AL-ARISH: UN Security Council ambassadors arrived Monday in Egypt to visit the Rafah border crossing with the besieged Gaza Strip, days after the United States vetoed a council resolution for a ceasefire.
The informal one-day trip organized by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt comes amid a spiralling humanitarian crisis in war-torn Gaza, described as a “graveyard” by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Around a dozen ambassadors are taking part in the visit from countries including Russia and the United Kingdom.
But the United States, which vetoed Friday the Security Council resolution did not send a representative as did France.
“There is no justification to turning a blind eye to the pain and suffering inflicted on the Palestinian people in Gaza,” an Egyptian foreign ministry official told the envoys during a briefing following their arrival.
Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE’s envoy to the Security Council, said member states were taking part in the trip in their “national and personal capacities.”
She said the visit aims to help them “understand not only the suffering and destruction experienced by the people of Gaza but also their hope and their strength.”
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA briefed the envoys on the harrowing humanitarian situation in Gaza before he headed to the embattled territory for his third visit since the start of the war in October between Israel and Hamas militants.
There is “deep frustration disappointment, and some outrage also that... we can’t even reach a consensus for a ceasefire,” Lazzarini said after the meeting.
“There is no real safe place in the Gaza Strip, even the UN premises currently hosting more than 1 people have been hit,” he said.
The situation for Palestinians, Lazzarini said, is desperate.
“Hunger is prevailing in Gaza. More and more people haven’t eaten for one day, two days, three days... people lack absolutely everything.”
The diplomats are due to visit the Rafah crossing, the only gateway into the narrow enclave, as well as a hospital treating Palestinian patients in the Egyptian town of El-Arish near the Gaza border.
The war on Gaza was triggered when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas carried out the deadliest-ever attack on Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures, and taking about 240 hostages back to Gaza.
Israel has responded with a military offensive that has reduced much of Gaza to rubble and killed at least 17,997 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The UN estimates 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced — roughly half of them children — by the war and Israel’s intense bombing campaign that has reduced vast areas to rubble.
The war and siege have taken a heavy toll on basic services, especially health care, with only 14 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals functioning at any capacity, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, and dire shortages of food, fuel, water and medicine.
Israel had urged civilians to seek refuge in Gaza’s far south, but the army has kept striking targets throughout the territory, leading to UN warnings that there is no safe place left in Gaza.
UN council envoys to visit Gaza crossing as crisis spirals
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UN council envoys to visit Gaza crossing as crisis spirals
- The informal one-day trip organized by the UAE and Egypt comes amid a spiralling humanitarian crisis in war-torn Gaza
- The US, which vetoed Friday the Security Council resolution, did not send a representative as did France
Trump says two weeks is ‘maximum’ for Iran decision
Trump added that Iran “doesn’t want to talk to Europe,” dismissing the chance of success in talks between European powers and Iran in Geneva on resolving the conflict between Israel and Iran.
Trump also played down the possibility of asking Israel to halt its attacks, after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran would not resume talks with the United States until Israel relented.
“I’m giving them a period of time, and I would say two weeks would be the maximum,” Trump told reporters when asked if he could decide to strike Iran before that.
He added that the aim was to “see whether or not people come to their senses.”
Trump had said in a statement on Thursday that he would “make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks” because there was a “substantial chance of negotiations” with Iran.
Those comments had been widely seen as opening a two-week window for negotiations to end the war between Israel and Iran, with the European powers rushing to talks with Tehran.
But his latest remarks indicated that Trump could still make his decision before that if he feels that there has been no progress toward dismantling Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump dismissed the chances of Europe making a difference, saying the talks between Britain, France, Germany and EU diplomats and Tehran’s foreign minister “didn’t help.”
“Iran doesn’t want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this,” Trump told reporters as he arrived in Morristown, New Jersey.
Asked if he would ask Israel to stop its attacks as Iran had asked, Trump said it was “very hard to make that request right now.”
“If somebody’s winning, it’s a little bit harder to do than if somebody’s losing, but we’re ready, willing and able, and we’ve been speaking to Iran, and we’ll see what happens.”
In Istanbul, top Arab League diplomats discuss Iran-Israel war
- The ministers were in Turkiye’s largest city on the eve of weekend gathering of the OIC
- Some 40 top diplomats are slated to join the weekend gathering
ISTANBUL: Arab League foreign ministers gathered in Istanbul late Friday to discuss the escalating war between Iran and Israel, Turkish state news agency Anadolu said, quoting diplomatic sources.
The ministers were in Turkiye’s largest city on the eve of weekend gathering of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which was also slated to discuss the air war launched a week ago.
Israel began its assault in the early hours of June 13, saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, triggering an immediate immediate retaliation from Tehran in the worst-ever confrontation between the two arch-rivals.
Some 40 top diplomats are slated to join the weekend gathering of the OIC which will also have a session dedicated to discussing the Iran-Israel crisis, the Turkish foreign ministry said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who met with his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany in Geneva on Friday, will also attend and address the diplomats, the ministry said.
Earlier on Friday, Araghchi said Tehran was ready to “consider diplomacy” again only if Israel’s “aggression is stopped.”
The Arab League ministers were expected to release a statement following their meeting, Anadolu said.
US to move third aircraft carrier closer to Mideast conflict
- Navy official confirms USS Gerald R. Ford will depart for Europe next week
- USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group already in Middle East, soon to be joined by USS Nimitz
WASHINGTON: The USS Gerald R. Ford will depart for Europe next week, a Navy official said Friday, placing a third American aircraft carrier in closer proximity to the Middle East as Israel and Iran trade strikes.
Israel launched an unprecedented air campaign against Iran last week, and US President Donald Trump has said he is weighing whether to join Israel in the fight.
“The Gerald Ford carrier strike group will depart Norfolk (Virginia) the morning of June 24 for a regularly scheduled deployment to the US European Command area of responsibility,” the Navy official said.
The USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group has been operating in the Middle East since earlier this year, taking part in an air campaign against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
And a US defense official has confirmed that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth ordered the Nimitz carrier strike group to the Middle East, saying it was “to sustain our defensive posture and safeguard American personnel.”
Trump said Thursday he will decide whether to join Israel’s strikes on Iran within the next two weeks, citing a chance of negotiations to end the conflict.
That deadline comes after a tense few days in which the US president publicly mulled hitting Iran and said that Tehran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was an “easy target.”
Trump had spent weeks pursuing a diplomatic path toward a deal to replace the nuclear deal with Iran that he tore up in his first term in 2018, but has since backed Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities and military top brass.
A key issue is that the United States is the only country with the huge “bunker buster” bombs that could destroy Iran’s crucial Fordo nuclear enrichment plant.
A number of key figures in his “Make America Great Again” movement have vocally opposed US strikes on Iran, and Trump’s promise to extract the United States from its “forever wars” in the Middle East played a role in his 2016 and 2024 election wins.
GCC chief hails UN adoption of landmark resolution on strategic cooperation
- Jasem Albudaiwi describes agreement between the organizations as a major step forward in deepening regional and international collaboration
- Its adoption reflects the respected status of the GCC as a proactive regional partner in efforts to support global peace and security, he adds
RIYADH: The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jasem Albudaiwi, on Friday welcomed the adoption by the UN General Assembly of a landmark resolution on collaboration between the organizations.
He described the agreement, formally titled “Cooperation between the United Nations and the Gulf Cooperation Council” and the first of its kind, as a major step forward in deepening regional and international collaboration, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The resolution, adopted on Monday, was submitted to the UN on behalf of GCC member states by Kuwait, which currently holds the presidency of the regional organization.
Albudaiwi said its adoption reflects the respected status of the GCC as a proactive regional partner in efforts to support global peace and security. It signifies a new phase of strategic partnership between the organizations, he added, underscored by concrete plans and activities to enhance cooperation.
He praised Kuwait for the diplomatic efforts of the nation’s mission to the UN in New York, and said the success of the resolution embodies the spirit of unity within the GCC and its commitment to working constructively with international partners across multilateral platforms.
19 injured in Israeli port after Iran missile barrage
- Projectile slammed into an area by the docks in Haifa on Friday afternoon
JERUSALEM: At least 19 people were injured in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa as Iran fired a fresh barrage of missiles on Friday afternoon, authorities said.
Iran has been launching daily missile salvos at Israel for the past week since a wide-ranging Israeli attack on its nuclear and military facilities triggered war.
One projectile slammed into an area by the docks in Haifa on Friday afternoon where it damaged a building and blew out windows, littering the ground with rubble, AFP images showed.
Israel’s foreign ministry said it struck “next to” the Al-Jarina mosque.
The locations of missile strikes in Israel are subject to strict military censorship rules and are not always provided in detail to the public.
A spokesman for Haifa’s Rambam hospital said 19 people had been injured in the city, with one in a serious condition.
A military official said that “approximately 20 missiles were launched toward Israel” in the latest Iranian salvo.
More than 450 missiles have been fired at the country so far, along with about 400 drones, according to Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate.
The directorate added that the country’s tax authority had received over 25,000 claims linked to damage caused to buildings during the war.
Israel launched a massive wave of strikes on June 13, triggering an immediate retaliation from Tehran.
Residential areas in both countries have suffered, while Israel and Iran have traded accusations of targeting civilians.
At least 25 people have been killed in Israel by Iranian missile strikes, according to authorities.
Iran said on Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians. It has not updated the toll since.
