are going to be tariffs.”
He added that between 10 and 15 letters would be sent to countries on Monday advising them on what their new tariff rate will be if a deal had not been reached.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick clarified that the taxes will come into force on 1 August.
Last week, Trump said Japan could face a “30% or 35%” tariff if the country failed to reach a deal with the US by Wednesday.
The European Union (EU) was told in May that it faced taxes of 50% unless it reached an agreement with the US.
Reports emerged last week suggesting the EU was considering a provisional agreement to keep a 10% tariff in place for most goods. It is also in talks about reducing a 25% tariffs on EU cars and parts and a 50% tax on steel and aluminium sales to the US.
Last year, the list of Brics members expanded beyond the original members of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The countries in the bloc – which was designed to boost the nations’ international standing and challenge the US and western Europe – account formore than half of the world’s population.
In 2024, Trump threatened 100% tariffs on Brics countries if they moved ahead with their own currency to rival the US dollar.
The threat by Trump on Sunday to countries working with Brics nations emerged after members criticised US tariff policies as well as proposing reforms to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and how major currencies are valued.
Following a two-day meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brics finance ministers issued a statement criticising tariffs as a threat to global economy, and bringing “uncertainty into international economic and trade activities”.
Andrew Wilson, deputy secretary general of the International Chambers of Commerce, said it would be challenging for countries to move away from doing business with China.
He told the BBC’s Today programme: “Shifting away from China…in a number of sectors is far more difficult to achieve in the world in practice.
“You look at the dominance China has in a number of sectors – EVs, batteries [and] particularly rare earths and magnets, there are no viable alternatives to China production.”
What trade deals has the US agreed?
As of 7 July, the White House has reached tariff agreements with two countries alongside a partial deal with China.
The US has agreed to cut tariffs on UK cars and parts from 27.5% to 10% up to a quota of 100,000 vehicles. Taxes on aerospace goods have been cut to zero. In return, the UK has agreed to remove import taxes on US ethanol and beef.
On 2 July, Trump announced a deal with Vietnam whereby Vietnamese goods shipped to America would be taxed at 20% and US products exported to Vietnam would face no tariffs. Any goods “trans-shipped” through Vietnam by another country that are sold into the US will be taxed at 40%.
In May, the US and China agreed to lower some tariffs. US taxes on some Chinese imports fell from 145% to 30%. China’s tariffs on some US goods were cut from 125% to 10%. China has also halted and scrapped other non-tariff countermeasures, such as the export of critical minerals to the US.
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Israeli air and ground attacks have killed at least 24 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Monday, according to medical sources cited by Al Jazeera.
Hospitals across the enclave continue to report growing casualties amid ongoing strikes.
An Israeli airstrike hit a clinic in Gaza City used as a shelter by displaced Palestinians, killing at least six people and wounding several others. Witnesses described scenes of devastation and bloodshed inside the facility.
A Palestinian inspects the damage in the aftermath of an overnight Israeli strike on Al-Remal clinic where displaced people take shelter, in Gaza City on July 7, 2025. — Reuters
Moreover, Israeli forces have arrested Nasser Laham, editor-in-chief of the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency, during a raid on his home in Al-Duheisha, near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, Middle East Eye reports.
Palestinians look on at the site in the aftermath of an overnight Israeli strike on Al-Remal clinic where displaced people take shelter in Gaza City on July 7, 2025. — Reuters
Laham, who also heads the West Bank office of Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen TV, was reportedly detained after soldiers ransacked his residence and confiscated mobile phones and electronic equipment. A message posted on his Facebook page confirmed the arrest.
Palestinians sit as they inspect damage in the aftermath of an overnight Israeli strike on Al-Remal clinic where displaced people take shelter in Gaza City on July 7, 2025. — Reuters
Israeli outlet Haaretz said Laham is expected to appear before a military court at Ofer on Thursday for a hearing on the possible extension of his detention.
Freedom Flotilla to sail for Gaza again
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition has announced it will set sail again for Gaza on July 13, despite a recent interception by Israeli forces, Middle East Eye reports.
In a post on X, the group confirmed its next vessel, Handala, will depart from the port of Siracusa, Italy, as part of a renewed bid to defy Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
We are setting sail again. On July 13, 2025 our boat #Handala will depart from Siracusa, Italy to break Israel’s illegal blockade. This mission is for the children of Gaza.
— Freedom Flotilla Coalition (@GazaFFlotilla) July 6, 2025
The coalition said the mission is dedicated to the children of Gaza. The boat is named after Handala, the iconic cartoon child who symbolises Palestinian resistance.
BRICS declares Gaza ‘inseparable’ part of Palestinian state
BRICS has declared the Gaza Strip an “inseparable part of the occupied Palestinian Territory” and called for a unified Palestinian governance under the Palestinian Authority.
In a joint declaration, the bloc reaffirmed its support for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and an independent State of Palestine, reported Anadolu Agency on Monday. The statement also endorsed full Palestinian membership at the United Nations.
The member states expressed “grave concern” over Israel’s continued military operations in Gaza and the blocking of humanitarian assistance, strongly condemning the use of starvation as a weapon of war.
“We urge the parties to engage in good faith in further negotiations to achieve an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire,” the statement read.
BRICS also called for the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and all parts of the occupied Palestinian Territory, as well as the release of all hostages and detainees held in violation of international law.
BRICS, which originally included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has expanded its diplomatic reach in recent years and increasingly positioned itself as a counterweight to Western influence on global security issues.
Read: Gaza ceasefire takes priority over Israel ties, says Saudi FM
In central Gaza, a medical source at Al-Aqsa Martyrs and al-Awda Hospitals confirmed that two people were killed and several others wounded in a strike on a residential home in the Bureij refugee camp.
Ceasefire talks
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday there is a strong possibility of a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal being reached with Hamas this week, according to Reuters.
Speaking to reporters before leaving for Washington, Trump said such a deal could see the release of “quite a few hostages” held in Gaza.
The Israeli delegation is not sufficiently authorised to reach an agreement with Hamas, as it has no real powers.
Palestinian source
Trump is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday, where the war in Gaza is likely to be high on the agenda.
His comments come as indirect ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Qatar concluded their first session without a breakthrough, two Palestinian sources told Reuters.
“The Israeli delegation is not sufficiently authorised to reach an agreement with Hamas, as it has no real powers,” said one source, referring to the talks held in Doha.
Netanyahu, speaking ahead of his departure to Washington, said Israeli negotiators had been given “clear instructions” to pursue a ceasefire deal under terms already approved by Israel.
‘Gaza killings funded by taxpayer money’
Meanwhile, US mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has accused the American government of using taxpayer money to fund the killing of children in Gaza, drawing sharp reactions online and in political circles.
In a post on X, Mamdani wrote: “Sorry America, while you’re struggling to pay for your health care, rent, and education, remember that your government couldn’t help you because they have to give Israel billions of dollars in US citizen tax money to bomb and kill innocent children in Gaza”.
Sorry America, while you’re struggling to pay for your health care, rent, and education, remember that your government couldn’t help you because they have to give Israel billions of dollars in US citizen tax money to bomb and kill innocent children in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/Nov9LgCOqG
The Israeli army has launched a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing at least 57,481 Palestinians, including 134,592 children. More than 111,588 people have been injured, and over 14,222 are missing and presumed dead.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave. The proposed deal includes a pause in hostilities, increased humanitarian aid, and negotiations on the release of captives.
Benjamin Netanyahu returns to the White House holding all the cards in the Gaza talks in Washington. Joint attack on Iran have put the Israeli PM in a powerful position as he dangles the prospect of a Trump-brokered ceasefire deal.
Netanyahu and Donald Trump have a complex personal relationship – and Trump openly vented frustration at him last month during efforts to negotiate a truce with Iran – but the two have appeared in lockstep since the US launched a bombing run against Iran’s nuclear programme, fulfilling a key goal for Israeli war planners.
Netanyahu arrives in Washington in a strong political position, observers have said, potentially giving him the diplomatic cover he would need to end the war in Gaza without facing a revolt from his rightwing supporters that could lead to the collapse of his government.
Read our full analysis here:
Key events
Here is a summary of today’s events so far:
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 12 people on Monday, including six in a clinic housing Palestinians displaced after 21 months of war.
US envoy Thomas Barrack said Monday he was satisfied by the Lebanese authorities’ response to a request to disarm Hezbollah, which was heavily weakened in a recent war with Israel.
Israel and Hamas are set to hold indirect talks in Qatar for a second day on Monday, aimed at securing a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza, ahead of a meeting in Washington between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump.
Israel’s military said Monday it had apprehended members of an Iran-backed cell in southern Syria, the second such operation it has announced in the past week.
Israel’s military launched airstrikes early Monday targeting ports and facilities held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, with the rebels responding with missile fire targeting Israel.
In a joint statement from the opening of the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, the leaders of the BRICS group of developing nations called attacks against Iran’s “civilian infrastructure and peaceful nuclear facilities” a “violation of international law”.
We are now closing this blog but we will be covering the meeting between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu later at the White House in our US politics blog which you can follow here
Executions in Saudi Arabia surged last year to a record high, Amnesty International said Monday, as activists increasingly warn about the kingdom’s use of the death penalty in nonviolent drug cases.
Saudi Arabia executed 345 people last year, the highest number ever recorded by Amnesty in over three decades of reporting. In the first six months of this year alone, 180 people have been put to death, the group said, signaling that record likely will again be broken.
This year, about two-thirds of those executed were convicted on non-lethal drug charges, the activist group Reprieve said separately. Amnesty also has raised similar concerns about executions in drug cases.
Saudi Arabia has not offered any comment on why it increasingly employs the death penalty in the kingdom. Saudi officials did not respond to detailed questions from The Associated Press about the executions and why it is using the death penalty for nonviolent drug cases.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 12 people on Monday, including six in a clinic housing Palestinians displaced after 21 months of war.
Israel has recently expanded its military operations in the Gaza Strip, where the war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the Palestinian territory’s population of more than two million.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that six people were killed and 15 injured in an Israeli air strike that hit the Al-Rimal clinic, “which houses hundreds of displaced people, in the Al-Rimal neighborhood west of Gaza City.”
AFP footage showed Palestinians, including groups of young children, combing through the bombed-out interior of the clinic, where mattresses lay alongside wood, metal and concrete broken apart in the blast.
Palestinians inspect the damaged building of the Al-Rimal Clinic in Gaza City, Gaza after an Israeli airstrike targeted the facility, which was sheltering displaced civilians and is affiliated with the Palestinian Ministry of Health, on July 7, 2025. At least seven Palestinians, including women and children, lost their lives in the attack. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
US envoy ‘unbelievably satisfied’ by Lebanese response to disarming Hezbollah request
US envoy Thomas Barrack said Monday he was satisfied by the Lebanese authorities’ response to a request to disarm Hezbollah, which was heavily weakened in a recent war with Israel.
“I’m unbelievably satisfied with the response,” Barrack, Washington’s ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, told a press conference after meeting President Joseph Aoun.
He warned that “the rest of the region is moving at Mach speed, and you will be left behind”, noting that “dialogue has started between Syria and Israel, just as the dialogue needs to be reinvented by Lebanon.”
A handout photo made available by the Lebanese Presidency press office shows Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (R) meeting with US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack (L), at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. Photograph: Lebanese Presidency Press Office Handout/EPA
Israel and Hamas are set to hold indirect talks in Qatar for a second day on Monday, aimed at securing a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza, ahead of a meeting in Washington between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump.
The US president has said a deal could be reached this week. Before departing for Washington on Sunday, Netanyahu said that Israeli negotiators had been given clear instructions to achieve a ceasefire under conditions that Israel has accepted.
An Israeli official told Reuters that the atmosphere so far at the Gaza talks, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, as positive. Palestinian officials said that initial meetings on Sunday had ended inconclusively.
A second Israeli official said the issue of humanitarian aid had been discussed in Qatar, without providing further details.
A Palestinian boy searches for things to rescue at a garbage waste dump in the Al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 7, 2025. Photograph: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images
Hours after the Israeli strikes, two missiles were launched from Yemen towards Israel, the Israeli army said, with Yemen military spokesman Yehyaa Saree claiming responsibility for the attacks.
The Houthis acknowledged the Israel’s military airstrikes on ports and facilities they held, but offered no damage assessment from the attack.
Their military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, claimed its air defense forces “effectively confronted” the Israelis without offering evidence.
“We are fully prepared for a sustained and prolonged confrontation, to confront hostile warplanes and to counter attempts to break the naval blockade imposed by our armed forces on the enemy,” Saree said.
A Houthi soldier mans a machine gun on a vehicle while on patrol during a protest against Israel, in Sana’a, Yemen, 04 July 2025. Photograph: Yahya Arhab/EPA
A French man has been missing in Iran since mid-June, France’s minister responsible for the country’s residents abroad said on Monday, adding that Paris had no details on what had happened to the man.
“It’s a worrying disappearance and we are in contact with the family,” Laurent Saint-Martin, who is also trade minister, told RTL radio.
“It is worrying because Iran has a deliberate policy of taking Western hostages,” he added.
French Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade Laurent Saint-Martin attends a meeting at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, 02 July 2025. Photograph: André Borges/EPA
But Saint-Martin did not say specifically that the Iranian authorities were holding the man, who also has German nationality.
French media reported that the man was an 18-year-old who had been on a cycling trip in the region but went missing a few days after Israeli planes struck targets in Iran.
Separately, a diplomatic source said Iran has charged two French nationals – Jacques Paris and Cecile Kohler – with spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence service. The two have been held in Iran more than three years in what France has called state-sponsored hostage taking.
A US envoy met Lebanese officials in Beirut on Monday to discuss a proposed plan to disarm Hezbollah, hours after Israel launched new air strikes and a cross-border ground assault.
The Israeli escalation was seen by Lebanese officials and diplomats as an attempt to ratchet up pressure on Hezbollah, whose leader Naim Qassem said in a televised speech on Sunday that the group still needed arms to defend Lebanon from Israel.
US envoy Thomas Barrack’s proposal, delivered to Lebanese officials during his last visit on June 19, would see Hezbollah fully disarmed within four months in exchange for the withdrawal of Israeli troops occupying several posts in south Lebanon and a halt to Israeli air strikes.
Lebanon formed a committee to draft a response. Hezbollah was expected to provide its own feedback to its ally, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, to incorporate into a counter-proposal being prepared in time for Barrack’s Monday visit.
US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tomas Barrack speaks during a news conference following a meeting with the Lebanese parliament speaker in Beirut, Lebanon, 19 June 2025. Barrack is on an official visit to Beirut to meet Lebanon’s leaders. Photograph: Wael Hamzeh/EPA
Israel announces capture of members of Iran-backed cell in southern Syria
Israel’s military said Monday it had apprehended members of an Iran-backed cell in southern Syria, the second such operation it has announced in the past week.
Since the December overthrow of Syria’s longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes primarily on military sites and carried out cross-border ground raids.
In a statement, the military said troops “completed an overnight operation to apprehend a cell that was operated by the Iranian Quds Force in the Tel Kudna area of southern Syria.”
The Quds Force is the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Israel fought an unprecedented 12-day war against its arch-foe Iran last month.
Moustafa Bayoumi
The rules of the institutions that define our lives bend like reeds when it comes to Israel – so much that the whole global order is on the verge of collapse.
Israel’s war in Gaza is chipping away at so much of what we – in the United States but also internationally – had agreed upon as acceptable, from the rules governing our freedom of speech to the very laws of armed conflict. It seems no exaggeration to say that the foundation of the international order of the last 77 years is threatened by this change in the obligations governing our legal and political responsibilities to each other.
We are ignoring the collapse of the international system that has defined our lives for generations at our own collective peril
This collapse began with the liberal world’s lack of resolve to rein in Israel’s war in Gaza. It escalated when no one lifted a finger to stop hospitals being bombed. It expanded when mass starvation became a weapon of war. And it is peaking at a time when total war is no longer viewed as a human abhorrence but is instead the deliberate policy of the state of Israel.
Read our featured essay here:
Nearly 450,000 Afghans have returned from Iran since the start of June, the United Nations’ migration agency said on Monday, after Tehran ordered those without documentation to leave by July 6.
In late May, Iran said undocumented Afghans must leave the country by July 6, potentially impacting four million people out of the around six million Afghans Tehran says live in the country.
Numbers of people crossing the border have surged since mid-June, with some days seeing around 40,000 people crossing at Islam Qala in western Herat province, UN agencies have said.
From June 1 to July 5, 449,218 Afghans returned from Iran, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration told AFP on Monday, adding that the total for the year so far was 906,326.
Men unpack the belongings of a family that has just arrived from the Iranian border after being deported, and is searching for a place to sleep for the night, as they have no connections in the province, on July 5, 2025, in the village of Andisha, Guzara district, Herat province. Photograph: Getty Images
Israel’s military launched airstrikes early Monday targeting ports and facilities held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, with the rebels responding with missile fire targeting Israel.
The attacks came after an attack Sunday targeting a Liberian-flagged ship in the Red Sea that caught fire and took on water, later forcing its crew to abandon the vessel.
Suspicion for the attack on the Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas immediately fell on the Houthis, particularly as a security firm said bomb-carrying drone boats appeared to hit the ship after it was targeted by small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. The rebels’ media reported on the attack but did not claim it. It can take them hours or even days before they acknowledge an assault.
A renewed Houthi campaign against shipping could again draw in US and Western forces to the area, particularly after President Donald Trump targeted the rebels in a major airstrike campaign.
The Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Magic Seas is seen in Ambelakia Bay, Salamis Island, Greece, Aug. 9, 2022. Photograph: Nektarios Papadakis/AP
The meeting between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu will take place in the evening US time. What have both leaders said about a possible ceasefire deal?
Before departing for Washington on Sunday, Netanyahu praised the cooperation with the US for bringing a “huge victory over our shared enemy.” He struck a positive note on a ceasefire for Gaza, saying he was working “to achieve the deal under discussion, on the terms we agreed to.”
Asked on Friday how confident he was a ceasefire deal would come together, Trump told reporters: “I’m very optimistic – but you know, look, it changes from day to day.”
On Sunday evening, he seemed to narrow his expectation, telling reporters that he thought an agreement related to the remaining hostages would be reached in the coming week. He also said one of the matters he expected to discuss with Netanyahu “is probably a permanent deal with Iran.”
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his first visit to Kibbutz Nir Oz since the 7 October, 2023 attack by Hamas militants. Photograph: Léo Corrêa/AP
A Russian foreign ministry statement said its minister Sergei Lavrov had issued a new denunciation of Israeli and US strikes on Iran last month, “including the bombing of nuclear energy infrastructure under safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency”.
It came during Lavrov’s talks in Rio de Janeiro with Abbas Araqchi, his Iranian counterpart, whom he met at the BRICS summit. Lavrov restated Moscow’s offer to help resolve disputes around Tehran’s nuclear programme, the Russian foreign ministry said.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov attends the BRICS summit. Photograph: Ricardo Moraes/Reuters
In a joint statement from the opening of the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, the leaders of the BRICS group of developing nations called attacks against Iran’s “civilian infrastructure and peaceful nuclear facilities” a “violation of international law”.
The group expressed “grave concern” for the Palestinian people over Israeli attacks on Gaza, and condemned what the joint statement called a “terrorist attack” in India-administered Kashmir.
The group voiced its support for Ethiopia and Iran to join the World Trade Organization, while calling to urgently restore its ability to resolve trade disputes.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, UAE’s President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi, China’s Premier Li Qiang, Ethiopia’s prime minister Abiy Ahmed, Egypt’s prime minister Mostafa Madbouly, and Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi pose at the Brics Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photograph: Wagner Meier/Getty Images
Andrew Roth
Benjamin Netanyahu returns to the White House holding all the cards in the Gaza talks in Washington. Joint attack on Iran have put the Israeli PM in a powerful position as he dangles the prospect of a Trump-brokered ceasefire deal.
Netanyahu and Donald Trump have a complex personal relationship – and Trump openly vented frustration at him last month during efforts to negotiate a truce with Iran – but the two have appeared in lockstep since the US launched a bombing run against Iran’s nuclear programme, fulfilling a key goal for Israeli war planners.
Netanyahu arrives in Washington in a strong political position, observers have said, potentially giving him the diplomatic cover he would need to end the war in Gaza without facing a revolt from his rightwing supporters that could lead to the collapse of his government.
Read our full analysis here:
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
Donald Trump has said there is a good chance a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal could be reached with the Hamas this week, as he prepares to meet with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday at the White House.
Trump told reporters before departing for Washington on Sunday that such a deal meant “quite a few hostages” could be released.
Here is what has happened so far:
Donald Trump will host Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington DC on Monday as the US president seeks again to broker a peace deal in Gaza and the Israeli prime minister takes a victory lap through the Oval Office after a joint military campaign against Iran and a series of successful strikes against Tehran and its proxies in the Middle East.
The first session of indirect Hamas-Israel ceasefire talks in Qatar ended inconclusively, two Palestinian sources familiar with the matter said early on Monday, adding that the Israeli delegation didn’t have a sufficient mandate to reach an agreement with Hamas. The talks resumed on Sunday, ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s third visit to the White House.
Israeli warplanes launched a wave of strikes in Gaza on Sunday, killing at least 38 Palestinians, according to hospital officials, as talks over a ceasefire in the devastated territory reached a critical point. Officials at Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said 18 people were killed by strikes in al-Mawasi, a nearby coastal area that is crowded with tented encampments of those displaced by fighting elsewhere.
Israel has continued to launch waves of airstrikes in Gaza, hours after Hamas said it was ready to start talks “immediately” on a US-sponsored proposal for a 60-day ceasefire. The announcement by the militant Islamist organisation increased hopes that a deal may be done within days to pause the killing in Gaza and possibly end the near 21-month conflict.
Israel has attacked Houthi targets in three Yemeni ports and a power plant, the Israeli military said early on Monday, marking the first Israeli attack on Yemen in almost a month. The strikes on Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif ports, and Ras Qantib power plant were due to repeated Houthi attacks on Israel, the military added.
Israel has attacked Houthi targets in three Yemeni ports and a power plant, the Israeli military said early on Monday, marking the first Israeli attack on Yemen in almost a month.
The strikes on Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif ports, and Ras Qantib power plant were carried out by Israel, the military added.
Hours after the strikes, the Israeli military said two missiles were launched from Yemen and attempts were made to intercept them, but the results of interception were still under review.
The Israeli ambulance service said it had not received any calls regarding missile impacts or casualties following the launches from Yemen.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones fired toward Israel have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of strikes on Houthis as well.
Israel also attacked Galaxy Leadership in Ras Isa port, which was seized by Houthis in late 2023, the military added on Monday.
Photo: Reuters
“The Houthi terrorist regime’s forces installed a radar system on the ship, and are using it to track vessels in international maritime space, to promote the Houthi terrorist regime’s activities,” the military said.
The Houthi military spokesperson said following the attacks that Houthis’ air defences confronted the Israeli attack ‘by using a large number of domestically produced surface-to-air missiles’.
Residents told Reuters that the Israeli strikes on the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah put the main power station out of service, leaving the city in darkness. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported that Israel launched a series of strikes on Hodeidah, shortly after the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for people at the three Yemeni ports.
The assault comes hours after a ship was attacked off of Hodeidah and the ship’s crew abandoned it as it took on water.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but security firm Ambrey said the vessel fits the typical profile of a Houthi target.
Israel has severely hurt other allies of Iran in the region – Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas.
The Tehran-backed Houthis and pro-Iranian armed groups in Iraq are still standing.
The group’s leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, created the force challenging world powers from a group of ragtag mountain fighters in sandals.
Photo: Reuters
Under the direction of al-Houthi, the group has grown into an army of tens of thousands of fighters and acquired armed drones and ballistic missiles.
Bioniks CEO Anas Niaz says each prosthetic arm costs about $2,500, significantly less than the $10,000 to $20,000 for alternatives made in the United States.
As soon as eight-year-old Sidra Al Bordeeni returned from the clinic with her prosthetic arm, she jumped on a bicycle in the Jordanian refugee camp where she lives, riding for the first time since a missile strike in Gaza took her arm a year ago.
Sidra was injured while sheltering at Nuseirat School, one of several Gaza schools converted into makeshift refuges from Israeli strikes. Her mother, Sabreen Al Bordeeni, said Gaza’s collapsed health services and the family’s inability to leave at the time made it impossible to save her hand.
“She’s out playing, and all her friends and siblings are fascinated by her arm,” Al Bordeeni said on the phone, repeatedly thanking God for this day. “I can’t express how grateful I am to see my daughter happy.”
The arm was built over 4,000 kilometres away in Karachi by Bioniks, a Pakistani company that uses a smartphone app to take pictures from different angles and create a 3D model for custom prosthetics.
CEO Anas Niaz said the social enterprise startup had fit more than 1,000 custom-designed arms inside Pakistan since 2021 — funded through a mix of patient payments, corporate sponsorship, and donations — but this was its first time providing prosthetics to those impacted in conflict.
A technician works on computers with prosthetic limb diagram at Bioniks in Karachi, April 29, 2024. — Reuters
Sidra and three-year-old Habebat Allah, who lost both her arms and a leg in Gaza, went through days of remote consultations and virtual fittings. Then Niaz flew from Karachi to Amman to meet the girls and make his company’s first overseas delivery.
Sidra’s device was funded by Mafaz Clinic in Amman, while donations from Pakistanis paid for Habebat’s. Mafaz CEO Entesar Asaker said the clinic partnered with Bioniks for its low costs, remote solutions and ability to troubleshoot virtually.
Niaz said each prosthetic arm costs about $2,500, significantly less than the $10,000 to $20,000 for alternatives made in the United States.
While Bioniks’ arms are less sophisticated than US versions, they provide a high level of functionality for children and their remote process makes them more accessible than options from other countries such as Turkiye and South Korea.
“We plan on providing limbs for people in other conflict zones too, like Ukraine, and become a global company,” Niaz said.
Globally, most advanced prosthetics are designed for adults and rarely reach children in war zones, who need lighter limbs and replacements every 12–18 months as they grow.
A technician checks a prosthetic limb at the Bioniks in Karachi, April 29, 2024. — Reuters
Niaz said they were exploring funding options for Sidra and Habebat’s future replacements, adding the cost wouldn’t be too high.
“Only a few components would need to be changed,” he said, “the rest can be reused to help another child.”
Bioniks occasionally incorporates popular fictional characters into its children’s prosthetics such as Marvel’s Iron Man or Disney’s Elsa, a feature Niaz said helps with emotional acceptance and daily use.
‘Finally hug my father’
Gaza now has around 4,500 new amputees, on top of 2,000 existing cases from before the conflict, many of them children, making it one of the highest child-amputation crises per capita in recent history, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in March.
An April study by the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics found at least 7,000 children have been injured since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023. Local health authorities say more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, nearly one-third of them children.
A technician uses a mobile phone for 3D scan of a patient before developing a prosthetic limb at Bioniks, in Karachi, April 29, 2024. — Reuters
The World Health Organisation has said Gaza’s health system is “on its knees” with Israel’s border closures drying up critical supplies, meaning the wounded cannot access specialised care, especially amid waves of wounded patients.
“Where it’s nearly impossible for healthcare professionals and patients to meet, remote treatment bridges a critical gap, making assessments, fittings, and follow-up possible without travel or specialised centres,” said Asadullah Khan, Clinic Manager at ProActive Prosthetic in Leeds, UK, which provides artificial limbs and support for trauma patients.
Anas Niaz, mechatronic engineer and CEO of Bioniks, speaks with Reuters in Karachi, April 29, 2024. — Reuters
Bioniks hopes to pioneer such solutions on a large scale but funding remains a roadblock and the company is still trying to form viable partnerships.
Sidra is still adjusting to her new hand on which she now wears a small bracelet. For much of the past year, when she wanted to make a heart, a simple gesture using both hands, she would ask someone else to complete it. This time, she formed the shape herself, snapped a photo, and sent it to her father, who is still trapped in Gaza.
“What I’m looking forward to most is using both my arms to finally hug my father when I see him,” she said.
Header image : A technician checks a prosthetic limb at the Bioniks, in Karachi, April 29, 2024. — Reuters
US President Donald Trump welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House in April
After 21 months of war, there are growing hopes of a new Gaza ceasefire announcement as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets US President Donald Trump in Washington.
Trump previously told reporters he had been “very firm” with Netanyahu about ending the conflict and that he thought “we’ll have a deal” this week.
“We are working to achieve the deal that has been discussed, under the conditions we have agreed,” the veteran Israeli PM said before boarding his plane. “I believe that the conversation with President Trump can definitely help advance this outcome, which we all hope for.”
Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas on a US-sponsored proposal for a 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal resumed in Qatar on Sunday evening.
However, it is unclear whether key differences that have consistently held up an agreement can be overcome.
Only cautious optimism is being expressed by weary Palestinians living in dire conditions amid continuing daily Israeli bombardment, and the distressed families of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas.
“I don’t wish for a truce but a complete stop to all war. Frankly, I’m afraid that after 60 days the war would restart again,” says Nabil Abu Dayah, who fled from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza to Gaza City with his children and grandchildren.
“We got so tired of displacement, we got tired of thirst and hunger, from living in tents. When it comes to life’s necessities, we have zero.”
On Saturday evening, large rallies took place urging Israel’s government to seal a deal to return some 50 hostages from Gaza, up to 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
Some relatives questioned why the framework deal would not free all captives immediately.
“How does one survive under such conditions? I’m waiting for Evyatar to return and tell me himself,” said Ilay David, whose younger brother, a musician, was filmed by Hamas in torment as he watched fellow hostages being released earlier this year during the last, two-month-long ceasefire.
“This is the time to save lives. This is the time to rescue the bodies from the threat of disappearance,” Ilay told a crowd in Jerusalem.
“In the rapidly changing reality of the Middle East, this is the moment to sign a comprehensive agreement that will lead to the release of all the hostages, every single one, without exception.”
AFP
The Israeli hostages’ families are urging the US president to broker a deal that secures the release of all of those held in Gaza
Netanyahu is visiting the White House for the third time since Trump returned to power nearly six months ago.
But the leaders will be meeting for the first time since the US joined Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear sites and then brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
There is a strong sense that the recent 12-day war has created more favourable circumstances to end the Gaza war.
After months of low popularity ratings, the Israeli PM has been bolstered by broad public support for the Iran offensive and analysts suggest he now has more leverage to agree to a peace deal over the strong objections of his far-right coalition partners, who want Israel to remain in control of Gaza.
Hamas is seen to have been further weakened by the strikes on Iran – a key regional patron – meaning it could also be more amenable to making concessions needed to reach an agreement.
Meanwhile, Trump is keen to move on to other priorities in the Middle East.
These include brokering border talks between Israel and Syria, returning to efforts to normalise relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and completing unfinished business with Iran, involving possible negotiations on a new nuclear deal.
For months, ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas have been deadlocked over one fundamental difference.
Israel has been ready to commit to a temporary truce to return hostages but not an end to the war. Hamas has demanded a permanent cessation of hostilities in Gaza and a full pullout of Israeli troops.
The latest proposal put to Hamas is said to include guarantees of Washington’s commitment to the deal and to continued talks to reach a lasting ceasefire and the release of all the hostages.
Nothing has been officially announced, but according to media reports the framework would see Hamas hand over 28 hostages – 10 alive and 18 dead – in five stages over 60 days without the troubling handover ceremonies it staged in the last ceasefire.
There would be a large surge in humanitarian aid entering Gaza.
After the return of the first eight living hostages on the first day of the agreement, Israeli forces would withdraw from parts of the north. After one week, the army would leave parts of the south.
On Day 10, Hamas would outline which hostages remain alive and their condition, while Israel would give details about more than 2,000 Gazans arrested during the war who remain in “administrative detention” – a practice which allows the Israeli authorities to hold them without charge or trial.
As seen before, large numbers of Palestinians would be released from Israeli jails in exchange for hostages.
Reuters
The Israeli military’s chief of staff said last week that it was nearing the completion of its war goals
President Trump has described this as the “final” truce proposal and said last week that Israel had accepted “the necessary conditions” to finalise it.
On Friday, Hamas said it had responded in a “positive spirit” but expressed some reservations.
A Palestinian official said sticking points remained over humanitarian aid – with Hamas demanding an immediate end to operations by the controversial Israeli and American-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and a return to the UN and its partners overseeing all relief efforts.
Hamas is also said to be questioning the timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals and operations of the Rafah crossing between southern Gaza and Egypt.
Netanyahu’s office stated on Saturday that the changes wanted by Hamas were “not acceptable” to Israel.
The prime minister has repeatedly said that Hamas must be disarmed, a demand the Islamist group has so far refused to discuss.
EPA
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is continuing to deteriorate
In Israel, there is growing opposition to the war in Gaza, with more than 20 soldiers killed in the past month, according to the military.
The Israeli military’s chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, said last week that it was nearing the completion of its war goals and signalled that the government must decide whether to move ahead with a deal to bring home hostages or prepare for Israeli forces to re-establish military rule in Gaza.
Polls indicate that two-thirds of Israelis support a ceasefire deal to bring home the hostages.
In Gaza, some residents express fears that the current wave of positivity is being manufactured to ease tensions during Netanyahu’s US trip – rationalising that this happened in May as Trump prepared to visit Arab Gulf states.
The coming days will be critical politically and in humanitarian terms.
The situation in Gaza has continued to deteriorate, with medical staff reporting acute malnutrition among children.
The UN says that with no fuel having entered in over four months, stockpiles are now virtually gone, threatening vital medical care, water supplies and telecommunications.
Israel launched its war in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and led to 251 others being taken hostage.
Israeli attacks have since killed more than 57,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The ministry’s figures are quoted by the UN and others as the most reliable source of statistics available on casualties.
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The death toll from catastrophic floods in Texas reached at least 78 on Sunday, including 28 children, as the search for girls missing from a summer camp continued, and fears of more flooding prompted evacuations of volunteer responders.
Larry Leitha, sheriff of Kerr County in Texas Hill Country, said 68 people had died in flooding in his county, the epicentre of the flooding, among them 28 children.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, speaking at a press conference on Sunday afternoon, said another 10 had died elsewhere in Texas and confirmed 41 were missing.
US President Donald Trump sent his condolences to the victims and said he would probably visit the area on Friday. His administration had been in touch with Abbott, he added.
“It’s a horrible thing that took place, absolutely horrible. So we say, God bless all of the people that have gone through so much, and God bless, God bless the state of Texas,” he told reporters as he left New Jersey.
Among the most devastating impacts of the flooding occurred at Camp Mystic summer camp, a nearly century-old Christian girls camp where 10 Camp Mystic campers and one counsellor were still missing, according to Leitha.
“It was nothing short of horrific to see what those young children went through,” said Abbott, who noted he toured the area on Saturday and pledged to continue efforts to locate the missing.
The flooding occurred after the nearby Guadalupe River broke its banks after torrential rain fell in the central Texas area on Friday, the US Independence Day holiday.
Women look at the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas, on July 6 following severe flash flooding that occurred during the July 4 holiday weekend. — AFP
Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said the destruction killed three people in Burnet County, one in Tom Green County, five in Travis County and one in Williamson County.
“You will see the death toll rise today and tomorrow,” said Freeman Martin, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, also speaking on Sunday.
Officials said on Saturday that more than 850 people had been rescued, including some clinging to trees, after a sudden storm dumped up to 15 inches (38 cm) of rain across the region, about 140 kilometres northwest of San Antonio.
Kidd said he was receiving unconfirmed reports of “an additional wall of water” flowing down some of the creeks in the Guadalupe Rivershed, as rain continued to fall on soil in the region already saturated from Friday’s rains.
“We’re evacuating parts of the river right now because we are worried about another wall of river coming down in those areas,” he said, referencing volunteers from outside the area seeking to help locate victims.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency was activated on Sunday and is deploying resources to first responders in Texas after Trump issued a major disaster declaration, the Department of Homeland Security said. US Coast Guard helicopters and planes were aiding search and rescue efforts.
Scaling back federal disaster response
Trump has previously outlined plans to scale back the federal government’s role in responding to natural disasters, leaving states to shoulder more of the burden themselves.
Some experts questioned whether cuts to the federal workforce by the Trump administration, including to the agency that oversees the National Weather Service, led to a failure by officials to accurately predict the severity of the floods and issue appropriate warnings ahead of the storm.
Trump’s administration has overseen thousands of job cuts from the National Weather Service’s parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leaving many weather offices understaffed, former NOAA director Rick Spinrad said.
Spinrad said he did not know if those staff cuts factored into the lack of advance warning for the extreme Texas flooding, but that they would inevitably degrade the agency’s ability to deliver accurate and timely forecasts.
Trump pushed back when asked on Sunday if federal government cuts hobbled the disaster response or left key job vacancies at the National Weather Service under Trump’s oversight.
“That water situation, that all is, and that was really the Biden setup,” he said, referencing his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden. “But I wouldn’t blame Biden for it, either. I would just say this is 100-year catastrophe.”
He declined to answer a question about FEMA, saying only, “They’re busy working, so we’ll leave it at that,” Trump said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees FEMA and NOAA, said a “moderate” flood watch issued on Thursday by the National Weather Service had not accurately predicted the extreme rainfall and said the Trump administration was working to upgrade the system.
Joaquin Castro, a Democratic US congressman from Texas, told CNN’s “State of the Union” program that fewer personnel at the weather service could be dangerous.
“When you have flash flooding, there’s a risk that if you don’t have the personnel … to do that analysis, do the predictions in the best way, it could lead to tragedy,” Castro said.
‘Complete devastation’
Katharine Somerville, a counsellor on the Cypress Lake side of Camp Mystic, on higher ground than the Guadalupe River side, said her 13-year-old campers were scared as their cabins sustained damage and lost power in the middle of the night.
“Our cabins at the tippity top of hills were completely flooded with water. I mean, y’all have seen the complete devastation, we never even imagined that this could happen,” Somerville said in an interview on Fox News on Sunday.
Somerville said the campers in her care were put on military trucks and evacuated, and that all were safe.
The disaster unfolded rapidly on Friday morning as heavier-than-forecast rain drove river waters rapidly to as high as nine metres.
A day after the disaster struck, the summer camp, where 700 girls were in residence at the time of the flooding, was a scene of devastation. Inside one cabin, mud lines indicating how high the water had risen were at least six feet (1.83m) from the floor.
Bed frames, mattresses and personal belongings caked with mud were scattered inside. Some buildings had broken windows, and one had a missing wall.
Women forced back to living under the Taliban’s increasingly repressive regime have spoken of their desperation as Iran accelerates the deportation of an estimated 4 million Afghans who had fled to the country.
In the past month alone, more than 250,000 people, including thousands of lone women, have returned to Afghanistan from Iran, according to the UN’s migration agency. The numbers accelerated before Sunday’s deadline set by the Iranian regime for all undocumented Afghans to leave the country.
The Taliban, who returned to power in 2021, have been accused of enforcing a system of gender apartheid in Afghanistan. Women returning to the country must live with oppressive laws that ban them from showing their faces, speaking or appearing in public, as well as being excluded from most jobs and education. Anyone caught breaking these rules faces public flogging.
An employee of the NGO World Vision assists a woman at an office where deported Afghans can call their family members, 3 July, Islam Qala, Afghanistan. Photograph: Getty Images
Speaking to the Guardian and Zan Times, an Afghan news agency, at a border crossing in southern Afghanistan, Sahar*, 40, is travelling with five children and says she has no idea where she will live now. A widow originally from Baghlan, a city in northern Afghanistan, she had been living in Iran for more than a decade. She ran a small tailoring workshop and had recently put down a deposit on a home. Last week, she says she was detained, taken with her children from a refugee camp near the southern city of Shiraz, and deported.
“I didn’t even get to pack their clothes. They came in the middle of the night. I begged them to give me just two days to collect my things. But they didn’t listen. They threw us out like garbage.”
Until recently, women were rarely forcibly returned from Iran. Men, often undocumented labourers, were more likely to face arrest and deportation. But Afghan border officials say there has been a recent shift, with at least 100 unaccompanied women deported through a single border point in Nimroz province, in the south of the country, between March and May this year.
Returning to Afghanistan without a male guardian puts women in direct conflict with Taliban law, which prohibits women from travelling alone. Many of those returned from Iran find themselves stranded at the border, unable to continue their journey.
With temperatures now reaching 52C, local officials say that a number of people have died during the forced crossings. Border officials say at least 13 bodies have arrived in the past two weeks, but it was not clear whether they had died of heat and thirst or were killed during Israel’s airstrikes in Iran.
Afghans wait for assistance and buses at the Iranian border on 3 July in Islam Qala. Women are unable to continue their journey without a male escort. Photograph: Getty Images
Those arriving at border crossings in southern Afghanistan say they are thirsty, hungry and exhausted, having walked for hours under the sun. Most have no belongings, documentation or plan about where to live.
“From Shiraz to Zahedan [close to the Afghan border], they took everything from us. My bank card had 15 million tomans (£110). They charged 50,000 tomans for a bottle of water, 100,000 for a cold sandwich. And if you didn’t have it, your child went without,” says Sahar.
The Taliban says it offers short-term shelter and transport assistance to women deported without a mahram (an adult male who can accompany her on a journey). But many returnees say they received no such help. Under Taliban policy, most single women are barred from receiving land, travelling alone to their home province, or accessing employment.
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Sahar says her options in Afghanistan are bleak. She has an elderly mother in Baghlan, but no home, no job and no husband, meaning, under Taliban rules, she cannot travel alone or work legally. “I asked for land [from the Taliban], anything to start again. They said, ‘You’re a woman, you have no mahram. You don’t qualify.’”
Deported Afghans wait to receive sim cards at the Iranian border on 3 July in Islam Qala. Many arrive hungry and exhausted, having walked for hours in extreme heat. Photograph: Getty Images
Many end up relying on extended family or informal networks. One woman, recently returned with a newborn, says she was denied food and shelter. “They told me: ‘You’re not eligible. You don’t have a man with you.’ But my baby is just four days old. Where am I supposed to go?”
The UN agency, the International Organization for Migration, and other groups provide temporary aid at border crossings, but they do not have the mandate or resources for long-term support.
In the buses taking deportees from detention to the Afghanistan borders, women also say they are subjected to verbal abuse, bribes demanded for basic services and no air conditioning in extreme heat. “They said it’s a waste for you Afghans. My child cried from the heat, but the driver laughed and mocked us,” says Zahra*.
Brics leaders at a summit on Sunday took aim at US President Donald Trump’s “indiscriminate” import tariffs and recent Israeli-US strikes on Iran.
The 11 emerging nations — including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — account for about half the world’s population and 40 per cent of global economic output.
The bloc is divided about much, but found common cause when it comes to the mercurial US leader and his stop-start tariff wars — even if it avoided naming him directly.
Voicing “serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff” measures, Brics members said the tariffs risked hurting the global economy, according to a summit joint statement.
Trump fired back at the bloc directly on social media on Sunday night.
“Any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of Brics will be charged an additional 10 per cent Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Earlier, Brics also offered symbolic backing to fellow member Iran, condemning a series of military strikes on nuclear and other targets carried out by Israel and the United States.
In April, Trump threatened allies and rivals alike with a slew of punitive duties, before offering a months-long reprieve in the face of a fierce market sell-off.
Trump has warned he will impose unilateral levies on partners unless they reach “deals” by August 1.
In an apparent concession to US allies, such as Brazil, India, and Saudi Arabia, the summit declaration did not criticise the United States or its president by name at any point.
No show
Conceived two decades ago as a forum for fast-growing economies, the BRICS have come to be seen as a Chinese-driven counterbalance to US and Western European power.
But as the group has expanded to include Iran, Saudi Arabia and others, it has struggled to reach meaningful consensus on issues from the Gaza onslaught to challenging US global dominance.
Brics nations, for example, collectively called for a peaceful two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict — despite Tehran’s long-standing position that Israel should be destroyed.
An Iranian diplomatic source said his government’s “reservations” had been conveyed to Brazilian hosts. Still, Iran stopped short of rejecting the statement outright.
In perhaps a further sign of the diplomatic sensitivities, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister skipped Sunday’s discussions entirely, according to a Brazilian government source.
Saudi Arabia is among the world’s leading beneficiaries of high-tech US military exports and is a long-standing US partner.
The political punch of this year’s summit has been depleted by the absence of China’s Xi Jinping, who skipped the meeting for the first time in his 12 years as president.
The Chinese leader is not the only notable absentee. Russian President Vladimir Putin, charged with war crimes in Ukraine, also opted to stay away, participating via video link.
He told counterparts that Brics had become a key player in global governance.
The summit also called for regulation governing artificial intelligence and said the technology could not be the preserve of only rich nations.
The commercial AI sector is currently dominated by US tech giants, although China and other nations have rapidly developing capacity.
Getty Images
