WASHINGTON, July 7 – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he wanted peace with Palestinians but described any future independent state as a platform to destroy Israel and for that reason sovereign power of security must remain with Israel.

Speaking at the White House, where he met U.S. President Donald Trump, Netanyahu described the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, where Hamas was in control, as evidence of what Palestinians would do with a state.

Trump said, “I don’t know” when he was asked by reporters if a two-state solution was possible and referred the question to Netanyahu.

Netanyahu said: “I think the Palestinians should have all the powers to govern themselves, but none of the powers to threaten us. That means a sovereign power, like overall security, will always remain in our hands.”

Later he added: “After October 7th, people said the Palestinians have a state, a Hamas state in Gaza and look what they did with it. They didn’t build it up. They built down into bunkers, into terror tunnels after which they massacred our people, raped our women, beheaded our men, invaded our cities and our towns, our kibbutzim and did horrendous massacres, the kind of which we didn’t see since World War Two and the Nazis, the Holocaust. So people aren’t likely to say, ‘Let’s just give them another state.’ It’ll be a platform to destroy Israel.

“We will work out a peace with our Palestinian neighbours, those who don’t want to destroy us and we will work out a peace in which our security, the sovereign power of security, always remains in our hands,” Netanyahu said.

“Now people will say, ‘It’s not a complete state, it’s not a state, it’s not that.’ We don’t care. We vowed never again. Never again is now. It’s not going to happen again.”

Palestinians have long sought to create an independent state in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem through a U.S.-mediated peace process. Many accuse Israel of having destroyed Palestinian statehood prospects through increased settlement building in the West Bank and by levelling much of Gaza during the current war. Israel rejects this.

Cabinet ministers in Netanyahu’s Likud party called last week for Israel to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank before the Knesset recesses at the end of July. Israel’s pro-settler politicians have been emboldened by the return to the White House of Trump, who has proposed Palestinians leave Gaza, a suggestion widely condemned across the Middle East and beyond.

The Gaza war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with 20 believed to be alive.

Israel’s subsequent assault on the Palestinian enclave has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry. Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced by the war.

Trump hosted Netanyahu at a White House dinner on Monday, while Israeli officials held indirect negotiations with Hamas in Qatar aimed at securing a U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal.

REUTERS

BEIJING, July 8 – Tropical Storm Danas headed for China’s eastern seaboard on Tuesday morning, as Zhejiang province braced for landfall after the storm tore through Taiwan with record winds and torrential rain, leaving two dead and over 600 injured.

Packing winds of around 80 kmh (50 mph) at its centre, Danas is forecast to make a sharp left turn as it moves northwest across the South China Sea before striking the port city of Taizhou, prompting the local maritime authority to suspend passenger shipping and cancel over 100 voyages.

China, the world’s second-largest economy, faces growing threats from extreme weather, which meteorologists link to climate change. Risks that each year stand to wipe out tens of billions of dollars worth of commercial activity, as cities flood, shipping activity stalls, and croplands are washed out.

Authorities in Zhejiang issued a flash flood warning early on Tuesday, with forecasters expecting 100 to 250 millimetres of rain to hit the 650 km (400 miles) stretch from Fuzhou, the capital of neighbouring Fujian province, to Hangzhou, Zhejiang’s capital.

After sweeping through Zhejiang, Danas is expected to move into Jiangxi province, whose rolling hills and mountains make it particularly vulnerable to catastrophic flooding.

REUTERS

Flash floods in Texas killed more than 100 people over the Fourth of July holiday weekend and left an unknown number of others still missing, and victims include girls attending a summer camp.

The devastation along the Guadalupe River, outside of San Antonio, has drawn a massive search effort as officials face questions over their preparedness and the speed of their initial actions.

In hard-hit Kerr County, home to Camp Mystic and several other summer camps, searchers have found the bodies of 84 people, including 28 children, according to Kerr County officials.

The death toll is now at least 104 deaths across central Texas.

Source – AP

WASHINGTON, July 7 – A 27-year-old Michigan man was shot dead by U.S. Border Patrol agents after opening fire with an assault rifle on a U.S. Border Patrol station in the southern Texas city of McAllen on Monday, local police said.

Ryan Louis Mosqueda fired dozens of rounds at the entrance of the facility shortly before 6 a.m. and agents returned fire, McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez told reporters.

A McAllen police officer was shot in the knee during the exchange of fire and was taken to hospital, Rodriguez said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said a Border Patrol employee was also injured.

Law enforcement found additional assault firearms and more ammunition in Mosqueda’s Chevrolet passenger car, which was parked nearby, Rodriguez added.

“There were many, many, dozens of rounds fired by the suspect towards the building and agents in the building,” he said.

Writing, thought to be Latin, was spray-painted on the side of the vehicle, but Rodriguez did not provide details of what it said or whether it gave any indication of the motive for the attack.

Pictures published on social media showed “Cordis DIE,” a Latin phrase meaning “Heart Day,” written in black spray paint on the driver’s door of the white, two-door car. The name also refers to a fictional populist revolutionary movement in the “Call of Duty: Black Ops II” video game, according to fan websites.

The facility where the shooting took place houses Border Patrol’s special operations teams, according to a former U.S. Customs and Border Protection official.

Mosqueda is believed to have ties to the area as he was reported missing at 4 a.m. from a residence in Weslaco, about 18 miles (29 kilometers) east of McAllen, Rodriguez said, without giving further details.

The FBI is leading the investigation as it involved an attack on federal officers and a federal building, Rodriguez said.

Flights at the nearby McAllen International Airport were delayed for several hours as law enforcement secured the area.

A member of Border Patrol’s tactical unit, known as BORTAC, helped stop the alleged shooter, the former CBP official said, requesting anonymity to share details of the incident.

REUTERS

ISTANBUL – The death toll from flash floods in the US state of Texas has risen to 91, the White House said Monday.

“Moments ago, the Department of Homeland Security provided an update that 91 innocent souls have now perished,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said Monday that his county saw 75 deaths due to the floods, including 48 adults and 27 children, with 15 of the adults and nine of the children as yet unidentified.

Ten girls who were attending Camp Mystic and one counselor there are still unaccounted for, according to Leitha.

Earlier in the day, the Christian summer camp announced that 27 campers and counselors had died in the floods.

Additional fatalities were reported across multiple counties, with seven deaths in Travis County, three in Burnet County, two each in Kendall and Williamson counties, and one in Tom Green County, CNN reported.

ANADOLU, 7.7.2025

TEHRAN, July 7 – The death toll from Israeli attacks on Iran between June 13 and 24 has reached 1,060, head of Iran’s Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs Saeed Ohadi said Monday.

In a televised interview with state-run IRIB TV, Ohadi said the number could further rise given the seriously injured and the unidentified bodies.

Israel launched a series of major airstrikes on June 13 targeting nuclear and military sites across Iran, killing senior commanders, nuclear scientists, and civilians, and injuring many others, according to Iranian authorities.

Iran retaliated with multiple waves of missile and drone attacks on Israeli territory, causing casualties and damage.

A ceasefire between the two countries was reached on June 24, ending 12 days of fighting.

XINHUA

ALMATY, July 7 – Authorities have shut down an underground drug laboratory in the Karasay District of Almaty Region, Kazakhstan, the country’s Kazinform news agency reported on Monday.

The illegal facility, located in a suburban area, was operated by two foreign nationals from a neighboring country and was used for the production and distribution of synthetic drugs.

According to Daniyar Meirkhan, acting chairman of the Committee for Combating Drug Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, more than 11 kilograms of the synthetic drug known as mephedrone were seized in the raid. The operation prevented roughly 35,000 single doses, estimated to be worth 1.6 million U.S. dollars, from reaching the market.

In addition, police confiscated 20 liters and 115 kilograms of psychotropic substances, along with over 2 tonnes of chemical precursors that could have been used to produce up to 120 kilograms of synthetic drugs.

The total damage to the criminal underworld is estimated at 17.5 million dollars. “The detained individuals have been placed in a temporary detention facility. Work in this area is ongoing,” Meirkhan said.

XINHUA

NAIROBI, July 7 – At least 10 people died from gunshot wounds while 29 others were injured in Kenya on Monday as security officers clashed with protesters in a fresh round of unrest across the country, a state-funded human rights body confirmed.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) also reported two cases of abduction and 37 arrests across 17 counties in the East African country.

The KNCHR said businesses in major towns remained closed due to fears of looting and destruction. It noted that looting incidents were recorded in six counties while some government offices were set ablaze by suspected criminal elements in central Kenya.

“The KNCHR has noted that the police have continued to flagrantly disregard a High Court order mandating that all officers managing demonstrations be in official uniform and remain identifiable at all times,” the human rights body said in a statement issued in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

It said significant police barricades were erected on major roads and entry points, severely disrupting the movement of people, despite a government directive issued on Sunday requiring all public employees to report to work without fail.

The KNCHR said hundreds of people were stranded as public transport, including air and rail, was severely disrupted. It added that the commission received distress calls from patients unable to access health facilities due to road closures.

The East African country experienced similar protests last month, starting on June 17 and climaxing on June 25, to mark the first anniversary of deadly demonstrations against a tax bill. At least 19 people were killed and more than 400 others injured as violent protests erupted across the country on June 25, with thousands of businesses looted and destroyed, according to the KNCHR.

XINHUA