The UK has dropped more aid into Gaza today – bringing the total amount dropped in by parachute to more than 100 tonnes.
Twelve tonnes of ready-to-eat meals, water, rice, tinned goods and flour were dropped along Gaza’s northern coastline on pallets attached to parachutes by RAF and British Army personnel from A400M transport planes.
It is the 11th airdrop since the UK struck a deal with Jordan allowing it to drop aid by air into Gaza via Royal Air Force planes for the first time in late March.
Before that, UK aid had been airdropped by Jordanian planes after deliveries to northern Gaza by land and sea became a struggle due to the violence and chaos.
The United Nations (UN) says northern Gaza is already in a state of “full-blown famine”.
The UK has now airdropped more than 100 tonnes of aid into Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began on 7 October.
It says drop zones are regularly surveyed by personnel to ensure civilians are not harmed when the aid lands after flying an hour from Amman, Jordan.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the UK’s commitment to delivering large quantities of aid to Gaza is “unwavering” and shows “where our focus lies over the coming weeks and months”.
“We continue to pressure Israel to fully open Ashdod Port as well as more land crossings,” he said.
Image: Defence Secretary Grant Shapps says getting aid into Gaza is an important priority for the UK. Pic: PA
Mr Shapps also mentioned the deployment of support ship RFA Cardigan Bay last month to the Eastern Mediterranean, which is providing accommodation to hundreds of American soldiers and sailors building a temporary pier off the Gazan coast to facilitate aid deliveries.
Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said delivering aid by air was essential but the full amount of aid needed can only be delivered into Gaza by land.
“We continue to pressure Israel to fully open Ashdod Port as well as more land crossings,” he said.
Image: Food supplies have been airdropped by the UK Armed Forces into northern Gaza since late March. Pic: Cpl Tim Laurence RAF/MOD
Despite Israel saying it reopened the key entry point of Kerem Shalom in southern Gaza on Wednesday, the UN said no aid has entered Gaza and there is no one to receive it on the Palestinian side because of ongoing fighting.
Once the temporary pier is built, it is expected to be able to facilitate the delivery of 90 truckloads of aid into Gaza and 150 when it is fully operational.
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The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been closed since Israel’s military took control of the Palestinian side early on Tuesday as part of a wider offensive targeting Hamas in the southernmost parts of Gaza.
Aid officials said the flow of aid had been halted despite it being one of the main supply routes in the effort to prevent famine.
Image: The Israeli military has taken over the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing. Pic: Reuters
The war in Gaza has driven around 80% of the territory’s population of 2.3 million people from their homes and caused vast destruction to buildings across several cities.
More than 34,900 people have now been killed in Gaza since the start of the conflict, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there.
The war began on 7 October when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others.
Israel says around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others are still being held by militants.
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
Image: The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
Image: The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Image: Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Image: Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
Image: The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
Image: The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.