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Israeli strike kills at least 10 children queueing for medical treatment in Gaza

At least 15 people, including 10 children, have been killed by an Israeli strike as they queued outside a medical point in central Gaza, amid intensifying Israeli attacks that left 82 people dead across the strip. The uptick in Israeli bombing came as negotiators said a Gaza ceasefire deal was in sight, but not yet achieved. The strike on Thursday morning hit families waiting for nutritional supplements and medical treatment in front of a medical point in Deir al-Balah, medical sources said. Project Hope, which runs the facility, said operations at the clinic had been suspended until further notice. “This morning, innocent families were mercilessly attacked as they stood in line waiting for the doors to open. This is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law,” said Rabih Torbay, the NGO’s chief executive. The Israeli military said it had targeted a Hamas terrorist who had participated in the 7 October 2023 attack, but “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals” and that the incident was under review. “What was our fault? What was the fault of the children?” asked 35-year-old Mohammed Abu Ouda, who had been waiting for supplies when the strike happened. “I saw a mother hugging her child on the ground, both motionless – they were killed instantly.” Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 67 other people across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, according to the Palestinian health ministry, including 15 people in five separate strikes in Gaza City. On Wednesday, Hamas agreed to release 10 hostages in exchange for a ceasefire and the US president, Donald Trump, expressed optimism for a ceasefire deal, saying there was a “very good chance” of a deal being reached this week or next. Qatar, which is helping to mediate the indirect ceasefire talks, cautioned that a deal could take time, as there are still key stumbling blocks. Israel is demanding that it be allowed to resume military activity in Gaza after the ceasefire, while Hamas wants assurances that Israel will not restart fighting. On Thursday afternoon in Washington, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said if the two sides reach agreements on the US 60-day truce plan, Israel will begin negotiations on a permanent ceasefire. He reiterated Israel’s terms for ending the war, including Hamas disarming and no longer ruling Gaza. A previous ceasefire broke down in March after Israel decided to renew fighting instead of progressing to a second stage of the deal that could have led to a permanent end to the conflict. Israel has demanded the complete disarmament of Hamas and its departure from Gaza, something the militant group has refused. Residents on Thursday reported Israeli tanks and bulldozers advancing towards encampments hosting displaced people south-west of Khan Younis, with Israeli soldiers opening fire and throwing teargas at the encampments. People began to flee the area amid the attacks, carrying mattresses and whatever belongings they could take with them amid scorching heat. Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, one of the last functioning hospitals in southern Gaza, reported a large influx of wounded people over the past 24 hours. A picture sent by a member of the medical staff showed Israeli tanks stationed on the edge of tent encampments surrounding the hospital. The staff member sent a video of a piece of twisted shrapnel that flew into the window of the intensive care unit from a nearby strike, which they said was still hot to the touch. On Tuesday, Hamas killed five Israeli soldiers, a rare deadly incident, after the militants targeted them with explosive devices in northern Gaza. The war in Gaza started after Hamas-led militants killed more than 1,200 people on 7 October 2023, prompting retaliatory Israeli airstrikes. Israeli military operations have killed more than 57,000 people in Gaza and created famine-like conditions as the country restricts humanitarian aid into the territory. More than 500 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces while trying to access food distribution sites run by the US- and Israeli-backed logistics group the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Israel backed the GHF after accusing Hamas of stealing aid under the UN aid system, something for which humanitarians say there is little evidence. Aid groups have condemned the GHF, saying it could be complicit in war crimes and that it violates core principles of humanitarianism. The GHF said it had provided more than 69m meals and that other organisations “stand by helplessly as their aid is looted”. At least three people were killed by Israeli gunfire while trying to access a distribution centre in Rafah, a civil defence official told AFP. With Agence France-Presse

Caribbean leaders back Jamaica petition to King Charles for slavery reparations

Caribbean leaders are backing Jamaica’s petition to King Charles on reparations as the region prepares to step up its pursuit of reparative justice for slavery, the prime minister, Andrew Holness, has said. Speaking at this week’s leaders summit for the Caribbean Community (Caricom), a bloc of 20 member and associate member states, Holness said Jamaica had secured “broad support” from the region for its petition to the king, the island’s head of state. The petition asks Charles to use his authority to request legal advice from the judicial committee of the London-based privy council, the final court of appeal for UK overseas territories and some Commonwealth countries, on whether the forced transport of Africans to Jamaica was lawful, if it constituted a crime against humanity, and whether Britain was under obligation to provide a remedy to Jamaica for slavery and its enduring consequences. During the centuries-long transatlantic slave trade more than 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported to the Americas, including Jamaica, where they were sold into slavery. Holness, acknowledging the Jamaican MP Mike Henry, who brought the resolution, which has now been passed in parliament and affirmed by the country’s cabinet, said the petition was a bold step towards justice. It was a “watershed moment for Caricom and the broader global movement for reparatory justice”, he added. He said that if the petition was successful, “the United Kingdom bears a legal obligation to provide reparations to Jamaica and its people for the enduring harm caused”. Jamaica’s culture minister, Olivia “Babsy” Grange, who announced the petition in June, told the Guardian it was “going to have a far-reaching impact on our efforts in the region to seek reparation”. She emphasised that countries were working together: “Various countries will be making a determination what action they take. But the bottom line is that they are all onboard in support of the position we have taken. That, to me, is the big statement – we’re working together in this effort,” she said. Other leaders reiterated their commitment, with the prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, one of the founding members of the Caricom reparations movement, saying: “We are not giving up the reparations fight.” “In the Caribbean [we] have a specific primary concern, primary responsibility to address reparations for native genocide and the enslavement of Africans,” he said, adding that the region needed allies. He said the issue would be on the agenda at the Africa-Caricom summit, scheduled for September in Ethiopia. The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, emphasised that it was a matter of justice for those who were exploited and were not paid for their labour. “We must be able to fight for justice because not only were our forebearers exploited in terms of not being paid, but the profits that were generated were repatriated to Europe and to North America to build out their economies, and they left our countries bereft of important social institutions, hospitals, schools, and they also did not develop the infrastructure within our countries,” he said. The premier of the British Virgin Islaands, Natalio Wheatley, congratulated Caricom and Jamaica for pressing the issue in the face of opposition in the UK. “Some persons would just prefer not to listen to it. And sometimes when you hear about some of the persons in the United Kingdom, some of the journalists, etc, who almost ridicule the whole concept of reparations, and ridicule those who bring those arguments, you see really what we’re up against, but we appreciate the leadership.”

Zelenskyy says he has received positive signals from US over resumption of military aid – as it happened

… and on that note, it’s a wrap! Ukraine has received positive signals on resuming US military aid, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said (18:45), with additional talks continuing on securing additional Patriot systems for Ukraine, which could be paid by Germany and Norway, among others (18:51). Zelenskyy earlier said that Russian daily attacks on Ukrainian cities amounted to “terrorism” as he said Russia’s Vladimir Putin “wants our people to suffer” (11:40). The development comes hours after US state secretary Marco Rubio told Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov that US president Donald Trump was “disappointed” with the lack of progress on ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine in what both sides described as a “frank” conversation (14:48). Meanwhile some of Europe’s most senior political leaders lined up to declare their support for Ukraine at a high-profile conference in Rome (11:21, 11:36, 12:00, 12:06, 12:11, 12:12, 12:15, 12:20). Countries of the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” have agreed on key parts of their post-ceasefire plans for Ukraine, as they operationalise the proposed peacekeeping force, with a new headquarter in Paris (17:38). French president Emmanuel Macron said the force would be capable of policing a ceasefire, if one is agreed (17:54). Lithuania’s political leaders were briefly taken to shelters after alarm was raised over an unidentified object violating the country’s airspace from Belarus, Lithuanian media reported (14:04). Defence minister Dovilė Šakalienė confirmed it was a “Gerbera”, a decoy drone intended to imitate the more dangerous Shahed drones (17:12). Increased Russian activity – including sabotage planning, attempted sanction evasion, state-backed cyber-attacks and disinformation – made 2024 “one of the most challenging in the modern history of the Czech Republic in terms of security,” the head of the country’s security services Michal Koudelka said (10:43). Elsewhere, French president Emmanuel Macron repeatedly blamed Brexit for aggravating Britain and France’s problems with irregular migration, “the opposite effect of what Brexit promised” (18:01, 18:10). European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen easily survived the no confidence vote in the European parliament in Strasbourg, with 175 votes in favour, and 360 votes against (12:34). The EU and the US are no closer to announcing a deal after a phone call between EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and the US trade representative Jamieson Greer, it has emerged (13:15). And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today. If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

Bangladesh’s ousted Sheikh Hasina charged with crimes against humanity

Bangladesh’s ousted leader Sheikh Hasina has been formally charged with crimes against humanity after being accused of ordering a deadly crackdown against anti-government protests last year that left more than 1,400 people dead. Hasina, who fled the country on 5 August last year, was charged in absentia by a three-judge panel on Thursday. She remains in hiding in neighbouring India and has ignored formal requests for her to return. Bangladeshi prosecutors have spent months gathering evidence to bring Hasina to trial for alleged crimes committed during her 15 years in power, including the mass killing of students who rose up against her authoritarian regime in July last year. The panel, called the international crimes tribunal, indicted Hasina, her former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan and the former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah al-Mamun on five charges, including crimes against humanity. Prosecutors allege that Hasina was the “mastermind, conductor and superior commander” of the targeted violence against student-led protests that erupted across Bangladesh and eventually led to the fall of her government. As widely documented by human rights groups, the police fired live ammunition at protesters across the country, leading to mass casualties, and arbitrarily arrested tens of thousands of civilians in an attempt to crush the uprising. Lawyers have argued that orders for the killings came directly from Hasina, citing leaked audio files and other documents left behind when she fled the country in a helicopter. Hasina’s Awami League party condemned the indictment and described the tribunal as a kangaroo court, despite Hasina having established it in 2009 to investigate crimes committed during the 1971 Bangladesh war of independence. “We condemn in strongest term the indictment against our party president and other leaders as we assert that this step marks another testament to the ongoing witch hunt against our party,” the party wrote on X. The tribunal has already issued three arrest warrants for Hasina. It also sentenced her to six months in jail earlier this month for contempt of court after a leaked audio recording emerged of her saying: “There are 227 cases against me, so I now have a licence to kill 227 people.” Hasina’s trial for crimes against humanity charges will begin on 3 August. Prosecutors said al-Mamun had already pleaded guilty and had agreed to testify as a state witness against his accomplices. It remains unclear whether Hasina will be forcibly brought back to Bangladesh to face the mounting accusations against her, including widespread corruption. The interim government, led Mohammad Yunus, confirmed it had sent India several extradition requests, but that they had so far been ignored. Yunus’s government has expressed repeated frustration at India for continuing to give Hasina – who was closely allied to Delhi while in power – a safe haven and allowing her to make “false statements” intended to destabilise the country. Yunus has pledged that Bangladesh will have its first election since Hasina’s fall by April 2026, but the Awami League has been banned from taking part.

Fate of Aukus nuclear submarine deal may be delayed months as UK and Australia wait on Trump review

Australia and the UK potentially face months of more uncertainty over the future of the Aukus agreement, amid expectations a snap Trump administration review of the nuclear submarines deal will extend well beyond its initial 30-day timeframe. The author of Britain’s Aukus review, Sir Stephen Lovegrove, said both countries would contribute to the Pentagon assessment but warned there was “a way to go” yet before advice to US president Donald Trump was settled. The start date of the review – which is being led by the undersecretary of defence and Aukus sceptic Elbridge Colby – is unclear, but it is now 30 days since it was publicly announced. Labor sources agree the review isn’t likely to be completed for months, while a Pentagon spokesperson told Guardian Australia this week there was no public timeline for the work. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Speaking during a visit to Australia as the UK prime minister Keir Starmer’s special envoy, Lovegrove told the Australian Strategic Policy Institute thinktank that Aukus needed strong public advocacy. He suggested Trump and the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, name their own representatives to speak up for the $360bn deal. He said he did not believe the 30-day timeline was correct, but that it was appropriate for the new administration to assess the agreement entered into by the former US president Joe Biden. “I think there’s a bit of a way to go,” Lovegrove said. “I am anticipating that we will be in a position to reinforce and give supportive perspectives to the review. We’ve received messages that we will obviously be consulted. I think Australian colleagues have received very similar messages. “Aukus needs constant love and attention. It is a huge thing. It is protean and it will change its shape a bit as time goes on, and that is quite right too.” Ahead of a visit to the Henderson naval base in Western Australia, set to deliver nuclear-powered submarine maintenance, Lovegrove called for better strategic communications to maintain public “legitimacy” for the multi-decade deal. “As somebody said to me a couple of days ago, ‘you don’t buy a Lamborghini in order to take the children to school’. If you’re going to do something like this, you’ve got to explain why you’re making such a very big commitment.” An Australian defence department spokesperson said it was “natural” the US would want to examine progress against key milestones and identify further improvements in the deal. “Australia engages widely and routinely with United States officials on Aukus and alliance matters. Australian defence officials have engaged with Elbridge Colby since his commencement in the Pentagon and we look forward to continued productive engagement,” the spokesperson said. The foreign minister, Penny Wong, and her US counterpart, Marco Rubio, are both attending talks of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Malaysia this week and could discuss the review. They met earlier this month in Washington. Wong told the meeting Aukus would transparently contribute to collective deterrence in the Indo-Pacific. “Above all, our objective is to prevent conflict, preserve peace and maintain the agency of all countries in our region,” she said. “We may be bound by the geography that fate has chosen for us, but we are strengthened by the partnership that we choose for ourselves. And that partnership means leaning in, not leaving it to others.” Colby’s review could recommend the deal be changed, rather than scrapped, with Australia required to pay more to support US shipbuilding capacity or guarantee nuclear submarines be committed in the event of an American conflict with China. The assistant minister for foreign affairs and trade, Matt Thistlethwaite, told the ABC that the government was confident Aukus remained strong and would be maintained, despite media “speculation”. “The defence relationship between Australia and the United States has never been stronger,” he said. The uncertainty about Aukus comes ahead of Albanese’s visit to China, beginning at the weekend, and amid concerns about Trump’s growing trade war and threats to impose tariffs on pharmaceutical imports to the US. The White House has already publicly called for Australia to lift defence spending to at least 3.5% of GDP.

Concern that Ukraine will be split up casts shadow over reconstruction talks

Ever-escalating Russian drone attacks and the concern that Ukraine will be split up under a future peace plan have cast a shadow over a meeting of European leaders to plan for the eventual reconstruction of the country. The conference is the fourth in this format and is being attended by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Germany’s Friedrich Merz, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Poland’s Donald Tusk. It comes at a time of unprecedented pressure on the Ukrainian economy as Vladimir Putin widens his targets across Ukraine, deploying record numbers of long-range drones. There is deep uncertainty surrounding a US-led plan for peace that is expected to include territorial concessions. A report last month found that more than a third of Ukraine’s estimated reconstruction costs, or nearly $200bn (£150bn), would fall to a bankrupt Russia if Ukraine were forced to concede the loss of control of four territories as part of an eventual peace settlement. The figure – a challenge to policymakers meeting at the Ukraine reconstruction conference in Rome – underlines the likelihood that Ukraine’s future will be one of not just political division but also divergence in terms of wealth and economic growth, with eastern Russian-held territories likely to suffer significantly. The focus of the conference is on encouraging long-term private-sector investment, but this has been overshadowed by the urgent need to protect Ukraine’s population and its economy from the spiralling impact of the drone strikes. Zelenskyy said in Rome: “Russia has also prepared, I must say, for this meeting because unfortunately last night, a few hours ago, there was a massive, heavy attack on Ukraine. In this case the target was the capital, the city of Kyiv.” Merz railed against the Russian attacks, saying: “These are practically only civilian targets. This is terrorism against the civilian population. This has nothing to do with a war against military targets.” He added: “Our political duty is to increase pressure on Russia, to change Putin’s mind and bring him to the negotiating table.” Merz appealed to Slovakia to lift its veto over an 18th round of EU sanctions against Moscow. The Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI), an Italian thinktank, has predicted based on World Bank research that the reconstruction costs in four largely Russian-held regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – will be $188bn. Those regions could remain with Russia under a future peace deal, although Kyiv has not agreed to that. Overall, the World Bank predicts that a 10-year plan for reconstruction and recovery, to be implemented between 2025 and 2035, would require investments of at least $524bn. Although the entire territory of Ukraine has been hit by attacks since 24 February 2022, 66% of the direct damage ($116bn) and 47% of the total recovery and reconstruction costs ($248bn) are attributable to Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as well as Kharkiv. “If Kyiv decides to concede the four disputed regions in order to achieve the end of hostilities, it is plausible that Russia will have to shoulder a significant share of the costs of reconstruction,” the ISPI said. The difficulty for postwar planners in designing realistic scenarios is underlined by the fact that since the last recovery conference, in Berlin in 2024, the damage to energy infrastructure has risen by 93% in a year. Sectors most affected include housing (with damage of $57bn), transport (about $36bn) and energy and mining (about $20bn). The expansion of the war through drones, and a widening frontline including in the Dnipro and Sumy oblasts, has also had an impact on the economy. High war spending is leading to rising inflation, which recently reached 15%. Economic growth is slowing, partly due to the increasing attacks on industry and infrastructure. The World Bank has revised its growth forecast for this year by 4.5 percentage points to just 2%. There is frustration among analysts that a succession of reconstruction conferences has not produced meaningful results. In a fierce critique for the Centre for European Policy Analysis, the former US envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker wrote: “Past Ukraine recovery conferences have convened thousands of experts and produced grand ideas, with zero follow-through. The humanitarian aid and budgetary support that have kept Ukraine afloat have been provided by the EU, its member states, and the United States, Japan, the UK, and the World Bank. A genuine strategy for Ukraine’s own economic renaissance has been woefully absent.” Volker has called for a permanent body to be set up to drive private-sector investment.

Sweden’s migration minister ‘shocked’ by teenage son’s far-right activism

Sweden’s migration minister has said he is “shocked and horrified” after discovering his teenage son’s involvement in far-right extremist groups. Johan Forssell, whose centre-right party runs a governing coalition that depends on the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats, said on Thursday that he had been contacted a few weeks ago by the Swedish security service, Säpo, about his 16-year-old son’s activities. The minister decided to go public after the anti-racism magazine Expo revealed that a “close relative of a Swedish minister” was active in the violent far right. Despite following his son on social media, where his son in turn followed far-right activists and influencers, Forssell said he had no idea about his involvement until he was contacted by journalists. “As a father you are shocked, you are horrified. I have a deeply remorseful 15-year-old, who just turned 16,” Forssell told TV4. “These activities are over but our conversations will, of course, continue.” Writing on social media, he said he hoped it would be an “eye-opener” for other parents, saying the findings “highlight a bigger societal issue”. “How much do we actually know about what our children do on social media and how can we protect them from being dragged into something we don’t want?” Forssell said his son, who has not been named, is not suspected of any crime. Far-right extremism has long been present in Sweden, but experts say recent years have seen a shift towards smaller, more agile groups, often based around fitness, recruiting boys and young men on social media platforms before moving to other private platforms. The number of active groups in the Swedish far right are believed to be at their highest point since 2008. The Sweden Democrats, which have roots in neo-Nazism, became the country’s second biggest party and gained a powerful role in the direction of the governing coalition at the last general election. Forssell, of the Moderates party, decided to speak publicly, he said, in order to protect his son. “This has not been about protecting me as a politician, this is about protecting a minor,” he said. But it is already having political ramifications. The opposition parties have all called on Forssell to be summoned to the Riksdag (the Swedish parliament) as soon as possible and have asked how much the government knew about the boy’s activities. The Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, said on Thursday that he still had confidence in his migration minister, saying he had “acted as a responsible parent should when you learn that your child is doing wrong and is in bad company”. The Left party accused Forssell, who supports lowering the age of criminal responsibility for young people from 15 to 14, of double standards. “Johan Forssell and the government have had a very high tone when it comes to the responsibility one has for one’s relatives’ connections to, for example, gang crime – now they seem to have a very different approach,” said the Left party’s migration policy spokesperson, Tony Haddou. Forssell said: “I know that there are other parties that want to score political points on this. If they want to do it, they can do it, but above all, this is a task for me as a father.” He planned to remain in his ministerial post, he said, adding that he was “fully focused on implementing the policies for which we have received support from the Swedish people”. Säpo declined to comment on Forssell’s case, but said it was “constantly working to monitor violent extremist environments in Sweden”. The spokesperson added: “Säpo generally has a good picture of the security situation around our protected persons, including any threats and vulnerabilities.”