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US President Donald Trump hosts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to push for an end to the Gaza war, after Israel and Hamas held indirect talks in Qatar on an elusive ceasefire.Trump has said he believes there is a “good chance” of an agreement this week for a ceasefire in the devastated Palestinian territory, hot on the heels of a truce in the war between Israel and Iran.The US president — who has expressed increasing concern over the situation in Gaza in recent weeks — will have dinner behind closed doors with Netanyahu, their third meeting since Trump returned to power.White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said it was Trump’s “utmost priority… to end the war in Gaza and to return all of the hostages.”Leavitt said Trump wanted Hamas to agree to a US-brokered proposal “right now” after Israel backed the plan for a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.The latest round of negotiations on the war in Gaza began on Sunday in Doha, with representatives seated in different rooms in the same building. A second session was held on Monday and ended with “no breakthrough,” a Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told AFP. The Hamas and Israeli delegations were due to resume talks later on Monday, the official said.- ‘Good chance’ -Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff was due to join the talks in Doha later this week in an effort to get a ceasefire over the line as the Gaza conflict nears its 22nd month.In Washington, key US ally Netanyahu was to hold separate meetings with Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio before his dinner with Trump at 6:30 pm local time (2230 GMT).Netanyahu, speaking before heading to Washington, said his meeting with Trump could “definitely help advance” a deal with Hamas.Trump said on Sunday that there was a “good chance we have a deal with Hamas… during the coming week”.He added that during his talks with Netanyahu he wanted to discuss a “permanent deal” with Iran, following a truce with Israel that was precipitated by US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. But the talks in both Washington and Doha promise to be tense.Netanyahu previously said Hamas’s initial response to the draft ceasefire proposal contained “unacceptable” demands.The proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel, two Palestinian sources close to the discussions had earlier told AFP.But the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel’s withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system, they said.- ‘End the war’ -In Israel’s coastal hub of Tel Aviv, hours before the meeting, dozens of people including relatives of hostages demonstrated to demand the release of the remaining captives.”President Trump — make history. Bring them all home. End the war,” read a sign held by protesters outside the US diplomatic mission in the city.Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the Hamas attack that triggered the war, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.Two previous ceasefires have broken down and efforts to broker a new truce have repeatedly failed, with the primary point of contention being Israel’s rejection of Hamas’s demand for a lasting ceasefire.In Gaza, the civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 12 people on Monday, including six in a clinic housing people displaced by the war.The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip. The rollout of food distribution by a US- and Israel-backed group in late May has been chaotic, with more than 500 aid seekers killed near its facilities, according to the UN Human Rights Office.Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,523 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers the figures reliable.It has also reduced much of the enclave to rubble, destroying schools, hospitals and residential areas, and severely restricted the entry of aid. burs-dk/aha

US envoy Thomas Barrack said Monday he was satisfied by the response of Lebanon’s authorities to a request to disarm Hezbollah, although warned Lebanon risked being left behind as change sweeps other countries in the region.Lebanese leaders who took office in the aftermath of more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah have vowed a state monopoly on bearing arms, while demanding Israel comply with a November ceasefire.Israel has warned it will continue to strike until Hezbollah has been disarmed, while the movement’s leader Naim Qassem said Sunday his group would not surrender or lay down its weapons in response to Israeli threats.”I’m unbelievably satisfied with the response,” Barrack, Washington’s ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, told a press conference after meeting President Joseph Aoun.”It’s thoughtful, it’s considered. We’re creating a go-forward plan,” he said.”Now what it takes is a… thrust to the details, which we’re going to do. We’re both committed to get to the details and get a resolution,” he said, adding: “I’m very, very hopeful.”Lebanon’s health ministry said two people were killed in Israeli strikes in the country’s south on Monday, the latest report of deadly raids despite the ceasefire. – ‘Future for them’ -Last month, Barrack asked Lebanese leaders to formally commit to disarming Hezbollah, the only group that retained its weapons after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, doing so in the name of “resistance” against Israel which occupied southern Lebanon at the time.Hezbollah was heavily weakened in the latest conflict, with Israel battering the group’s arsenal of missiles and rockets and killing senior commanders including longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah.The presidency said on X that Aoun handed Barrack “ideas for a comprehensive solution”.Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, said his own meeting with Barrack was constructive and “considered Lebanon’s interest and sovereignty… and the demands of Hezbollah”, according to a statement.Barrack said that Hezbollah “needs to see that there’s a future for them, that that road is not harnessed just solely against them.” He warned that “the rest of the region is moving at Mach speed, and you will be left behind”, adding that “dialogue has started between Syria and Israel, just as the dialogue needs to be reinvented by Lebanon.”On Friday, Syria said it was willing to cooperate with the United States to reimplement a 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel, nearly seven months after Islamists ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, a Hezbollah ally who was also backed by Iran.Syria has also admitted to holding indirect talks with Israel to reduce tensions.- Strikes -A Lebanese official told AFP on condition of anonymity that late last week, Beirut submitted an initial response to Washington, which requested modifications, then officials worked through the weekend to develop the final version.Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani river, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli frontier.Israel was to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, but has kept them deployed in five areas that it deemed strategic.The truce was based on a United Nations Security Council resolution that says only Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should bear arms in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.Lebanese authorities say they have been dismantling Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in the south near the Israeli border.Hezbollah’s Qassem said Sunday that Israel needed to abide by the ceasefire agreement, “withdraw from the occupied territories, stop its aggression… release the prisoners” detained during last year’s war, and that reconstruction in Lebanon must begin.Only then “will we be ready for the second stage, which is to discuss the national security and defence strategy” which includes the issue of the group’s disarmament, he added.

President Donald Trump announced tariffs of 25 percent on Japan and South Korea on Monday, stepping up pressure on the two key US allies and a dozen other economies to reach trade deals with Washington.Trump issued similar letters to South Africa, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos and Kazakhstan, saying he would slap duties on their products ranging from 25 percent to 40 percent.The president had said at the weekend that, starting from Monday, he would send a first batch of letters to countries informing them that he would reimpose harsh levies earlier postponed in April.In near-identically worded letters to Japanese and South Korean leaders, Trump said the tariff hikes came as their trading relationships with Washington were “unfortunately, far from Reciprocal.”The tariffs set out in Trump’s latest letters are due to take effect August 1. He warned of further escalation if the countries involved retaliated against the duties.Currently, the affected countries have been hit with a 10 percent levy Trump imposed on almost all trading partners.But Trump said he was ready to lower the new levels if countries changed their trade policies: “We will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter.”Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Sunday that he “won’t easily compromise” in trade talks with Washington.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday that Trump would sign an order later in the day to delay his original July 9 deadline for steeper tariffs to take effect — postponing their imposition to August 1.She added that besides Japan and South Korea, there would be approximately 12 other partners receiving letters from Trump soon.With the deadline extension, Leavitt noted that Trump would set out the “reciprocal tariff rate” for partners in the coming month as negotiations continue.Trump originally announced sweeping tariffs on world economies on what he called “Liberation Day” on April 2, claiming the United States was being “ripped off.”Amid market turmoil, he then suspended the initial tariffs for 90 days, a deadline that would have expired Wednesday without the latest extension.While the Trump administration had signaled hopes of striking dozens of deals by July — at one point boasting of “90 deals in 90 days” — there have been limited results so far.Washington has unveiled pacts with only Britain and Vietnam, while the United States and China agreed to temporarily lower tariff levels on each other’s products that earlier reached three-digits.- ‘Change their tune’ -Asked why Trump opted to start with South Korea, Leavitt said: “It’s the President’s prerogative, and those are the countries he chose.””This announcement will send a chilling message to others,” said Asia Society Policy Institute Vice President Wendy Cutler, referring to Trump’s initial announcements on Tokyo and Seoul.”Both have been close partners on economic security matters,” she said, adding that companies from Japan and South Korea have made “significant manufacturing investments in the US in recent years.”US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that there would be a number of deals coming up: “We are going to have several announcements in the next 48 hours.””We’ve had a lot of people change their tune in terms of negotiations. So my mailbox was full last night with a lot of new offers, a lot of new proposals,” Bessent told CNBC.He added that he would meet with his Chinese counterpart in the coming weeks.The two sides have so far held high-level talks in Geneva and London. But Washington and Beijing’s pause on tit-for-tat tariffs is due to expire in mid-August.On whether he was disappointed in the number of trade deals achieved so far, Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro maintained that he is “happy with the progress we’ve had.”Trump has also threatened another 10 percent tariff on countries aligning themselves with the emerging BRICS nations, accusing them of “Anti-American policies” after they slammed his duties at a summit.For now, partners are still rushing to avert Trump’s tariffs altogether.The European Commission said that EU chief Ursula von der Leyen had a “good exchange” with Trump on trade when the pair spoke Sunday.

The United States on Monday announced it was revoking its “foreign terrorist organization” designation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group once linked to Al-Qaeda that toppled Syria’s government in December.”In line with President (Donald) Trump’s May 13 promise to deliver sanctions relief to Syria, I am announcing my intent to revoke the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation of al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS),” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement.An armed coalition led by HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa overthrew then-Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last year, ending half a century of brutal rule by the latter’s family.Sharaa took over as interim president, a move that has been cautiously welcomed in Washington, Europe and elsewhere, with historic foe Israel seeking to build ties with the new government.Washington’s move will formally take effect on Tuesday, and comes after US President Trump last week formally dismantled his country’s sanctions against Syria.”Tomorrow’s action follows the announced dissolution of HTS and the Syrian government’s commitment to combat terrorism in all its forms,” said Rubio.HTS was earlier known as Al-Nusra Front, and was formerly the branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria, but it broke ties with the jihadist group in 2016 and sought to soften its image.As of 2017, HTS claimed control of swaths of the province of Idlib, in Syria’s northwest, and went on to develop a civil administration in the area, amid accusations of brutal abuses against those who dared dissent.In January, after overthrowing Assad’s regime, the new authorities announced the dissolution of all armed factions, with some groups including HTS being integrated into bodies such as the country’s new police force.  Trump had lifted most sanctions against Syria in May, responding to appeals from Saudi Arabia and Turkey to help reintegrate the war-battered country into the global economy.The United States had already removed a bounty on Sharaa’s head after he came to power.- International reengagement – On Friday, Syria said it was willing to cooperate with the United States to reimplement a 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel.The United States and European countries have moved steadily to reengage with Syria since Sharaa took over as interim president, with Britain reestablishing diplomatic ties on Saturday after more than a decade.Britain has also lifted sanctions on Syria’s interior and defense ministries, as well as on various media groups, intelligence agencies and some sectors of the economy.The Assad regime was toppled after more than 13 years of civil war by a rebel offensive led by Sharaa.The rebellion was sparked in 2011 by protests against the Assads’ brutal rule that were part of the Arab Spring movement. The growing international backing comes as Syria’s new leaders attempt to rebuild the country and reboot its moribund economy, both ravaged by the conflict and crippling sanctions.From wanted jihadist to statesman embraced by world leaders, interim president Sharaa has undergone a stunning transformation in just six months.He now leads a government through a five-year transitional period under a temporary constitution that experts and rights groups say concentrates power in his hands. 

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 12 people on Monday, including six in a clinic housing Palestinians displaced after 21 months of war.Israel has recently expanded its military operations in the Gaza Strip, where the war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the Palestinian territory’s population of more than two million.Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that six people were killed and 15 injured in an Israeli air strike that hit the Al-Rimal clinic, “which houses hundreds of displaced people, in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood west of Gaza City.”AFP footage showed Palestinians, including groups of young children, combing through the bombed-out interior of the clinic, where mattresses lay alongside wood, metal and concrete broken apart in the blast.”We were surprised by missiles and explosions inside the building,” eyewitness Salman Qudum told AFP. “We did not know where to go because of the dust and destruction.”In the south of the territory, Bassal said two people were killed and 20 others injured by Israeli forces’ gunfire while waiting for aid near a distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) northwest of Rafah.In response to an AFP request for comment, the army said that soldiers “fired warning shots” to drive away “suspects” who tried to approach troops.”All the warning shots were fired approximately hundreds of meters from the aid distribution site, prior to its opening hours”, the army said, adding the incident would be reviewed.A US- and Israel-backed group, the GHF took the lead in food distribution in the territory in late May, but its operations have had a chaotic rollout with repeated reports of aid seekers killed near its facilities.The Red Cross has reported “a sharp surge in mass casualty incidents linked to aid distribution sites” over the past month, which has “overwhelmed Gaza’s shattered healthcare system”.In a statement, the ICRC said its 60-bed field hospital in Rafah “has been running beyond maximum capacity almost daily.””Its staff are racing to treat an unrelenting tide of injuries, the vast majority caused by gunfire,” it said.- Hundreds reported killed -The UN human rights office said last week that more than 500 people have been killed waiting to access food from GHF distribution points.In Khan Yunis in the south, Bassal reported two people killed in an air strike on a house and another killed by Israeli gunfire.An air strike on a house in Gaza City killed one and injured several others, he added.The Israeli military did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.In a separate statement, it said it had struck “dozens of terrorists, weapons depots, observation posts, military buildings, and other terror infrastructures” over the past 24 hours.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency.Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.Out of 251 hostages seized during the attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed more than 57,523 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.bur-az-acc-lba/dcp

US President Donald Trump said Monday he was slapping 25 percent tariffs on Japan and South Korea, in his first letters to trading partners ahead of a deadline to reach a deal with Washington.Trump had said at the weekend that starting from Monday he would send a first batch of up to 15 letters to countries informing them that he would reimpose harsh levies that he had postponed in April.In near-identically worded letters to the Japanese and South Korean leaders, Trump said the tariffs would apply from August 1 because their trading relationships with Washington were “unfortunately, far from Reciprocal.”Trump warned the countries, both key US allies in East Asia, of an escalation if they responded to the new US tariffs. But he also said he was ready to modify levies “downwards” if Japan and South Korea changed their trade policies.Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Sunday that he “won’t easily compromise” in trade talks with Washington.Trump originally announced sweeping tariffs on world economies on what he called “Liberation Day” on April 2, claiming the United States was being “ripped off.”Amid market turmoil, Trump then suspended the initial tariffs for 90 days, a deadline that expires on Wednesday.  But the Trump administration has said that the duties will not “boomerang” back until August 1, apparently extending the deadline despite denials from officials.While the Trump administration has signaled hopes of striking dozens of deals by early July — at one point boasting of “90 deals in 90 days” — there have been limited results so far.Washington has unveiled pacts with only Britain and Vietnam, while the United States and China agreed to temporarily lower tariff levels on each other’s products that earlier reached three-digits.- ‘Change their tune’ -Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there would be a number of deals coming up.”We are going to have several announcements in the next 48 hours,” Bessent told CNBC in an interview Monday.”We’ve had a lot of people change their tune in terms of negotiations. So my mailbox was full last night with a lot of new offers, a lot of new proposals,” Bessent said.There was no immediate response from the White House on whether Trump would formally extend the Wednesday deadline for the tariffs to snap back.Asked about Trump’s letters, Bessent said these would inform partners of the tariff rate their products face when trading with the United States, unless they want to “come back and try to negotiate.”Bessent told CNBC Monday that he would “be meeting with my Chinese counterpart sometime in the next couple of weeks.”The two sides have so far held high-level talks in Geneva and London.But Washington and Beijing’s pause on tit-for-tat tariffs is due to expire in mid-August.On whether he was disappointed in the number of trade deals achieved so far, Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro maintained that he is “happy with the progress we’ve had.””Every country that we run a major deficit with is fully engaged,” he told CNBC on Monday.Trump has also threatened another 10 percent tariff on countries aligning themselves with the emerging BRICS nations, accusing them of “Anti-American policies” after they slammed his duties at a summit.For now, partners are still rushing to avert Trump’s tariffs altogether.The European Commission said that EU chief Ursula von der Leyen had a “good exchange” with Trump on trade when the pair spoke Sunday.

Israel and Hamas held indirect talks in Qatar on Monday, according to a Palestinian official, ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting in Washington with President Donald Trump, who is pushing for a deal on Gaza.The latest round of negotiations on the war in Gaza began on Sunday in Doha, aiming to broker a ceasefire and reach an agreement on the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.A Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told AFP a second session was held on Monday and ended with “no breakthrough”.The Hamas and Israeli delegations were due to resume talks later on Monday, the official said.Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the delegations had exchanged views on Sunday via mediators, with representatives of the two sides seated in different rooms in the same building.Ahead of Netanyahu’s third visit since Trump’s return to office this year, the US president said there was a “good chance we have a deal with Hamas… during the coming week”.”We’ve gotten a lot of the hostages out, but pertaining to the remaining hostages, quite a few of them will be coming out,” he told journalists.Netanyahu, speaking before heading to Washington, said his meeting with Trump could “definitely help advance this” deal after 21 months of war.Netanyahu said he had dispatched the team to the Qatari capital with “clear instructions” to reach an agreement “under the conditions that we have agreed to”.He previously said Hamas’s response to a draft US-backed ceasefire proposal, conveyed through Qatari and Egyptian mediators, contained “unacceptable” demands.- ‘Make history’ -Two Palestinian sources close to the discussions had earlier told AFP the proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.However, they said, the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel’s withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system.Trump is scheduled to meet the Israeli premier at 2230 GMT Monday, the White House said, without the usual presence of journalists.In Israel’s coastal hub of Tel Aviv, hours before the meeting, an AFP photographer said dozens of people including relatives of hostages demonstrated to demand the release of the remaining captives.”President Trump — make history. Bring them all home. End the war,” read a sign held by protesters outside the US diplomatic mission in the city.Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the Hamas attack that triggered the war, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.Since Hamas’s October 2023 attack sparked the massive Israeli offensive, mediators have brokered two temporary halts in the fighting during which hostages were freed in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody.Recent efforts to broker a new truce have repeatedly failed, with the primary point of contention being Israel’s rejection of Hamas’s demand for a lasting ceasefire.- ‘Can’t take this anymore’ -In Gaza, the civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 12 people on Monday, including six in a clinic housing people displaced by the war.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency.The Israeli military did not respond to an AFP request for comment.Salman Qudum, who told AFP he had survived the attack on the clinic in Gaza City, said: “We don’t know where to go or what to do.”Qudum said the negotiators and mediators in Doha must “apply pressure” to secure a ceasefire “because the people can’t take this anymore”.In a statement on Monday, the military said it had struck “dozens of terrorists, weapons depots, observation posts, military buildings and other terror infrastructures” across Gaza over the past 24 hours.The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip.A US- and Israel-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), took the lead in food distribution in the territory in late May, when Israel partially lifted a more than two-month blockade on aid deliveries.But its operations have had a chaotic rollout, with repeated reports of aid seekers killed near its facilities while awaiting rations.Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,523 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.burs-ser/ami/dcp