Netanyahu will only agree to ‘partial’ ceasefire, but not end to Gaza war

Netanyahu will only agree to ‘partial’ ceasefire, but not end to Gaza war
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel was ‘committed to continuing the war after a pause, in order to complete the goal of eliminating Hamas.’ (AP)
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Updated 24 June 2024
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Netanyahu will only agree to ‘partial’ ceasefire, but not end to Gaza war

Netanyahu will only agree to ‘partial’ ceasefire, but not end to Gaza war
  • Viability of US-backed peace proposal cast into doubt with Israeli leader’s comments
  • Netanyahu’s remarks could further strain Israel’s ties to the US, its top ally

TEL AVIV: The viability of a US-backed proposal to wind down the eight-month-long war in Gaza was cast into doubt on Monday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would only be willing to agree to a “partial” ceasefire deal that would not end the war, comments that sparked an uproar from families of hostages held by Hamas.
In an interview broadcast late Sunday on Israeli Channel 14, a conservative, pro-Netanyahu station, the Israeli leader said he was “prepared to make a partial deal — this is no secret — that will return to us some of the people,” referring to the roughly 120 hostages still held in the Gaza Strip. “But we are committed to continuing the war after a pause, in order to complete the goal of eliminating Hamas. I’m not willing to give up on that.”
Netanyahu’s comments did not deviate dramatically from what he has said previously about his terms for a deal. But they come at a sensitive time as Israel and Hamas appear to be moving further apart over the latest ceasefire proposal, and they could represent another setback for mediators trying to end the war.
Netanyahu’s comments stood in sharp contrast to the outlines of the deal detailed late last month by US President Joe Biden, who framed the plan as an Israeli one and which some in Israel refer to as “Netanyahu’s deal.” His remarks could further strain Israel’s ties to the US, its top ally, which launched a major diplomatic push for the latest ceasefire proposal.
The three-phased plan would bring about the release of the remaining hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. But disputes and mistrust persist between Israel and Hamas over how the deal plays out.
Hamas has insisted it will not release the remaining hostages unless there’s a permanent ceasefire and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. When Biden announced the latest proposal last month, he said it included both.
But Netanyahu says Israel is still committed to destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, and ensuring it can never again carry out an Oct. 7-style assault. A full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, where Hamas’ top leadership and much of its forces are still intact, would almost certainly leave the group in control of the territory and able to rearm. In the interview, Netanyahu said that the current phase of fighting is ending, but that didn’t mean the war was over.
During the initial six-week phase, the sides are supposed to negotiate an agreement on the second phase, which Biden said would include the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza. The temporary ceasefire would become permanent.
Hamas appears concerned that Israel will resume the war once its most vulnerable hostages are returned. And even if it doesn’t, Israel could make demands in that stage of negotiations that were not part of the initial deal and are unacceptable to Hamas — and then resume the war when Hamas refuses them.
Netanyahu’s remarks reinforced that concern. After they were aired, Hamas said they represented “unmistakable confirmation of his rejection” of the US-supported deal, which also received the backing of the United Nations’ Security Council.
In a statement late Sunday after Netanyahu’s lengthy TV interview, the Palestinian militant group said his position was “in contrast” to what the US administration said that Israel had approved. The group said that its insistence that any deal should include a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces out of the entire Gaza Strip “was an inevitable necessity to block Netanyahu’s attempts of evasion, deception, and perpetuation of aggression and the war of extermination against our people.”
Netanyahu shot back and in a statement from his office said Hamas opposed a deal. He said Israel would not withdraw from Gaza until all 120 hostages are returned.
Hamas welcomed the broad outline of the US plan but proposed what it said were “amendments.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during a visit to the region earlier this month, said some of Hamas’ demands were “workable” and some were not, without elaborating.
Netanyahu and Hamas both have incentives to keep the devastating war going despite the catastrophic toll it has had on civilians in Gaza and the mounting anger in Israel that after so many months Israel has not reached its aims of returning the hostages and defeating Hamas.
The families of hostages have grown increasingly impatient with Netanyahu, seeing his apparent reluctance to move ahead on a deal as tainted by political considerations. A group representing the families condemned Netanyahu’s remarks, which it viewed as an Israeli rejection of the latest ceasefire proposal.
“This is an abandonment of the 120 hostages and a violation of the state’s moral duty toward its citizens,” it said, noting that it held Netanyahu responsible for returning all the captives.
In its Oct. 7 cross-border assault, Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 people captive, including women, children and older people. Dozens were freed in a temporary ceasefire deal in late November and of the 120 remaining hostages, Israeli authorities say about a third are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory war has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. It has sparked a humanitarian crisis and displaced most of the territory’s 2.3 million population.


Iranian capital builds ‘defensive tunnel’ after Israeli strikes

Iranian capital builds ‘defensive tunnel’ after Israeli strikes
Updated 16 sec ago
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Iranian capital builds ‘defensive tunnel’ after Israeli strikes

Iranian capital builds ‘defensive tunnel’ after Israeli strikes

DUBAI: Iran is building a “defensive tunnel” in the capital Tehran, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday, following strikes by Israel on targets in the country.
The tunnel, located near the city center, will link a station on the Tehran metro to the Imam Khomeini hospital, thus allowing direct underground access to the medical facility.
“For the first time in the country, a tunnel with defensive applications is being built in Tehran,” the head of transport for Tehran City Council told Tasnim.
Last month, Israel carried out its first officially-recognized strikes in Iran, hitting missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in the country’s west, as a response to Iran’s Oct.1 attack on Israeli territory.


Wave of Israeli strikes hit south Beirut after evacuation warning

Wave of Israeli strikes hit south Beirut after evacuation warning
Updated 12 November 2024
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Wave of Israeli strikes hit south Beirut after evacuation warning

Wave of Israeli strikes hit south Beirut after evacuation warning

BEIRUT: Israel launched at least 10 air strikes on south Beirut Tuesday morning, Lebanese state media said, shortly after Israel’s army urged residents of several neighborhoods to evacuate the Hezbollah bastion.
“Israeli warplanes launched a very violent tenth strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs,” the official National News Agency reported.
AFPTV footage showed grey smoke covering the area, with big plumes rising after each strike.
Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli army told residents of four south Beirut neighborhoods to leave immediately, warning it would strike Hezbollah targets there.
“You are located near facilities and interests affiliated with Hezbollah, against which the Israel Defense Forces will act in the near future,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X.
The post included a map showing the buildings it would target in the Lebanese capital’s south.
Witnesses told AFP they heard gunfire in the area ahead of the strikes — warning shots by residents for people to leave following the evacuation call.
NNA also reported Israeli strikes across Lebanon’s south that destroyed a building in the main southern city of Nabatiyeh and also targeted the eastern city of Hermel.
Last month, Israeli strikes razed Nabatiyeh’s historic marketplace, with another wave of attacks also hitting its municipality building and killing several including the mayor.
Since September 23, Israel has intensified its air campaign, mainly targeting Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon’s east and south and in southern Beirut. A week later, it sent in ground troops.
It came after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges of fire, launched by Hezbollah in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.
More than 3,240 people have been killed in Lebanon since the clashes began last year, according to the health ministry, the majority of them since late September.


A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sees explosions near ship in Red Sea

A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sees explosions near ship in Red Sea
Updated 12 November 2024
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A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sees explosions near ship in Red Sea

A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sees explosions near ship in Red Sea
  • The attack comes as the rebels continue their monthslong assault targeting shipping
  • The Houthis have insisted that the attacks will continue as long as the wars go on

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels saw multiple explosions strike near a vessel traveling through the Red Sea on Tuesday, though no damage was immediately reported by the ship, authorities said.
The attack comes as the rebels continue their monthslong assault targeting shipping through a waterway that typically sees $1 trillion in goods pass through it a year over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon.
The Houthis have insisted that the attacks will continue as long as the wars go on, and the assaults already have halved shipping through the region. Meanwhile, a UN panel of experts now allege that the Houthis may be shaking down some shippers for about $180 million a month for safe passage through the area.
A vessel in the southern reaches of the Red Sea, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of the rebel-held port city of Hodeida, reported the attack, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.
No one was wounded on board in the blasts, and the ship was continuing on its journey, the UKMTO added.
The Houthis didn’t immediately claim the attack. However, it can take the rebels hours or even days before they acknowledge one of their assaults.
The Houthis have targeted more than 90 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October 2023. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign, which also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well.
The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
The Houthis have shot down multiple American MQ-9 Reaper drones as well.
The last Houthi maritime attack came Oct. 28 and targeted the Liberian-flagged bulk tanker Motaro. Before that, an Oct. 10 attack targeted the Liberian-flagged chemical tanker Olympic Spirit.
It’s unclear why the Houthis’ attacks have dropped, though they have launched multiple missiles toward Israel as well. On Oct. 17, the US military unleashed B-2 stealth bombers to target underground bunkers used by the rebels. US airstrikes also have been targeting Houthi positions in recent days as well.
Meanwhile, a report by UN experts from October says “the Houthis allegedly collected illegal fees from a few shipping agencies to allow their ships to sail through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden without being attacked.” It put the money generated a month at around $180 million, though it stressed it hadn’t been able to corroborate the information provided by sources to the panel.
The Houthis haven’t directly responded to the allegation. However, the report did include two threatening emails the Houthis sent to shippers, with one of those vessels later coming under attack by the rebels.


No repeat of Jerusalem incident will be accepted, France says

No repeat of Jerusalem incident will be accepted, France says
Updated 12 November 2024
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No repeat of Jerusalem incident will be accepted, France says

No repeat of Jerusalem incident will be accepted, France says

PARIS: A repeat of an incident in Jerusalem that saw armed Israeli security forces entering a property administered by France must never happen again, France’s foreign minister said ahead of summoning Israel’s envoy on Tuesday.
Two French security officials with diplomatic status were briefly detained on Nov. 7 after Jean-Noel Barrot was due to visit the compound of The Church of the Pater Noster on the Mount of Olives.
The site, one of four administered by France in Jerusalem, is under Paris’ responsibility and it not the first time that problems have arisen over France’s historic holdings in the Holy City.
“It is an opportunity for France to reiterate that it will not tolerate Israeli armed forces entering these areas, for which it (France) is responsible, for which it ensures protection,” Barrot told France 24 television when asked what the ambassador would be told.
“And to strongly reaffirm that this incident must never happen again, meaning that Israeli forces enter armed and without authorization.”
Israel’s ambassador is due to meet Barrot’s chief of staff at the foreign ministry on Tuesday.
Israel’s foreign ministry has said that every visiting foreign leader is accompanied by its security personnel, a point that had been “clarified in advance in the preparatory dialogue with the French Embassy in Israel.”
Diplomatic relations between France and Israel have worsened since President Emmanuel Macron called for an end to the supply to Israel of offensive weapons used in Gaza.
The French government also attempted to ban Israeli weapons’ firms from exhibiting at a trade fair in Paris and has become increasingly uneasy over Israel’s conduct in the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.


Israel says it is pushing to get aid into Gaza before US deadline as fighting persists

Israel says it is pushing to get aid into Gaza before US deadline as fighting persists
Updated 37 min 16 sec ago
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Israel says it is pushing to get aid into Gaza before US deadline as fighting persists

Israel says it is pushing to get aid into Gaza before US deadline as fighting persists
  • US gave 30-day deadline to Israel to get aid in to Gaza
  • Aid groups say not enough has been done
  • Some 24 Palestinians, 4 Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza

CAIRO/JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had delivered hundreds of packets of food to cut-off areas of northern Gaza as fighting raged ahead of a US deadline for Israel to get more aid into the Palestinian enclave or face cuts in military assistance.
Palestinian medics said at least 24 people had been killed in Israeli strikes in different parts of the Gaza Strip overnight and into Tuesday, including 10 people killed in a house in Beit Hanoun and two others in the nearby town of Beit Lahiya.
Four Israeli soldiers were killed in northern Gaza, the military said.
For more than a month, Israeli troops have been laying siege to the northern end of Gaza in a push the military says is aimed at squeezing out Hamas militants reforming in the area around the town of Jabalia.
The military says it has killed or captured hundreds of fighters but Israel has faced growing international pressure over the disastrous humanitarian situation facing civilians who have been largely cut off from aid for weeks.
“We are witnessing alarming cases of malnutrition among both children and adults. We are struggling to provide even one meal a day for our hospital workers amidst severe food and medical supply shortages,” said Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.
“We are losing lives every day due to the lack of specialized care and resources,” he added.
This week, the outgoing US administration is expected to judge whether Israel has done enough to meet a demand issued last month to get more aid flowing into Gaza, now reduced to a wasteland after more than a year of war.
Last week, a committee of global food security experts warned of a strong likelihood that famine was imminent in certain areas of northern Gaza, a claim which Israel rejected.
As the 30-day deadline imposed by Washington has approached, Israeli authorities have been rushing to meet some of the US demands but it remains unclear whether enough has been done to satisfy US requirements.
On Tuesday, the military said it had opened a fifth crossing into Gaza, one of the US demands, which it said would help get food, water, medical supplies, and shelter equipment to central and southern Gaza.
It said hundreds of food packages and thousands of liters of water had been delivered a day earlier to distribution centers for civilians in the area of Beit Hanoun, on Gaza’s northern edge.
It said 741 trucks of aid had been delivered into northern Gaza through the Erez crossing since October, while 244 patients had been evacuated for treatment.
However international aid groups said the effort falls short of what would be needed while Israel’s military operation in northern Gaza had worsened the situation.

FIGHTING CONTINUES
Even as the military announced the deliveries, prospects of an agreement to halt the fighting appeared as distant as ever with the imminent return of Donald Trump as US President giving a lift to hard-liners in the Israeli government.
Outgoing President Joe Biden has offered heavy backing to Israel since Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel last October, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. But as the toll from Israel’s relentless campaign in Gaza has mounted, relations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have been increasingly fractious.
More than 43,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza over the past year and Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland of wrecked buildings and piles of rubble where more than 2 million Gazans seek shelter as best they can.
Israel’s campaign in the north of Gaza, and the evacuation of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the area, has fueled accusations from Palestinians and others that it is clearing the area for use as a buffer zone and potentially for a return of Jewish settlers to the area after the war.
On Tuesday, residents said Israeli tanks advanced deeper in Beit Hanoun and besieged four displaced families before ordering them to leave toward Gaza City.
The Israeli military has denied any such intention, and Netanyahu has said he does not want to reverse the 2005 withdrawal of settlers from Gaza. Hard-liners in his government have talked openly about going back.
On Monday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that, with the backing of the next Trump administration, he hoped Israel could annex parts of the occupied West Bank as early as next year, although no formal cabinet decision has been taken.
The call was nonetheless condemned by Qatar, which has said it will it halt its efforts to mediate a Gaza ceasefire and a hostage return until both sides show “willingness and seriousness.”