Trump ‘frustrated’ by Gaza war expansion: Report

A wounded Palestinian boy is brought into Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, following an Israeli strike, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, May 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 21 May 2025
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Trump ‘frustrated’ by Gaza war expansion: Report

  • US president said to be ‘upset’ at images of suffering Palestinian children
  • He reportedly told Israeli PM via aides that he wants war to be ‘wrapped up’

London: US President Donald Trump is “frustrated” by Israel’s expansion of the Gaza war and is “upset” at images of suffering Palestinian children, White House officials have reportedly said.

Two administration officials told Axios that Trump has relayed messages to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu via aides that he wants the war to be “wrapped up.”

One official told Axios: “The president is frustrated about what is happening in Gaza. He wants the war to end, he wants the hostages to come home, he wants aid to go in and he wants to start rebuilding Gaza.” 

Trump is said to be personally annoyed at Netanyahu, who “he doesn’t even like,” The Times was told.

It follows Trump’s high-profile tour of the Middle East, comprising Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, which is mediating ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.

During the trip, which notably lacked a stop in Israel, Trump “appeared genuinely concerned by the suffering of Gazans,” sources told The Times.

However, the White House is reluctant to openly criticize Tel Aviv’s actions, and officials from both countries deny that Trump is prepared to “abandon” support for Israel.

Trump last week said he wanted to help the “starving” people in Gaza. During talks with Arab leaders, he pledged to facilitate the entry of more aid to the Palestinian enclave.

His Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, has presented plans for a ceasefire deal that would lead to the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.

But Netanyahu’s decision to expand the Gaza war has frustrated hopes of a deal, despite his office saying he had agreed to a plan based on Witkoff’s proposals.

One Israeli official told Axios: “If the president wants a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza he needs to put much more pressure on both sides.”

A White House official told Axios that Trump believes the Gaza war is preventing him from enacting his plans for the region.

“The president sees a real chance for peace and prosperity in the region, but the war in Gaza is the last hot spot and he wants it to end,” the official said.


Clashes in predominantly Druze Syrian city kill 8: monitor

Members of Syria’s security forces deploy in an area near the Syrian capital Damascus. (File/AFP)
Updated 55 min 59 sec ago
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Clashes in predominantly Druze Syrian city kill 8: monitor

  • Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least eight people had been killed, six of them Druze and two of them Bedouin

DAMASCUS: Clashes between Bedouin tribes and local fighters in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida in southern Syria killed eight people, a war monitor said Sunday, as authorities sent forces to de-escalate the situation.
The clashes are the first outbreak of deadly violence in the area since fighting between members of the Druze community and the security forces killed dozens of people in April and May.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least eight people had been killed, six of them Druze and two of them Bedouin.
Citing medical sources, local outlet Sweida 24 gave a preliminary toll of seven people killed, “including a child, and about 32 others wounded as a result of armed clashes and mutual shelling in the Maqus neighborhood,” east of Sweida city.
The outlet also reported the closure of the Damascus-Sweida highway due to the violence.
A Syrian government source, who asked to remain anonymous as they were not allowed to brief the media, told AFP that authorities were sending forces to de-escalate the situation.
Sweida Governor Mustapha Al-Bakur called on his constituents to “exercise self-restraint and respond to national calls for reform.”
Syria’s Druze population numbers around 700,000, with Sweida home to the sect’s largest community.
Bedouin and Druze factions have a longstanding feud in Sweida, with violence occasionally erupting between the two.
Since the overthrow of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad, concerns have been raised over the rights and safety of minorities under the new authorities, who have also struggled to re-establish security more broadly.
Clashes between the new security forces and Druze fighters in April and May killed dozens of people, with local leaders and religious figures signing agreements to contain the escalation and better integrate Druze fighters into the new government.


Dubai Police extradite three Interpol most-wanted suspects to Belgium

Updated 13 July 2025
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Dubai Police extradite three Interpol most-wanted suspects to Belgium

  • The three Belgian nationals, Mathias Akyazili, Giorgi Faes, and Othman El-Ballouti, were apprehended in Dubai

DUBAI: Dubai Police have arrested and extradited three high-profile suspects wanted by Belgian authorities in connection with serious cases of cross-border organized crime, following a coordinated international effort involving Interpol and Europol, it was announced on Sunday.

The three Belgian nationals, Mathias Akyazili, Giorgi Faes, and Othman El-Ballouti, were apprehended in Dubai after Interpol red notices were issued against them, the Emirates News Agency reported.

All three were listed as most-wanted individuals by Interpol and Europol.

The suspects face multiple serious charges in Belgium, including operating a notorious gang, trafficking narcotic and psychotropic substances, robbery, and human trafficking.

The operation was led by Dubai Police’s General Department of Criminal Investigation in collaboration with the UAE Ministry of Interior, WAM added.

“Such coordinated efforts support the strengthening of a strong global security framework that confronts criminal activity with full force while promoting the exchange of international expertise and best practices in policing,” a Dubai Police spokesperson said.

It followed international arrest warrants submitted by Belgian authorities to the International Cooperation Department at the UAE Ministry of Justice, the designated central authority for handling such requests.

The transfer was authorized by the Dubai Court of Cassation, in accordance with bilateral agreements between the UAE and Belgium.

Upon the suspects’ arrival in Belgium on July 13, Abdullah bin Sultan Al-Nuaimi, UAE minister of justice, and his Belgian counterpart Annelies Verlinden held a phone call to discuss the extradition.

During the call, both ministers emphasized that the successful operation reflected a shared commitment to the rule of law, international judicial cooperation, and combating transnational organized crime and drugs-related violence, WAM reported.

Verlinden thanked UAE authorities for their support, adding that the extraditions were “a testament to the deepening legal partnership between the UAE and Belgium” and “to their shared determination to ensure that individuals accused of serious crimes are brought to justice.”

She commended the role of the UAE’s judicial and law enforcement institutions throughout the extradition process and also praised the emirates’ ongoing cooperation in line with the extradition treaties signed between the two countries in December 2021, which came into force in November 2022.

Al-Nuaimi reaffirmed the UAE’s commitment to enhancing bilateral judicial collaboration and also stressed the importance of international cooperation in tackling global crime and ensuring justice through strong legal frameworks.


Israeli missile hits Gaza children collecting water

A Palestinian boy bids farewell to his cousin Saraj Ibrahim, after he was killed in an Israeli strike that hit Nuseirat.
Updated 13 July 2025
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Israeli missile hits Gaza children collecting water

  • The strike hit a water distribution point in Nuseirat refugee camp, killing six children and injuring 17 others
  • Hours later, 12 people were killed by an Israeli strike on a market in Gaza City, including a prominent hospital consultant, Ahmad Qandil

JERUSALEM: At least eight Palestinians, most of them children, were killed and more than a dozen were wounded in central Gaza when they went to collect water on Sunday, local officials said, in an Israeli strike which the military said missed its target.
The Israeli military said the missile had intended to hit an Islamic Jihad militant in the area but that a malfunction had caused it to fall “dozens of meters from the target.”
“The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians,” it said in a statement, adding that the incident was under review.
The strike hit a water distribution point in Nuseirat refugee camp, killing six children and injuring 17 others, said Ahmed Abu Saifan, an emergency physician at Al-Awda Hospital.
Water shortages in Gaza have worsened sharply in recent weeks, with fuel shortages causing desalination and sanitation facilities to close, making people dependent on collection centers where they can fill up their plastic containers.
Hours later, 12 people were killed by an Israeli strike on a market in Gaza City, including a prominent hospital consultant, Ahmad Qandil, Palestinian media reported. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack.
Gaza’s health ministry said on Sunday that more than 58,000 people had been killed since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023, with 139 people added to the death toll over the past 24 hours.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its tally, but says over half of those killed are women and children.
Talks stalled
Negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire appeared to be deadlocked, with the two sides divided over the extent of an eventual Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, Palestinian and Israeli sources said at the weekend.
The indirect talks over a US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire are being held in Doha, but optimism that surfaced last week of a looming deal has largely faded, with both sides accusing each other of intransigence.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video he posted on Telegram on Sunday said Israel would not back down from its core demands — releasing all the hostages still in Gaza, destroying Hamas and ensuring Gaza will never again be a threat to Israel.
Netanyahu was expected to convene ministers later on Sunday to discuss the ceasefire talks.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages there are believed to still be alive.
Israel’s campaign against Hamas has displaced almost the entire population of more than 2 million people, but Gazans say nowhere is safe in the coastal enclave.
Early on Sunday morning, a missile hit a house in Gaza City where a family had moved to after receiving an evacuation order from their home in the southern outskirts.
“My aunt, her husband and the children, are gone. What is the fault of the children who died in an ugly bloody massacre at dawn?” said Anas Matar, standing in the rubble of the building.
“They came here, and they were hit. There is no safe place in Gaza,” he said.


US-Palestinian man beaten to death by Israeli settlers buried in West Bank village

Updated 14 min 52 sec ago
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US-Palestinian man beaten to death by Israeli settlers buried in West Bank village

  • The family of Musalat, who was born and based in Florida, is demanding that the US administration launch an investigation into his death
  • Mohammed Rizq Hussein Al-Shalabi was shot by settlers on Friday and left to bleed for hours

LONDON: The body of a US-Palestinian man, who was beaten to death by Israeli extremist settlers on Friday evening, was buried in his family’s village of Al-Mazraa Al-Sharqiya in the occupied West Bank on Sunday afternoon.

Hundreds of Palestinians participated in the funeral of Saif Al-Din Kamil Abdul Karim Musalat, 20, and Mohammed Rizq Hussein Al-Shalabi, 23, whose coffins were wrapped in Palestinian flags during the procession in Al-Mazraa Al-Sharqiya on Sunday. Al-Shalabi was shot by settlers on Friday and left to bleed for hours in Sinjil, a village near Ramallah.

The family of Musalat, who was born and based in Florida, is demanding that the US administration launch an investigation into his death.

Musalat had been visiting the West Bank from the US since last June to spend time with relatives, according to a statement from his family and lawyer. He was beaten to death by settlers in Sinjil and his body was discovered on Friday evening.

Since October 2023, Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank have killed at least 955 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

About 1 million Israeli settlers live in illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in violation of international law.

Their attacks against Palestinians have escalated since 2023, with 820 attacks recorded by rights groups in the first half of 2025. In June, the UK, Australia, and Canada sanctioned two Israeli far-right ministers for inciting settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.


Jordan sends more aid to Gaza as death toll continues to rise

Updated 13 July 2025
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Jordan sends more aid to Gaza as death toll continues to rise

  • 50 trucks carried essential aid, food and clean water to vulnerable families in northern Gaza
  • A separate shipment of 3,000 blood units is set to be delivered to the Jordanian field hospital in enclave

LONDON: Jordan sent another 50 trucks of humanitarian aid to Gaza on Sunday after resuming the dispatch of relief convoys last week, following months of an Israeli blockade that hindered assistance from reaching the Palestinian coastal enclave.

The Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization said the trucks carried essential aid, food and clean water to vulnerable families in northern Gaza. The initiative was in collaboration with the World Food Programme and the Jordanian Armed Forces.

It is part of the humanitarian aid bridge Amman launched since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza in October 2023 to support Palestinians. The JHC said that aid distribution will occur through locally coordinated methods to ensure it reaches those in need.

A separate shipment of 3,000 blood units is set to be delivered to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza to support the healthcare sector. This initiative follows a nationwide blood donation campaign organized in collaboration with the Jordanian Medical Association and the Ministry of Health, the charity said.

Since late 2023, Jordan has delivered 7,815 aid trucks and 53 cargo planes through the Egyptian port of Arish, along with 102 helicopter sorties via the humanitarian air bridge, to support Palestinians in Gaza.

Jordan was among the first countries to conduct airlift missions in the early days of the war, delivering relief to Gaza. More than 58,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, which have been described as genocide by human rights groups and several heads of state.