Israel-Hamas war: Why this week could be critical for Gaza as US vice president shifts tone
Kamala Harris’s speech marked a shift in tone and maybe a subtle shift in language, but not much more than that. Yet the week ahead could still be critical.
The vice president spoke of the situation in Gaza as “devastating… a humanitarian catastrophe” and she had some pointed messaging for Israel – “it must increase flow of aid, restore basic services – no excuses”.
She echoed some of what President Joe Biden said on Friday when he called for “more routes to get more and more people the help they need. No excuses”.
There was a tonal shift, but beyond that her speech did not mark a policy change by the American administration.
The vice president was calling for a ceasefire, yes, but she was addressing Hamas, not Israel.
“Hamas claims it wants a ceasefire,” she said. “Well, there is a deal on the table. And as we have said, Hamas needs to agree to that deal.”
The framework of a deal to allow for a six-week ceasefire has been in place for a few weeks now. Despite talks in Doha, Paris and Cairo, the two sides have failed to find the common ground that would allow them to close the deal.
As we understand it, Israel has not sent a delegation to the latest round of talks this weekend in Cairo because Hamas has yet to respond to specific questions about the number of hostages still alive and about how many of the hostages it is willing to release in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
For context, there are thought to be 134 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza. The precise number still alive is not clear and Hamas said last week that seven had been killed during an Israeli airstrike.
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Israel holds about 9,000 Palestinian prisoners, according to NGO groups, including 2,070 who have been sentenced for crimes (mostly in military courts), 2,656 remanded and a further 3,558 “administrative detainees” held without charge or trial on the grounds that they plan to break the law in the future.
There are currently more Palestinians held in administrative detention than at any other time in decades.
Hamas had demanded the release of thousands of Palestinians from Israeli prisons in exchange for hostages. This has been the main sticking point in the ceasefire negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was “delusional” and Biden called it “over the top”. The swap ratio is key and unresolved.
And so, despite Harris’s Sunday evening words, there is no obvious shift yet in the talks. With a framework in place, agreement could come fast or it could remain deadlocked.
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US airdrops reflect fundamental failure
Biden’s ice cream parlour hope of a deal by the start of this week seems like wishful thinking. The start of Ramadan this coming weekend is a goal for negotiators.
Tension between Israelis and Palestinians is always high in Jerusalem during Ramadan. Quite apart from the relief for Gazans and Israeli hostage families, a ceasefire by Ramadan would help to lower tensions in Jerusalem.
Two things have changed that will have helped to mould Harris’s language. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is spiralling. The White House cannot ignore this. And domestic American politics is now sinking in.
Biden’s campaign team were unquestionably alarmed by the results of the Michigan Democratic primary where a staggering 100,000 people voted “uncommitted” in a coordinated protest of his handling of the Gaza crisis.
Michigan protest organisers in the key swing state where there is a large Muslim population had hoped to garner 10,000 “uncommitted” votes. They managed 10 times as many.
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Senior Israeli war cabinet minister and pre-war opposition leader Benny Gantz arrived last night in Washington for talks over the next few days.
He will meet the vice president and the secretary of state Antony Blinken. Ceasefire progress will be a focus, but possibly succession talks too.
With growing unease – within Israel and beyond – about the suitability of Prime Minister Netanyahu, Gantz is an obvious successor who leads the polls.
This coming week will be critical.
US
Rust weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez appeals against conviction over fatal shooting on Alec Baldwin film set
The weapons supervisor for the Western film Rust is appealing against her conviction for involuntary manslaughter over the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on set, according to court documents.
Hannah Gutierrez was jailed in April after being found guilty by jurors following a trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the US.
She was in charge of weapons during the production of the film in October 2021, when a Colt 45 revolver fired by actor and co-producer Alec Baldwin went off during a rehearsal.
Alec Baldwin, pictured on the Rust set, faces a separate trial
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died, while director Joel Souza was injured.
A defence lawyer for Gutierrez, who is serving an 18-month sentence at a prison for women in New Mexico, filed a shortly worded appeal notice on Monday.
Her legal team has 30 days to submit detailed arguments. They previously requested a new trial following the verdict.
Hannah Gutierrez, pictured during her trial, is appealing against her conviction
Gutierrez’s trial was told she unwittingly brought live ammunition to the set, where it was expressly prohibited, and failed to follow basic gun safety protocols.
During her sentencing hearing, she told the court she had tried to do her best while working on the production, despite not having “proper time, resources and staffing”.
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Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died after the gun went off. Pic: Shutterstock
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Baldwin, who was a producer for the film as well as its star, has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter.
He maintains he pulled back the gun’s hammer – but not the trigger – before it fired, and is set to face trial in July. He denies any wrongdoing.
The 66-year-old was originally charged in January 2023, more than a year after the shooting, but those charges were dropped a few months later. He was charged again in January this year.
His legal team has filed a motion calling for the charges to be dropped. Prosecutors responded with a 32-page document claiming that footage of the star on set shows he had “absolutely no control of his own emotions” and “no concern for how his conduct” affected those around him.
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Assistant director David Halls, who also faced charges, entered a plea bargain for negligent use of a deadly weapon last year, receiving a six-month suspended sentence.
Filming of Rust resumed last year in Montana – with Baldwin reprising his role as the main character – after an agreement made Ms Hutchins’s widower an executive producer.
A man who scooped a $1.35bn lottery win is said to be embroiled in a legal battle – with his own family.
The Mega Millions winner, who has not been named but is believed to hail from the US state of Maine, won the fourth-largest jackpot in US history last year (worth around £1.07bn).
But the story has only grown more complex since then, and the man is now involved in legal proceedings with two members of his family, US media outlet The Daily Beast reports.
He is said to have sued his daughter’s mother for allegedly revealing his newfound wealth to other members of his family in what he claimed was a violation of a non-disclosure agreement.
The lottery winner has also reportedly demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties, claiming that his child’s mother told his father, sister and stepmother about his big windfall.
But in recent court filings, the woman alleged that the man himself told his father and stepmother about the win, The Daily Beast reported.
Her lawyers said this “shatters the remaining shards” of the lawsuit.
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The unnamed lottery winner’s father has also now apparently become involved in the legal proceedings, alleging that his son misled him about a number of things since the win.
“I understand that my son has stated that he told me nothing about his money ‘other than the simple fact that I had won.’ That is not true,” he is quoted as saying in a declaration.
His dad adds that his son “told me a number of things he planned on doing with his money,” even though he never asked him for anything, The Daily Beast also reported.
These allegedly included building a new garage for his father as well as buying old cars to fix up.
US
Michael Cohen tells trial he lied and bullied for ex-president and was ‘knee deep’ in Trump ‘cult’
Michael Cohen said he had been “knee deep into the cult of Donald Trump” as he testified for a second day in the ex-president’s trial.
As Trump‘s defence tried to paint the former lawyer and ‘fixer’ as a bitter and fame-hungry former acolyte, he denied being obsessed by his former boss but said he had once “admired him tremendously”.
He is testifying in the case about hush money payments to ex-porn star Stormy Daniels in an attempt to cover up an alleged sexual encounter in 2006.
Trump trial – Day 17 as it happened
Such payouts aren’t illegal, but Trump is accused of falsifying business records to hide it – a claim he denies.
He told the court on Tuesday that loyalty was the reason he kept lying about the payment when it came out in the media.
In 2016 he described Trump as kind, humble, honest and genuine.
The defence asked whether he had believed what he was saying.
“At the time, I was knee-deep into the cult of Donald Trump,” he responded, adding: “I was not lying, no, that’s how I felt.”
Mr Cohen admitted he “missed Trump” at times after he became president.
They have also pointed to hundreds of media appearances, podcasts and interviews in which the disgraced lawyer has mentioned him.
Michael Cohen (right) was once a fiercely loyal confidant of the ex-president. Pic: AP
His credibility was under attack as Mr Cohen has previously admitted lying under oath.
The 57-year-old was jailed after pleading guilty in 2018 to charges relating to the hush money payment and other unrelated offences.
He said that after a FBI raid on his home the same year, Trump had messaged him: “I am the president of the United States, everything is going to be okay, stay tough”.
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Donald Trump denies the liaison with Stormy Daniels and says Mr Cohen acted on his own initiative when he made the payment.
The former lawyer denied that claim in earlier evidence, saying “everything required Trump’s sign-off”.
Mr Trump, who denies the charges, faces several other trials. Pic: Reuters
‘I violated my moral compass’
Mr Cohen – who once said he would take a bullet for his boss – admitted at the end of questioning on Tuesday that he “violated my moral compass” while working for Donald Trump.
“I regret doing things for him that I should not have,” he told the New York court. “Lying, bullying people in order to effectuate the goal.
“I don’t regret working for the Trump Organisation – as I expressed before, [those were] some very interesting, great times,” he added.
“But to keep the loyalty and to do things that he had asked me to do, I violated my moral compass, and I suffered the penalty, as did my family. That is my failure.”
On Monday, the court heard him testify about setting up a shell company to make the $130,000 hush money out of his own money.
Stormy Daniels has also testified in the case. AP/DeeCee Carter/MediaPunch /IPX
Prosecutors say Trump later paid the money back and covered it up by recording it as a legal retainer fee.
He faces 34 counts of falsifying business records over the claims.
Trump – who will take on Joe Biden in his bid to become president again in November – is unlikely to face a custodial sentence if found guilty.
His other cases are potentially more damaging but mired in delays.
They concern allegations of keeping stacks of secret documents after leaving office and trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat. He denies the claims.
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