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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly publication.
Benjamin Netanyahu has lashed out at UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and different western leaders, accusing them of siding with Hamas and “shopping for into” the group’s propaganda.
In a video launched on Thursday evening, the Israeli prime minister blasted the UK, French and Canadian governments for demanding Israel finish its offensive in Gaza and for contemplating recognising a Palestinian state, which he stated would represent the “final prize” for Hamas’s October 7 2023 assault.
“I say to President [Emmanuel] Macron, Prime Minister [Mark] Carney and Prime Minister Starmer: when mass murderers, rapists, child killers and kidnappers thanks, you’re on the improper aspect of justice. You’re on the improper aspect of humanity and also you’re on the improper aspect of historical past,” Netanyahu stated.
The three western leaders issued a joint letter on Monday warning that they might take “concrete actions” towards Israel if it didn’t cease its new offensive and elevate restrictions on assist coming into Gaza.
A UN panel final week stated almost 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza had been dealing with hunger if the humanitarian scenario was not improved drastically. Below worldwide strain, Israel earlier this week started permitting a restricted quantity of humanitarian assist to enter Gaza, after a virtually three-month siege of the war-torn enclave.
Starmer froze UK talks on a brand new commerce cope with Israel on Tuesday and the EU stated it could assessment its personal affiliation settlement with the nation in a transfer backed by 17 of the bloc’s 27 member states.
London and Paris are additionally contemplating extending recognition of a Palestinian state, maybe as a part of a world convention on the Israeli-Palestinian battle mooted to happen subsequent month in New York.
Netanyahu in his feedback claimed there was a hyperlink between a capturing assault in Washington on Wednesday, which killed Israeli embassy employees Yaron Lischinsky and Sara Milgrim, and “Hamas propaganda that claims Israel is ravenous Palestinian youngsters”.
“These and different leaders [like Starmer, Macron and Carney] have purchased into” the propaganda, Netanyahu added. “The press repeats it. The mob believed it. And a younger couple is brutally gunned down in Washington.”
Elias Rodriguez, who shouted a pro-Palestine chant following the assault, was charged on Thursday with two counts of first-degree homicide, the homicide of a international official and a number of other firearms felonies, stated Jeanine Pirro, the interim US lawyer for Washington.
The Israeli navy continued its new offensive in Gaza, launched over the weekend, towards what it stated had been navy compounds and weapons depots. Israel on Thursday additionally issued mass evacuation orders to a lot of northern Gaza, together with the cities of Beit Lahia and Jabalia, and warned residents of the town of Deir al-Balah, within the territory’s central area, over the presence of Hamas militants within the space.
Native well being authorities in Gaza stated 107 folks had been killed over the previous day in Israeli strikes.
In keeping with Israeli navy figures, a complete of about 300 vans of assist, together with child meals, flour and medical gear, have been allowed to enter the strip since Monday — an quantity far under what UN and different worldwide officers say is required to treatment a humanitarian disaster.
Solely a fraction of the help that has entered this week has been disbursed contained in the territory, in response to two folks acquainted with the matter.
Netanyahu, when asserting the easing of the blockade earlier this week, admitted the scenario was nearing a vital “pink line”. He stated he was instructed by Israel’s “pals” the world over and within the US Congress that “we is not going to settle for photos of mass hunger . . . We gained’t be capable of help you” within the conflict effort.
However the veteran Israeli chief this week once more rejected ending the conflict, and vowed as soon as extra to proceed the offensive towards Hamas till “complete victory” was achieved regardless of the worldwide strain.
