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Lieberman: The ‘Generals’ Lost Opportunity to Get Rid of Netanyahu

Israel’s former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman. (Reuters)
Israel’s former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman. (Reuters)
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Lieberman: The ‘Generals’ Lost Opportunity to Get Rid of Netanyahu

Israel’s former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman. (Reuters)
Israel’s former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman. (Reuters)

Israel’s former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman slammed Blue and White leader Benny Gantz and MP Gabi Ashkenazi, saying that both men, who served as chiefs of staff, are “not smart” and their arrogance prevents them from taking advice from those more skilled in politics, such as himself.

Lieberman, in an interview with the Maariv daily, said that Blue and White has lost the chance to get rid of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rule in Israel.

Lacking political wisdom, the party has become a personal tool used by Netanyahu to escape trial, he added.

When asked about the possibility Gantz will eventually replace Netanyahu at the helm in a year and a half as part of a rotation agreement, Lieberman said that Netanyahu will make Gantz’s life “a living hell” until he will “resign on his own accord.”

Lieberman, the leader of the Yisrael Beytenu party, was speaking at a time when negotiations to form a government had failed, because Netanyahu had at the last minute backed away from his agreement with Gantz.

After deal to form government was said to be close, Gantz’s party accused Netanyahu’s Likud of seeking to renegotiate understandings.

“After reaching understandings on all issues, the Likud party asked to re-open discussions regarding the committee to appoint judges. In light of this, negotiations have been halted. We will not allow any change in the functioning of the judiciary nor damage to democracy,” Blue and White said in a statement.

Netanyahu and Gantz, however, have agreed to resume negotiations again after Easter.

Lieberman pointed out that Netanyahu's goal now is to end Gantz's appointment to head the government, which ends after three days.

“I will not be surprised if I see Gantz's party broken in the upcoming elections,” Lieberman said.

When asked about the possibility that Netanyahu might annex the Jordan Valley, or perhaps parts of the West Bank under the so-called Deal of the Century offered by US President Donald Trump, Lieberman said that the only goal Netanyahu has is to reach the needed 63-64 voices he needs in the Knesset to pass any legislation he needs to avoid standing trial.

Netanyahu was meant to begin trial for alleged corruption and breach of trust in March, but after Justice Minister Amir Ohana shut down the regular functions of the courts due to COVID-19, the date had been postponed to May.

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World

In Spain's Ceuta, Hundreds of Migrants Stage Protest and Demand Asylum

TOPSHOT - Migrants pose for a picture while being escorted to the Ceuta-Morocco border in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta on August 1, 2026. (Photo by Henry NICHOLLS / AFP)
TOPSHOT - Migrants pose for a picture while being escorted to the Ceuta-Morocco border in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta on August 1, 2026. (Photo by Henry NICHOLLS / AFP)
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In Spain's Ceuta, Hundreds of Migrants Stage Protest and Demand Asylum

TOPSHOT - Migrants pose for a picture while being escorted to the Ceuta-Morocco border in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta on August 1, 2026. (Photo by Henry NICHOLLS / AFP)
TOPSHOT - Migrants pose for a picture while being escorted to the Ceuta-Morocco border in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta on August 1, 2026. (Photo by Henry NICHOLLS / AFP)

Hundreds of migrants ‌who recently entered Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta staged a protest on a popular urban beach on Sunday, urging Spanish authorities to grant them asylum instead of sending them back to Morocco.

They were among the estimated 5,000 to 8,000 who remain in Ceuta after the mass border crossing two weeks ago that saw over 72,000 people surge into the tiny territory of about 80,000. The vast majority returned voluntarily in the following days.

With the city's resources overstretched, most migrants were living in precarious conditions on El Trampolin beach or the city's outskirts while awaiting a chance to journey on to continental Europe.

"We're sleeping next to the sea, with cold and bad smells. We're suffering a lot," said Ayoub Elarroud from Morocco's Tetouan, adding that police were blocking migrants from going to the city center.

The protesters held up ‌Spanish flags and ‌banners reading "We don't want to go back to Morocco" and "We are also ‌human", ⁠while chanting slogans such ⁠as "We're tired" or "We need a solution". On the rocky shores behind them, some migrants washed their clothes while others fished with makeshift bamboo rods.

Earlier this week, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said migrants who had entered irregularly would not be allowed to stay in the enclave, travel to mainland Spain or obtain legal status, except in rare cases involving extreme vulnerability.

HEALTH SERVICES UNDER PRESSURE

The head of Ceuta's medical board, Enrique Roviralta, told Onda Cero radio that the city's limited healthcare workers were exhausted and criticized what he described as ⁠a slow response by the central government.

Roviralta added that diseases such as ‌infectious diarrhea and scabies were breaking out, and violence-related injuries such ‌as broken noses or stab wounds were rising.

On Sunday, Health Minister Monica Garcia rejected suggestions that local health ‌services had "collapsed", but acknowledged they were under pressure.

"To associate migration with illness is unjust and xenophobic," ‌she told reporters in Ceuta, adding there was a moderate risk of epidemic outbreaks for migrants and a low one for residents.

Most of the Moroccan migrants interviewed by Reuters said they were driven by poor working conditions in their country, despite many holding higher qualifications.

Mohammed Ouanzar, a 39-year-old automation specialist from Fez, said average monthly salaries of ‌3,000 dirham ($324) made it impossible for him to buy a home or start a family.

"Once I reached Spanish soil, I felt like I ⁠was born again," he ⁠said. "I'd rather die than return."

Hicham Chikir, 25, said most people were eager to work in Europe. "If anyone is bad, the police can send them back," he added.

REFUGEES EXHAUSTED

Emmanuel, a 30-year-old electrician who fled conflict-ridden northeastern Nigeria, said he decided to embark on a perilous four-month journey across Niger, Algeria and Morocco because his children had stopped going to school over fears of being kidnapped.

"I'm fighting for a better life for them," he said, adding that he would take any job he was offered.

Mohammad Ismail Hossain, 34, left Bangladesh over two years ago following the 2024 mass uprising. He traversed India, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya and Algeria - mostly on foot - and saw many companions die of thirst in the desert.

Ousmane from southern Senegal said he was seeking asylum because he suffered persecution over his sexual orientation but had yet to obtain a reply from the local NGOs he had contacted.

"The worst thing is waiting all day with nothing to do, checking my emails constantly" he said.

World

Two Dead, Hundreds Evacuated from Fires on Island near Athens

TOPSHOT - Firefighters work to extinguish a wildfire raging since four days in the Megara Region, west of Athens on August 3, 2026. (Photo by Aris Oikonomou / AFP)
TOPSHOT - Firefighters work to extinguish a wildfire raging since four days in the Megara Region, west of Athens on August 3, 2026. (Photo by Aris Oikonomou / AFP)
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Two Dead, Hundreds Evacuated from Fires on Island near Athens

TOPSHOT - Firefighters work to extinguish a wildfire raging since four days in the Megara Region, west of Athens on August 3, 2026. (Photo by Aris Oikonomou / AFP)
TOPSHOT - Firefighters work to extinguish a wildfire raging since four days in the Megara Region, west of Athens on August 3, 2026. (Photo by Aris Oikonomou / AFP)

Two people died and hundreds of weekend bathers were hurriedly evacuated Sunday after two fires broke out on the Greek island of Salamis near Athens in less than half an hour, the fire department said.

While another fire on the Aegean island of Skyros was brought under control, a fire department spokesman told AFP that "two bodies were recovered" from the Peristeria beach area in the south of Salamis.

"Over 570 people were evacuated on coast guard patrol boats and other vessels," a coastguard spokeswoman told AFP.

Fire department communications director Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said the separate fires had broken out in Peristeria and near Selinia, two popular beaches in the island's south and east, within 20 minutes of each other.

With hundreds enjoying a sunny Sunday at the beach a short boat ride from Athens, the civil protection ministry issued four evacuation orders in quick succession.

The Greek blazes come as Europe battles a succession of wildfires breaking out in tinderbox-like conditions, driven by widespread droughts and high temperatures that scientists have linked to climate change.

- 'Spread in seven minutes' -

But two people, reportedly an elderly couple, died before firefighters could get to them, Vathrakogiannis said in a televised address.

With the wind reaching up to 61 kilometers (38 miles) per hour, the fire "spread rapidly in seven minutes", he said.

Nine people required medical care for burns, state agency ANA said.

Greek TV stations showed footage of several homes gutted by the flames.

Salamis, just west of Athens, has some 37,000 residents, many of them elderly, and the beaches were full of people on Sunday, including day travelers, officials said.

Battling through rocky terrain, firefighters managed to keep the blaze in Selinia from scaling a mountain and linking up with the other fire, Salamis's deputy mayor Thodoris Zannis told the ERT TV station.

A fire department spokesman told AFP that the Selinia blaze had been put out by the evening, while scattered pockets of fire remained at Peristeria.

The fire service mobilized a large force of some 260 firefighters, nearly 60 engines, 10 aircraft and seven helicopters, rushing in reinforcements from the mainland.

- Skyros blaze contained -

After largely escaping the heatwave temperatures that blanketed much of Europe earlier this summer, Greece has been hit with several major wildfires since late July, fueled by unusually strong winds.

Firefighters had largely contained a blaze on the island of Skyros earlier, an AFP reporter said.

A local forestry official said the fire, which started Saturday, had burned some 1,300 hectares of forest.

The same northwestern part of the island had been struck by fires in 2008 and 2014.

Thirty-six blazes have broken out over the past 24 hours around the country, according to the fire department.

Five firefighters have died so far, including a Danish pilot killed in a mid-air collision between two helicopters while battling a blaze near Athens earlier this month.

Winds were expected to ease later Sunday. According to the civil protection ministry, no area will be above 3 out of 5 on the national fire risk scale on Monday for the first time in 10 days.

Greece is hit by wildfires every year.

Experts say the risk is growing because of human-fueled climate change, which has made droughts and other extreme weather events more severe, frequent and longer-lasting.

World

Ukrainian Missile Strikes Kill 6 in Russia’s Belgorod

People clean up debris outside a building damaged during a Ukrainian overnight drone attack, according to local authorities, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in central Belgorod, Russia August 9, 2026. (Reuters)
People clean up debris outside a building damaged during a Ukrainian overnight drone attack, according to local authorities, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in central Belgorod, Russia August 9, 2026. (Reuters)
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Ukrainian Missile Strikes Kill 6 in Russia’s Belgorod

People clean up debris outside a building damaged during a Ukrainian overnight drone attack, according to local authorities, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in central Belgorod, Russia August 9, 2026. (Reuters)
People clean up debris outside a building damaged during a Ukrainian overnight drone attack, according to local authorities, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in central Belgorod, Russia August 9, 2026. (Reuters)

Ukrainian missile strikes killed six people and wounded four others, including a child, in Russia's Belgorod region, the acting governor said Monday.

With frontline fighting at a near standstill and talks frozen, the warring countries have significantly stepped up missile attacks, pushing the civilian death toll to its highest levels since the war's first months in 2022.

"Ukrainian terrorists attacked the village of Koloskovo, Valuysky district, with missiles," Belgorod acting governor Alexander Shuvaev said on the state-backed MAX platform. Koloskovo is about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the Ukraine border.

The attack, which Shuvaev said burned a "structure" and damaged a vehicle, came a day after Russia and Ukraine carried out missile and drone strikes deep inside each other's territory that killed 19 people on both sides.

Moscow has carried out near-daily missile and drone strikes across Ukraine since launching its full-scale invasion in early 2022.

It has recently intensified attacks using hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles, exploiting Ukraine's air-defense shortages after the US-Israeli war against Iran diverted supplies.

Ukraine has increasingly targeted warehouses belonging to Russia's biggest online retailer Wildberries, saying the company supplies components for Russian drones.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says those strikes, along with attacks on oil refineries, are aimed at undermining Russia's war economy.

In July alone, 437 civilians were killed in Ukraine, the highest monthly toll since May 2022, according to a United Nations tally.

Russian authorities have reported 79 civilians killed on their side in July, up from the previous month.