Category Archives: Benjamin Netanyahu

Netanyahu vows to ‘take control’ of Gaza as UK, France and Canada threaten action against Israel

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Key allies call escalation ‘egregious’ and promise ‘concrete’ response if Israel does not end renewed offensive and allow aid into strip

Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will “take control” of all of Gaza, as three key allies attacked his “egregious” escalation of the military campaign and blockade on humanitarian aid.

Britain, France and Canada attacked Israel’s expansion of its war as disproportionate, described conditions in Gaza as “intolerable” and threatened a “concrete” response if Israel’s campaign continues.

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Trump acknowledges starvation in Gaza as Israeli airstrikes kill more than 100

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President says US will ‘take care of’ situation in Gaza on final day of Gulf tour in Abu Dhabi

Donald Trump has said people are starving in Gaza and the US would have the situation in the territory “taken care of” as it suffered a further wave of intense Israeli airstrikes.

On the final day of his Gulf tour, the US president told reporters in Abu Dhabi: “We’re looking at Gaza. And we’re going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving.”

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Netanyahu must now work for support of US as Trump tires of Israel’s war in Gaza

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The US president will not visit Israel on a trip to the Middle East and his envoy has reportedly said Netanyahu’s government is drawing out the war

Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff didn’t mince his words. In a meeting late on Sunday with former hostages and relatives of those still held in Gaza, he told them Israel is drawing out a war the US wants to end, local media reported.

On the eve of the release of Edan Alexander, the last living American being held by Hamas, Witkoff spelt out the gulf between his boss and the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

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How Trump’s walkaway diplomacy enabled Israel’s worst impulses

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The common perception is that Trump has largely moved on, leaving an emboldened Netanyahu to his own devices

The Israeli plan to occupy and depopulate Gaza may not be identical to Donald Trump’s vision of a new riviera, but his inspiration and the US’s walkaway diplomacy have ushered Benjamin Netanyahu to the precipice of a dire new chapter in the Israel-Gaza war.

The common perception in both Washington and Israel is that Trump has largely moved on, leaving an emboldened Netanyahu to his own devices, while his offhand proposals for turning Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East” have provided cover for rightwing Israeli politicians to enthusiastically support the forced resettlement of the Palestinian population.

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Iran calls for US to withdraw support for Israeli strikes on Yemen

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Iran claims attacks in Yemen are attempt to disrupt negotiations with US over Tehran’s nuclear programme

Iran has urged the US to end its support for Israel’s continuing strikes on Yemen, claiming Israel is trying to use its conflict with the Houthi-led government to drive a wedge between Iran and the US in the negotiations over the future of Tehran’s civil nuclear programme.

The strikes have been criticised by the UN-recognised Yemen government based in Aden , which said it had not been consulted and airstrikes alone were not an integrated plan to remove the Houthis from power. Yemen has been divided between the Houthis and the official government since the Houthis captured the capital, Sana’a, in 2015.

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Hamas no longer interested in truce talks after Israel’s new Gaza plan, senior official says – Israel-Gaza war live

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Benjamin Netanyahu announced new ‘intensified’ offensive aimed at ‘conquering’ Gaza Strip

Israel’s military has said it is today carrying out exercises at the Tel Hashomer base in central Israel, and in the area of the northern city of Nahariya, which will lead to road closures and the sound of explosions being heard.

Israeli forces are reported to have arrested one man and assaulted three others during a raid near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

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Netanyahu vows to act against Houthis after attack on Israel’s main airport

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Strike by Yemen rebel group came hours before security cabinet was due to vote on plans to expand Gaza offensive

Benjamin Netanyahu has promised Israel will strike back against Yemen’s Houthis and “their Iranian terror masters” after a missile launched by the militia movement hit the perimeter of Israel’s main airport.

On X, the Israeli prime minister said on Sunday that Israel would respond to the Houthi attack “at a time and place of our choosing”. On Telegram, Netanyahu said Israel had acted against the Houthis in the past and would act again in the future.

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Syria calls Israeli air strikes on Damascus a ‘dangerous escalation’

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Benjamin Netanyahu says strikes intended to deter Syria’s new leadership from any hostile move against the Druze

Syria’s new rulers have angrily denounced raids launched by Israel’s air force against unidentified targets near the presidential palace in Damascus, warning of a “dangerous escalation”.

Israeli officials said the attacks were intended to send a message to the Syrian government after days of bloody clashes near Damascus between pro-government militia forces and fighters from the Druze minority sect.

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Phasing out fossil fuels ‘doomed to fail’, says Tony Blair as he calls for rethink of net zero policy – UK politics live

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‘Any strategy based on either phasing out fossil fuels in the short term or limiting consumption is a strategy doomed to fail,’ says former PM

Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.

Keir Starmer is not expected to campaign in the Hamilton byelection, a critical contest for Scottish Labour which takes place in early June, Anas Sarwar has confirmed.

I wouldn’t expect Keir to be campaigning in the byelection. That’s not to say he won’t, but I’m not expecting Kier to campaign in the byelection.

I’ll be on the stump campaigning for a Labour win. I’m the candidate for first minister next year. I’m the one that wants to remove the SNP from government.

Next year, we’ve got to demonstrate to people that for all Nigel Farage might want to come here with his easy answers and create a bit of a circus, the reality is a vote for Reform only helps the SNP. If you want to get rid of the SNP, only Scottish Labour can beat them.

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Israel’s Shin Bet security chief says he will resign after Netanyahu row

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Ronen Bar to leave role in June, having been sacked by the PM only for the supreme court to block that decision

Ronen Bar, the director of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service, has said he will resign in less than two months, after weeks of tension with Benjamin Netanyahu, who has tried to fire him, bringing Israel to the brink of a constitutional crisis.

“After 35 years of service, in order to allow an orderly process for appointing a permanent successor and for professional handover, I will end my role on 15 June 2025,” Bar told a Shin Bet memorial event on Monday.

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New details on killing of paramedics in Gaza appear to contradict IDF’s account

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Haaretz report comes as supreme court gives Israeli PM more time to respond to affidavit from fired Shin Bet chief

New developments have come to light in the killing of 15 Palestinian medics and rescue workers by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip last month, with evidence reportedly contradicting the Israel Defense Forces’ claim that soldiers did not fire indiscriminately at the medical workers.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Wednesday that its analysis of the IDF’s own materials collected as part of an internal investigation into the incident contradicted the army’s claim that soldiers did not shoot indiscriminately at Palestinian ambulances and a fire engine in the early hours of 23 March.

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Israeli minister met David Lammy on ‘private’ visit to UK, Foreign Office says

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Activist groups make request for arrest warrant to be issued for Gideon Sa’ar after unannounced trip to London

The UK Foreign Office has confirmed that the foreign secretary, David Lammy, met his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Sa’ar, while Sa’ar was on an unannounced visit to London.

The Foreign Office described Sa’ar’s visit as “private”, though it said Lammy had discussed a full range of Middle East issues with the Israeli foreign minister. News of Sa’ar’s presence in the UK – at a time when Israel is intensifying its offensive in Gaza, having ended a ceasefire last month – has triggered outrage among critics of Israel, and a formal request from activists for an arrest warrant to be issued against him on charges of alleged complicity in war crimes.

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Members of leading British Jewish body condemn Israel’s latest actions in Gaza

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Signatories from Board of Deputies say in open letter that ‘Israel’s soul is being ripped out’ and they ‘cannot turn a blind eye’ to loss of life

Members of the Board of Deputies, the largest body representing British Jews, have said they can no longer “turn a blind eye or remain silent” over the war in Gaza.

In a significant break with the board’s customary support for the Israeli government, the 36 signatories to an open letter published in the FT say “Israel’s soul is being ripped out”.

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Gaza City strike kills at least 23 as Israel reportedly plans to seize Rafah

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Search for survivors continues at residential building, amid reports Israeli military preparing to seize entire city in south

At least 23 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit a residential building in northern Gaza, as reports emerged that the Israeli military is preparing to seize the entire city of Rafah as part of a newly announced security corridor.

Medics at al-Ahli hospital said that the bombing on Wednesday of a four-storey building in the Gaza City suburb of Shijaiyah had killed at least eight women and children, as rescue workers continued to search for survivors into the evening. The Israeli military said the strike targeted a senior Hamas militant.

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Netanyahu discusses Gaza and tariffs with Trump at White House meeting

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President says the pair had a ‘great discussion’ while prime minister says Israel will eliminate trade deficit with US

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, met with Donald Trump on Monday for the second time since the US president’s return to office, marking the first effort by a foreign leader to negotiate a deal after Trump announced sweeping tariffs last week.

Speaking alongside Trump in the Oval Office, Netanyahu said Israel would eliminate the trade deficit with the US. “We intend to do it very quickly,” he told reporters, adding that he believed Israel could “serve as a model for many countries who ought to do the same”.

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Netanyahu heads to Washington to talk tariffs and Gaza with Trump

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Tariff discussions would make Netanyahu the first foreign leader to travel to Washington in an attempt to negotiate a better deal

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is set to travel to Washington to meet with US president Donald Trump to discuss issues including tariffs, Gaza and the “Iranian threat”, his office has confirmed.

The meeting will take place on Monday, a White House official said on the condition of anonymity.

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At least 27 killed in Israeli bombing of shelter in Gaza City, rescuers say

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Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flee from southern city of Rafah in one of war’s biggest mass displacements

An Israeli bombing of a school turned shelter in Gaza City has killed at least 27 people, rescuers said, and hundreds of thousands in the Rafah area are fleeing in one of the biggest mass displacements of the war amid Israel’s newly announced campaign to “divide up” the Gaza Strip.

Three missiles hit Dar al-Arqam school in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood on Thursday afternoon, the civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal said, killing several children and wounding 100 people.

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Hungary to pull out of ‘political’ ICC as Netanyahu visits Budapest

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Israeli PM, who is wanted by the court, hails Viktor Orbán’s ‘bold and principled’ decision to leave the ‘corrupt’ body

Hungary will leave the international criminal court because it has become “political”, the country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said as he welcomed his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanhayu – the subject of an ICC arrest warrant – to Budapest for an official visit.

Standing beside Netanyahu at the start of the four-day visit, Orbàn said Hungary was convinced the “otherwise very important court” had “diminished into a political forum”.

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Netanyahu to visit Hungary as Orbán vows to defy ICC arrest warrant

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Israeli prime minister begins four-day trip after Hungarian counterpart says court ruling would ‘have no effect’

Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to begin a four-day official visit to Hungary on Thursday, marking the first time the Israeli prime minister has stepped foot on European soil since the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for him over allegations of war crimes in Gaza.

Hours after the ICC announced the warrants in November, Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, made it clear he would defy the court to host Netanyahu, telling reporters that he would “guarantee” the ICC’s ruling would “have no effect in Hungary”.

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Israel is ‘seizing territory’ and will ‘divide up’ Gaza, Netanyahu says

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Prime minister says Israel will build a new security corridor to isolate parts of the strip in major escalation

Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel is “seizing territory” and intends to “divide up” the Gaza Strip by building a new security corridor, amid a major expansion of aerial and ground operations in the besieged Palestinian territory.

“Tonight, we have shifted gears in the Gaza Strip. The [Israeli army] is seizing territory, hitting the terrorists and destroying the infrastructure,” the prime minister said in a video statement on Wednesday evening.

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