by the Trump administration.

“Instead of admitting that the existing distribution system has failed, the U.N. insists on preserving Hamas’ supply pipeline,” Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon said Tuesday to the Security Council. “This is not neutrality — this is support for terrorism. Israel will not cooperate with a mechanism that strengthens those who kidnapped, murdered, raped and tortured our citizens.”United Nations spokespeople have stressed repeatedly that only a court can make a determination that genocide has been committed.

Fletcher, a longtime British diplomat, has spent the last several weeks in meetings with Israeli officials, lobbying for them to allow back into Gaza food, fuel, medicine and all other. It’s worsened a humanitarian crisis for 2.3 million Palestinians, with experts saying this week that nearly half a million Palestinians areand 1 million others can barely get enough food.

Israel says that the blockade aims to pressure Hamas to releaseand that it won’t allow aid back in until a system is in place that gives it control over distribution.

“We have these very, very robust procedures, distribution points, oversights and so on to keep (aid) away from Hamas,” Fletcher said. “We have the best plan to save millions of lives that is out there. There’s no better plan for that. And we want to get in and do that.”

U.S. and Israeli officials, however, have been pushing the U.N. to assist with a new organization,In this photo released by the Saudi Royal Palace, Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, left, shakes hands with President Donald Trump, centre, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. At right is Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.(Bandar Aljaloud/Saudi Royal Palace via AP)

Israel, which still views Syria as a security threat and had urged Trump to keep the sanctions in place, was ignored, as it apparently was on a number of recent U.S. initiatives in the region, from the. Asked Friday if he knew Israel opposes U.S. recognition of Syria’s new government, Trump replied: “I don’t know, I didn’t ask them about that.”

“This week there was a party in the Middle East — a grand ball full of colorful costumes, money and gold changing hands — and we found ourselves playing the role of Cinderella before the transformation,” columnist Sima Kadmon wrote in Israel’s Yediot Ahronot daily.“The fairy godmother we thought we had flew off to Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”