The Palestinian resistance group Hamas marked 700 days of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza on Friday, calling it a “stain on humanity” and urging the international community to take decisive action against the ongoing atrocities.

In a statement, Hamas highlighted its efforts to reach a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange agreement, stressing that it had “shown significant flexibility” in negotiations.

The movement blamed the repeated failure of mediators on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and called him “a war criminal committed to undermining diplomatic initiatives, pursuing indefinite plans of extermination and displacement, and placing the lives of captives at risk to serve his government’s agenda.”

Hamas renewed its call to the international community, including Arab and Islamic countries, the UN, and its organs, particularly the UN Security Council, to “fulfill their responsibilities toward the Palestinian people and intervene to halt the crimes of the fascist occupation government.”

The movement emphasized the need for “punitive measures against Israel,” warning that “mere condemnations are insufficient” and that, without substantial consequences, Israel would “continue its crimes without regard for international protests or positions.”

Hamas also praised global grassroots solidarity with the Palestinian people and welcomed the launch of the Global Sumud Flotilla, an initiative to break the blockade on Gaza.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250905-700-days-of-israeli-genocide-in-gaza-a-stain-on-humanity-hamas/

Vladimir Putin has said any western troops placed in Ukraine would be “legitimate targets” for Russian strikes, upping the stakes as Kyiv’s allies scramble to come up with a convincing offer of postwar support to Ukraine.

Speaking a day after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced still-vague plans for a package of support for Ukraine backed by 26 nations, Putin on Friday said any guarantees that involved boots on the ground would violate Moscow’s longstanding objections to Nato troops in Ukraine.

Add: See for more context this other news post

Western troops in Ukraine would be ‘legitimate targets’, Putin says

Russian president’s threat follows French proposal for postwar support for Kyiv that would include presence of Nato countries’ forces

^{Shaun Walker (The Guardian)}

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2025-09-05 10:02:04

Trump and Putin both agree: Blame falls on Europe as Ukraine peace effort languishes

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are on the same page again.

The US and Russian presidents are now both singling out Europe as stasis envelops efforts to end the Ukraine war three weeks after their high-profile but low-impact summit in Alaska.

Trump called on Europe to do more in a call with European leaders on Thursday — even though the only incremental diplomatic activity to do with the war is coming from US transatlantic allies as they try to work out security guarantees to protect Ukraine after any peace deal.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/05/politics/trump-putin-russia-ukraine-war-zelensky-china-analysis

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV fed fish in the fishpond, pet horses and visited organic vineyards Friday as he inaugurated the Vatican’s ambitious project to turn Pope Francis’ preaching about caring for the environment into practice.

Leo formally opened Borgo Laudato Si, a 55-acre utopian experiment in sustainable farming, vocational training and environmental education located on the grounds of the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo. The Vatican hopes the center, open to student groups, CEOs and others, will be a model of ecological stewardship, education and spirituality for the Catholic Church and beyond.

Leo travelled by helicopter to Castel Gandolfo and then zoomed around the estate’s cypress-lined gardens in an electric golf cart to reach the center, which is named for Francis’ landmark 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si,” or Praised Be. The document, which inspired an entire church movement, cast care for the planet as an urgent and existential moral concern that was inherently tied to questions of human dignity and justice, especially for the poor.

Leo has strongly reaffirmed Francis’ focus on the need to care for God’s creation, and celebrated the first “green” Mass in the estate’s gardens earlier this summer, using a new set of prayers inspired by the encyclical that specifically invoke prayers for creation. On Friday, some 10 years after Laudato Si was published, Leo presided over a liturgy to bless the new center after touring its gardens, farm and classrooms.

Leo recalled that according to the Bible, human beings have a special place in the act of creation, created in the “image and likeness of God.”

“But this privilege comes with a great responsibility: that of caring for all other creatures, in accordance with the creator’s plan,” he said. “Care for creation, therefore, represents a true vocation for every human being, a commitment to be carried out within creation itself, without ever forgetting that we are creatures among creatures, and not creators.”

https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-leo-sustainable-farming-environment-e288d07e88bc438f5ca30e4473e1929d

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarus has detained a Polish monk on suspicion of espionage, the latest escalation in Minsk’s long-running standoff with its NATO member neighbor.

Belarusian authorities said Thursday that Grzegorz Gaweł, 27, was arrested in the town of Lepel, northwest of the Belarusian capital, after he allegedly obtained sensitive documents relating to military drills involving Russia. He faces up to 15 years in prison.

Belarus, Moscow’s close and dependent ally, allowed the Kremlin to use its territory to send troops into neighboring Ukraine in 2022, and has also hosted some of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons. Its strongman President, Alexander Lukashenko, has ruled the country with an iron fist for more than 30 years, relying on subsidies and support from the Kremlin.

Belarusian state television on Thursday broadcast what it said was footage of Gaweł’s arrest. It shows the Pole handing to uniformed officers a copy of a document marked “secret.” The document’s heading suggests it pertains to joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises set to begin next Friday.

Belarusian security officers are shown pushing Gaweł to the ground, confiscating money and a SIM card registered in another name.

https://apnews.com/article/belarus-lukashenko-poland-spying-espionage-drills-military-monk-e69b9f3822cd4e8265517915583ca0d3

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel struck a high-rise building in Gaza City on Friday after an evacuation warning, as the military stepped up operations aimed at seizing control of the famine-stricken city of some 1 million Palestinians. Strikes elsewhere in Gaza City killed at least 27 people, health officials said.

The military accused Hamas militants of using high-rises in the city for surveillance and planned ambushes, and said it would carry out “precise, targeted strikes” on militant infrastructure in the coming days.

Israel has begun mobilizing tens of thousands of reservists and is repeating evacuation warnings as part of its plan to widen its offensive, which has sparked opposition domestically and condemnation abroad.

Palestinians said Friday’s strike targeted the Mushtaha tower in Rimal, an upscale neighborhood before the war. Gaza City resident Ahmed al-Boari said people fleeing Israeli operations elsewhere in the city had sought shelter in and around the building. Satellite imagery showed a large number of tents nearby.

It was not immediately clear if anyone was wounded or killed in the strike.

https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-09-05-2025-02946ee1d596c0ef0627bb5a9c3561f2

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Associated Press reporting into an Israeli attack on a Gaza Strip hospital that killed 22 people, including five journalists, raises serious questions about Israel’s rationale for the strikes and the way they were carried out. Among those killed was Mariam Dagga, who worked for AP and other news organizations.

Israeli forces struck a position well known as a journalists’ gathering point, because — a military official said — they believed a camera on the roof was being used by Hamas to observe troops. The official cited “suspicious behavior” and unspecified intelligence, but the only detail given was that there was a towel on the camera and the person with it — which the army interpreted as an effort to avoid identification.

AP has gathered new evidence indicating the camera in question actually belonged to a Reuters video journalist who routinely covered his equipment with a white cloth to protect it from the scorching sun and dust. The journalist, Hussam al-Masri, was killed in the initial strike.

The evidence calls into question why Israeli forces went through with the strike. Witnesses say Israel frequently observed the position by drone, including about 40 minutes before the attack, giving an opportunity to correctly identify al-Masri.

AP’s findings also reveal other troubling decisions from the Aug. 25 attack:

— Soon after the first strike, Israeli forces hit the same position again, after medical and emergency workers had reached the scene to treat the injured, and as journalists including Dagga had rushed to cover the news. The strike has raised accusations of a “double tap” — a type of attack intended to kill those responding to casualties and which experts in international law say is a possible war crime.

— Troops used high-explosive tank shells to strike a hospital, instead of more precise guided weapons that might have resulted in fewer casualties.

— In all, Israel struck the hospital four times, the AP found, each time without warning.

https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-strikes-hospital-journalists-75e79272f3acc37fa8acb653e45d564c