International
Netanyahu tells Blinken that he remains “firm” in his demands on Hamas for a truce
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on Monday to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he will remain “firm” in the negotiations of a ceasefire with the Islamist group Hamas so as not to give in to the “security needs of Israel.”
Netanyahu spoke for about three hours with Blinken in Jerusalem, in a meeting that “was positive and conducted in a good spirit,” according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
The Israeli president “reiterated Israel’s commitment to the latest US proposal (ceasefire agreement) on the release of the kidnapped, which takes into account Israel’s security needs, in which he stands firm,” the statement added without giving further details.
Blinken arrived in Israel on Sunday for a ninth visit since the outbreak of the war on October 7, with the aim of promoting a ceasefire agreement that includes the release of the 111 Israeli hostages that Hamas keeps kidnapped in Gaza (of which at least 39 have died), as well as the massive entry of humanitarian aid into the devastated Strip.
Netanyahu – whom many in his own country accuse of torpedoing the negotiations with new demands and putting his political interests first – made it clear on Sunday that Israel is “negotiating, not giving in” to Hamas.
The Israeli leader urged the mediating countries – the United States, Qatar and Egypt – to put pressure on Hamas and not Israel, and reiterated his firmness on two central points: not to cease the military offensive until the Islamist group is dismantled and not to withdraw its troops from the strategic Philadelphia Corridor, which covers the entire border line between Gaza and Egypt.
Israel’s negotiating team met over the weekend with the mediators in Doha, an appointment that Hamas did not attend, demanding that, instead of new negotiations, what had already been agreed in previous months be applied based on a proposal by US President Joe Biden.
“The new proposal” that emerged after the meeting in Doha “responds to the conditions imposed by Netanyahu and is consistent with them,” Hamas lamented on Sunday, rejecting what was agreed in Qatar.
The Islamist group criticizes that the new proposal does not include a definitive ceasefire or the integral withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, and that it agrees to Netanyahu’s “insistence” that the Israeli Army continue to control the Netzarim crossing (which connects the north with the south of the Strip), the border crossing of the Gaza city of Rafah (with Egypt) and the Philadelphia Corridor.
Hamas claims to have accepted on July 2 what President Biden proposed, while Israel claims to have done the same without adding new demands, but “clarifications.”
While Washington estimates that the agreement could be reached as soon as next week, Netanyahu would have told his ministers that “the chances are not high,” according to public radio Kan.
The war broke out on October 7 of last year with a Hamas attack on Israel that left about 1,200 dead and 251 kidnapped.
Blinken, for his part, said that the latest proposed agreement for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas may be “the last chance” to rescue the hundred Israeli hostages who still remain in the Gaza Strip.
“It is a decisive moment, probably the best and perhaps the last opportunity to return the kidnapped home, to achieve a ceasefire,” the American said at the beginning of a meeting in Tel Aviv with the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog.
The head of US diplomacy made it clear that his country wants a pact as soon as possible, and highlighted the deployment of US forces in the region to try to dissuade Iran and the Lebanese group Hizbulah from attacking Israel, which could put the negotiations at risk.
The Israeli president, for his part, thanked the United States for their support and the other mediating countries, Egypt and Qatar, for their efforts to achieve a ceasefire agreement that will allow the hostages to be released.
“There is no greater humanitarian objective, nor greater humanitarian cause than bringing back the hostages,” Herzog said.
Iran assured that it supports the negotiations between Israel and its ally Hamas to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, despite its differences with the United States and considers that Tel Aviv does not want a truce.
Despite the negotiating momentum, the Israeli offensive in Gaza continues, and this Sunday the troops extended their operations to parts of Jan Yunis (south) and, for the first time, the town of Deir al Balah (center), where thousands of Gazans have taken refuge since the offensive against Rafah, the southernmost town in Gaza, began.
The Israeli Army continued to attack a devastated Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, where after ten months of offensive 40,139 people have already died, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health of the enclave, controlled by the Islamist group Hamas.
Meanwhile, at least two people were killed on Monday by the bombing of an Israeli drone against the Houla area, in southern Lebanon, amid an increase in selective attacks by the Jewish State and renewed fears of an open war in Lebanese territory.
A 45-year-old Israeli soldier, identified by military sources as Mahmud Amaria, died on Monday morning in a drone attack in the region of western Galilee, northern Israel, perpetrated by the Lebanese Shiite militia Hizbulah.
In addition, the Israeli authorities confirmed that an explosion recorded last night in Tel Aviv, which claimed the life of the suspect who was carrying the device and injured another person, was part of a failed attempt at a terrorist attack.
The armed wing of the Islamist group Hamas claimed the act, according to a message on Telegram, which it said it had perpetrated in collaboration with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
International
Seven inmates dead, 11 injured after violent riot in Veracruz prison
Seven inmates were killed and eleven others injured in a violent riot and clash inside a penitentiary in the Mexican state of Veracruz, local authorities reported on Sunday.
The disturbance began on Saturday afternoon at the Social Reintegration Center in the port city of Tuxpan, in northern Veracruz, when inmates staged a protest over extortion and assaults allegedly carried out by members of the criminal group known as Grupo Sombra.
The protesting prisoners clashed with another group of inmates and set fires inside and outside the facility, seizing control of the prison for more than 12 hours.
During the takeover, the rioters released several videos, including one showing four prisoners —believed to be members of Grupo Sombra— accusing them of being behind the violence and extortion inside the prison.
It wasn’t until Sunday morning that elements of the Mexican Army, the National Guard, and local police forces managed to enter the prison and regain control. The state’s Public Security Secretariat confirmed that around 9:00 a.m. local time a coordinated operation restored full order and reestablished control of the facility.
Authorities also reported that the fires set by inmates were fully extinguished.
Official figures confirmed the “tragic” deaths of seven inmates and injuries to eleven people, who are now receiving medical treatment in various regional hospitals.
This is the second deadliest riot in Veracruz in the past eight years. In 2018, a violent uprising at the La Toma medium-security prison left seven people dead (six police officers and one unidentified man) and at least 22 injured (15 officers and seven inmates).
The riot follows the kidnapping and killing of retired teacher and taxi driver Irma Hernández, a case that shocked the entire country and was attributed to Grupo Sombra. Images of Hernández kneeling, surrounded by armed men in the municipality of Álamo, sparked nationwide outrage. She was murdered after refusing to pay extortion demands from the criminal organization.
Despite these incidents, Veracruz has not seen a spike in the daily homicide average. In fact, there has been a 1.6% decrease in homicides in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, according to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System.
In 2023, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) reported 3,094 incidents in Mexican prisons —an 18.5% increase from the previous year— resulting in 100 deaths and 892 injuries.
International
Study finds COVID-19 vaccines prevented 2.5 million deaths worldwide
COVID-19 vaccines prevented an estimated 2,533,000 deaths worldwide between 2020 and 2024, according to an international study led by Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Italy and Stanford University in the United States, published in the journal JAMA Health Forum. Researchers calculated that one death was prevented for every 5,400 doses administered.
The analysis also found that the vaccines saved 14.8 million years of life, equivalent to one year of life gained for every 900 doses given.
The study, coordinated by Professor Stefania Boccia, revealed that 82% of the lives saved were people vaccinated before becoming infected with the virus, and 57% of deaths avoided occurred during the Omicron wave. In addition, 90% of the beneficiaries were adults over 60 years old.
“This is the most comprehensive analysis to date, based on global data and fewer assumptions about the evolution of the pandemic,” explained Boccia and researcher Angelo Maria Pezzullo.
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