BEIRUT: The United States is exploring the possibility of resolving the long-standing border dispute between Lebanon and Israel, senior White House adviser Amos Hochstein said on Thursday at the end of a two-day visit to Lebanon.
Hochstein said it was “natural” to look into the issue following the delineation in 2022 of the maritime border between the two countries, which paved the way for offshore exploration activities to begin on behalf of Lebanon last week.
The senior White House adviser said he visited southern Lebanon during his trip “to understand and learn more about what is needed to be able to potentially achieve an outcome.”
“It is time for me to hear from the other side, and to make an assessment if this is a right time,” he said.
The current demarcation line between the two countries is known as the Blue Line, a frontier mapped by the United Nations that marks the line to which Israeli forces withdrew when they left south Lebanon in 2000.
Tensions have flared along it this summer, with rockets being fired at Israel during flare-ups of Israeli-Palestinian violence, and members of the heavily armed Lebanese group Hezbollah or its supporters facing off with Israeli forces.
Lebanon’s caretaker foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib said last week that determining the land border could put an end to those tensions.
The UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL, which had its one-year mandate renewed on Thursday, has hosted meetings of Lebanon, Israel and the United Nations on points of contention preventing the delineation of the land border.
US exploring land border delineation between Lebanon, Israel: White House adviser
https://arab.news/vkh55
US exploring land border delineation between Lebanon, Israel: White House adviser
- The current demarcation line between the two countries is known as the Blue Line
- Tensions have flared along it this summer
Israel-Hamas truce in Gaza begins, after delay
- Israeli strikes killed 8 people during delay, says Gaza's civil defense agency
- Israel confirms receiving hostages list that caused the delay in ceasefire
JERUSALEM: Israel on Sunday said a truce with Hamas began in Gaza at 0915 GMT, nearly three hours after initially scheduled, following a last-minute delay on the orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
During the delay, Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli strikes killed eight people.
A statement from Netanyahu’s office, issued less than an hour before the truce had been set to start at 8:30 am (0630 GMT), said he had “instructed the IDF (military) that the ceasefire... will not begin until Israel has received the list” of hostages to be freed.
Hamas attributed the delay to “technical reasons,” as well as the “complexities of the field situation and the continued bombing,” ultimately publishing at around 10:30 am the names of three Israeli women to be released on Sunday.
Israel confirmed it had received the list and was “checking the details,” before confirming shortly afterwards that the truce would begin at 11:15 am local time.
AFPTV live images from northeastern Gaza showed a plume of grey smoke about 30 minutes after the truce was earlier to take effect, and again around 30 minutes later.
The Israeli military confirmed it was continuing “to strike within the Gaza area” following Netanyahu’s directive.
Gaza civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said three people were killed in the north of the territory and five in Gaza City, with 25 wounded.
AFP images showed displaced Gazans streaming northwards from areas around Gaza City where they had been sheltering, some flashing the victory sign.
But others saw their plans to return home thwarted by the delay of the ceasefire.
“I was on my way home with my family when we heard the sound of bombing,” said Mohammed Baraka, 36.
“We can’t reach our house; the situation is dangerous. I don’t know what to do. I feel frustrated and devastated.”
The initial exchange was to see three Israeli hostages released from captivity in return for a first group of Palestinian prisoners.
A total of 33 hostages taken by militants during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel will be returned from Gaza during an initial 42-day truce.
Under the deal, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli jails.
The truce is intended to pave the way for an end to more than 15 months of war sparked by Hamas’s attack, the deadliest in Israeli history.
It follows a deal struck by mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt after months of negotiations, and takes effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president.
In a televised address on Saturday, Netanyahu called the 42-day first phase a “temporary ceasefire” and said Israel had US support to return to war if necessary.
In Gaza City, shortly after the deal was initially meant to go into effect, people were already celebrating, waving Palestinian flags in the street.
But as it became clear the hostilities were continuing, the joy gave way to desperation for some.
“I’m dying of despair,” said Maha Abed, a 27-year-old displaced from Rafah who had been waiting since dawn for her husband to pick her up and take her home. “He called to tell me we won’t be returning today. The drones are firing at civilians.”
“Enough playing with our emotions — we’re exhausted,” she added. “I don’t want to spend another night in this tent.”
In Deir Al-Balah, an AFP journalist observed dozens of Palestinians gathered in front of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital seeking information about the unfolding events, particularly whether or not they would be able to return to their homes.
The Israeli army warned Gaza residents early Sunday not to approach its forces or Israeli territory.
“We urge you not to head toward the buffer zone or IDF forces for your safety,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on Telegram.
“At this stage, heading toward the buffer zone or moving from south to north via Gaza Valley puts you at risk.”
At a rally for the hostages in Tel Aviv the night before, attendees were guarded ahead of the scheduled exchanges.
“I’m really stressed because I don’t know about the situation of Ofer, my cousin,” said Ifat Kaldron, whose cousin is among the hostages.
“I’m just going to be happy whenever I see the last hostage crossing the border.”
Israel has prepared reception centers to provide medical treatment and counselling to the freed hostages before they return to their families after their long ordeal.
Israel’s justice ministry had previously said 737 Palestinian prisoners and detainees would be freed during the deal’s first phase, starting from 4:00 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Sunday.
Egypt on Saturday said more than 1,890 Palestinian prisoners would be freed in the initial phase.
Hundreds of trucks waited at the Gaza border, poised to enter from Egypt as soon as they get the all-clear to deliver desperately needed aid.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said 600 trucks a day would enter Gaza after the ceasefire takes effect, including 50 carrying fuel.
There has been only one previous truce in the war, lasting for one week in November 2023.
That ceasefire also saw the release of hostages held by militants in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing at least 46,899 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
The truce was to take effect on the eve of Trump’s inauguration for a second term as president of the United States.
Trump, who claimed credit for the ceasefire deal, after months of effort by the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden, told US network NBC on Saturday that he had told Netanyahu that the war “has to end.”
“We want it to end, but to keep doing what has to be done,” he said.
Brett McGurk, the pointman for outgoing President Joe Biden, was joined in the region by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff in an unusual pairing to finalize the agreement, US officials said.
Under the deal, Israeli forces will withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences,” the Qatari prime minister said.
Biden said an unfinalized second phase of the agreement would bring a “permanent end to the war.”
Israeli hardline minister Ben-Gvir quits government over Gaza deal
- The Otzma Yehudit party is no longer part of the ruling coalition
JERUSALEM: Hardline Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and two other ministers from his nationalist-religious party have resigned from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet over the Gaza ceasefire deal, their party said on Sunday.
The Otzma Yehudit party is no longer part of the ruling coalition but has said it will not try to bring down Netanyahu’s government.
In a statement, it called the ceasefire deal a “capitulation to Hamas” and denounced what it called the “release of hundreds of murderers” and the “renouncing of the (Israeli military’s) achievements in the war” in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu retains a slim majority in the Israeli parliament despite their resignation.
Gaza ceasefire delayed over hostage list
- Israel says truce won't begin until Hamas provides list of hostages to be released on Sunday
- Israeli military kills at least 8 Palestinians across Gaza amid delay in ceasefire implementation
JERUSALEM/CAIRO: A ceasefire in Gaza set for Sunday morning was delayed after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Hamas to provide a list of the hostages who were to be released during the day and Hamas said it could not do so for “technical” reasons.
An Israeli military spokesperson said in a statement given at 0630 GMT, when the ceasefire was meant to take effect, that Hamas was not meeting its obligations and that Israel would continue to attack as long as Hamas did not meet its demands.
Israeli military strikes killed at least eight Palestinians across the Gaza Strip amid a delay in the implementation of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian civil emergency service said.
The highly-anticipated ceasefire would open the way to a possible end to a 15-month war that has upended the Middle East.
Netanyahu announced one hour before the ceasefire was meant to take effect that it would not begin until Hamas provided a list of the first three hostages who were meant to be released on Sunday.
“The prime minister instructed the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) that the ceasefire, which is supposed to go into effect at 8:30 a.m., will not begin until Israel has the list of released abductees that Hamas has pledged to provide,” his office said on Sunday.
Hamas affirmed its commitment to the Gaza ceasefire deal and said the delay in disclosing the names of hostages to be released in first phase was due to “technical field reasons,” without elaborating.
Israeli forces had started withdrawing from areas in Gaza’s Rafah to the Philadelphi corridor along the border between Egypt and Gaza, pro-Hamas media reported early on Sunday.
Explosions were heard in Gaza right up until the deadline. At 0630 GMT (8:30 a.m. local time), Gazans cheered and some gunshots were heard being fired into the air in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel’s military warned Gaza residents not to approach its troops or move around the Palestinian territory ahead of the ceasefire deadline, adding when movement is allowed “a statement and instructions will be issued on safe transit methods.”
The three-stage ceasefire agreement followed months of on-off negotiations brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, and came just ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump.
Its first stage will last six weeks, during which 33 of the remaining 98 hostages — women, children, men over 50, the ill and wounded — will be released in return for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
They include 737 male, female and teen-aged prisoners, some of whom are members of militant groups convicted of attacks that killed dozens of Israelis, as well as hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza in detention since the start of the war.
Three female hostages are expected to be released on Sunday afternoon through the Red Cross, in return for 30 prisoners each.
After Sunday’s hostage release, lead US negotiator Brett McGurk said, the accord calls for four more female hostages to be freed after seven days, followed by the release of three further hostages every seven days thereafter.
During the first phase the Israeli army will pull back from some of its positions in Gaza and Palestinians displaced from areas in northern Gaza will be allowed to return.
US President Joe Biden’s team worked closely with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to push the deal over the line.
As his inauguration approached, Trump had repeated his demand that a deal be done swiftly, warning repeatedly that there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages were not released.
Israel-Hamas truce in Gaza begins, after delay
- During the delay, Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli strikes killed eight people
- Hamas attributed the delay to ‘technical reasons’ as well as the ‘complexities of the field situation and the continued bombing’
JERUSALEM: Israel on Sunday said a truce with Hamas began in Gaza at 0915 GMT, nearly three hours after initially scheduled, following a last-minute delay on the orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
During the delay, Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli strikes killed eight people.
A statement from Netanyahu’s office, issued less than an hour before the truce had been set to start at 8:30 am (0630 GMT), said he had “instructed the IDF (military) that the ceasefire... will not begin until Israel has received the list” of hostages to be freed.
Hamas attributed the delay to “technical reasons,” as well as the “complexities of the field situation and the continued bombing,” ultimately publishing at around 10:30 am the names of three Israeli women to be released on Sunday.
Israel confirmed it had received the list and was “checking the details,” before confirming shortly afterwards that the truce would begin at 11:15 am local time.
AFPTV live images from northeastern Gaza showed a plume of grey smoke about 30 minutes after the truce was earlier to take effect, and again around 30 minutes later.
The Israeli military confirmed it was continuing “to strike within the Gaza area” following Netanyahu’s directive.
Gaza civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said three people were killed in the north of the territory and five in Gaza City, with 25 wounded.
AFP images showed displaced Gazans streaming northwards from areas around Gaza City where they had been sheltering, some flashing the victory sign.
But others saw their plans to return home thwarted by the delay of the ceasefire.
“I was on my way home with my family when we heard the sound of bombing,” said Mohammed Baraka, 36.
“We can’t reach our house; the situation is dangerous. I don’t know what to do. I feel frustrated and devastated.”
The initial exchange was to see three Israeli hostages released from captivity in return for a first group of Palestinian prisoners.
A total of 33 hostages taken by militants during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel will be returned from Gaza during an initial 42-day truce.
Under the deal, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli jails.
The truce is intended to pave the way for an end to more than 15 months of war sparked by Hamas’s attack, the deadliest in Israeli history.
It follows a deal struck by mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt after months of negotiations, and takes effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president.
In a televised address on Saturday, Netanyahu called the 42-day first phase a “temporary ceasefire” and said Israel had US support to return to war if necessary.
In Gaza City, shortly after the deal was initially meant to go into effect, people were already celebrating, waving Palestinian flags in the street.
But as it became clear the hostilities were continuing, the joy gave way to desperation for some.
“I’m dying of despair,” said Maha Abed, a 27-year-old displaced from Rafah who had been waiting since dawn for her husband to pick her up and take her home. “He called to tell me we won’t be returning today. The drones are firing at civilians.”
“Enough playing with our emotions — we’re exhausted,” she added. “I don’t want to spend another night in this tent.”
In Deir Al-Balah, an AFP journalist observed dozens of Palestinians gathered in front of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital seeking information about the unfolding events, particularly whether or not they would be able to return to their homes.
The Israeli army warned Gaza residents early Sunday not to approach its forces or Israeli territory.
“We urge you not to head toward the buffer zone or IDF forces for your safety,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on Telegram.
“At this stage, heading toward the buffer zone or moving from south to north via Gaza Valley puts you at risk.”
At a rally for the hostages in Tel Aviv the night before, attendees were guarded ahead of the scheduled exchanges.
“I’m really stressed because I don’t know about the situation of Ofer, my cousin,” said Ifat Kaldron, whose cousin is among the hostages.
“I’m just going to be happy whenever I see the last hostage crossing the border.”
Israel has prepared reception centers to provide medical treatment and counselling to the freed hostages before they return to their families after their long ordeal.
Israel’s justice ministry had previously said 737 Palestinian prisoners and detainees would be freed during the deal’s first phase, starting from 4:00 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Sunday.
Egypt on Saturday said more than 1,890 Palestinian prisoners would be freed in the initial phase.
Hundreds of trucks waited at the Gaza border, poised to enter from Egypt as soon as they get the all-clear to deliver desperately needed aid.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said 600 trucks a day would enter Gaza after the ceasefire takes effect, including 50 carrying fuel.
There has been only one previous truce in the war, lasting for one week in November 2023.
That ceasefire also saw the release of hostages held by militants in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing at least 46,899 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
The truce was to take effect on the eve of Trump’s inauguration for a second term as president of the United States.
Trump, who claimed credit for the ceasefire deal, after months of effort by the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden, told US network NBC on Saturday that he had told Netanyahu that the war “has to end.”
“We want it to end, but to keep doing what has to be done,” he said.
Brett McGurk, the pointman for outgoing President Joe Biden, was joined in the region by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff in an unusual pairing to finalize the agreement, US officials said.
Under the deal, Israeli forces will withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences,” the Qatari prime minister said.
Biden said an unfinalized second phase of the agreement would bring a “permanent end to the war.”
Netanyahu says Israel will not proceed with Gaza ceasefire until it gets hostage list
- Israel reserves right to resume war with American support, warns Netanyahu
- Statement comes days after US, other states broker hostage and ceasefire deal
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that Israel reserves the right to resume fighting in Gaza with US support, as he pledged to bring home all hostages held in the Palestinian territory.
“We reserve the right to resume the war if necessary, with American support,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement, a day before a ceasefire is set to take effect.
“We are thinking of all our hostages ... I promise you that we will achieve all our objectives and bring back all the hostages.
“With this agreement, we will bring back 33 of our brothers and sisters, the majority (of them) alive,” he said.
He said the 42-day first phase, which starts on Sunday, was a “temporary ceasefire.”
“If we are forced to resume the war, we will do so with force,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israel had “changed the face of the Middle East” since the war began.
