Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
President Donald Trump returned from his Gulf tour celebrating business ventures and big-dollar trade deals, but it appears he was unable to make major progress on ending the war in Gaza.
On Monday, Mr Trump took to social media to share screenshots of news articles and commentary about last week's trip, heralding his time in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE as a “bright new day” for the region.
He announced the lifting of US sanctions on Syria and secured $2 trillion worth of commercial deals and investment pledges for the US in aviation, artificial intelligence, technology, defence and energy.
But experts say he missed an opportunity to end the 19-month-old war in Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 53,000 Palestinians, and left the coastal enclave in ruins.
Aziz Alghashian, an expert at the Arab Gulf States Institute, said it was indication that the prospects of Saudi-Israel normalisation have been pushed back.
“I think the fact that perhaps there wasn't enough talk on Gaza meant that there wouldn't be enough talk on aspects of normalisation,” Mr Alghashian told an AGSI online seminar on Monday. “That's why it was somewhat compartmentalised.”
In a speech on his first day in the region, Mr Trump said it was his “fervent hope” that Saudi Arabia would establish diplomatic ties with Israel, but said the kingdom will do it on its “own time”.
The UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan established ties with Israel through the Abraham Accords during the first Trump administration. The Republican President said he wants more countries to join in his second term.
During a business event in Doha, Mr Trump persisted with comments that the US would “take” Gaza and that its Palestinian inhabitants would be moved elsewhere.
“I'd be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone, let some good things happen, put people in homes where they can be safe,” he said. “And Hamas is going to have to be dealt with.”
NBC reported that the Trump administration is working on a plan to permanently relocate up to one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya. The State Department said the report is untrue.
The war began on October 7, 2023 when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities, killing about 1,200 people.
After a ceasefire collapsed in March, Israel resumed near-daily air strikes on the strip, after cutting off the entry of all food, medicine and aid, drawing accusations of war crimes.
On Monday, Israel announced it had allowed just five aid lorries into Gaza.
Mr Trump acknowledged on Friday that Palestinians in Gaza are “starving” but defended Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he was in a “tough situation”.
Still, Mr Trump, who has advanced an “America First” approach towards foreign policy, has not shied away from antagonising allies. Unlike his first foreign trip as president eight years ago, Mr Trump did not stop in Israel and a planned trip by Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth to the country was cancelled without explanation.
“There wasn't much said about Gaza, but there was quite an obvious standpoint from the US: we're not going to Israel,” said Mohammed Baharoon director general of B’huth, a UAE-based research centre.
“This is a new stand that we haven't seen before,” Mr Baharoon said during the seminar. “It's the beginning of a shift where the Israeli government also have to notice that it has to do things differently because the world is changing.”
Observers say the Hamas attack has radicalised Israeli society and the sitting government, diminishing the prospects of a Saudi-Israeli deal. Israel's continued strikes on Gaza and its siege on the territory have also isolated its leaders.
Meanwhile, Riyadh has long tied joining the Abraham Accords with progress towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Uefa Nations League: How it works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Best Agent: Jorge Mendes
Best Club : Liverpool
Best Coach: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Best Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker
Best Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Best Partnership of the Year Award by SportBusiness: Manchester City and SAP
Best Referee: Stephanie Frappart
Best Revelation Player: Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid and Portugal)
Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)
Best Women's Player: Lucy Bronze
Best Young Arab Player: Achraf Hakimi
Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
Kooora – Best Arab Player: Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Nassr FC, Saudi Arabia)
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How The Debt Panel's advice helped readers in 2019
December 11: 'My husband died, so what happens to the Dh240,000 he owes in the UAE?'
JL, a housewife from India, wrote to us about her husband, who died earlier this month. He left behind an outstanding loan of Dh240,000 and she was hoping to pay it off with an insurance policy he had taken out. She also wanted to recover some of her husband’s end-of-service liabilities to help support her and her son.
“I have no words to thank you for helping me out,” she wrote to The Debt Panel after receiving the panellists' comments. “The advice has given me an idea of the present status of the loan and how to take it up further. I will draft a letter and send it to the email ID on the bank’s website along with the death certificate. I hope and pray to find a way out of this.”
November 26: ‘I owe Dh100,000 because my employer has not paid me for a year’
SL, a financial services employee from India, left the UAE in June after quitting his job because his employer had not paid him since November 2018. He owes Dh103,800 on four debts and was told by the panellists he may be able to use the insolvency law to solve his issue.
SL thanked the panellists for their efforts. "Indeed, I have some clarity on the consequence of the case and the next steps to take regarding my situation," he says. "Hopefully, I will be able to provide a positive testimony soon."
October 15: 'I lost my job and left the UAE owing Dh71,000. Can I return?'
MS, an energy sector employee from South Africa, left the UAE in August after losing his Dh12,000 job. He was struggling to meet the repayments while securing a new position in the UAE and feared he would be detained if he returned. He has now secured a new job and will return to the Emirates this month.
“The insolvency law is indeed a relief to hear,” he says. "I will not apply for insolvency at this stage. I have been able to pay something towards my loan and credit card. As it stands, I only have a one-month deficit, which I will be able to recover by the end of December."
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
