Joy mixed with fear for Israelis awaiting Gaza hostage release

Joy mixed with fear for Israelis awaiting Gaza hostage release
Supporters of Israeli hostages, who were kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, attend a protest to demand a deal to bring every hostage home at once, amid Gaza ceasefire negotiations, in Tel Aviv, Jan. 15, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 16 January 2025
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Joy mixed with fear for Israelis awaiting Gaza hostage release

Joy mixed with fear for Israelis awaiting Gaza hostage release
  • “On one hand, of course, I’m very happy, but I’m also preoccupied because I want to see the deal continue until the last hostage is back at home ,” Ornit Barak, said
  • Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the deal was the “right move” to bring back hostages

TEL AVIV: Israelis expressed both joy and apprehension at the announcement of a Gaza ceasefire and hostage exchange deal on Wednesday, fearing that not all those held captive would come home.
“On one hand, of course, I’m very happy, but I’m also preoccupied because I want to see the deal continue until the last hostage is back at home, in his bed, the living and the dead,” Ornit Barak, 59, told AFP.
“We are very preoccupied that at some point it will, for some reason, stop and we will continue back to war,” she said at a protest calling for an end to the war and a release of all hostages.
Qatar’s prime minister announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed Wednesday to a ceasefire after over 15 months of war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, cautioned that some issues in the framework remained “unresolved,” though it hoped the “details will be finalized tonight.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who holds a largely ceremonial role, said the deal was the “right move” to bring back hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war.

Arnon Cohen, a chef from Nahal Oz kibbutz — one of the Gaza border communities hardest hit by the attack — said he would not be satisfied until all the hostages were freed.
“For us, it’s only the beginning, we want them all here. It doesn’t end, it’s not enough if just some of them come back,” said the chef, noting that two people from the kibbutz were still being held in Gaza.
“We want them here, with all the other hostages, dead and alive.”
Ifat Kalderon, the cousin of the hostage Ofer Kalderon, said: “I have mixed feelings. On one hand, it’s joy, (but) mixed with terrible anxiety that it will, actually, happen.”
“If the deal does happen, I don’t know how Ofer will return — whether he is alive or not — but I do believe he is alive,” she said, hoping her relative is among those released.
“I truly, truly hope it won’t end with just the 33 hostages returning home, but that everyone will return.”
The Qatari PM said the deal agreed by Israel and Hamas involves a first stage in which 33 hostages will be released, beginning with women and children, in exchange for a thousand Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
A second stage, requiring further negotiation, is expected to follow.
Palestinian militants took 251 people hostage during Hamas’s surprise October 7 attack, of whom 94 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
“The pain is very great, I can’t imagine what the families (of the hostages) are going through,” said Tamar, a 38-year-old from Jerusalem.
“We need to do everything to get them home.”


Indonesia ‘strongly rejects’ Trump’s Gaza plan

Indonesia ‘strongly rejects’ Trump’s Gaza plan
Updated 9 sec ago
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Indonesia ‘strongly rejects’ Trump’s Gaza plan

Indonesia ‘strongly rejects’ Trump’s Gaza plan
“Indonesia strongly rejects any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians or alter the demographic composition of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the Foreign Ministry said
Jakarta also called on the international community to respect international law

JAKARTA: Indonesia “strongly rejects” the proposal made by President Donald Trump for the United States to assume control of Gaza and resettle Palestinians elsewhere, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
Trump announced the stunning proposal Tuesday, without detailing his plans on how to move out nearly two million Palestinians from the enclave, claiming that the US will rebuild the territory and turn it into the “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has consistently called for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Indonesia strongly rejects any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians or alter the demographic composition of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on social media X, formerly Twitter.
Jakarta also called on the international community to respect international law, “particularly the right to self-determination of the Palestinians as well as their inalienable right to return to their homeland,” the ministry added.
Trump claimed there was support from the “highest leadership” in the Middle East and upped pressure on Egypt and Jordan to take displaced Palestinians — despite both countries flatly rejecting the idea.
Jakarta said addressing the “root cause” of the conflict, namely “the illegal and prolonged Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory,” was the only path to achieve a lasting peace in the region, the statement added.

Kuwaiti emir appoints new defense minister

Kuwaiti emir appoints new defense minister
Updated 8 min 12 sec ago
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Kuwaiti emir appoints new defense minister

Kuwaiti emir appoints new defense minister
  • Sheikh Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah took the oath as minister of defense

LONDON: Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah appointed a new defense minister to succeed Sheikh Fahad Youssef Saud Al-Sabah.

During the swearing-in ceremony at Bayan Palace on Tuesday, Sheikh Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah took the oath as minister of defense.

Sheikh Fahad has assumed the position of first deputy prime minister and minister of interior following an emiri decree, according to the Kuwait News Agency.

Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and other senior Kuwaiti officials attended the ceremony.


Deportation from occupied territory ‘strictly prohibited’: UN on Gaza

Deportation from occupied territory ‘strictly prohibited’: UN on Gaza
Updated 44 min 9 sec ago
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Deportation from occupied territory ‘strictly prohibited’: UN on Gaza

Deportation from occupied territory ‘strictly prohibited’: UN on Gaza
  • “The right to self-determination is a fundamental principle of international law and must be protected by all states,” Turk said

GENEVA: UN rights chief Volker Turk insisted Wednesday that deporting people from occupied territory was strictly prohibited, after US President Donald Trump’s shock proposal for the United States to take over Gaza and resettle its people.
“The right to self-determination is a fundamental principle of international law and must be protected by all states, as the International Court of Justice recently underlined afresh. Any forcible transfer in or deportation of people from occupied territory is strictly prohibited,” Turk said in a statement.


Iraq restoration work brought back Mosul’s ‘identity’: UNESCO chief

Iraq restoration work brought back Mosul’s ‘identity’: UNESCO chief
Updated 05 February 2025
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Iraq restoration work brought back Mosul’s ‘identity’: UNESCO chief

Iraq restoration work brought back Mosul’s ‘identity’: UNESCO chief
  • The director-general of United Nations heritage body UNESCO hailed the completion of their restoration work in the Iraqi city of Mosul, saying on Wednesday it had allowed it to recover its “identity”

MOSUL: The director-general of United Nations heritage body UNESCO hailed the completion of their restoration work in the Iraqi city of Mosul, saying on Wednesday it had allowed it to recover its “identity” after destruction inflicted by the Daesh group.
Mosul’s historic Al-Nuri Mosque with its famed leaning minaret, nicknamed Al-Hadba or “hunchback,” has been restored using its original brickwork, years after it was reduced to rubble under Daesh group rule.
“I am very happy to stand before you and before the minaret over 850 years old... and the fact to have it here behind me in front of you is like history coming back... is like the identity of the city coming back,” Audrey Azoulay said.
The mosque and minaret were destroyed in June 2017 during the battle to oust IS from Mosul, and Iraq’s authorities accused the jihadists of planting explosives before their withdrawal.
They are the latest landmarks in Mosul to be restored by UNESCO, whose teams have worked for five years to revive several sites.
“The reconstruction of this minaret needed to reuse nearly 45,000 original bricks,” the UNESCO chief said, adding that traditional techniques were used to rebuild the iconic structure.
Azouley said residents had wanted the rebuilt minaret to resemble the original. “The people of Mosul wanted it tilted,” she said.
Eighty percent of Mosul’s old city was destroyed in the fight against IS.
UNESCO restoration project also include Al-Tahira and Our Lady of the Hour churches and 124 heritage houses.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani will inaugurate the restored landmarks in the coming weeks.


Egypt wants Palestinian Authority to ‘assume its duties’ in Gaza: FM

Egypt wants Palestinian Authority to ‘assume its duties’ in Gaza: FM
Updated 05 February 2025
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Egypt wants Palestinian Authority to ‘assume its duties’ in Gaza: FM

Egypt wants Palestinian Authority to ‘assume its duties’ in Gaza: FM

CAIRO: Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty called on Wednesday for the Palestinian Authority to govern the Gaza Strip, hours after President Donald Trump announced a proposal for the United States to take over the territory.
In a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, Abdelatty said Egypt was eager for the Palestinian Authority to “assume its duties in the Gaza Strip as part of the occupied Palestinian territories,” according to a foreign ministry statement.

Abdelatty called for swift reconstruction of Gaza without the displacement of Palestinians from the territory after Trump’s proposal to take it over. 

The two men agreed on “the importance of moving forward with early recovery projects... at an accelerated pace... without the Palestinians leaving the Gaza Strip, especially with their commitment to their land and refusal to leave it,” the Egyptian foreign ministry said.