• Netanyahu accuses Starmer of being on 'wrong side of humanity' and siding with Hamas.

• Netanyahu accuses Starmer of being on 'wrong side of humanity' and siding with Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has launched a blistering attack on UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the leaders of France and Canada - saying that they had "effectively said they want Hamas to remain in power".

He also accused Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney of siding with "mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers".

Netanyahu was speaking after Thursday's deadly attack on Israeli embassy staff in Washington. Days earlier, the UK, France and Canada had condemned Israel's expanded offensive in Gaza as "disproportionate" and described the humanitarian situation as "intolerable".

Downing Street has pointed to Sir Keir's condemnation of the Washington attack. In that post, Sir Keir called antisemitism an "evil we must stamp out".

All three countries denounced the Washington killings, which saw embassy workers Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, shot dead at an event hosted by the Capital Jewish Museum.

The suspect, Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, repeatedly shouted "free Palestine" as he was arrested, police said.

Social media accounts linked to the suspect indicate that he was involved in pro-Palestinian protest movements. Investigators say they are working to verify online writings purportedly by him that accuse Israel of genocide in Gaza and criticise US policy.

According to details in an affidavit, the suspect landed in Washington the night prior to the event and bought a ticket a few hours before it started.

He also referenced a 2024 incident in which a man set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington. According to the affidavit, he expressed admiration for the act, calling the man a "martyr" for his protest over the conflict.

In addition to condemning Wednesday's shooting, the UK, France and Canada - close allies of Israel - have come out in strong support of Israel following the deadly Hamas-led attacks 19 months ago.

Their statement demanding Israel halt its latest offensive was widely viewed as the strongest criticism of Israel's military action since the war in Gaza began. It threatened concrete actions if Israel did not change course.

On Wednesday Sir Keir added that Israel's decision to allow only a small amount of aid into Gaza was "utterly inadequate" and the UK suspended talks over a possible trade deal.

In his video, Netanyahu said Hamas wanted to destroy Israel and annihilate the Jewish people. He said the Palestinian armed group had welcomed the joint UK, French and Canadian criticism of Israel's war conduct.

Some of Israel's closest allies wanted Israel to "stand down and accept that Hamas's army of mass murderers will survive", he said.

"I say to President Macron, Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Starmer, when mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers thank you, you're on the wrong side of justice," he added. "You're on the wrong side of humanity, and you're on the wrong side of history."

Netanyahu went on to blame a recent claim by UN's humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher that thousands of babies would imminently die in Gaza if Israel did not immediately let in aid for the attack in Washington.

"A few days ago, a top UN official said that 14,000 Palestinian babies would die in 48 hours. You see many international institutions are complicit in spreading this lie," he said.

"The press repeats it. The mob believed it. And a young couple is then brutally gunned down in Washington."

When asked at the time for clarification on Fletcher's statement, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) spokesman Jens Laerke said "there are babies who are in urgent life-saving need of these supplements... and if they do not get those, they will be in mortal danger".

Also on Thursday, an Israeli minister, Amichai Chikli, accused Sir Keir and other leaders of "emboldening the forces of terror". On Friday, UK armed forces minister Luke Pollard condemned the killings in Washington but rejected Netanyahu's strong criticism of the British prime minister. He said: "We stand in support of Israel's right to self-defence as long as they conduct that within international humanitarian law - a position we've had since those appalling attacks on 7 October.

"We are also very clear we need to see aid get to the people who are genuinely suffering in Gaza." French foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine also reiterated his criticism of Israel's "escalation" in Gaza following Netanyahu's statement.

He told FranceInfo radio: "Israel has to let the aid in. Access has to be massive and free."

On Thursday, more than 90 lorries carrying aid supplies were allowed to cross into Gaza but the UN said that level was "nowhere near enough" to meet the needs of Palestinians living there.

The trickle of aid follows an 11-week total blockade, which humanitarian groups said risked widespread famine. Israel resumed air strikes in March which have since killed 3,613 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

• 'The mood is changing': Israeli anger grows at conduct of war.

As Israel's war in Gaza enters a new, violent phase, a growing number of voices within the country are speaking out against it- and how it's being fought.

Yair Golan, a left-wing politician and former deputy commander of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), sparked outrage on Monday when he said: "Israel is on the way to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa was, if we don't return to acting like a sane country.

"A sane state does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not set itself the goal of depopulating the population," he told Israeli public radio's popular morning news programme.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back, describing the comments as "blood libel".

But on Wednesday, a former Israeli minister of defence and IDF chief of staff - Moshe "Bogi" Ya'alon - went further.

"This is not a 'hobby'," he wrote in a post on X, "but a government policy, whose ultimate goal is to hold on to power. And it is leading us to destruction."

Just 19 months ago, when Hamas gunmen crossed the fence into Israel and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages - statements like these seemed almost unthinkable. But now Gaza is in ruins, Israel has launched a new military offensive, and, though it has also agreed to lift its 11-week blockade on the territory, just a trickle of aid has so far entered.

Recent polling by Israel's Channel 12 found that 61% of Israelis want to end the war and see the hostages returned. Just 25% support expanding the fighting and occupying Gaza.

The Israeli government insists it will destroy Hamas and rescue the remaining hostages. Netanyahu says he can achieve "total victory" - and he maintains a strong core of supporters. But the mood among others in Israeli society "is one of despair, trauma, and a lack of a sense of ability to change anything", says former Israeli hostage negotiator Gershon Baskin.

"The overwhelming majority of all the hostage families think that the war has to end, and there has to be an agreement," he adds.

"A small minority think that the primary goal of finishing off Hamas is what has to be done, and then the hostages will be freed".

On Sunday, around 500 protesters, many wearing T-shirts with the inscription "Stop the horrors in Gaza" and carrying pictures of babies killed by Israeli air strikes, attempted to march from the town of Sderot to the Gaza border, in protest at Israel's new offensive.

They were led by Standing Together - a small but growing anti-war group of Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel. After attempting to block a road, the leader of the group Alon-Lee Green was arrested, along with eight others. From house arrest, Mr Green told the BBC: "I think it's obvious that you can see an awakening within the Israeli public. You can see that more and more people are taking a position."

Another Standing Together activist, Uri Weltmann, said he thinks there's a growing belief that continuing the war is "not only harmful to the Palestinian civilian population, but also risks the lives of hostages, risks the lives of soldiers, risks the lives of all of us".

• EU to review agreement with Israel over Gaza concerns, Kallas says.

The European Union will review a pact governing its political and economic ties with Israel due to the "catastrophic" situation in Gaza, EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday after a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers.

International pressure on Israel has mounted in recent days amid complaints about the lack of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza and as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government launched a new military offensive in the enclave.

Kallas said a "strong majority" of the ministers meeting in Brussels favoured such a review of the agreement with Israel, known as an association agreement, in light of events in Gaza.

Diplomats said 17 of 27 EU members backed the review, which will focus on whether Israel is complying with a human rights clause in the agreement, and was proposed by Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp.

"The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The aid that Israel has allowed in is of course welcomed, but it's a drop in the ocean. Aid must flow immediately, without obstruction and at scale, because this is what is needed," Kallas told reporters.

Israeli officials have said their operations in Gaza are necessary to destroy Hamas, the Palestinian group responsible for the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

The Israeli foreign ministry dismissed Kallas' critique.

"We completely reject the direction taken in the statement, which reflects a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing," the ministry wrote in a post on X late Tuesday.

"Ignoring these realities and criticising Israel only hardens Hamas’s position and encourages Hamas to stick to its guns," the ministry said, thanking countries which it said supported Israel in the discussion.

Under the pact, which came into force in 2000, the EU and Israel agreed that their relationship “shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy”.

In a letter proposing a review, Veldkamp raised concerns about Israeli policies “exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation”.

He also cited “statements by Israeli cabinet members about a permanent presence that alludes to a reoccupation of (parts of) the Gaza Strip, Syria and Lebanon” and a “further worsening of the situation in the West Bank”.

On Tuesday, Dutch minister Veldkamp called the review "a very important and powerful signal," echoing sentiments of officials from France and Ireland.

But others did not back a review. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky suggested the bloc could hold a meeting with Israel under the association agreement to raise concerns.

Kallas said EU sanctions on violent Israeli settlers had been prepared but have so far been blocked by one member state. Diplomats said that country was Hungary.

• Iran-US nuclear talks end with no agreement but ‘possibility of progress’.

Talks between Iran and the US on whether Iran will be allowed to continue to enrich uranium inside the country have ended without an agreement, but apparently without the feared breakdown. The indirect talks between the two sides were mediated by Oman and held in Rome.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said late on Friday: “I hope that in the next one or two meetings we can reach solutions that will allow the negotiations to progress. With Oman’s solutions to remove obstacles, there is a possibility of progress, but the negotiations are too complex to be resolved in one or two meetings.”

The Oman foreign ministry said in a statement: “We hope to clarify remaining issues in coming days to allow us to proceed towards a common goal of reaching a sustainable and honourable agreement.” The talks are being held against the backdrop of repeated threats by Israel to strike Iran’s nuclear sites. Israel has long feared Iran is preparing to build a nuclear bomb, and is not, as it claims, pursuing a civil nuclear programme.

Donald Trump has been told by Gulf states that they do not want a further conflict in the Middle East that would be sparked by an Israeli attempt to bomb Iran, and the US president has shown a surprising willingness to reach an agreement with Tehran.

Before the talks the US said it was a red line to prevent Iran undertaking any domestic enrichment, while Iran has insisted that as a member of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty it cannot be singled out by preventing it from continuing with a programme of domestic uranium enrichment.

It has offered to put strict limits on the size of its stockpile and the purity of the uranium.

The starkness of the public differences on both sides concerning enrichment led observers to fear that this fifth round of talks would lead to a collapse with unpredictable consequences for the Middle East.

But although Oman did not immediately set a date for the next talks, there seemed to be a consensus that a further round would occur. Oman’s foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, said on X there had been “some but not conclusive progress”.

Countries such as the United Arab Emirates that have a small nuclear programme based on imported uranium have suggested Iran could follow this example by importing the required uranium, but Iran regards its position as different since it has had to undertake so much sacrifice in the form of US economic sanctions to pursue what it says is a peaceful civil nuclear programme. It believes it has a sovereign right to enrich uranium, and points out Israel has an undeclared nuclear weapon that the US does not demand it relinquish.

Some mediators suggested as an alternative that Iran could pause enrichment for a fixed period, or that in addition to enriching domestically it could form a civil nuclear consortium with Saudi Arabia, so providing extra reassurance and knowledge about the nature of its domestic programme.

For reasons not yet clear, Steve Witkoff, the US chief negotiator, left the meeting early, and the US, unlike Iran, issued no immediate statement on the talks. Before the meeting Witkoff had met Israeli officials, including the head of Mossad, David Barnea, as he had in the context of previous negotiating sessions with Iran.

KAYNAKÇA:

• BBC. (2025) ‘Netanyahu accuses Starmer of being on 'wrong side of humanity' and siding with Hamas.’

Erişim: https://www.bbc.com

• BBC. (2025) 'The mood is changing': Israeli anger grows at conduct of war.’

Erişim: https://www.bbc.com

• Reuters. (2025) ‘EU to review agreement with Israel over Gaza concerns, Kallas says.’

Erişim: https://www.reuters.com

• The Guardian. (2025) ‘Iran-US nuclear talks end with no agreement but ‘possibility of progress.’

Erişim: https://www.theguardian.com