Qatar

António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, has called Israel’s ‘targeted strike’ on Hamas officials in Doha a ‘flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar.’

There were explosions near a residential area in Doha on Tuesday after the Israeli military said it carried out ‘targeted strikes’ on Hamas officials. Qatar has condemned the attack in the strongest terms.

Egypt says forced Palestinian displacement a ‘red line’ as Qatar calls it a ‘extension’ of Israel’s policy of violating Palestinian rights.

Egypt and Qatar have expressed strong condemnation over remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the displacement of Palestinians, including through the Rafah crossing.

In a statement on Friday, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the comments as part of “ongoing attempts to prolong escalation in the region and perpetuate instability while avoiding accountability for Israeli violations in Gaza”.

In an interview with the Israeli Telegram channel Abu Ali Express, Netanyahu claimed there were “different plans for how to rebuild Gaza” and alleged that “half of the population wants to leave Gaza”, claiming it was “not a mass expulsion”.

“I can open Rafah for them, but it will be closed immediately by Egypt,” he said.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry reiterated its “categorical rejection of forcibly or coercively displacing Palestinians from their land”.

“[Egypt] stresses that these practices represent a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and amount to war crimes that cannot be tolerated,” the ministry added.

The statement affirmed that Egypt will never be complicit in such practices nor act as a conduit for Palestinian displacement, describing this as a “red line” that cannot be crossed.

‘Collective punishment will not succeed’

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry also fiercely criticised Netanyahu’s remarks, calling them an “extension of the occupation’s approach to violating the rights of the brotherly Palestinian people”.

“The policy of collective punishment practised by the occupation against the Palestinians … will not succeed in forcing the Palestinian people to leave their land or in confiscating their legitimate rights,” it said in a statement.

It stressed the need for the international community to “unite with determination to confront the extremist and provocative policies of the Israeli occupation, in order to prevent the continuation of the cycle of violence in the region and its spread to the world”.

The war of words comes as Egypt and Qatar continue to lead mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel, seeking to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into the coastal enclave.

Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, said Netanyahu’s comments were “incredibly controversial” since it’s the Israeli government which has outlined that “it wants the Palestinians out of Gaza”.

“The condemnation from both Qatar and Egypt is essentially telling Israel this is all a part of its larger plan, that Israel is the one that waged war on the Gaza Strip, that the continuation of crimes against the Palestinian people and the total closure of the Rafah border crossing is the reason why they’re imprisoned in Gaza, not because of anything else,” she said.

“It is Israel that single-handedly created this policy.”

The Israeli military onslaught on Gaza City continues nonstop, resulting in the killing of more than 50 Palestinians, including aid seekers, as it seeks to seize control of the enclave’s biggest urban centre – home to some 1 million people.

At least 105 Palestinians were killed across Gaza on Tuesday as Israeli strikes levelled densely populated areas, particularly al-Sabra neighbourhood, which has been under attack for days. At least 32 of those were killed while seeking aid.

The attacks are intensified as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is facing a “decisive stage” of the war as it prepares to seize Gaza City despite global condemnation.

“Palestinians are in a cage in Gaza City right now, trying to survive as many air strikes as possible. Wherever they go, the air strikes follow them,” said Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary.

“They are also dying from the food and aid blockade as they are not able to get the basic means of sustenance,” she said, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

Palestinians are struggling to survive the dual threats of targeted attacks and starvation, with at least 13 people dying of starvation in the past 24 hours, bringing the total hunger-related death toll since the war began to 361. Eighty-three of those deaths have been recorded since a global hunger monitor confirmed famine conditions in Gaza on August 22.

Among those killed on Tuesday were at least 21 people, including seven children, who were struck by an Israeli drone while queuing for water in the al-Mawasi area near Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Images posted online by Palestinian Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal showed children’s bodies and water containers stained with blood at the attack site, which Israel had previously declared a so-called “safe zone”.

“They were standing in line to fill up water … when the occupation forces directly targeted them, turning their search for life into a new massacre,” Basal said on Tuesday.

In Gaza City, an Israeli strike on the al-Af family home killed 10 people, mostly women and children, Gaza officials said.

“These crimes expose the criminal fascist nature of the enemy,” Gaza’s Government Media Office said in a statement, accusing Washington of complicity. It called Israel’s actions “war crimes under international law” and urged the UN Security Council to halt the “brutal genocide”.

Two more journalists, Rasmi Salem of al-Manara and Eman al-Zamli, were killed in the latest attacks, bringing the total number of journalists killed since October 7, 2023, to more than 270. The war in Gaza has become the deadliest conflict for media workers ever recorded, press watchdogs say.

Israel starts ground assault in Gaza City

On Tuesday, thousands of Israeli reservists reported for duty as efforts to end the war seemed to be stalling.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said Hamas had accepted a ceasefire proposal, but Israel had yet to respond.

“There has been no Israeli response yet,” he said, adding that negotiations with mediators and the United States had stalled. He warned that Israel’s plan to occupy Gaza “poses a threat to everyone”, including Israeli captives.

But Israel has tightened its siege of Gaza City in recent days, barring even limited humanitarian aid deliveries.

Israeli Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir confirmed ground operations were intensifying. “We are going to deepen our operation,” he told reservists as tens of thousands of troops were called up. Israeli media reported that 365 soldiers have refused to report for duty.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, said in a video statement on Tuesday that “we are working to defeat Hamas.”

Yemen’s Houthi movement said its forces launched four drones targeting Israel’s General Staff headquarters near Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion Airport, a power station, and the port of Ashdod, days after Israel killed Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi along with top officials in Sanaa.

The group claimed its drones “successfully hit their targets.” It also said a missile and drone attack struck a cargo vessel in the Red Sea for violating a ban on entering Israeli ports.

International ‘indifference’ to Palestine

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry welcomed Belgium’s decision to recognise the State of Palestine on Tuesday and urged other nations to follow suit, saying it was “in line with international law and UN resolutions” and necessary to halt “genocide, displacement, starvation, and annexation”.

In a separate statement, the ministry accused the international community of “alarming” indifference to Gaza’s economic collapse and Israel’s seizure of Palestinian tax revenues. It called for urgent financial support to “enhance the resilience of citizens and their steadfastness on their homeland’s soil”.

Qatar’s foreign ministry said delegations were meeting in Doha to review the implementation of a truce signed in July.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the M23 armed group have resumed negotiations in Qatar as violence deepens in the country’s mineral-rich eastern provinces in spite of a recently signed an agreement to reach a full peace deal.

Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said delegations from Kinshasa and the M23 were meeting in Doha to review the implementation of a truce signed in July. “We’ve received the two parties here in Doha to discuss the earlier agreement,” Ansari said at a news briefing on Tuesday.

The deal, brokered by Qatar, committed both sides to a ceasefire and a path to a final settlement. Under its terms, talks were supposed to begin on 8 August and conclude by 18 August. Both deadlines passed without progress, and the agreement has faltered amid accusations of violations from both sides.

Ansari said the current discussions include plans to create a mechanism for monitoring the truce, as well as an exchange of prisoners and detainees. He added that the United States and the International Committee of the Red Cross were closely involved in supporting the talks.

The Qatar-led initiative followed a separate ceasefire agreement signed in Washington between Rwanda, who back M23, and DRC in June. But the M23 rejected that deal, demanding direct negotiations with Kinshasa to address what it called unresolved political grievances.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that he ended the conflict, and several others, describing DRC as the “darkest, deepest” part of Africa and asserting that he “saved lots of lives.” On Monday, Trump claimed that nine million people were “killed with machetes” during the decades-long war, insisting, “I stopped it.”

Rights groups have dismissed Trump’s claims as misleading. “It is far from the reality to say that he has ended the war,” said Christian Rumu of Amnesty International. “People on the ground continue to experience grave human rights violations, and some of these amount to crimes against humanity,” he added, calling on Washington to accelerate efforts to secure peace.

Despite multiple ceasefire attempts, fighting has intensified in North and South Kivu provinces, forcing more than two million people from their homes this year. Human Rights Watch last week accused the M23 of carrying out ethnically targeted “mass killings,” while United Nations experts have said Rwandan forces played a “critical” role in supporting the group’s offensive.

Rwanda denies involvement, but the M23’s capture of vast areas, including the regional capital Goma earlier this year, has fuelled fears of a wider regional conflict.

The DRC’s eastern region, home to some of the world’s richest deposits of gold, cobalt, and coltan, has been devastated by years of armed conflict, with civilians bearing the brunt of atrocities despite repeated international mediation efforts.

BEIRUT — Saudi Arabia and Qatar are ready to invest in an economic zone in south Lebanon near the border with Israel that would create jobs for members of the militant Hezbollah group and its supporters once they lay down their weapons, President Trump’s envoy to the Middle East said Tuesday.

Tom Barrack made his comments in Beirut after trips to Israel and Syria where he discussed with officials there the ongoing situation in Lebanon following this month’s decision by the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year. Hezbollah’s leader rejected the government’s plan, vowing to keep the weapons.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces could begin withdrawing from territory they hold in southern Lebanon after the Lebanese government’s “momentous decision” to disarm Hezbollah.

The U.S.-backed Lebanese army is preparing a plan for Hezbollah’s disarmament that should be ready by the end of August. The government is expected to discuss the army’s plan and approve it during a meeting scheduled for Sept. 2.

“We have to have money coming into the system. The money will come from the Gulf,” Barrack told reporters after meeting President Joseph Aoun. “Qatar and Saudi Arabia are partners and are willing to do that for the south (of Lebanon) if we’re asking a portion of the Lebanese community to give up their livelihood.”

“We have 40,000 people that are being paid by Iran to fight. What are you gonna do with them? Take their weapon and say ‘by the way, good luck planting olive trees’? It can’t happen. We have to help them,” Barrack said. He was referring to tens of thousands of Hezbollah members who have been funded since the early 1980s by Tehran.

“We, all of us, the Gulf, the U.S., the Lebanese are all gonna act together to create an economic forum that is gonna produce a livelihood,” Barrack said.

When asked why the U.S. doesn’t go to discuss the Hezbollah issue directly with Iran rather than traveling to Israel and Syria, Barrack said: “You think that’s not happening? Goodbye.” Barrack then ended his news conference and walked out of the room.

Speaking on the U.N. peacekeeping force that has been deployed in south Lebanon since Israel first invaded the country in 1978, Barrack said the U.S. would rather fund the Lebanese army than the force that is known as UNIFIL. Speaking about this week’s vote at the United Nations in New York, Barrack said the U.S. backs extending UNIFIL’s term for one year only.

Conflict escalated to war in September 2024, before November ceasefire

A low-level conflict between Israel and Hezbollah started a day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack against Israel from Gaza, when Hezbollah began launching rockets across the border in support of its Palestinian ally. The conflict escalated into war in September 2024 and left more than 4,000 people dead, and caused destruction worth $11 billion in Lebanon, according to the World Bank.

The war ended in November with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire and since then Hezbollah says it has ended its presence along the border area. Israel has continued almost daily airstrikes that have killed dozens of Hezbollah members.

Amnesty International in a report released Tuesday said it had identified more than 10,000 buildings that were “heavily damaged or destroyed” in southern Lebanon between October 2024 and January this year.

Israeli forces remained in much of the border area for weeks after the ceasefire agreement went into effect and are still holding five strategic points.

Amnesty’s report alleged that Israeli forces may have violated international law by destroying civilian property in areas they were controlling with “manually laid explosives and bulldozers” after the active fighting had ended and there was no longer an “imperative military necessity.”

Barrack chides journalists before news conference, provoking ire

At the start of the joint news conference with U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus, Barrack warned journalists at the presidential palace to be quiet, telling them to “act civilized, act kind, act tolerant.” He threatened to end the conference early otherwise.

“The moment that this starts becoming chaotic, like animalistic, we’re gone,” said Barrack. He then asked: “Do you think this is economically beneficial for Morgan and I to be here putting up with this insanity?”

None of the journalists present responded to his comments but the Lebanese press syndicate issued a statement about the “inappropriate treatment” that the Lebanese journalists were subjected to and called on Barrack and the State Department to apologize. It added that if no apology were made, it could escalate by calling for boycotting Barrack’s visits and meeting.

The Presidential Palace also issued a statement regretting the comments made by “one of our guests” and greeted journalists who cover news at the palace, thanking them for their “hard work.”

Mroue and Chehayeb write for the Associated Press. AP writer Abby Sewell contributed to this report.

Israel’s military says it will call up 60,000 reservists and lengthen the service of an additional 20,000 reservists.

Israel will call up 60,000 reservists in the coming weeks as it pushes forward with a plan to seize Gaza City, the military has said, even as mediators pursue efforts to secure a ceasefire in the 22-month war.

The military said on Wednesday that Defence Minister Israel Katz approved plans to begin operations in some of Gaza’s most densely populated areas, and that it would call up 60,000 reservists and lengthen the service of an additional 20,000 reservists.

The announcement comes as human rights groups warn that a humanitarian crisis could worsen in Gaza, where most residents have been displaced multiple times, neighbourhoods lie in ruins, and starvation deaths continue to rise amid the threat of widescale famine.

An Israeli military official told journalists that the new phase of combat would involve “a gradual precise and targeted operation in and around Gaza City,” including some areas where forces had not previously operated.

The official said the military had already begun operating in the neighbourhoods of Zeitoun and Jabalia as part of the initial stages.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from central Gaza, said residents are bracing for the worst as Israel pursues its plan to seize Gaza’s largest city, in an operation that could displace hundreds of thousands of people to concentration zones in the south of the territory.

Abu Azzoum said Israeli artillery has flattened rows of homes in eastern Gaza City as attacks intensified across densely populated areas.

“Last night was completely sleepless as Israeli drones and warplanes filled the skies, attacking and destroying homes and makeshift camps,” Abu Azzoum said.

He also described how a father in al-Mawasi, an Israeli-designated so-called safe zone in southern Gaza, lost his children in an overnight strike. “He told us his children were sleeping peacefully when the Israeli missile tore through the tent and ripped their bodies apart.”

At least 35 Palestinians, including 10 people seeking aid, were killed in Israeli attacks on Wednesday, according to medical sources.

Israel’s plan to escalate its assault coincides with renewed mediation efforts led by Qatar and Egypt, with backing from the United States. The latest framework calls for a 60-day truce, a staggered exchange of captives and Palestinian prisoners, and expanded aid access.

While Qatar said the proposal was “almost identical” to a version Israel had previously accepted, Egypt stressed that “the ball is now in its (Israel’s) court.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not publicly commented on the proposal. Last week, he insisted any deal must ensure “all the hostages are released at once and according to our conditions for ending the war”.

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi said his movement “opened the door wide to the possibility of reaching an agreement, but the question remains whether Netanyahu will once again close it, as he has done in the past”.

The truce push comes amid mounting international criticism of Israel’s conduct in the war and growing domestic pressure on Netanyahu.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health has said at least 62,064 Palestinians have been killed since Israel’s war on Gaza started on October 7, 2023, most of them civilians. The United Nations regards the ministry’s figures as credible.

Previous indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, facilitated by mediators, ended without any results to end the Israel-Palestine war.

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to discuss a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, as Israel intensifies its offensive to seize Gaza City.

“El-Sisi and the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar stressed the importance of efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza,” according to a statement by the Egyptian presidency on Monday.

The two leaders “affirmed their rejection of the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and the displacement of Palestinians”, as Israel plans to seize Gaza City and force Palestinians from the enclave’s main urban centre. They also insisted that establishing a Palestinian state is “the path to peace”.

A source told Al Jazeera that “intensive discussions” are currently taking place in Egypt between a Hamas delegation and mediators. Hamas, which governs Gaza, has been calling for a ceasefire, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rebuffed the offer.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been mediating between Israel and Hamas since the beginning of the war in Gaza that has killed 62,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children.

Efforts by mediators have so far failed to secure a lasting ceasefire in the ongoing war, which over more than 22 months has created a dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

A truce brokered by Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators that came into force in January was broken by Israel in March. Since then, it has imposed a total blockade, causing famine and starvation. More than 260 Palestinians have died due to the Israeli-induced starvation crisis.

The latest round of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, facilitated in Doha by mediators, lasted for several weeks before ending on July 25 without any results.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, visiting the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Monday, said that Qatar’s prime minister was visiting “to consolidate our existing common efforts in order to apply maximum pressure on the two sides to reach a deal as soon as possible”.

Alluding to the dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people living in the Gaza Strip, where United Nations agencies and aid groups have warned of a humanitarian crisis, Abdelatty stressed the urgency of reaching an agreement.

“The current situation on the ground is beyond imagination,” he said.

Thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee again from Gaza City ahead of an impending Israeli offensive.

‘Genocides don’t end through negotiated solutions’

Commenting on the Qatari prime minister’s trip to Egypt, Abdullah Al-Arian, an associate professor of history at Georgetown University in Qatar, said it was important to remember that similar negotiations have occurred before, but it is “a lack of Israeli political will” that has ultimately stalled them.

Israel “has continued to pursue this genocide and taking it to new, horrific, unprecedented levels”, he told Al Jazeera, adding that there has been a lack of international pressure to secure a ceasefire agreement.

“Historically, genocides don’t end through negotiated solutions … They end usually because the party that committed the genocide is forced to end it, usually through external pressure, external intervention of some kind, and that has not happened yet,” the academic stressed.

On Monday, human rights group Amnesty International accused Israel of enacting a “deliberate policy” of starvation in Gaza as the UN and aid groups continued to warn of famine in the Palestinian enclave.

In a report quoting displaced Palestinians and medical staff who have treated malnourished children, Amnesty said: “Israel is carrying out a deliberate campaign of starvation in the occupied Gaza Strip.”

The UN and the international community have been slamming Israel for blocking necessary aid from entering the war-torn enclave.

Qatar signaled its interest as an Olympic Games host with established infrastructure from 2022 FIFA World Cup a key selling point.

The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) said it was taking part in “ongoing discussions” with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over the election process for the host city of the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the organisation said in a media release on its website.

The country, which hosted football’s World Cup in 2022 and the Asian Cup in 2024, is the latest to join the race to stage the 2036 Games after confirmed bids from Indonesia, Turkiye, India and Chile.

Other Asian countries considering a bid include Saudi Arabia and South Korea. Egypt, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Denmark and Canada have also shown interest.

“We currently have 95% of the required sports infrastructure in place to host the Games, and we have a comprehensive national plan to ensure 100% readiness of all facilities,” Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, the president of QOC, told the state-run Qatar News Agency on Tuesday.

“This plan is rooted in a long-term vision aimed at building a socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable legacy.”

Qatar’s capital Doha is set to host the Asian Games in 2030, having staged the event in 2006.

A successful bid would make Qatar the first country in the Middle East to host the Olympics amid the region’s growing influence over major sporting events. Saudi Arabia is set to hold the football World Cup in 2034.

Representatives of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have signed a deal in Qatar to end fighting in the eastern DRC. The declaration commits parties to an eventual peace agreement that includes the restoration of state authority in the country’s east.

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The declaration has been agreed on by representatives from both sides in Doha weeks after talks in Washington.

The Democratic Republic of Congo and the M23 rebel group have signed a declaration of principles in Qatar to end fighting in eastern Congo.

The declaration was signed on Saturday between representatives from both sides in Doha.

The DRC and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have been engaged in heavy fighting, spurred by M23’s bloody January assault and capture of the DRC’s two largest cities.

The decades-long conflict has roots in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, with M23 made up primarily of ethnic Tutsi fighters.

The fighting has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more this year while escalating the risk of a full-blown regional war.

Several of Congo’s neighbours already have troops deployed in the volatile region.

In March Qatar brokered a surprise meeting between Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame during which they called for an “immediate and unconditional” ceasefire.

That led to direct talks, also in Doha, between Congo and M23.

DR Congo had previously rejected the idea of holding talks with M23, branding it a “terrorist group”, but in April, both sides pledged to work towards a ceasefire.

Talks in the US

Washington has also hosted talks between Congo and Rwanda in June.

On June 27 the two countries’ foreign ministers signed a peace deal and met with US President Donald Trump at the White House. Trump warned of “very severe penalties, financial and otherwise” if the deal is violated.

Trump also invited Tshisekedi and Kagame to Washington to sign a package of deals that Boulos dubbed the “Washington Accord”.

Speaking to reporters on July 2, Boulos said the Trump administration would “love” to hold that meeting at the end of July.

But he also said US officials hope to have a deal in Doha finalised by then.

DR Congo, the United Nations and Western powers say Rwanda is supporting M23 by sending troops and arms.

Rwanda has long denied helping M23 and says its forces are acting in self-defence against DR Congo’s army and ethnic Hutu fighters linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

President Trump’s future presidential library has a growing list of corporate sponsors, and Democratic lawmakers are sounding alarms.

To settle Trump’s lawsuit over edits to a CBS “60 Minutes” broadcast, Paramount Global agreed to pay $16 million to help finance the future library and cover the president’s legal fees.

Walt Disney Co. earlier pledged $15 million to Trump’s library to resolve a defamation lawsuit over inaccurate statements about Trump by ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos. And this spring, the nation of Qatar donated a $400-million Boeing 747-8 luxury jetliner for Trump’s use — a gift that ultimately will be registered to his library, whatever form it takes.

On Wednesday, a group of progressive lawmakers, led by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), introduced the Presidential Library Anti-Corruption Act, a proposed measure that would require transparency and impose restrictions on donations to presidential libraries.

“This new bill will close the loopholes that allow presidential libraries to be used as a tool for corruption and bribery,” Warren told reporters on a Zoom call. “Slamming the door shut on apparent corruption at the highest levels of government is an important step forward and something everyone should get behind.”

For now, the lawmakers — including Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) — lack support from Republicans in Congress.

Still, the measure is needed, the lawmakers said, because there are no rules that specifically target solicitation of gifts or payments by individuals and companies to try to curry favor with the president.

The bill would create a cap on contributions, prohibit donations from lobbyists and foreign governments and delay fundraising until a president leaves office, with a carve-out for nonprofits.

Violators would risk criminal or civil penalties, which could equal as much as the value of the gift.

The measure also would prohibit the conversion of a donation to personal use, as some have feared will happen with the acceptance of the Qatar plane.

“What is Qatar getting in exchange? … Nobody knows,” Warren said. “All of this shady stuff is happening because there are essentially no rules for presidential library donations.”

Under the legislation, quarterly disclosures would be required.

“People have a right to know who is, in effect, gaining favor with a president in office through donations to a library,” Blumenthal said. “These kinds of requirements ought to apply to both Republican[s] and Democrat[s], because the donation can be problematic no matter which party the president may belong to.”

Critics blasted former President Clinton for pardoning late fugitive commodities trader Marc Rich after his wife donated $450,000 to Clinton’s library.

In addition to the CBS “60 Minutes” and ABC settlements, Facebook parent company Meta donated $22 million to Trump’s library. The payment was part of Meta’s $25-million settlement to a lawsuit brought after Facebook banned Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The Elon Musk-owned social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, donated $10 million.

Contributions to Trump’s inaugural celebrations this year that went beyond money spent are expected to be steered to the library as well as money raised from people who want to dine with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Warren’s office said.

Warren and others previously raised the notion that Paramount’s settlement with Trump, in particular, could constitute a bribe. It has been widely believed that resolving the legal dispute with Trump was a prerequisite for getting the company’s pending $8-billion merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media cleared by the Federal Communications Commission.

‘Syria possesses valuable assets,’ says DP World’s CEO, highlighting the country’s economic potential.

Syria has finalised an $800m agreement with Dubai-based DP World to redevelop its Tartous port in a bid to speed up post-war reconstruction.

State news agency SANA said the deal was signed in Damascus on Sunday between DP World and the General Authority for Land and Sea Ports, in the presence of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Syrian officials described the deal as a key step towards modernising the country’s logistics infrastructure.

“This strategic move will bolster our port operations and logistics services,” SANA quoted an unnamed official as saying.

Since the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad in December, Syria’s new leadership has been pushing to re-establish economic ties with international companies and bring the war-torn country back into the global market.

Speaking after the signing, DP World CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said Syria’s economic potential remained strong, noting the Tartous port could play a central role in reviving local industry.

“Syria possesses valuable assets,” he said, “and Tartous is an essential hub for trade and exports. We aim to transform it into one of the world’s leading ports.”

‘Laying the groundwork’

DP World manages dozens of port facilities across Europe, Africa and Asia and has been expanding its reach in the Middle East.

Qutaiba Badawi, who heads Syria’s port authority, said the agreement marked more than just a commercial venture.

“We are laying the groundwork for a new era of maritime development, positioning Syria again on the international economic stage,” he said.

The Tartous deal follows several high-profile contracts signed in recent months.

In May, Damascus entered a 30-year agreement with French shipping company CMA CGM to operate Latakia port. That same month, Syria inked a $7bn energy deal with a coalition of Qatari, Turkish, and US firms to revive the country’s power sector.

Earlier this month, the United States said it will revoke its designation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as a “foreign terrorist organization” as Washington softens its approach to post-war Syria.

Last month, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order lifting several longstanding sanctions on Syria, which Washington said would support the country’s reconstruction. The US Treasury noted the decision would ease restrictions on companies considered vital to Syria’s rebuilding and governance.

Western sanctions had hampered reconstruction efforts for years, further crippling an economy already shattered by more than a decade of civil war and human rights abuses under al-Assad’s rule.

July 6 (UPI) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is travelling Monday to Washington as Israel sends negotiators to Qatar amid ongoing talks toward a ceasefire with Hamas. The administration of President Donald Trump also seeks to ease tensions along the Israel-Syria border.

It marks the Israeli leader’s third visit to the United States since Trump returned to office, despite a warrant for his arrest issued by the International Criminal Court, of which neither the United States nor Israel are a party.

Netanyahu’s visit comes after the U.S. participated in airstrikes during Israel’s 12-day war against Iran. During Netanyahu’s last trip to the White House in April, the Israeli prime minister appeared to be surprised when Trump said his administration would negotiate directly with Iran regarding efforts to curb its nuclear program.

Since then, Trump has increased pushes for deals that would lead to peace in the Middle East and the normalization of relations between Israel and its neighbors, possibly including Syria under the rule of its new leader, former al-Qaeda militant Ahmed al-Sharaa, after the president lifted sanctions on the country.

The Monday meeting is primarily expected to focus on a 60-day pause in hostilities with Hamas. In January 2025, Israel and Hamas signed a three-phase ceasefire deal. Phase One, which ended in early March, saw reciprocal hostage releases, humanitarian aid flows and partial Israeli withdrawals.

Ahead of Phase Two, Israel presented a revised plan with Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff seeking additional hostages, troop presence and governance conditions. Hamas rejected the amendments and Israel launched a major airstrike on March 18 that collapsed the truce. Since then, U.S.-brokered talks — spurred by Trump’s push for a 60-day ceasefire — have resumed but remain stalled.

Last week, Trump announced that Israel had agreed to a new U.S.-backed 60-day temporary cease-fire proposal. Hamas has responded positively but is seeking to negotiate some changes.

Hussam Badran, head of Hamas’ National Relations Office, said in a statement Sunday that the group held a series of extensive contacts with the leaders of other Palestinian factions to consult on Hamas’ response to the new framework.

“These contacts witnessed a high level of practical and serious consultation between Hamas and the national and Islamic factions, resulting in a unified national consensus in support of the position of the Palestinian resistance forces,” Badran said.

“Following the completion of internal and external consultations with the factions, Hamas’ response was presented to the mediators and was formulated unanimously and in a positive spirit. This unified response was welcomed by all Palestinian factions and forces.”

A senior Palestinian official told the BBC that Hamas has demanded that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a new Delaware-based and Israel-backed nonprofit that took over the distribution of aid to Gaza, cease operations immediately.

Humanitarian organizations like Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International and Oxfam have criticized the GHF after hundreds of people seeking aid have been shot at and killed by contractors and Israeli forces.

Hamas has also reportedly made a demand regarding Israeli troop withdrawal and has sought guarantees from the United States that Israel would not begin ground or air operations again, even if the ceasefire ended without a permanent truce.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Sunday that 80 people were killed and 304 people were injured in the enclave in the past 24 hours, bringing the number of deaths since the first ceasefire collapsed in March to 6,860. Nearly 60,000 people have been killed since the war began.

“The changes that Hamas is seeking to make in the Qatari proposal were conveyed to us last night and are unacceptable to Israel,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Saturday.

“In light of an assessment of the situation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed that the invitation to proximity talks be accepted and that the contacts for the return of our hostages — on the basis of the Qatari proposal that Israel has agreed to — be continued. The negotiating team will leave tomorrow for the talks in Qatar,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, Naim Qassem — a leader of Hezbollah, the armed Lebanese political party that reached a ceasefire with Israel last year — delivered a speech Sunday that accused Israel of continuing to violate the terms of its deal while occupying parts of Lebanon.

In his speech, Qassem unequivocally opposed the normalization of relations with Israel, describing it as an unacceptable concession. He framed normalization as part of a broader effort to force surrender under the guise of diplomacy, which he said Hezbollah would never accept.

Qassem expressed conditional support for a Gaza ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, but insisted that any agreement must coincide with a complete halt to Israeli military operations in Lebanon.

Israel is sending a negotiating team to Qatar for talks on a Gaza ceasefire proposal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed.

In a statement late on Saturday, Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli leader had instructed negotiators “to accept the invitation for close talks”.

But the statement said that “the changes Hamas is requesting to make to the Qatari proposal were delivered to us last night and are unacceptable to Israel”. It did not elaborate on what changes were being requested.

Hamas said on Friday that it had given a “positive” response to a United States-brokered proposal that would involve a 60-day truce in Gaza, renewing hopes of a possible end to Israel’s deadly assault on the Palestinian enclave.

More to come…

Paul Kagame gives cautious welcome to US-brokered agreement, but says success depends on goodwill from warring parties.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has cautiously welcomed a United States-brokered peace deal with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), while suggesting Kigali will retaliate if provoked.

Speaking at a news conference in Kigali on Friday, Kagame said Rwanda remained committed to the agreement but questioned whether Kinshasa would uphold its part of the deal.

“If the side that we are working with plays tricks and takes us back to the problem, then we deal with the problem like we have been dealing with it,” Kagame said.

The agreement, backed by the administration of US President Donald Trump, was signed last week and calls for Rwandan troops to withdraw from eastern DRC within 90 days.

The region has seen intense fighting this year, with M23 rebels seizing major towns. The United Nations has accused Rwanda of backing the group with thousands of troops – an allegation Kigali denies.

While the peace deal is seen as a turning point, analysts do not believe it will quickly end the fighting because M23 – a major belligerent in the conflict – says the agreement does not apply to it.

US ‘not to blame’ if deal fails

Rwanda insists its military presence in eastern DRC is a response to threats from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group made up of ethnic Hutu fighters linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Kagame said Kinshasa must act to dismantle the FDLR if the deal is to succeed.

“We are grateful to the Trump administration for its efforts,” he said. “If it doesn’t work, they aren’t the ones to blame.”

There has been no official response from Kinshasa, which has consistently accused Rwanda of fuelling the conflict.

Rwanda-backed M23 is the most prominent armed group in the conflict in eastern DRC, and its major advance early this year left bodies on the streets. With 7 million people displaced in DRC, the UN has called it “one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth”.

M23 has not been involved in the US-mediated efforts, although it has been part of other peace talks. On Thursday, both the Congolese government and M23 representatives agreed that they would return to Qatar for further discussions aimed at ending the conflict.

Meanwhile, Washington has proposed a separate investment plan that could allow Western companies to tap into the region’s rich deposits of tantalum, copper, and gold – resources that have long fuelled violence in eastern DRC.

Kagame’s appearance on Friday marked his first public remarks since June 6, prompting speculation during his absence about his health. Dissidents abroad, including former adviser David Himbara, claimed the president was seriously unwell.

Kagame dismissed the rumours with a joke. “Some of my personal health problems might originate from managing you people,” he said, sparking laughter.

“What is the problem? What would people want me to account for? That I am not human?” he added. The president appeared in good health throughout the briefing.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will hold back delivering to Ukraine some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons as part of its announced pause to some arms shipments amid U.S. concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much, officials said.

The details on the weapons in some of the paused deliveries were confirmed by a U.S. official and former national security official familiar with the matter. They both requested anonymity to discuss what is are being held up as the Pentagon has yet to provide details.

The pause includes some shipments of Patriot missiles, precision-guided GMLRS, Hellfire missiles and Howitzer rounds.

Elbridge Colby, Defense Department undersecretary for policy, said the decision to halt some weapons comes as Pentagon officials have aimed to provide Trump “with robust options to continue military aid to Ukraine, consistent with his goal of bringing this tragic war to an end.”

“At the same time, the department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving U.S. forces’ readiness for administration defense priorities,” Colby added in a statement.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, blasted the move that came just days after Russians forces launched one of the biggest air assaults on Ukraine since it started the war more than three years ago.

“U.S.-made air defense systems, including the Patriot platform, are the centerpiece of Ukraine’s defenses against Russian strikes. They work. They save lives every day,” Kaptur said. “But there are no parallel defensive alternatives for Ukraine if the U.S. stops supplying these vital munitions.”

One of the officials said other weaponry being held up includes the AIM-7 Sparrow — a medium-range radar homing air-to-air missile — as well as shorter-range Stinger missiles and AT-4 grenade launchers.

The Pentagon review that determined that stocks were too low on some weapons previously pledged comes just over a week after Trump helped forge a ceasefire between Israel and Iran to end their 12-day conflict. The U.S. has provided air defense support to Israel, Qatar and other Mideast neighbors. It’s unclear if that conflict had any impact on Trump’s move in Ukraine.

The U.S. deployed air defenses systems as it knocked down an Iranian ballistic missile assault last month launched on the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The retaliatory strike from Tehran against the U.S. military installation came days after Trump ordered a barrage of strikes on three key Iranian nuclear sites.

Mascaro and Madhani write for the Associated Press.