JERUSALEM: White House aide Jared Kushner held talks on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Thursday with the aim of restarting long-stalled peace efforts, but pessimism was high over US President Donald Trump’s pledge to reach the “ultimate deal.”
The visit comes with both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not in position to make major concessions, some analysts say, and no details have emerged of how Trump’s team would overcome that.
Trump also faces a range of crises in addition to controversies at home that may make it difficult for him to focus on the complexities of a major Israeli-Palestinian peace push.
“We have a lot of things to talk about — how to advance peace, stability and security in our region, prosperity too,” Netanyahu said in brief public remarks as he met Kushner in Tel Aviv.
“And I think all of them are within our reach.”
Kushner, who is also Trump’s son-in-law, said: “The president is very committed to achieving a solution here that will be able to bring prosperity and peace to all people in this area.”
The US delegation was to meet Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday evening. A spokesman for Abbas called the meeting “important and crucial.”
A US official said earlier that Trump “remains optimistic that progress toward a deal can be achieved.”
The visit is part of a regional tour by Kushner, Trump aide Jason Greenblatt and Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell.
They have also held talks with Egyptian, Saudi, UAE, Qatari and Jordanian officials.
“I think (the Israeli-Palestinian conflict) clearly remains important, important enough that senior officials continue to engage on it, including Jared Kushner,” Dan Shapiro, US ambassador to Israel under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, told journalists this week.
“But given the very poor prospects of a significant political breakthrough, I’d be surprised it if warrants a major investment by the president.”
Palestinian leaders have grown frustrated with the White House after initially holding out hope that Trump could bring a fresh approach to peace efforts despite his pledges of staunch support for Israel.
Trump aides have held a series of meetings with both sides, portraying them as hearing out concerns before deciding on a way forward, while the US president himself visited Israel and the Palestinian territories in May.
But Palestinian leaders note that the White House has not even said clearly whether its focus will be a two-state solution to the conflict, which has been longstanding US policy.
The two-state solution envisions an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, a concept which has been the focus of international diplomacy for years.
When Trump met Netanyahu at the White House in February, he said he would support a single state if it led to peace, delighting right-wing Israelis who want to annex most of the West Bank, but raising deep concern among Palestinians.
Signaling their frustration, some Palestinian leaders have spoken of taking a harder line in recent days.
Ahmed Majdalani, a senior Palestinian Liberation Organization official who is close to Abbas, said on Thursday that one option if no progress is reached would be to dissolve the Palestinian Authority — a threat that has been made in the past.
That would in theory leave Israel with the responsibility of governing and providing services to Palestinian cities in the occupied West Bank.
But at the same time, Majdalani said they could also unilaterally declare Palestinian statehood.
He said it was an option under consideration because “the American administration has not presented any initiative until now, while the Israelis continue with their settlement activities and refuse to abide by obligations they signed up to.”
A couple dozen Palestinians protested the visit on Thursday in Ramallah, burning the Israeli flag and pictures of Trump.
Netanyahu, for his part, is under pressure from his rightwing base not to make concessions to the Palestinians and to continue Jewish settlement building, and there is little incentive at the moment for him to change course, some analysts say.
He is also facing a graft investigation that limits his room for political maneuver, Shapiro noted.
Shapiro, currently a fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies think-tank in Tel Aviv, said the focus should instead be on short-term goals such as improving the Palestinian economy in order to keep the possibility of a two-state solution alive.
“I believe (Trump’s) leverage has declined considerably, at least from the point-of-view of getting major concessions or a commitment to a major program toward two states from the leaders, so that’s why I think the shift should come to the more practical on-the-ground steps,” he said.
Pessimism as Kushner holds Israeli-Palestinian talks
Pessimism as Kushner holds Israeli-Palestinian talks

Ex-bodyguard of slain Hezbollah leader killed in Israeli strike in Iran

An Iraqi border guard officer said Khalil and a member of an Iraqi armed group were killed by “an Israeli drone strike“
BEIRUT: A former bodyguard for Hassan Nasrallah, the slain leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, was killed Saturday in an Israeli strike in Iran, an official from the Tehran-backed militant group said.
For more than a week, Israel has been carrying out waves of air attacks on Iranian targets in the foes’ worst confrontation in history.
Israel assassinated Nasrallah in a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 27 last year, during a war that left Hezbollah severely weakened.
His former bodyguard Hussein Khalil — commonly known as Abu Ali, and nicknamed Nasrallah’s “shield” — was killed in Iran near the Iraqi border, the Hezbollah official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
An Iraqi border guard officer told AFP that Khalil and a member of an Iraqi armed group were killed by “an Israeli drone strike” after crossing into the neighboring country.
The Iraqi group, the Sayyed Al-Shuhada Brigades, said that the commander of its security unit, Haider Al-Moussawi, was killed in the “Zionist attack,” along with Khalil and his son Mahdi.
The former bodyguard had appeared alongside Nasrallah for years during the leader’s rare public appearances.
The two men also shared family ties, with one of Khalil’s sons married to a granddaughter of Nasrallah.
During Nasrallah’s funeral in February, Khalil stood atop the vehicle carrying the slain leader’s body.
The funeral drew a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people, the first mass event organized by Hezbollah since the end of its war with Israel.
Separately, five children were wounded in Iraq on Saturday by fallen debris from a missile near the town of Dujail in the northern province of Salaheddin, security and medical sources told AFP on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media.
The children sustained moderate and minor injuries, a medical source said.
A security source in the area confirmed the children were wounded by “a fallen fragment from a missile.”
The origin of the missile was not clear.
Since Israel launched its unprecedented attack on Iran last week, Iranian missiles and drones have been crossing paths with Israeli warplanes in the skies over Iraq, forcing Iraq to close its airspace to commercial traffic.
Israeli-backed group seeks at least $30m from US for aid distribution in Gaza

- The foundation says it has provided millions of meals in southern Gaza since late May to Palestinians
- The effort has seen near-daily fatal shootings of Palestinians trying to reach the distribution sites
WASHINGTON: A US-led group has asked the Trump administration to step in with an initial $30 million so it can continue its much scrutinized and Israeli-backed aid distribution in Gaza, according to three US officials and the organization’s application for the money.
That application, obtained by The Associated Press, also offers some of the first financial details about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and its work in the territory.
The foundation says it has provided millions of meals in southern Gaza since late May to Palestinians as Israel’s blockade and military campaign have driven the Gaza to the brink of famine.
But the effort has seen near-daily fatal shootings of Palestinians trying to reach the distribution sites. Major humanitarian groups also accuse the foundation of cooperating with Israel’s objectives in the 20-month-old war against Hamas in a way that violates humanitarian principles.
The group’s funding application was submitted to the US Agency for International Development, according to the US officials, who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The application was being processed this week as potentially one of the agency’s last acts before the Republican administration absorbs USAID into the State Department as part of deep cuts in foreign assistance.
Two of the officials said they were told the administration has decided to award the money. They said the processing was moving forward with little of the review and auditing normally required before Washington makes foreign assistance grants to an organization.
In a letter submitted Thursday as part of the application, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation secretary Loik Henderson said his organization “was grateful for the opportunity to partner with you to sustain and scale life-saving operations in Gaza.”
Neither the State Department nor Henderson immediately responded to requests for comment Saturday.
Israel says the foundation is the linchpin of a new aid system to wrest control from the United Nations, which Israel alleges has been infiltrated by Hamas, and other humanitarian groups. The foundation’s use of fixed sites in southern Gaza is in line with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to use aid to concentrate the territory’s more than 2 million people in the south, freeing Israel to fight Hamas elsewhere.
Aid workers fear it’s a step toward another of Netanyahu’s public goals, removing Palestinians from Gaza in “voluntary” migrations that aid groups and human rights organizations say would amount to coerced departures.
The UN and many leading nonprofit groups accuse the foundation of stepping into aid distribution with little transparency or humanitarian experience, and, crucially, without a commitment to the principles of neutrality and operational independence in war zones.
Since the organization started operations, several hundred Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more wounded in near-daily shootings as they tried to reach aid sites, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Witnesses say Israeli troops regularly fire heavy barrages toward the crowds in an attempt to control them.
The Israeli military has denied firing on civilians. It says it fired warning shots in several instance, and fired directly at a few “suspects” who ignored warnings and approached its forces.
It’s unclear who is funding the new operation in Gaza. No donor has come forward. The State Department said this past week that the United States is not funding it.
In documents supporting its application, the group said it received nearly $119 million for May operations from “other government donors,” but gives no details. It expects $38 million from those unspecific government donors for June, in addition to the hoped-for $30 million from the United States.
The application shows no funding from private philanthropy or any other source.
Gaza’s starvation crisis fuels deadly race for survival

- Palestinians say they are forced into a competition to feed their families
KHAN YOUNIS: Each day, Palestinians in Gaza run a deadly gauntlet in hopes of getting food. Israeli troops open barrages of gunfire toward crowds crossing military zones to get to the aid, they say, and knife-wielding thieves wait to ambush those who succeed. Palestinians say lawlessness is growing as they are forced into a competition to feed their families.
A lucky few manage to secure some packets of lentils, a jar of Nutella, or a bag of flour.
Many return empty-handed and must attempt the ordeal again the next day.
“This is not aid. It’s humiliation. It’s death,” said Jamil Atili, his face shining with sweat as he made his way back last week from a food center run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed private contractor.
He had suffered a knife cut across his cheek amid the scramble for food and said a contractor guard pepper-sprayed him in the face. Still, he emerged with nothing for his 13 family members.
I have nothing to feed my children. My heart is broken.
Jamil Atili, Gaza resident
“I have nothing to feed my children,” he said, nearly crying. “My heart is broken.”
Israel began allowing food into Gaza this past month after cutting it off completely for 10 weeks, though UN officials say it is not enough to stave off starvation.
Most of the supplies go to GHF, which operates four food distribution points inside Israeli military zones. A trickle of aid goes to the UN and humanitarian groups.
Both systems are mired in chaos.
Daily gunfire by Israeli troops toward crowds on the roads heading to the GHF centers has killed several hundred people and wounded hundreds more in the past weeks, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
At the same time, in past weeks, hungry crowds have overwhelmed most of the UN’s truck convoys and stripped away the supplies. Israeli troops have opened fire to disperse crowds waiting for trucks near military zones, witnesses say — and on Tuesday, more than 50 people were killed, according to the ministry.
“I don’t see how it can get any worse, because it is already apocalyptic. But somehow it does get worse,” said Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian affairs office.
Thousands of people must walk miles to reach the GHF centers, three of which are in the far south outside the city of Rafah. Palestinians said the danger begins when the crowds enter the Israeli military zone encompassing Rafah.
Mohammed Saqer, a father of three who risked the trip multiple times, said that when he went last week, tanks were firing over the heads of the crowds as drone announcements told everyone to move back.
It’s like it was "Squid Game,” Saqer said, referring to the dystopian thriller TV series in which contestants risk their lives to win a prize. Just raising your head might mean death, he said.
He and others crawled forward, then left the main road.
A shot rang out nearby, and they ducked, he said. They found a young man on the ground, shot in the back.
The others assumed he was dead, but Saqer felt his chest — it was still warm, and he found a pulse.
They carried him to a point where a car could pick him up.
Saqer said he stood for a moment, traumatized by the scene. Then people shouted that the site had opened.
The mad dash
Everyone broke into a crazed run, he said. He saw several people wounded on the ground. One man, bleeding from his abdomen, reached out his hand, pleading for help. No one stopped.
“Everyone is just running to get to the aid, to get there first,” Saqer said.
Omar Al-Hobi described the same scene four times when he went last week.
Twice, he returned empty-handed; once, he managed to grab a pack of lentils. On the fourth day, he was determined to secure flour for his three children and pregnant wife.
He said he and others inched their way forward under tank fire. He saw several people shot in the legs. One man fell bleeding to the ground, apparently dead, he said.
Horrified, Al-Hobi froze, unable to move, “but I remembered I have to feed my children.”
He took cover in a greenhouse, then heard the announcement that the center was open and began to run.
Avoiding thieves
At the center, food boxes are stacked on the ground in an area surrounded by fences and earthen berms. Thousands rush in to grab what they can in a frantic melee.
You have to move fast, Saqer said. Once supplies run out, some of those who came too late rob those leaving. He swiftly tore open a box and loaded the contents into a sack — juice, chickpeas, lentils, cheese, beans, flour and cooking oil.
Then he took off running. There’s only one route in and out of the center. But, knowing thieves waited outside, Saqer clambered over a berm, running the risk of being fired on by Israeli troops.
“It all depends on the soldiers’ mood. If they are in a bad mood … they will shoot at me. If not, they will let me be,” he said.
Heba Jouda said she saw a group of men beat up a boy of 12 or 13 years old and take his food as she left one of the Rafah centers.
Another time, she said, thieves attacked an older man, who hugged his sack, weeping that his children had no food.
They sliced his arm with a knife and ran off with the sack.
Al-Hobi said he was trampled in the scramble for boxes.
He managed to grab a bag of rice, a packet of macaroni.
He snagged flour — but much of it was ruined in the chaos.
At his family tent outside Khan Younis, his wife, Anwaar Saleh, said she will ration it all to make it last a week or so.
“We hope he doesn’t have to go back. His life is the most important thing,” she said.
Al-Hobi remains shaken — both by his brushes with death and the callousness that the race for food has instilled in everyone.
“No one will show you mercy these days. Everybody fends for themselves.”
Iran president says will not halt nuclear activity ‘under any circumstances’

- “We are ready to discuss and cooperate to build confidence in the field of peaceful nuclear activities,” said Pezeshkian
TEHRAN: Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday his country will not halt nuclear activity “under any circumstances” amid ongoing fighting with Israel which hit nuclear sites.
“We are ready to discuss and cooperate to build confidence in the field of peaceful nuclear activities, however, we do not agree to reduce nuclear activities to zero under any circumstances,” said Pezeshkian during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Cyprus arrests British man on suspicion of terror-related plot, police say

- The man appeared before a district court on Saturday
- Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a post on X that an Iranian attempt to attack Israeli citizens in Cyprus was thwarted
NICOSIA: Police in Cyprus have arrested a British man on suspicion of terror-related offenses and espionage, authorities said on Saturday, with Israel accusing Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of trying to attack Israeli citizens on the island.
The man appeared before a district court on Saturday, which ordered an eight-day detention pending inquiries.
Police gave no further details, citing national security.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a post on X that an Iranian attempt to attack Israeli citizens in Cyprus was thwarted, “thanks to the activity of the Cypriot security authorities, in cooperation with Israeli security services.”
He gave no more details about the nature of the attack, and there was no immediate comment from Iranian authorities.
A spokesperson for Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed the individual’s nationality, saying it was in contact with local authorities.
“We are in contact (with) the authorities in Cyprus regarding the arrest of a British man,” the spokesperson told Reuters.
Several Cypriot news outlets reported the suspect was a man of Azeri ethnic descent and had been arrested in the Zakaki suburb of the coastal city of Limassol. The suspect was thought to have had a British RAF military base in nearby Akrotiri under surveillance, as well as Cyprus’s own Andreas Papandreou Air Base in the western region of Paphos since mid-April, Cyprus’s ANT1 news portal reported.
Cyprus lies very close to the Middle East and has in recent days been used as a transit point for people either leaving or going to the region amid the conflict between regional foes Israel and Iran.
Terror-related offenses on the island are very rare.