Netanyahu has rejected the notion of Gaza being run by the more moderate Palestinian Authority, but has offered no concrete alternative. He opposes statehood for Palestinians in Gaza or the West Bank.
Following the attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had ignored a U.S. proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire for more than 50 days now.“There were also our proposals — at the very least, to refrain from striking civilian infrastructure and to establish lasting silence in the sky, at sea, and on land,” he said. “Russia has responded to all this with new shelling and new assaults.”
The U.S. and Ukraine on Wednesdaygranting American access to Ukraine’s vast mineral resources, finalizing a deal months in the making that could enable continued military aid to Kyiv amid concerns that President Donald Trump might scale back support in ongoing peace negotiations with Russia.Zelenskyy originally proposed such a deal last year as a way of helping secure Ukraine’s future by tying it to U.S. interests. Ukrainian officials said
of the accord would have reduced Kyiv to a junior partner and gave Washington unprecedented rights to the country’s resources but that the version signed Wednesday was far more beneficial to Ukraine.Zelenskyy said Thursday that the signing of the minerals deal was the “first result” of the meeting he had with Trump at the Vatican during the pope’s funeral and called the agreement “truly historic.”
During his nightly address, he said that, per the signed agreement, there were no debts to be paid from past U.S. aid to Kyiv. He said the agreement will be sent to the parliament to be ratified and that Ukraine was “interested in ensuring that there are no delays with the agreement.”
According to Zelenskyy, the agreement is “truly equal” and “creates an opportunity for investments in Ukraine.”Bessent acknowledged that the agreement was a “tacit security guarantee because of the economic partnership.”
Ukraine’s Parliament votes unanimously in favor of ratifying the minerals agreement with the U.S., setting the deal in motion.Illia Novikov in Kyiv, and Matthew Lee and Byron Tau in Washington, contributed to this report.
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza (AP) — Hamza Abu Shabab cringed in pain as his mother pulled off his shirt and eased his bandaged head back onto his pillow so she could apply ointment to his small, burned body.The 7-year-old suffered third degree burns across his head, neck and shoulders when, frightened by an Israeli airstrike, he spilled a hot plate of rice and lentils onto himself in his family’s tent