Latest news with #Zionist-Iran
Kuwait Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Kuwait Times
G7 summit minus Trump rallies behind Ukraine
G7 summit minus Trump rallies behind Ukraine Canadian PM welcomes Zelensky, announces $1.47bn of military support KANANASKIS: Group of Seven leaders on Tuesday vowed greater support for Ukraine but stopped short of joint condemnation of Russia for its growing attacks, at a summit missing Donald Trump. The US president had been due to speak at the G7 summit with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, with whom he has had a volatile relationship, but flew back Monday over the Zionist-Iran conflict. Zelensky met the remaining leaders at a remote lodge in the Canadian Rockies hours after Russia hit Kyiv with one of the worst bombardments since it invaded in February 2022, killing at least 10 people in the capital. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed Zelensky and announced Can$2 billion ($1.47bn) of military support, including drones and helicopters, for Ukraine. But the G7 summit stopped short of issuing a joint statement, unlike in past years under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden when the club of major industrial democracies denounced Russian 'aggression.' A Canadian official, backtracking on an earlier account of the United States trying to water down a proposed statement, said there was never an attempt to issue one due to Trump's continued hopes of mediating with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'It was clear that it would not have been feasible to find detailed language that all G7 partners could agree to in that context,' the official said on condition of anonymity. Carney dismissed suggestions of friction, saying that all G7 leaders agreed to be 'resolute in exploring all options to maximize pressure on Russia, including financial sanctions.' But he admitted that some G7 leaders 'would say above and beyond' what was in the chair's summary he issued instead of a formal statement signed by all leaders. G7 leaders, however, managed unity Monday on a joint statement on the Iran conflict that backed Zionist entity but also called broadly for de-escalation, despite Trump contemplating greater US military involvement. US waits on pressure Carney earlier joined Britain in tightening sanctions on Russia's so-called shadow fleet of ships used to circumvent international sanctions on its oil sales. 'These sanctions strike right at the heart of Putin's war machine, choking off his ability to continue his barbaric war in Ukraine,' Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement. US lawmakers have drafted a package of new sanctions on Russia but Trump has been hesitant to give his support and isolate Putin, to whom he spoke by telephone on the eve of the G7 summit. Trump infamously berated Zelensky in the Oval Office on February 28, saying he was ungrateful for US aid, but has since voiced disappointment that Putin has rebuffed a US proposal for at least a temporary ceasefire. Zelensky told Carney the latest Russian attack showed the need for allies' support and pressure on Moscow—while making clear that he still backed Trump-led calls for negotiations. 'It's important for our soldiers to be strong in the battlefield, to stay strong until Russia will be ready for the peace negotiations,' said Zelensky, who cut short meetings in Canada scheduled after the summit. French President Emmanuel Macron accused his Russian counterpart of exploiting global focus on the Middle East to carry out the deadly attack. 'It shows the complete cynicism of President Putin,' Macron told reporters at the summit. In Washington, the State Department also condemned the Russian strikes and offered condolences to the victims' families. Tough trade talks The G7 - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States—was holding its first summit since the re-election of Trump, who openly questions longstanding US alliances. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent remained to represent the United States at the summit, where discussions have also concentrated on Trump's attempts to radically overhaul the world's trading system. Trump has vowed to slap sweeping tariffs on friends and foes alike on July 9, although he has postponed them once. The US president, speaking to reporters on his way back from the summit, complained that the European Union was not yet offering a 'fair deal' on trade. 'We're either going to make a good deal or they'll just pay whatever we say they will pay,' he said. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she still hoped for a negotiated solution and talks were 'intense and demanding.' Trump's negotiators have already sealed a deal with Britain and, outside of the G7, reached an agreement to lower tariffs with rival China.— AFP
Kuwait Times
a day ago
- Health
- Kuwait Times
Zionists slaughter 140 in Gaza, raid West Bank camps
GAZA: Zionist gunfire and strikes killed at least 140 people across Gaza in the past 24 hours, local health officials said, as some Palestinians in the Strip said their plight was being forgotten as attention has shifted to the air war between Zionist entity and Iran. At least 40 of those killed over the past day died as a result of Zionist gunfire and airstrikes on Wednesday, Gaza's health ministry said. The deaths included the latest in near daily killings of Palestinians seeking aid in the three weeks since the Zionist entity partially lifted a total blockade on the territory. Medics said separate airstrikes on homes in the Maghazi refugee camp, the Zeitoun neighborhood and Gaza City killed at least 21 people, while five others were killed in an airstrike on an encampment in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. Fourteen more people were killed in Zionist fire at crowds of Palestinians awaiting aid trucks brought in by the United Nations along the Salahuddin road in central Gaza, medics said. On Tuesday, Gaza's health ministry said 397 Palestinians among those trying to get food aid had been killed and more than 3,000 wounded since aid deliveries restarted in late May. Some in Gaza expressed concern that the latest escalations in the war between the Zionist entity and Hamas that began in Oct 2023 would be overlooked due to the new Zionist-Iran conflict. 'People are being slaughtered in Gaza, day and night, but attention has shifted to the Iran-(Zionist) war. There is little news about Gaza these days,' said Adel, a resident of Gaza City. 'Whoever doesn't die from (Zionist) bombs dies from hunger. People risk their lives every day to get food, and they also get killed and their blood smears the sacks of flour they thought they had won,' he told Reuters. The Zionist entity is now channeling much of the aid into Gaza through a new US- and Zionist-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which uses private US security and logistics firms and operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Zionist forces. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, called the current system for distributing aid 'a disgrace & a stain on our collective consciousness', in a post on X on Wednesday. The World Food Program called on Wednesday for a big increase in food distribution in Gaza, saying that the 9,000 metric tons it had dispatched over the last four weeks inside Gaza represented a 'tiny fraction' of what was needed. 'The fear of starvation and desperate need for food is causing large crowds to gather along well-known transport routes, hoping to intercept and access humanitarian supplies while in transit,' the WFP said in a statement. 'Any violence resulting in starving people being killed or injured while seeking life-saving assistance is completely unacceptable,' it added. Palestinians in Gaza have been closely following the Zionist entity's air war with Iran, long a major supporter of Hamas. 'We are maybe happy to see (the Zionist entity) suffer from Iranian rockets, but at the end of the day, one more day in this war costs the lives of tens of innocent people,' said 47-year-old Shaban Abed, a father of five from northern Gaza. 'We just hope that a comprehensive solution could be reached to end the war in Gaza, too. We are being forgotten.' Meanwhile, Zionist troops raided two Palestinian refugee camps in the occupied West Bank's north overnight. The military told AFP that at 'around 4:00 am (Zionist) forces entered Balata camp', near the northern city of Nablus. It added that the troops had been deployed to the nearby Askar camp prior to the operation in Balata camp. Imad Zaki, head of the popular services committee of Balata camp, also told AFP that the military began its raid at 4:00 am on Wednesday. 'They closed all entrances to the camp, seized several homes after evicting their residents, and ordered the homeowners not to return for 72 hours. These homes were turned into military outposts and interrogation centers,' Zaki said. 'The soldiers are conducting house-to-house and neighborhood-to-neighborhood searches, destroying the contents of homes and physically assaulting the residents,' Zaki told AFP. He added that life had been 'largely paralyzed' for the camp's residents but that no injuries were reported. – Agencies
