Joe Biden implores Congress to pass US-Mexico border security bill

Senate bill includes aid to Ukraine and Israel, as House tries to advance bill with Israel aid only, which Biden says he would veto

Joe Biden urged Congress to pass the bipartisan border bill in a pointed speech on Tuesday, accusing Republicans of “caving” in to Donald Trump’s demands to block the legislation from advancing.

“All indications are this bill won’t even move forward to the Senate floor. Why? A simple reason: Donald Trump. Because Donald Trump thinks it’s bad for him politically,” Biden said at the White House. “He’d rather weaponize this issue than actually solve it.”

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Middle East crisis: IDF reportedly believes more than a fifth of remaining Israeli hostages are dead

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At least 27,585 Palestinians have been killed and 66,978 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday.

127 Palestinians were killed and 143 wounded in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.

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Rumoured split in Hamas leadership as hope grows for ceasefire deal

Qatar’s prime minister and US secretary of state say Hamas has responded to outlines of proposed deal

When the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, launched his devastating assault on Israel on 7 October, the militant group’s exiled leadership, like the rest of the world, was apparently caught unawares.

From plush penthouses in Beirut, Doha and Istanbul, they watched the carnage that killed 1,200 Israelis unfold, as well as Israel’s retaliatory campaign on the Gaza Strip. In the past four months Israel has killed an estimated 27,600 people, displaced 85% of the 2.3 million population and razed more than half of the besieged Palestinian territory’s infrastructure.

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US-backed Kurdish fighters killed in drone strike on US base in Syria

Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iranian-backed militia, claims attack after at least six fighters killed

At least six US-backed Kurdish fighters have been killed in a drone strike on a US base in eastern Syria claimed by Iranian-backed militia that was the target of US airstrikes on Friday.

The deaths are the latest indicator of how conflict is seeping across the Middle East since the beginning of the war in Gaza, with ever less predictable consequences for regional stability.

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French diplomat to review UNRWA after claims of staff role in Hamas attack

Catherine Colonna will lead inquiry after Israel’s accusation that at least 12 UN agency workers were involved in 7 October assault

A former French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, is to lead an independent review of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees after accusations by Israel that at least 12 staff members were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October.

The review was ordered by Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), last month before the publication of the Israeli allegations and a subsequent mass exodus of donors led by the US and UK.

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Middle East crisis: Drone strike in Syria reported to have killed six members of US-backed Kurdish-led group – as it happened

Six members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have reportedly been killed at a base which also houses US forces

Emma Graham-Harrison and Quique Kierszenbaum report for the Guardian:

Shaadi Muqtasen’s family live in the centre of old Hebron, one of the most heavily contested, heavily militarised places in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. For Palestinian residents there, life all but stopped when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October.

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Dearborn ramps up police patrol after ‘bigoted’ WSJ op-ed as Biden condemns anti-Arab hate

Mayor Abdullah Hammoud increases law enforcement near places of worship after piece calls Michigan city the ‘jihad capital’ of US

The mayor of Dearborn has ordered more police officers onto the streets, ramping up law enforcement presence across places of worship and major infrastructure points this weekend following an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal that called the Michigan city the “jihad capital” of the US.

And on Sunday Joe Biden weighed in, denouncing anti-Arab hate and, without referring specifically to the newspaper, saying “it shouldn’t happen to the residents of Dearborn – or any American town.”

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Overnight Israeli airstrikes kill scores in Gaza as fears grow of push into Rafah

More than 127 reportedly killed in bombings, including in Rafah where more than a million people are sheltering

Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed scores of people overnight, as fears grow of the military campaign intensifying in the southern city of Rafah, a tiny pocket of the territory where more than a million people are sheltering.

Amid intensifying divisions in Israel’s government over the war, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was expected to arrive in the region on Sunday, his fifth trip since the militant group attacked Israel on 7 October, killing at least 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage.

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CNN staff say network’s pro-Israel slant amounts to ‘journalistic malpractice’

Insiders say pressure from the top results in credulous reporting of Israeli claims and silencing of Palestinian perspectives

CNN is facing a backlash from its own staff over editorial policies they say have led to a regurgitation of Israeli propaganda and the censoring of Palestinians perspectives in the network’s coverage of the war in Gaza.

Journalists in CNN newsrooms in the US and overseas say broadcasts have been skewed by management edicts and a story-approval process that has resulted in highly partial coverage of the Hamas massacre on 7 October and Israel’s retaliatory attack on Gaza.

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Middle East crisis live: US plans more strikes in Middle East against Iran-backed groups, says national security adviser – as it happened

Jake Sullivan says there will be more steps in American response to Jordan drone attack that killed three soldiers

David Cameron, the UK’s foreign secretary, said the Houthi attacks on international shipping “must stop” after the UK joined the US for a third time in conducting a wave of airstrikes on Iran-linked Houthi targets in Yemen.

The former Conservative prime minister said the third wave of joint UK and US airstrikes on Saturday took place after “repeated warnings” for the rebel militant group to cease.

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UK action against Houthis ‘not an escalation’, says Grant Shapps

Defence secretary says third joint UK-US assault on Iran-backed group is to protect lives and ‘preserve freedom of navigation’

The UK has joined the US for a third time in conducting a wave of airstrikes on Iran-linked Houthi targets in Yemen.

The defence secretary, Grant Shapps, said the fresh assaults were “not an escalation”, but instead were designed to “protect innocent lives and preserve freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea amid Houthi attacks on boats.

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US House to vote next week on standalone $17.6bn bill for aid to Israel

Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing for the package without addressing aid to Ukraine or security for the US-Mexico border

The US House of Representatives plans to vote next week to advance $17.6bn in military aid to Israel without any accompanying spending cuts or assistance for Ukraine, according to Mike Johnson, the chamber’s speaker.

Johnson announced to his fellow House Republicans on Saturday that the vote would take place, while also criticizing a parallel move in the US Senate to pair funding for Israel in its military strikes in Gaza with aid for Ukraine as it fends off Russia’s invasion. The Senate measure also aims to attach a raft of tough border and asylum measures favored by rightwingers to aid for Israel.

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Fresh strikes in southern Gaza as talks on two-month pause in fighting continue

Hundreds killed and injured in central Gaza Strip while Palestinians crowd into camps and the city of Rafah
Middle East crisis – live updates

Israeli forces struck densely populated areas across the middle and southern Gaza Strip in a midnight attack on Friday and early Saturday, killing at least 25 people amid fears of an impending push south by ground troops as pressure builds for a ceasefire deal.

Israeli fighter jets struck Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, as well as the city of Rafah in the south. The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said at least 107 people had been killed and 165 injured overnight.

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Houthis face ‘further consequences’, Austin says after latest strikes – as it happened

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At least 13 Iranian-backed fighters have been killed in strikes in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said.

The airstrikes destroyed 17 positions sheltering Iranian militias in Al-Mayadeen and Al-Bokamal near the border between Syria and Iraq, in addition to airstrikes targeting positions near Deir ez-Zor city, it said.

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‘Shockingly amateurish’: Australian government delivers veiled rebuke to Israel over UN agency comments

Exclusive: Canberra insider hits back at Amir Maimon who accused Australia of forgetting ‘Hamas culpability’ for 7 October attacks

An Australian government insider has accused the Israeli ambassador of making “shockingly amateurish and counterproductive” comments in a rift over the potential to reinstate funding to a key UN agency.

The Israeli ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said on Friday that Australia had previously backed “a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza that would only help Hamas to reorganise” and now seemed to have forgotten “Hamas’s culpability” for the crisis in the territory.

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What does Biden’s order against Israeli settlers mean and why did he do it now?

Some see the US president’s executive order imposing sanctions on settlers who violently attack Palestinians as a bid to win support

Was Joe Biden’s announcement of unprecedented US sanctions against Israeli settlers in occupied Palestine a sign of political weakness at home, or of a newly found willingness to assert American influence over Israel?

The president signed the executive order imposing financial and travel sanctions on settlers who violently attack Palestinians shortly before a campaign rally in the swing state of Michigan, where the largest Arab American population in the country has rounded on Biden over his largely blanket support for Israel’s assault on Gaza.

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Israel and Hamas closer to ceasefire deal amid warning over Gaza children

Qatar says Hamas ‘received proposal positively’, while Unicef says 17,000 Gaza children left unaccompanied

Israel and Hamas appear to be inching closer towards a deal for a ceasefire and a release of some of the hostages still being held by the militant group in Gaza, while the UN children’s agency has warned that 17,000 children have been left without families or been separated from them by the conflict.

Qatar, which has been mediating between Israel and Hamas, indicated that the militant group had given its initial support for a deal after weeks of delicate and secretive negotiations.

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Middle East crisis: UN agency calls Rafah a ‘pressure cooker of despair’ as Israel says offensive will move into city – as it happened

Defence minister Yoav Gallant’s announcement comes despite presence of more than 1 million civilians in city

Saudi Arabia would be willing to accept a political commitment from Israel to create a Palestinian state, rather than anything more binding, in a bid to get a defence pact with Washington approved before the US presidential election, three sources have told Reuters. The news agency reports:

Months of US-led diplomacy to get Saudi Arabia to normalise relations with Israel and recognise the country for the first time were shelved by Riyadh in October in the face of mounting Arab anger over the war in Gaza.

But Saudi Arabia is increasingly keen to shore up its security and ward off threats from rival Iran so the kingdom can forge ahead with its ambitious plan to transform its economy and attract huge foreign investment, two regional sources said.

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UK could recognise a Palestinian state before a deal with Israel, says Cameron

Foreign secretary suggests after a ceasefire, UK would not need to wait for end of what could be years of talks on a two-state solution

The UK could officially recognise a Palestinian state after a ceasefire in Gaza without waiting for the outcome of what could be years of talks between Israel and the Palestinians on a two-state solution, David Cameron has said.

Speaking during a visit Thursday to Lebanon intended to tamp down regional tensions, the British foreign secretary said no recognition could come while Hamas remained in Gaza, but that it could take place while Israeli negotiations with Palestinian leaders were continuing.

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Israeli ministers reportedly considering limiting aid entering Gaza

Two ministers said to have suggested move as part of efforts to free hostages and weaken Hamas, which they claim hijacks supplies

Ministers in Israel’s war cabinet are reportedly considering limiting the amount of aid reaching Gaza, as rightwing protesters disrupt the entry of trucks carrying desperately needed humanitarian supplies to the besieged Palestinian territory.

Benny Gantz, a retired general who joined the emergency wartime government formed by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, after 7 October, and Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief of staff and war cabinet observer, suggested temporarily limiting aid to weaken Hamas, Israel’s Channel 12 reported late on Wednesday.

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