Biden calls for immediate ceasefire in call with Netanyahu, White House says

Biden calls for immediate ceasefire in call with Netanyahu, White House says
Smoke rises from a building destroyed in Israeli airstrike at the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on January 12, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 13 January 2025
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Biden calls for immediate ceasefire in call with Netanyahu, White House says

Biden calls for immediate ceasefire in call with Netanyahu, White House says
  • Development takes place as US officials race to reach Gaza ceasefire deal before Biden leaves office
  • Parties were “very, very close” to reaching a deal, still have to get it across finish line, says Biden aide

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden spoke on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said, as US officials race to reach a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal before Biden leaves office on Jan. 20.
Biden and Netanyahu discussed efforts underway to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the Palestinian enclave and free the remaining hostages there, the White House said in a statement after the two leaders spoke by telephone.
Biden “stressed the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and return of the hostages with a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by a stoppage in the fighting under the deal,” it said.
Netanyahu updated Biden on progress in the talks and on the mandate he has given his top-level security delegation now in Doha in order to advance a hostage deal, Netanyahu said in a statement.
The two leaders also discussed “the fundamentally changed regional circumstances following the ceasefire deal in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the weakening of Iran’s power in the region,” the White House said.




This photo taken on July 25, 2024, shows US President Joe Biden, right, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington. (REUTERS File)

Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union” program earlier on Sunday that the parties were “very, very close” to reaching a deal, but still had to get it across the finish line.
He said Biden was getting daily updates on the talks in Doha, where Israeli and Palestinian officials have said since Thursday that some progress has been made in the indirect talks between Israel and militant group Hamas.
“We are still determined to use every day we have in office to get this done,” Sullivan said, “and we are not, by any stretch of imagination, setting this aside.”
He said there was still a chance to reach an agreement before Biden leaves office, but that it was also possible “Hamas, in particular, remains intransigent.”
During their call, Netanyahu also thanked Biden for his lifelong support of Israel and “the extraordinary support from the United States for Israel’s security and national defense,” the White House said.
Israel launched its assault in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave laid to waste and gripped by a humanitarian crisis, and most of its population displaced.
Vice President-elect JD Vance told the “Fox News Sunday” program in an interview taped on Saturday that he expects a deal for the release of US hostages in the Middle East to be announced in the final days of the Biden administration, maybe in the last day or two.
President-elect Donald Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel, has strongly backed Netanyahu’s goal of destroying Hamas. He has promised to bring peace to the Middle East, but has not said how he would accomplish that.


Egypt says it will not be part of any proposal that displaces Palestinians

Egypt says it will not be part of any proposal that displaces Palestinians
Updated 11 sec ago
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Egypt says it will not be part of any proposal that displaces Palestinians

Egypt says it will not be part of any proposal that displaces Palestinians
Egypt denounced expressions of support by Israeli cabinet members for the plan to create a “Riviera of the Middle East” in Gaza
The ministry said: “Egypt stresses the catastrophic consequences of this irresponsible act“

CAIRO: Egypt rejects and will not be part of any proposal to displace Palestinians from Gaza, its foreign ministry said on Thursday, following President Donald Trump’s plan for the US to take over the enclave and his call to Egypt to take in resettled Palestinians.
Egypt, which borders the tiny enclave, denounced expressions of support by Israeli cabinet members for the plan to create a “Riviera of the Middle East” in Gaza under US control.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the army on Thursday to prepare a plan to allow for the voluntary departure of Gaza residents from the strip, Israeli media reported.
Apparently referring to Katz’s order, the ministry said: “Egypt stresses the catastrophic consequences of this irresponsible act which weakens the ceasefire negotiations, and would squash them and incite a return of fighting.”
In January Egypt, alongside Qatar and the US, brokered a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas ending a 15-month-long war that upended the Middle East. Talks about the second phase of the deal were supposed to get under way this week.

Israeli soldier sentenced to 7 months in jail for abusing Palestinian detainees

Israeli soldier sentenced to 7 months in jail for abusing Palestinian detainees
Updated 5 min 57 sec ago
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Israeli soldier sentenced to 7 months in jail for abusing Palestinian detainees

Israeli soldier sentenced to 7 months in jail for abusing Palestinian detainees
  • The court handed the soldier a suspended sentence and demoted him to the rank of private.
  • The military said the soldier had served as a security guard at the detention center but did not say what rank he had held

JERUSALEM: An Israeli soldier who was found to have struck Palestinian detainees while they were restrained and blindfolded has been sentenced to seven months in jail by an Israeli military court.
The Israeli military on Thursday announced the court had accepted a plea agreement with the soldier, a reservist who it said admitted to having “severely abused” Palestinian detainees at the Sde Teiman military detention center near the border with the Gaza Strip.
“The defendant was convicted of several incidents in which he struck detainees with his fists and his weapon while they were bound and blindfolded,” the military said. It did not name the soldier or detail the charges he was convicted of.
The military statement did not identify where the Palestinian detainees were from, why they had been detained or whether they had since been charged or convicted of crimes or released from detention.
In addition to seven months imprisonment, the court handed the soldier a suspended sentence and demoted him to the rank of private. The military said the soldier had served as a security guard at the detention center but did not say what rank he had held. Israeli media reported the soldier’s jail sentence included time that he had already spent in detention.
The military court found that other masked soldiers had participated in the abuse but that their identities had not been determined, the military said, without saying how many.
The convicted soldier had beaten the detainees in front of other soldiers, some of whom had told him to stop, the military said, adding that a recording of the abuse had been found on the mobile phone of the convicted soldier.
The military has been investigating allegations that soldiers had abused Palestinians from Gaza held in military detention since the start of the war in October 2023. The military on Thursday did not say whether investigations were still ongoing or if any other soldiers had been charged.
In July last year, right-wing Israeli protesters broke into Sde Teiman detention facility and another Israeli military compound after investigators arrived to question soldiers about suspected abuse.
Sde Teiman was opened after the war started and held captured Palestinians from Gaza. Israel last year said it would close the facility.


UAE Sheikha Fatima’s aid ship for Palestinians in Gaza arrives at Al-Arish Port

UAE Sheikha Fatima’s aid ship for Palestinians in Gaza arrives at Al-Arish Port
Updated 38 min 3 sec ago
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UAE Sheikha Fatima’s aid ship for Palestinians in Gaza arrives at Al-Arish Port

UAE Sheikha Fatima’s aid ship for Palestinians in Gaza arrives at Al-Arish Port
  • Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak is a prominent advocate for women’s education and children’s well-being
  • Ship carries 5,800 tons of humanitarian supplies, including food, shelter, medical essentials

LONDON: A ship from the UAE carrying almost 6,000 tons of aid relief to Palestinians arrived on Thursday at Al-Arish Port in Egypt, destined for the Gaza Strip.

The aid shipment is a gift from Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, the wife of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, the late founder and first president of the UAE.

Known as the Mother of the Nation, she is a prominent advocate for women’s education and children’s well-being.

The ship carries 5,800 tons of humanitarian supplies, including food, shelter materials, and medical essentials. It sailed from Al-Hamriyah Port in Dubai on Jan. 20 as part of Operation Chivalrous Knight 3, aimed at addressing the urgent needs of Palestinians in Gaza.

The aid vessel’s timely arrival before the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, ensures emergency relief for Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, the Emirates News Agency reported.

Maitha bint Salem Al-Shamsi, the Emirati minister of state; Rashid Mubarak Al-Mansouri, secretary-general of the Emirates Red Crescent; and Maj. Gen. Khaled Megawer, governor of North Sinai, received the ship at Al-Arish Port.

The delegation visited the UAE Floating Hospital in Al-Arish, which provides medical care to Palestinians, and learned about the services available for the injured.

Emirati aid to Palestinians in Gaza was made possible through contributions from the Emirates Red Crescent, the Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan Foundation, the Khalifa bin Zayed Foundation, the Dar Al-Ber Society, and Sharjah Charity International.


Three PKK fighters killed in Iraq strike blamed on Turkiye

Three PKK fighters killed in Iraq strike blamed on Turkiye
Updated 06 February 2025
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Three PKK fighters killed in Iraq strike blamed on Turkiye

Three PKK fighters killed in Iraq strike blamed on Turkiye
  • Turkiye often carries out ground and air operations in northern Iraq against the PKK
  • The strikes “killed a military commander and two other PKK fighters” in the Mawat area

IRBIL: Drone strikes killed a Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) commander and two fighters in northern Iraq on Thursday, Kurdish authorities said, blaming Turkiye for the attack.
Turkiye often carries out ground and air operations in northern Iraq against the PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against Ankara.
Turkish drones “struck between 10:45 and 11:00 am (0745 and 0800 GMT) two cars and a hideout of the PKK,” said the counterterrorism services of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.
The strikes “killed a military commander and two other PKK fighters” in the Mawat area in the northen Sulaimaniyah province, it said, adding two other fighters were missing.
The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Turkiye and its Western allies, holds positions in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, where Turkiye also maintains military bases.
During a January visit to Baghdad, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called for regional efforts to combat the PKK in Iraq, as well as Kurdish fighters in neighboring Syrian Arab Republic, whom Ankara accuses of having links to the outlawed group.
Baghdad has recently sharpened its tone against the PKK, quietly listing it as a “banned organization” last year.
But Ankara wants Iraq to go further and officially declare it a terrorist group.
In August, Baghdad and Ankara signed a military cooperation deal to establish joint command and training centers with the aim of fighting the PKK.


Sudan army advances on central Khartoum: military source

Sudan army advances on central Khartoum: military source
Updated 06 February 2025
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Sudan army advances on central Khartoum: military source

Sudan army advances on central Khartoum: military source
  • “Our forces are close to reaching the center of Khartoum... and expelling the Dagalo militia,” a source in the army said
  • “Our armored forces are advancing from multiple axes“

PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s military advanced on central Khartoum “from multiple axes” on Thursday, an army source told AFP, with troops nearing the paramilitary-controlled Republican Palace.
The army, at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023, has in recent weeks mounted a fierce offensive to reclaim full control of the capital.
“Our forces are close to reaching the center of Khartoum... and expelling the Dagalo militia,” a source in the army told AFP, referring to RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
“Our armored forces are advancing from multiple axes,” he added, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
On Wednesday, the army said it had “cleared out” the neighborhoods of Al-Remila and the Industrial Area in central Khartoum — only three kilometers (1.9 miles) from the RSF-held Republican Palace.
But eyewitnesses on Thursday said army troops had to make their way through RSF snipers posted on high-rises in what used to be Khartoum’s business and government district.
The RSF did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
Further south, witnesses reported clashes between the army and the RSF around Soba Bridge — a key southeastern entry point to the capital.
In recent weeks, the army has surged through the capital, breaking a nearly two-year siege by the RSF on its headquarters and pushing the paramilitary to the edges of Khartoum North, also known as Bahri.
The army’s advance on the capital is its biggest victory in a year, since it regained Omdurman across the Nile River which, together with Khartoum North and the city center, makes up greater Khartoum.
Since it erupted, the war has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted 12 million and pushed the country to the brink of famine.