DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Friday targeted the leader of Hamas ’ military wing, Israeli officials said, but it wasn’t immediately clear if Izz al-Din al-Haddad was killed or injured.

Hamas did not immediately acknowledge or comment on the strike.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said an airstrike carried out by the military Friday evening targeted al-Haddad, the leader of Hamas’ Qassam brigades.

There were at least two Israeli strikes Friday evening in Gaza City, one of which Israel said targeted al-Haddad. One strike targeted a residential building and another a vehicle. Seven people were killed and dozens of others wounded, according to health officials in the Palestine Red Crescent Society’s Saraya Field Hospital and Shifa hospital, where the casualties were taken

In a statement, Netanyahu and Katz said that al-Haddad was “one of the architects” of the Oct. 7 attack.

Gaza has seen near-daily Israeli fire despite a fragile ceasefire agreement reached in October. More than 850 people have been killed since then, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The Health Ministry is part of Gaza’s Hamas-run government, but staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records, viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

Netanyahu and Katz threatened that Israel will continue to work against all those who took part in the Oct. 7 attack, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Over 72,700 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas’ 2023 attack.

“Sooner or later, Israel will reach you,” the statement read.

Palestinian citizens reported more airstrikes that followed the one that targeted al-Haddad. It was not immediately clear what the Israeli military was targeting.

Since the shaky ceasefire was reached, both Israel and Hamas have traded accusations of violations. Israel has targeted Hamas members inside the coastal enclave, the last of whom was the son of Hamas’ lead negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya.

___

Ezzidin reported from Cairo.

___

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

MOSCOW (AP) — A court in Moscow ruled in favor of the Russian Central Bank in its lawsuit against Euroclear, the Brussels-based clearing house that holds the bulk of Russian assets frozen by the European Union, Russian media reported Friday.

The lawsuit sought to recover 18.2 trillion rubles ($249.7 billion) in damages incurred when Russia was barred from managing and disposing of its Euroclear funds and securities, according to reports.

Russian news outlet RBC on Friday quoted Euroclear’s lawyers Maxim Kulkov and Sergei Savelyev as saying that Moscow’s Arbitration Court, which heard the case behind closed doors, upheld the Central Bank’s claim in full.

The lawyers argued that Euroclear’s right to a fair trial was violated, with Savelyev cited as saying the clearing house intends to appeal. The Central Bank is satisfied with the court’s decision, its representative told RBC.

The EU froze Russian assets worth 210 billion euros ($244 billion) as part of the sanctions imposed on Moscow after it sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. Euroclear holds around 193 billion euros of the seized funds.

The Central Bank filed the lawsuit in December 2025. Moscow’s Arbitration Court picked up the case even though the EU had set aside its initial plan to use frozen Russian assets to assist Ukraine after failing to convince Belgium that it would be protected from Russia’s retaliation.

The EU opted instead to borrow 90 billion euros on capital markets to provide an interest-free loan to Ukraine to meet its military and economic needs for two years.

Russia’s Central Bank has condemned the use of frozen assets to aid Ukraine as “illegal, contrary to international law,” arguing that they violated “the principles of sovereign immunity of assets.”

May 15 (Reuters) – China’s U.N. ambassador on Friday criticized a proposed U.S.-Bahraini resolution on the Strait of Hormuz, saying the content and timing were not right and passing it would not be helpful.

The draft resolution demands Iran halt attacks and mining in the strait, but diplomats have said it is likely to meet with Russian and Chinese vetoes if it comes to a vote. Both countries vetoed a similar U.S.-backed resolution last month, arguing it was biased against Iran.

The Pass Blue news portal, which focuses on U.N. news, posted a short clip of an impromptu interview with China’s U.N. envoy Fu Gong in which he said, when asked about the resolution: “We don’t think the content is right, and the timing is not right.

“What we need is to urge both sides to engage in serious and good-faith negotiations that can resolve the issue. So passing a resolution at this stage, we don’t think is going to be helpful,” he said.

Fu said that if it were up to China as the current president of the 15-member U.N. Security Council, the resolution would not be put up for a vote.

China’s U.N. mission said it was China’s responsibility as council president to arrange a vote if the resolution drafters requested this, but so far there had been no request.

The U.S. mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fu’s remarks came after U.S. President Donald Trump held a two-day summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping that ended on Friday, during which, according to the White House, they agreed that the strait must remain open and Xi made clear China’s opposition to the militarization of the waterway and any effort to charge a toll for its use.

Xi did not comment on the issue, although China’s foreign ministry aired Beijing’s frustration with the Iran war, saying: “This conflict, which should never have happened, has no reason to continue.”

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

May 15 (Reuters) – Former Cuban President Raul Castro, the 94-year-old brother of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, could be indicted by the United States in connection with Cuba’s deadly 1996 shootdown of planes operated by the humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue.

Here is a look at one of the foundational figures of Cuba’s communist-run government, and his lasting influence as the remaining unifying leader among those loyal to the 1959 Cuban revolution.

Revolutionary beginnings and military career

• Born in 1931, Castro was a key leader alongside his older brother Fidel in the 1959 guerrilla war that toppled U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista and launched the country’s communist revolution.

• Castro served as his brother’s defense minister for decades, building a powerful base within the military and Cuban state.

• Among his roles, Castro helped defeat the U.S.-organized Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and oversaw Cuba’s overseas military interventions, particularly in Africa.

Political rise

• Castro began his political ascent when Fidel fell ill in 2006, serving as acting president and then formally becoming president in 2008.

• Following Fidel’s death in 2016, Castro remained the country’s dominant political figure, bucking expectations that Fidel’s absence would destabilize the communist-run government.

A lasting power broker

• Castro served as president until 2018. After stepping down, he retained the honorific title of “army general” and continued to wield significant influence within Cuba’s Communist Party, armed forces and state institutions.

• Current President Miguel Diaz-Canel is widely seen as relying on Castro’s guidance for major decisions.

• In December 2025, Castro proposed postponing the Communist Party congress scheduled to choose Diaz-Canel’s successor, citing the country’s deep economic crisis. The party’s Central Committee unanimously approved the move.

• Castro last appeared in public on May 1 for International Workers’ Day. Wearing a military uniform, he marched alongside Diaz-Canel and other officials but appeared fatigued and had to sit down suddenly during the ceremony.

(Reporting by Natalia Siniawski; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

May 15 (Reuters) – The Trump administration plans to unveil criminal charges against Cuba’s former president, Raul Castro, based on a 1996 incident in which Cuban military jets killed four people, according to a U.S. Justice Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Here are details about the incident: 

On February 24, 1996, Cuban jets shot down two small planes being flown by Brothers to the Rescue, a group of Cuban exile pilots. All four men aboard were killed. Cuba said the planes were in Cuban airspace, while the United States said they were over international waters. Cuba defended the shootdown as legitimate defense of its airspace but the U.S. position was later backed up by the International Civil Aviation Organization, which concluded the attack took place over international waters.

WHO WERE ‘BROTHERS TO THE RESCUE’?

The Miami-based group said its mission was to search the Florida Straits for Cuban rafters fleeing the island. The group routinely flew near the Cuban coast. In early 1996, Cuban officials accused the group of dropping tens of thousands of flyers over Havana. The group’s leader, Jose Basulto, said the leaflets were dropped over international airspace and carried by winds to Cuba. However, the group’s members had flown over Havana in recent months to drop literature.

CUBA’S RESPONSE

Fidel Castro, who was then Cuba’s president, said after the incident that he gave general orders to stop the flights but did not specifically order them to be shot down. Castro said the military acted on “standing orders” and that his brother Raul, who at the time oversaw the nation’s security services as defense minister, also did not give a specific order to shoot the planes. 

A former Brothers to the Rescue member, Juan Pablo Roque, alleged on Cuban television that the pilots’ group had flown into Cuban airspace to gather information ahead of a possible attack and had planned to smuggle arms into the country. U.S. officials dismissed his claims as propaganda and said he was likely a Cuban agent. 

THE U.S. RESPONSE

President Bill Clinton ordered sanctions including suspending charter flights, restricting Cuban diplomats’ movement, and seeking cooperation with Congress on tightening the embargo. However, the Clinton administration did not pursue criminal charges against either Castro brother. The Justice Department filed charges against three Cuban military officers in 2003 but they were never extradited. 

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

(Fixes garble in headline)

By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s two-day state visit to Beijing featured wide-ranging talks on Taiwan, Iran and trade with Chinese President Xi Jinping but yielded few concrete outcomes on the issues dividing the world’s two largest economies.

Here are some takeaways from Trump’s trip to China, the first by a U.S. president since 2017.

NO BREAKTHROUGH ON IRAN

Trump downplayed the need for China’s help with Iran ahead of the trip, even as his aides said Beijing – a major buyer of Iranian oil – could play an influential role in brokering a path to ending a conflict that has created the biggest crisis of Trump’s presidency.

The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has crowded out other policy priorities, raised energy costs and weighed on Republican prospects ahead of November’s midterm elections. 

Trump ended his trip without any obvious sign of securing China’s help, and it remains unclear how hard China is willing to push for Iran to do a deal or what it would want in return for its help.

Trump suggested he could ease sanctions on Chinese refineries that do business with Iran, potentially rolling back one of the few concrete steps the U.S. has taken to punish China for its support of Iran. 

“We feel very similar,” Trump said on Friday as he met with Xi in a secretive Chinese Communist Party compound in central Beijing. “We want that to end. We don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon. We want the straits open.”

Xi said nothing. About the same time, the country’s foreign ministry issued a statement that sounded a different note: “This conflict, which should never have happened, has no reason to continue,” the ministry wrote, adding that it wants to help the parties find peace.

MORE PAGEANTRY THAN POLICY

Trump touted deals with Xi on Chinese purchases of farm goods, beef and Boeing aircraft, but the details were thin.

He departed Beijing without extending a trade truce due to expire later this year. Markets were disappointed that a deal reported by Trump for China to buy 200 Boeing jets wasn’t bigger, and traders said U.S. soybean futures fell to their lowest level in more than two weeks on Friday after the summit failed to produce specific deals for American farm goods.

On major issues from expanding trade to artificial intelligence and Taiwan, the leaders appeared to have made little progress beyond agreeing to disagree and, perhaps, to keep talking.

The two countries agreed to set up separate boards to govern bilateral trade and investment, but Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said officials from both sides were still working out details. 

Unlike in 2017, the leaders made no joint public statement to the media. They didn’t release mutually agreed summaries of their meetings, nor a fact sheet detailing what came out of the talks. China’s public statements made little specific reference to purchase agreements or other commitments by Xi to the U.S.

A person familiar with the planning for the trip said there was little pressure within the White House to secure a big new deal.

The pageantry outshone the policy. Xi treated Trump to goose-stepping soldiers and succulent preparations of Beijing beef but sent him home with little of substance to show for his journey.

STRATEGIC SILENCE ON TAIWAN

When Trump emerged from his first round of talks with Xi on Thursday, reporters wanted to know one thing. What did they discuss on Taiwan?

Standing at the ancient Chinese Temple of Heaven alongside Xi, a president known for his loquaciousness opted for an almost spiritual silence. Trump said nothing.

By that point, China had already released an extended summary of Xi’s own comments on Taiwan in the private meeting with Trump. The Chinese leader warned that mishandling the countries’ disagreements over Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by Beijing, could push China-U.S. relations to a “dangerous place.”

For much of the trip, Trump appeared inclined to maintain the United States’ traditional “strategic ambiguity” on the topic.

As he headed back to Washington on Friday, he finally offered a bit more. In Trump’s telling, Xi wanted more information about where Trump stands on Taiwan, in particular if he would defend the island.

“I said I don’t talk about that,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Trump also did not commit to selling more arms to Taiwan, telling reporters he would decide later. 

DISCIPLINED TRUMP

Trump often deviates from his prepared remarks to spin yarns, give advice, drop insults or tell jokes.

In Beijing, the Republican president stayed on script, including during a prewritten toast he delivered to Xi at a state dinner on Thursday.

A White House official said Trump was eager to pull off a summit that improved ties, and Chinese Communist Party officials are not well known for appreciating surprises during their highly choreographed events.

For his part, Xi paired gestures of friendship with pointed warnings, underscoring both cooperation between the two countries and their sometimes frosty ties.

“We must make it work and never mess it up,” he said of the China-U.S. relationship.

HEADWINDS BACK HOME

Trump arrives back in the U.S. facing the same political quagmire that dogged him before the trip.

Gas prices, high. Inflation, high. Voter anger, high.

The U.S. president badly needed a win as his administration struggles to contain the political and economic fallout from the war with Iran. The highly anticipated visit may have offered a short-term distraction, but it likely will do little to shift the narrative.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Deepa Babington)

By Dave Sherwood

HAVANA, May 15 (Reuters) – U.S. plans to indict Cuba`s former leader Raul Castro over the downing of humanitarian planes two decades ago further increased tensions on the island on Friday, as the country struggles with its worst crisis in decades amid severe fuel shortages.

An indictment of the 94-year-old revolutionary icon would mark a major escalation in the pressure campaign against Cuba by the Trump administration, which has described the island`s communist-run government as corrupt and incompetent as it pushes for change.

Cuba has yet to comment directly on the threat of indictment but Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez expressed defiance on Friday.

“Despite the (U.S.) embargo, sanctions and threats of the use of force, Cuba continues on a path of sovereignty towards its socialist development,” Rodriguez said in a meeting of BRICS foreign ministers.

Reuters interviewed Cubans in Havana who said an indictment would only turn the clock back on negotiations with the U.S., further deepening the diplomatic crisis between the two nations. 

Sonia Torres, 59, a Havana schoolteacher, saw a prosecution of Raul Castro, who for decades oversaw the country`s military then served as president from 2008 to 2018, as an affront to Cuban pride at a time of crisis.

“Cubans must always keep moving forward,” she said. “If they try to process Raul, we`ll defend Cuba with sticks and rocks if we have to.”

Tense relations between the neighboring countries date back to Fidel Castro`s 1959 communist revolution. Castro struck an alliance with the Soviet Union, then seized U.S.-citizen owned businesses and properties, stoking decades of tensions between the two nations.

The Trump administration has laid siege to Cuba since January, enforcing a de facto fuel blockade, issuing threats of military action and ramping up sanctions that have forced foreign businesses – including Canadian miner Sherritt International – to flee.

But an Castro indictment would mark a watershed moment, said Peter Kornbluh, an author of a history of secret negotiations between Cuba and the United States, who said an indictment would likely represent “the diplomatic endpoint” to negotiations. 

“This was an ultimatum: It`s do or die time,” Kornbluh said. “(The indictment) has created a fig leaf of legality for any military operations to seize or assassinate Raul Castro.”

The United States has previously used criminal cases against foreign political figures to justify military actions, and Trump has threatened that Cuba “is next” after his administration in January captured Venezuela leader Nicolas Maduro.

His government called the military raid a “law enforcement operation” to bring Maduro to New York to face criminal charges.

The younger Castro is still viewed as the island`s most influential living leader and symbol of the Cuban revolution, although he no longer holds a formal government role.

BROTHERS TO THE RESCUE    

A potential Castro indictment, the U.S. Department of Justice sources said, ties back to Cuba’s 1996 shootdown of two planes operated by humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue. 

Cuba at the time defended the attack as a legitimate defense of its airspace but the U.S. position was later backed up by the International Civil Aviation Organization, which concluded the shootdown took place over international waters.

Fidel Castro said Cuba`s military had acted on “standing orders” to down planes entering Cuban airspace. He said brother Raul, then defense minister, did not give a specific order to shoot the planes. 

Havana resident Eliecer Diaz, 45, said then, as now, Cuba had to defend itself in the face of U.S. aggression.

“That’s an invasion … and you have to defend yourself,” said Havana resident Eliecer Diaz, 45. “If they are now thinking of prosecuting (Raul Castro), I think that is wrong.”  

(Reporting by Dave Sherwood, Anett Rios and Alien Fernandez in Havana, writing by Daina Beth Solomon, editing by Christian Plumb and Sanjeev Miglani)

CANNES, France, May 15 (Reuters) – Asghar Farhadi, director of the first Iranian film to win the Oscar for best foreign language movie, on Friday described as deeply painful the deaths of thousands of people in a January crackdown on protesters and the ongoing war affecting Iran.

“I was actually in Tehran last week, and I am still carrying the impact of these events with me,” the two-time Oscar-winning director told journalists at the Cannes Film Festival, where his film “Parallel Tales” premiered the night before. 

“Both are deeply painful, and neither will ever be forgotten.”

In January, anti-government protests across Iran were quashed in the biggest crackdown in the Islamic Republic’s history. At the end of February, U.S. and Israeli airstrikes launched a war against Iran that has drawn in the broader Middle East. 

Farhadi, who has been based largely outside Iran since 2023, added that it was painful to read news about innocent people being killed every day. 

Farhadi’s “A Separation” became the first Iranian movie to win the Oscar for best foreign language film in 2012.

He won the same Oscar five years later with “The Salesman,” though he boycotted the ceremony in protest against the travel ban affecting several Muslim-majority countries during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first presidential term.

“Parallel Tales,” a drama set in Paris featuring French-language stars Isabelle Huppert and Vincent Cassel, is in competition for the festival’s top prize against 21 other films.

(Reporting by Miranda Murray; editing by Barbara Lewis)

By Ahmed Kingimi and Adewale Kolawole

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, May 15 (Reuters) – Suspected militants abducted an unspecified number of students from a primary and junior secondary school in Nigeria’s insurgency-ravaged northeastern state of Borno on Friday, residents said.

Gunmen stormed Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in Askira-Uba Local Government Area at around 9 a.m. (0800 GMT) while classes were in session and took several students, said Ubaidallah Hasaan, who lives near the school.

A teacher at the school told Reuters the armed attackers had arrived on motorcycles.

“Despite some students escaping to the bushes, I can tell you many were taken away,” the teacher said.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack which bore the hallmark of the Islamist militia Boko Haram.

In 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped more than 270 girls in Chibok in Borno state, drawing global condemnation. The state has not witnessed another school kidnapping since.

Nigeria’s police and military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The community of Mussa lies near the fringes of the Sambisa Forest, a long-standing stronghold of Islamist insurgents who have waged a campaign of violence in northeast Nigeria for more than a decade.

Local lawmaker Midala Usman Balami called the attack “heartbreaking” and urged authorities to act swiftly.

Borno and neighbouring states have seen repeated attacks on schools and communities despite ongoing military operations, raising concerns about security gaps in rural areas.

Mass kidnappings by armed groups have become a major security challenge in Nigeria in recent years, with schools often targeted, although such attacks are less frequent in the northeast than in the northwest.

In a separate incident on Friday, gunmen abducted students at Baptist Nursery and Primary School in the southwestern state of Oyo. The state has ordered school closures in the area while police launched a manhunt for the abductors.

(Additional reporting by Camillus Eboh in Abuja and Ardo Hazzad in Bauchi; Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Daniel Wallis)

BAGHDAD (AP) — Israeli forces set up a post in the desert in Iraq at the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, Iraqi and U.S. officials told The Associated Press.

The existence of the secret Israeli military facility was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which described it as a base housing special forces and serving as a logistical hub for the Israeli air force.

The reports of a secret base stirred up a furor in Iraq. Officials there have said that Iraqi army forces investigated reports of an unauthorized military force in the Nukhaib desert — a barren area to the southwest of the cities of Karbala and Najaf — in early March and came under fire while en route to the location.

Iraqi officials have confirmed the presence of a small, short-term unauthorized force in the desert, but have not said that it was Israeli. However, two Iraqi security and intelligence officials and a senior U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said that it was.

The U.S. official said of the Israeli outpost that “base is a strong word to describe it” and described it rather as a “temporary staging area or camp to support operations in Iran.”

The Iraqi intelligence official said the Israeli force had set up tents in the area and “its objective was to monitor rocket launches and drone activity conducted by some Iraqi militias.” Iraqi authorities believe the force arrived via an airdrop operation but do not know when, he said. They also disputed the description of the military presence as a “base.”

A shepherd noticed the presence of the force and reported it to authorities, officials said.

Representatives of the Israeli military declined to comment. Acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez declined to comment.

The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, triggering a regional war in which Iraq found itself caught in the crossfire. Iraq hosts a network of Iran-linked militias, which launched attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and elsewhere in the region and on Israel. U.S. and Israeli forces also struck militia sites in Iraq.

The Iraqi government, meanwhile, called on both sides to leave the country out of the conflict. The idea that an Israeli force could have been conducting military operations under their noses put Iraqi authorities in an embarrassing position.

On Tuesday, the Iraqi military sent forces into the desert, to the site of the alleged Israeli outpost, to show journalists that there was no indication of a long-term military presence there.

“We believe it was a small force that came and stayed for no longer than 48 hours,” said Gen. Abdul-Amir Yarallah, chief of the general staff of the Iraqi army during the visit.

Maj. Gen. Tahseen al Khafaji, a spokesperson for the Iraqi defense ministry, told the AP that on March 3, the military received information about “a small enemy force in a specific area in the Najaf desert,” and Iraqi forces went to check the site the next day.

“Within 25 kilometers, the force which went there faced an aerial attack, which led to the martyrdom of one of our fighters and injured two other fighters,” he said.

Al Khafaji said the Iraqi force pulled out after coming under attack but returned the next day and found no signs of a base and no forces present.

“It is believed that the force was there for a very short time and it was a very small force,” he said, adding that search operations “did not show anything that indicates that the force was stationed there for a long time in that area.”

Satellite images from Airbus DS taken March 8 and analyzed by the AP appear to show a human-made track dug out at the site, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of the capital, Baghdad. The track runs in a straight line in a dried-out lake bed from northwest to southeast and measures about 1.5 kilometers (1 mile). That’s long enough for takeoffs and landing for warplanes.

The nearest town, al-Nukhaib, sits about 45 kilometers (27 miles) to the northwest along a road running to the border with Saudi Arabia. That distance is far enough to likely have not drawn too much attention, though Iraq’s skies were filled with fighter jets from both the U.S. and Israel during the weeks of active war with Iran.

___

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed.