Closing summary
The Israeli military warned on Friday it will operate with “unprecedented force” in Gaza City, urging residents to flee southwards while announcing the closure of a temporary evacuation route opened 48 hours earlier. In a post on X addressing residents of Gaza City, the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said: “From this moment, Salah al-Din road is closed for southbound travel. The Israeli Defence Forces will continue to operate with unprecedented force against Hamas and other terrorist organisations.”
Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman will use a video call or record a message to participate in a United Nations General Assembly meeting on September on the settlement of the Palestinian cause and the two-state solution, Saudi state TV reported on Friday.
The United Nations General Assembly on Friday voted to allow Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to address its annual meeting of world leaders by video after the United States revoked his visa last month. The motion passed by a vote of 145-5, with six abstentions.
More than a quarter of a million people have been displaced from Gaza City in the last month, according to figures from the UN, with tens of thousands more forced to flee makeshift homes and shelters daily in the face of a new Israeli offensive.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem called on Saudi Arabia to turn “a new page” and open dialogue with the Lebanese armed group on Friday. Lebanon is under pressure from the US, Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah’s domestic rivals to disarm the group.
A UN Security Council resolution aimed at halting the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme failed Friday after weeks of last-ditch diplomatic talks appeared to break down days before the annual United Nations gathering of world leaders. The resolution put forth by South Korea, the current president of the 15-member council, did not garner the support of the nine countries required to halt the series of sanctions from taking effect at the end of the month, as outlined in Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, AP reports.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer has insisted the timing of the UK announcement that it could recognise the state of Palestine as early as Friday has nothing to do with Donald Trump’s visit, even though the US president said at a press conference that he disagreed with Britain’s decision, without elaborating.
A €30m ($35.24m) one-time payment to the Palestinian Authority that Germany was hoping to announce next week to coincide with European allies’ formal recognition of a Palestinian state has been held up by sceptical legislators, Reuters reports citing the Bild newspaper.
Israeli fire killed at least 22 people across Gaza on Friday, including 11 in Gaza City, according to a tally of figures given by Gaza hospitals contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP). In a statement, the Israeli military said its troops continued to “expand their activity” in Gaza City, adding it had “dismantled more than 20 military infrastructure sites” over the past day.
More than 140 world leaders will arrive in New York next week for the annual United Nations general assembly summit, which will be dominated this year by the future of the Palestinians and Gaza. One world leader who will miss the gathering is Mahmud Abbas, the Palestinian president who Washington denied US visas to attend, along with his officials.
Japan does not plan to recognise a Palestinian state at UN meetings this month, foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya said on Friday. But he also said that for Tokyo, which supports a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, it is not a matter of whether to recognise a Palestinian state, but when to recognise it.
The US once again has vetoed a UN security council resolution that had demanded an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages. It also expressed alarm about a recent famine report and Israel’s expanding offensive in Gaza City. The 14 other members of the United Nations’ most powerful body voted in favor of the resolution Thursday.
Pakistan’s defence minister says his nation’s nuclear programme “will be made available” to Saudi Arabia if needed under the countries’ new defence pact, marking the first specific acknowledgment that Islamabad had put the kingdom under its nuclear umbrella. Defence minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif’s comments underline the importance of the pact struck this week between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which have had military ties for decades, AP reports.
Recognising a Palestinian state will help keep alive the peace process in the Middle East, Luxembourg’s prime minister told Agence France-Presse (AFP) as his country prepares to take the step next week. Of the United Nations’ 193 member states, 147 already recognise a Palestinian state, but none of the Group of Seven major economies did so until now.
The United States has held talks with Gulf Arab states about the possibility that they could administer Gaza once the war is over, US ambassador Mike Huckabee told Reuters on Friday.
Huckabee said there had been conversations around an interim governing structure involving Gulf Arab states, potentially with the US taking on a supervisory role, with a decision on a permanent arrangement to be made later.
“It’s a discussion. It’s not something that has been accepted by the administration, by Israel, by anyone. I’m not familiar with anything that is ready for signature,” he said.
After nearly two years of war, Israel has not clearly outlined how it wants Gaza to be governed, although there is broad international consensus that the militant group Hamas, heavily diminished by Israel’s siege, cannot remain in charge.
