‘Progress’ in push to salvage Israel-Hamas truce: Palestinian sources

‘Progress’ in push to salvage Israel-Hamas truce: Palestinian sources
This picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli army tank stationed on a hill overlooking northern Gaza on February 12, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 13 February 2025
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‘Progress’ in push to salvage Israel-Hamas truce: Palestinian sources

‘Progress’ in push to salvage Israel-Hamas truce: Palestinian sources
  • The hints of progress came as mediators Qatar and Egypt pushed to salvage the ceasefire agreement that came into effect last month, while Hamas said its top negotiator was in Cairo

JERUSALEM: Palestinian sources reported progress on Thursday in efforts to salvage the ceasefire in Gaza from its worst crisis yet, with a view to ensuring that Hamas releases Israeli hostages this weekend as planned.
The truce that has largely halted fighting in the Israel-Hamas war was plunged into uncertainty after the militant group said it would not release hostages on Saturday, citing Israeli violations.
Israel hit back, saying that if Hamas failed to free captives on schedule, it would resume its war in Gaza.
“There is progress,” one source told AFP, adding that mediators had obtained from Israel a “promise... to put in place a humanitarian protocol starting from this morning.”
“Hamas has confirmed to Egyptian officials its commitment... to conducting the sixth exchange of prisoners on time, on Saturday, as soon as Israel honors its commitment,” another source said.
US President Donald Trump had warned that “hell” would break loose if the Palestinian militant group failed to release “all” the hostages by then.
If fighting resumes, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said, “the new Gaza war... will not end without the defeat of Hamas and the release of all the hostages.”
“It will also allow the realization of US President Trump’s vision for Gaza,” he added.
Trump sparked global outcry with a proposal for the United States to take over the Gaza Strip and to move its 2.4 million residents to Egypt or Jordan.

The hints of progress came as mediators Qatar and Egypt pushed to salvage the ceasefire agreement that came into effect last month, while Hamas said its top negotiator was in Cairo.
The truce, currently in its first phase, has seen Israeli captives released in small groups in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody.
The warring sides, which have yet to agree on the next phases of the truce, have traded accusations of violations, spurring concern that the violence could resume.
UN chief Antonio Guterres has urged Hamas to proceed with the planned release and “avoid at all costs resumption of hostilities in Gaza.”
Israel has repeatedly vowed to defeat Hamas and free all the hostages since the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.
Analyst Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group told AFP that despite their public disputes, the warring sides were still interested in maintaining the truce and have not “given up on anything yet.”
“They’re just playing power games,” she said.

In Tel Aviv, Israeli student Mali Abramovitch, 28, said that it was “terrible to think” that the next group of hostages would not be released “because Israel allegedly violated the conditions, which is nonsense.”
“We can’t let them (Hamas) play with us like this... It’s simply not acceptable.”
Last week’s hostage release sparked anger in Israel and beyond after Hamas paraded three emaciated hostages before a crowd and forced them to speak. Hamas, meanwhile, has accused Israel of failing to meet its aid commitments under the agreement.
In southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis, 48-year-old Saleh Awad told AFP he felt “anxiety and fear,” saying that “Israel is seeking any pretext to reignite the war... and displace” the territory’s inhabitants.
Hamas has insisted it remains “committed to the ceasefire,” and said its chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya was in Cairo on Wednesday for meetings and to monitor “the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.”
Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News, citing an Egyptian official, said that mediators in Cairo and Doha were “intensifying their diplomatic efforts in an attempt to save the Gaza ceasefire agreement.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has facilitated the hostage-prisoner swaps, urged the parties to maintain the truce.
“Hundreds of thousands of lives depend on it,” including “all of the remaining hostages” and Gazans who “need respite from violence and access to life-saving humanitarian aid,” the ICRC said.

Trump’s proposal for Gaza and for moving its more than two million residents to Jordan or Egypt would, according to experts, violate international law, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called it “revolutionary.”
Hamas called for worldwide “solidarity marches” over the weekend to denounce “the plans to displace our Palestinian people from their land.”
Defense Minister Katz last week ordered the Israeli army to prepare for “voluntary” departures from Gaza. The military said it had already begun reinforcing its troops around Gaza.
Trump reaffirmed his Saturday deadline for the hostage release while hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Tuesday.
In a phone call Wednesday, Abdullah and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said they were united in supporting the “full implementation” of the ceasefire, “the continued release of hostages and prisoners, and facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid,” according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Militants also took 251 hostages, of whom 73 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,222 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.


Palestinian NGO says teen dies in Israeli prison

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Palestinian NGO says teen dies in Israeli prison

Palestinian NGO says teen dies in Israeli prison
RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group said Monday that a teenage inmate died in an Israeli jail, decrying a spike in deaths in custody since the start of the Gaza war.
In a statement, the group announced the death of Walid Khaled Abdullah Ahmad, 17, in Meggido prison in northern Israel under unknown circumstances.
Israel’s Prison Service said in a statement that a 17-year-old prisoner had died Sunday at the facility.
“His health condition is covered by medical confidentiality,” the statement said.
One of thousands of Palestinians in Israeli custody, Ahmad was the 63rd Palestinian inmate to die in an Israeli jail since the October 2023 outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, according to the Prisoners Club.
The advocacy group said Ahmad, from the town of Silwad near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, was detained on September 30. It was not clear what led to his arrest.
The Prisoners Club said that a “growing number” of detainees have died in Israeli custody due to “systematic abuses” throughout the Gaza war.
“This period has been the deadliest in the history of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement since 1967,” it said, referring to the year Israel seized Palestinian territories including the West Bank in a war.
Rights groups including Israel’s B’Tselem have documented numerous deaths of Palestinians in Israeli prisons during the Gaza war.
B’Tselem has also reported worsening detention conditions for Palestinians, including “systematic mistreatment” and “torture,” which Israeli authorities have denied.
The Prisoners Club said in September there were at least 250 Palestinian minors in Israeli custody.
According to non-government group Defense for Children International Palestine, “each year approximately 500-700 Palestinian children, some as young as 12 years old, are detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system. The most common charge is stone-throwing.”

Lebanon contacts US to avert threat of Israel strikes on capital

Residents check the site of Saturday’s Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP
Residents check the site of Saturday’s Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP
Updated 33 min 33 sec ago
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Lebanon contacts US to avert threat of Israel strikes on capital

Residents check the site of Saturday’s Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP
  • Israel launched air strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, killing eight people, in response to rocket fire that hit its territory for first time since Nov. 27

BEIRUT: Lebanese leaders have been in intensive contact with Washington and Paris to prevent Israel from bombing Beirut, a Lebanese official said Monday, after heavy Israeli strikes on the country at the weekend.
Israel launched air strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, killing eight people, in response to rocket fire that hit its territory for the first time since a ceasefire took effect on November 27.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that following rocket fire on Metula, a town in northern Israel, “Metula’s fate is the same as Beirut’s.”
The official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam “made diplomatic contact with France and the United States... as well as with the UN to achieve de-escalation following Israeli threats to target Beirut.”
The US, France and the United Nations belong to a ceasefire monitoring mechanism.
During two months of full-scale war leading up to the ceasefire, Israeli air strikes pounded the south Beirut bastion of Iran-backed Hezbollah but sometimes also struck in the city center.
Salam “emphasized the need to control security and prevent a repeat of rocket fire” against Israel, the official added.
No party has claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, which a military source said was launched from an area north of the Litani River, between the villages of Kfar Tebnit and Arnoun, near the zone covered by the ceasefire agreement.
The agreement stipulates that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers may be deployed south of the Litani River, with Hezbollah required to dismantle its infrastructure and withdraw north of the river.
Israel missed two deadlines to withdraw all its forces across the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, and continues to hold five positions it deems “strategic.”
Hezbollah denied involvement in the rocket fire.
The Lebanese army said later it dismantled three makeshift rocket batteries in the area, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Israeli border.
A military source told AFP the army detained two Syrians who were “working as guards at a farm near the rocket-launching site.”
The Syrians reported seeing a car with several men who set up the launchers and fired the rockets before leaving.
The war severely weakened Hezbollah, which remains a target of Israeli air strikes despite the ceasefire.


Germany says Gaza civilian deaths ‘extremely worrying’

Germany says Gaza civilian deaths ‘extremely worrying’
Updated 24 March 2025
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Germany says Gaza civilian deaths ‘extremely worrying’

Germany says Gaza civilian deaths ‘extremely worrying’
  • Negotiations have stalled over an extension of the ceasefire
  • The Israeli government has announced plans for a special agency for the “voluntary departure” of Gazans

BERLIN: Germany said on Monday it was extremely worried by the surge in civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip since Israel renewed its full-scale military offensive on the occupied Palestinian territory.
Israel restarted intense air strikes across the densely populated Strip on Tuesday followed by ground operations, shattering the relative calm of a six-week ceasefire agreement with Hamas, which governs Gaza.
Negotiations have stalled over an extension of the ceasefire.
Israel and the United States have sought to change the terms of the ceasefire deal, a move rejected by Hamas as a violation of the agreement all parties signed.
“It is now very clear that we must quickly return to negotiations and to the ceasefire that was in place,” German foreign ministry spokesman Christian Wagner said in Berlin.
Israel’s renewed military operations would not lead to the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza being released and meant that “the humanitarian situation is once again catastrophic,” he said.
Berlin, traditionally a staunch ally of Israel, also condemned “unacceptable statements” by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, who last week threatened to annex parts of Gaza unless Hamas releases the remaining Israeli hostages.
Katz has also said that measures targeting Hamas could include implementing US President Donald Trump’s proposal for the United States to redevelop Gaza as a Mediterranean resort after the removal of its Palestinian inhabitants to other Arab countries.
The Israeli government has announced plans for a special agency for the “voluntary departure” of Gazans.
“If the aim is to set up an authority that has the permanent expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip as its goal, then that is unacceptable and must be condemned,” Wagner said.
He also condemned an Israeli decision to recognize more than a dozen new settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying the “expansive settlement policy” undermines efforts toward a two-state solution.
“The German government rejects Israel’s entire settlement policy as legally unacceptable. It is clear that this policy must end,” he said.
On October 7, 2023, fighters from Hamas launched a cross-border attack in Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people and the capture of 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s ensuing bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza has killed at least 50,021 people in the territory, the Gaza health ministry said on Sunday.
The United Nations considers the ministry’s figures to be reliable.


Egypt makes new proposal to restore Gaza ceasefire deal, sources say

Egypt makes new proposal to restore Gaza ceasefire deal, sources say
Updated 24 March 2025
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Egypt makes new proposal to restore Gaza ceasefire deal, sources say

Egypt makes new proposal to restore Gaza ceasefire deal, sources say
  • The Egyptian plan suggests Hamas release five Israeli hostages each week, with Israel implementing the second phase of the ceasefire after the first week

CAIRO: Egypt made a new proposal last week aimed at restoring the Gaza ceasefire deal, security sources told Reuters on Monday.
The proposal follows an escalation in violence after Israel resumed air and ground operations against Hamas last Tuesday, effectively ending a two-month period of relative calm.
The Egyptian plan suggests Hamas release five Israeli hostages each week, with Israel implementing the second phase of the ceasefire after the first week, the sources said.
Both the US and Hamas agreed to the proposal, the security sources said, but Israel had not yet responded.
The sources said Egypt’s proposal also includes a timeline for the release of all hostages in exchange for a timeline for Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza, backed by US guarantees.
Hamas has accused Israel of breaking the terms of the January ceasefire agreement but has said it is still willing to negotiate a ceasefire and was studying proposals from US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.


Lebanese defense minister to visit Syria: official

Lebanese defense minister to visit Syria: official
Updated 24 March 2025
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Lebanese defense minister to visit Syria: official

Lebanese defense minister to visit Syria: official
  • The aim of the visit was to “discuss ways to manage the situation at the border”

BEIRUT: Lebanese Defense Minister Michel Menassa will visit Syria on Wednesday to discuss recent tensions along the border between the two countries, a Lebanese official said.
“The defense minister will head a security delegation to Damascus to meet with his counterpart, Marhaf Abu Qasra,” the official told AFP on Monday on condition of anonymity.
The aim of the visit was to “discuss ways to manage the situation at the border, strengthen bilateral coordination and prevent cross-border aggression,” the source said.
Ten people were killed in clashes that broke out along the fronter in mid-March.
Damascus accused Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group once allied with deposed president Bashar Assad, of abducting and killing three Syrian soldiers, which the Iran-backed movement strongly denied.
Subsequently, seven Lebanese were killed in air strikes from Syria, according to Lebanese authorities.
A Lebanese security source told AFP that Syrian forces shelled the border area after three Syrian soldiers were killed by armed Lebanese smugglers.
Both countries later announced they had reached a ceasefire agreement.
Syria shares a 330-kilometer (205-mile) border with Lebanon, with no official demarcation.
In February, Syrian authorities announced the launch of a security campaign in the border province of Homs aimed at shutting down routes used for arms and goods smuggling.
Hezbollah, which fought alongside Assad’s forces during the Syrian war, has long exerted influence over large parts of the Lebanese-Syrian border.
The group was massively weakened in its war with Israel late last year.