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A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival Thursday.As the cinema lights came back on, film maker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute.”To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said.”There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added.With Israel banning foreign media from entering the besieged Palestinian territory, Farsi last year reached out to Hassouna through video call, and turned more than 200 days of conversations into the documentary “Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk”.In often disjointed discussions due to bad internet connection, Hassouna smiles widely and bravely says she is ok.She recounts how she dreams of eating chicken amid dire food shortages, how she lost 14 relatives including a one-year-old in Israeli bombardment, and what she photographed that day.In one of her many pictures edited into the film, a little girl laughs on her father’s lap in front of a tower block reduced to rubble.But in another, a boy aims a water hose at the bloodied pavement, trying to clean away the remains of his own family.- ‘Normal people’ -A day after Hassouna was told the documentary had been selected for a sidebar section at the world’s most prestigious film festival, an Israeli missile pummelled her home in northern Gaza, killing her and 10 relatives.Israel has claimed it was targeting Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas.”Why would you kill someone and decimate an entire family just because she was taking photos?” Farsi told AFP. “They were normal people. Her father was a taxi driver, she was a photographer, her sister was a painter and her little brother was 10 years old”, said Farsi.”My heart goes out to her mother, who lost six of her children, her husband and her home.”On Thursday, British filmmaker Ken Loach — a double Palme d’Or winner — on X called on people to honour Hassouna and fellow Palestinian journalists “who gave their lives to bear witness to mass murder”.Tens of thousands have been killed in Gaza and an aid blockade threatens famine, while Israeli leaders continue to express a desire to empty the territory of Palestinians as part of the war sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack.Reporters Without Borders estimates around 200 journalists have been killed in 18 months of Israeli strikes on Gaza.- ‘Reality caught up with us’ -As the Gaza death toll mounts, with rescuers saying 120 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Thursday alone, the conflict has cast a shadow over Cannes.Several actors have walked its red carpet wearing Palestinian flags pinned to their jackets, while others have sported a yellow ribbon for Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.Exiled Gazan film makers Arab and Tarzan Nasser will on Monday screen “Once Upon a Time in Gaza”, a portrait of two friends set in 2007, the year Hamas started tightening its grip on the territory.On the eve of the festival, “Schindler’s List” actor Ralph Fiennes and Hollywood star Richard Gere were among more than 380 figures to slam what they see as silence over “genocide” in Gaza.”The English Patient” actor Juliette Binoche, who heads the main competition jury, paid homage to Hassouna on opening night.Sepideh said she had believed until the very end that Hassouna “would survive, that she would come (to Cannes), that the war would stop.”But reality caught up with us,” she said.

Oil prices fell Thursday while global equities were mixed after President Donald Trump said the United States was close to making a deal on Iran’s nuclear program.Trump made the remarks in Qatar before flying to the United Arab Emirates for the third and final leg of a Gulf tour that began in Saudi Arabia.Trump’s comments …

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced openness Thursday to any new ideas to bring aid into Gaza after a US- and Israeli-backed plan was sharply criticised, expressing concern over the humanitarian situation in the territory.A new US-backed foundation on Wednesday announced a plan to begin distributing aid later this month in Gaza, where Israel has cut off food and other humanitarian supplies for more than two months.”We’re troubled by the humanitarian situation there,” Rubio told reporters after warnings of famine in war-ravaged Gaza.”I hear criticisms of that plan. We’re open to an alternative if someone has a better one,” Rubio said on a visit to Turkey.”We are for all the aid we can get without Hamas being able to steal it from people.”Rubio also said he spoke about the situation in Gaza in a telephone call on Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as President Donald Trump tours Arab monarchies in the Gulf region.Netanyahu has vowed a new offensive to wipe out Hamas, which sparked the war in Gaza with the deadliest attack against Israel in its history on October 7, 2023.Rubio said the United States shared Netanyahu’s desire to eliminate the Palestinian militant group.”I think all of us would love to see an enduring end to this conflict, which, by the way, would end immediately if Hamas were to surrender,” Rubio said.”As long as they exist and they’re around, you’re not going to have peace.”Israel has imposed a blockade for over two months on Gaza, leading UN agencies and other humanitarian groups to warn of shrinking fuel and medicine supplies to the territory of 2.4 million Palestinians.The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), said Wednesday it would begin distributing humanitarian aid in the Palestinian territory by the end of the month, with plans to provide nearly 300 million meals over an initial period of 90 days.However little is known about the foundation, which has been headquartered in Geneva since February.Asked Thursday whether the United States was providing funding to the organisation, State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott referred reporters to the foundation for further detail.Calling the initiative an “independent plan”, Pigott said the United States would “endorse this plan in the sense that we want to see creative solutions”.- UN says no -The United Nations meanwhile ruled out involvement in the project.”I made it clear that we participate in aid operations if they are in accordance with our basic principles,” said UN spokesman Farhan Haq.”As we’ve stated repeatedly, this particular distribution plan does not accord with our basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality, independence, and we will not be participating in this.”The initiative would effectively sideline the UN, which has trucks loaded with 171,000 tonnes of food waiting to enter the territory.”The UN have a plan, an excellent plan, that is ready to be implemented as soon as we’re allowed to do our work,” he said.But Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, reiterated that his country would not allow a return to the previous aid system, which he believes had ties to Hamas.He meanwhile called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to “recalculate” the body’s approach to what would be a “major” operation.He added that Israel would not fund the US-backed GHF efforts but would facilitate them.

Palestinian rescuers reported 120 people killed on Thursday in Israeli strikes on blockaded Gaza, where a US-backed organisation said it intends to begin distributing aid by the end of the month.Aid to Gaza has been cut off since March 2, a tactic Israel has said is intended to force concessions from Hamas, but the group insisted on Thursday that the restoration of humanitarian assistance to the war-ravaged territory was “the minimum requirement” for talks.It also warned that Gaza was not “for sale” hours after US President Donald Trump, on a visit to the region, again floated taking over the territory and turning it into “a freedom zone”.Gaza’s civil defence agency said the death toll from Israeli bombardment since dawn on Thursday had risen to 120.Israel’s aid blockade preceded a resumption of military operations on March 18, ending a ceasefire that had largely halted hostilities since mid-January.For weeks, UN agencies have warned that supplies of everything from food and clean water to fuel and medicines are reaching new lows.The World Health Organization said the last hospital in Gaza providing cancer and cardiac care had stopped functioning after an Israeli attack on Tuesday left it “severely damaged and inaccessible”.UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese, accused Israel of “killing what’s left of Humanity”.AFPTV footage from the aftermath of a strike on Deir al-Balah in the centre of the territory showed flattened buildings and piles of concrete rubble. “We pray for this war to end, and we appeal to all international institutions to end the war because enough is enough,” said Gaza resident Maher Ghanem, his arm in a sling.- Gaza not ‘for sale’ -Following the latest deaths, Hamas called on the international community to hold Israel to account for what it described as a “barbaric escalation”. Israel says its aid stoppage and military pressure are meant to force Hamas to free the remaining hostages seized during the October 2023 attack that triggered the war.But senior Hamas official Basem Naim said the entry of aid into Gaza was “the minimum requirement for a conducive and constructive negotiation environment”.”Access to food, water, and medicine is a fundamental human right — not a subject for negotiation,” he added. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-supported NGO, said it would begin distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza this month after talks with Israeli officials.But the United Nations on Thursday ruled out involvement with the initiative.”As we’ve stated repeatedly, this particular distribution plan does not accord with our basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality, independence, and we will not be participating in this,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq said.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged the criticism of the plan and said Washington was “open to an alternative if someone has a better one”.Trump said he wanted the United States to “get involved” in Gaza.”I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good… let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone,” he said on the Qatar leg of a Gulf tour, adding he would be “proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone”.The comments echoed a widely condemned idea he floated in February for the United States to “take over” the devastated territory and redevelop it into “the Riviera of the Middle East”.Hamas official Naim said “Gaza is an integral part of Palestinian land — it is not real estate for sale on the open market”.The United Nations estimates that 70 percent of Gaza is now either an Israeli-declared no-go zone or under evacuation order.The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said 2,876 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,010.The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.- West Bank raids -In the occupied West Bank, meanwhile, raids were ongoing and roads blocked after Israel’s military chief vowed to find the perpetrators of an attack that killed a pregnant Israeli woman.WhatsApp groups for Israeli settlers in the territory were rife with calls for vengeance in retaliation for the attack.In the northern village of Tammun, Israeli troops killed five Palestinians in a raid the military described as targeting buildings suspected of being used to plan attacks.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday a nuclear deal with Iran was close that would avert military action, as he toured Gulf capitals, securing $1.4 trillion in 10-year investments from Abu Dhabi.Trump made the Iran remarks in Qatar before flying on to the United Arab Emirates for the third and final leg of the tour that began in Saudi Arabia.The UAE vowed to invest $1.4 trillion in the US economy over 10 years, the latest in a raft of multi-billion pledges and deals secured during Trump’s Gulf tour, which also saw Washington lifting decades-long sanctions on Syria.”We’re not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran,” Trump said earlier in Doha.”I think we’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this,” he said, referring to military action.Oil prices plunged more than three percent following his remarks, on rising hopes for a nuclear deal that could see Iranian exports return to the market.Iran has held four rounds of talks with Trump’s administration which has sought to avert threatened military action by Israel while keeping up its “maximum pressure” campaign.”You probably read today the story about Iran. It’s sort of agreed to the terms,” Trump said.The US president did not specify which remarks he was referring to, but an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani, told NBC News Tehran would give up its stocks of highly enriched uranium as part of a deal in which Washington lifts sanctions.In Tehran, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran had yet to receive any proposal in writing from the United States but said it stood to build trust if sanctions were lifted. “We are ready to build trust and transparency about our nuclear programme in response to the lifting of sanctions,” he said.In Abu Dhabi, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed announced his country’s “plan to invest $1.4 trillion in the United States… over the next 10 years,” in fields including technology, artificial intelligence and energy.He hailed the “strong partnership” between Abu Dhabi and Washington which he said took an “unprecedented boost especially after your (Trump’s) arrival at the White House”.- AI ambitions -Trump was welcomed by the UAE president along with children waving flags and women performing a traditional dance that involves moving their heads from side to side to make their hair “dance”.Afterwards, he toured the opulent Sheikh Zayed mosque, the country’s largest, with its giant white columns and high walls adorned with golden moulding.English-language Emirati newspaper The National has reported that the United States and UAE are working on announcing an AI and tech partnership during Trump’s visit.The UAE is betting on artificial intelligence to help diversify its oil-reliant economy.But these ambitions hinge on access to advanced US technologies, including AI chips that were under stringent export restriction — which the UAE president’s brother and spy chief Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed reportedly lobbied for during a Washington visit in March.Two days ago, Trump rescinded further controls on AI chips, which were imposed by his predecessor Joe Biden to make it harder for China to access advanced technology.Trump estimated his “record” tour would raise between $3.5 trillion and $4 trillion.He hailed what he said was a record $200-billion deal for Boeing aircraft from flag-carrier Qatar Airways.Saudi Arabia promised its own $600 billion in investment, including one of the largest-ever purchases of US weapons.- Gulf largesse -The Gulf leaders’ largesse has also stirred controversy, with Qatar offering Trump a luxury aircraft ahead of his visit for presidential and then personal use, in what Trump’s Democratic opponents charged was blatant corruption.Trump has made no mention of human rights during his tour.Biden had initially vowed to shun Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over US intelligence findings that he ordered the gruesome murder in 2018 of Jamal Khashoggi — a Saudi dissident writer who lived in the United States.Trump, instead, hailed the crown prince, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, as a visionary due to the kingdom’s rapid economic investments.The president also acceded to a key request of the crown prince in announcing the lifting of sanctions on Syria following the toppling of Bashar al-Assad in December.He met in Riyadh with interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the first encounter between leaders of the two nations in 25 years.Sharaa — a former jihadist once on the US wanted list — appeared in a suit and was complimented by Trump as a “young, attractive guy”.

Only about 30 people turned up Thursday at this year’s Jewish pilgrimage on Tunisia’s island of Djerba amid safety concerns following a deadly 2023 attack and as the war in Gaza rages on.The pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue, Africa’s oldest, has in the past drawn thousands of pilgrims from Europe, Israel and beyond, attracting international and local tourists as well.But after a 2023 deadly attack on the synagogue that killed two worshippers and three police officers, fewer pilgrims have been turning out to make the pilgrimage.”It has been difficult for people to come, given what’s happening in the world,” Rene Trabelsi, the event organiser, told AFP.”The pilgrimage has gone through many difficult periods in its history,” he said.This year’s activities were restricted to indoor events at the place of worship.”In 30 years, I have never seen the Ghriba synagogue so empty,” said Khoudhir Hanya, the synagogue’s manager.”Usually even a week beforehand, pilgrims begin to arrive — sometimes up to 1,000 people.”Earlier this month, a knife attack injured a local Jewish jeweller, but Trabelsi said it was unclear whether it was motivated by anti-Semitism, as authorities have not provided further details. The pilgrimage is at the heart of Jewish tradition in Tunisia, where only about 1,500 members of the faith still live — mainly on Djerba. Many have left for Israel and France.Organisers say more than 5,000 people, mostly from abroad, attended the pilgrimage in 2023, whereas up to 8,000 pilgrims had attended in previous years.Security at the synagogue had already been tightened after previous attacks.A suicide truck bombing in 2002, claimed by Al-Qaeda, killed 21 at the synagogue, and another attack in 1985 killed four worshippers and a police officer.

Alana Hadid, the older sister of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid, has helped set up a new film streaming platform to bring Palestinian perspectives to a global audience, its founders confirmed Thursday.Watermelon+ was launched at the Cannes film festival as more than 100 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza on Thursday. At least 80 died on Wednesday.”Unless we get (Palestinian) voices out there, nothing’s going to change,” said Badie Ali, one of two US-born Palestinian brothers who founded the website, where Hadid is creative director.A model and activist, her father, property developer Mohamed Anwar Hadid, is Palestinian.Showing “neglected or silenced” Palestinian perspectives was particularly important in the United States, an ally of Israel, Ali insisted.The platform offers around 60 films, including several set in Gaza.They span from Emmy-awarded documentary “Five Broken Cameras” to “The Wanted 18″, a comic true story about West Bank villagers hiding cows inside their houses from Israeli troops during the First Intifada.Co-founder Hamza Ali said the aim was to humanise Palestinians.”It’s dehumanisation and erasure that contribute to the politics,” he said.”We’re more than our suffering. We’re a warm, hospitable, creative, funny people.”Israeli bombardment has killed more than 53,000 people in Gaza, according to the besieged Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, and an aid blockade also threatens famine. Israeli leaders have expressed a desire to empty the territory of its more than two million inhabitants as part of the war sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.The unprecedented assault resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side.President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wanted the United States to “take” Gaza and turn it into a “freedom zone”. Earlier this year, he said he wanted to transform it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.

Palestinian rescuers reported more than 100 people killed Thursday in Israeli strikes on blockaded Gaza, where a US-backed organisation said it intends to begin distributing aid by the end of the month.In the occupied West Bank, raids were ongoing and roads blocked after Israel’s military chief vowed to find the perpetrators of an attack that killed a pregnant Israeli woman.Gaza’s civil defence agency said the death toll from Israeli bombardment since dawn on Thursday had risen to 103. Israel blocked all aid from entering Gaza on March 2, before resuming operations on March 18, ending a six-week ceasefire.”Israel’s blockade has transcended military tactics to become a tool of extermination”, Human Rights Watch (HRW) interim executive director Federico Borello said in a statement Thursday.HRW said “the Israeli government’s plan to demolish what remains of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure and concentrate the Palestinian population into a tiny area would amount to an abhorrent escalation of its ongoing crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and acts of genocide”.Amir Selha, a 43-year-old Palestinian from north Gaza, reported “intense Israeli shelling all night”.”Tank shells are striking around the clock, and the area is packed with people and tents,” he said.He added that in early morning Israeli army drones dropped leaflets in his neighbourhood, warning residents to move south.Most Gazans have been displaced at least once during 19 months of war between Israel and Hamas.Israel says the pressure aims to force Hamas to free the remaining hostages seized in the October 2023  attack which triggered the war.The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-supported NGO, said it would begin distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza this month after talks with Israeli officials.In a joint statement on Tuesday, five European members of the UN Security Council said that they were “deeply concerned” at the Israeli plan, “which the United Nations has said would not meet humanitarian principles”.- Evacuation orders -The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Thursday that 2,876 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,010.The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.The United Nations estimates that 70 percent of Gaza is now either an Israeli-declared no-go zone or under evacuation order.Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Basal said Israel was “employing a policy of shrinking areas and emptying populated regions to pressure and terrorise civilians”.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday the military would enter Gaza “with full force” in the coming days.Despite the bombardment, efforts are still under way for a new hostage release and ceasefire deal.With US President Donald Trump touring Gulf Arab states, his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff discussed the hostages issue with Netanyahu on Wednesday.Hamas accused Netanyahu of undermining ceasefire and hostage release efforts “through deliberate military escalation, showing indifference to his captives, endangering their lives”.In the northern West Bank, the Israeli military said a manhunt was under way after an attack that killed a pregnant woman.Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said: “We will use all the tools at our disposal and reach the murderers in order to hold them accountable.”- Calls for revenge -Users of Palestinian Telegram channels sharing information on West Bank checkpoints reported many road closures in the north of the territory on Thursday.WhatsApp groups for Israeli settlers in the West Bank were rife with calls for vengeance in retaliation for the attack.”To make sure this never happens again… we need real revenge! Erase every terror village,” one user said.In the northern village of Tammun, Israeli troops killed five Palestinians in a raid the military described as targeting buildings suspected of being used to plan attacks.”The occupation forces killed five young men after besieging a house in the centre of the village,” Tammun mayor Samir Qteishat told AFP.The Israeli military said “soldiers identified armed terrorists who barricaded themselves in a building.””Following an exchange of fire, five terrorists were eliminated, and an additional terrorist was apprehended,” it said.The West Bank has seen an upsurge in violence since the beginning of the Gaza war.