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US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke Thursday, with both sides agreeing to talks to prevent an all-out trade war over tariffs and global rare earth supplies.Trump said the call reached a “very positive conclusion” and that they agreed to meet in person — but Beijing issued a more muted readout saying …

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Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli attacks killed at least 37 people on Thursday, as a US-backed aid group reported it had resumed operations after a one-day hiatus.The Israeli military has recently stepped up its campaign in Gaza in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 2023 attack sparked the war.But Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva rejected the term “war” to describe the conflict in the devastated Palestinian territory, accusing Israel instead of carrying out “premeditated genocide”.Gaza civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir said that “37 people have been martyred in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip”, reporting attacks up and down the length of the territory.The Israeli military did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.Calls have mounted for a negotiated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but indirect talks between the parties have failed to yield a breakthrough since the collapse of the last brief truce in March.”What is happening in Gaza is not a war. It’s a genocide being carried out by a highly prepared army against women and children,” said Brazil’s Lula, who has previously used the legal term to describe the conflict.”It’s no longer possible to accept,” he added.French President Emmanuel Macron, who has declined to use the term himself, vowed at a joint appearance with Lula to “ramp up pressure in coordination with the Americans to obtain a ceasefire”.France is due later this month to co-host with Saudi Arabia a United Nations conference in New York on a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.- Aid sites reopen -Israel has also faced mounting international pressure to allow more aid into Gaza, after it imposed a more than two-month blockade that led to widespread shortages of food and other essentials.It recently eased the blockade and has worked with the newly formed, US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to implement a new aid distribution mechanism via a handful of centres in south and central Gaza.But since its inception, GHF has been a magnet for criticism from the UN and other members of the aid world — which only intensified following a recent string of deadly incidents near its facilities.The United Nations and other aid groups have declined to work with GHF, citing concerns it serves Israeli military goals.Reports from Gaza that dozens were killed over the course of three days as they attempted to reach the group’s aid sites drew sharp condemnation.GHF shut down its distribution centres on Wednesday for what it called “reorganisation” to improve its work, but said it had reopened two of them on Thursday.”GHF can confirm that we were open for distribution today,” it said in an email to AFP, adding it had delivered 1.4 million meals at two sites on Thursday and more than 8.4 million since opening a little over a week ago.Gaza rescuers and eyewitnesses implicated Israeli troops in the instances of deadly gunfire near a GHF centre in Rafah.Israel’s military has maintained it does not prevent Gazans from collecting aid, but army spokesperson Effie Defrin said after one such incident on Tuesday that soldiers had fired towards suspects who “were approaching in a way that endangered” the troops.He added that the incident was under investigation.- Hostage bodies recovered -During their October 2023 attack, militants abducted 251 hostages, 55 of whom remain in Gaza, including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the remains of two Israeli-Americans killed on October 7 had been recovered in Gaza and returned to Israel.”In a special operation by the Shin Bet (security agency) and the (military) in the Gaza Strip, the bodies of two of our hostages held by the murderous terrorist organisation Hamas were returned to Israel: Judy Weinstein Haggai and Gad Haggai from Kibbutz Nir Oz, may their memory be blessed,” Netanyahu said in a statement.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said their return was “a stark reminder of the enduring cruelty” faced by the families of hostages still in Gaza.Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 4,335 people have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 54,607, mostly civilians.

For the first time in his short life, Imad Dib, orphaned by the Gaza war, was preparing to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha without his parents.”Dad would buy us a sheep, but now we are alone,” the 11-year-old said.Before the war, he said, “I loved Eid so much, I was excited for it each year, to be able to celebrate and wear new clothes,” he said of the Eid tradition, looking weary in his patched-up shoes.Every day, the boy returns to the ashes and charred tarp, which are all that’s left of the tent in which he once sheltered with his family. Dib said he wanted to remember his parents, who were killed in an Israeli air strike.This year, rather than celebrating, he is preoccupied simply with the thought of how he and his four sisters will find anything at all to eat.- Not one order -According to Muslim tradition, Eid al-Adha commemorates the sacrifice Ibrahim (known to Christians and Jews as Abraham) was about to make by killing his son, before the angel Gabriel intervened and offered him a sheep to sacrifice instead.In a normal year, Gazans would now be preparing for big family get-togethers, traditionally centred around the sacrifice and eating of a sheep.Markets would be busy with people shopping for sweets and pastries, while toy shops and those selling children’s clothes would stay open late into the night for last-minute gifts.Even poverty and the years-long Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory could not get in the way of the festivities.Yet 20 months of war between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the militant group’s October 2023 attack, have brought an end to all that.With entire neighbourhoods levelled, almost all of the population displaced, often multiple times, and severe shortages brought on by a two-month blockade on aid, there is little possibility of celebration.”This time of year, I might receive up to 300 orders, including for calves and sheep, but this year I haven’t had a single one,” said Ahmed al-Zayigh, a butcher in Gaza City.Mohammed Othman, a 36-year-old displaced with his family to Deir el-Balah, said “One kilo of meat has become a dream… we just hope to find bread to feed our children on the day of Eid, and they will rejoice over flour as if it were meat”.Many Gazans said they longed for a time when it was possible, as prescribed in the Koran, to share part of their meat with the less fortunate.- ‘It tastes of blood’ -“Tomorrow we will go to the Eid prayer,” said Hamza Sobeh, 37, living in the Al-Mawasi displacement camp in southern Gaza.Sobeh was observing the fast ritual, which is believed to erase sins on the eve of the festival, and reciting takbirs — prayers glorifying God — with his children.”I want them to feel the joy of Eid, at least in a religious sense, so that they don’t lose hope,” he said, adding that he was considering buying them some date-filled pastries.However, the majority of people interviewed by AFP journalists said they would not be able to recreate even a sliver of the usual celebrations, and not just because it was unaffordable.”This Eid tastes of blood,” said Sami Felfel, from the north of the Gaza Strip.”These are the hardest years we’ve lived in Gaza,” he said.

Thousands of Israelis took to the streets under a heavy police presence for Jerusalem’s annual Pride march Thursday, a decade after the murder of a teenager by a Jewish extremist during the same event.The fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Shira Banki on July 30 that year, in an attack that also wounded six others, prompted police to step up their surveillance of Pride festivities in Jerusalem in the years that followed.Thursday’s march snaked through central Jerusalem, with participants carrying rainbow flags, placards and balloons, while a small group of anti-LGBT counter-protesters were also permitted to gather in a contained space nearby.”We mark 10 years since Shira Banki was murdered in Pride… which means that the Pride today is dedicated in her honour,” Hadass Bloemendal, chairperson of the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance, told AFP.Nadav Haruvi, Banki’s former teacher, said it was especially important for him to come this year.”I come here every year, but this is actually the first time we’re coming in an organised way as teachers from the school. And we understood that after a decade, we want to create a strong tradition for future generations of teachers,” he said.Israeli President Isaac Herzog also attended the march, a statement from his office said, making him the first president to join the event since Banki’s murder.”We came here to remember and remind, to honour the memory of a beautiful young Israeli girl who came to do good, Shira Banki, of blessed memory, who was murdered here 10 years ago,” Herzog said, standing on the spot where Banki was killed.”Her only goal was to do good and spread light in the world,” he said.”We must recognise a clear and unequivocal social principle: There is no place for violence, under any circumstances. There is no dialogue with violence. We will not accept violence in our society.”Banki’s killer had been freed from prison just weeks before the 2015 attack, having completed a sentence for a prior attack at the Pride march that wounded three people.He was later sentenced to life in prison for her murder.Opposition leader Yair Lapid joined the marchers on Thursday, telling journalists that “liberal Israel is here and here to stay, and we stand by our friends in the LGBTQ community, and we are marching together in favour of rights for everyone”.The city has held an annual Pride march since 2002, often accompanied by counter-protests by far-right, religious groups.Israel has a large and influential LGBTQ community, despite homosexuality being rejected by conservative religious parties.While Israel does not register same-sex marriages itself, it recognises those conducted overseas.

More than 130 news outlets and press freedom groups called Thursday for Israel to immediately lift a near-total ban on international media entering Gaza, while calling for greater protections for Palestinian journalists in the territory.Israel has blocked most foreign correspondents from independently accessing Gaza since it began its war there following the unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack by militant group Hamas. An open letter shared by the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders called the restrictions “a situation that is without precedent in modern warfare.”Signees included AFP’s global news director Phil Chetwynd, The Associated Press executive editor, Julie Pace, and the editor of Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Aluf Benn.The letter added that many Palestinian journalists — whom news outlets have relied on to report from inside Gaza — face a litany of threats.”Local journalists, those best positioned to tell the truth, face displacement and starvation,” it said.”To date, nearly 200 journalists have been killed by the Israeli military. Many more have been injured and face constant threats to their lives for doing their jobs: bearing witness.”This is a direct attack on press freedom and the right to information.”The letter added that it was a “pivotal moment” in Israel’s war — with renewed military actions and efforts to boost humanitarian aid to Gaza.This, it said, makes it “vital that Israel open Gaza’s borders for international journalists to be able to report freely and that Israel abides by its international obligations to protect journalists as civilians.”Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a separate statement that Israel must grant journalists access and allow them to work in Gaza “without fear for their lives.””When journalists are killed in such unprecedented numbers and independent international media is barred from entering, the world loses its ability to see clearly, to understand fully, and to respond effectively to what is happening,” she said.

Muslim worshippers prayed on Mount Arafat during the high point of the hajj pilgrimage Thursday, as authorities urged them to avoid the hottest hours of the day after tragedy struck last year.Thousands of white-robed pilgrims recited Koranic verses from dawn on the 70-metre (230 feet) rocky rise near Mecca, where the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have given his last sermon.But numbers thinned by midday following official warnings for pilgrims to stay inside between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm.”I came here early to (avoid) the sun and later I will pray inside my tent,” said 54-year-old Adel Ismail, from Syria.Saudi authorities have taken several steps to reduce the risk from heat at the hajj, which has drawn more than 1.6 million pilgrims to one of the world’s hottest regions, according to fresh figures published Thursday.Barring a few years of Covid restrictions from 2020-2022, this hajj season has recorded the lowest number of pilgrims in over three decades.The dip comes after 1,301 people died in temperatures that hit 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 degrees Fahrenheit) last year — most of them illegal pilgrims according to Saudi authorities, who implemented stringent measures to reduce their numbers this season.Unregistered, non-fee paying pilgrims, lack access to the full amenities offered during the hajj including air conditioned tents, making them particularly vulnerable to heat-related health risks.On Thursday, icepacks were handed to people walking towards Mount Arafat, with some placing the small bags on their heads.With temperatures reaching 42C (107.6F), officials ushered people away if they spent too long in one place near the bouldered hill, which had fans spraying mist and cool air at its foot.- ‘I don’t think about the sun’ -Late Thursday afternoon, pilgrims began making their way to Muzdalifah, halfway between Arafat and the sprawling tent city of Mina, where they will gather pebbles for Friday’s symbolic “stoning of the devil”.Despite the heat, they were generally delighted to be performing the hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam that must be completed at least once by all Muslims with the means.”I don’t think about the sun or the temperature or anything like that,” said Ahmed, a 44-year-old from Egypt.”Because standing in Arafat is a great thing and a beautiful day, and as you can see, all the pilgrims” are doing it.Ali, 33, from Pakistan, said he felt “blessed” to take part.”This is something that I used to see every year on the TV screen during hajj and I always thought: ‘I wish I could be here’,” he said.Through tears of joy, Iman Abdel Khaleq said she had wanted to perform the hajj for 10 years and was overwhelmed with emotion as she arrived at Arafat.”It’s a big dream for me that I had almost given up hope of realising,” the Egyptian woman in her 50s told AFP from the foot of the mount.- High-tech hajj -Saudi officials said the heat-mitigation measures implemented this hajj had largely been successful in preventing a repeat of last year.”We are encountering a limited number of heat related illnesses cases this year and this is evidence of the effectiveness of all the organisation measures as well as preventive measures,” said Mohammed Al-Abd Al-Aali, Saudi Arabia’s assistant minister of health.Ahead of this year’s hajj, shaded areas have been expanded by 50,000 square metres (12 acres), thousands more medics are on standby and more than 400 cooling units have been deployed, the hajj minister told AFP last week.Along with the anti-heat measures and thousands of extra personnel, Saudi Arabia is also using an arsenal of high-tech tools to help better manage crowds.More than 15,000 cameras run through artificial intelligence software are monitoring the holy sites and walkways during an event that has a history of deadly stampedes.This year, officials have also clamped down hard on unregistered pilgrims looking to sneak into Mecca, using raids, drone surveillance and a barrage of text alerts.Late Thursday, a hajj ministry source said the moves had helped stave off overcrowding at the holy sites so far. Hajj permits are allocated to countries on a quota basis and distributed to individuals by a lottery.But even for those who can obtain them, the steep costs prompt many to attempt the hajj without a permit, even though they risk arrest and deportation if caught.Saudi Arabia earns billions of dollars a year from the hajj, and the lesser pilgrimage known as umrah, undertaken at other times of the year.

French dock workers at a southern port were Thursday blocking the shipment of military material bound for Israel in protest at Israeli actions against Palestinians in Gaza, their union said.The stevedores at the port in Fos-sur-Mer outside Marseille have refused to load crates of links used to assist the rapid fire of bullets aboard the cargo vessel, the CGT trade union said.Links are small metal pieces, used to connect machine gun bullets and allow rapid bursts of fire. There has been concern in media and among rights groups that they have likely been used against civilians in the Gaza Strip.Christophe Claret, leader of the dock workers in the port, said they had been notified that the ship was due to be loaded on Thursday with the material.”We managed to identify it and set it aside,” he told AFP, emphasising that once dockers refuse to load a shipment, no one else can do it for them. The other containers for the ship will all be loaded.According to the union, the cargo is 19 pallets of links manufactured by the Marseille-based company Eurolinks.The CGT said the move made clear its refusal to “participate in the ongoing genocide orchestrated by the Israeli government.” Leading rights groups, including Amnesty International, have accused Israel of committing genocide in its military campaign, a charge vehemently rejected by the Israeli government.- ‘Humanism is not for sale’ -Anne Savinel-Barras, president of Amnesty International France, said such deliveries were taking place “in opacity and in total contradiction” with the recent statements by French President Emmanuel Macron who had expressed horror over the humanitarian situation in Gaza. “These weapons could be used to commit serious crimes under international law in Gaza and the West Bank,” she said, urging France to end its “double standards” and impose a total embargo on all arms destined for Israel.”If France continues to authorise the delivery of war material to Israel, it is fuelling this genocide,” she said in a statement.Amnesty said it hailed the actions of the stevedores and warned that French authorities “risked making France complicit in the ongoing genocide” if such deliveries were continued.Contacted by AFP, Eurolinks did not respond to a request for comment. The Port of Marseille-Fos had no comment.”We are very proud of this action led by our comrades and which is part of the CGT’s long internationalist tradition for peace,” CGT secretary general Sophie Binet told reporters in the eastern city of Strasbourg on Thursday. “It is unacceptable that CGT dockers should be the ones forced to uphold the fundamental principles of international law and French values. The government must immediately block all arms deliveries to the State of Israel,” she added.The move was also welcomed by hard-left and left-wing leaders in France.”Humanism is not for sale,” said Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure.According to the investigative website Disclose, which had access to maritime data, two other such shipments between Fos-sur-Mer and the Israeli port of Haifa took place on April 3 and May 22.French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu had stated at the time that these parts exported by the Marseille company would be “re-exported” through Israel and not used by the Israeli army.The latest war started after Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Of the 251 hostages seized during the attack, 55 remain in Gaza, including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since October 2023 has killed 54,677 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the occupied Palestinian territory, while the United Nations said on May 30 the territory’s entire population of more than two million people was at risk of famine.