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The Cradle is an online news magazine covering West Asian geopolitics from within.
⭕️ Qatar Airways reported a record annual net profit of 7.8 billion riyals ($2.1 billion) for the 2024 financial year ending 31, marking a 28% increase from the previous year.
Last week, it placed a record-breaking $96 billion order for 160 Boeing 777X and 787 aircraft with GE Aerospace engines during US President Donald Trump's high-profile visit to Qatar and the Gulf.
Uranium enrichment will continue ‘with or without’ nuclear deal: Tehran
US envoy Steve Witkoff said this week that Washington will not allow Iran to enrich ‘even one percent’
❗️Israel has killed at least 63 Palestinians in attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn today.
(Medical sources to Al Jazeera)
❗️Israeli journalist Zvi (Zvika) Yehezkeli (Channel 13 correspondent): Humanitarian aid is one of our strategic mistakes in this war.
"It’s clear that Hamas is an idea, but I’m not aiming to kill their idea—I want to show them that whoever does to us what they did on October 7th, we take their land and expel them from here. Only control of the land, only occupation, only expulsion—that’s what they understand."
"When did they want deals? When they felt pain. When I did to them what they consider injustice. When I hit their infrastructure, when I displaced their people from one place to another—at those stages, they cried out and asked for deals. We should learn from that … I believe humanitarian aid is one of our strategic mistakes in this war, and one day it will be investigated as part of the war’s lessons. In Gaza, there is no hunger. There is none."
Rubio says US 'not in position' to permanently lift Syria sanctions
The US secretary of state said Washington will issue temporary waivers to ease sanctions, while permanently removing them requires passing legislation in Congress
⭕️ Iranian official warns nuclear talks could collapse over US enrichment demands
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told Nour News that nuclear negotiations with the US risk collapsing if Washington continues demanding a halt to all uranium enrichment, warning that "the talks will lead nowhere" under such conditions.
His remarks followed US envoy Steve Witkoff’s statement to ABC News that Washington would not accept “even 1%” enrichment, calling the issue non-negotiable due to the risk of nuclear weapon development.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has rejected the US position, reaffirming Iran’s right to peaceful enrichment, while Takht-Ravanchi also suggested forming a regional nuclear consortium with the U.S. and neighboring countries if approached seriously.
US VP cancels Israel visit as Gaza invasion expands south
Reports claimed Washington hopes to avoid ‘perceptions’ of US backing for Operation Gideon’s Chariots, two days after Trump denied being frustrated with Netanyahu
❗️Israel has killed at least 46 Palestinians in attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn today.
(Medical sources to Al Jazeera)
❗️Israel has killed at least 32 Palestinians in attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn today.
(Medical sources to Al Jazeera)
❗️Gaza Government Media Office:
– "Famine is worsening, and the Gaza Strip requires 500 aid trucks and 50 fuel trucks daily."
– "Famine indicators and the humanitarian collapse are escalating at a terrifying pace, threatening the lives of over 2.4 million people."
– "There is an urgent need to bring in 50 fuel trucks daily to operate bakeries, hospitals, and water and sewage pumping stations."
– "The Strip is facing a full-scale humanitarian disaster as dozens of bakeries shut down."
– "Hospitals are going out of service one after another, and residents are being deprived of the most basic necessities of life."
– "Hunger and malnutrition are spreading, especially among children, the sick, and the elderly."
– "The continuation of this dire humanitarian situation constitutes a crime against humanity by all standards."
❗️Released by Israeli media: Trucks at the Kerem Shalom crossing – reportedly on their way to Gaza.
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⭕️ Turkiye was Iran’s fourth top non-oil export destination and third-largest source of non-oil imports in the most recent month, with $538 million in imports and $189 million in total trade that month alone, according to IRICA. Over the past Iranian year, bilateral trade reached $11.8 billion and had already surpassed $17.5 billion by February 2025, with projections of $19 billion by year-end. Officials from both countries are pursuing a joint free trade zone to boost investment and resolve long-standing project delays, while transport cooperation is expanding through increased border crossings, rail and air connectivity, and joint infrastructure planning.
(Tehran Times)
❗️Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich:
"No aid will enter for Hamas ... We will allow only the bare minimum of food and medicine into Gaza ... We are destroying what remains of Gaza, and this will lead to the elimination of Hamas and the return of the captives ... The residents of Gaza will move to the south of the strip, and from there to third countries."
According to UNRWA, 92% of homes in Gaza are either damaged or totally destroyed.
⭕️ Iraq has completed the first section of the Development Road project and begun the handover process, the General Company for Ports of Iraq (GCPI) announced.
Director Farhan al-Fartousi said the 62 km stretch connects Grand Faw Port to the Safwan road, with three lanes for heavy trucks.
The project includes two major bridges and a solar-powered lighting system installed by South Korea’s Samsung.
❗️Israel Hayom:
The aid that will enter Gaza this week, using the old method, will include approximately 30 trucks per day, loaded with food supplies (such as milk substitutes, flour, and the like) and medical aid.
❗️More airlines suspend flights to Israel due to Yemeni operations
– Air Seychelles has canceled all its flights to Israel for June and July and won’t return before August.
– LOT Polish Airlines' flights are suspended through 25 May, 2025 and it is reportedly extending its cancellations until the end of the month (31 May), although the company denies it for now.
– Iberia Express is also extending its cancellations until the end of the month (31 May).
– Ryanair – CEO Michael O'Leary said today, in a statement to journalists, that the low-cost giant is losing patience with flights to and from Israel due to all the security disruptions. If the situation continues, O’Leary said, the company will consider reallocating its aircraft to other destinations and routes.
(Source: Israel's Aviation News)
❗️Contrary to an Axios report stating that US Vice President JD Vance decided against visiting Israel after Pope Leo XIV's inaugural mass due to the expansion of Israeli 'military operations' in Gaza, Vance said the choice was based on logistical concerns. “Who the hell is going to take care of our kids if we take another couple of days overseas?” he asked, adding, “I’m sure we’ll visit Israel sometime in the future, but not today.”
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❗️Israel faces growing domestic and international backlash over controversial Gaza aid distribution plan
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure at home for allowing some form of humanitarian aid into the besieged Gaza Strip, some international voices are worried about the Israeli government's decision to outsource food distribution to US companies.
A western diplomat strongly criticized the initiative, calling it "insane and crazy," and warned that it is logistically and politically unworkable. He said that the plan envisions just four or five distribution points to serve Gaza's two million residents, replacing the current 400 sites that provide aid to 6,000 people daily. “Do the math … the four proposed sites would have to accommodate 430,000 individuals,” the diplomat said, comparing it to “expecting the entire population of Tel Aviv to queue for food at a single location in Kikar Hamedina (the largest plaza in Tel Aviv).”
(Israel Hayom)
⭕️ Some Indian grocery stores and large online fashion platforms are refusing to sell Turkish goods, including chocolates, coffee, jams, cosmetics, and apparel, in response to Turkiye’s backing of Pakistan.
(Reuters)
❗️Gaza Ministry of Health:
– "136 martyrs including 11 martyrs recovered and 364 injuries arrived at Gaza Strip hospitals during the past 24 hours."
– "The death toll and injuries since 18 March 2025 has reached 3,340 martyrs and 9,357 injuries."
❗️The military wing of the Popular Resistance committees, Al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, mourns its commander, Ahmad Kamel Sarhan Abu Mohammad, who was head of special operations.
He was killed in his home while clashing with an Israeli undercover force, who proceeded to abduct his wife and children.
❗️Mohammad Ali al-Houthi, member of Ansarallah's Supreme Political Council:
– "The money flowing from Gulf countries to the US should at the very least be used to halt the genocide in Gaza and allow aid in."
– "We place no hope in the positions of Arab regimes still living in a state of defeat and psychological collapse."
– "Arabs possess pressure tools they could use but have chosen not to, not even to halt diplomatic ties with the Zionist entity."
– "The Arab League has long been dead and has not taken a single honorable stance, neither on Gaza nor any other issue."
– "Trump's visits to the Gulf were about extortion and money-grabbing, not about developing those countries."
⭕️ According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Syria's HTS-led General Security forces launched a large-scale security campaign in Al-Mayadeen city, eastern Deir Ezzor, following a car bomb explosion near the police station that killed at least four police officers and injured civilians.
The explosion, which occurred near the city’s prison, prompted the immediate deployment of security units and lockdown of the area.
As part of the operation, 12 individuals suspected of ISIS affiliation and two 'former regime' or 'militia members' were arrested. Al-Mayadeen was fully sealed off as forces searched for illegal weapons and sought to restore stability after the attack.
❗️Hamas's Qassam Brigades reports that on 16 May, 2025, its fighters carried out a complex ambush in the Al-Atatra area west of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, targeting three Israeli vehicles with two 'Shuath' explosive devices and a “Tandem” shell, followed by clashes with another force using light weapons and hand grenades, resulting in casualties among its members.
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❗️"Another hell in the West Bank … For the fifth consecutive day, the Israeli army and settlers continue their assault on the towns of Bruqin and Kafr ad-Dik west of Salfit. The towns are under tight siege, with home raids, arrests, and destruction of property. Residents are calling for the siege to be lifted so they can purchase essential and basic necessities."
– Palestinian analyst Azzam Abu al-Adas
Israel to allow 'basic quantity' of aid into Gaza after months of total blockade
A controversial new US and Israeli-led mechanism for aid distribution in Gaza has been described by the UN and other organizations as a form of collective punishment
BREAKING | An Israeli military statement now deems the entirety of south Gaza's Khan Yunis a "dangerous combat zone" and calls for mass evacuations. There is no safe place to go.
Israel says it will "launch an unprecedented attack to destroy the capabilities of terror organizations" in Khan Yunis.
⭕️ Over 30 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since midnight
– In Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, 16 Palestinians were killed in over a dozen airstrikes targeting homes and tents where people had taken shelter.
– 5 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes on a civilian area in the Al-Faluja market west of north Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp, while two were killed in an attack on the Al-Yarmouk area of Gaza City.
– Several areas in Deir al-Balah and the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza were also targeted, leaving 8 Palestinians dead — including three children and one woman.
❗️Director of Field Hospitals in Gaza, Dr. Marwan Al-Hams:
– "Malnutrition is worsening and affecting all age groups in Gaza."
– "We are suffering from a severe shortage of staff, equipment, and supplies."
– "The targeting of civilians and medical personnel must end."
– "We appeal to the world to stop the starvation and extermination war waged by Israel."
⭕️ US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee at the World Jewish Congress yesterday:
"The president is very clear: They are not going to have a nuclear weapon, they are not going to enrich, they are going to have total dismantlement, and those are the words that he has put."
Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi's response:
"Enrichment in Iran will continue with or without a deal."