Israel’s Western allies slam Israeli minister’s remark that Gaza starvation may be justified

DUBAI: Iran will not consider temporarily suspending uranium enrichment to secure a nuclear deal with the US, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, adding that no date had yet been set for a sixth round of talks with Washington.
The negotiations between Washington and Tehran aim to resolve a decades-long dispute over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and both sides have taken a tough stance in public over the issue of Iran’s uranium enrichment.
Asked about reports that Iran could freeze enrichment for three years to reach an agreement, spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told a press conference: “Iran will never accept that.”
Baghaei also ruled out the possibility of an interim nuclear deal with the US, dismissing media reports that a provisional agreement was being considered as a temporary step toward a final deal.
President Donald Trump said on Sunday that US negotiators had “very good” talks with an Iranian delegation over the weekend.
Iran is waiting for further details from mediator Oman regarding the timing of the next round of talks, Baghaei said.
“If there is goodwill from the American side, we are also optimistic, but if talks are aimed at curbing Iran’s rights then talks will get nowhere,” he added.
The stakes are high for both sides.
Trump wants to curtail Tehran’s potential to produce a nuclear weapon that could trigger a regional nuclear arms race and perhaps threaten Israel. Iran, for its part, maintains its nuclear program is exclusively for civilian purposes and wants to be rid of devastating sanctions on its oil-based economy.

GAZA CITY: Israeli strikes killed at least 46 people in the Gaza Strip on Monday, including 31 in a school-turned-shelter that was struck as people slept, igniting their belongings, according to local health officials. 
Israel renewed its offensive in March after ending a ceasefire with Hamas. It has vowed to seize control of Gaza and keep fighting until Hamas is destroyed or disarmed, and until it returns the remaining 58 hostages, a third of them believed to be alive, from the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war.
Israel began allowing a trickle of humanitarian aid into Gaza last week after blocking all food, medicine, fuel or other goods from entering for 2 1/2 months. Aid groups have warned of famine and say the aid that has come in is nowhere near enough to meeting mounting needs.
A new aid system supported by Israel and the United States but rejected by UN agencies and aid groups is expected to begin operations as soon as Monday, despite the resignation of the American leading the effort, who said it would not be able to operate independently.
Israel says it plans to seize full control of Gaza and facilitate what it describes as the voluntary migration of its over 2 million population, a plan rejected by Palestinians and much of the international community.
Israel's military campaign has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and internally displaced some 90% of its population. Many have fled multiple times.
 

Rescuers recover charred remains
The strike on the school in the Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City also wounded more than 55 people, said Fahmy Awad, head of the ministry’s emergency service. He said a father and his five children were among the dead.
He said the school was hit three times while people slept, setting their belongings ablaze. Footage circulating online showed rescuers struggling to extinguish fires and recovering charred remains.
The military said it targeted a militant command and control center inside the school that Hamas and Islamic Jihad used to gather intelligence for attacks. Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in residential areas.
A separate strike on a home killed 15 members of the same family, including five women and two children, according to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which received the bodies.

Plans to control aid hit another obstacle
Israel plans to roll out a new aid distribution system run by a group known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, made up of former humanitarian, government and military officials, that would set up distribution points guarded by private security firms. Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off assistance, without providing evidence.
The foundation said in a statement that it would begin delivering aid Monday and would reach a million Palestinians — around half of Gaza's population — by the end of the week.
UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the planned U.S.-backed system, saying it would force even more displacement, fail to meet local needs and violate humanitarian principles that prohibit a warring party from controlling humanitarian assistance. They also say there is no evidence of systematic diversion of aid by militants.
Jake Wood, the American heading the foundation, unexpectedly resigned Sunday, saying it had become clear that the foundation would not be allowed to operate independently. It’s not clear who is funding the group.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the 2023 attack. More than half the hostages have been returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals, eight have been rescued, and Israeli forces have recovered the remains of dozens more.
The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, rendering entire neighborhoods uninhabitable. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to shelter in schools and squalid tent camps for well over a year.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed around 54,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It says more than half the dead are women and children but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.