First Thing: Israeli spy chief ‘threatened’ ICC prosecutor over war crimes inquiry

It comes as Spain, Norway and Ireland prepare to officially recognise Palestine on Tuesday. Plus, how our gardens and balconies can boost biodiversity.

Good morning.

The former head of Israel’s spy agency, theMossad, allegedly threatened a chief prosecutor of the international criminal court and tried to coerce her into dropping a war crimes investigation, the Guardian can reveal.

Yossi Cohen was personally involved in secret meetings with the ICC’s then prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, in the years running up to her decision to open a formal investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the occupied Palestinian territories. The inquiry led to Bensouda’s successor, Karim Khan, announcing that he was seeking an arrest warrant for Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Cohen put pressue on Bensoud on several occasions against advancing a criminal investigation in the ICC’s Palestine case, sources said. Sources close to the situation also told that the Mossad took a close interest in Bensouda’s family.

• How high up did it go? Cohen’s activities were authorised at a high level, a senior Israeli official said. Another source said he acted as Netanyahu’s “unofficial messenger”.

• What did Israel say? It responded that the questions put to its prime minister’s office contained “false and unfounded allegations”.

• What is the latest on the conflict? Spain, Norway and Ireland are due to officially recognise a Palestinian state on Tuesday, while Israel continues to attack Rafah despite international outrage towards its attack on a tent camp for displaced people that killed at least 45.

Belgium pledges 30 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine as Zelenskiy calls on Biden to attend summit

Ukraine and Belgium have signed a bilateral security pact worth close to €1bn, as the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called on the US president, Joe Biden, to attend an upcoming peace summit on the conflict.

The agreement, signed during a Brussels meeting between Zelenskiy and the Belgian prime minister, Alexander De Croo, will last a decade and includes the delivery of 30 F-16 fighter jets.

Zelenskiy told a press conference on Tuesday that Biden should attend a summit on the Ukraine war in Switzerland next month, saying that his absence would boost the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

• What other advances are being made? Poland’s foreign minister has said the country should not rule out sending troops to Ukraine – but has not specified what role they could play.

Closing arguments begin in Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial

Closing arguments will begin on Tuesday in Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial as the court case wraps up following weeks of gripping testimony.

The case is likely to be decided on how the jury judges the testimony of ex-lawyer and former Trump ally Michael Cohen, who gave crucial evidence on the role that Trump played in the alleged hush-money plot to pay off adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Trump is charged with falsifying business records due to payments that prosecutors argue amount to election interference in the run-up to the 2016 election.

• How has it affected the polls? It appears to have barely made an impact – Trump and Biden are very close in the polls.

• Could he face jail? Yes – but it seems unlikely. Any guilty verdict would also be almost certain to trigger a string of appeals.

In other news …

• Millions face hunger in Zambia as the country suffers a “crippling drought” that is cutting off power, as 95% of the country’s power comes from hydroelectricity, the environment minister has said.

• A devastating landslide in Papua New Guinea has buried an estimated 2,000 people, its National Disaster Centre has said, as thousands more residents were told to evacuate amid growing fears that a second landslide could take place.

• An 81-year-old man who detectives suspect of smashing windows with a slingshot in a southern California neighborhood has been arrested, police said.

• A young TikTok star with cerebral palsy said Facebook refused to act after scammers created a fake account to rip off her fans.

Stat of the day: the sulphur emissions of Europe’s 218 cruise ships are equivalent to 1bn cars

Cruise ships are the most carbon-intense means of travel, and consume an extremely dirty fuel: the sulphur emissions of Europe’s 218 cruise ships are equivalent to 1bn cars. But for those who love a cruise, its not all bad: the Norwegian coastal express, the Hurtigruten, is aiming for zero-emission cruises by 2030.

Don’t miss this: ‘At 10, I fled the Nazis to live starving and alone in the woods’

Maxwell Smart was just nine when the Nazis took away his parents and younger sister, leaving him completely alone. Smart, who changed his name from Oziac Fromm, was saved when his mother told him to run and was hid by a farmer for a while. But then he spent two years living in the woods, foraging, trapping and hiding in a bunker he had built. Smart, 93, spoke to the Guardian as the film about his life, The Boy in the Woods, was released.

Climate check: the untapped potential of our gardens, parks and balconies

Gardens, parks and balconies have huge potential for the world’s climate and biodiversity crises. But instead of embracing rewilding, growing and nurturing habitats, there is a growing trend to blanket green spaces underneath paving and plastic grass, the Guardian’s Kate Bradbury writes. But we can change that.

Last Thing: Sim-ply unfilmable? Inside The Sims movie that never was

What will Margot Robbie’s Sims movie consist of? The hit game series crucially doesn’t have any plot to work with – it’s all form, no content. But Robbie is not the first to take on this enormous creative challenge: screenwriter Brian Lynch, of hits such as the Minions, was meant to make the movie in 2007, but the flick languished in development. Lynch tells all about the one that got away – his Simlish white whale.

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