Advocates slam Israeli PM Netanyahu’s talks with Trump in Washington
- Palestinian rights advocates have slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to Washington, DC, to meet President Donald Trump.
- Hamas says talks on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal have begun, but Trump has told reporters he has “no guarantees” the ceasefire is going to hold.
What’s on the agenda for Netanyahu on DC trip?
- He’s going to have a one-on-one meeting with the president and then an expanded meeting with their teams, press conference, and then a private dinner at the White House. So [Netanyahu’s] going to be spending a considerable amount of time with [Trump].
One of the things that’s going to be interesting is to see exactly what the language is when they talk to the press about the second round of the ceasefire.
Don’t forget, Donald Trump has taken credit for the first round of the ceasefire.
This is a president that has campaigned on ending all wars, saying none of the wars would have happened – not the war in Gaza or the war in Ukraine – had he been president.
After 1,000 days, no justice for Shireen Abu Akleh
- Exactly 1,000 days after she was killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh’s family, friends and colleagues are still waiting for justice and accountability.
Abu Akleh was killed while covering an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp. She was wearing a helmet and a clearly marked press vest.
News outlets, rights groups and the United Nations have all conducted investigations into her killing and concluded that Abu Akleh was killed – likely deliberately – by Israeli troops.
Yet despite mounting evidence that Abu Akleh, who held United States citizenship, was directly targeted, there has been little political will to carry out a criminal investigation in Israel, the US or in international courts.
Palestinians shelter in destroyed UN buildings in Gaza’s north
Umm Wael, a displaced Palestinian woman in Gaza, says she returned “to nothing but mountains of debris and piles of waste” in the north of the enclave.
“My home, like the rest, was levelled to the ground. We’re living on the ruins. At night, we all huddle to warm each other. After months of killing and destruction, now we are devoured by cold, thirst and hunger,” she said.
Israel’s top court rules Palestinians must be allowed back to West Bank village: Report
The Israeli Supreme Court has ordered the government to allow Palestinians to return to the village of Zanuta, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, and protect them from settler attacks, according to a report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
The Supreme Court also said Israel must act “on a continuous basis and with due diligence” to keep Israeli settlers out of the village.
The Israeli government had previously told the court that it would allow residents to return to Zanuta, but violent attacks by settlers again forced them out.
Palestinians have long said that both the Israeli government and Israeli settlers have been trying to forcibly push them off their land.
Trump’s Middle East envoy to meet Qatar’s PM in Florida
Steve Witkoff says he will meet Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Florida on Thursday.
Witkoff has represented the Trump administration in Gaza ceasefire talks, with Qatar also acting as a mediator.
Speaking to reporters in Washington, DC, earlier, Witkoff defended Trump’s comments about moving to “clean out” the Gaza Strip. The remarks drew criticism that the US government is pushing for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the enclave.
“When the president talks about cleaning it out, he talks about making it habitable. And this is a long-range plan,” Witkoff said.
