Category: 2. Middle East

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House next week for talks with President Donald Trump, a US official said Monday, as Washington ramps up the pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The July 7 visit — Netanyahu’s third since Trump returned to power in January — comes after Trump said that he hoped for a truce in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory within a week.

A Trump administration official confirmed the visit to AFP on condition of anonymity.

White House Press…

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced on Monday that it had notified Congress of plans to sell $510 million worth of Joint Direct Attack Munition guidance kits for the Israeli Air Force’s air-to-ground bombs.

The State Department and the Pentagon signed off on the sale of more than 7,000 JDAM guidance kits designed to be affixed to the Israeli Air Force’s unguided BLU-109 2,000-pound bombs and Mk-82 500-pound bombs.

Why it matters: The planned sale comes as Prime Minister…

The UN said Monday that Israel must facilitate access and entry of essential supplies into Gaza through available crossing points to address people’s “urgent needs,” Anadolu reports.

“Civilians must be respected, and they must be protected,” said spokesperson Stephane Dujarric during a daily press briefing, emphasizing the need for “full, safe, and sustained humanitarian access in accordance with humanitarian principles.”

He said the World Food…

UK health secretary Wes Streeting has told the Israeli government to “get its own house in order” in response to questions about the controversy surrounding chants made by rapper Bob Vylan at Glastonbury Festival. Streeting used the interview with Sky News to call out the “pogrom” of non-Jews in the illegally occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers.

“I wish they’d take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously,” said…

Iranian authorities have arrested hundreds of people and executed dozens in a wave of repression following the 12-day war with Israel, activists say, accusing the Islamic republic of using fear to compensate for weaknesses revealed by the conflict.

Campaigners have been detained on the street or at home, executions expedited, prisoners transferred to unknown locations and minorities also targeted, according to rights groups.

Six men have been hanged on charges of spying for Israel since the…

UK police on Monday launched a criminal investigation into remarks made by rap groups Kneecap and Bob Vylan during the Glastonbury festival, as the US revoked visas for the latter after its frontman led an anti-Israel chant.

Bob Vylan, a London-based duo which often tackles racism in its tracks, was slammed by international and British politicians after the group led the crowds in chants of “Death to the IDF” — the Israeli military.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said after the show there was…

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that terminates the US government’s framework of sanctions on Syria, which was originally designed to punish the former Assad regime but had become a barrier to the country’s post-war recovery.

It follows a dramatic shift in US policy in Syria following Trump’s May 13 announcement that he would lift all sanctions and meet with Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former jihadi who became the country’s president after…

At least 33 people were killed on Monday evening when an Israeli airstrike hit a seafront cafe in Gaza City, according to Palestinian media. Graphic videos and images of the aftermath quickly circulated on social media, showing bodies strewn across the site and civilians searching through debris.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 48 people on Monday, including 21 at a seafront rest area, as fresh calls grew for a ceasefire in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

The swift resolution of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran has revived hopes for a halt to the fighting in Gaza, where more than 20 months of combat have created dire humanitarian conditions for the population of more than two million.

US President Donald Trump has recently urged Israel to “make the…