By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -Momentum seems to be building for more countries to recognize a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territory after France said last week it would do so in September. Britain said Tuesday it would follow suit at the U.N. General Assembly unless Israel had taken steps to ease the Gaza crisis and bring about peace.
Aboard a Jordanian military plane, aid crates are parachuted into Gaza, where war and blockade have pushed more than two million Palestinians to the brink of famine.
The Jordanian Air Force C-130's crew of eight soldiers pushes pallets of food out of the rear hatch.
Parachutes unfurl, and the crates -- stamped with the Jordanian flag -- drift toward the devastated Gaza Strip, nearly 22 months into the war, an AFP journalist on board reported.
BEIRUT (Reuters) -Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said on Wednesday that calls for the Iran-aligned militant group's disarmament served only Israel, as the United States ramps up pressure for steps to remove its arsenal.
"Those who call for submitting arms practically demand submitting them to Israel ... We will not submit to Israel," Qassem said in a televised address.
, (Reuters) -Britain has said it will recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes steps including alleviating the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and committing to a long-term peace process that delivers a two-state solution.
The announcement, coming after France declared that it will recognise a Palestinian state in September, has put renewed focus on the two-state solution to the conflict.
The World Health Organization's chief said getting a continuous flow of medical supplies into Gaza was "critical", as WHO trucks carrying aid headed for the border on Wednesday.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the UN health agency had moved 10 trucks from El-Arish in Egypt to Israel's Kerem Shalom border crossing into the Gaza Strip.
The trucks are carrying "essential medicines, laboratory and water testing supplies", he said, with two additional trucks with medical supplies, along with 12 pallets of blood products, expected to join them on Thursday.
LONDON (Reuters) -The co-founder of a pro-Palestinian campaign group on Wednesday won her bid to bring a legal challenge against the British government's decision to ban the group under anti-terrorism laws.
Huda Ammori, who helped found Palestine Action in 2020, asked London's High Court to give the go-ahead for a full challenge to the group's proscription, which was made on the grounds it committed or participated in acts of terrorism.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Israel on Wednesday for talks on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Axios reported, citing two U.S. officials.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu, Katharine Jackson; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
By Andrew Gray
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union is considering partially suspending Israeli access to funding under its flagship research programme, in what would be the bloc's first action taken against Israel in response to its actions in Gaza.
EU member states' ambassadors held initial talks on the proposal on Tuesday. Here is an outline of the proposal, its significance and the prospects for its adoption:
WHAT HAS BEEN PROPOSED?
The $100 billion Horizon Europe programme provides research and innovation funding for EU members and partner countries.
By Maayan Lubell and Nidal al-Mughrabi
JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) -Israel could threaten to annex parts of Gaza to increase pressure on the militant group Hamas, an Israeli minister said on Wednesday, an idea that would deal a blow to Palestinian hopes of statehood on land Israeli now occupies.
The comment by security cabinet member Zeev Elkin came a day after Britain said it would recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes steps to relieve suffering in Gaza and reaches a ceasefire in the war with Hamas.
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Wednesday it was concerned about the threat of new strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, and that a deal on Tehran's nuclear programme could be reached through dialogue.
Israel and the United States bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June with the stated aim of preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Iran denies any such intention.
