UN experts demand action to avert ‘annihilation’ of Palestinians in Gaza
United Nations experts said on Wednesday that countries were at a moral crossroads over the conflict in Gaza, facing the choice between acting to halt the violence and witnessing “the annihilation of the Palestinian population” in the territory, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“The decision is stark: remain passive and witness the slaughter of innocents or take part in crafting a just resolution,” more than 20 independent UN experts said in a statement, urging the world to avert the “moral abyss we are descending into”.
Key events
US vice-president JD Vance on Wednesday described US talks with Iran as “so far, so good” and said there was a deal to be made that would reintegrate Iran into the global economy while preventing it from getting a nuclear weapon, reports Reuters.
Vance said president Donald Trump loathed nuclear proliferation and would be open to sitting down with Russia and China in the coming years to discuss reducing the number of nuclear weapons in the world.
UN experts demand action to avert ‘annihilation’ of Palestinians in Gaza
United Nations experts said on Wednesday that countries were at a moral crossroads over the conflict in Gaza, facing the choice between acting to halt the violence and witnessing “the annihilation of the Palestinian population” in the territory, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“The decision is stark: remain passive and witness the slaughter of innocents or take part in crafting a just resolution,” more than 20 independent UN experts said in a statement, urging the world to avert the “moral abyss we are descending into”.
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Iran has welcomed the end of US attacks on Yemen, its foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday after president Donald Trump announced Washington would stop bombing the Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthi militia, reports Reuters.
Trump said Yemen’s Houthis had agreed to stop disrupting important shipping lanes in the Middle East. Under the agreement, neither the US nor the Houthis would target the other, including US vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden’s narrowest point, the strait known as Bab al-Mandab, mediator Oman said.
Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa on a visit to France on Wednesday met a whistleblower, previously known only as ‘Caesar’, who smuggled out tens of thousands of pictures depicting the tortured corpses of detainees under ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Al-Sharaa and foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani “met with Farid al-Madhan, known as ’Caesar’, on the sidelines of their visit” to Paris, the Syrian presidency said in a statement, posting images of the meeting.
Syrian state media earlier reported that al-Sharaa had arrived in Paris, where he was due to meet French leader Emmanuel Macron, on his first visit to Europe since overthrowing Assad in December.
Madhan revealed his identity in February during an interview with Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera after being known for years only as a Syrian military photographer under the pseudonym ‘Caesar’.
He fled Syria in 2013 with 55,000 graphic images taken after Syria’s war erupted two years earlier with the brutal repression of anti-government protests, smuggled in a flash drive. The photos, authenticated by experts, show corpses tortured and starved to death in Syrian prisons.
He testified to a US Congress committee and his photographs inspired a 2020 US law which imposed economic sanctions on Syria and judicial proceedings in Europe against Assad’s entourage.
Germany, the Netherlands and France have since 2022 convicted several top officials from the Syrian intelligence service and militias.
After war erupted, Madhan told Al Jazeera he was tasked with “taking pictures of victims of detention”. He had said that these included “old men, women and children, who were detained at security checkpoints in Damascus, and from protest squares that called for freedom and dignity”.
He said he postponed his defection from the government forces and fleeing the country in order to be able to “collect the largest number of pictures documenting and incriminating the Syrian regime apparatuses of committing crimes against humanity”.
In March, al-Sharaa signed into force a constitutional declaration for a five-year transitional period during which a “transitional justice commission” would be formed to “determine the means for accountability, establish the facts, and provide justice to victims and survivors” of the former government’s misdeeds.
In Paris, al-Sharaa will discuss postwar reconstruction and economic cooperation during his meeting with Macron, a Syrian government official has said.
Syria’s new authorities are seeking the full lifting of Assad-era sanctions but are under increasing pressure from Europe to show their commitment to protecting minority rights.
Donald Trump plans to announce while on his trip to Saudi Arabia next week that the United States will now refer to the Persian Gulf as the “Arabian Gulf” or the “Gulf of Arabia”, according to two US officials.
The move has prompted a push back from Iranian leaders.
On Wednesday, Iran’s current foreign minister weighed in, saying that names of Mideast waterways do “not imply ownership by any particular nation, but rather reflects a shared respect for the collective heritage of humanity”.
“Politically motivated attempts to alter the historically established name of the Persian Gulf are indicative of hostile intent toward Iran and its people, and are firmly condemned,” Abbas Araghchi wrote on the social platform X.
“Any short-sighted step in this connection will have no validity or legal or geographical effect, it will only bring the wrath of all Iranians from all walks of life and political persuasion in Iran, the US and across the world.”
Arab nations have pushed for a change to the geographic name of the body of water off the southern coast of Iran, while Iran has maintained its historic ties to the gulf.
The two US officials spoke with the Associated Press on Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. The White House and national security council did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
The Israeli government “must immediately abandon its plans for expanded military operations … in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip”, said Amnesty International.
The organisation said the plans, including annexing territory and forcibly displacing Palestinians in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip, would “gravely violate international law”.
Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s senior director for research, advocacy, policy and campaigns, said:
Israel’s declared intentions to expand its already devastating military offensive, further entrench its unlawful occupation of the Gaza Strip, and forcibly displace Palestinians could inflict a final blow leading to the destruction of Palestinians in Gaza, who for months on end have been struggling to survive amid Israel’s ongoing genocide.
Any attempts to weaponise humanitarian aid, use it to coerce forced displacement, or establish discriminatory aid distribution zones would violate international law and must be rejected.
The international community must reject these dangerous plans and pressure Israel to comply with its obligations under international law and ensure unhindered humanitarian aid access throughout Gaza.
Humanitarian situation in Gaza ‘critical’, says France’s Macron
French president Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that the humanitarian situation in Gaza had reached “critical” levels unseen in the past and that it was urgent to allow the distribution of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Macron also said that while Israel was entitled to fight a terrorist organisation, it was “unacceptable” it acted without respecting any rules.
Israel announced plans on Monday to take over the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza as part of an expanded operation it says could include seizing the entire Gaza Strip.
Greece backs an Arab plan for the reconstruction of Gaza once a ceasefire is achieved, prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday.
“The first priority is for hostilities to stop and restore the flow of humanitarian aid to civilians,” Mitsotakis said after meeting Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Athens.
He added that the plan was a realistic basis of discussion for the day after the war.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has set up a backchannel for talks between Israel and Syria, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters, as Syria’s new rulers seek regional help to manage an increasingly hostile relationship with their southern neighbour.
The indirect contacts, which have not been previously reported, are focused on security and intelligence matters and confidence-building between two states with no official relations, a person with direct knowledge of the matter, a Syrian security source and a regional intelligence official told Reuters.
The first source described the effort, which began days after Syrian president Ahmed Sharaa visited the UAE on 13 April, as currently focused on “technical matters,” and said there was no limit to what may be discussed.
The senior Syrian security source told Reuters the backchannel was limited strictly to security-related issues, focusing on several counter-terrorism files. The source said that purely military matters, particularly those concerning Israeli army activities in Syria, fell outside the scope of the current channel.
The intelligence source said UAE security officials, Syrian intelligence officials and former Israeli intelligence officials were involved in the mechanism, among others. They spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
Syria’s presidency and the UAE foreign ministry did not respond to a request by Reuters for comment. The Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment, it added.
The mediation effort preceded Israeli strikes in Syria last week, including one just 500 metres from the presidential palace in Damascus, and Reuters could not establish if the mechanism has been used since the strikes occurred.
Israel has framed the strikes as a message to Syria’s new rulers in response to threats against Syria’s Druze minority.
Informal mediation between Israel and Syria aimed at calming the situation has taken place in the last week via other channels, according to one of the sources and a regional diplomat. They declined to elaborate, reports Reuters.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels said on Wednesday that they would continue targeting Israeli ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden despite a ceasefire deal with the United States.
“The waterways are safe for all international ships except Israeli ones,” Abdulmalik Alejri, a member of the Houthi political bureau, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said on Wednesday that the group insists on a “comprehensive agreement” to end the war with Israel in Gaza, now in its 19th month.
Naim told Agence France-Presse (AFP):
There are desperate attempts ahead of [US president Donald] Trump’s visit to the region, through the crime of starvation, the ongoing genocide and threats of expanding military operations, to force through a partial deal that would return some Israeli captives in exchange for a limited number of days of food and water – without any guarantees from any party to actually end the war.
Patrick Wintour
Iran is aghast at reports from the US that Donald Trump is planning for the US to offer Saudi Arabia to change the name of the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Arabia, a move that would cause deep offence in Iran and have large diplomatic repercussions.
There has been a decades long dispute between Arab states and Iran about the appropriate terminology for the stretch of water, but historically dating back to the Greeks it has been called the Persian Gulf.
Intermediaries are trying to persuade Trump of the diplomatic folly of the move just as Iranian diplomats are trying to convince hardliners in Iran that Trump is serious about negotiating a balanced nuclear deal with Iran.
He would make the announcement as a gift to Saudi Arabia as part of his three day tour in the Gulf.
One source said:
It is the height of stupidity, but we are trying to tell the Iranians that Trump will be there for four years, but the Persian Gulf will be there for thousands of years.
The source added that Trump believes the move might be enough to persuade Arab states of the value of normalisation of relations with Israel, one of the great second term goals of Trump diplomacy.
Trump has already renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
Protesters have interrupted the opening minutes of Barclays’ annual general meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, reports the PA news agency.
The disruption broke out at the beginning of the shareholder meeting in London, with groups of people being pulled out by security at the request of the bank’s chair.
One protester said that Barclays “provides loans worth billions to armed companies”, while people outside gathered to shout “free Palestine” and “stop arming Israel”. Another was shouting “Barclays funds Shell; Barclays funds hell” before being removed by security.
Barclays’ chair, Nigel Higgins, responded that the bank would be “more than willing to answer questions on the topic during the Q&A” session, according to the PA news agency.
Israel’s Gaza plan ‘dangerous moment’ for civilians, says UN official
The UN’s human rights chief told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday that Israel’s plan for an expanded offensive in the Gaza Strip represented “a very dangerous moment” for civilians there.
“What we see is only more destruction, more hatred, more dehumanisation,” said Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, during a visit to Copenhagen for a UN meeting.
“It’s a very dangerous moment for civilians,” he added, criticising the Israeli plan for an expanded offensive in the Gaza Strip.
On Monday, Israel announced an expanded military campaign, which an Israeli official said would entail the “conquest” of the Palestinian territory. On Tuesday, Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said this meant that the Gaza Strip would be “entirely destroyed”.
Several countries and world leaders have already condemned the plan, and Türk said the parties needed to “come to a place of reason and peace, and not just of continuous fighting and war”. The war needed to end, he said, there needed to be a ceasefire, a political solution with all the hostages “released unconditionally and immediately”.
Hamas has said that ceasefire talks are pointless at this stage, reports AFP.
The blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip “needs to be lifted immediately”, Türk told AFP. “Humanitarian assistance needs to come in. That’s an obligation, that’s an obligation under international law,” he added.
Türk argued that the current situation worldwide underlined the need to reaffirm the principles of international cooperation. The UN security council “is not functioning well” to address “the big crisis of our time”, he added.
“With what is happening at the moment, in this current geopolitical moment, it is all the more important to come back to the principles, the values, to the norms, to the institutions, because they have served humanity well for 80 years,” said Türk.
“And if we lose them, we lose a lot of what has been actually possible by way of progress, human progress, development, and also when it comes to humanitarian action and human rights,” he added.
He hoped “that the world comes together again, shows the political leadership … including the most powerful countries around the world, that they act in favour of peace and not in favour of war”.
Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa is to meet French leader Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, marking his first visit to Europe since overthrowing longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, despite alarm over deadly clashes that have shadowed the new authorities’ first months in power.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that the visit comes with al-Sharaa and his fellow top officials, who have roots in the al-Qaida jihadist network, under pressure from Europe to show they are serious about protecting human rights as Damascus seeks the full lifting of Assad-era sanctions.
Sectarian clashes in March, in which more than 1,700 people were killed, mostly among the Alawite minority, drew international condemnation and doubts over Syria’s new path.
By welcoming Sharaa, Macron hopes to help the authorities on the way to “a free, stable, sovereign Syria that respects all components of Syrian society,” a French presidential official, asking not to be named, told AFP. The official said France was aware of “the past” of certain Syrian leaders and was demanding that there be “no complacency” with “terrorist movements” operating in Syria.
“If we are inviting him [Sharaa] here, it is precisely to ask him to go further in the fight against impunity,” foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot told broadcaster TF1.
Kiran Stacey
More than a dozen senior Conservative MPs and peers have written to the prime minister calling for the UK to immediately recognise Palestine as a state, breaking ranks with their own party to do so.
Seven MPs and six members of the House of Lords have signed the letter to Keir Starmer urging him to defy the Israeli government and give formal recognition to Palestine in advance of key UN talks next month.
The letter, which has been seen by the Guardian, was written in late March soon after Israel broke its peace agreement with Hamas, diminishing hopes of an eventual two-state solution. On Monday, the Israeli cabinet went one step further, approving a plan to “conquer” the Gaza Strip and occupy most if not all of it.
In the letter, which was organised by the former minister Kit Malthouse, the group writes:
For decades, the Palestinian people have endured occupation, displacement and systemic restrictions on their basic freedoms.
Recognising Palestine would affirm our nation’s commitment to upholding the principles of justice, self-determination and equal rights. It would send a clear message that Britain stands against indefinite occupation and supports the Palestinian people’s legitimate aspirations.
The letter continues:
Recognition should not be treated as a distant bargaining chip but as a necessary step to reinforce international law and diplomacy. Prime minister, we stand ready to offer our public support for this decision.
This is an opportunity for Britain to show leadership, to be on the right side of history and to uphold the principles we claim to champion. More than 140 UN member states have already recognised Palestine – it is time for the United Kingdom to do the same.
Some global airlines have again halted their flights to and from Tel Aviv after a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels towards Israel on Sunday landed near the country’s main international airport.
Foreign airlines had begun to resume flights to Israel after a ceasefire deal with Palestinian militant group Hamas in January. Many carriers had halted them for much of the last year and a half since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023.
KLM, Ryanair, Wizz Air, United Airlines, Air India and the Lufthansa group are among the airlines that have cancelled flights after Sunday’s attack, according to Reuters.
Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon kills Hamas official
An Israeli drone strike on a car in southern Lebanon killed an official with the Palestinian militant group Hamas early on Wednesday, authorities said, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Hamas said in a statement that Khaled Ahmad al-Ahmad, who was a member of its military wing, was killed while he was on his way to a mosque to attend dawn prayers.
The Israeli military confirmed that it had targeted al-Ahmad, saying he was a commander with Hamas in south Lebanon and was behind several attacks against Israel.
Since Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel’s military has targeted members of the group in Lebanon, where Hamas has a military presence.
The group has also carried out rocket attacks from Lebanon since the Israel-Hamas war began, and in recent weeks Lebanese authorities detained several men linked to Hamas on suspicion of firing rockets toward Israel.
According to the AP, Lebanese authorities warned Hamas last week that it would face the “harshest measures,” if it carried out any attacks from Lebanon.