Region

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — The Palestinian foreign ministry on Monday condemned the Israeli prime minister's criticism of French President Emmanuel Macron for announcing that Paris intended to recognise a Palestinian state within months.

"The ministry strongly condemns the unjustified attack and offensive remarks made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his son against President Emmanuel Macron," the Ramallah-based ministry said in a statement.

"The ministry considers these statements a clear acknowledgement of Netanyahu's ongoing hostility to peace based on the two-state solution, as well as a blatant rejection of international legitimacy and a persistent preference for violence and military solutions over the political path."

Macron, in an interview with France 5 broadcast on Wednesday, said that France could take the step during a United Nations conference in New York in June, adding he hoped it would trigger a reciprocal recognition of Israel by Arab countries.

"We must move towards recognition, and we will do so in the coming months," Macron said.

"I will do it because I believe that at some point it will be right and because I also want to participate in a collective dynamic, which must also allow all those who defend Palestine to recognise Israel in turn, which many of them do not do."

His remarks sparked a wave of criticism from right-wing groups in France and from Netanyahu and his son Yair Netanyahu.

"Screw you!" Yair Netanyahu wrote in English on X late on Saturday, while Netanyahu himself dismissed Macron's remarks.

"President Macron is gravely mistaken in continuing to promote the idea of a Palestinian state in the heart of our land -- a state whose sole aspiration is the destruction of Israel," Netanyahu said in a statement.

"To this day, not a single figure in Hamas or the Palestinian Authority has condemned the horrors of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust," he said, referring to the October 7, 2023, attack led by Hamas on Israel.

He described it as "a silence that reveals their true attitude toward the Jewish state.

"We will not endanger our existence over illusions detached from reality, and we will not accept moral lectures about establishing a Palestinian state that would threaten Israel's survival -- especially not from those who oppose granting independence to Corsica, New Caledonia, French Guiana, and other territories, whose independence would pose no threat to France whatsoever."

PARIS — Fresh tensions flared between France and Algeria on Monday as the French foreign minister said the latterhad ordered 12 French officials to leave in 48 hours.

The announcement was linked to the arrest of three Algerian nationals in France, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.

For decades, ties between France and Algeria have gone through diplomatic upheavals, and Monday's announcement comes at a delicate time in relations and underscores the difficulties in repairing ties.

"I am asking Algerian authorities to abandon these expulsion measures," Barrot said, adding: "If the decision to send back our officials is maintained, we will have no other choice but to respond immediately."

The 12 include some members of the French interior ministry, a diplomatic source told AFP.

Despite the new tensions, French diplomatic sources said that "contacts are being maintained" and that Paris would like to "return to an easing of tensions" with Algeria.

Earlier this month, Barrot visited Algeria on a fence-mending trip after months of tensions that had brought the two countries to the brink of a diplomatic breakdown.

After a meeting with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebbouneduring the visit, Barrot said both countries wanted to "rebuild a partnership of equals".

On Friday, French prosecutors indicted three Algerians, including a consular official, on suspicion of involvement in the 2024 abduction of an opponent of the Algerian regime, Amir Boukhors, in a Paris suburb.

The men, who are also being prosecuted for "terrorist" conspiracy, were placed in pre-trial detention.

'Rotten arguments' 

The indictment comes at a sensitive time between the two countries, with Algiers claiming the move was aimed at scuppering recent attempts to repair ties.

Boukhors, an influencer known by the nickname "Amir DZ", has more than a million followers on TikTok.

He has been in France since 2016 and was granted political asylum in 2023. He was abducted in April 2024 and released the following day, according to his lawyer.

Algiers is demanding the influencer's return to face trial, having issued nine international arrest warrants against him on accusations of fraud and "terror" offences. France has refused to extradite him.

On Saturday, the Algerian foreign ministry denounced "rotten arguments" by the French interior ministry and criticised an "unacceptable judicial conspiracy", referring to the arrest of its consular agent.

Boukhors, 41, has been the target of two attacks, in 2022 and in 2024 on the day of his abduction in the southern suburbs of Paris, according to his lawyer Eric Plouvier.

The Algerian foreign ministry also warned that the incident would cause "great damage to Algerian-French relations".

Relations between Paris and Algiers came under strain last year when France recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, where Algeria has long backed the Polisario Front.

Relations soured further when Algeria arrested the French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal in November on national security charges, after he told a French far-right media outlet that Morocco's territory was truncated in favour of Algeria during French colonial rule.

In March, an Algerian court sentenced him to five years in jail.

The latest spike in tensions sparked criticism from right-wing politicians in France.

"Brilliant results of Emmanuel Macron's strategy of appeasement," Jordan Bardella, head of the far-right National Rally party, said on X, denouncing what he called Barrot's"prostrations" in Algeria.

LUXEMBOURG/TEHRAN — The next round of indirect talks between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme will be held in Rome, the Dutch foreign minister and a second diplomatic source said Monday.

The talks will take place in the Italian capital, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said at an EU meeting. Two diplomats based in Rome confirmed the location and said the talks would take place on Saturday, April 19.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held a first round of talks on Saturday in Oman, marking the highest-level Iran-US nuclear negotiations since the collapse of a 2015 accord.

Iran's foreign ministry said Sunday the talks slated for next weekend would remain "indirect" with Omani mediation, and be focused solely on the nuclear issue and lifting of sanction.

Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in 2018, during his first term as US president.

Saturday's negotiations came weeks after Trump sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging nuclear talks while warning of possible military action if Iran refuses.

Iran's foreign minister is to visit ally Russia this week to discuss nuclear negotiations with the United States, ahead of a new round of talks between the foes planned for Rome.

On Saturday, Abbas Araghchi held talks with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman, the highest-level negotiations since the collapse of a 2015 nuclear accord.

Trump, who withdrew from the accord, has thrown Iran back into the spotlight since his return to the White House in January.

In March, he sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling for nuclear talks while warning of possible military action if Tehran refused.

Western countries, including the United States, have long suspected Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons, an allegation Tehran has consistently denied, maintaining that its programme was solely for peaceful purposes.

"Dr Araghchi will travel to Moscow at the end of the week," said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, adding that the trip was pre-planned and would be "an opportunity to discuss the latest developments related to the Muscat talks."

Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, later confirmed the visit saying Araghchi would meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and other officials.

Iran and the United States separately described Saturday's discussions with the US as "constructive".

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — An Israeli air strike early Sunday heavily damaged one of the few functioning hospitals in Gaza, with the Israeli military saying it had targeted a Hamas "command and control centre" operating within the facility.

Since the outbreak of war, tens of thousands of Gazans have sought refuge in hospitals, many of which have suffered severe damage in the ongoing hostilities.

The strike on Al Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza -- also known as the Baptist or Ahli Arab Hospital -- caused no casualties, but came a day after Israeli forces seized a key corridor in the territory and signalled plans to expand their campaign.

It also came as aid agencies and the United Nations warned that medicines and related supplies were rapidly running out in Gaza as casualties surged.

"The bombing led to the destruction of the surgery building and the oxygen generation station for the intensive care units," Gaza's civil defence rescue agency said.

It came "minutes after the (Israeli) army's warning to evacuate", the agency added.

AFP photographs showed massive slabs of concrete and twisted metal scattered across the site after the strike.

The blast left a gaping hole in one of the hospital's buildings, with iron doors torn from their hinges. An Iraqi broadcaster said one of its TV vans was also damaged.

A separate air strike Sunday on a vehicle in the central city of Deir el-Balah killed seven people including six brothers, the civil defence agency said.

Mahmud Abu Amsha, who witnessed the strike, said those killed were distributing aid.

"They do not care about children or people being killed... This aid was being provided to the displaced people," he told AFP.

Patients on streets 

On Saturday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced that the military planned to expand its offensive as it completed the takeover of the "Morag axis" between the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis.

Patients, relatives and medical personnel evacuated the Al-Ahli hospital in haste following the military's warning.

Many found themselves stranded in the surrounding streets.

Naela Imad, 42, had been sheltering at the hospital but had to rush out of the complex.

"Just as we reached the hospital gate, they bombed it. It was a massive explosion," she told AFP.

"Now, me and my children are out on the street. We've been displaced more than 20 times. The hospital was our last refuge."

Hamas condemned what it described as a "savage crime" committed by Israel "with blatant US cover and complicity", dismissing the claim that the facility was a used militarily.

Qatar, which helped mediate a fragile ceasefire between the warring parties that fell apart last month, also denounced the strike as "a heinous crime".

Hospitals targeted 

Hospitals, protected under international humanitarian law, have repeatedly been hit by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Al Ahli was heavily damaged by an explosion in its car park on October 17, 2023 that caused multiple fatalities.

Aid agencies and the UN say that only a few of Gaza's 36 hospitals remain partially functional.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy urged Israel on Sunday to halt the "deplorable attacks" on hospitals, calling for diplomacy to "achieve a lasting peace".

Last month, Israeli forces opened fire on ambulances in Gaza, killing 15 medics and rescuers in an incident that sparked international condemnation.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said Sunday that a medic who had been missing since the attack, Asaad Al Nsasrah, was being held by Israeli authorities.

"His fate had remained unknown since he was targeted along with other PRCS medics in Rafah," the group said in a statement.

The Israeli army has said it is investigating the attack.

The Gaza war broke out after Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel. Gaza's health ministry said Sunday that at least 1,574 Palestinians had been killed since March 18 when the ceasefire collapsed, taking the overall death toll since the war began to 50,944.

The ceasefire had largely put a halt to the fighting in Gaza for two months, but Israel restarted intense strikes in mid-March, with Palestinian militants resuming rocket fire from the territory days later.

The Israeli military said Sunday that "one projectile that was identified crossing into Israeli territory from Gaza was intercepted" by the air force, with no injuries reported.

TEHRAN — Iran's foreign ministry said Sunday that talks with the United States slated for next weekend will remain "indirect" with Omani mediation, and focused solely on the nuclear issue and lifting of sanctions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held talks Saturday in Muscat, marking the highest-level Iran-US nuclear negotiations since the collapse of a 2015 accord.

They agreed to meet again in seven days.

"Negotiations will continue to be indirect. Oman will remain the mediator, but we are discussing the location of future negotiations," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in an interview with state TV.

He said the talks would only focus on "the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions," and that Iran "will not have any talks with the American side on any other issue."

Analysts had said the US would push to include on the agenda discussions over Iran's ballistic missile programme along with Tehran's support for the "axis of resistance" -- a network of militant groups opposed to Israel.

Tehran has, however, maintained it will talk only about its nuclear programme.

Donald Trump in 2018 pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers during his first term as US president.

Saturday's rare negotiations came weeks after Trump sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging nuclear talks while warning of possible military action if Iran refuses.

Iran and the US separately described Saturday's discussions as "constructive".

Iran said the talks were held indirectly with Oman's foreign minister acting as intermediary.

The negotiators, Araghchi and Witkoff, spoke directly for "a few minutes" after the talks, Tehran's foreign ministry said.

Another round of talks will be held on Saturday, April 19.

Asked about the talks, Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One: "I think they're going OK. Nothing matters until you get it done."

The process took place in a "friendly atmosphere", Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said.

'Turning point' 

Iran, reeling from Israel's pummelling of its allies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, is seeking relief from wide-ranging sanctions hobbling its economy.

Tehran has agreed to the meetings despite baulking at Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign of ramping up sanctions and repeated military threats.

On Sunday, Iranian media largely welcomed the rare talks as a "decisive turning point" in relations between the longtime foes.

Iran's conservative Javan daily praised the US for "not seeking to expand the negotiations to non-nuclear issues".

The government-sponsored newspaper, Iran, described the discussions as "constructive and respectful," quoting Araghchi.

Meanwhile, the reformist Shargh newspaper said it was a "decisive turning point" in Iran-US relations.

The hardline Kayhan newspaper, which was largely sceptical in the days leading up to the talks, lamented that Iran does not have a "plan B" while there was "no clear prospect for an agreement with Donald Trump."

It, however, lauded the fact that the American side did not bring up "the dismantling of nuclear facilities" and "the possibility of a military attack" during the discussions.

Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Western-backed shah.

Iran has been wary about engaging in talks with the United States, often citing previous experience and undermined trust.

After pulling out of the 2015 nuclear deal Trump reimposedsweeping economic sanctions against Iran.

Tehran continued to adhere to the agreement for a year after Washington's pullout but later began rolling back its own commitments.

Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

MUSCAT, Oman — The United States wants a nuclear agreement "as soon as possible", Iran said after rare talks on Saturday, as US President Donald Trump threatens military action if they fail to reach a deal.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who briefly spoke face-to-face with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff during the indirect meeting in Oman, said the talks would resume next Saturday.

"The American side also said that a positive agreement was one that can be reached as soon as possible but that will not be easy and will require a willingness on both sides," Araghchi told Iranian state television.

"At today's meeting, I think we came very close to a basis for negotiation... Neither we nor the other party want fruitless negotiations, discussions for discussions' sake, time wasting or talks that drag on for ever," he added.

Oman's foreign minister acted as intermediary in the talks in Muscat, Iran said. The Americans had called for the meetings to be face-to-face.

However, the negotiators also spoke directly for "a few minutes", Iran's foreign ministry said. It said the talks were held "in a constructive and mutually respectful atmosphere".

The long-term adversaries, who have not had diplomatic relations for more than 40 years, are seeking a new nuclear deal after Trump pulled out of an earlier agreement during his first term in 2018.

Araghchi, a seasoned diplomat and key architect of the 2015 accord, and Witkoff, a real estate magnate, led the delegations in the highest-level Iran-US nuclear talks since the previous accord's collapse.

The two parties were in "separate halls" and were "conveying their views and positions to each other through the Omani foreign minister", Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei posted on X.

The process took place in a "friendly atmosphere", Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said.

Iran, weakened by Israel's pummelling of its allies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, is seeking relief from wide-ranging sanctions hobbling its economy.

Tehran has agreed to the meetings despite baulking at Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign of ramping up sanctions and repeated military threats.

Meanwhile the US, hand-in-glove with Iran's arch-enemy Israel, wants to stop Tehran from ever getting close to developing a nuclear bomb.

 Witkoff open to 'compromise' 

There were no visible signs of the high-level meeting at a luxury hotel in Muscat, the same venue where the 2015 agreement was struck when Barack Obama was US president.

Witkoff told The Wall Street Journal earlier that the US position starts with demanding that Iran completely dismantle its nuclear programme -- a view held by hardliners around Trump that few expect Iran to accept.

"That doesn't mean, by the way, that at the margin we're not going to find other ways to find compromise between the two countries," Witkoff told the newspaper.

"Where our red line will be, there can't be weaponisation of your nuclear capability," he added.

The talks were revealed in a surprise announcement by Trump during a White House appearance with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

Hours before they began, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: "I want Iran to be a wonderful, great, happy country. But they can't have a nuclear weapon."

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's adviser Ali Shamkhani said Iran was "seeking a real and fair agreement".

Saturday's meetings followed repeated threats of military action by both the US and Israel.

"If it requires military, we're going to have military," Trump said on Wednesday when asked what would happen if the talks fail.

'Survival of the regime' 

The 2015 deal that Trump abandoned aimed to make it practically impossible for Iran to build an atomic bomb, while at the same time allowing it to pursue a civil nuclear programme.

Iran, which insists its nuclear programme is only for civilian purposes, stepped up its activities after Trump withdrew from the agreement.

The latest International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran had an estimated 274.8 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent, nearing the weapons grade of 90 percent.

Karim Bitar, a Middle East Studies lecturer at Sciences Po university in Paris, said the Iranian government's very survival could be at stake.

"The one and only priority is the survival of the regime, and ideally, to get some oxygen, some sanctions relief, to get their economy going again, because the regime has become quite unpopular," he told AFP.