Overview

• Caspar Veldkamp resigned after a cabinet meeting failed to agree on further steps to pressure Israel.
• He had signaled plans for tougher action but said he lacked confidence he could deliver in coming weeks or months.
• The United Nations formally declared a famine in Gaza and blamed systematic obstruction of aid by Israel, a finding dismissed by Benjamin Netanyahu.
• The Netherlands joined 20 other countries in condemning Israel's approval of a major West Bank settlement project as contrary to international law.
• EU ministers remain divided on collective sanctions, with options discussed including suspending Israel from a €900 million research program, trade measures, and visa bans, as the Netherlands had already barred Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich and faced mass protests in The Hague.