Netanyahu in dispute with Israeli negotiators over ceasefire conditions, source says
Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted that Israel will not give up control of the Philadelphi Corridor
He has also said Israel must maintain checkpoints in the Netzarim Corridor
Updated 24 August 2024
Reuters
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has locked horns with Israeli ceasefire negotiators over his insistence that Israel will not pull out of the so-called Philadelphi Corridor in the south of the Gaza Strip, a person with knowledge of the talks said.
The Philadelphi Corridor, along the border with Egypt, and the Netzarim Corridor cutting across the middle of the Gaza Strip, have been two of the main sticking points in talks backed by Egypt, Qatar and the United States.
Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted that Israel will not give up control of the Philadelphi Corridor because it wants to prevent Hamas smuggling weapons and fighters across the border with Egypt. He has also said Israel must maintain checkpoints in the Netzarim Corridor to stop armed Hamas fighters moving from the southern section of the Gaza Strip into the north.
The person said Netanyahu had agreed to shift one Philadelphi position by a few hundred meters but would retain overall control of the corridor, despite pressure from members of his own negotiating team for more concessions.
“The prime minister insists that this situation will continue, contrary to pressure from certain elements in the negotiating team who are willing to withdraw from there,” said the person, who has close knowledge of the negotiations.
Israel’s Channel 12 television reported this week that Netanyahu had been bitterly critical of the negotiating team, led by David Barnea, the chief of the Mossad intelligence service, for being willing to make too many concessions.
More than 10 months after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war, the United States has been pressing Israel for an end to hostilities.
Hamas-led gunmen killed some 1,200 people and abducted around 250 hostages on Oct.7, according to Israeli tallies, while Israeli bombardments have laid waste to Gaza and killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the enclave.
Netanyahu has been under heavy pressure to reach a deal from families of some of the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza and many have been strongly critical of the failure to reach a deal, joining critics have accused him of hindering a deal for his own political purposes.
But with pressure from hard-liners in his own cabinet against any concessions, and with opinion polls indicating a pick-up in the disastrous ratings he had at the start of the war, the prime minister has said repeatedly he aims for total victory over Hamas.
Gaza’s bakeries could shut down within a week under Israel’s blockade of all food and supplies
Aid groups are trying to stretch out what little supplies they have as Israel’s blockade of all food, medicine, fuel and other supplies into Gaza enters its fifth week
Palestinians are crowding free kitchens for prepared meals, amid fears of a catastrophic rise in hunger
Updated 12 sec ago
AP
DEIR AL-BALAH: Gaza’s bakeries will run out of flour for bread within a week, the UN says. Agencies have cut food distributions to families in half. Markets are empty of most vegetables. Many aid workers cannot move around because of Israeli bombardment. For four weeks, Israel has shut off all sources of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies for the Gaza Strip’s population of more than 2 million Palestinians. It’s the longest blockade yet of Israel’s 17-month-old campaign against Hamas, with no sign of it ending. Aid workers are stretching out the supplies they have but warn of a catastrophic surge in severe hunger and malnutrition. Eventually, food will run out completely if the flow of aid is not restored, because the war has destroyed almost all local food production in Gaza. “We depend entirely on this aid box,” said Shorouq Shamlakh, a mother of three collecting her family’s monthly box of food from a UN distribution center in Jabaliya in northern Gaza. She and her children reduce their meals to make it last a month, she said. “If this closes, who else will provide us with food?” The World Food Program said Thursday that its flour for bakeries is only enough to keep producing bread for 800,000 people a day until Tuesday and that its overall food supplies will last a maximum of two weeks. As a “last resort” once all other food is exhausted, it has emergency stocks of fortified nutritional biscuits for 415,000 people. Fuel and medicine will last weeks longer before hitting zero. Hospitals are rationing antibiotics and painkillers. Aid groups are shifting limited fuel supplies between multiple needs, all indispensable — trucks to move aid, bakeries to make bread, wells and desalination plants to produce water, hospitals to keep machines running. “We have to make impossible choices. Everything is needed,” said Clémence Lagouardat, the Gaza response leader for Oxfam International, speaking from Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza at a briefing Wednesday. “It’s extremely hard to prioritize.” Compounding the problems, Israel resumed its military campaign on March 18 with bombardment that has killed hundreds of Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to health officials. It has hit humanitarian facilities, the UN says. New evacuation orders have forced more than 140,000 Palestinians to move yet again. But Israel has not resumed the system for aid groups to notify the military of their movements to ensure they were not hit by bombardment, multiple aid workers said. As a result, various groups have stopped water deliveries, nutrition for malnourished children and other programs because it’s not safe for teams to move. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid, said the system was halted during the ceasefire. Now it is implemented in some areas “in accordance with policy and operational assessments ... based on the situation on the ground,” COGAT said, without elaborating. Rising prices leave food unaffordable During the 42 days of ceasefire that began in mid-January, aid groups rushed in significant amounts of aid. Food also streamed into commercial markets. But nothing has entered Gaza since Israel cut off that flow on March 2. Israel says the siege and renewed military campaign aim to force Hamas to accept changes in their agreed-on ceasefire deal and release more hostages. Fresh produce is now rare in Gaza’s markets. Meat, chicken, potatoes, yogurt, eggs and fruits are completely gone, Palestinians say. Prices for everything else have skyrocketed out of reach for many Palestinians. A kilo (2 pounds) of onions can cost the equivalent of $14, a kilo of tomatoes goes for $6, if they can be found. Cooking gas prices have spiraled as much as 30-fold, so families are back to scrounging for wood to make fires. “It’s totally insane,” said Abeer Al-Aker, a teacher and mother of three in Gaza City. “No food, no services. … I believe that the famine has started again. ” Families depend even more on aid At the distribution center in Jabaliya, Rema Megat sorted through the food ration box for her family of 10: rice, lentils, a few cans of sardines, a half kilo of sugar, two packets of powdered milk. “It’s not enough to last a month,” she said. “This kilo of rice will be used up in one go.” The UN has cut its distribution of food rations in half to redirect more supplies to bakeries and free kitchens producing prepared meals, said Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian agency, known as OCHA. The number of prepared meals has grown 25 percent to 940,000 meals a day, she said, and bakeries are churning out more bread. But that burns through supplies faster. Once flour runs out soon, “there will be no bread production happening in a large part of Gaza,” said Gavin Kelleher, with the Norwegian Refugee Council. UNRWA, the main UN agency for Palestinians, only has a few thousand food parcels left and enough flour for a few days, said Sam Rose, the agency’s acting director in Gaza. Gaza Soup Kitchen, one of the main public kitchens, can’t get any meat or much produce, so they serve rice with canned vegetables, co-founder Hani Almadhoun said. “There are a lot more people showing up, and they’re more desperate. So people are fighting for food,” he said. Israel shows no sign of lifting the siege The United States pressured Israel to let aid into Gaza at the beginning of the war in October 2023, after Israel imposed a blockade of about two weeks. This time, it has supported Israel’s policy. Rights groups have called it a “starvation policy” that could be a war crime. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told a news conference Monday that “Israel is acting in accordance with international law.” He accused Hamas of stealing aid and said Israel is not required to let in supplies if it will be diverted to combatants. He gave no indication of whether the siege could be lifted but said Gaza had enough supplies, pointing to the aid that flowed in during the ceasefire. Hunger and hopelessness are growing Because its teams can’t coordinate movements with the military, Save the Children suspended programs providing nutrition to malnourished children, said Rachael Cummings, the group’s humanitarian response leader in Gaza. “We are expecting an increase in the rate of malnutrition,” she said. “Not only children — adolescent girls, pregnant women.” During the ceasefire, Save the Children was able to bring some 4,000 malnourished infants and children back to normal weight, said Alexandra Saif, the group’s head of humanitarian policy. About 300 malnourished patients a day were coming into its clinic in Deir Al-Balah, she said. The numbers have plunged — to zero on some days — because patients are too afraid of bombardment, she said. The multiple crises are intertwined. Malnutrition leaves kids vulnerable to pneumonia, diarrhea and other diseases. Lack of clean water and crowded conditions only spread more illnesses. Hospitals overwhelmed with the wounded can’t use their limited supplies on other patients. Aid workers say not only Palestinians, but their own staff have begun to fall into despair. “The world has lost its compass,” UNRWA’s Rose said. “There’s just a feeling here that anything could happen, and it still wouldn’t be enough for the world to say, this is enough.”
Israeli army says intercepts missile fired from Yemen
The Iran-backed Houthis have regularly fired missiles at Israel since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7, 2023, following an attack on Israel by Hamas militants
Updated 22 min 7 sec ago
AFP
Jerusalem: The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen on Sunday after it activated air raid sirens across multiple areas of the country.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the IAF (air force) prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” the military said in a statement.
The Iran-backed Houthis have regularly fired missiles at Israel since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7, 2023, following an attack on Israel by Hamas militants.
The Houthis, who have also targeted shipping vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since the Gaza war began, say they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The rebels had paused their campaign during the weeks-long truce in Gaza, which ended on March 18 when Israel resumed its bombardment of the Palestinian territory.
‘Eid of sadness’: Palestinians in Gaza mark Muslim holiday with dwindling food and no end to war
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip had little to celebrate on Sunday as they began marking a normally festive Muslim holiday with rapidly dwindling food supplies and no end in sight to the Israel-Hamas wa
Many held prayers outside demolished mosques on the Eid Al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan
Updated 20 min 41 sec ago
AP
DEIR AL-BALAH: Palestinians in the Gaza Strip had little to celebrate on Sunday as they began marking a normally festive Muslim holiday with rapidly dwindling food supplies and no end in sight to the Israeli aggression on Gaza and the West Bank.
Many held prayers outside demolished mosques on the Eid Al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. It’s supposed to be a joyous occasion, when families gather for feasts and purchase new clothes for children — but most of Gaza’s 2 million Palestinians are just trying to survive.
“It’s the Eid of Sadness,” Adel Al-Shaer said after attending outdoor prayers in the central town of Deir Al-Balah. “We lost our loved ones, our children, our lives, and our futures. We lost our students, our schools, and our institutions. We lost everything.”
Twenty members of his extended family have been killed in Israeli strikes, including four young nephews just a few days ago, he said as he broke into tears.
Israel violated the ceasefire with Hamas and resumed the war earlier this month. Israeli strikes have killed hundreds of Palestinians, and Israel has allowed no food, fuel or humanitarian aid to enter for four weeks.
“There is killing, displacement, hunger, and a siege,” said Saed Al-Kourd, another worshipper. “We go out to perform God’s rituals in order to make the children happy, but as for the joy of Eid? There is no Eid.”
Israel’s offensive has killed over 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Israel’s bombardment and ground operations have destroyed vast areas of Gaza and at their height displaced around 90 percent of the population.
Turkiye confirms Swedish journalist arrested amid protests
The jailing of Medin came just hours after the authorities released the last of 11 journalists arrested in dawn raids on Monday for covering the protests
Updated 30 March 2025
AFP
Istanbul: A Swedish journalist who was detained on his arrival in Turkiye to cover protests over the jailing of Istanbul’s mayor has been arrested on terror-related charges and for “insulting the president,” the Turkish presidency said Sunday.
Joakim Medin, who works for the Dagens ETC newspaper, “has been arrested on charges of ‘membership in an armed terrorist organization’ and ‘insulting the president’,” the presidency said.
Medin was detained on Thursday when his plane landed in Turkiye, and sent to prison the next day.
In a bulletin published by its “Disinformation Combat Center,” the presidency said Medin was “known for anti-Turkiye news and his closeness to the terrorist organization PKK,” the banned Kurdish militant group.
“This arrest decision has no connection whatsoever to journalistic activities,” it added.
The jailing of Medin came just hours after the authorities released the last of 11 journalists arrested in dawn raids on Monday for covering the protests, among them AFP photographer Yasin Akgul.
Turkish authorities have also deported BBC journalist Mark Lowen, who had been covering the protests, after holding him for 17 hours on Wednesday, saying he posed “a threat to public order,” the broadcaster said.
Turkiye’s communications directorate said Lowen had been deported “due to a lack of accreditation.”
Turkish prosecutors had already opened an investigation into Medin in 2023 over a demonstration he joined in Stockholm in which a puppet of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was hung from its feet, according to the presidency’s statement Sunday.
It said the Swedish journalist was among 15 suspects believed to have carried out, organized or publicized the demonstration.
The protest infuriated Turkish authorities, who alleged it was orchestrated by PKK members and summoned Sweden’s ambassador to Ankara.
Gaza rescuers say children among 8 killed in Israeli strike
The strike occurred as both Hamas and Israel acknowledged receiving a new truce proposal from mediators aimed at halting hostilities in Gaza
Updated 30 March 2025
AFP
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories: Gaza’s civil defense agency reported that an Israeli air strike on Sunday on a house and a tent sheltering displaced people killed at least eight, including five children, as Palestinians observed the first day of Eid Al-Fitr.
The strike occurred as both Hamas and Israel acknowledged receiving a new truce proposal from mediators aimed at halting hostilities in Gaza during the holiday.
“There are eight martyrs, including five children, following a pre-dawn Israeli air strike on a house and a tent sheltering displaced people in Khan Yunis,” Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defense agency, told AFP.
A fragile truce that had provided weeks of relative calm in the Gaza Strip collapsed on March 18 when Israel resumed its aerial bombardment and ground offensive in the Palestinian territory.
Sunday’s air strike came as mediators — Egypt, Qatar, and the United States — continued efforts to broker a ceasefire and secure the release of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.
A senior Hamas official stated on Saturday that the group had approved a new ceasefire proposal put forward by mediators and urged Israel to support it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed receipt of the proposal and stated that Israel had submitted a counterproposal in response.
However, the details of the latest mediation efforts remain undisclosed.
The ongoing war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
During the attack, militants also abducted 251 individuals, 58 of whom remain in captivity -including 34 whom the Israeli military says are deceased.
Since the Hamas attack, Israel’s military campaign against the Palestinian group has killed at least 50,277 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
