Israel continues bombing Gaza as European nations slam Netanyahu's plans

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US envoy Steve Witkoff briefed members of the UN Security Council on Wednesday about various topics, including Gaza, participants in the closed-door talks said.

After the meeting, ambassadors from the UN Security Council's 14 other members declined to give details of Witkoff's remarks.

"It was confidential," Pakistani Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said. Panamanian Ambassador Eloy Alfaro de Alba called it "an informal meeting, it was very interesting, about various subjects, not only Gaza."

Witkoff also met separately on Wednesday with Israel's UN ambassador, Danny Danon.

Danon said afterward they had an "important discussion about the regional issues."

Dozens of protesters stood on tables, beat drums and unfurled pro-Palestinian banners in the main reading room of a Columbia University library on Wednesday in one of the biggest demonstrations at the school since its New York City campus was roiled by a student protest movement last year.

Videos and photographs on social media showed the protesters, most wearing masks, with banners saying "Strike For Gaza" and "Liberated Zone" beneath the Lawrence A. Wein Reading Room's chandeliers in the Butler Library.

Columbia's public affairs office said in a statement that its public safety staff were asking protesters to show identification, and that if protesters do not comply with orders to disperse, they will be disciplined for breaking school rules and face "possible arrest."

Columbia University: Protesters clash with security at Butler Library. Students must show ID to leave or face arrest.pic.twitter.com/BZgLfjHaVI

— TaraBull (@TaraBull808) May 7, 2025

Qatar is set to provide war-torn Syria with $29 million monthly for three months that can be extended to pay salaries, the Syrian finance minister said in a statement on Wednesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will informally brief members of the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday on Gaza and other regional issues, a U.S. administration official said.

The briefing, to which a diplomatic source said all 15 members of the Security Council have been invited, would take place at the U.S. mission to the United Nations, the administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Axios, which first reported the news, said Witkoff is expected to brief on U.S. policy regarding the war in Gaza and nuclear talks with Iran. It said he was expected to focus primarily on Gaza and on a new aid mechanism proposed by Israel and the U.S.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Wednesday said that Brussels had made an offer to Israel to help distribute aid in Gaza as the blockade there raises fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Kallas said that she had brought up the plan for EU involvement in handing out aid in a call with her Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar on Tuesday.

"I offered also help by the European Union to distribute the humanitarian aid if they don't trust the other actors there," she told journalists at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Warsaw, adding that the ministers would discuss the matter during their meeting in Warsaw.

"It's time for the European Union and for the whole international community to wake up," said Belgian foreign minister Maxime Prevot on Wednesday.

"People of Gaza urgently need humanitarian support. Women, children are starving. So I'm waiting for a strong reaction of the EU," he added.

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday expressed its "categorical rejection" of Israel's plan to expand its offensive in the Gaza Strip, and called for violations of international law to end.

"Saudi Arabia categorically reject the Israeli occupation authorities' announcement about the incursion into and control of the Gaza Strip and Palestinian territories," the foreign ministry said, expressing its rejection of Israel's "continued violations of international law".

World Central Kitchen announced it has halted work in the Gaza Strip as they ran out of supplies, adding that their work cannot continue without permission from Israel for aid to enter.

"After serving more than 130 million total meals and 26 million loaves of bread over the past 18 months, World Central Kitchen no longer has the supplies to cook meals or bake bread in Gaza," the NGO said in a post on X on Wednesday.

After serving more than 130 million total meals and 26 million loaves of bread over the past 18 months, World Central Kitchen no longer has the supplies to cook meals or bake bread in Gaza. #ChefsForGaza (1/5) pic.twitter.com/jOLhLjxlEF

— World Central Kitchen (@WCKitchen) May 7, 2025

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday cast doubt over the fate of three captives held in Gaza since 7 October 2023, after US President Donald Trump earlier announced that number had died.

"We know for sure that 21 hostages are alive, there is no debate about that, and there are three others that unfortunately we do not know if they are alive," Netanyahu said in a video statement.

"What is certain is 21 but we do not give up on anyone, not the remaining three and not all the others," he added in the statement posted on the Telegram messaging app.

On Tuesday, Trump said that three more hostages held by Hamas in Gaza had died.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israel's hostages coordinator Gal Hirsch wrote on X saying the number of living captives remained unchanged, contradicting the US president.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday there would be more information in the next day on a potential new proposal for a captive release deal and ceasefire in Gaza.

"A lot of talk going on about Gaza right now," Trump said at the White House. "You'll be knowing probably in the next 24 hours."

Two Egyptian security sources told Reuters at the end of April that negotiations held in Cairo to reach a ceasefire in Gaza were on the verge of a significant breakthrough.

On Wednesday, an official close to the mediation effort said there was no new proposal.

"There are intensified efforts by the mediators and contacts have never stopped, but there isn’t a concrete proposal yet," the official said. "Hamas still insists on its full package ceasefire deal in return for an end to the war, while Israel doesn’t want to end the war."

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Wednesday the country has had indirect talks with Israel to calm the situation as Israeli strikes continued to target Syria.

Reuters reported the United Arab Emirates has set up a backchannel for talks between Israel and Syria, as Syria's new rulers seek regional help to manage an increasingly hostile relationship with their southern neighbour.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that he was trying to convince the United States to delay withdrawing its troops from Syria, to focus on lifting sanctions against Syria that would help ensure stability for the country.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said he had urged his visiting Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa to protect all Syrians without exception.

Macron said he had told Al-Sharaa at their talks in Paris that the president "must do everything to assure the protection of all Syrians without exception" after "unacceptable" killings in clashes that affected the Alawite and Druze minorities in recent months.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he is ready to start negotiations between Syria and Lebanon to demarcate the neighbouring countries' border, adding that combatting Iran and its proxies in the region helps in bringing stability.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he would pursue the progressive lifting of European Union sanctions against Syria if Syria stuck to its current path, and added he would lobby the United States to also follow suit in this regard.

Macron's comments came as he hosted Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Paris.

"I told the president that if he continues on his path, we would do the same. Namely by first progressively lifting European sanctions, and then we would also lobby our American partners to follow suit on this matter," said Macron.

He said he would push for the sanctions against Syria to not be renewed in June.

Al-Sharaa said nothing justifies maintaining sanctions imposed on the previous Assad regime.

Greece and Egypt signed a "strategic partnership" deal on Wednesday as they seek to step up political coordination to help safeguard stability in the Eastern Mediterranean amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reaffirmed their joint stance over the need to respect international law to promote peace in Gaza.

"The first priority is for hostilities to stop and restore the flow of humanitarian aid to civilians," Mitsotakis said in joint statements with Sisi. He said Greece supported an Arab-backed plan for the reconstruction of Gaza once a ceasefire was achieved.

Yemen's Houthi rebels said they targeted Israel's Ramon Airport and Red Sea city of Eilat with drones on Wednesday, as the group said it will not hesitate to carry out strikes against US interests if it resumes its strikes on Yemen.

Oman on Tuesday said it mediated a ceasefire deal between the Houthis and Washington, which would see the Iran-backed militia stop attacking shipping lanes and the US halt strikes on Yemen.

Countries are at a moral crossroads over the conflict in Gaza, UN experts warned Wednesday, urging action to halt the violence and avoid "the annihilation of the Palestinian population" in the territory.

In a statement slammed by Israel, dozens of independent United Nations experts warned that countries faced a "stark" choice.

"Remain passive and witness the slaughter of innocents or take part in crafting a just resolution," they said, urging the world to avert the "moral abyss we are descending into".

The experts, who are mandated by the UN Human Rights Council but who do not speak on behalf of the United Nations, said Israel's actions in Gaza "follow alarming, documented patterns of genocidal conduct".

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said Wednesday that the Netherlands is "drawing a line in the sand" over Israel’s actions in Gaza and is insisting on a review of a European Union pact governing trade ties with the country.

Veldkamp expressed concern that Israel’s blockade on food and aid entering Gaza continues, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to intensify the war and that some ministers have suggested that Israel should occupy the territory.

Speaking at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Warsaw, Veldkamp said that the Netherlands is "drawing a line in the sand because the situation in the Gaza Strip is dismal, a catastrophic humanitarian situation."

"The chances for a new ceasefire have become very, very limited," Veldkamp said. "In view of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and action of the Israeli authorities, which go against international humanitarian law, I believe that this signal has to be given."

Gaza's civil defence agency said the toll from an Israeli strike on Gaza City on Wednesday had risen to at least 33 killed and more than 80 injured, many of them children.

The agency's spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that "civil defence crews, paramedics and volunteers transported at least 33 martyrs and more than 80 injured, about half of them children and some women, as a result of the Israeli air strike" in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City.

Countries are at a moral crossroads over the conflict in Gaza, UN experts warned Wednesday, urging action to halt the violence and avoid "the annihilation of the Palestinian population" in the territory.

"Remain passive and witness the slaughter of innocents or take part in crafting a just resolution," they said, urging the world to avert the "moral abyss we are descending into".

The experts, who are mandated by the UN Human Rights Council but who do not speak on behalf of the United Nations, said Israel's actions in Gaza "follow alarming, documented patterns of genocidal conduct". 

Syria's leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, on his first visit to Europe since taking power, arrived at the Elysee palace on Wednesday where he was greeted by President Emmanuel Macron, an AFP reporter saw.

Sharaa is under pressure from Europe to show he is serious about protecting human rights as Damascus seeks the full lifting of sanctions imposed under toppled president Bashar al-Assad.

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) has said that it's staff are "witnessing starvation every day on an until-now unprecedented scale," and called on the UK to pressure Israel to open Gaza's land crossings and commit to a permanent ceasefire.

"This has only become possible because the international community, including the UK, has failed to end the chronic impunity afforded to Israel for these ongoing atrocities," the agency said, adding "he UK must stop being an ally to Israel's atrocities and take decisive action to end Israel's stranglehold on more than two million people."

The comments were made in response to Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa's declaration that Gaza was suffering a famine.

According to Haitham al-Saqqa, a Nutrition Programme Officer at MAP, warned that there had been a "sharp rise in moderate and severe malnutrition, particularly among children under five, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers." 

"Through MAP's nutrition programme, we have conducted mid-upper arm circumference screenings over the past two months for children under five and pregnant and breastfeeding women in Gaza City and northern Gaza. Alarmingly, 30 percent of those previously treated for malnutrition have returned to our field nutrition medical points suffering once again from acute malnutrition - this is a direct result of the lack of available food."

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday welcomed a deal brokered by Oman ending hostilities between the United States and Yemen's Houthis rebels following weeks of airstrikes by American forces.

Saudi Arabia "welcomed the statement issued by the Sultanate of Oman regarding the reaching of a ceasefire in Yemen with the aim of protecting international navigation and trade," the foreign ministry said in a statement, referring to Houthi strikes on Red Sea shipping.

Iran welcomes the end of US attacks on Yemen, its foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday after President Donald Trump announced Washington would stop bombing the Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthi militia.

Trump said Yemen's Houthis had agreed to stop disrupting important shipping lanes in the Middle East.

Under the agreement, neither the US nor the Houthis would target the other, including US vessels in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, mediator Oman said.

Spain will present a draft resolution at the UN General Assembly aimed at "proposing urgent measures to stop the killing of innocent civilians and ensure humanitarian aid" in Gaza, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Wednesday.

Sanchez told the Spanish parliament that "the international community cannot remain indifferent to what is happening" in the Palestinian territory, where Israel resumed its offensive against Hamas in March after a two-month ceasefire.

The Socialist premier has been one of the most outspoken critics of Israel's devastating war in Gaza, which has caused shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine.

Spain also broke with some European allies and infuriated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government last year by recognising a Palestinian state.

Gaza's civil defence agency said that an Israeli strike on Gaza City killed at least 16 people and wounded dozens of others on Wednesday.

The agency's spokesman Mahmud Bassal said "at least 16 martyrs and dozens of wounded were transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City" following the bombardment in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood. The Israeli army did not immediately provide comment on the strike.

A missile which was launched from Yemen at Israel fell outside the country's borders, Israeli media reported on Wednesday.

This come a day after Oman said it mediated a ceasefire deal between the US and the Houthis, with the Yemeni group said did not include Israel.

(Reuters)

France's President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that the situation in Gaza was "the most critical we have ever seen".

"Never, never have people been deprived of medical care, unable to get the wounded out, deprived of food, medicine and water for so long," said Macron at a joint press conference with Germany's new Chancellor Friedrich Merz

He further called the "forced displacement" of Gaza's population planned by Israel "unacceptable".

The European Union renewed an urgent call on Wednesday for Israel to immediately lift the blockade on Gaza, allowing humanitarian aid to reach those in need, and warned against Israel’s planned new aid delivery mechanism.

"As the occupying power, Israel is obliged under international law to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches the population in need," said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Crisis Management Commissioner Hadja Lahbib, and Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica in a joint statement.

The statement also urged a ceasefire and the immediate release of captives, while expressing concern over a new aid delivery system approved by Israel on 4 May.

The statement said the new system undermined humanitarian principles by outsourcing aid distribution to non-humanitarian actors and private security firms — a move criticised by the U.N. and aid groups.

Six European countries said on Wednesday that they "firmly reject any demographic or territorial change in Gaza" after Israel announced plans to expand its military offensive in the Palestinian territory.

Israel's plan "would mark a new and dangerous escalation" in the war, the foreign ministers of Spain, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, and Slovenia said in a joint statement.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa appealed to the international community Wednesday to put a stop to the "deliberate humanitarian crime" of famine, which he said was being perpetrated in Gaza.

"We appeal to the conscience of humanity. Do not let the children of Gaza starve to death. Do not allow food and water to be used as weapons of war and control. This famine is not a natural disaster; it is a deliberate humanitarian crime, and silence is complicity," he said.

"We hold Israel, the occupying power, fully responsible for this deliberate humanitarian catastrophe," Mustafa said at a conference in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

UN agencies have repeatedly warned of an impending humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, with the crisis worsened by an Israeli blockade on all aid since early March.

The United Nations humanitarian office OCHA accused Israel on Tuesday of trying to "weaponise" the flow of aid into Gaza.

Yemen's Houthis said on Wednesday that they would continue targeting Israeli ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden despite a ceasefire deal with the United States.

"The waterways are safe for all international ships except Israeli ones," Abdulmalik Alejri, a member of the Huthi political bureau, told AFP.

"Israel is not part of the agreement, it only includes American and other ships," he said.

The UN rights chief voiced deepened concerns Wednesday that Israel's plans to expand its offensive in Gaza aim to create conditions threatening Palestinians' "continued existence" in the territory.

"Israel's reported plans to forcibly transfer Gaza's population to a small area in the south of the Strip and threats by Israeli officials to deport Palestinians outside of Gaza, further aggravate concerns that Israel's actions are aimed at inflicting on Palestinians conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence in Gaza as a group," Volker Turk said in a statement.

Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said Wednesday that the group insisted on a "comprehensive agreement" to end the war with Israel in Gaza, now in its 19th month.

"There are desperate attempts ahead of (US President Donald) Trump's visit to the region, through the crime of starvation, the ongoing genocide and threats of expanding military operations, to force through a partial deal that would return some Israeli captives in exchange for a limited number of days of food and water - without any guarantees from any party to actually end the war," Naim told AFP.

Amnesty International has said that Israel must abandon its plans for the annexation of Gaza and the forcible displacement of Palestinians from the enclave, saying the action would "gravely violate international law." 

The organisation accused Israel of committing "genocidal acts" and said that any move to "impose inhumane conditions of life to push Palestinians out of Gaza, would amount to the war crime of unlawful transfer or deportation."

"If these actions are committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population, they would also constitute crimes against humanity." 

Amnesty International's Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy, and Campaigns, Erika Guevara Rosas, said: "Instead of pursuing policies that lead to further forced displacement and potentially to illegal annexation, Israel must immediately stop its genocide in Gaza, end its unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory, in line with the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion of July 2024, and dismantle its system of apartheid against Palestinians."

Gaza's civil defence agency said Wednesday that an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people killed 15 people in a neighbourhood of Gaza City.

"Our teams retrieved 15 martyrs and 10 injured individuals after Israeli occupation aircraft targeted the Al-Karama school, which shelters displaced persons... in the Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza City," spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

Gaza's Ministry of Health has announced that 38 people have been killed and 145 injured in Israeli attacks on the enclave in the last 24 hours.

It added that four of those registered as killed were recovered bodies, and that there were a number of dead and injured that cannot be reached by ambulance and civil defence teams.

A multi-million-dollar US warplane failed to land on the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and plummeted into the Red Sea, US media reported Tuesday, the second jet lost from the ship in just over a week.

The two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet, worth around $67 million, went overboard after an unsuccessful attempt to slow it down as it landed, CNN, the Wall Street Journal and others reported.

A defense official told the US Naval Institute that the hook of the aircraft failed to catch the arresting wire on the aircraft carrier.

"The arrestment failed, causing the aircraft to go overboard," the defense official said, adding "both aviators safely ejected and were rescued by a helicopter."

It is the second F/A-18 operating off the Truman to be lost in just over a week.

New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed concern about Israel's plans to take over the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza and said his new foreign minister would travel to Israel at the weekend.

"It must be clear that the Israeli government must fulfil its obligations under international law and that humanitarian aid must be provided in the Gaza Strip," he told ARD television late on Tuesday.

"We view the developments of the last few days with considerable concern," he said, adding Israel had the right to defend itself but must live up to its humanitarian obligations.

(Reuters)

Several Arab countries have welcomed the Omani mediation that resulted in reaching a ceasefire between Yemen's Houthis and the US.

Jordan praised the mediation as "an effective step towards avoiding further tension and conflicts in the region, and protecting the freedom of navigation and international trade".

In a statement on X yesterday, Kuwait's foreign ministry welcomed Oman's diplomatic efforts that resulted in the deal, and reiterated its position in support of dialogue and diplomatic solutions to resolve disagreements.

Qatar expressed appreciation for Oman's "constructive role that contributed to reaching this deal".

Iraq's foreign ministry also expressed in a statement its support for efforts aimed at de-escalation in Yemen.

A ceasefire deal between Yemen's Houthis and the United States does not include operations against Israel "in any way, shape or form," the group's chief negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam told Reuters on Wednesday.

(Reuters)

Israeli military said on Wednesday reported that it intercepted an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) launched from the east.

Sirens were sounded as part of standard protocol, the IDF said.

(Reuters)

Egypt and Qatar issued a joint statement on Wednesday affirming their ongoing mediation efforts to address a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Egypt and Qatar said their efforts are closely coordinated with the United States to reach an agreement that ensures civilian protection and resolves the humanitarian tragedy.

(Reuters)