Trump says US should ‘take’ Gaza and turn it into ‘freedom zone’
President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wanted the United States to “take” Gaza and turn it into a “freedom zone”, as the Israel-Hamas war rages on in the Palestinian territory, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good, make it a freedom zone, let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone,” the US leader said in Qatar, adding:
I’d be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone.
Key events
Rubio holds Syria talks as US eases sanctions
US secretary of state Marco Rubio on Thursday met Syria’s foreign minister to discuss normalising relations after president Donald Trump moved to ease sanctions on the country.
The top US diplomat, in the Turkish resort of Antalya for a meeting of Nato foreign ministers, opened talks with Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani, a state department official said, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The closed-door meeting also involved top Turkish officials including foreign minister Hakan Fidan, the official added.
Trump, on a visit to Riyadh on Tuesday, announced that he would lift sanctions, saying that he wanted to give Syrians “a chance at greatness”.
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder arrested for protesting Gaza blockade at US Senate hearing
Ed Pilkington
Ben Cohen, the co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream, has been charged with “crowding and obstructing” others after he was arrested while protesting against the Gaza blockade during a US Senate hearing.
Cohen – the Ben in Ben & Jerry’s – made his stand on Wednesday while Robert F Kennedy Jr was addressing a hearing of the health, education, labor and pensions committee. A group of activists heckled the health secretary over his anti-vaccine posture, yelling: “When Bobby lies, children die,” and “Anti-vax, anti-science, anti-America”.
Then Cohen stood up and made his Gaza protest. Video film recorded at the hearing and posted by Cohen on social media shows him being hauled out of the committee room, handcuffed and escorted away.
As he is being removed, a woman asked him why he was being arrested.
He replied:
Congress kills poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs and pays for it by kicking kids off Medicaid in the US.
He added:
Congress and the senators need to ease the siege, they need to let food into Gaza. They need to let food to starving kids.
Gaza is now in the 11th week of a total blockade by Israel which prevents essential items including food, fuel and medicines reaching the area’s 2.3 million Palestinians. Many people are surviving on limited supplies of canned peas or dried beans.
A report this week from food security experts warned that Gaza was at “critical risk of famine”.
Here are some images from Gaza, where Palestinians have been commemorating Nakba Day, to honour the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. It is the 77th anniversary of the Nakba:
Five Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in West Bank house raid
Users of Palestinian Telegram channels sharing information on West Bank checkpoints reported many road closures in the north of the territory on Thursday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
WhatsApp groups for Israeli settlers in the West Bank were rife with calls for vengeance in retaliation for an attack that killed a pregnant Israeli woman (see 11.56am BST). “To make sure this never happens again … we need real revenge! Erase every terror village,” one user said, according to AFP.
In the northern West Bank, the Israeli military said a manhunt was under way. Lt Gen Eyal Zamir said:
We will use all the tools at our disposal and reach the murderers in order to hold them accountable.
In the northern village of Tammun, Israeli troops killed five Palestinians in a raid the military described as targeting buildings suspected of being used to plan attacks.
“The occupation forces killed five young men after besieging a house in the centre of the village,” Tammun mayor Samir Qteishat told AFP.
The Israeli military said “soldiers identified armed terrorists who barricaded themselves in a building”. “Following an exchange of fire, five terrorists were eliminated, and an additional terrorist was apprehended,” it said.
Israel’s blockade has become ‘tool of extermination’, says Human Rights Watch
“Israel’s blockade has transcended military tactics to become a tool of extermination”, Human Rights Watch (HRW) interim executive director Federico Borello said in a statement on Thursday.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), HRW said:
The Israeli government’s plan to demolish what remains of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure and concentrate the Palestinian population into a tiny area would amount to an abhorrent escalation of its ongoing crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and acts of genocide.
Death toll from Israeli bombardment on Thursday rises to 103 – Gaza’s civil defence agency
Gaza’s civil defence agency said that the death toll from Israeli bombardment since dawn on Thursday had risen to 103. Updates have been coming in throughout the day, with previous total, given by Palestinian rescuers, being 94 (see 12.20pm BST).
Palestinians and pro-Palestinian protesters have been marking Nakba Day, which is generally commemorated on 15 May to honour the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation.
Here are some images, via the newswires:
Here are some more images, coming in via the newswires, of Trump’s latest stop on his Middle East visit:
Trump arrives in UAE
US president Donald Trump has arrived in Abu Dhabi, where he was greeted by president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as he stepped off Air Force One.
After addressing US troops at Qatar’s al-Udeid airbase, Trump made his way to Air Force One, where the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, was waiting to see him off.
According to a White House spokesperson, the two leaders spoke for a moment, before Trump walked to the stairs of the presidential plane on a red carpet, with a Qatari honour guard standing at attention.
President Donald Trump’s comment Thursday about not wanting to make “nuclear dust” in a possible strike on Iranian nuclear facilities mirrors the concerns of the Gulf Arab countries he’s visiting in the Middle East this week.
The possibility of a US or Israeli strike on Iranian enrichment sites has renewed longstanding fears that Gulf Arab states have about Iran’s programme, AP reported.
In the past, they have worried that an accident or a strike at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant could send radioactive material into the air and spread across the Persian Gulf into their countries.
Speaking to a business forum on Thursday, Trump similarly brought up the idea.
“Iran has sort of agreed to the terms: They’re not going to make, I call it, in a friendly way, nuclear dust,” Trump said. “We’re not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran.”
Iran has criticised the US threats to strike.
Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday he will discuss the US decision to lift sanctions on Syria and the roadmap ahead in a meeting with his US and Syrian counterparts later in the day.
Fidan was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an informal Nato foreign ministers’ meeting in Antalya, Turkey, where he later planned to meet US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shibani.
US president Donald Trump made the surprise announcement on Syrian sanctions this week.
Just two days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria last December, Israel launched a sweeping offensive, seizing the Golan Heights and carrying out hundreds of airstrikes across the country.
Israel has remained militarily involved in Syria, declaring regions near their shared border a demilitarised zone and carrying out frequent attacks, patrols and raids. These measures have frustrated the new leadership in Damascus, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, which has accused Israel of destabilising the country.
Amaa al-Omar, a journalist who reports on Syria, explains what is driving the conflict and what impact it has had on Syria’s interim leaders in this video explainer:
