Germany, UK, France say Gaza humanitarian crisis must end

07/25/2025July 25, 2025

Germany, France, UK leaders press Israel on aid

Leaders of Britain, France and Germany have called on Israel to allow unrestricted humanitarian aid into Gaza, warning of a "humanitarian catastrophe."

The joint appeal comes after French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to recognize a Palestinian state and followed a call between Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

In it, they demanded an immediate ceasefire and warned that "withholding essential humanitarian assistance" is unacceptable — though the statement broke no new diplomatic ground.

The three leaders said they are ready to take further action to support both a ceasefire and a political process toward lasting security and peace in the region, but did not specify what steps they might take.

Macron's announcement has revealed divisions among the European trio — known as the E3 — over how to address the humanitarian crisis and bring the Israel-Hamas war to an end.

While all three countries support a Palestinian state in principle, Germany has said it has no immediate plans to follow France's lead. Macron intends to formalize the recognition at the UN General Assembly in September.

Britain also has not joined the move. On Friday, 221 members of the UK Parliament signed a letter urging recognition.

07/25/2025July 25, 2025

Trump dismisses France's intention to recognize Palestine as a state

US President Donald Trump has dismissed the decision by France's Emmanuel Macron to recognize a Palestinian state as pointless.

"What he says doesn't matter," Trump told reporters at the White House. "He's a very good guy, I like him, but that statement doesn't carry weight." Trump told reporters

Trump's response came after the French president's announcement yesterday that his country planned to formally recognize the State of Palestine in September at the UN General Assembly. 

07/25/2025July 25, 2025

Israeli to allow foreign aid drops over Gaza, reports say

Israel will once again allow foreign aid to drop over Gaza, sources told media outlets on Friday, as pressure on Israel mounts to end the hunger crisis in the besieged enclave.

"Humanitarian aid air drops on the Gaza Strip will resume in the upcoming days. They will be managed by the UAE and Jordan," an unnamed Israeli official told the French AFP news agency.

The Israeli army radio also reported the news, with an unnamed military official suggesting air drops could start as early as Friday.

07/25/2025July 25, 2025

Why has France decided to recognize Palestine as a state now?

DW spoke to several regional experts to find out why France is now moving to recognize Palestinian statehood.

France has traditionally played a diplomatic role in the Middle East. But as Donald Trump has increasingly sidelined Europe, France has been pushing for Europe to take a more independent position from the US on the international stage. 

As well as the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, calls from some members of the Israeli Knesset to annex the West Bank have also increased the pressure.  

Michael Stephens, a Senior Associate Fellow at the UK-based RUSI think tank, told DW there was concern that if a Palestinian state isn't recognized now, "there may not be a Palestine left to recognize." 

France, along with Saudi Arabia, had been planning to co-host a UN conference on the two-state solution, hoping to encourage European states to recognize Palestine, and for some Arab states to normalize relations with Israel.

The conference is now set to start on Monday after strikes by Israel and the US forced it to be rescheduled.

Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), told DW that French President Emmanuel Macron's comments are intended to build momentum for more European countries to recognize Palestine before the United Nations General Assembly in September.

"What the French are doing is they are giving other countries effectively two months to also come on board," Lovatt said. 

Quentin de Pimodan, international adviser at Greece-based Research Institute for Europeans and American Studies, said Macron is aiming to present a "common front" for a political solution ahead of the UN assembly.

07/25/2025July 25, 2025

Gaza ceasefire negotiations to resume next week, reports say

Hamas and Egyptian sources suggested on Friday that negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza would resume next week, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yet again accused Hamas of being the "obstacle" to a hostage release deal.

"Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff got it right. Hamas is the obstacle to a hostage release deal," Netanyahu said in a statement on X, adding that Israel and the US were "now considering alternative options to bring our hostages home, end Hamas’s terror rule, and secure lasting peace for Israel and our region."

Both Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump recalled their negotiating teams from Qatar, where talks were being held earlier this week.

Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said Hamas' latest response to the negotiations showed a "lack of desire" for a truce.

Meanwhile, Hamas official Bassem Naim was cited by the Associated Press news agency as saying on Friday he was told an Israeli delegation would depart for talks early next week.

An-unnamed Egyptian source also told the state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV that talks will resume next week. Egypt and Qatar have been mediating a ceasefire throughout the 22-month war.

07/25/2025July 25, 2025

France's top court annuls arrest warrant against Syria's Assad

France’s highest court on Friday annulled a French arrest warrant, issued before his ouster, against Syria’s ex-president Bashar Assad over deadly 2013 chemical attacks.

The Court of Cassation ruled there were no exceptions to presidential immunity, even for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

However, presiding judge, Christophe Soulard, added that, as Assad was now no longer president after he was toppled in December, “new arrest warrants can have been, or can be, issued against him” and as such the investigation into the case could continue.

07/25/2025July 25, 2025

Iran held 'frank, detailed' nuclear talks with E3 bloc, diplomat says

Iran has held "frank and detailed" nuclear talks with Germany, France and Britain on last month's war with Israel, a senior Iranian diplomat said on Friday.

In a post on X, Iran's deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in the talks, Tehran criticized the three countries' stances regarding the Israel-Iran war, which erupted when Israel struck nuclear and military infrastructure in Iran and killed much of its military brass, sparking strikes on Israel from Iran.

Friday's talks also discussed the prospect of lifting the sanctions on Iran, as well as the snapback mechanism,  which allows the swift reimposition of UN sanctions on Iran under the 2015 nuclear agreement if it violates its nuclear commitments.

"It was agreed that consultations on this matter will continue," Gharibabadi said.

07/25/2025July 25, 2025

IAEA 'encouraged' by Iran's permission for inspection visit

The United Nations' nuclear watchdog has expressed optimism regarding Iran's decision to allow its inspectors to visit the country.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said a visit to Iran could take place "within weeks," adding that it could pave the way for UN inspectors' return to the country.

"If we do not return soon, there would be a serious problem, because this is an international obligation of Iran," Grossi told reporters during a visit to Singapore. "I am encouraged by what I have been hearing from Tehran in the sense that they want to re-engage with us."

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi had announced Tehran's decision earlier this week. The UN delegation will not have access to nuclear sites in the country, Gharibabadi said, adding the visit's aim would be to reestablish relations between the IAEA and the country.

Iran had suspended its cooperation with the UN agency earlier this year, blaming the IAEA in part for Israeli and US attacks on its nuclear facilities in June.

The nuclear watchdog had issued a resolution saying Tehran was in violation of its non-proliferation obligations, one day before Israel launched its strikes.

07/25/2025July 25, 2025

France defends decision to recognize Palestinian statehood

After condemnation from the US and Israel, France has defended its decision to recognize Palestinian statehood in September, refuting the argument that it would help the militant group Hamas.

"Hamas has always rejected the two-state solution," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X. "By recognizing Palestine, France is going against that terrorist organization."

France was "backing the side of peace against the side of war," Barrot argued.

US and Israeli officials argued that France's recognition of Palestinian statehood would benefit Hamas, which has welcomed the French plans.

07/25/2025July 25, 2025

Who could follow France in recognizing Palestinian statehood?

DW spoke with Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), about the prospects of other European countries following in France's footsteps to recognize Palestinian statehood.

Lovatt suggested that Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg and maybe Portugal could be the next European countries to recognize Palestine as an independent state.

Germany, as one of the staunchest supporters of Israel in the EU, is unlikely to change its position, he added.

"Well, never say never, but I think the Germans have made it very clear that they will be amongst the last to recognize the State of Palestine," he told DW.

"The German position is they will do so as the outcome of a two-state solution.  That is a very distant prospect and I don't imagine the French move changing that calculation."

So far, over a dozen European states recognize Palestine as an independent state, including, most recently, Spain, Ireland and Norway.

Lovatt said the most significant nation would be the UK. He said if France could get the United Kingdom on board, it could unlock support for the recognition of a Palestinian state beyond the continent.

For instance, "Australia and Canada, which have increasingly aligned themselves with London and Paris on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." 

07/25/2025July 25, 2025

Germany: No short-term plans to recognize Palestinian statehood

Following France's announcement that it plans to recognize Palestinian statehood later this year, Germany said on Friday it has no such plans in the short term.

In a statement, the German government stressed it "remains convinced that only a negotiated two-state solution will bring lasting peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians."

But it reiterated that its position that recognizing Palestinian statehood is "one of the final steps" for a two-state solution, stressing that "Israel's security is of paramount importance to the German government."

Germany said it was helping create the conditions for Palestinian statehood, including support for the Palestinian Authority. It added that it agreed with France, the UK and its regional partners on the importance of the two-state solution "regardless of the well-known differences of opinion on the question of the right time for recognition."

Berlin went on to list what it considers more pressing priorities for the time being, including an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, including German nationals, and the disarming of Hamas.

"Israel must immediately and drastically improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and provide the suffering civilian population with urgently needed supplies in a humane manner," the statement read.

Germany also said that "there must be no further step towards the annexation of the West Bank," after a vote in the Knesset backed the annexation of the Palestinian-occupied territory.

07/25/2025July 25, 2025

Israel using 'starvation as a weapon' in Gaza, MSF says

The French NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has accused Israel of deliberately starving the Palestinians in Gaza as a weapon of war, warning that its own staff in the enclave were themselves struggling to find sufficient food.

In a statement released on Friday, the MSF reported that one out of every four children between the ages of six months and five years old, as well as one out of every four pregnant and breastfeeding women, were malnourished in the devastated enclave.

Since May 18, the number of people enrolled for malnutrition treatment has quadrupled, whereas rates of severe malnutrition in children under five have tripled in the last two weeks.

"This is not just hunger — it is deliberate starvation, manufactured by the Israeli authorities," the statement read. "The weaponization of food to exert pressure on a civilian population must not be normalized."

The organization also lambasted the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) over the nearly daily deaths of Palestinians shot by Israeli authorities near its distribution centers.

"What we are seeing is unconscionable; an entire people being deliberately cut off from food and water, all while the Israeli forces commit daily massacres as people scramble for scraps of food at distribution sites,"  says Amande Bazerolle, MSF head of emergency response in Gaza. "Any shred of humanity in Gaza has been wiped out in the ongoing genocide."

The report noted that the scarcity of food "is no longer about what people can afford. There is barely any food available in most of the strip."

Meanwhile, Reuters interviewed United Nations and humanitarian agency representatives, who said the enclave was on the brink of running out of the specialized therapeutic food needed to save the lives of severely malnourished children.

Salim Oweis, a spokesperson for UNICEF in Amman, Jordan told Reuters that supplies of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), a crucial treatment, would be depleted by mid-August if nothing changed.

07/25/2025July 25, 2025

No evidence of massive Hamas theft of Gaza aid, Reuters reports on USAID analysis

An analysis within the US government found no evidence supporting Israeli and US claims that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was systematically stealing US-funded humanitarian supplies.

The US and Israel have backed a new armed private aid operation under the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

The operation has seen around 1,000 Palestinians seeking food supplies shot and killed by Israeli forces near the GHF militarized distribution site.

The analysis was conducted by a bureau within the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and made public via an exclusive report by the Reuters news agency.

It was completed in late June, examining 156 incidents of theft or loss of US-funded supplies reported between October 2023 and May of this year.

Reuters cited a US State Department spokesperson as disputing the findings, saying there is video evidence of Hamas looting aid but stopping short of providing such evidence.

Israel insists it is committed to allowing in aid but that it must control it to prevent theft by Hamas.

The UN World Food Program estimates that a quarter of Gaza's over 2 million Palestinians face famine-like conditions, while thousands suffer from acute malnutrition. World Health Organization officials and doctors in the enclave report that children and others are dying of starvation.

Israel blames Hamas for the crisis, which has intensified since Israel intensified its blockade on Gaza in March, followed by making the GHF the sole distributor of aid in the enclave in May, replacing UN-led humanitarian aid distributors.

07/25/2025July 25, 2025

France's Palestinian statehood recognition hailed in Middle East, Spain

France's plans to recognize Palestinian statehood were met with widespread approval in the Middle East.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry called it a "historic decision," calling on other countries to follow in France's "positive" steps and "adopt serious positions that support peace and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people."

France and Saudi Arabia cohost a ministerial United Nations meeting on Palestinian statehood next week.

Jordan's Foreign Ministry also expressed appreciation for the decision, describing it as "a step in the right direction toward the realisation of the two-state solution and the end of the occupation."

Palestinians also welcomed the move. Senior Palestinian Authority official Hussein al-Sheikh said it "reflects France's commitment to international law and its support for the Palestinian people's rights to self-determination and the establishment of our independent state."

The militant group Hamas, which Israel, the United States, the European Union and others designated as a terrorist organization, said the move would do "justice to our oppressed Palestinian people and support their legitimate right to self-determination."

Spain, an EU member which recognized Palestinian statehood last year, also welcomed the move.

"Together, we must protect what Netanyahu is trying to destroy. The two-state solution is the only solution," said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, an outspoken critic of Israel's offensive in Gaza.

07/25/2025July 25, 2025

US, Israel criticize France's decision to recognize Palestinian statehood

The US and Israel are so far the strongest opponents of France's decision to formally recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced the plans on Thursday.

According to a tally by the French AFP news agency, it would bring the number of countries that now recognize or plan to recognize Palestinian statehood to at least 142. France would be the first G7 power to do so.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it a "reckless decision."

"This reckless decision only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace. It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7," Rubio wrote on X.

Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, left 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians. Around 250 more were abducted and taken hostage in Gaza.

Israel's subsequent war has so far killed over 59,000, according to the health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave. The UN considers the figures reliable.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move "rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became."

"A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel - not to live in peace beside it," he said.