Israeli strikes killed at least 36 Palestinians before U.S. President Donald Trump met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday in Scotland, where they confirmed plans to discuss Gaza.
A day after Israel eased aid restrictions due to a worsening humanitarian crisis, Trump said he disagreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that there was no starvation in Gaza.
Israel on Sunday announced a pause in military operations in certain areas for 10 hours daily to improve aid flow. Alongside the measures, military operations continued. Israel had no immediate comment about the latest strikes, which occurred outside the declared time frame for the pause between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Aid agencies welcomed the new measures but say they are insufficient. Images of emaciated children have sparked global outrage. Most of Gaza’s population now relies on aid and accessing food has become increasingly dangerous.
Here is the latest:
14 blockade activists to remain in Israel custody until deportation
An Israeli detention court ruled Monday that 14 individuals who were on a ship attempting to breach the blockade of Gaza, will remain in custody until their deportation.
There were 21 activists and a small amount of aid onboard the Handala, a ship the Israeli military intercepted around midnight on Saturday. Seven of the passengers have already been deported, with the rest slated for deportation in the coming days.
The Handala was the second ship operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition that Israel has prevented in recent months from delivering aid to Gaza, where food experts have for months warned of the risk of famine. Activist Greta Thunberg was among 12 activists on board the ship Madleen when it was seized by the Israeli military in June.
Israel’s opposition leader calls for immediate end to the war in Gaza
Yair Lapid, head of the opposition in Israel’s parliament, called on the government to immediately end the war in Gaza, calling it “not a complete victory, but a complete disaster.”
“If we don’t end the war now, the hostages will not return, the IDF will continue to lose its best fighters, the humanitarian disaster will worsen, the world will close itself off to Israelis,” Lapid said Monday night, and called on a coalition of moderate Arab countries, led by Egypt, to run Gaza.
“The management of humanitarian aid in Gaza has collapsed. It simply doesn’t work,” he said, adding that Israel was helping Hamas’ campaign as the humanitarian situation continued to worsen.
Spain says it will airdrop 12 tons of food into Gaza
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Monday that Spain will airdrop 12 tons of food aid into Gaza from Jordan later this week, via Spanish air force planes.
Sánchez acknowledged this isn’t a solution to hunger, but hopes it offers “minimal relief” alongside aid from other nations.
Spain’s government has been a vocal critic of Israel’s war in Gaza and has repeatedly called for a ceasefire.
Airdrops have been widely criticized by international organizations including the U.N. for failing to meet needs. The average truck that enters Gaza with humanitarian aid carries around 19 tons of aid, according to COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Jordanian official highlights Israeli’s absence from UN two-state solution meeting
Israel’s absence from Monday’s U.N. meeting on a two-state solution was glaring, as foreign ministers gathered in New York to address the crisis without one of its central parties. While Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa was present, Israel sent no delegation to engage with peace proposals or represent its position.
“The Palestinians are ready to negotiate today,” Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s deputy foreign minister, said. “But we do not have an Israeli partner to negotiate with.”
He added that since the Israelis “are not willing to sit at the table and negotiate a two state solution,” then “they cannot veto us from doing what we all believe in and recognize the Palestinian state as a statement of commitment to that solution.”
Germany aims to conduct joint Gaza aid airlift with Jordan
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday that Germany intends to conduct an airlift of humanitarian aid to Gaza along with Jordan.
Merz didn’t provide details of the plan after a meeting of his security Cabinet, but said his defense minister will consult with France and Britain, “which are also prepared to make available such an airlift for food and medical goods.” Jordan’s King Abdullah II is due to meet Merz in Berlin on Tuesday.
Merz said Israel’s move to lift some aid restrictions is “an important first step” but “further ones must follow quickly.” He also stressed the need for a comprehensive ceasefire.
Trump declines position on Palestinian state
U.S. President Donald Trump, who last week downplayed France’s recognition of a Palestinian state, said Monday he would not take a position on the issue.
Meeting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland, Trump reiterated; “I’m not going to take a position,” adding he had no objection to Starmer’s own views on the matter.
UN chief says two-state solution is ‘farther than ever before’
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told a ministerial meeting Monday that the two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict is “farther than ever before.”
He pointed to the starvation of Palestinians and the killing of tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza as well as Israel’s relentless expansion of settlements in the West Bank and last week’s support in Israel’s parliament for its annexation.
Guterres said actions “that would forever undermine the two-state solution” must stop, and urged the two-day conference to be a “decisive turning point” rather than mere rhetoric.
UN meeting on an Israel-Palestinian two-state solution kicks off
French and Saudi foreign ministers on Monday opened a two-day U.N. meeting on a two-state solution to the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict, highlighting what they called “a growing international consensus” for a non-military solution to the decades-long conflict.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot noted the large attendance reflected global consensus to end the war in Gaza. His Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan called it a “historic stage” to not only end the conflict but also to advance a two-state solution.
Planes from Jordan and UAE airdrop humanitarian aid into Gaza
Two planes from the Jordanian and UAE Air Force airdropped 17 tons of humanitarian aid in Gaza on Monday, Jordan’s military said. The aid packages come as hunger continues to soar across the strip.
The airdrops took place for the second day as Israel faces increasing pressure over Gaza’s humanitarian crisis. However, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, warned that airdrops are “expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians.”
The 17 tons of airdropped aid amounts to less than one aid truck carrying food, based on the World Food Programme’s calculation of nearly 19 tons per truck.
On Sunday, 180 trucks carrying aid entered Gaza, according to the Israeli military body in charge of overseeing humanitarian aid.
Israeli settlers torch cars in Christian West Bank village, Palestinians say
Palestinian residents of the Christian village of Taybeh in the Israeli-occupied West Bank say Israeli settlers torched two cars and left graffiti overnight.
It was the latest in a series of recent settler attacks on the village near Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is headquartered. Taybeh is the only entirely Christian village in the Muslim-majority West Bank and home to a brewery popular with tourists and foreign diplomats.
The Israeli military said it sent forces to the village after receiving a report that suspects had set fire to Palestinian property. It said it has opened an investigation.
The West Bank has seen a rise in settler violence since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of Gaza triggered the war there.
UK leader to discuss Gaza peace plan with Trump
Starmer plans to discuss a U.K.-led peace plan for Gaza with Trump Monday in Scotland.
Starmer’s spokesman, Dave Pares, said Britain supports Trump’s efforts to reach a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, and the plan aims “to turn a ceasefire into lasting peace.”
The plan was discussed by Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday. Starmer will discuss it with allies “including the U.S. and Arab states” and at an emergency meeting of his Cabinet later this week, Pares said.
Details of the plan have not been made public.
Starmer is under growing pressure to follow France in recognizing a Palestinian state, a move both Israel and the U.S. have condemned. The British leader says the U.K. supports statehood for the Palestinians but it must be part of a wider plan for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Pares said “it’s a matter of when, not if” Britain recognizes Palestinian statehood. U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy is attending a conference on a two-state solution at the United Nations in New York this week.
Trump disagrees with Netanyahu’s claim there is ‘no starvation in Gaza’
Asked if he agreed with Netanyahu’s remarks about hunger in Gaza, Trump said, “I don’t know. I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry.”
Starmer, standing next to Trump, said, “We’ve got to get that ceasefire,” in Gaza and called it “a desperate situation.”
Trump confirmed he and Starmer would talk about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Egypt president calls on Trump to assist in ending Gaza war
Egypt’s leader on Monday called on Trump to help stop the war in Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to the strip’s desperate population.
In a televised speech, President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said the American leader is “the one who is able to stop the war, deliver the aid and end this suffering.”
“Please, make every effort to stop this war and deliver the aid,” el-Sissi said, addressing Trump. “I believe that it’s time to end this war.”
He described conditions inside Gaza as “tragic” and “intolerable.”
Newborn dies after mother killed
A newborn died Monday afternoon, hours after she was delivered in a complex surgery following the killing of her mother in Gaza, a hospital said.
Soad al-Shaer, who was seven months pregnant, was one of 12 Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike that struck a house and neighboring tents in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis, Nasser hospital said.
Her fetus survived after the surgery, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The newborn was taken to Nasser hospital, where she was placed in an incubator and was breathing with assistance from a ventilator, footage from The Associated Press showed.
She died several hours later, the hospital announced.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Deaths related to malnutrition reported
Fourteen Palestinians have died of malnutrition-related causes in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, the territory’s Health Ministry said on Monday.
They include two children, bringing the total deaths among children from causes related to malnutrition in Gaza to 88 since the war started on Oct. 7, 2023, the ministry said In a statement.
The ministry said 59 Palestinian adults also have died of malnutrition-related causes across Gaza since the start of July, when it began counting deaths among adults.
