Gaza hostage talks ‘closest’ to deal since start of war: Qatar

Gaza hostage talks ‘closest’ to deal since start of war: Qatar
Family members, friends and supporters of hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7 attack by Hamas militants in southern Israel, hold images of those taken during a protest calling for their release outside the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem (AFP)
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Updated 21 November 2023
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Gaza hostage talks ‘closest’ to deal since start of war: Qatar

Gaza hostage talks ‘closest’ to deal since start of war: Qatar
  • Qatar has helped broker talks aiming to free some of the 240 hostages in return for a temporary ceasefire
  • Israel has launched a relentless retaliatory bombing campaign and ground offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza, killing more than 13,300 people

DOHA: Negotiations to free hostages seized in Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel are at their “closest point” to a deal and have reached the “final stage,” mediator Qatar said Tuesday.
“We are at the closest point we ever had been in reaching an agreement,” foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said, adding negotiations have reached a “critical and final stage.”
Qatar has helped broker talks aiming to free some of the 240 hostages in return for a temporary cease-fire, a mediation effort that has so far led to the release of four hostages.
“We are very optimistic, very hopeful,” Al-Ansari told a briefing.
“But we are also very keen for this mediation to succeed in reaching a humanitarian truce,” he said.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the October 7 attacks, which Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
Israel has launched a relentless retaliatory bombing campaign and ground offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza, killing more than 13,300 people, two-thirds of them women or children, according to the territory’s health ministry.
The United States said Saturday it was still working to secure a deal between Israel and Hamas after the Washington Post reported there was a tentative agreement to free women and children hostages in exchange for a pause in fighting.
Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said all parties would halt combat operations for at least five days while some hostages were to be released in batches.
The White House quickly responded on Saturday evening with a message on X, formerly Twitter, to deny any major breakthrough.
“We have seen a lot of the leaks or the statements here and there but we would prefer to keep our statements until we have a final decision on the agreement,” Al-Ansari said.

Here is what we know:

Early Tuesday, Qatar-based Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a brief statement posted online: “We are close to reaching a deal on a truce.” Hamas and Islamic Jihad sources said details of the agreement would be announced officially by Qatar and other mediators. “We are at the closest point we ever had been in reaching an agreement,” Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said later Tuesday, adding negotiations were at a “critical and final stage.”

Two sources close to the tentative deal have said that between 50 and 100 civilian hostages would be released, but no military personnel.

In exchange, Israel would release from its prisons 300 Palestinians, among them women and children.

The transfer would span several days, with 10 hostages and 30 Palestinians prisoners released each day.

But the same sources said Israel had insisted that captive soldiers should also be released if they are related to a civilian abductee freed by the militants — despite Hamas objections.

“Qatar and Egypt are currently working with the US administration to resolve that issue,” the sources said, adding that only then would a date for a truce be announced.

According to the same sources, the deal includes a “complete cease-fire” on the ground for five days, with Israel allowed to fly sorties over northern Gaza for 18 hours a day.

The deal also provides for between 100 and 300 trucks of food and medical aid, as well as fuel, to enter Gaza, the sources said.


Inaction on Gaza amounts to ‘approval’ of killing children: UNICEF

Inaction on Gaza amounts to ‘approval’ of killing children: UNICEF
Updated 9 sec ago
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Inaction on Gaza amounts to ‘approval’ of killing children: UNICEF

Inaction on Gaza amounts to ‘approval’ of killing children: UNICEF
  • Israeli warplanes resumed bombing Gaza, sending Palestinian civilians fleeing for shelter, after a week-old truce ran out with no deal to extend it

GENEVA: UNICEF has appealed for a lasting ceasefire to be implemented in Gaza, describing inaction as “an approval of the killing of children” after a week-old truce between Israel and Hamas collapsed.
“A lasting ceasefire must be implemented,” James Elder, spokesperson for UNICEF, told reporters via video link from Gaza.
“Inaction at its core is an approval of the killing of children.”
The UN described the hostilities as “catastrophic” and urged parties to bring about a lasting ceasefire.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office in Geneva, said the resumption of hostilities meant “hell on Earth has returned to Gaza.”
Israeli warplanes resumed bombing Gaza, sending Palestinian civilians fleeing for shelter, after a week-old truce ran out with no deal to extend it.
“The resumption of hostilities in Gaza is catastrophic,” said Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“I urge all parties and states with influence over them to redouble efforts, immediately, to ensure a ceasefire – on humanitarian and human rights grounds.”
In a post on X social media platform, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he regretted the resumption of hostilities and hoped a new pause could be established.
“The return to hostilities only shows how important it is to have a true humanitarian ceasefire,” he said.
Laerke said that the week-long truce had seen significantly larger humanitarian convoys entering densely populated Gaza, even reaching north of Wadi Gaza, which prior to the pause had received almost no supplies.
“With the resumption of war, we fear that the continuation of this (aid) is now in doubt,” he said.
“The Rafah crossing is closed as of now. We need a resumption of a humanitarian pause, not a return to war.”

 


11 civilians dead in eastern Iraq attack blamed on Daesh

11 civilians dead in eastern Iraq attack blamed on Daesh
Updated 25 min 14 sec ago
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11 civilians dead in eastern Iraq attack blamed on Daesh

11 civilians dead in eastern Iraq attack blamed on Daesh
  • About 2,500 US troops remain in Iraq as part of international efforts to prevent a resurgence of Daesh

BAGHDAD: A blast and gunfire killed at least 11 civilians in eastern Iraq, two security officials said on Friday, an attack that the provincial governor blamed on Daesh extremists.
The violence in Diyala province occurred on Thursday evening.
It targeted a minibus returning the civilians from an electoral meeting organized by a candidate from their tribe, said an Interior Ministry official.
Muthana Al-Tamimi, the governor of Diyala, which is just outside Baghdad, denounced “a cowardly operation” by Daesh.
On his Facebook page, he called on the security forces to “intensify vigilance against dormant cells” of the extremists.
IS did not immediately claim the attack in Diyala, an area where its cells remain active.

BACKGROUND

Muthana Al-Tamimi, the governor of Diyala, which is just outside Baghdad, denounced ‘a cowardly operation’ by Daesh.

After rapidly taking over large swaths of territory in Iraq and neighboring Syria, Daesh saw its brutal “caliphate,” self-proclaimed in 2014, collapse under successive offensives in both countries.
Iraqi authorities declared “victory” over the extremist group at the end of 2017, but jihadist cells continue to sporadically launch attacks, particularly on military and police personnel in remote areas of central and northern Iraq.
In the Diyala unrest, at least “11 people were killed and 17 wounded in an attack carried out by an explosive device then gunfire targeting the gathering” provoked by the initial blast in Al-Omraniya village, said a second security source in Baghdad.
The Interior Ministry source said the minibus was targeted “by two homemade bombs on its return from an electoral meeting.”
Sniper fire followed, according to this source, who gave a toll of 12 civilians dead and 13 wounded.
The attack came ahead of the election on Dec. 18 of provincial councils, which in turn elect the governors.
Iraq is trying to move past four decades of war and unrest, including the overthrow 20 years ago of the dictator Saddam Hussein in a US-led invasion.
About 2,500 US troops remain in Iraq as part of international efforts to prevent a resurgence of IS.
A UN report published in July said Daesh has “between 5,000 and 7,000 members across Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, most of whom are fighters.”

 


Truce breakdown brings ‘nightmare’ back to Gaza Strip, says ICRC chief

Truce breakdown brings ‘nightmare’ back to Gaza Strip, says ICRC chief
Updated 48 min 55 sec ago
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Truce breakdown brings ‘nightmare’ back to Gaza Strip, says ICRC chief

Truce breakdown brings ‘nightmare’ back to Gaza Strip, says ICRC chief
  • Combat resumed shortly after Israel’s army said it had intercepted a rocket fired from Gaza, the first from the territory since a missile launched minutes into the start of the truce on Nov. 24

DUBAI: Renewed fighting in Gaza after a week-long truce has brought back a “nightmarish situation” for the Palestinian territory, the head of the Red Cross said.
Speaking on the sidelines of the UN’s COP28 climate talks in Dubai, Robert Mardini said “people are at a breaking point, hospitals are at a breaking point, the whole Gaza Strip is in a very precarious state.”
Resumption of fighting brings the people of Gaza “back to the nightmarish situation they were in before the truce took place,” said Mardini, director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
He noted their “suffering, destruction, fear, anxiety, and precarious living conditions.”
Israel’s military said fighter jets were striking Hamas targets in Gaza on Friday, as journalists reported air attacks in the north and south of the territory.
Combat resumed shortly after Israel’s army said it had intercepted a rocket fired from Gaza, the first from the territory since a missile launched minutes into the start of the truce on Nov. 24.
“There is nowhere safe to go for civilians,” Mardini said, stressing the challenges hospitals and humanitarian organizations face.
“We have seen in the hospitals where our teams have been working that over the past days, hundreds of severely injured people have arrived,” he said.
“The influx of severely wounded outpaced the real capacity of hospitals to absorb and treat the wounded, so there is a massive challenge.”
During the seven-day truce, 80 Israeli hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners were released after negotiations mediated by Qatar with support from Egypt and the US.
ICRC vehicles brought out both hostages and prisoners.
“We have seen so far that releases only happened when there was a truce because you need certain conditions to be met to do this,” Mardini said.
“We stand ready as the ICRC to facilitate those releases.”
Renewed fighting also threatens the entry of aid to Gaza, where about 80 percent of the population is displaced and grappling with shortages of food, water, and other essentials.
“With the resumption of hostilities, the likelihood will be that less aid will get in,” Mardini said.
“More importantly, humanitarian organizations, like the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, and others such as the ICRC and UN agencies, will have reduced capacities to deliver aid to the people,” he added.
“Even people will have reduced capacities to get to places where they could receive aid.”

 


UN Security Council puts end to mission in Sudan

UN Security Council puts end to mission in Sudan
Updated 9 min 59 sec ago
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UN Security Council puts end to mission in Sudan

UN Security Council puts end to mission in Sudan
  • Starting Monday, a three-month transition period would begin to allow for the departure of UNITAMS personnel

NEW YORK CITY: At the request of Sudanese authorities, the UN Security Council on Friday ended the world body’s political mission in the African country ravaged by more than seven months of fighting between two rival generals.
Taking note of a letter from Khartoum demanding an immediate end to the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), the Security Council adopted a resolution terminating its mandate as of Sunday.
Starting Monday, a three-month transition period would begin to allow for the departure of UNITAMS personnel and the transfer of its tasks to other UN agencies “where appropriate and to the extent feasible.”
The UN mission in Sudan employs 245 people, including 88 in Port Sudan, as well as others in Nairobi and Addis Ababa, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric confirmed last month.
Fourteen of the council’s 15 members adopted the resolution, while Russia abstained.
“Let me be clear. The United Kingdom would not have chosen to close UNITAMS at this moment,” said Britain’s deputy UN envoy James Kariuki, whose country drafted the text.
“The need for the UN and international community to support the Sudanese people has not reduced.”
In the text, the council expressed “alarm at the continued violence and humanitarian situation, in particular violations of international humanitarian law and grave human rights violations and abuses” in Sudan.
It called on all parties to “immediately cease hostilities, facilitate humanitarian access... and seek a negotiated solution to the conflict.”
UNITAMS was put in place in 2020 to help support a democratic transition in Sudan following the fall the previous year of veteran Islamist autocrat Omar Al-Bashir, who faced pressure from both the military and mass protests.
But in October 2021, the difficult path to civilian government was cut short, when army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan assumed full powers in a coup.
On April 15, before a deal on resuming the transition to democracy could be signed, fighting erupted between the Sudanese army led by Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
A few weeks later, Burhan demanded that UNITAMS chief Volker Perthes be sacked, placing blame for the violence on his shoulders.
The German diplomat, who was barred from returning to Sudan, ultimately stepped down in September, and has not been replaced.
Last month, saying the mission had been “disappointing,” the government in Khartoum demanded its immediate end, leaving the Security Council with virtually no choice but to withdraw, as the UN must operate with the host nation’s consent.
Just days ago, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres rejected all accusations made against the world body, pointing a finger at Burhan and Daglo, “two generals that completely disregard the interests of their population.”
“I think it’s time to call a spade a spade. This is the fault of those that sacrificed the interests of their people for a pure struggle for power,” Guterres said, also highlighting financial and weapons aid granted by unnamed parties.
The forced departure of UNITAMS is a new setback for the United Nations, which is facing a certain amount of hostility, notably in Africa, about the efficiency of its political and security missions.
Under pressure from Mali’s ruling junta, the Security Council ended its peacekeeping mission in that country (MINUSMA) in June, and its blue helmets should be full withdrawn by year’s end.
Despite the end of UNITAMS, “what is clear and what should be clear to everyone is that the United Nations is not leaving Sudan,” Dujarric said Thursday, saying the world body would pursue its humanitarian programs and some political initiatives.
Guterres has named Algerian diplomat Ramtane Lamamra as his personal envoy for Sudan.
The UN has a significant number of humanitarian workers who assist those in need of aid “despite the funding shortages we speak about all the time and despite the fighting that continues,” Dujarric said.
The civil war has left more than 10,000 dead since April, according to an estimate by the non-governmental organization Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (Acled), a figure that is widely considered an underestimate.
Six million people have been displaced, and much infrastructure destroyed, the UN says.


Israeli military issues Gaza evacuation zone map

Israeli military issues Gaza evacuation zone map
Updated 01 December 2023
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Israeli military issues Gaza evacuation zone map

Israeli military issues Gaza evacuation zone map
  • The map, which is in Arabic and zoomable on the military’s website, divides the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered sectors
  • Mobile networks in the Gaza Strip can be slow, with SMS deliveries sometimes taking several minutes

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military has published a map of what it called “evacuation zones” in the Gaza Strip, after international demands to create safe areas where civilians can shelter from devastating bombardments.
A truce pausing fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian territory expired on Friday, and hostilities resumed immediately, with Israeli forces bombarding several areas.
The map, which is in Arabic and zoomable on the military’s website, divides the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered sectors.
The military said it was intended to enable residents to “evacuate from specific places for their safety if required.”
Residents in multiple numbered areas were sent SMS warnings on Friday.
The Israeli forces “will begin a crushing military attack on your area of residence to eliminate the terrorist organization Hamas,” the warnings said, urging people to seek some shelter.

FASTFACT

The map, which is in Arabic and zoomable on the military’s website, divides the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered sectors.

“Stay away from all military activity of every kind,” they added.
Around 10 minutes later the explosions started.
Mobile networks in the Gaza Strip can be slow, with SMS deliveries sometimes taking several minutes.
In its announcement, the military said Hamas “turns civilian sites into military targets while using civilians and civilian facilities as a human shield.”
The map was intended to enable residents “to orient themselves and understand the instructions, and to evacuate from specific places for their safety if required,” it added.
The military did not immediately respond when asked by AFP how much notice was given to residents before an assault.
During the first phase of the war, Israel urged civilians in the northern Gaza Strip to relocate to the southern part of the territory, but UN reports indicate that a third of those killed died south of the boundary line.