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Argentine President Javier Milei said Wednesday his country would in 2026 move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, the status of which is one of the most delicate issues in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.”I am proud to announce before you that in 2026 we will make effective the move of our embassy to the city of west Jerusalem, as we promised,” Milei said in a speech in the Israeli parliament during an official state visit.Argentina’s embassy is currently located in Herzliya near the coastal city of Tel Aviv.This is Milei’s second visit to Israel since being elected in 2023. His previous trip, in February 2024, was his first official state visit outside of Argentina. During that trip he announced plans to move Argentina’s embassy  to Jerusalem — a controversial move that echoed US President Donald Trump’s shock 2017 decision to unilaterally recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.Israel has occupied east Jerusalem since 1967, later annexing it in a move not recognised by the international community.Israel treats the city as its capital, while Palestinians want east Jerusalem to become the capital of a future state.Most foreign embassies to Israel are located in the coastal hub city of Tel Aviv in order to avoid interfering with negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.Speaking ahead of Milei’s address to parliament on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “the city of Jerusalem will never be divided again.”Several countries, including the United States, Paraguay, Guatemala, Honduras and Kosovo, have moved their embassies to Jerusalem, breaking with international consensus.- ‘Stand firm’ -In 2017, during his first term as US president, Trump unilaterally recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, sparking Palestinian anger and the international community’s disapproval.The United States transferred its embassy to Jerusalem in May 2018.Milei, who has professed a deep interest in Judaism and studied Jewish scripture, is one of Israel’s staunchest defenders.As Israel faces mounting international pressure over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza after more than 20 months of war, Milei sought to express his support.”As a nation, we want to stand firm alongside you as you go through these dark days, we will not yield to criticism resulting from cowardice or complicity with barbarism,” he said on Tuesday during a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.He also demanded the “unconditional return of the four Argentines still in captivity” in Gaza after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war.The Palestinian militant group’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the retaliatory Israeli military offensive has killed at least 55,104 people, the majority civilians. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable.Out of 251 taken hostage during the Hamas attack, 54 are still held in Gaza including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists in a Gaza-bound convoy reached the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Wednesday as they drive eastward in a bid to break Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory.The Soumoud convoy — meaning steadfastness in Arabic — set off from Tunis in buses and cars on Monday, hoping to pass through divided Libya and Egypt, which organisers say has yet to provide passage permits, to reach Gaza.It was launched the day Israel intercepted an aid ship also attempting to breach its blockade on Gaza, which was carrying 12 people, including campaigner Greta Thunberg and European parliament member Franco-Palestinian Rima Hassan.The land convoy was welcomed by hundreds in Tripoli and escorted through the capital by police patrols.Libya’s Tripoli-based Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah hailed the convoy as a “fraternal humanitarian initiative” that Libyans “embraced in warmth and solidarity”.”This is another example of Libya’s commitment and generosity in support of the people of Gaza under siege and attack,” the premier said in a statement.After 20 months of war, Israel is facing mounting international pressure to allow more aid into Gaza to alleviate widespread shortages of food and basic supplies.The United Nations has said the Palestinian territory was “the hungriest place on Earth”.”This visit brings us joy,” said 45-year-old architect Alaa Abdel Razzaq among the crowd in downtown Tripoli welcoming the convoy.Souhour al-Qatif said the gathering in the capital showed that “the tears of the Libyan people are united with the convoy”. “It’s a great feeling,” she added. “I feel like I’m not in Libya, but in Gaza, united with my Palestinian brothers.”Organisers have said a dozen buses and around 100 other vehicles were part of the convoy, adding that they expected the number of participants to grow along the way.Algerian, Mauritanian, Moroccan and Libyan activists were also among the Soumoud group, which is now set to cross eastern Libya, a region controlled by a different administration than Tripoli.This has cast doubt on whether the activists would reach the border crossing with Egypt, which has yet to grant clearance for the activists to cross.Convoy spokesman Ghassen Henchiri told Tunisian media on Wednesday discussions were ongoing with Egyptian authorities regarding a permit to cross, “but as of now, we haven’t received an official response.”

Medical charity Medecins du Monde Wednesday accused Israel of violating international law with drone strikes on a building housing one of its offices in war-torn Gaza that killed eight people, none of them staff.The France-based aid group said in a statement the attack on Tuesday “constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law, which protects both civilian populations and humanitarian organisations operating in conflict zones”.The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.”Yesterday morning, at around 11:00 am local time, a building in Deir el-Balah housing a Medecins du Monde office was attacked by drones,” the aid group said.Its staff had not been present as they had been off as part of the Eid al-Adha holiday, it added.”At least eight people were killed in the bombardment. All were on the last floor of the building,” it said, without providing more details on those killed.”Medecins du Monde had informed the Israeli military of the presence of its office, which had officially been declared ‘deconflicted’, or shielded from Israeli military attacks under humanitarian coordination agreements,” it said.”However, as during previous Israeli attacks, the team received no forward warning that would have allowed it to evacuate the building or take measures to protect anyone inside,” it added.Several other non-governmental organisations as well as Palestinians displaced by the war are based in the same area, it said.- Risk of famine: UN -Israel is facing mounting pressure to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, whose entire population the United Nations has warned is at risk of famine.Medecins du Monde last month, after more than two months of a total blockade on Gaza, accused Israel of using hunger as “a weapon of war” in the Palestinian territory.Israel recently allowed some deliveries to resume through the newly formed, US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.But the United Nations refuses to work with it, citing concerns over its practices and neutrality.Dozens of people have been killed near GHF distribution points since late May, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency. It said Israeli forces killed 31 people waiting for aid early on Wednesday.Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023 attacked Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the retaliatory Israeli military offensive has killed at least 54,981 people, the majority civilians. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable.Out of 251 taken hostage during the Hamas attack, 54 are still held in Gaza including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.

An 11-year-old Palestinian boy who survived an Israeli air strike in Gaza last month, which killed his father and nine siblings, was due to arrive in Italy Wednesday for treatment.Adam and his mother, paediatrician Alaa al-Najjar, were due to fly to Milan in northern Italy on Wednesday evening alongside his aunt and four cousins, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said.”Adam will arrive in Milan and will be admitted to the Niguarda (hospital), because he has multiple fractures and he will be treated there,” Tajani told Rtl radio.A plane carrying Palestinians in need of medical care is scheduled to land at 7:30 pm (1730 GMT) at Milan’s Linate airport, according to the foreign ministry.Adam had a hand amputated and suffered severe burns across his body following the strike on the family house in the city of Khan Yunis on May 23.His mother was at work when the bomb hit the house, killing nine of her children and injuring Adam and his father, doctor Hamdi al-Najjar, who died last week.Al-Najjar, who ran to the house to find her children charred beyond recognition, told Italy’s La Repubblica daily: “I remember everything. Every detail, every minute, every scream.””But when I remember it’s too painful, so I try to keep my mind focused entirely on Adam,” she said in an interview published Wednesday ahead of their arrival.Asked by his mother during the interview to describe his hopes, Adam said he wanted to “live in a beautiful place”.”A beautiful place is a place where there are no bombs. In a beautiful place the houses are not broken and I go to school,” he said, according to La Repubblica.”Schools have desks, the kids study their lessons but then they go play in the courtyard and nobody dies.”A beautiful place is where they operate on my arm and my arm works again. In a beautiful place my mother is not sad. They told me that Italy is a beautiful place,” he said.Al-Najjar said she has packed the Koran, their documents and Adam’s clothes.”I am heartbroken. I am leaving behind everything that was important to me. My husband, my children, the hospital where I worked, my job, my patients,” she said.”People are dying of hunger. If not of hunger, of bombs. We would just like to live in peace,” she told the daily.Adam is one of 17 children being brought to Italy on Wednesday from Gaza along with relatives, Tajani said.The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 54,981 people, the majority civilians, have been killed in the territory since the start of the war. The UN considers these figures reliable.

Iran on Wednesday hanged a man convicted of killing seven people, including a 10-year-old boy, during nationwide protests in 2022 but human rights groups said he was the victim of a wrongful conviction.Abbas Kurkuri, also known as Mojahed Kurkur, was hanged at dawn in Sheiban prison in the western city of Ahvaz, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights and Hengaw groups said. His execution was reported by the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan Online website which said he had been convicted by a Revolutionary Court of the capital offences of “corruption on earth” and “waging war against God”.He had been arrested more than two years previously over the deaths in November 2022 at the height of the nationwide protests sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurd detained for an alleged breach of Iran’s strict dress code for women. He was accused of opening fire with a military weapon in the town of Izeh northeast of Ahvaz in an attack that left seven people dead, including 10-year-old Kian Pirfalak, whose death sparked outrage at the time.At his trial, Kurkuri confessed to the charges and said he had been “under the influence of social media”, Mizan said.But human rights groups said his confession, which was broadcast by Iranian state media and re-published by Mizan on Wednesday, had been obtained under duress and accused the authorities of framing him to take the blame away from the security forces.- ‘Tsunami’ of executions -“During his detention, Korkor endured severe torture and was denied access to legal counsel,” said Hengaw, adding that Pirfalak’s mother had said at her son’s funeral that it was security personnel who fired at their vehicle.It noted that the execution had taken place on what would have been the boy’s birthday.IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam described the execution as “an extrajudicial killing”.”The Islamic republic authorities attempted to blame him for the murder of 10-year old Kian Pirfalak by forcing confessions under torture,” he said.He said the hanging of Kurkuri, a member of Iran’s Bahktiari minority, was the latest in a “tsunami” of executions in Iran, with convicts currently being put to death at a rate of four a day.According to IHR, at least 569 people have been hanged in Iran so far this year.Nobel Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi, currently on leave from her own prison sentence, said Kurkuri had been “brutally tortured in solitary confinement (and) falsely accused of Kian’s murder based on fabricated claims by interrogators and the regime’s judiciary”.Amnesty International said he was convicted after a “grossly unfair sham trial marred by torture-tainted ‘confessions’ obtained while he was subjected to enforced disappearance”.The London-based group said its investigations had showed “plainclothes security officials used unlawful lethal force during protests in Izeh and fatally fired live ammunition at the child”.”Authorities immediately blamed ‘terrorists’, but the boy’s family repeatedly refuted these claims publicly and attributed the responsibility to the authorities.”Over 550 people were killed in the authorities’ crackdown on the protests, according to the IHR’s figures. The authorities emphasise that members of the security forces also lost their lives.Kurkuri’s execution comes a day after Iran hanged nine men convicted of plotting to carry out attacks in 2018 on behalf of the Islamic State group.Iran is the world’s second most prolific executioner after China, according to human rights groups including Amnesty International.

China is counting on one crucial advantage as it seeks to grind out a deal to ease its high-stakes trade war with the United States — dominance in rare earths.Used in electric vehicles, hard drives, wind turbines and missiles, rare earth elements are essential to the modern economy and national defence.AFP takes a look at …

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