Netanyahu pushes back against new pressure over Gaza and hostages: ‘No one will preach to me’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will continue to insist on maintaining an Israeli presence along Gaza’s border with Egypt as part of any ceasefire deal. (AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will continue to insist on maintaining an Israeli presence along Gaza’s border with Egypt as part of any ceasefire deal. (AFP)
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Updated 03 September 2024
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Netanyahu pushes back against new pressure over Gaza and hostages: ‘No one will preach to me’

Netanyahu pushes back against new pressure over Gaza and hostages: ‘No one will preach to me’
  • Israel has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials
  • PM demand to remain in Philadelphi corridor has been major sticking point in ceasefire talks with Hamas
  • Government under heavy pressure to reach deal after militants killed six hostages

TEL AVIV, Israel: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday pushed back against a new wave of pressure to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza after hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested and went on strike and US President Joe Biden said he needed to do more after nearly 11 months of fighting.
In his first public address since Sunday’s mass protests showed many Israelis’ furious response to the discovery of six more dead hostages, Netanyahu said he will continue to insist on a demand that has emerged as a major sticking point in talks — continued Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow band along Gaza’s border with Egypt where Israel contends Hamas smuggles weapons into Gaza. Egypt and Hamas deny it.
Netanyahu called the corridor vital to ensuring Hamas cannot rearm via tunnels. “This is the oxygen of Hamas,” he said.
And he added: “No one is more committed to freeing the hostages than me. ... No one will preach to me on this issue.’
Israelis had poured into the streets late Sunday in grief and anger in what appeared to be the largest protest since the start of the war. The families and much of the public blamed Netanyahu, saying the hostages could have been returned alive in a deal with Hamas. A rare general strike was held across the country on Monday.
Late Monday, several thousand demonstrators gathered outside Netanyahu’s private home in central Jerusalem, chanting, “Deal. Now.” and carrying coffins draped in the Israeli flag. Scuffles broke out when police snatched away the coffins, and several protesters were arrested. Thousands more marched outside Netanyahu’s Likud party in Tel Aviv, according to Israeli media.
But others support Netanyahu’s drive to continue the campaign in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel and has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in the territory. Netanyahu says the assault will force militants to give in to Israeli demands, potentially facilitate rescue operations and ultimately annihilate the group.
Key ally the United States is showing impatience. Biden spoke to reporters as he arrived at the White House for a Situation Room meeting with the US mediation team in the negotiations. Asked if Netanyahu was doing enough, Biden responded, “No.”
He insisted that negotiators remain “very close” to a deal, adding, “Hope springs eternal.”
Hamas has accused Israel of dragging out months of negotiations by issuing new demands, including for lasting Israeli control over the Philadelphi corridor and a second corridor running across Gaza. Hamas has offered to release all hostages in return for an end to the war, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants — broadly the terms called for under an outline for a deal put forward by Biden in July.
Netanyahu has pledged “total victory” over Hamas and blames it for the failure of the negotiations. On Monday, he said he is ready to carry out the first phase of the ceasefire — a plan that would include the release of some hostages, a partial pullout of Israeli troops and the release of some prisoners held by Israel. But he rejected a full withdrawal from Gaza, saying he saw no other party that could control Gaza’s borders.
Israeli media have reported deep differences between Netanyahu and top security officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who say the time is ripe for a ceasefire.
An official confirmed a shouting match between Gallant and Netanyahu at a security cabinet meeting Thursday, where Netanyahu held a vote in favor of maintaining control over the Philadelphi corridor.
Gallant cast the lone vote against the proposal, saying Netanyahu was favoring border arrangements over the lives of hostages. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door meeting. Gallant on Sunday called on the security cabinet to overturn the decision.
Khalil Al-Hayya, the Hamas official leading the negotiations, told the Qatari network Al Jazeera late Sunday that Netanyahu had deemed keeping the Philadelphi corridor “more important” than winning the hostages’ release.
Al-Hayya also said Hamas had offered “great flexibility,” including reducing its demand for 500 Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for each captive Israeli soldier to 50, and from 250 Palestinian prisoners or each Israeli civilian hostage to 30. He accused Israel of introducing new conditions including increasing the number of prisoners who would be deported upon release and banning the release of elderly or ill prisoners serving life sentences.
Israel said the six hostages found dead in Gaza were killed by Hamas shortly before Israeli forces arrived in the tunnel where they were held.
Hamas’ armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, appeared to say in a statement Monday that it now had a policy of killing any hostages that Israel tries to rescue. It said that after Israeli troops rescued four hostages in a deadly raid in June, it issued new orders to its fighters guarding hostages on how to deal with them if Israeli troops approach. It said that Netanyahu’s insistence on using military pressure instead of reaching a deal “will mean they (hostages) will return to their families in coffins.”
Three of the slain hostages were reportedly among those who would have been released in the first phase of the ceasefire proposal outlined by Biden in July.
Thousands attended the funeral Monday for one of the six, Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin. He was one of the best-known hostages, with his parents leading a high-profile campaign for the captives’ release, meeting with Biden and Pope Francis and addressing the Democratic National Convention last month.
The general strike, called by Israel’s largest trade union, the Histadrut, ended early after a labor court accepted a petition from the government calling it politically motivated.
It was the first such strike since the start of the war, aiming to shut down or disrupt major sectors of the economy, including banking and health care. Some flights at Israel’s main international airport, Ben-Gurion, either departed early or were slightly delayed.
“There’s no need to punish the whole state of Israel because of what is happening, overall, it is a victory for Hamas,” said one passenger, Amrani Yigal.
But in Jerusalem, resident Avi Lavi said that “I think this is fair, the time has come to stand and to wake up, to do everything for the hostages to come back alive.”
Municipalities in Israel’s populated central area, including Tel Aviv, participated. Others, including Jerusalem, did not.
Some 250 hostages were taken on Oct. 7. More than 100 were freed during a ceasefire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Eight have been rescued by Israeli forces. Israeli troops mistakenly killed three Israelis who escaped captivity in December.
Roughly 100 hostages remain in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, when they stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not say how many were militants.
The war has displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, often multiple times, and plunged the besieged territory into a humanitarian catastrophe, including new fears of a polio outbreak.
Meanwhile, Israel continued its six-day raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. AP reporters saw bulldozers tearing up roads. The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces were blocking their ambulances from reaching the wounded.
Palestinians in a town outside Jenin held a funeral for a 58-year-old man, Ayman Abed, who was arrested the day before and died in Israeli custody. The Israeli military said he died from a “cardiac event,” but did not provide details. Human rights groups have reported abuses of Palestinians detained by Israel, and the military has confirmed the deaths of at least 36 Palestinians in its detention centers since October.
Israel says it has killed 14 militants in Jenin and arrested 25 militants. Palestinian health officials say at least 29 people have been killed, including five children.
Mohannad Hajj Hussein, a Jenin resident, said electricity and water were cut off. “We are ready to live by candlelight and we will feed our children from our bodies and teach them resistance and steadfastness in this land,” he said. “We will rebuild what the occupation destroyed and we will not kneel.”
 

 


Detained Tunisian opponents demand public trial in ‘plot against state’ case

Detained Tunisian opponents demand public trial in ‘plot against state’ case
Updated 41 min 54 sec ago
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Detained Tunisian opponents demand public trial in ‘plot against state’ case

Detained Tunisian opponents demand public trial in ‘plot against state’ case
  • Around 40 people are facing charges of “conspiracy against internal and external state security” and “belonging a terrorist group“
  • With the trial set to begin on March 4, judicial authorities have scheduled a remote hearing for eight of the defendants

TUNIS: Several jailed Tunisian opposition figures demanded a public trial, their relatives and lawyers said Thursday on their behalf at a press conference.
Around 40 people — including prominent politicians, lawyers, and media personalities — are facing charges of “conspiracy against internal and external state security” and “belonging a terrorist group.”
A number were detained in a wave of arrests in February 2023, after President Kais Saied had dubbed them “terrorists.”
With the trial set to begin on March 4, judicial authorities have scheduled a remote hearing for eight of the defendants, which their lawyers and relatives said was unfair.
They include politician Jawhar Ben Mbarek, Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party leader Abdelhamid Jelassi, and Issam Chebbi, a leader of the opposition National Salvation Front.
“We want a public trial, neither remote nor behind closed doors,” Ben Mbarek wrote in a letter read by his father, leftist activist Ezzeddine Hazgui, at the press briefing in Tunis.
“We are certain of our innocence, and if the regime shuts the courtroom doors to the public, it’s because they are ashamed of their fabricated case,” he added, denouncing what he said was “judicial harassment” against politicians, unionists and activists.
Ridha BelHajj, a former minister also detained, echoed the demand for a transparent hearing.
“Our trial on March 4 must be public, with our physical presence in court, and open to the press and people to guarantee fairness,” he wrote.
Lawyer Dalila Msaddek, from the detainees’ defense committee, said that while many are in custody, some remain free pending trial, while others have fled abroad.
The case has also named Bochra BelHajj Hmida, a former member of parliament and human rights activist now living in France, along with National Salvation Front coalition leader Ahmed Nejib Chebbi and lawyer Ayachi Hammami, both prominent critics of President Kais Saied.


US aid cuts force UNICEF to reduce Lebanon nutrition programs, official says

US aid cuts force UNICEF to reduce Lebanon nutrition programs, official says
Updated 28 February 2025
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US aid cuts force UNICEF to reduce Lebanon nutrition programs, official says

US aid cuts force UNICEF to reduce Lebanon nutrition programs, official says
  • “We have been forced to suspend or cut back or drastically reduce many of our programs and that includes nutrition programs,” UNICEF’s deputy representative in Lebanon said
  • “The assessment revealed a grim picture of children’s nutrition situation, particularly in the Baalbeck and Bekaa governorates

GENEVA: US aid cuts have forced the UN children’s agency UNICEF to suspend or scale back many programs in Lebanon, with more than half of children under the age of two experiencing severe food poverty in the country’s east, a UNICEF official said on Friday.
“We have been forced to suspend or cut back or drastically reduce many of our programs and that includes nutrition programs,” UNICEF’s deputy representative in Lebanon, Ettie Higgins, told reporters in Geneva via video link from Beirut.
More than double the number of children faced food shortages in the eastern Bekaa and Baalbek regions of the country compared to two years ago, according to a UNICEF report that studied the impact of 14 months of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel that began in October 2023.
“The assessment revealed a grim picture of children’s nutrition situation, particularly in the Baalbeck and Bekaa governorates, which remained densely populated when they were repeatedly targeted by air strikes,” said Higgins.
Nearly 80 percent of families were in need of urgent support and 31 percent of households did not have enough drinking water, putting them at risk of disease, the report found.
UNICEF raised alarm about the impact of US aid cuts and a broader decline in global humanitarian funding.
“More than half a million children and their families (in Lebanon) risk losing critical cash support from UN agencies this month. These cuts would strip the most vulnerable of their last lifeline, leaving them unable to afford even the most basic necessities,” Higgins added.
Only 26 percent of UNICEF’s 2025 Lebanon appeal is funded.
A ceasefire ended the conflict in Lebanon in November, which began when Hezbollah opened fire on Israel on October 8, 2023 in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas. Some 3,800 people were killed and more than a million people were displaced by Israeli air strikes in Lebanon, while tens of thousands of Israelis were displaced in northern Israel.
President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day pause on all foreign aid in January to carry out a review to ensure all the projects were aligned with his “America First” policy. On Wednesday his administration said it was cutting more than 90 percent of the US Agency for International Development’s aid contracts.


Kurdish militants in Iraq, Syria must lay down weapons, Erdogan’s party says

Kurdish militants in Iraq, Syria must lay down weapons, Erdogan’s party says
Updated 28 February 2025
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Kurdish militants in Iraq, Syria must lay down weapons, Erdogan’s party says

Kurdish militants in Iraq, Syria must lay down weapons, Erdogan’s party says
  • The Syrian Kurdish YPG has said Ocalan’s message did not apply to them
  • AK Party spokesman Omer Celik said the call would advance the government’s ambitions of a “terror-free Turkiye” if heeded

ANKARA: All Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria, including US-allied Syrian Kurdish forces, must lay down their weapons after the peace call from the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Turkiye’s ruling AK Party said on Friday.
Thursday’s call from PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan for the group to disarm and disband could potentially lead to ending a 40-year conflict and have far-reaching political and security consequences for the region.
The PKK has not yet reacted to the call, but the Syrian Kurdish YPG, the spearhead of a key US ally against Daesh in Syria that Ankara views as an extension of the PKK, has said Ocalan’s message did not apply to them.
Speaking to reporters in Istanbul, AK Party spokesman Omer Celik said the call would advance the government’s ambitions of a “terror-free Turkiye” if heeded, but added that there would be no negotiating or bargaining with the PKK.
“Regardless of what name it uses, the terrorist organization must lay down its weapons and disarm itself, along with all its elements and extensions in Iraq and Syria,” Celik said.
The PKK launched its insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984 and is now based in the mountains of northern Iraq. It is designated a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the United States and European Union. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
Ankara has repeatedly called on the YPG to disarm since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad last year, warning that it would face military action otherwise.
Ocalan’s call, prompted by a surprise proposal
last October from an ultra-nationalist ally of the Turkish president, has been
welcomed by the United States, European Union, and other Western allies, as well as Turkiye’s neighbors Iraq and Iran.


Saudi crown prince, Egypt congratulate Salam on government gaining parliament’s confidence

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam
Updated 28 February 2025
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Saudi crown prince, Egypt congratulate Salam on government gaining parliament’s confidence

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam
  • Prime minister: We have begun contacts with companies and countries to expedite exploration

BEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam received a congratulatory message from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after forming a government and gaining parliamentary confidence.

In his message, the crown prince wished Salam “success, and continued progress and prosperity for the brotherly people of the Lebanese Republic.”

For its part, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said that “the Lebanese government gaining Parliament’s confidence marks the beginning of a new phase that contributes to restoring security and stability in Lebanon.”

Salam's government secured the confidence of 95 MPs, including Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, while 12 voted “no confidence,” most of whom were from the Free Patriotic Movement. Four MPs abstained from expressing their opinion.

The vote came after marathon parliamentary sessions over the past two days to discuss the ministerial statement, which serves as a government action plan. The statement outlines policies for approximately a year and three months, which is the government’s expected term until the next parliamentary elections.

President Joseph Aoun on Thursday praised the “confidence granted by the MPs” and said he respects “the position of those who did not grant it, as opposition in our parliamentary democratic system is a right, a duty, a necessity, and a responsibility.”

The prime minister responded to the deputies’ discussions on his government’s statement, by affirming that his cabinet will deal with the deputies’ remarks “with all seriousness.”

Salam promised “to boost the trust of the parliament and the people in the government.”

He said: “We are committed to listening to constructive criticism, away from bickering, incitement, or stirring sectarian tensions.”

The prime minister said that the Israeli withdrawal and reconstruction are the government’s top priority.

“Achieving the complete withdrawal of the Israeli troops from Lebanese territories is a top priority for our government,” he said. “Our stance is clear and unambiguous, and we will call for the implementation of the withdrawal according to the international borders stipulated in the 1949 truce agreement.

“We have launched a wide diplomatic campaign to explain our stance and gain the international and Arab support to force Israel to stop its violations of the Lebanese sovereignty, implement Resolution 1701 and fully withdraw from our territory.”

The prime minister announced his government’s commitment to establishing a transparent, independent reconstruction fund to rebuild war-damaged areas and address social consequences of the conflict.

“We recognize our responsibility to create a fund that will gain the confidence of the Lebanese people, international community, and potential donors,” Salam said. He emphasized that Lebanon would reject any attempts to impose political conditions on reconstruction assistance.

Additionally, he revealed that his government has initiated communications with relevant companies and countries regarding oil and gas exploration, with plans to accelerate extraction operations to benefit Lebanon’s economic interests.

Salam said that the return of Syrian refugees to their country requires “a sustainable return, which means a clear plan and a frank and serious dialogue with the Syrian authorities, along with coordination with the relevant UN agencies.”

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Armed Forces announced the “discovery of two spy devices planted by the Israeli enemy, during engineering survey operations carried out by a specialized unit of the army in the southern regions.”

The army called on citizens to “avoid approaching or touching these objects, as they pose an imminent danger to their lives, and to report them to the nearest military center for their safety.”

Meanwhile, Hezbollah continued to bury dead members whose bodies were found in villages from which the Israeli forces had withdrawn after their incursion in the border region during the war. The forces Israelis control five strategic hills overlooking southern Lebanon and Israeli settlements, but have not specified a date for their withdrawal.
 

 


Israel says killed Hezbollah militant in Lebanon strike

Israel says killed Hezbollah militant in Lebanon strike
Updated 28 February 2025
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Israel says killed Hezbollah militant in Lebanon strike

Israel says killed Hezbollah militant in Lebanon strike
  • The slain militant had “recently been involved in transporting weapons from Syria to Lebanon“
  • A Lebanese lawmaker for Hezbollah, Ihab Hamadeh, condemned the strike

JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said Friday it had killed a Hezbollah weapons smuggler in a strike on eastern Lebanon a day earlier, the latest attack since a November ceasefire halted the Israel-Hezbollah war.
Lebanon’s health ministry on Thursday reported one death and one injury in a strike on a vehicle in Hermel, the area the Israeli military said it had targeted.
In a statement, the military said the Israeli air force “conducted an intelligence-based strike in the area of Hermel and eliminated the terrorist Mohammed Mahdi Ali Shaheen... who had been coordinating terrorist transactions for the purchase of weapons.”
It added that the slain militant had “recently been involved in transporting weapons from Syria to Lebanon.”
His actions, according to the military statement, “posed a threat to the State of Israel and constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon” that ended the war with Hezbollah.
A Lebanese lawmaker for Hezbollah, Ihab Hamadeh, condemned the strike on the group’s Telegram channel, saying it had targeted “innocent civilians.”
The November 27 truce agreement ended more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of all-out war during which Israel sent in ground troops.
Israel continues to carry out regular strikes on Lebanese territory and the two sides regularly accuse each other of violating the truce, which nevertheless has largely held.
Israeli forces were to pull out from Lebanon on February 18 under the agreement, but kept troops at five locations that authorities deemed “strategic” in Lebanon’s south, near the border.
On Thursday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces would remain indefinitely in what he called a “buffer zone” in southern Lebanon.
The conflict significantly weakened Hezbollah and decimated its leadership.
The hostilities were initiated by Hezbollah in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas after the unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel sparked the war in Gaza.