WASHINGTON DC: Israel has broadly accepted a ceasefire deal with Hamas, a senior US official said Saturday, as the first American air drops of humanitarian aid were carried out over war-ravaged Gaza.
The framework agreement envisages a six-week cessation of hostilities, which could begin immediately if the Palestinian militant group signs off on the release of the most vulnerable hostages it holds, the official told reporters on a call.
“The Israelis have more or less accepted it,” the administration official said. “Right now, the ball is in the camp of Hamas.”
The announcement came hours after US military cargo planes began airdropping humanitarian aid into the besieged Gaza Strip.
The United Nations has warned of famine in Gaza, and more than 100 people were left dead earlier this week in a frenzied scramble for food from a truck convoy delivering aid, with Israeli forces opening fire on the crowd.
Saturday’s drop, which included 38,000 meals, was conducted “to provide essential relief to civilians affected by the ongoing conflict,” the US Central Command said.
A CENTCOM official told AFP that the meals were made up of US military rations that did not contain pork, the consumption of which is prohibited by Islam.
Negotiators from regional powers have been working around the clock to secure a Gaza truce by the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in about one week.
“It will be a six-week ceasefire in Gaza starting today if Hamas agrees to release the defined category of vulnerable hostages... the sick, the wounded, elderly and women,” the administration official said.
Hamas militants took about 250 hostages during their unprecedented cross-border attack on Israel on October 7, 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 31 that Israel says are presumed dead. It was unclear how many of the remaining hostages are deemed vulnerable.
The United States hopes any truce would create space for a more enduring peace. A Hamas delegation was expected to fly to Cairo on Saturday for talks on a truce, a source close to the group told AFP.
The administration official said a ceasefire would also allow a “significant surge” in humanitarian aid to Gaza, with airdrops not seen as a replacement for full-scale relief convoys.
“None of these — maritime corridors, airdrops — are an alternative to the fundamental need to move assistance through as many land crossings as possible. That’s the most efficient way to get aid in at scale,” a second US official told reporters.
The brutal October 7 attack by Hamas resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, according to official figures.
Israel responded with a relentless assault on Hamas-controlled Gaza that has taken a devastating toll on civilians trapped there, killing more than 30,000 people, according to the territory’s health ministry.
The amount of aid brought into Gaza by truck has plummeted during nearly five months of war, and Gazans are facing dire shortages of food, water and medicines.
Some foreign militaries have airdropped supplies to Gaza, sending long lines of aid pallets floating down into the war-torn territory on parachutes.
Jordan has been conducting many of the operations with the support of countries including Britain, France and the Netherlands, while Egypt sent several military planes on an air drop Thursday together with the United Arab Emirates.
Biden has pushed Israel to reduce civilian casualties and allow aid in, while at the same time he has maintained military assistance for the key US ally.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby described the airdrops as a “tough military operation” that required careful planning by the Pentagon for the safety of both Gazan civilians and US military personnel.
Israel on board with Gaza peace deal, as US airdrops begin
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Israel on board with Gaza peace deal, as US airdrops begin
- International mediators have been working for weeks to broker a deal to pause fighting
- Ball is in Hamas’ camp now, says senior US administration official on Gaza peace deal
Lebanon prime minister to visit Syria soon: minister
“There will be a visit to Syria soon, headed by Prime Minister (Najib) Mikati,” Ziad Makary told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
Last week, Syria imposed new restrictions on the entry of Lebanese citizens, two security sources from Lebanon told AFP, following what the Lebanese army said was a border skirmish with armed Syrians.
Lebanese nationals had previously been allowed into Syria without a visa, using just their passport or ID card.
Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi told AFP at the time that Lebanon was working to find a solution with Syria.
The Lebanese army said the border skirmish saw its soldiers clash with armed Syrians after they tried to “close an illegal crossing.” It said five soldiers were wounded.
Lebanon’s eastern border is porous and known for smuggling. It was unclear who the armed Syrians were.
Mikati’s office said at the time that he had a phone call with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa, during which they discussed bilateral relations as well as the border skirmishes.
He also said Sharaa had invited him for an official visit.
Lebanese politicians have been divided over ties with Damascus, especially after Hezbollah fighters fought alongside Bashar Assad’s forces in the Syrian civil war.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem admitted that with Assad’s fall, his group can no longer be supplied militarily through Syria.
Last month, Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa told visiting Lebanese Druze leaders that his country would not negatively interfere in Lebanon and would respect its sovereignty.
For three decades, Syria was the dominant power in Lebanon after intervening in its 1975-1990 civil war.
Syria eventually withdrew its troops in 2005 under international pressure after the assassination of Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafic Hariri.
Palestinian, Jordanian officials condemn ‘greater Israel’ map
- PA urges incoming US administration to halt all provocative Israeli policies
- Jordan says Israel will not undermine its sovereignty
LONDON: Officials from Palestine and Jordan on Tuesday condemned an Israeli map that claimed Palestinian, Jordanian, Syrian and Lebanese territories as part of so-called “greater Israel.”
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, described the map shared by Israeli social media accounts this week as a blatant violation of all international resolutions and laws, the WAFA news agency reported.
He said that Israeli occupation policies, attacks by illegal settlers and the relentless storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound require “an urgent international stance to stop what the Palestinian people are being subjected to from war and destruction.”
Abu Rudeineh urged the incoming US administration to halt all Israeli policies that undermine security and peace in the Middle East.
Parts of Jordan were included in the Israeli map. The Jordanian Foreign Ministry described the document as “provocative and baseless,” and that it “falsely claims that it is an Israeli historical map.”
The ministry said that Israeli actions and remarks based on racism would neither undermine Jordan’s sovereignty nor change the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
It added that the Israeli government must “immediately cease these provocative actions and stop the reckless statements made by Israeli officials, which are only fueling tensions and contributing to the instability of the region.”
The ministry said that publishing the map coincided with “racist statements” made by far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich regarding the annexation of the Occupied West Bank and the construction of illegal settlements in Gaza, Petra news agency reported.
In March 2023, Smotrich spoke at an event in Paris and stood next to a map of “greater Israel” that depicted Jordan as part of his country.
US determines Sudan’s RSF committed genocide, imposes sanctions on leader
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement the RSF and aligned militias had continued to direct attacks against civilians
- The militias have also targeted fleeing civilians and murdered innocent people escaping conflict, Blinken said
WASHINGTON: The United States determined on Tuesday that members of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias committed genocide in Sudan and it imposed sanctions on the group’s leader over a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement the RSF and aligned militias had continued to direct attacks against civilians, adding that they had systematically murdered men and boys on an ethnic basis and had deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of sexual violence.
The militias have also targeted fleeing civilians and murdered innocent people escaping conflict, Blinken said.
“The United States is committed to holding accountable those responsible for these atrocities,” Blinken said.
Washington announced sanctions on the leader of the RSF, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, barring him from traveling to the United States and freezing any US assets he might hold.
“For nearly two years, Hemedti’s RSF has engaged in a brutal armed conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces for control of Sudan, killing tens of thousands, displacing 12 million Sudanese, and triggering widespread starvation,” the Treasury Department said in a separate statement.
Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in conflict for more than 18 months, creating a humanitarian crisis in which UN agencies have struggled to deliver relief.
The war erupted in April 2023 amid a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule.
US envoy says Israeli forces begin pullout from 2nd south Lebanon town
- “The Israeli military started its withdrawal from Naqura... and back into Israel proper today, south of the Blue Line,” Hochstein told reporters
- “These withdrawals will continue until all Israeli forces are out of Lebanon completely, and as the Lebanese army continues to deploy into the south and all the way to the Blue Line,”
BEIRUT: Visiting US envoy Amos Hochstein said Israeli forces began withdrawing on Monday from a south Lebanon border town more than halfway into a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
It is the second such pullout since a November 27 ceasefire, and came after United Nations peacekeepers and Lebanon’s prime minister late last month called on the Israeli army to speed up its withdrawal from Lebanon’s south.
“The Israeli military started its withdrawal from Naqura... and back into Israel proper today, south of the Blue Line,” Hochstein told reporters, referring to the UN-demarcated boundary between the two countries.
“These withdrawals will continue until all Israeli forces are out of Lebanon completely, and as the Lebanese army continues to deploy into the south and all the way to the Blue Line,” he added after meeting with parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.
“I have no reason not to expect that all parties — all parties — will remain committed to implementing the agreement that they agreed to,” he added after meeting Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and following accusations from Israel and Hezbollah that each side was violating the deal.
Israel in September stepped up its bombing campaign and later sent troops into Lebanon following nearly a year of exchanges of cross-border fire initiated by Hezbollah over the war in Gaza.
Under the terms of the ceasefire which Hochstein helped broker, the Lebanese army is to deploy alongside United Nations peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdraws over a 60-day period.
Hezbollah is to pull its forces north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Mikati called for “a clear timetable to complete the Israeli withdrawal before the end of the 60-day deadline,” according to a statement released by his office.
It added that any “talk of Israel’s intention to extend the ceasefire deadline is firmly rejected.”
The Lebanese military said that “army units have stationed around the town of Naqura... and began deploying there in coordination with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon,” referring to UNIFIL, whose headquarters is in Naqura.
The deployment came “in parallel with the Israeli enemy’s withdrawal,” the statement said, and coincided “with a meeting of the five-member committee” overseeing the ceasefire that was also attended by Hochstein.
The Israeli army told AFP that it “operates according to the directive of the political echelon and is committed to the understanding in regards to the ceasefire conditions.”
A committee composed of Israeli, Lebanese, French and US delegates alongside a UNIFIL representative is tasked with ensuring any ceasefire violations are identified and dealt with.
Hochstein said he co-chaired the third meeting of the committee on Monday together with United States Major General Jasper Jeffers, adding that “the mechanism is working well.”
He said that while the ceasefire implementation may not have proceeded “as quickly as some wanted... what I heard in Naqura today gives me hope that we’re on the right track.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday accused Hezbollah of not withdrawing “beyond the Litani River” as stipulated, and of not meeting other terms of the ceasefire, after Hezbollah accused Israel of violations.
On December 11, Lebanon’s army said it deployed around the border town of Khiam in coordination with UNIFIL, also following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area.
The US military said it was the first such Israeli force withdrawal and subsequent Lebanese army deployment under the ceasefire.
During Monday’s visit, his first since the truce, Hochstein also urged political consensus in Lebanon ahead of a presidential vote this week.
Lebanon has been without a president for more than two years amid bitter divisions between Hezbollah and its opponents.
“These are critical times for Lebanon... not just to implement this agreement, but to come to political consensus, to focus on Lebanon for Lebanese people,” Hochstein said ahead Thursday’s vote.
“This is an opportunity... to really just focus on rebuilding the economy,” on implementing “reforms that will allow for investment, and returning the country to economic growth and prosperity for all,” Hochstein added.
The Lebanese army said Hochstein and Jeffers also met with army commander Joseph Aoun on Monday, discussing the ceasefire.
Aoun’s name has been floated as a potential presidential candidate.
Erdogan warns no place for 'terrorist' groups in Syria
- There is no place for "terrorist organisations or affiliated elements in the future of the new Syria," Erdogan said
- Ankara accuses one leading Kurdish force in Syria, the People's Protection Units (YPG), of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkiye
ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said there was no place for "terrorist organisations" in Syria under its new Islamist leaders, in a warning regarding Kurdish forces there.
The fall of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad last month raised the prospect of Türkiye intervening in the country against Kurdish forces accused by Ankara of links to armed separatists.
Erdogan's comment came during a meeting in Ankara with the prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish region, Masrour Barzani, the Turkish leader's office said in a statement.
Erdogan told Barzani that Türkiye was working to prevent the ousting of Assad in neighbouring Syria from causing new instability in the region.
There is no place for "terrorist organisations or affiliated elements in the future of the new Syria," Erdogan said.
Ankara accuses one leading Kurdish force in Syria, the People's Protection Units (YPG), of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Türkiye.
The PKK has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is banned as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies.
The Turkish military regularly launches strikes against Kurdish fighters in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, accusing them of PKK links.
On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said: "The elimination of the PKK/YPG is only a matter of time."
He cited a call by Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose HTS group has long had ties with Türkiye, for the Kurdish-led forces to be integrated into Syria's national army.
The United States has backed the YPG in its fight against the jihadist movement Islamic State (IS), which has been largely crushed in its former Syrian stronghold.
But Fidan warned that Western countries should not use the threat of IS as "a pretext to strengthen the PKK".
