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Dutch summon Israeli ambassador, impose travel ban on ministers

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -The Dutch government will summon Israel's ambassador to the Netherlands to denounce the "unbearable and indefensable" situation in Gaza and has imposed travel bans on two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers, it said in a letter published late on Monday.

Israeli government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich will no longer be allowed to enter the Netherlands, which accuses them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians and calling for an "ethnic cleansing" of the Gaza strip.

FILE PHOTO: Itamar Ben-Gvir, Minister of National Security of Israel, shouts at the opening of the 25th Knesset session marking the anniversary of the “Iron Swords” war on Monday, in Jerusalem, October 28, 2024. DEBBIE HILL/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Houthis say they hold 10 crew from Greek-operated ship they sank off Yemen

CAIRO/ATHENS (Reuters) -Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday they had rescued 10 seafarers from the Greek-operated cargo ship Eternity C which they attacked and sank in the Red Sea earlier this month.

The Liberia-flagged Eternity C was the second ship to sink off Yemen this month after repeated attacks by Houthi militants with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades. Another Greek-operated vessel, the Magic Seas, had gone down days earlier.

FILE PHOTO: A vessel said to be Greek-operated, Liberia-flagged Eternity C sinks in a footage released by Yemen's Houthis, in the Red Sea, in this screen grab taken from a handout video released on July 9, 2025. HOUTHI MEDIA CENTER/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

EU proposes curbs on Israel research funding over Gaza crisis

By Lili Bayer

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union's executive body recommended on Monday curbing Israeli access to its flagship research funding programme after calls from EU countries to increase pressure on Israel to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Multiple EU countries said last week that Israel was not living up to its commitments under an agreement with the European Union on increasing aid supplies to Gaza and asked the European Commission to put concrete options on the table.

FILE PHOTO: Palestinians gather at the site of an overnight Israeli air strike on a house, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 28, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo

Hundreds of Sudanese refugees in Cairo take up chance to return home for free

On a sweltering Monday morning at Cairo's main railway station, hundreds of Sudanese families stood waiting, with bags piled at their feet and children in tow, to board a train bound for a homeland shattered by two years of war.

The war is not yet over, but with the army having regained control of key areas and life in Egypt often hard, many refugees have decided now is the time to head home.

"It's an indescribable feeling," said Khadija Mohamed Ali, 45, seated inside one of the train's ageing carriages, her five daughters lined beside her.

The Sudanese refugees are heading home despite the war in the country not being over

Trump warns US could bomb Iran nuclear sites again if they restart

TURNBERRY, Scotland (Reuters) -President Donald Trump warned on Monday that he would order fresh U.S. attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities should Tehran try to restart facilities that the United States bombed last month.

Trump issued the threat as he held talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his Turnberry golf resort on the western coast of Scotland.

Iran, which denies seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, has insisted it will not give up domestic uranium enrichment despite the bombings of three nuclear sites.

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as he meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (not pictured) at Trump Turnberry golf club on July 28, 2025 in Turnberry, Scotland, Britain. Christopher Furlong/Pool via REUTERS

Two rights groups are first Israeli voices to accuse Israel of genocide

By Charlotte Greenfield and Emily Rose

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Two Israeli human rights organisations said on Monday Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the first major voices in Israeli society to level the strongest possible accusation against the state, which vehemently denies it.

Rights group B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel released their reports at a press conference in Jerusalem, saying Israel was carrying out "coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza strip".

Israeli human rights groups hold a press conference to issue a report saying Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza, in East Jerusalem, July 28, 2025. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

US urges UN Security Council to adjust sanctions on Syria

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The United States urged the United Nations Security Council on Monday to adjust its sanctions on Syria to help the country's government prevail in what the acting U.S. ambassador described as "the fight against terrorism."

After 13 years of civil war, Syria's President Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December in a lightning offensive by insurgent forces led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

FILE PHOTO: Traffic moves through the streets of Aleppo, Syria, as daily life returns days after rebels seized the capital Damascus and ousted Syria's Bashar al-Assad, December 11, 2024. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri/File Photo

Germany's Merz announces Gaza aid airlift, mulls upping ante on Israel

By Sarah Marsh

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany will immediately launch an airlift to deliver humanitarian aid into Gaza as it considers stepping up pressure on Israel over the "catastrophic" situation in the enclave, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday.

As the death toll from almost two years of war in Gaza nears 60,000, a growing number of people are dying from starvation and malnutrition, Gaza health authorities say, with images of starving children shocking the world and fuelling international criticism of Israel over sharply worsening conditions.

FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Prime Minister Keir Starmer (not pictured) attend a meeting at 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, July 17, 2025. Leon Neal/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

UN chief Guterres: creeping annexation of West Bank, wholesale destruction of Gaza must stop

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday said that Israel's creeping annexation of the West Bank is illegal and the wholesale destruction of the Gaza Strip is intolerable and both must stop.

"Let's be clear: The creeping annexation of the occupied West Bank is illegal. It must stop. The wholesale destruction of Gaza is intolerable. It must stop," he told a conference at the U.N. on a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

FILE PHOTO: U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres attends a United Nations high level conference hosted by France and Saudi Arabia to work towards a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., July 28, 2025. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo

Global hunger falls but conflict and climate threaten progress, UN says

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) -The number of hungry people around the world fell for a third straight year in 2024, retreating from a COVID-era spike, even as conflict and climate shocks deepened malnutrition across much of Africa and western Asia, a U.N. report said on Monday.

Around 673 million people, or 8.2% of the world's population, experienced hunger in 2024, down from 8.5% in 2023, according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, jointly prepared by five U.N. agencies.

FILE PHOTO: Residents pick up free groceries and clothes at La Colaborativa's food pantry in Chelsea, Massachusetts, U.S., July 1, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo