Arab ministers denounce Israeli ‘arrogance’ over blocking West Bank visit

Arab ministers denounce Israeli ‘arrogance’ over blocking West Bank visit
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Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani and Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, of the Ministerial Committee Assigned by the Joint Extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit on Gaza, meet in Amman, Jordan June 1, 2025. (Reuters)
Arab ministers denounce Israeli ‘arrogance’ over blocking West Bank visit
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Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, attends the Ministerial Committee Assigned by the Joint Extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit on Gaza as they meet in Amman, Jordan, June 1, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 01 June 2025
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Arab ministers denounce Israeli ‘arrogance’ over blocking West Bank visit

Arab ministers denounce Israeli ‘arrogance’ over blocking West Bank visit
  • Saudi FM said Israeli stance showed its “extremism and rejection of peace”
  • Ministers held video conference meeting in Amman with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

CAIRO: Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the Israeli government's refusal to allow Arab ministers to the occupied West Bank showed its “extremism and rejection of peace.”

His statements came during a joint press conference with counterparts from Jordan, Egypt, and Bahrain in Amman. 

The Arab ministers condemned what they described as the “arrogant” Israeli decision to ban them from visiting the West Bank and its rejection of any peace efforts.

Members of the Ministerial Committee assigned by the Joint Extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit on Gaza met with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman earlier today to discuss ceasefire efforts in the Gaza Strip and a post-war plan.

During their meeting at Al-Husseiniya Palace, King Abdullah and the ministers stressed the importance of international support for Palestinians to secure their rights and achieve peace through a two-state solution.

The Ministerial Committee, which consists of the foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain, along with the Secretary-General of the Arab League, held a video conference meeting in Amman on Sunday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his deputy, Hussein Al-Sheikh, and Mohammad Mustafa, the prime minister and minister of foreign affairs.

Ayman Al-Safadi, Jordan's Foreign Minister, said that the “Israeli government continues to kill all the chances of peace in the region” after the committee visit was blocked on Saturday.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan echoed these sentiments and added that the Palestinian Authority continued to carry out its duties while facing a party that did not want any solutions.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told Jordan News Agency that Jordan and Egypt will strongly confront all Israeli plans to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

On Saturday, Israel said it will not allow a planned meeting on Sunday in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah to go ahead.

The ministers also discussed preparations for a high-level international peace conference in New York this June, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, aimed at advancing the two-state solution based on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.

The committee reaffirmed support for ceasefire efforts led by Egypt, Qatar, and the US, and urged Israel to allow unrestricted humanitarian access and cease its escalation in the West Bank.

It also emphasized the importance of a Gaza reconstruction conference in Cairo following a ceasefire.

The ministers condemned Israel for blocking their planned visit to Ramallah, calling it a violation of diplomatic norms.

President Abbas welcomed the committee’s efforts, reiterated his government’s commitment to reform, peace, and non-violence, and called for international support and the release of withheld Palestinian funds.


Gaza civil defense says 12 killed by Israeli forces

Updated 28 sec ago
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Gaza civil defense says 12 killed by Israeli forces

Gaza civil defense says 12 killed by Israeli forces
GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defense 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 defense 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.
“We were surprised by missiles and explosions inside the building,” eyewitness Salman Qudum told AFP.
“We did not know where to go because of the dust and destruction.”
In the south of the territory, Bassal said two people were killed and 20 others injured by Israeli forces’ gunfire while waiting for aid near a distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A US- and Israel-backed group, the GHF took the lead in food distribution in the territory in late May, but its operations have had a chaotic rollout with repeated reports of aid seekers killed near its facilities.


The UN human rights office said last week that more than 500 people have been killed waiting to access food from GHF distribution points.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza on Sunday placed that toll higher, at 751 killed.
In Khan Yunis in the south, Bassal reported two people killed in an air strike on a house and another killed by Israeli gunfire.
An air strike on a house in Gaza City killed one and injured several others, he added.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
In a separate statement, it said it had struck “dozens of terrorists, weapons depots, observation posts, military buildings, and other terror infrastructures” over the past 24 hours.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Out of 251 hostages seized during the attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed more than 57,418 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.

32 go on trial over fatal hotel fire in Turkiye

32 go on trial over fatal hotel fire in Turkiye
Updated 41 min 50 sec ago
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32 go on trial over fatal hotel fire in Turkiye

32 go on trial over fatal hotel fire in Turkiye
  • Entire families perished when the huge blaze swept through the Grand Kartal Hotel
  • Survivors and experts have said the hotel’s fire alarm system did not work

ISTANBUL: Thirty-two people went on trial in Turkiye on Monday over a fire at a luxury ski resort hotel in January that killed 78 people, including 36 children, local media reported.

Entire families perished when the huge blaze swept through the Grand Kartal Hotel in the northern mountain resort of Kartalkaya in the early hours of January 21.

Questions have multiplied about fire safety measures at the hotel and victims’ families allege that negligence contributed to the high death toll.

More than 130 people were injured and the 12-story building was destroyed.

Thirteen of the defendants – including senior officials at the hotel, the fire department and the city council – face up to 1,998 years in prison each on 78 charges, including “manslaughter with possible intent” to kill.

Survivors and experts have said the hotel’s fire alarm system did not work.

According to the indictment, the suspects facing manslaughter charges include the hotel’s owner, managers and members of the board, the deputy mayor of town of Bolu and two fire department officials.

Before the hearing, victims’ families gathered outside Bolu high school, where the trial is taking place, carrying portraits of the deceased.

They read out a statement, alleging countless breaches of safety and attempts to conceal evidence.

“During the fire, the owners, managers and employees of the Grand Kartal Hotel failed to alert guests or activate the alarm system.

“They rushed to save their cars while our loved ones were suffocating in the smoke,” they alleged.

“An inspection report drawn up just one month before the fire clearly showed a lack of fire safety measures but the hotel owners ignored it on the grounds that the measures would be too costly,” they continued.

“We know that the authorities turned a blind eye to this negligence, that evidence was concealed and that the camera recordings were deleted.”

At the time of the fire, the tourism ministry and Bolu city council blamed each other for the disaster.

Due to the large number of defendants and plaintiffs – 210 civil parties, the Bolu High Criminal Court is sitting at the high school’s sports hall.

Ozgur Ozel, leader of the main opposition CHP, would attend the hearing, the social-democratic party said.

The trial is expected to last two weeks.


US special envoy ‘satisfied’ with Lebanon reply to US roadmap to disarm Hezbollah

US special envoy ‘satisfied’ with Lebanon reply to US roadmap to disarm Hezbollah
Updated 40 min 45 sec ago
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US special envoy ‘satisfied’ with Lebanon reply to US roadmap to disarm Hezbollah

US special envoy ‘satisfied’ with Lebanon reply to US roadmap to disarm Hezbollah
  • Aoun’s team gave Barrack a seven-page reply to his June 19 proposal

US special envoy Thomas Barrack said on Monday that he was “unbelievably satisfied” with the Lebanese government’s reply to an American proposal on how to disarm Hezbollah, which had signalled in recent days that it will not give up all its arms.

“What the government gave us was something spectacular in a very short period of time. I’m unbelievably satisfied with the response,” Barrack told reporters after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, without giving details of the response.

Aoun’s team gave Barrack a seven-page reply to his June 19 proposal.


Hamas, Israel resume talks as Netanyahu set to meet Trump

Hamas, Israel resume talks as Netanyahu set to meet Trump
Updated 07 July 2025
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Hamas, Israel resume talks as Netanyahu set to meet Trump

Hamas, Israel resume talks as Netanyahu set to meet Trump
  • The latest round of negotiations on the war in Gaza began on Sunday in Doha
  • Hamas wants guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations

DOHA: Hamas and Israel were resuming talks in Qatar on Monday, a Palestinian official said, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Washington to meet President Donald Trump, who has pushed for a “deal this week” between the foes.

The latest round of negotiations on the war in Gaza began on Sunday in Doha, aiming to broker a ceasefire and reach an agreement on the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

“Indirect negotiations are scheduled to take place before noon today in Doha between the Hamas and Israeli delegations to continue discussions” on the proposal, a Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations said.

Ahead of Netanyahu’s third visit since Trump’s return to office this year, the US president said there was a “good chance” of reaching an agreement.

“We’ve gotten a lot of the hostages out, but pertaining to the remaining hostages, quite a few of them will be coming out,” he told journalists.

Netanyahu, speaking before heading to Washington, said his meeting with Trump could “definitely help advance this” deal.

The US president is pushing for a truce in the Gaza Strip, plunged into a humanitarian crisis after nearly two years of war.

Netanyahu said he dispatched the team to Doha with “clear instructions” to reach an agreement “under the conditions that we have agreed to.”

He previously said Hamas’s response to a draft US-backed ceasefire proposal, conveyed through Qatari and Egyptian mediators, contained “unacceptable” demands.

Two Palestinian sources close to the discussions had earlier said the proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.

However, they said, the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel’s withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system.

Netanyahu has an “important mission” in Washington, “advancing a deal to bring all our hostages home,” said Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

Trump is not scheduled to meet the Israeli premier until 6:30 p.m. (2230 GMT) Monday, the White House said, without the usual presence of journalists.

Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

Since Hamas’s October 2023 attack sparked the massive Israeli offensive in Gaza, mediators have brokered two temporary halts in the fighting. They have seen hostages freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.

Recent efforts to broker a new truce have repeatedly failed, with the primary point of contention being Israel’s rejection of Hamas’s demand for a lasting ceasefire.

In Gaza, the territory’s civil defense agency reported 12 people killed in gunfire or strikes on Monday. AFP has contacted the Israeli military for comment.

“We are losing young people, families and children every day, and this must stop now,” Gaza resident Osama Al-Hanawi said.

“Enough blood has been shed.”

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency.

The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip.

A US- and Israel-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), took the lead in food distribution in the territory in late May, when Israel partially lifted a more than two-month blockade on aid deliveries.

But its operations have had a chaotic rollout, with repeated reports of aid seekers killed near its facilities while awaiting rations.

UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

The UN human rights office said last week that more than 500 people have been killed waiting to access food from GHF distribution points.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza on Sunday placed that toll even higher, at 751 killed.

Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,418 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.


Al-Sharaa heads to UAE on official visit - Syrian News Agency

Al-Sharaa heads to UAE on official visit - Syrian News Agency
Updated 07 July 2025
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Al-Sharaa heads to UAE on official visit - Syrian News Agency

Al-Sharaa heads to UAE on official visit - Syrian News Agency

DUBAI: President of the Arab Syrian Republic Ahmad al-Sharaa is heading to the UAE for an official visit, the Syrian News Agency reported Monday.