Trump-Gaza live: Hamas set to respond to peace plan after US president threatens ‘very sad end’

Pro-Palestinian protests are shaking major European cities, and calls are growing to ban Israel from sporting and cultural events.

European navies have been deployed to protect activists trying to get aid into Gaza – and a wave of countries have done the once-unthinkable and recognized a Palestinian state.

As outrage over the humanitarian catastrophe grows, more European leaders, sometimes driven by pressure from their populations, have openly condemned Israel’s war conduct and sought to push prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to agree to a ceasefire and allow in aid.

Speaking in Liverpool on Tuesday, the prime minister said he “strongly supports efforts to end the fighting, release every hostage and urgently scale up aid” into Gaza.

“All sides must now come together to bring this initiative into reality, because we must restart the hope of a two-state solution, a safe and secure Israel alongside the long-promised Palestinian state, a state that this country now recognises,” he said, resulting in applause from the crowd.

The plan, which was announced on Monday with Benjamin Netanyahu, includes an end to fighting, the return of Israeli hostages, and the formation of an international “Board of Peace” to help run Gaza, which would include Tony Blair.

Federal officials in the US have sued pro-Palestinian demonstrators involved in a heated protest outside a New Jersey synagogue last year, citing a law created to protect abortion clinics from obstruction and threats.

The lawsuit, filed on Monday in New Jersey federal court, alleges that a November protest against an event at a synagogue in West Orange, New Jersey, billed as a spiritual service and Israel real estate fair, escalated into violence.

Demonstrators physically assaulted some worshippers and chanted and used vuvuzelas – plastic trumpets sometimes used by soccer fans – to disrupt the event, according to the complaint.

The case was brought under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or Face Act, a 1994 law that prohibits the use of force and physical obstruction to interfere with people at reproductive health centers or houses of worship.

The Justice Department has brought several cases against protesters who have obstructed abortion clinics but the case appears to be the first time the law has been used to allege interference with religious worship, according to Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“The practice of turning a blind eye to these attacks on houses of worship throughout the United States stops now,” Dhillon, who was nominated to the role by president Donald Trump, told reporters at a press conference.

US president Donald Trump gave Hamas three to four days on Tuesday to accept a US-backed peace plan for Gaza, warning of “a very sad end” if the group rejected the proposal that he said was close to ending the two-year-old conflict.

Mediators Qatar and Egypt shared the 20-point plan with Hamas late on Monday after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had appeared alongside Trump at the White House and endorsed the document, saying it satisfied Israel’s war aims.

Hamas was not involved in the negotiations that led to the proposal, which calls on the Islamist militant group to disarm, a demand it has previously rejected.

However, officials briefed on the talks said that the group “would review it in good faith and provide a response”.

The White House has unveiled a 20-point peace plan aimed at bringing an immediate end to the war in Gaza, where more than 66,000 Palestinians have lost their lives since 7 October 2023 according to local health officials.

Under the proposal, if both Hamas and Israel agree, hostilities would cease at once. All hostages in Gaza – both dead and alive – would be returned within 72 hours, and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners would also be released.

Read the plan in full here:

Israel’s ambassador to India has praised prime minister Narendra Modi for supporting US president Donald Trump’s peace plan to end the war in Gaza.

Welcoming the move, he added that peace in the region could pave the way for India to help build infrastructure in Israel and Palestine.

“As you are building India, we want you to build our region as well and you are capable of doing it,” Reuven Azar said during a press briefing.

“Only two or three weeks ago, we had a delegation here that approached Indian companies to come and play a role in building infrastructure in Israel. They could easily build infrastructure for the Palestinians as well.”

Earlier, Modi had welcomed Trump’s 20 point peace plan, saying it provides “a viable pathway to long term and sustainable peace and development” in West Asia.

“We hope that all concerned will come together behind President Trump’s initiative and support this effort to end conflict and secure peace,” Modi wrote on X.

Trump has many vices – but among his better instincts is a genuine revulsion at war. The West must stand behind his efforts to pressure the Netanyahu administration to end this terrible conflict.

Read the Independent’s editorial here:

Amnesty International has sent a letter to Fifa and Uefa calling on the bodies to suspend the Israeli Football Association (IFA) from tournaments until it bans clubs based in illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory from domestic competition.

The missive – signed by Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General – comes amid growing noise around the issue and top-level discussions in the European game.

Senior Uefa figures this week decided to postpone attempts to meet over whether to ban Israel due to the ongoing peace talks involving the US government.

Australian human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti has urged the government to sever military ties with Israel, or risk being complicit in genocide.

“We should be ending all defence co-operation, including closing the Australian government’s Defence and Trade office in Jerusalem,” he told the Australian Associated Press before his speech on Wednesday.

Sidoti is one of the three commissioners selected by the Human Rights Council which found Israel’s war crimes in Gaza constituted genocide, in a landmark report released in September. Israel’s foreign ministry at the time said it categorically rejected the report, denouncing it as “distorted and false”.

Urging the government to apply more comprehensive sanctions against Israel, he said: “This is critical to Australia’s international credibility and even more critical to our own self-respect.”

According to 7News, 70 Australian companies have contributed to the global supply chain for the F-35 fighter jet programme – the fleet that Israel used in Gaza.

That means Australia would be contributing to “the international criminal activities of the Israeli military” if its components were used in those jets, the lawyer said.

Italy has said it will stop tracking an international flotilla attempting to deliver aid to Gaza with a military vessel, as activists on board announced they were on “high alert” as they moved closer to their destination.

The Global Sumud Flotilla, consisting of more than 40 civilian boats with over 500 people including parliamentarians, lawyers and Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, aims to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

Once the convoy got within 278km of Gaza’s shoreline, the Italian frigate accompanying was set to stop, the Italian defence ministry said in a statement, adding that it expected it to happen at around midnight GMT.

Italy has urged flotilla members to accept a compromise proposal to drop aid in a Cyprus port and avoid a confrontation with Israeli forces. Flotilla representatives have refused the offer.“We say again: the flotilla sails onwards. The Italian navy will not derail this mission. The humanitarian demand to break the blockade cannot be walked back to port,” the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a statement.

Italy and Spain deployed navy vessels last week to assist the flotilla, after it was hit by drones armed with stun grenades and irritants in international waters off Greece, but without any intention to engage militarily.

The Israeli government did not respond to accusations from activists onboard the flotilla who said that it was behind last week’s attacks, but it has vowed to use any means to prevent the boats from reaching Gaza, arguing that its blockade is legal as part of its war against Hamas militants.