Mexico election: Claudia Sheinbaum set to become country's first woman president - Sky News

Claudia Sheinbaum is set to become Mexico's first woman president after she was projected to have won the country's election.

The ruling party candidate, 61, had between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote - an unassailable lead, a statistical sample showed, according to the National Electoral Institute, which is responsible for organising federal elections in Mexico.

Opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez, a female rival who is also 61, received 26.6%-28.6%, while Jorge Alvarez Maynez, 38, picked up 9.9%-10.8%.

Speaking outside a hotel in the capital Mexico City, Morena candidate Ms Sheinbaum said: "For the first time in the 200 years of the republic, I will become the first woman president of Mexico."

She said her two competitors had called her and conceded she had won.

The climate scientist, who is a former Mexico City mayor, campaigned on continuing the political course set over the last six years by her mentor, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who was elected in 2018.

His popularity among the poor helped drive her triumph at the ballot box.

In her victory speech, Ms Sheinbaum thanked Mr Lopez Obrador, describing him as "a unique person who has transformed our country for the better".

She has vowed to carry on with his policies, including a universal pension for the elderly and a programme paying youths to undertake apprenticeships.

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Ms Sheinbaum said: "We will dedicate public funds to continue the president's social programmes."

She also said there would be a "friendly relationship" with the United States, adding "we will always defend Mexicans" in the US.

Image: Claudia Sheinbaum is a former Mexico City mayor. Pic: AP

Ms Sheinbaum will have to balance promises to increase popular welfare policies while inheriting a large budget deficit and low economic growth.

The ruling coalition was also on track for a possible two-thirds super majority in both houses of Congress, which would
allow the coalition to pass constitutional reforms without opposition support, according to results from the electoral authority.

Mexico's election was its biggest ever, with more than 20,000 congressional and local positions up for grabs, according to the National Electoral Institute.

It was also its bloodiest in modern history after the number of assassinated candidates reached 38 before election day.

Sunday's vote was also marred by the killing of two people at polling stations in Puebla state.

Read more:
British ambassador sacked after 'pointing gun at staff'
Nine dead after stage collapses at campaign rally

Image: Opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez has conceded. Pic: AP

Image: Jorge Alvarez Maynez was set to come third in the election. Pic: AP

Ms Sheinbaum has vowed to improve security but has given few details, and analysts said organised crime groups expanded and deepened their influence during Mr Lopez Obrador's term.

More than 185,000 people have been killed during his rule - more than during any other administration in Mexico's modern history, although the homicide rate has been edging down.

The country's constitution prohibits the president from being re-elected.

Ms Sheinbaum, who is Jewish, is the first woman to win a general election in the US, Mexico or Canada.

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Mexico is home to the world's second-biggest Roman Catholic population, which for years pushed more traditional values and roles for women.

"I never imagined that one day I would vote for a woman," said 87-year-old Edelmira Montiel, a Sheinbaum supporter in Mexico's smallest state Tlaxcala.

"Before we couldn't even vote, and when you could, it was to vote for the person your husband told you to vote for. Thank God that has changed and I get to live it," she added.

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2024-06-03 08:26:15Z
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Netanyahu tries to avoid coalition implosion over Gaza ceasefire plan - The Guardian

Benjamin Netanyahu is once again trying to balance the demands of centrist and far-right members of his government after a threat from his extremist allies to collapse the coalition if Israel moves forward with a new ceasefire plan for Gaza announced by the US president, Joe Biden.

In an unexpected broadcast from the White House on Friday night, Biden urged Hamas to accept what he said was a new proposal from Israel for a three-phrase plan towards a permanent ceasefire in the nine-month war.

“Israel has made their proposal. Hamas says they want a ceasefire. This deal is an opportunity to prove whether they really mean it. Hamas needs to take the deal,” he said.

But in remarks on Saturday, Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, immediately undermined Biden, reiterating that Israel seeks the complete destruction of the Palestinian militant group before it will agree to ending the war. Any deviation from that condition is a “non-starter”, he said.

Hamas provisionally welcomed the president’s announcement, although it also said as recently as Thursday that it still views a full withdrawal of Israeli troops as a precondition to talks.

Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera: “Biden’s speech included positive ideas, but we want this to materialise within the framework of a comprehensive agreement that meets our demands.”

As expected, Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners – the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, and the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir – immediately voiced opposition to the new truce plan when Shabbat ended on Saturday night, threatening to resign if it goes ahead.

Such a deal would be “foolhardy, constituting a victory for terrorism and a threat to Israel’s national security,” Ben-Gvir, the head of the ultranationalist Jewish Power party, said on X.

An aide to the prime minister confirmed on Sunday that Israel had put the framework forward, but described it as “flawed” and in need of more work.

However, Netanyahu is also under increasing pressure from his military and intelligence chiefs, as well as the centrist members of his war cabinet, to accept a ceasefire and hostage release deal. Benny Gantz, a leading rival who joined Netanyahu’s emergency unity government after 7 October, has said he will resign if the prime minister does not commit to a “day after” plan for Gaza by 8 June.

Yair Lapid, Israel’s opposition leader, also urged Netanyahu to agree to a hostage and ceasefire deal, saying his centrist Yesh Atid party would support it even if rightwing factions in the government rebelled – meaning a deal would be likely to pass in parliament.

“The government of Israel cannot ignore President Biden’s consequential speech. There is a deal on the table and it should be made,” he said on Saturday.

Netanyahu, long plagued by corruption charges he denies, sees staying in office as his best chance of avoiding prosecution, as well as putting off investigations and hearings into the security failures that contributed to Hamas’s 7 October assault.

During Saturday night’s now-weekly protest in Tel Aviv led by the families of hostages held by Hamas, thousands of people called on the government to act on the new proposal. A joint statement from ceasefire mediators the US, Egypt and Qatar said the three countries “jointly call on both Hamas and Israel to finalise the agreement … [to] bring immediate relief both to the longsuffering people of Gaza as well as the longsuffering hostages and their families”.

Despite Biden’s description of the peace deal as an Israeli proposal, the president’s speech – his most pointed call to date for the war to end – appeared to be designed to pressure the Israeli government into coming to the table, as well as Hamas.

On Sunday, the White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said in an interview with ABC News: “We have every expectation that if Hamas agrees to the proposal as was transmitted to them, an Israeli proposal – then Israel would say yes.”

In his remarks on Friday, Biden anticipated rightwing opposition to a deal, saying: “I’ve urged the leadership in Israel to stand behind this deal despite whatever pressure comes … Think of what will happen if this moment is lost.

“Lose this moment, [and continue] an indefinite war in pursuit of an unidentified notion of total victory will only bog down Israel and Gaza and further Israel’s isolation in the world.”

Gershon Baskin, an Israeli peace activist and former negotiator with Hamas, told the Associated Press: “It was a very good speech … It seems that Biden is trying to force it on the Israeli government. He was clearly speaking directly to the Israeli people.”

Friday’s announcement is the third “last-ditch” ceasefire proposal endorsed by the US: in February, a Ramadan ceasefire that Biden said was “very close” did not materialise, and some progress towards a new truce last month was scuppered by the launch of Israel’s invasion of Rafah, the last pocket of Gaza to be spared ground fighting.

There is only one substantial difference between the new plan and previous proposals: the first phrase, which is a six-week ceasefire in which a limited number of Israeli hostages would be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, would be indefinitely extendable while negotiators thrash out the next stage.

In phase two, all remaining hostages would be released, Israel would completely withdraw from Gaza, and both parties would commit to a lasting truce. The third phrase is supposed to implement as-yet unspecified plans for Gaza’s future, including administration and reconstruction.

About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Hamas’s assault on 7 October, with a further 250 taken hostage: about 100 were released in a week-long ceasefire in November.

More than 36,000 people have been killed by Israel in the war in Gaza – according to the Palestinian health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths – which has decimated the strip’s infrastructure, displaced 85% of the population from their homes and created a dire humanitarian crisis. Israel’s decision to invade Rafah last month has significantly disrupted aid deliveries, leading relief organisations to again warn of widespread famine.

Biden’s initial full-throated support for Israel’s right to defend itself after the 7 October attack has given way to censure of the suffering and death in Gaza after widespread criticism at home over his position on the war. However, the US remains the Jewish state’s most important ally and principal weapons supplier.

Being seen to broker an end to the conflict in Gaza would be a foreign policy boon for the president, who is facing an uphill battle for re-election in November.

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North Korea says it will stop floating trash balloons into South Korea - Al Jazeera English

North Korea called its campaign a ‘countermeasure’ against propaganda leaflets floated into the country by South Korean activists.

North Korea says it will stop sending trash-filled balloons across the border into South Korea, claiming its campaign has been an effective countermeasure against propaganda sent by anti-regime activists in the neighbouring country.

Since Tuesday, North Korea floated hundreds of balloons carrying bags of rubbish containing everything from cigarette butts to bits of cardboard and plastic, Seoul’s military said on Sunday, threatening to retaliate if the provocations do not stop.

Hours later, North Korea said it would halt the campaign.

“We made the ROK [Republic of Korea] clans get enough experience of how much unpleasant they feel and how much effort is needed to remove the scattered wastepaper,” said Kim Kang Il, a North Korean vice defence minister, in a statement carried by state media.

However, he warned that if South Korean activists float anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets via balloons again, North Korea will resume flying its own balloons to dump trash hundreds of times the amount of the South Korean leaflets found in the North.

‘Low class’

South Korea has called the balloons and simultaneous GPS jamming from its nuclear-armed neighbour “irrational” and “low class”. But unlike the spate of recent ballistic missile launches, the refuse campaign doesn’t violate United Nations sanctions on Kim Jong Un’s isolated regime.

Seoul warned it would take strong countermeasures unless Pyongyang called off the balloon bombardment, saying it runs counter to the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War hostilities.

Activists in the South have also floated their own balloons over the border, filled with leaflets and sometimes cash, rice or USB thumb drives loaded with K-dramas.

Earlier this week, Pyongyang described its “sincere gifts” as a retaliation for the propaganda-laden balloons sent into North Korea.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the balloons had been landing in northern provinces, including the capital Seoul and the adjacent area of Gyeonggi, which are collectively home to nearly half of South Korea’s population.

The latest batch of balloons were full of “waste such as cigarette butts, scrap paper, fabric pieces and plastic,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, adding that military officials and police were collecting them.

“Our military is conducting surveillance and reconnaissance from the launch points of the balloons, tracking them through aerial reconnaissance, and collecting the fallen debris, prioritising public safety,” it said.

A balloon believed to have been sent by North Korea [Yonhap via Reuters]

Balloon wars

South Korea’s National Security Council met on Sunday and a presidential official said Seoul would not rule out responding to the balloons by resuming loudspeaker propaganda campaigns along the border with North Korea.

In the past, South Korea has broadcast anti-Kim propaganda into the North, which infuriates Pyongyang.

“If Seoul chooses to resume anti-North broadcast via loudspeakers along the border, which Pyongyang dislikes as much as anti-Kim balloons, it could lead to limited armed conflict along border areas, such as in the West Sea,” said Cheong Seong-Chang, director of the Korean Peninsula strategy at Sejong Institute.

In 2018, during a period of improved inter-Korean relations, both leaders agreed to “completely cease all hostile acts against each other in every domain”, including the distribution of leaflets.

South Korea’s parliament passed a law in 2020 criminalising sending leaflets into the North, but the law – which did not deter the activists – was struck down last year as a violation of free speech.

Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong – one of Pyongyang’s key spokespeople – mocked South Korea for complaining about the balloons this week, saying North Koreans were simply exercising their freedom of expression.

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2024-06-02 21:01:12Z
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Zelenskiy accuses China of deterring countries from going to peace summit - The Guardian

Volodomyr Zelenskiy has accused China of discouraging other countries from attending a peace summit in Switzerland later this month that is aimed at bringing peace to war-ravaged Ukraine.

Speaking at Asia’s biggest security conference, the Shangri-La Dialogue, in Singapore, the Ukrainian president sought to rally support among Asia-Pacific nations, urging them to attend the Swiss meeting.

“The world has to be resilient, it needs to be strong, it has to pressure Russia,” Zelenskiy said. “There is no other way to stop Putin – only diplomatic isolation, a strong Ukrainian military and for all the countries of the world to not balance between Ukraine and Russia but to defend international justice and law.”

Zelenskiy said he was “disappointed” some world leaders had not yet confirmed attendance.

Russia was seeking to undermine the summit by warning countries not to attend and threatening a blockade of agricultural goods and food products, he said.

He later told media that China had supported such efforts to deter leaders from participating. “Regrettably, Russia, using Chinese influence on the region, using Chinese diplomats also, does everything to disrupt the peace summit. It is unfortunate that such a big, independent, powerful country as China is an instrument in the hands of Putin,” he said.

Since a phone call between Zelenskiy and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, one year ago, Ukraine had sought meetings with Chinese officials at all levels, he said, but this had not been granted. He had not met Chinese officials despite their presence in Singapore.

Earlier on Sunday, the Chinese defence minister, Dong Jun, told attendees of the Shangri-La Dialogue his country had “been promoting peace talks with a responsible attitude”. “We have never provided weapons to either party of the conflict. We have put stricter control on the export of dual use items and have never done anything to fan the flames. We stand firmly on the side of peace and dialogue,” Dong said.

But Zelenskiy said: “With China’s support to Russia, the war will last longer and that is bad for the whole world. You cannot say that we accept sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and at the same time be on the side of the country that violates the principles of the UN charter and the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

Zelenskiy said on X he had met the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue on Sunday morning. “We discussed the key issues: the defence needs of our country, bolstering Ukraine’s air defence system, the F-16 coalition, and drafting of a bilateral security agreement,” he said.

He said he was grateful to Joe Biden for his decision to allow Ukraine to use US-supplied weapons against targets in Russia. However, in comments to media he said that this was not enough as Ukraine still did not have the systems or permissions to target airfields from which Russia was “permanently firing”.

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2024-06-02 11:49:00Z
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Is Biden’s Gaza peace plan significant? Will Hamas and Israel agree? - Al Jazeera English

US President Joe Biden has announced what he claimed was an Israeli peace plan to bring around a ceasefire in Gaza.

According to journalists invited to a background briefing on Friday, the new plan is almost indistinguishable from previous plans agreed by Hamas.

If successful, it would usher in a ceasefire in a conflict that has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, and enraged communities worldwide.

What does the plan propose?

The plan envisages three stages.

The first stage proposes to involve a six-week ceasefire during which the Israeli army will withdraw from the populated areas of Gaza. Hostages, including the elderly and women, would be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Civilians would also return to all of Gaza, with 600 trucks carrying humanitarian aid flooding the enclave daily, Biden said.

The second phase would see Hamas and Israel negotiate terms for a permanent end to hostilities. “The ceasefire will still continue as long as negotiations continue,” the president said.

In the third phase, a permanent ceasefire would follow, facilitating the reconstruction of the enclave, including 60 percent of clinics, schools, universities and religious buildings damaged or destroyed by Israeli forces.

Who likes it?

Hamas stated on Friday that it views the proposals “positively” without going into further detail.

Elsewhere, support for the plan has come from some Israeli politicians and families of captives, as well as the international community.

Benny Gantz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s principal rival, spoke positively of the proposal and asked his two colleagues in the war cabinet – Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant – to convene to discuss the “next steps”.

Gantz had previously threatened to leave the cabinet by June 8 if no plan for Gaza beyond the war had been agreed.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid also promised to support the plan, pledging support of his party Yesh Atid (There is a Future) if those from ultranationalist and far-right parties withdraw support.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also endorsed the plan, as have many of Israel’s allies, including the United Kingdom and Germany.

Who doesn’t?

Much of the opposition to the peace plan has come from within the Israeli cabinet.

On Saturday, Netanyahu said any initiative that did not include the “elimination” of Hamas’s capacity to govern and make war was a “non-starter”.

Netanyahu’s interpretation of the situation in Gaza is at odds with those of the Biden administration.

In his announcement on Friday, Biden indicated that he regarded Hamas’s presence within the enclave to have been so downgraded that a repeat of the October 7 attack was impossible.

As expected, the ultranationalist and extreme right members of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition – Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich – threatened to withdraw from the government and cause its collapse if the proposals were accepted.

Much of the outcome may depend upon parliamentary arithmetic.

The far-right and ultranationalist parties hold 14 seats, while Gantz’s bloc has only eight seats, meaning the far right has more influence on a prime minister who wants to stay in power.

As for Lapid, his 17 seats are offered as support only in what pertains to the peace proposals.

This leaves Netanyahu reliant on the far-right bloc.

Netanyahu’s parliamentary arithmetic may lead to him siding against the peace proposals [File: Ronen Zvulun/Pool via Reuters]

Will it be accepted then?

That still is not clear.

The families of captives taken from Israel and held in Gaza are putting pressure on the government to accept the deal, as are parts of Israel’s political class.

However, pressures to reject the deal are just as strong and it will remain to be seen whether Netanyahu chooses his own survival or the return of the captives.

From Hamas’s side, it is not clear whether the “positive” light it views the proposal will lead to its acceptance.

Osama Hamdan, the group’s spokesperson in Lebanon, says Hamas has yet to receive a written proposal from the US.

Additional reports say that the group would have to wait to hear from its leadership inside Gaza, including Yahya Sinwar, before they can say whether they accept it or not.

Likely, they would be reluctant to express agreement before they see if Israel is open to the deal.

Where did the proposals come from?

The origins of the plan remain unclear.

Biden was careful to frame the announcement as an Israeli initiative.

However, few within the Israeli government appeared to have been aware of it before Friday.

It is also very similar to that touted as a previous Israeli proposal agreed by Hamas in late April, leading some observers to suggest this was the US signalling to Israel that the administration was looking to halt the conflict.

Does it matter if the plan doesn’t get through?

The humanitarian situation within Gaza remains dire.

More than one million people have fled Rafah city as Israel continues its deadly assault, which, in two separate incidents last week, killed 66 displaced people.

Whatever healthcare provision remains is struggling to cope in the face of continued shortages of fuel and other vital supplies and equipment, the UN said.

Before this latest proposal, negotiations to draw the war to a close, which have been ongoing through most of the fighting, appeared to be stalling.

Israeli and US negotiators will reconvene in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing and potentially resolve one of the leading causes of the humanitarian crisis in southern Gaza.

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Piers Morgan ridiculed over reaction to Trump's guilty verdict - The Independent

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Piers Morgan has leapt to the defence of Donald Trump after he became the first criminally convicted US president in history.

On Thursday (30 May), a jury found Republican politician Trump guilty on all counts at his hush money trial, making him the first convicted felon to run for the White House.

Stars including Robert De Niro, Barbra Streisand and Stephen King have all responded to the news, making their happiness over the verdict known in the immediate aftermath.

But one person who is not impressed with the outcome is broadcaster Morgan.

Shortly after the guilty verdict was revealed, Morgan, who last interviewed Trump in 2022, wrote on X/Twitter: “This is a sad, shameful and ridiculous day for America.

“To drag a former President, who is running for President again, through criminal courts over something so trivial feels a massive overreach & an incredibly divisive and obviously politically partisan action.”

Piers Morgan isn’t happy with Trump’s guilty verdict (X/Twitter)

His comment was met with consternation from his followers, with one asking: ‘Are you serious?”

“No, it’s a wonderful and happy day for America and the rule of law,” another wrote. “No one is above the law and he’s the first former president to become a convicted felon.”

Follower Chris Wozney replied: “...or, he committed a crime, he was rightfully charged, and now he’s a convicted felon, based on a jury of his peers, using real evidence, and not MAGA gaslighting.”

In April, Morgan let his views on the trial be known, stating that Trump should risk arrest and skip the trial in order to attend his son’s graduation. He said on his TalkTV show: “Have you lost your minds, America? What a demeaning way to treat a former president.”

Morgan also said he believes that Trump being found guilty would “almost guarantee” his victory in the forthcoming election and, after news of the verdict broke, the broadcaster claimed that “Trump’s donation websites are crashing”, adding: “My guess is this verdict will propel him back into the White House.”

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Morgan defended Trump after his guilty verdict (Getty)

Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in October 2016 to stay silent about an affair she alleges she had with the politician in 2006. He denied the affair and pleaded not guilty to the 34 felony charges.

Speaking about the verdict while leaving the courthouse, Trump said: “I am a very innocent man”, and called the trial “rigged” and “a disgrace”.

Donald Trump has become the first criminally convicted US president in history. (Getty Images)

Trump will be sentenced on 11 July, four days before he’s expected to become the Republican’s official presidential candidate.

But according to CNN chief legal analyst Laura Coates, Trump could face more than a decade in prison as the charges were “stepped up” from misdemeanours to class E felonies because prosecutors said the crimes were carried out in an effort to commit or conceal another crime – these crimes being election conspiracy and campaign finance and tax law violations.

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2024-06-02 07:09:59Z
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Middle East crisis live: two far-right Israeli ministers threaten to quit Netanyahu government if US truce deal agreed - The Guardian

Iran’s hard-line former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has registered as a possible candidate for the presidential election, seeking to regain the country’s top political position after a helicopter crash killed the nation’s president.

The populist former leader’s registration puts pressure on supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, AP reported. In office, Ahmadinejad openly challenged the 85-year-old cleric, and his attempt to run in 2021 was barred by authorities.

AP reported:

The firebrand, Holocaust-questioning politician’s return comes at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the West over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, its arming of Russia in its war on Ukraine and its wide-reaching crackdowns on dissent.

Meanwhile, Iran’s support of militia proxy forces throughout the wider Mideast have been in increased focus as Yemen’s Houthi rebels attack ships in the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Ahmadinejad is the most prominent candidate to register so far. Speaking after his registration, he vowed to seek “constructive engagement” with the world and improved economic relations with all nations.

“The economic, political, cultural and security problems are beyond the situation in 2013,” Ahmadinejad said, referring to the year he left the presidency after two terms.

After speaking to journalists in front of a bank of 50-odd microphones, Ahmadinejad said, his finger in the air: “Long live the spring, long live Iran!”

Fayiz Abu Ataya was born into war and knew nothing else. Over his first and only spring, in a town stalked by hunger, he wasted away to a shadow of a child, skin stretched painfully over jutting bones.

In seven months of life, he had little time to make a mark beyond the family who loved him. But when his death from malnutrition was reported last week, it sounded a warning around the world about a rapidly deepening crisis in central and southern Gaza, triggered by the Israeli military operation in the southern town of Rafah.

At least 30 child victims of malnutrition have been recorded in Gaza, but almost all died in the north, until recently the area with the most extreme shortages of food and medical care, where a top US aid official said famine had taken hold in some areas.

The arrival of Israeli troops in Rafah in May shifted the grim calculus of threat in the strip.

“The ongoing situation in Rafah is a disaster for children,” said Jonathan Crickx, chief of communication for Unicef in Palestine. “If nutrition supplies, especially ready-to-use therapeutic food, used to address malnutrition among children, cannot be distributed, the treatment of more than 3,000 children with acute malnutrition will be interrupted.”

US forces on Saturday destroyed one Iran-backed Houthi uncrewed aerial system in the southern Red Sea and saw two others crash into Red Sea, US Central Command said.

The Central Command forces also destroyed two Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles fired in direction of the USS Gravely, it said.

No injuries or damage were reported by US, coalition or commercial ships, it said.

Welcome to our latest live blog covering the Israel-Gaza war and wider Middle East crisis – here’s an overview of where things stand.

Two far-right Israeli ministers have threatened to quit prime minister Benjamin Netanyhau’s government if he goes ahead with a ceasefire and hostage-release deal outlined by Joe Biden.

The US president said on Friday that Israel had offered a new roadmap towards a full ceasefire including the release of hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza.

But Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, said on Saturday they would quit his government if the deal went ahead.

Ben-Gvir said his party would “dissolve the government” if the proposal went through and slammed the deal as “a victory for terrorism and a security risk to the state of Israel”.

“Agreeing to such a deal is not total victory, but total defeat,” he said. Smotrich said he would “not be part of a government that will agree to the proposed outline”.

Their comments came as Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators called on Israel and Hamas to “finalise” the truce deal Biden outlined.

In other news:

• Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday there could be no permanent ceasefire in Gaza until Hamas was destroyed, casting doubt on a key part of a truce proposal that Joe Biden said Israel itself had made. The US president said the previous day that Israel had proposed a deal involving an initial six-week truce with a partial Israeli military withdrawal and the release of some hostages while the two sides negotiated “a permanent end to hostilities”. However, the Israeli prime minister’s statement said any notion that Israel would agree a permanent ceasefire before “the destruction of Hamas’ military and governing capabilities” was “a non-starter”.

• The families of some Israeli hostages held by Hamas called for all parties to immediately accept the ceasefire proposal. Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, also said Netanyahu should accept the deal.

• Residents reported tank fire in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood in west Rafah, while witnesses in the east and centre of Gaza’s southernmost city described intense artillery shelling. “From the early hours of the night until this morning, the aerial and artillery bombardment has not stopped for a single moment,” a resident from west Rafah told Agence France-Presse.

• At least 36,379 Palestinian people have been killed and 82,407 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said. An estimated 95 Palestinians were killed and 350 injured over the past 24 hours, the ministry said on Saturday.

• Hezbollah said it launched a series of attacks on Israeli military positions on Saturday after state media reported Israel had stepped up its own strikes the night before. The Lebanese militant group said on Saturday it had carried out “an air assault using explosive drones against … the Yiftah barracks, targeting the positions of enemy officers and soldiers”. The attack was in retaliation for a drone strike on a motorcycle in Majdal Selm earlier in the day, it said. The Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee said two people were injured in the drone strike.

• Egyptian, US and Israeli officials would meet in Cairo over the weekend for talks about the Rafah crossing, Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News said. The crossing has been closed since Israel took over the Palestinian side in early May.

• The Chilean president said his country was joining South Africa in its case at the international court of justice accusing Israel of “genocide” in the war against Hamas. Speaking to the National Congress, Gabriel Boric on Saturday decried the “catastrophic humanitarian situation” in Gaza and called for “a firm response from the international community”.

• Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted an invitation to address both houses of the US Congress, his office said on Saturday, adding that he would become the first foreign leader to make four such appearances there. The Israeli prime minister said he would be presenting “the truth about our righteous war against those who seek our destruction”.

• Tehran summoned Sweden’s temporary charge d’affaires over “baseless and spiteful accusations”, the Iranian foreign ministry said on Sunday, after Stockholm’s intelligence agency said Iran was “using criminal networks” inside the Scandinavian country to attack Israel and its interests.

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2024-06-02 08:32:54Z
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