By MOLLY QUELL, Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Court of Justice said on Wednesday that Israel must allow the U.N. aid agency in Gaza, known as UNRWA, to provide humanitarian assistance to the war-torn territory.

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The U.N. General Assembly asked the court last year to give an advisory opinion on Israel’s legal obligations after the country effectively banned the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the main provider of aid to Gaza, from operating in the territory.

Israel “is under the obligation to agree to and facilitate relief schemes provided by the United Nations and its entities, including UNRWA,” the court’s president Yuji Iwasawa said.

Israel has denied it has violated international law, saying the court’s proceedings are biased, and did not attend hearings in April. However, the country provided a 38-page written submission for the court to consider.

The advisory opinion from the World Court comes as a fragile U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire agreement, which took effect on Oct. 10, continues to hold.

Advisory opinions carry significant legal weight and experts say the case could have broader ramifications for the U.N. and its missions worldwide.

A ceasefire to consider

The proceedings predate the current fragile U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire agreement, which took effect on Oct. 10, and aims at ending the two-year war in the Palestinian enclave. Though still in effect, the shaky truce was tested earlier this week after Israeli forces launched a wave of deadly strikes, saying Hamas had killed two soldiers.

Under the agreement, 600 humanitarian aid trucks are to be allowed to enter daily.

The U.N. has announced plans to ramp up aid shipments into Gaza. On Monday, Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya told Egypt’s Al-Qahera News that Israel has complied with aid deliveries per the ceasefire agreement.

During the hearings in April, Palestinian Ambassador to the Netherlands Ammar Hijazi told the 15-judge panel that Israel was “starving, killing and displacing Palestinians while also targeting and blocking humanitarian organizations trying to save their lives.”

The UNRWA ban

Israel’s ban on the U.N. agency in Gaza, known as UNRWA, came into effect in January.

The organization has faced increased criticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies, who claim the group is deeply infiltrated by Hamas. UNRWA rejects that claim.

In March, Israel cut off all aid shipments for three months, leading to severe food shortages in the Palestinian territory. Eventually, Israel allowed in some aid while pushing forward with a highly criticized plan to shift aid distribution to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private U.S.-backed group. Conditions continued to worsen and international food experts declared a famine in parts of Gaza in August.

Israel has claimed there was enough food in Gaza and accused Hamas of hoarding supplies.

GHF has suspended its operations after the latest ceasefire was reached.

An advisory opinion

Advisory opinions issued by the U.N. court are described as “nonbinding” as there are no direct penalties attached to ignoring them. However, the treaty that covers the protections that countries must give to U.N. personnel says that disputes should be resolved through an advisory opinion at the ICJ and the opinion “shall be accepted as decisive by the parties.”

The U.N. General Assembly asked for the ICJ’s guidance in Dec. 2024 on “obligations of Israel … in relation to the presence and activities of the United Nations … to ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population.”

“We cannot let states pick and choose where the U.N. is going to do its work. This advisory opinion is a very important opportunity to reinforce that,” Mike Becker, an expert on international human rights law at Trinity College Dublin, told The Associated Press ahead of the hearings in April.

The ICJ has issued other advisory opinions on Israeli policies. Two decades ago, the court ruled that Israel’s West Bank separation barrier was “contrary to international law.” Israel boycotted those proceedings, saying they were politically motivated.

In another advisory opinion last year, the court said that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and called on it to end, and for settlement construction to stop immediately. That ruling fueled moves for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Israel condemned the decision, saying it failed to address the country’s security concerns.

Arrest warrants for Netanyahu

Last year, another tribunal in The Hague, the International Criminal Court, issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, alleging the pair have used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and have intentionally targeted civilians — charges Israeli officials strongly deny.

The advisory opinion at the ICJ is separate from the ongoing proceedings initiated by South Africa, accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel rejects South Africa’s claim and accuses it of providing political cover for Hamas.

The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’ surprise attack on southern Israel that left 1,200 dead and 250 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in the Palestinian territory has killed more than 68,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The ministry’s figures are seen as the most reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

By Melissa Lambarena, NerdWallet

When debt feels overwhelming, it can be hard to imagine how any general one-size-fits-all advice can lead to financial freedom. Financial therapists suggest that a relationship with money is emotional and behavioral, but becoming debt-free is not far from reach if you make your own path.

A good starting point is to acknowledge and normalize your feelings around debt, according to Dr. Christine Hargrove, a certified marriage, family and financial therapist who serves as assistant director of the Love and Money Center at the University of Georgia, which offers clinical training, client services and outreach programs. A key is to recognize that debt is temporary and not absolute or final.

That temporary state can get shorter with one small proactive action followed by another. Whether it’s checking card balances, downloading a tracking app, or reading debt-payoff success stories, what matters most is starting and maintaining.

Here are strategies from therapists to sustain your debt-payoff journey.

1. Create comfort rituals

Consider those things that have helped you cope with prior stressful situations. It might be a cup of hot chocolate or tea, or a reward to look forward to at the end, Hargrove says. A simple ritual won’t erase debt, but it can make tough financial tasks more manageable.

2. Designate a support buddy

Hargrove suggests enlisting a “body double” — a friend who joins you via phone, video or in person while you work through a task. A money-savvy buddy can also offer encouragement and practical advice along the way.

3. Organize your time and approach

Decide how much time to devote to your goals. Even five minutes daily can contribute to progress.

Break tasks into manageable steps:

Choose your debt-payoff tracker

Stay encouraged by tracking debt based on your preferred method, whether it’s spreadsheets, bullet journals, downloadable printables you can color in at every milestone, or something else. Also, track your budget with an app, spreadsheet or other option that will keep you aware of every expense.

“The more you engage in it, the more motivated you are to stay with it,” says Simi Mandelbaum, CEO and founder of Prospr Financial Wellness, a financial therapy and coaching service.

Quantify the debt

Pull your credit report for free at annualcreditreport.com or log into your accounts to get a list of your debts, minimum payments and/or interest rates assessed.

“It can be comforting to feel like, ‘OK, there’s [not another] boogeyman in the closet, right?’” Hargrove says. “We have now turned on all the lights.”

Create or update your budget

Review your expenses, debit and credit card statements to understand costs and trim where needed, or switch to less pricey alternatives. Redirect any savings to an emergency fund and debt payments.

4. Decide on a strategy

Set a debt-payoff deadline based on a realistic monthly amount you can pay toward balances.

Also consider these moves to save time and money:

Lower your interest rate: Depending on your credit scores or circumstances, you might qualify for ways to lower high-interest debt with a balance transfer credit card, a credit card hardship plan, a debt management plan at a nonprofit credit counseling agency, a consolidation loan or a different option.
Pick the avalanche or snowball method: If you have multiple debts, decide whether to target the smallest balance first (the snowball) for quick wins, or the highest-interest debt (the avalanche) for maximum savings. Keep up minimum payments on all other debts to protect your credit.
Stop using credit: Temporarily switch to cash or a debit card if you must.

If money is tight, try to supplement your income with enjoyable work, or consider a lifestyle change like moving, getting a roommate or downsizing.

5. Build an emergency fund along the way

Avoid cycling back into debt by building an emergency fund for unexpected costs while you pay down existing balances. Initially, that might be easier to do with the snowball method.

“Don’t feel like you have to do one or the other,” says Nathan Astle, a certified financial therapist at Beyond Finance, a debt consolidation company. Even if one of your balances is small, “just getting that off your plate would feel like a start,” he says.

An emergency fund, too, can start small. Even a safety net of just a few hundred dollars can help. Eventually, shoot for three to six months’ worth of living expenses.

6. Celebrate milestones and leave room for improvement

You don’t have to wait until you’ve fully paid off debt to celebrate or treat yourself. Reward small milestones with something of value that won’t break the bank. It could be quality time with family, self-care or something else.

“Small incremental rewards are usually better for us than one big thing after all of it is figured out,” Astle says.

Expect setbacks along the way as you’re building new habits and navigating unexpected changes or circumstances.

“What you’re actually changing is behavior,” Hargrove says. “The more that you apply the intention and correct as you go, then it starts to become habit.”

Mandelbaum suggests writing down a list of challenges you’ve overcome as a reminder you can do it again.

“When I have a setback, that’s my list I go to, and then I look and say, ‘Yup, I’ve had something like this happen to me and look, it worked out,’” she says.

7. Talking to yourself can help. Really.

Envision yourself in the short-term future being grateful for decisions made now. Hargrove suggests talking out loud to yourself when you’re making a choice to help your goals. Say something like, “Future [insert your name], today I’m not going to spend on dining out (or a different expense), I’m staying on budget for you.”

When you later review your progress, say something like, “Past [insert your name], you really watched it this month, that was awesome, and I really appreciate it.”

It might sound silly, but self-talk can help change behaviors and inch you closer to your goals, according to Hargrove.

“It sets up a really positive loop that helps motivate and sustain the behavior change,” she says.

Melissa Lambarena writes for NerdWallet. Email: mlambarena@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @LissaLambarena.

The article Overwhelmed by Debt? Ease Into a Plan With These Expert Tips originally appeared on NerdWallet.

By GERALD IMRAY, Associated Press

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A Cuban man deported by the United States to the African nation of Eswatini is on a hunger strike at a maximum-security prison having been held there for more than three months without being charged or having access to legal counsel under the Trump administration’s third-country program, his U.S.-based lawyer said Wednesday.

Roberto Mosquera del Peral was one of five men sent to the small kingdom in southern Africa in mid-July as part of the expanding U.S. deportation program to Africa, which has been criticized by rights groups and lawyers, who say deportees are being denied due process and exposed to rights abuses.

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Mosquera’s lawyer, Alma David, said in a statement sent to The Associated Press that he had been on a hunger strike for a week, and there were serious concerns over his health.

“My client is arbitrarily detained, and now his life is on the line,” David said. “I urge the Eswatini Correctional Services to provide Mr. Mosquera’s family and me with an immediate update on his condition and to ensure that he is receiving adequate medical attention. I demand that Mr. Mosquera be permitted to meet with his lawyer in Eswatini.”

An Eswatini government spokesperson referred the AP, which requested comment, to a correctional services official, who didn’t immediately respond to calls and messages.

Mosquera was among a group of five men from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen deported to Eswatini, an absolute monarchy ruled by a king who is accused of clamping down on human rights. The Jamaican man was repatriated to his home country last month, but the others have been kept at the prison for more than three months, while an Eswatini-based lawyer has launched a case against the government demanding they be given access to legal counsel.

Civic groups in Eswatini have also taken authorities to court to challenge the legality of holding foreign nationals in prison without charge. Eswatini said that the men would be repatriated, but have given no timeframe for any other repatriations.

U.S. authorities said they want to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Eswatini under the same program.

The men sent to Eswatini were criminals convicted of serious offenses, including murder and rape, and were in the U.S. illegally, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said. It said that Mosquera had been convicted of murder and other charges and was a gang member.

The men’s lawyers said they had all completed their criminal sentences in the U.S., and are now being held illegally in Eswatini, where they haven’t been charged with any offense.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has cast the third-country deportation program as a means to remove “illegal aliens” from American soil as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, saying they have a choice to self-deport or be sent to a country like Eswatini.

The Trump administration has sent deportees to at least three other African nations — South Sudan, Rwanda and Ghana — since July under largely secretive agreements. It also has a deportation agreement with Uganda, although no deportations there have been announced.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said that it has seen documents that show that the U.S. is paying African nations millions of dollars to accept deportees. It said that the U.S. agreed to pay Eswatini $5.1 million to take up to 160 deportees and Rwanda $7.5 million to take up to 250 deportees.

Another 10 deportees were sent to Eswatini this month and are believed to be held at the same Matsapha Correctional Complex prison outside the administrative capital, Mbabane. Lawyers said that those men are from Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Cuba, Chad, Ethiopia and Congo.

Lawyers say the four men who arrived in Eswatini on a deportation flight in July haven’t been allowed to meet with an Eswatini lawyer representing them, and phone calls to their U.S.-based attorneys are monitored by prison guards. They have expressed concern that they know little about the conditions in which their clients are being held.

“I demand that Mr. Mosquera be permitted to meet with his lawyer in Eswatini,” David said in her statement. “The fact that my client has been driven to such drastic action highlights that he and the other 13 men must be released from prison. The governments of the United States and Eswatini must take responsibility for the real human consequences of their deal.”

Nokukhanya Musi contributed to this report from Manzini, Eswatini.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday directed drills of the country’s strategic nuclear forces that featured practice missile launches, an exercise that came as his planned summit on Ukraine with U.S. President Donald Trump was put on hold.

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The Kremlin said that as part of the maneuvers involving all parts of Moscow’s nuclear triad, a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was test-fired from the Plesetsk launch facility in northwestern Russia, and a Sineva ICBM was launched by a submarine in the Barents Sea. The drills also involved Tu-95 strategic bombers firing long-range cruise missiles.

The exercise tested the skills of military command structures, the Kremlin said in a statement.

The chief of the military’s General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, reported to Putin via video link that the drills were intended to simulate “procedures for authorizing the use of nuclear weapons.”

While Putin emphasized that the maneuvers had been planned in advance, they came hours after President Donald Trump said Tuesday his plan for a swift meeting with Putin in Budapest was on hold because he didn’t want it to be a “waste of time.”

The decision about the meeting in Budapest, Hungary, which Trump had announced last week, was made following a call Monday between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Lavrov made clear in comments Tuesday that Russia is opposed to an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. Trump, meanwhile, has been shifting his stance all year on key issues in the conflict, including whether a ceasefire should come before longer-term peace talks, and whether Ukraine could win back land seized by Russia during almost four years of fighting.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday emphasized that the planned Putin-Trump summit needs to be thoroughly prepared.

“No one wants to waste time: neither President Trump nor President Putin,” Peskov told reporters. “These are the two presidents who are accustomed to working efficiently with high productivity. But effectiveness always requires preparation.”

The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.