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       ？ New York meeting to be co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia next week

       ？ Israel and US to skip conference; 11 more Palestinians killed

       ？ UK plans to airdrop aid, evacuate injured children from Gaza

       UNITED NATIONS: Fired by France’s imminent recognition of Palestinian statehood, UN members meet next week to breathe life into the push for a two-state solution as Israel, expected to be absent, presses its war in Gaza.

       Days before the July 28-30 conference on fostering Israeli and Palestinian states living peacefully side-by-side to be co-chaired by Riyadh and Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would formally recognise the State of Palestine in September.

       His declaration “will breathe new life into a conference that seemed destined to irrelevance,” said Richard Gowan, an analyst at International Crisis Group.

       “Macron’s announcement changes the game. Other participants will be scrabbling to decide if they should also declare an intent to recognise Palestine.” According to an AFP database, at least 142 of the 193 UN member states —including France — now recognise the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988.

       The New York conference is a response to the crisis, with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and several dozen ministers from around the world expected to attend.

       ‘No alternative’

       The meeting comes as a two-state solution is “more threatened than it has ever been (but) even more necessary than before, because we see very clearly that there is no alternative,” said a French diplomatic source.

       Beyond facilitating conditions for recognition of a Palestinian state, the meeting will have three other focuses — reform of the Palestinian Authority, disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from Palestinian public life, and normalisation of relations with Israel by Arab states that have not yet done so.

       Ahead of the conference, Britain said it would not recognise a Palestinian state unilaterally and would wait for “a wider plan” for peace in the region.

       Macron has also not yet persuaded Germany to follow suit and recognise a Palestinian state in the short term.

       The conference “offers a unique opportunity to transform international law and the international consensus into an achievable plan and to demonstrate resolve to end the occupation and conflict once and for all, for the benefit of all peoples,” said the Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour.

       Israel and the United States will not take part in the meeting.

       Meanwhile, Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli operations killed 11 people including four Palestinians in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood. Another person was killed “after Israeli forces opened fire on people waiting for humanitarian aid” northwest of Gaza City, the agency said.

       Witnesses said several thousand people had gathered in the area for aid. Another man was killed by a drone strike near the southern city of Khan Yunis, while one was killed by artillery fire in the Al-Bureij camp, the civil defence said.

       UK to airdrop Gaza aid

       British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday spoke to his French and German counterparts and outlined UK plans to get aid to people in Gaza and evacuate sick and injured children, his office said.

       “The prime minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance,” a statement said.

       In a phone conversation, Starmer, Fre-nch President Emmanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza “which they agreed is appalling”.

       “They all agreed it would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently needed ceasefire into lasting peace,” according to a readout released by Downing Street.

       Handala near Gaza shores

       Meanwhile, the activist group Freedom Flotilla announced that its latest aid boat dispatched to Gaza was approaching the territory and planned to land there on Sunday morning in defiance of an Israeli blockade.

       The vessel, named the Handala after a popular Palestinian cartoon character, was 194km from its destination, organisers said — closer to Gaza than its predecessor the Madleen was when it was intercepted in June.

       Carrying 19 activists, including Swed-ish activist Greta Thunberg, as well as two journalists from different countries, the Handala first set sail from Sicily on July 13 in a bid to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza and deliver aid to its population. However, the Israeli navy said it would block the new vessel from reaching Palestine.

       Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2025