Meloni: Recognizing the State of Palestine now would be counterproductive.

Hamas has rejected US President Donald Trump's accusation that it never wanted peace. "We are surprised by the statements of US President Trump and, before him, US Special Envoy Witkoff, which contradict the mediators' assessment of the movement's position and are inconsistent with the course of the negotiation process, which was making real progress," said Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas's political bureau. Al-Rishq reiterated the Palestinian group's willingness, "demonstrated since the beginning of negotiations," to reach "a comprehensive agreement to end the aggression in Gaza." The accusations should be directed at the other side, he emphasized. "The US statements overlook the real obstacle to all agreements: the Netanyahu government, which is evading its commitments," he said. In the statement, the Hamas official noted that the latest response to the US-sponsored text for a 60-day ceasefire was "positive and flexible to all comments." He only asks that "its clauses be strengthened," particularly on the humanitarian front, "to ensure a massive flow of aid and its distribution through the United Nations and its authorized agencies, without Israeli interference," he emphasized. "We were interested in reducing the size of the buffer zones where the occupation will remain for the 60 days and in avoiding densely populated areas to ensure the return of most of our people to their homes," he further explained.

"As someone who is very much in favor of a Palestinian state, I am not in favor of recognizing it prior to a process leading to its creation," Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stated in a statement published by "la Repubblica."

"I have said it several times, including in Parliament," just as "I have said it to the Palestinian Authority itself, and I have also said it to Macron: I believe that recognizing the State of Palestine, without there actually being a State of Palestine, could actually be counterproductive to the objective. If something that doesn't exist is recognized on paper, the problem risks appearing solved when it isn't." Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stated this in a statement to "Repubblica."

Nearly one in three people in the Gaza Strip goes days without food, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned, adding that "malnutrition is on the rise, with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment." Despite the efforts made so far, the agency's website states, the amount of food aid delivered "still represents a fraction of what a population of over two million people needs to survive." The WFP emphasizes that "access to essential fresh and nutritious products such as fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and dairy products requires the restoration of commercial shipments to Gaza." As of yesterday, the statement continues, approximately 3,500 tons of aid (equivalent to 300 truckloads) were ready to be removed from storage areas and brought to Gaza for distribution. The agency also states that only two border crossings have been authorized for use by its trucks and emphasizes that "more reliable and safe routes for convoys inside Gaza are needed," as well as more drivers than the mere 60 approved by authorities to date to transport vital food assistance into the Strip.

The Israeli military destroyed tens of thousands of humanitarian aid items, including a large quantity of food intended for residents of the Gaza Strip. Due to the Israeli blockade, the aid had been left on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing for several weeks and had deteriorated, Kan News reports.

The destroyed material, estimated at over a thousand trucks, included food, medical equipment, and bottled water. "We buried everything in the ground and burned some of the material," an army source reported. "Even today, there are thousands of packages waiting in the sun, and if they aren't transferred to the Strip, we'll be forced to destroy those too."

The activists—including two Italians—from the Freedom Flotilla ship Handala , which is heading to Gaza "with high security risks for civilians on board related to the war," will disembark at the Israeli port of Ashdod this weekend. "Subsequently, local authorities will activate the procedures required by Israeli law regarding repatriation," qualified sources report. The Italian Embassy in Tel Aviv, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is monitoring the activists' journey. Upon arrival in Ashdod, they will be met by embassy officials who will provide the two Italians with the necessary assistance.

With France's move, the number of UN member states officially recognizing Palestine will rise to 148 out of 193. Which countries are there and how many? To learn more, read here.

Israeli police released Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, after arresting him inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem and holding him in custody for several hours. Following his release, the Palestinian Committee for Detainees' Affairs stated in a statement that Hussein was barred from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque until Sunday and was summoned for further questioning that same day.

France's decision to recognize a Palestinian state will have no impact on the Middle East conflict, says US President Donald Trump. He says French President Macron "is a good guy, but what he says doesn't matter."

A "humanitarian catastrophe" is unfolding in the Gaza Strip that "must end immediately," the United Kingdom, France, and Germany said at the conclusion of a call between leaders Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, and Friedrich Merz. The appeal appears to be an indirect response to the Israeli government's claims that there is no famine in Gaza, despite denunciations by the UN and hundreds of international organizations.

Israel says it will allow foreign countries to airdrop food into Gaza, but insists that "there is no famine," Haaretz reports. The Israeli coordinator of government activities in the territories believes that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip "continues to be difficult and challenging," but "there is no widespread famine."

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli forces today arrested the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, the preacher of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, inside the mosque's courtyard in occupied Jerusalem. The Department of Islamic Endowments announced that Sheikh Mohammad Hussein was arrested after Friday prayers and taken to the Mughrabi Gate of Jerusalem's Old City.

"Italy supports the two-people, two-state solution, but recognition of the new Palestinian state must occur simultaneously with Italy's recognition of the State of Israel. We are interested in peace, not the victory of one over the other, and we are the country in the world that has welcomed the largest number of refugees from Gaza," said Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, opening the National Council of Forza Italia. "We can no longer accept carnage and famine," he said. "The time has come for an immediate ceasefire. We are friends of Israel, but we have told Israel that."

Ceasefire negotiations in the Gaza Strip will resume next week after Israel evaluates Hamas's latest proposal, according to Egyptian television network Al Qahera News TV , citing government sources in Cairo. The Israeli negotiating team returned home from Doha this morning after being recalled yesterday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for consultations.

According to Doctors Without Borders, 25% of children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women, are malnourished.

At the MSF clinic in Gaza City, the number of people suffering from malnutrition has quadrupled since May, with 25 new patients admitted every day. Rates of severe malnutrition in children under five have tripled in the last two weeks. MSF reports that not only patients, but also healthcare staff, are "beginning to suffer from food shortages. This isn't just hunger, but deliberate hunger, caused by the Israeli authorities."

At least 115 Palestinians have died of starvation in Gaza since the war began in October 2023, Gaza's Health Ministry reported, according to Al Jazeera . Most of the victims, many of them children, have occurred in recent weeks.

Macron announces French recognition of the State of Palestine in September.

Faithful to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine. I will solemnly announce this to the United Nations General Assembly next September. The urgent need today is for the war in Gaza to end and for the civilian population to be helped. Peace is possible. We need an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and massive humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. We must also ensure the demilitarization of Hamas, and protect and rebuild Gaza. Finally, we must build the State of Palestine, ensure its viability, and allow it, by accepting its demilitarization and fully recognizing Israel, to contribute to the security of all in the Middle East. There is no alternative. The French want peace in the Middle East. It is up to us French, together with the Israelis, the Palestinians, and our European and international partners, to demonstrate that it is possible. In light of the commitments the President of the Palestinian Authority has made to me, I have written to him expressing my determination to move forward. Trust, clarity, and commitment. We will win peace."

The commissioner general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, says his workers are fainting from hunger at work: “The people in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses, a colleague in Gaza told me this morning,” Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.

"This deepening crisis is affecting everyone, including those trying to save lives in the war-torn enclave. UNRWA health workers on the front lines are surviving on one small meal a day, often just lentils, if at all," the UN Commissioner denounced. "Increasingly, they are fainting from hunger while at work. When health workers can't find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system collapses."

“All of Gaza will be Jewish... the government is pushing for Gaza to be obliterated. Thank God, we are eradicating this evil. We are pushing the population who have educated themselves on Mein Kampf”: words of far-right Israeli minister Amihai Ben-Eliyahu, quoted in X by Axios journalist Barak Ravid.