EU to review trade ties with Israel as global backlash against its genocidal assault on Gaza grows

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The UK government is preparing to sanction top Israeli officials if they continue their relentless assault on the Gaza Strip, The Times has reported.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced on Tuesday new sanctions on illegal Israeli settlers and a freeze on trade negotiations in response to the aid blockade and the "monstrous" calls by Israeli ministers for ethnically cleansing the Palestinian territory.

In a parliamentary statement, he said that the government would take further action if necessary but refused to be drawn on what is under consideration.

According to The Times, the Foreign Office is drawing up plans to sanction senior Israeli cabinet ministers, including Defence Minister Israel Katz, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and National Security Minister Israel Katz.

Following the foreign secretary's announcement, Israel accused the UK of having an "anti-Israel obsession" and vowed to continue its genocidal attacks on Gaza.

The president of Chile has condemned the Israeli government's plans to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip and described those carrying it out as "war criminals".

"The Israeli government is carrying out ethnic cleansing in Gaza. It has reached such a point that thousands of children could die in the next few hours because Israel is not allowing humanitarian aid into the country," Gabriel Boric wrote in a post on X.

"Those who carry this out and allow it are war criminals, and humanity will judge them accordingly."

At least 12 people have been killed in an Israeli attack on two houses in Jabalia refugee camp, north Gaza, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

The number of people killed in Gaza by Israeli forces on Tuesday has risen to at least 98, Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting, citing medical sources on the ground.

British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) has welcomed the UK government's decision to freeze trade talks with Israel and sanction settlers but urged it to take stronger action to bring an end to the Netanyahu government's genocidal assault on Gaza.

"These long overdue actions by the UK government are an important step in opposing Israel's abuses against Palestinians. However they don't go far enough to end what international human rights organisations recognise as Israel's extermination and genocidal acts in Gaza," Rohan Talbot, director of advocacy and campaigns at MAP, said in a statement.

"Israel is mass killing Palestinians every day. Hospitals are being destroyed. Over 1,400 healthcare workers have been killed. Children are starving to death right now amid the suffocating blockade.

"These atrocities must be met with effective and immediate countermeasures. The UK must immediately suspend all arms transfers to Israel, and ensure those who are committing atrocities against Palestinians are held urgently to account."
 

Israel is preparing to strike Iran's nuclear facilities even as the Trump administration pushes for an agreement with Tehran, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing multiple US officials familiar with the matter.

Sources said that it's not clear whether the Israeli government has made a final decision, but cautioned that the likelihood of an attack will increase if Tel Aviv does not approve of a Trump-negotiated nuclear deal.

“The chance of an Israeli strike on an Iranian nuclear facility has gone up significantly in recent months,” said one person familiar with the US's intelligence assessment.

“And the prospect of a Trump-negotiated US-Iran deal that doesn’t remove all of Iran’s uranium makes the chance of a strike more likely.”

Israel on Tuesday rejected a European Union decision to review the bloc's cooperation deal in a bid to pressure Israel over its intensified offensive in Gaza.

"We completely reject the direction taken in the statement, which reflects a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said in a message on X.

(AFP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday voiced hope that Israel will step up the amount of aid it allows into Gaza after authorizing the first trucks after more than two months.

"We anticipate that those flows will increase over the next few days and weeks. It's important that that be achieved," Rubio told a Senate hearing.

The UN received permission to send nearly 100 trucks of aid into Gaza, where experts have warned of a risk of famine as the Israeli blockade brings severe shortages of food and medicine.

Aid agencies say that at least 600 trucks per day are needed to alleviate the devastating hunger crisis caused by Israel's 11-week siege.

(AFP and TNA staff)

The UAE has agreed with Israel to allow delivery of urgent humanitarian aid from the Gulf country to Gaza, the state news agency WAM reported on Tuesday.

The agreement was reached in a phone call between UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed and his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar.

According to WAM, the aid will initially cater to the food needs of around 15,000 civilians in Gaza. It will also include essential supplies for bakeries and critical items for infant care.

Earlier on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office in Geneva said Israel had given permission for about 100 trucks to enter Gaza, though no aid has yet been distributed in the strip.

(Reuters and TNA staff)

Amnesty International has welcomed the EU's decision to review its trading relationship with Israel but called for a rapid imposition of sanctions in response to Israel's escalating destruction of the Gaza Strip.

"While this is a welcome first step, it also comes devastatingly late," said Eve Geddie, director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office.

"There is no time to lose, every delay costs human lives in Gaza. The EU and its member states must ban trade and investment that could contribute to the commission of genocide and other grave violations of international law," she said.

She added: "The EU must suspend all trade with Israeli settlements, while the member states that transfer arms to Israel must suspend such transfers."

BREAKING: Review of the EU’s relations with Israel welcome but devastatingly late

"Amnesty International will now push for a meaningful review which takes evidence and international standards into account," says @evegeddie

Press release 👇https://t.co/2KMdYrT5ul https://t.co/wQt7pJNcpl

— Amnesty EU (@AmnestyEU) May 20, 2025

At least 85 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza on Tuesday, medical sources tell Al Jazeera Arabic.

Seventeen of the European Union's 27 member states backed the Netherlands's call to review the bloc's trading relationship with Israel on Tuesday, diplomatic sources tell Euronews.

Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden had all voiced support for the measure ahead of the meeting of European foreign ministers.

They were reportedly joined by Denmark, Estonia, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

Austria, a staunch supporter of Israel, did not participate to voice opposition.

Voting against the review were Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Lithuania, while Latvia was "neutral".

A campaign group representing the families of captives held in Gaza has accused the Israeli government of having "no real plan" to return their family members.

"A majority of the nation supports the return of all the hostages, even at the price of ending the war. Only the return of everyone in one stage will allow a process of rehabilitation and renewal for the country and the army,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said on Tuesday.

Israel's military chief on Tuesday doubled down on plans to expand the war and occupy more of Gaza despite growing international pressure to end its brutal offensive.

"We will expand the maneuver, we will occupy additional territories, we will cleanse and destroy the terror infrastructure until it is defeated," IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir said in a statement.

Oxfam has called on the UK government to halt all arms sales on Israel in response to the intensifying destruction of the Gaza Strip.

"The UK government has suspended UK-Israel free trade talks and committed to further sanctions — but it’s not enough. The time for further action is now. End all arms sales," it wrote in a post on X.

The UK Government has suspended UK-Israel free trade talks and committed to further sanctions — but it’s not enough.

The time for further action is now. End all arms sales.

No weapons. No complicity. Not in our name. #StopArmingIsrael #CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/J5Nz7vrhVm

— Oxfam (@oxfamgb) May 20, 2025

Syria's leadership approved the handover of the belongings of long-dead spy Eli Cohen to Israel in a bid to ease Israeli hostility and show goodwill to U.S. President Donald Trump, three sources told Reuters.

Israel announced its recovery of the trove of documents, photographs and personal possessions relating to Cohen on Sunday, saying its spy agency Mossad had worked with an unnamed foreign intelligence agency to secure the material.

However, a Syrian security source, an adviser to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and a person familiar with backchannel talks between the countries said the archive of material was in fact offered to Israel as an indirect gesture by Sharaa as he seeks to cool tensions and build Trump's confidence.

Cohen, who was hanged in 1965 in a downtown Damascus square after infiltrating Syria's political elite, is still regarded as a hero in Israel and Mossad's most celebrated spy for uncovering military secrets that aided its lightning victory in the 1967 Middle East war.

(Reuters)

No aid has been distributed in Gaza since Israel began allowing small amounts of supplies into the strip on Monday, the UN secretary-general's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said today.

The UN confirmed earlier on Tuesday that Israeli authorities had allowed almost 100 trucks to cross the border.

"While more supplies have come into the Gaza Strip, we have not been able to secure the arrival of those supplies into our warehouses and delivery points," Stephane Dujarric said in a media briefing, describing the relief effort as a "complicated operation".

He also said that Israeli authorities have been delaying the entry of trucks and forced them to unload and reload the supplies once on the Palestinian side of the crossing.

Aid agencies say that at least 600 trucks need to enter a day to prevent widespread famine inside the strip.

An Israeli foreign ministry official has sounded the alarm about the country's growing international isolation, telling Israeli outlet Yedioth Ahronoth that the country's atrocities in Gaza has put the country in the "worst situation" it has ever faced.

"We are facing a real tsunami that will get worse. We are in the worst situation we have ever been in. It's much worse than a catastrophe, the world is not with us," the official said after the UK announced sanctions on illegal settlers and froze trade talks.

"Since November 2023, the world has seen only Palestinian children dying and flattening homes on television screens, and it is fed up. Israel offers no solution, no arrangement for the day after, no hope. Only death and destruction ... We must not take this lightly. No one will want to be identified with Israel," they said.

British Jewish group Yachad has welcomed the UK government's move today to sanction Israeli settlers and freeze trade negotiations.

"We fully support the UK government’s announcement this afternoon to take significant action ... in response to the Netanyahu government’s decision to continue to prosecute the war in Gaza in a manner that is totally unjustifiable," the NGO said in a statement.

It called the decisions an "inevitable response" to the "appalling statements" made by Israeli officials and their "support for ethnic cleansing and the starvation of civilians".

We support the UK Government’s decision to take concrete action in response to the continued war in Gaza.

Like us, many British Jews & Israelis are troubled by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, abandonment of hostages & rising settler violence.

Statement: https://t.co/NXqnn0jqOZ pic.twitter.com/LBCey90vtV

— Yachad UK (@YachadUK) May 20, 2025

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly ordered his negotiating team to leave Qatar, where mediators have been pressing for a ceasefire amid renewed indirect talks. 

A senior Israeli official tells Walla that the prime minister told them to return to Israel due to a lack of progress in the talks.

Israel has demanded Hamas surrender its weapons and leave Gaza as preconditions to ending the war, terms that the Palestinian group has rejected.

Here's more from the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas, who moments ago announced that she would order a review into the bloc's trade ties with Israel following today's meeting of European foreign ministers.

"It is clear from today’s discussion that there is a strong majority in favour of review of article two of our association agreement with Israel," the EU foreign affairs commissioner said.

"We will launch [the review], and in the meantime it is up to Israel to unblock the humanitarian aid," Kallas continued.

The European Union's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, has decided to order a review of the EU-Israel association agreement, a free trade deal between the two regions, in the wake of Israel's decision to ban aid to Gaza, Dutch news agency ANP reported, quoting the Dutch Foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp.

(Reuters)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that the United States has not discussed the deportation of Palestinians from Gaza to Libya, but he said that Washington had asked other countries in the region if they would be open to accepting Gazans who want to move voluntarily.

"What we have talked to some nations about is if someone voluntarily and willingly says I want to go somewhere else for some period of time because I'm sick, because my children need to go to school, or what have you, are there countries in the region willing to accept them for some period of time?," Rubio said, adding that he was not aware of Libya being included in that.

Rubio also told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the United States was pleased to see the resumption of food shipments to Gaza, adding that the United States understands that another 100 trucks are behind the initial ones to cross in to Gaza and more might enter in the coming days.

Israeli authorities said Tuesday that they had arrested two citizens suspected of carrying out "intelligence-gathering missions" at Iran's behest near the defence minister's home.

The arrests are the latest in a spate of cases in which Israel has charged its own citizens with spying for the country's arch-foe since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.

Police and the Shin Bet domestic security agency said that "in a joint operation... Roi Mizrachi and his friend, Almog Attias, both 24, were arrested at the end of April for committing security offences after collecting intelligence in Kfar Ahim", where Defence Minister Israel Katz lives.

The men were acting "on behalf of Iran" and motivated by "financial gain", said the statement from the security agencies.

US President Donald Trump is reportedly "frustrated" by Israel's renewed assault on Gaza, according to Axios, citing a White House official. 

"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," the official was quoted as saying.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Tuesday that Syria could be weeks away from civil war, days after he met with the country's transitional leaders.

"It is our assessment that, frankly, the transitional authority, given the challenges they're facing, are maybe weeks - not many months - away from potential collapse and a full scale civil war of epic proportions, basically the country splitting up," Rubio told a Senate hearing.

Israel said Tuesday that external pressure will not change its course after Britain paused free trade talks over the war in Gaza and levelled new sanctions on settlers in the occupied West Bank.

"If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy - that is its own prerogative," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said in a statement. "External pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction."

Sweden's top diplomat said Tuesday that the country would work within the EU to push for sanctions against certain Israeli ministers over Israel's treatment of civilian Palestinians in Gaza.

"Since we do not see a clear improvement for the civilians in Gaza, we need to raise the tone further," Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said in a statement to AFP.

"We will therefore now also push for EU sanctions against individual Israeli ministers," she added.

Stenergard said the sanctions should target "ministers who are pushing an illegal settlement policy and actively opposing a future two-state solution", with EU discussions determining which officials would be targeted.

But she insisted that Sweden was a "friend of Israel".

Her comments came as she met with EU counterparts in Brussels on Tuesday.

British foreign minister David Lammy is set to announce the pausing of trade deal negotiations with Israel, the government said on Tuesday, adding that it had also summoned Israel's ambassador over its expansion of military operations in Gaza.

(Reuters)

The UK government has issued sanctions on settler outposts in the West Bank, as well as several prominent settlers including Daniella Weiss, the head of the Nachala movement, as well as Eliav Libi, member of the Farms' Union leadership, and Zohar Sabah, a settler and farm owner.

Gaza’s Government Media Office has accused Israel of intensifying its "genocidal campaign" in the Gaza Strip, reporting that over 50 Palestinians, including 33 children, have been killed within just five hours on Monday.

In a statement issued via Telegram, the office condemned Israel’s continued use of "mass killing and starvation as weapons of war". It comes after recent comments made by former Israeli Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan, who said: "A sane country does not fight civilians or kill children for sport."

The media office called Golan’s remarks "a clear admission from within the Israeli military establishment of the ongoing genocide against our people".

Kuwait has condemned Israel’s shelling of the Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics in Gaza City, describing the strike as a "blatant violation" of international and humanitarian law.

In a statement shared on X (formerly Twitter), the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned of the dangerous escalation in Gaza and accused Israel of committing "systematic crimes" against the Palestinian people with impunity.

The ministry called on the international community to urgently fulfil its responsibility to protect Palestinian civilians, ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid, and uphold the right of Palestinians to live in safety and dignity.

The hospital, already out of service due to prior bombardment, was struck again by Israeli artillery on Monday.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza has announced that at least 87 Palestinians were killed and 290 others wounded in the latest 24-hour period of Israeli attacks across the besieged territory.

This brings the overall death toll since the start of the war to 53,573, with more than 121,688 people reported injured.

According to the ministry, the actual number of fatalities may be significantly higher, as many victims remain trapped beneath rubble in areas rescuers have been unable to access due to ongoing bombardment and lack of equipment.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday he, along with the leaders of France and Canada, were horrified by the escalation in Gaza, repeating calls for a ceasefire.

(Reuters)

Save the Children has called for the UK to suspend all arms to Israel, saying "threatening concrete action marks a shift from the UK Government's rhetoric, but the time for ultimatums has long gone."

In a post on X, Save the Children said that the government "must act now to end the catastrophic death and destruction in Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinian children cannot wait any longer."

"The UK must end its complicity and urgently suspend all arms transfers to the Government of Israel and hold all perpetrators of violations accountable. They must not be an ally to Israel's atrocities."

Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli strike on Tuesday wounded nine people in the country's south, the latest attack despite a ceasefire between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.

The latest reported strike, which the Israeli military did not immediately comment on, came a day after Israel said it had killed a member of Hezbollah's elite Radwan force in the border area of Hula.

The Lebanese health ministry on Tuesday said that an "Israeli enemy drone" hit a motorcycle in the coastal Tyre district.

Nine people were wounded in the attack including three in "critical condition", the ministry said, adding that two children were among the victims.

Israel has continued to launch strikes on its northern neighbour despite the November truce that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Iran-backed Hezbollah including two months of full-blown war.

Qatar sees significant economic opportunities for investments in Syria, Finance Minister Ali bin Ahmed al-Kuwari said on Tuesday.

Qatar also continued to see Egypt as a good investment destination, he added.

(Reuters)

The United Nations said on Tuesday it has received permission to send "around 100" trucks of aid into the war-shattered Gaza Strip, as humanitarian assistance trickled back in to the territory.

"We have requested and received approval of more trucks to enter today, many more than were approved yesterday," Jens Laerke, spokesman for UN Office for Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters in Geneva, adding that "we expect, of course, with that approval, many of them, hopefully all of them, to cross today to a point where they can be picked up and get further into the Gaza Strip for distribution."

EU countries on Tuesday gave a green light to lifting all economic sanctions on Syria in a bid to help the war-torn country recover after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, diplomats said.

Ambassadors from the EU's 27 member states struck a preliminary agreement for the move, which should be formally unveiled by foreign ministers meeting in Brussels later in the day, diplomats said.

Malnutrition rates in Gaza have risen during a more than 11-week Israeli blockade and could rise exponentially if food shortages continue, a health official at the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said on Tuesday.

"I have data until end of April and it shows malnutrition on the rise," Akihiro Seita, UNRWA Director of Health, told a Geneva press briefing. "And then the worry is that if the current food shortage continues, it will exponentially increase, and then get beyond our control."

Israel cleared nine trucks of aid on Monday to enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing although aid workers said just five entered.

(Reuters)

Germany's Lufthansa airline group said Tuesday it had extended its suspension of flights to and from Tel Aviv until at least 8 June amid the ongoing conflict.

The decision was made "due to the current situation", Lufthansa said without giving further details, at a time Israel has also launched a major new military offensive in Gaza.

The airline group - whose carriers include Eurowings, Swiss, Austrian and Brussels Airlines - initially suspended its flights to Israel's main airport following a 4 May rocket attack launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels, and has extended the suspension several times.

The missile landed near a car park at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport and injured six people, the first time a missile had penetrated the airport perimeter.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday that she hoped ministers gathering in Brussels would reach an agreement on lifting economic sanctions on Syria.

Ministers are considering a political decision to lift economic sanctions while maintaining sanctions related to the Assad regime and introducing measures against human rights violators, officials said.

"It is clear that we want there to be jobs and livelihoods for the people (in Syria), so that it would be a more stable country," Kallas said.

(Reuters)

The UN's under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, Tom Fletcher, has warned that 14,000 babies will die in the next 48 hours if humanitarian aid does not reach them in Gaza.

In comments made to the BBC, Fletcher said that the five aid trucks that were allowed into Gaza on Monday have yet to reach communities yet, and that he hoped 100 aid trucks would be able to enter Gaza today.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei voiced doubts on Tuesday over whether nuclear talks with the United States will lead to an agreement, Mehr news reported, as Tehran reviews a proposal to hold a fifth round of negotiations.

"I don't think nuclear talks with the US will be bring results. I don't know," Khamenei said during a speech in remembrance of Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi.

(Reuters)

The UN's agency for Palestine Refugees has said "the Gaza Strip is likely facing its worst humanitarian crisis since October 2023".

In a statement on X, the agency said that Israel's bombardment is causing hundreds of casualties and mass displacement, adding that with the blockade on the enclave "the only thing entering Gaza right now are bombs. Nowhere is safe." 

The #Gaza Strip is likely facing its worst humanitarian crisis since October 2023.

Intensified Israeli bombardments from air, land, and sea have resulted in hundreds of casualties and mass displacement. For 11 weeks, Israeli authorities have deliberately blocked all supplies to… pic.twitter.com/IBROQ40Rb4

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) May 20, 2025

 Israel's easing of humanitarian aid access to Gaza is insufficient, French foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday.

"It is totally insufficient... Immediate and massive aid is needed," Barrot told France Inter radio.

He said Israel needed to ensure massive, immediate aid without any hindrance by Israel.

The leaders of Britain, Canada and France on Monday threatened concrete actions against Israel if it does not stop a renewed military offensive in Gaza and lift aid restrictions, piling further pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

(Reuters)

Qatar's prime minister Tuesday said Israel's military offensive in Gaza had undermined peace efforts after the release of US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander and amid expanded operations in the Palestinian territory.

"When Israeli American soldier Aidan Alexander was released, we thought that moment would open a door to end this tragedy, but the response was a more violent wave of strikes," Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani said at the Qatar Economic Forum.

"This irresponsible, aggressive behaviour undermines any potential chance for peace."