Israel, Hamas agree on four-day truce, hostage release and aid into Gaza

Update Israel, Hamas agree on four-day truce, hostage release and aid into Gaza
Families of Israeli hostages held by Palestinian militants in the Gaza have been pressuring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on the captives’ safe release. (AFP)
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Updated 22 November 2023
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Israel, Hamas agree on four-day truce, hostage release and aid into Gaza

Israel, Hamas agree on four-day truce, hostage release and aid into Gaza
  • Israeli media say the first release of hostages is expected on Thursday
  • 50 women and children will be released over four days, during which there will be a pause in fighting

GAZA/TEL AVIV: Israel’s government and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to a four-day pause in fighting to allow the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for 150 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, and the entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.

Officials from Qatar, which has been mediating secret negotiations, as well as the US, Israel and Hamas have for days been saying a deal was imminent.

Hamas is believed to be holding more than 200 hostages, taken when its fighters surged into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.

A statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said 50 women and children will be released over four days, during which there will be a pause in fighting.

For every additional 10 hostages released, the pause would be extended by another day, it said, without mentioning the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange.

“Israel’s government is committed to return all the hostages home. Tonight, it approved the proposed deal as a first stage to achieving this goal,” said the statement, released after hours of deliberation that were closed to the press.

Hamas said the 50 hostages would be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children who are held in Israeli jails. The truce deal will also allow hundreds of trucks of humanitarian, medical and fuel aid to enter Gaza, the Palestinian group said in a statement.

Israel had committed not to attack or arrest anyone in all parts of Gaza during the truce period, it added.

US President Joe Biden said he welcomed the deal. “Today’s deal should bring home additional American hostages, and I will not stop until they are all released,” he said in a statement.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also welcomed the foreign-mediated humanitarian deal and called for wider solutions to the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Abbas’ administration, based in the occupied West Bank, “appreciate(s) the Qatari-Egyptian (mediation) effort”, wants an extended truce with Israel and “the implementation of a political solution based on international legitimacy,” a social media post by senior Palestinian aide Hussein Al-Sheikh said.

The Qatar government said 50 civilian women and children hostages would be released from Gaza in exchange for the release “of a number of Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons.”

The starting time of the truce would be announced within the next 24 hours, it said in a statement.

The accord is the first truce of a war in which Israeli bombardments have flattened swathes of Hamas-ruled Gaza, killed 13,300 civilians in the tiny densely populated enclave and left about two-thirds of its 2.3 million people homeless, according to authorities in Gaza.

But Netanyahu said Israel’s broader mission was unchanged.

“We are at war and we will continue the war until we achieve all our goals. To destroy Hamas, return all our hostages and ensure that no entity in Gaza can threaten Israel,” he said in a recorded message at the start of the government meeting.

Hamas said in its statement: “As we announce the striking of a truce agreement, we affirm that our fingers remain on the trigger, and our victorious fighters will remain on the look out to defend our people and defeat the occupation.”

RELEASE TO BEGIN ON THURSDAY

Three Americans, including a 3-year-old girl whose parents were among those killed during Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, are expected to be among the hostages to be released, a senior US official said.

In addition to Israeli citizens, more than half the hostages held foreign and dual citizenship from some 40 countries including the US, Thailand, Britain, France, Argentina, Germany, Chile, Spain and Portugal, Israel’s government has said.

Israeli media said the first release of hostages was expected on Thursday. Implementing the deal must wait for 24 hours to give Israeli citizens the chance to ask the Supreme Court to block the release of Palestinian prisoners, reports said.

Kamelia Hoter Ishay, the grandmother of 13-year-old Gali Tarshansky, who is believed to be held in Gaza, said she would not believe reports of a deal until she got a call that the teenager was freed.

“And then I’ll know that it’s really over and I can breathe a sigh of relief and say that’s it, it’s over,” she said.

Qadura Fares, head of the Commission for Prisoners’ Affairs in the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, said that among more than 7,800 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel were about 85 women and 350 minors. Most were detained without charges or for incidents such as hurling rocks at Israeli soldiers, not for launching militant attacks, he said.

Qatar’s chief negotiator in cease-fire talks, Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, said that the International Committee of the Red Cross would be working inside Gaza to facilitate the hostages’ release.

He said that the truce means there would be “no attack whatsoever. No military movements, no expansion, nothing.”

Al-Khulaifi added that Qatar hopes the deal “will be a seed to a bigger agreement and a permanent cease of fire. And that’s our intention.”

Hamas has to date released only four captives: US citizens Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter, Natalie Raanan, 17, on Oct. 20, citing “humanitarian reasons,” and Israeli women Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, on Oct. 23.

The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, which participated in the Oct. 7 raid with Hamas, said late on Tuesday that one of the Israeli hostages it has held since the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel had died.

“We previously expressed our willingness to release her for humanitarian reasons, but the enemy was stalling and this led to her death,” Al Quds Brigades said on its Telegram channel.

As attention focused on the hostage release deal, fighting on the ground raged on. Mounir Al-Barsh, director-general of Gaza’s health ministry, told Al Jazeera TV that the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza City. Israel said militants were operating from the facility and threatened to act against them within four hours, he said.

On Tuesday, Israel also said its forces had encircled the Jabalia refugee camp, a congested urban extension of Gaza City where Hamas has been battling advancing Israeli armored forces.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA said 33 people were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli air strike on part of Jabalia.

In southern Gaza, Hamas-affiliated media said 10 people were killed and 22 injured by an Israeli air strike on an apartment in the city of Khan Younis.

Reuters could not immediately verify the accounts of fighting on either side.


GCC, Iraq officials discuss security, economic challenges

GCC, Iraq officials discuss security, economic challenges
Updated 25 sec ago
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GCC, Iraq officials discuss security, economic challenges

GCC, Iraq officials discuss security, economic challenges
  • Jasem Al-Budaiwi, secretary-general of the GCC, said the meeting was held to strengthen cooperation

RIYADH: Officials from the GCC and Iraq met here on Sunday to discuss the latter’s security and economic challenges, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Jasem Al-Budaiwi, secretary-general of the GCC, said the meeting was held to strengthen cooperation.

Ongoing support for Iraq was outlined by the GCC Ministerial Council at its 160th session last month, Albudaiwi said.

The officials discussed several topics of mutual interest, including recent regional and international developments.


Gaza destruction likely helped push Hamas to soften ceasefire demands, several officials say

Gaza destruction likely helped push Hamas to soften ceasefire demands, several officials say
Updated 26 min 36 sec ago
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Gaza destruction likely helped push Hamas to soften ceasefire demands, several officials say

Gaza destruction likely helped push Hamas to soften ceasefire demands, several officials say
  • Hamas over the weekend appeared to drop its longstanding demand that Israel promise to end the war as part of any ceasefire deal
  • Egypt and Qatar have been working with the US to broker a ceasefire and end the devastating nine-month war

DUBAI: Several officials in the Middle East and the US believe the level of devastation in the Gaza Strip caused by a nine-month Israeli offensive likely has helped push Hamas to soften its demands for a ceasefire agreement.
Hamas over the weekend appeared to drop its longstanding demand that Israel promise to end the war as part of any ceasefire deal. The sudden shift has raised new hopes for progress in internationally brokered negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday boasted that military pressure — including Israel’s ongoing two-month offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah — “is what has led Hamas to enter negotiations.”
Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seeks Israel’s destruction, is highly secretive and little is known about its inner workings.
But in recent internal communications seen by The Associated Press, messages signed by several senior Hamas figures in Gaza urged the group’s exiled political leadership to accept the ceasefire proposal pitched by US President Joe Biden.
The messages, shared by a Middle East official familiar with the ongoing negotiations, described the heavy losses Hamas has suffered on the battlefield and the dire conditions in the war-ravaged territory. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to share the contents of internal Hamas communications.
It was not known if this internal pressure was a factor in Hamas’ flexibility. But the messages indicate divisions within the group and a readiness among top militants to reach a deal quickly, even if Hamas’ top official in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, may not be in a rush. Sinwar has been in hiding since the war erupted last October and is believed to be holed up in a tunnel deep underground.
US officials declined to comment on the communications.
But a person familiar with Western intelligence who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter said the group’s leadership understands its forces have suffered heavy losses and that has helped Hamas move closer to a ceasefire deal.
Two US officials say the Americans are aware of internal divisions within Hamas and that those divisions, the destruction in Gaza or pressure from mediators Egypt and Qatar could have been factors in the militant group softening its demands for a deal. The US officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the Biden administration’s view of the current situation.
The Middle Eastern official shared details from two internal Hamas communications, both written by senior officials inside Gaza to the group’s exiled leadership in Qatar, where Hamas’ supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh, is based.
The communication suggested that the war had taken a toll on Hamas fighters, with the senior figures urging the militant’s political wing abroad to accept the deal despite Sinwar’s reluctance.
Hamas spokesperson Jihad Taha dismissed any suggestions of divisions within the group.
“The movement’s position is unified and is crystallized through the organizational framework of the leadership,” he said.
The intelligence official showed The Associated Press a transcript of the communications in Arabic, but declined to share specific details about how the information was obtained, or the raw form of the communications.
The official said the communications took place in May and June and came from multiple senior officials inside the group’s military wing in Gaza.
The messages acknowledged Hamas fighters had been killed and the level of devastation to the Gaza Strip wrought by the Israeli campaign in the enclave. They also suggest that Sinwar either isn’t fully aware of the toll of the fighting or isn’t fully communicating it to those negotiating outside of the territory.
It was not known whether Haniyeh or any other top officials in Qatar had responded.
Israeli officials declined to comment on the communications. Egypt and Qatar also had no immediate comment.
Egypt and Qatar have been working with the United States to broker a ceasefire and end the devastating nine-month war. After months of fits and starts, talks resumed last week and are scheduled to continue in the coming days.
A deal is still not guaranteed. Netanyahu’s office announced over the weekend that “gaps still remain.” The US officials said they are cautiously optimistic about the prospects for a ceasefire based on the latest developments, but stressed that numerous efforts had looked promising only to fall through.
Still, the sides appear closer to a deal than they have been in months.
Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas’ October attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250. Israel says Hamas is still holding about 120 hostages — about a third of them thought to be dead.
Since then, the Israeli air and ground offensive has killed more than 38,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. The offensive has caused widespread devastation and a humanitarian crisis that has left hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of famine, according to international officials.
Both Hamas and Egyptian officials confirmed Saturday that Hamas has dropped a key demand that Israel commit up front to end the war. Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected this demand, leaving the talks stalled for months.
Instead, the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations, said the phased deal would start with a six-week ceasefire during which older, sick and female hostages would be released by Hamas in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Talks on a broader deal, including an end to the war, would only begin during this phase, they said.
Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting until Israel destroys Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, even if hostages are freed.


Petra to gain 1,400 new hotel rooms amid tourism recovery efforts

Petra to gain 1,400 new hotel rooms amid tourism recovery efforts
Updated 51 min 48 sec ago
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Petra to gain 1,400 new hotel rooms amid tourism recovery efforts

Petra to gain 1,400 new hotel rooms amid tourism recovery efforts

LONDON: A total of 1,400 new hotel rooms will be built in Petra by local investors as a part of an investment drive to boost the tourism industry, a top official said on Sunday.

Fares Braizat, chief commissioner of the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority, said local investors are committed to the project despite challenging conditions.

He expressed confidence that the country’s tourism industry would recover and return to normal, the Jordan News Agency reported.

Braizat said the authority was intensifying efforts to promote Petra.

He made the comments during a tour of the Petra region by Jordan’s Tourism Minister Makram Al-Qaisi.

Al-Qaisi said the project would create more jobs and praised the collaboration between the public and private sectors to promote tourism.

The incentives introduced to support the industry include waiving rent for the authority’s tenants, and measures related to social security, income, and sales tax, he added.

During the minister’s visit, the Marriott Hotel group in Petra laid the cornerstone for a project to add 70 more rooms to its existing operations.


Israel says it struck Hezbollah sites in Lebanon

Israel says it struck Hezbollah sites in Lebanon
Updated 08 July 2024
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Israel says it struck Hezbollah sites in Lebanon

Israel says it struck Hezbollah sites in Lebanon
  • Hezbollah, Iran-backed Hamas ally, has traded almost daily fire with Israeli forces since Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7 attack

JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said in a statement early on Monday it launched multiple air and artillery strikes overnight on what it said were Hezbollah military targets in Lebanon.

The strikes came after the militant group said on Sunday it had launched its “largest” air operation, sending explosive drones at a mountaintop Israeli military intelligence base in the annexed Golan Heights.

It is the latest incident among escalating cross-border exchanges of fire that have triggered global alarm.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Hamas ally, has traded almost daily fire with Israeli forces since the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel triggered war in the Gaza Strip.

Announcing “the largest operation” carried out by its aerial forces, Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters sent “multiple, successive squadrons of drones to target the reconnaissance center” on Mount Hermon.

The Israeli military said an explosive drone “fell in an open area in the Mount Hermon area” but there were “no injuries.”

Attacks as well as rhetoric have escalated in recent weeks, spurring fears of an all-out conflict between Israel and Hezbollah which last went to war in 2006.

The Lebanese movement said the drone attack was part of its “response” to the killing of an operative in a strike Saturday deep into east Lebanon around 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the border.

The Mount Hermon attack targeted intelligence systems, “destroying them and starting a major fire,” Hezbollah said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited troops on Mount Hermon earlier on Sunday, his office said.

In two additional statements, the military said its air defenses “successfully intercepted” several “aerial targets” that crossed from Lebanon after sirens sounded in the Golan Heights area.

Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later annexed it in a move largely unrecognized by the international community.

The Israeli strike on Saturday killed “a key operative in Hezbollah’s Aerial Defense Unit,” the military has said.

Throughout Sunday, Hezbollah announced four more attacks on Israeli military sites across the border with barrages of rockets as well as some guided missiles. Israeli authorities reported four wounded.

Gallant, in a video from Mount Hermon, said that “even if there is a ceasefire” in Gaza, “we will continue fighting and doing everything necessary to bring about the desired result” in the campaign against Hezbollah.

The cross-border violence has killed at least 497 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also including 95 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, at least 16 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed, according to the authorities.

Tens of thousands of residents have been displaced from the border areas in both southern Lebanon and northern Israel.


UK’s Starmer uges ‘caution’ on Israel-Lebanon border

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Dhayra on July 4, 2024. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Dhayra on July 4, 2024. (AFP)
Updated 07 July 2024
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UK’s Starmer uges ‘caution’ on Israel-Lebanon border

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Dhayra on July 4, 2024. (AFP)
  • Starmer told Abbas that his “longstanding policy on recognition to contribute to a peace process had not changed, and it was the undeniable right of Palestinians”

LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday called on all sides to exercise “caution” on the border between Israel and Lebanon, in his first telephone conversation since he was elected with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Starmer told his counterpart the “situation on the northern border of Israel was very concerning, and it was crucial all parties acted with caution,” a spokesperson for his 10 Downing Street office said.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement on Sunday fired another 20 rockets at northern Israel, leaving one person injured there, the latest cross-border attacks launched in solidarity with Hamas.
Hezbollah has traded near daily fire with the Israeli army across Lebanon’s southern border since its Palestinian ally Hamas attacked Israel last year, triggering the war in Gaza.
Discussing the conflict, the prime minister reiterated his condolences for the mass loss of life during the October 7 attacks, the spokesperson said.
“He then set out the clear and urgent need for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and an immediate increase in the volume of humanitarian aid reaching civilians.”
In his conversation with Netanyahu, Starmer added that it was also “important to ensure the long-term conditions for a two-state solution were in place, including ensuring the Palestinian Authority had the financial means to operate effectively.”
Efforts toward a truce are continuing with US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators hoping to halt the worst-ever Gaza war, which has caused mass civilian casualties and devastated the coastal territory.
The spokesperson said the prime minister also spoke by phone to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
Starmer told Abbas that his “longstanding policy on recognition to contribute to a peace process had not changed, and it was the undeniable right of Palestinians.”
The October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 42 the military says are dead.
In response, Israel’s military offensive has killed at least 38,153 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.