Connect with us

Published

on

The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees says he has been blocked from entering Gaza.

Philippe Lazzarini claimed it was the first time this had happened to an UNRWA commissioner-general in its history.

Speaking on Sky News’ The World With Yalda Hakim, Mr Lazzarini said it would be “easy to flood Gaza with food” – but he was prevented from entering the besieged territory earlier this week.

He has accused Israel of singling him out and challenged the country’s claim he was barred due to mistakes on his entry application.

Palestinians walk past the ruins of destroyed houses in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Palestinians walk past the ruins of destroyed houses in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters

Mr Lazzarini, who has been to Gaza numerous times before, says he was the only member of his delegation to be blocked by the Israeli defence body COGAT from entering on Monday.

It comes as Israel faces pressure from Western allies, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains steadfast in his commitment to a ground invasion of Rafah, where he claims Hamas’s remaining battalions are hiding.

The nation has been accused of restricting the flow of aid into Gaza, something it has denied but the UN previously said could amount to war crimes.

More on Gaza

Talking to Sky News, Mr Lazzarini said: “It is easy to flood Gaza with food, it’s easy to reverse this trend.”

He continued: “I was supposed to go to Gaza on Monday. I was in Cairo, when I was informed by the Israeli authorities that I will not be allowed to go into Gaza despite the fact that the rest of my delegation was allowed to enter.

“It is the first time in the history of the agency that the commissioner-general has been deliberately denied entry into Gaza.”

UNRWA is the largest aid organisation in Gaza. Israel has accused the agency of providing cover for Hamas and alleges at least 12 UNRWA workers took part in the October 7 attack on southern Israel.

Humanitarian aid has had to be dropped in via the air to make it into the Gaza Strip. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Some humanitarian aid has been dropped into Gaza from the air. Pic: Reuters

Among other developments in the Israel-Hamas war:

• Canada has continued its freeze on arms exports to Israel.

• There has been fighting around the Al Shifa Hospital for a third day as the Israeli military said it arrested hundreds of people and Gaza officials said thousands of patients, medical staff and others were trapped inside.

• Mourners held funeral prayers outside a different hospital for 28 people killed in three separate Israeli airstrikes on refugee camps on Tuesday night.

• Middle East foreign ministers and a top Palestinian official will meet US secretary of state Antony Blinken in Cairo, Egypt, on Thursday as he pushes for a pause in fighting.

• At least 31,819 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israel, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, as around 100 hostages remain trapped along with the remains of 30 others.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

‘Our abductors were overjoyed’

Read more:
Israeli spokesperson suspended after reports of row with Foreign Office
Largest UK aid package to feed 275,000 people in Gaza
Woman held hostage after Hamas killed her husband and daughter describes ordeal

Also appearing on The World With Yalda Hakim was David Miliband, president and chief executive of the International Rescue Committee.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Miliband calls for more Gaza aid trucks

When asked what he would say to Israeli officials, Mr Miliband said: “I would say release the stranglehold on the number of trucks going in.

“Streamline the process for vetting, once the UN has vetted the food you’ve got to be able to smooth the flow.

“It’s also a matter of opening other crossing points because we need to make sure the whole of the Gaza Strip gets food aid.

“Remember in the north of Gaza you’ve got a population that was considered beyond the conflict after the first few months.

“There’s now a new resurgence around the Al Shifa hospital in fighting but there can’t be a military justification for a restriction on food aid.”

Continue Reading

World

US trade court blocks Donald Trump from imposing sweeping global tariffs – claiming he ‘exceeded his authority’

Published

on

By

US trade court blocks Donald Trump from imposing sweeping global tariffs - claiming he 'exceeded his authority'

A trade court in the US has blocked President Donald Trump from imposing sweeping global tariffs on imports.

The ruling from a three-judge panel at the Court of International Trade came after several lawsuits arguing Trump has exceeded his authority, left U.S. trade policy dependent on his whims and unleashed economic chaos.

“The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs,” the court wrote, referring to the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The White House is yet to respond.

The Trump administration is expected to appeal.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

Continue Reading

World

Trump doubles down on Putin criticism – as Russia offers Ukraine a date and location for peace talks

Published

on

By

Trump doubles down on Putin criticism - as Russia offers Ukraine a date and location for peace talks

Donald Trump has doubled down on his criticism of Vladimir Putin – adding he will know soon if the Russian leader is just “tapping” him along.

The US president told reporters at the White House that he believed his counterpart in Moscow may be intentionally delaying ceasefire talks, while he also expressed disappointment at heavy Russian bombing over the weekend.

While Mr Trump has so far stopped short of imposing sanctions – to avoid, he says, “screwing up” negotiations – he warned his stance could change.

Ukraine Q&A: Are we any closer to war ending?

The president said: “We’re going to find out whether or not he’s tapping us along or not, and if he is, we’ll respond a little differently,” adding that he “can’t tell you” if Mr Putin wanted peace.

Donald Trump. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Donald Trump. Pic: Reuters

His comments in the Oval Office came minutes after Russia’s foreign minister announced that the Kremlin had offered Ukraine a second round of talks on 2 June in Istanbul.

Kyiv did not immediately respond to the proposal, which Sergei Lavrov said would see Moscow hand their proposals for a potential peace deal directly to Ukraine.

“We hope that all those who are sincerely, and not just in words, interested in the success of the peace process will support holding a new round of direct Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul,” Mr Lavrov added.

Later on Wednesday, Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov said his government was “not against” further meetings, but called for Russia to deliver its memorandum to Kyiv beforehand.

The words that suggest Russia’s proposal for talks are just for show

By being the first to propose a date and location for the second round of direct talks, Russia is trying to portray itself as the principal driver towards peace.

Its recent barrage of attacks on Ukraine have drawn harsh words from Donald Trump.

This is an attempt to soothe his concerns and to show Washington that Moscow is still interested in a deal.

But it feels much more performative than anything else, because Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s statement makes it clear that Russia’s position hasn’t softened one bit.

Referring to a memorandum outlining the contours of a settlement, he said it details “all aspects of reliably overcoming the root causes of the crisis”.

In Moscow’s opinion, the “root causes” of the conflict were NATO expansion and the persecution of Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine.

So, if that’s the basis of its memorandum, then the document will essentially be a list of Moscow’s maximalist demands, including permanent neutrality for Ukraine.

Lavrov also confirmed that Russia’s delegation will again be led by Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky, who Kyiv last time dismissed as being too junior for the talks to achieve anything meaningful.

Expectations of a breakthrough at round two will be similarly low.

Meanwhile, Mr Lavrov also hit out at Germany for agreeing to finance the production of long-range missiles in Ukraine, accusing Berlin of showing it is “already a participant in the war”.

However, German leader Friedrich Merz declined to say that his country would hand over the Taurus missiles that Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy – who was in Berlin on Wednesday – has long wanted.

Ukraine’s need for ammunition has become all the more urgent after Russia launched some of the largest aerial assaults of the war so far over the weekend.

Read more:
Would ‘smart’ missiles allow Ukraine to hit key bridge?
Lavrov accuses West of secrecy over strikes

Russia said it had downed 296 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions overnight, while Ukraine said it had struck several weapon production sites.

Kyiv, in turn, said Moscow had launched 88 drones and five ballistic missiles since Tuesday.

Continue Reading

World

Hamas’s Gaza chief ‘eliminated’, says Netanyahu – but military sources say they cannot confirm death

Published

on

By

Hamas's Gaza chief 'eliminated', says Netanyahu - but military sources say they cannot confirm death

Hamas’s Gaza chief Mohammed Sinwar has been “eliminated”, according to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But Israeli military sources have said they are not yet able to confirm the death.

Hamas has also not yet confirmed the apparent killing of its leader.

Meanwhile, with Gaza on the brink of famine, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations broke down in tears as he spoke of the suffering of its people.

Riyad Mansour
Image:
Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour broke down in tears as he spoke of the suffering of people in Gaza

Riyah Mansour told the Security Council: “Children are dying of starvation. The images of mothers embracing their motionless bodies. Caressing their hair, talking to them, apologising to them, is unbearable.”

He added: “I have grandchildren. I know what they mean to their families. And to see this situation over the Palestinians without us having hearts to do something is beyond the ability of any normal human being to tolerate. Flames and hunger are devouring Palestinian children. This is why we are so outraged as Palestinians everywhere.”

Sinwar was one of Israel‘s most wanted and the younger brother of the Palestinian militant group’s former leader Yahya Sinwar.

The older sibling was the mastermind of the October 7 2023 attack, which killed 1,200 people in Israel, with around 250 others taken hostage into Gaza.

The attack triggered Israel’s assault on Gaza which decimated the territory, with more than 53,000 people killed, mostly women and children, and over two million displaced, according to health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their tally of fatalities.

Yahya Sinwar.
File pic: AP
Image:
Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israel in October 2024. File pic: AP

Yahya Sinwar was killed in a gun battle with Israeli troops in Gaza last October. His younger sibling was believed to have then become the head of Hamas’s armed wing.

Speaking to the Knesset on Wednesday, Mr Netanyahu included Mohammed Sinwar in a list of Hamas leaders killed in Israeli strikes. Later, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) sources said they were not yet able to confirm the death.

The prime minister said: “We have killed tens of thousands of terrorists. We killed (Mohammed) Deif, (Ismail) Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Sinwar.” He did not elaborate.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a news conference on 21 May. Pic: AP
Image:
Benjamin Netanyahu’s claimed could not be confirmed. Pic: AP

Mohammed Sinwar had reportedly been the target of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza on 13 May and Mr Netanyahu said on 21 May that it was likely he had been killed.

The Israeli military had said it struck a Hamas command centre under the European Hospital in the Sinwars’ hometown of Khan Younis, and it declined to comment on whether Sinwar was targeted or killed.

At least six people were killed in the strike and 40 wounded, Gaza’s health ministry said at the time.

Sinwar rose through ranks

Like his older brother, Mohammed Sinwar joined Hamas after it was founded in the late 1980s as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. He became a member of the group’s military wing, known as the Qassam Brigades.

👉Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim on your podcast app👈

Sinwar rose through the ranks to become a member of its so-called joint chiefs of staff, bringing him close to its longtime commander, Deif, who was killed in a strike last year.

Read more from Sky News:
Humanitarian chief talks of Gaza ‘catastrophe’
UN boss condemns ‘teaspoon’ of aid allowed into Gaza

“In the last two days, we have been in a dramatic turn towards a complete defeat of Hamas,” the Israeli leader told the Knesset.

Mr Netanyahu also spoke about how Israel was “taking control of food distribution”, a reference to a new aid distribution system that has been criticised and boycotted by humanitarian groups and the UN.

One killed at site of aid hub

The development comes after one person was killed and 48 others injured when forces opened fire on a crowd that overwhelmed an aid hub in Gaza, according to local health officials.

Palestinians have become increasingly desperate for food after almost three months of Israeli border closures. A blockade has recently been eased.

People broke through fences around the distribution site on Wednesday, and a journalist with the Associated Press said they heard Israeli tank and gunfire, and saw a military helicopter firing flares.

It was not yet known whether the death and injuries were caused by Israeli forces, private contractors or others.

The Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which set up the hub outside Rafah, said its military contractors had not fired on the crowd but “fell back” before resuming aid operations. Israel said its troops nearby had fired warning shots.

The UN and other humanitarian organisations have rejected the new system, saying it will not meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and allows Israel to use food to control the population.

Israel has vowed to seize control of Gaza and fight until Hamas is destroyed or disarmed and exiled, and until the militant group returns the last 58 hostages, including around a third thought to be still alive.

‘This is a man-made catastrophe’

Meanwhile, a US trauma surgeon who has been working in Gaza urged the UN Security Council to not “claim ignorance” about the humanitarian devastation.

Dr Feroze Sidhwa said: “Let’s not forget, this is a man-made catastrophe. It is entirely preventable. Participating in it or not allowing it to happen is a choice.

“This is a deliberate denial of conditions necessary for life: food, shelter, water and medicine. Preventing genocide means refusing to normalise these atrocities.”

The UN World Health Organization has documented around 700 attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza during the war. Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals as command centres and to hide fighters.

Continue Reading

Trending