TEL AVIV: Families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas called for all parties to immediately accept a proposal detailed by US President Joe Biden to end the nearly 8-month-long war and bring their relatives home, but Israel’s government said conditions for a ceasefire still must be met.
Biden outlined a three-phase deal Friday proposed by Israel to Hamas, saying the militant group is “no longer capable” of carrying out another large-scale attack on Israel. He urged the Israelis and Hamas to come to an agreement to release some 100 remaining hostages, along with the bodies of around 30 more, for an extended ceasefire in Gaza.
Ceasefire talks ground to a halt last month after a major push by the US and other mediators to secure a deal in hopes of averting a full Israeli invasion of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. Israel says the Rafah operation is vital to uprooting Hamas fighters responsible for the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war.
Israel on Friday confirmed its troops were operating in central parts of the city. The ground assault has led to an exodus of around 1 million Palestinians out of the city and has thrown UN humanitarian operations based in the area into turmoil.
Following Biden’s speech, hostage families said Saturday time was running out with the onus on both Israel and Hamas to accept the deal.
“We want to see people coming back from Gaza alive and soon,” Gili Roman told The Associated Press. His sister, Yarden Roman-Gat, was taken hostage and freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November, but Yarden’s sister-in-law, Carmel, is still being held.
“This might be the last chance to save lives. Therefore, the current state must be changed and we expect all to adhere to Biden’s call for accepting the deal on the table, immediately. There is no other way toward a better situation for all. Our leadership must not disappoint us. But mostly, all eyes should be on Hamas,” he said.
The proposal came after what hostage families said was an aggressive meeting Thursday with Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, who told them that the government wasn’t ready to sign a deal to bring all of the hostages home and that there was no plan B.
Hanegbi said this week he expects the war to drag on for another seven months, in order to destroy the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group.
Netanyahu has promised a “total victory” that would remove Hamas from power, dismantle its military structure and return the hostages, and on Saturday, the government said its conditions for ending the war had not changed. Putting a permanent ceasefire in place before the conditions are fulfilled is a “non-starter,” it said.
Many hostage families blame the government’s lack of will to secure a deal for the deaths of many of the hostages in captivity.
“We know that the government of Israel has done an awful lot to delay reaching a deal and that has cost the lives of many people who survived in captivity for weeks and weeks and months and months. Our hearts are broken by the amount of people we will receive that are no longer alive,” Sharone Lifschitz, told AP. Her mother Yocheved was freed in the November ceasefire, and her father Oded is still in captivity.
The first phase of the deal announced by Biden would last for six weeks and include a “full and complete ceasefire,” a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all densely populated areas of Gaza and the release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly and the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The second phase would include the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza. The third phase calls for the start of a major reconstruction of Gaza, which faces decades of rebuilding from devastation caused by the war.
Biden acknowledged that keeping the Israeli proposal on track would be difficult, saying there were a number of “details to negotiate” to move from the first phase to the second. Biden said that if Hamas fails to fulfil its commitment under the deal, Israel can resume military operations.
Hamas said in a statement Friday it viewed the proposal presented by Biden “positively” and called on the Israelis to declare explicit commitment to an agreement that includes a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, a prisoner exchange and other conditions.
While the proposal is similar to previous ones, the main difference is the readiness to stop the war for an undefined period, according to analysts. It still leaves Israel the option the renew the war and diminish Hamas’ ability to govern, but over time, said Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum in Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University.
Still, experts say Biden’s speech was one of the first times in the war that provided hope that it might end and bring the hostages home.
“It was a very good speech ... it seems that Biden is trying to force it on the Israeli government, he was clearly speaking directly to the Israeli people,” said Gershon Baskin, director for the Middle East at the International Communities Organization. Israelis must take to the streets to demand that the government of Israel accept it, he said.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called it an “urgent hope” for lasting peace. She said Saturday it was up to Hamas to show they want to end the conflict.
Meanwhile fighting continued in Gaza.
On Saturday, Israel’s army said it killed a Hamas fighter responsible for directing attacks in Israel and the West Bank and earlier this week, it said its aircraft killed a Hamas fighter in central Gaza who was head of the technology department for its internal security forces.
Also on Saturday, Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News said officials from Egypt, the United States and Israel would meet in Cairo over the weekend for talks about the Rafah crossing, which has been closed since Israel took over the Palestinian side of it in early May. The meeting comes a week after Biden discussed the closure of the crossing in a call with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.
The crossing is one of the main ways for aid to enter Gaza. Egypt has refused to open its side of the border, fearing the Israeli hold will remain permanent. Egypt has demanded that Palestinians be put back in charge of the facility. The White House has been pressing Egypt to resume the flow of trucks.
Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250. More than 36,170 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israel’s campaign of bombardment and offensives, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Hostage families call for a ceasefire deal pushed by Biden, while Israel says conditions must be met
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Hostage families call for a ceasefire deal pushed by Biden, while Israel says conditions must be met
- Following Biden’s speech, hostage families said Saturday time was running out with the onus on both Israel and Hamas to accept the deal
- “We want to see people coming back from Gaza alive and soon,” Gili Roman told AP
Erdogan says Turkiye will deepen ties with East while still facing West
“That is the approach that lies behind our country’s will to expand the basis of dialogue with all of them, from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to BRICS and ASEAN“
ANKARA: President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Türkiye would not stop deepening ties with the East, including the BRICS group of nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), even as it continued to face West.
Türkiye, a NATO member, has in recent months voiced interest in joining the BRICS and SCO groups, both of which include China and Russia. This has stirred US and European fears that Türkiye may be pivoting away from its traditionally Western geopolitical orientation, despite repeated denials from Ankara.
Speaking at an event in Ankara, Erdogan said debates over an “axis shift” were unfounded, but that Türkiye had to adapt to new “centers of power” forming in the fields of economy, production, and technology, while keeping itself open to opportunities with every structure and actor.
“That is the approach that lies behind our country’s will to expand the basis of dialogue with all of them, from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to BRICS and ASEAN,” Erdogan said.
“Of course, our face is turned to the West, but this certainly does not mean that we will turn our backs on the East, that we will ignore the East, or not improve our ties with the East,” he added.
BRICS comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. China and Russia, in particular, want to expand the group further as they seek to counter Western economic dominance.
The SCO is a security, political and economic club launched by Moscow, Beijing and Central Asian states in 2001 as a counterweight to Western alliances.
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Türkiye would not stop deepening ties with the East, including the BRICS group of nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), even as it continued to face West. (AFP/File)
UN rights chief demands accountability for Lebanon pager blasts
- “Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals … violates international human rights law,” Volker Turk said
GENEVA: Those responsible for a deadly wave of explosions across Lebanon targeting paging devices used by members of the Hezbollah militant group “must be held to account,” the UN rights chief said Wednesday.
“Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge as to who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location and their surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law and, to the extent applicable, international humanitarian law,” Volker Turk said in a statement.
Blinken says Sudan progress threatened by new RSF offensive in Al-Fashir
- Progress in Sudan is threatened by RSF’s new offensive in Al-Fashir
CAIRO: The progress in Sudan is threatened by a new offensive by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the southwestern city of Al-Fashir, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Wednesday during a visit to Cairo.
Egypt won’t accept security changes on Gaza border, foreign minister says
- Security on the border, and whether Israel will maintain a troop presence along a 14-km (9-mile) buffer zone known as the Philadelphi Corridor, have become a focal point of months-long talks
- Israeli troops entered the buffer zone in May as they pursued an offensive around Rafah
CAIRO: Egypt will not accept any changes to the security arrangements that were in place on its border with Gaza before war broke out between Israel and Hamas last October, the Egyptian foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Security on the border, and whether Israel will maintain a troop presence along a 14-km (9-mile) buffer zone known as the Philadelphi Corridor, have become a focal point of months-long talks aimed at securing a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza.
Israeli troops entered the buffer zone in May as they pursued an offensive around Rafah.
Egypt, which is a mediator in ceasefire talks, says Israel must withdraw and that a Palestinian presence needs to be restored at the Rafah crossing between Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Gaza.
“Egypt reiterates its position, it rejects any military presence along the opposite side of the border crossing and the aforementioned (Philadelphi) corridor,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told reporters during a press conference in Cairo with US counterpart Antony Blinken.
Abdelatty also said that any escalation, including blasts that wounded Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon on Tuesday, would create hurdles for the completion of a Gaza ceasefire deal.
Taiwan, Hungary firms deny making Hezbollah pagers
- Gold Apollo denied producing the devices and instead pointed the finger at its Budapest-based partner BAC Consulting KFT
- BAC Consulting CEO Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono told US broadcaster NBC News that her company worked with Gold Apollo but did not make pagers
BUDAPEST: A Taiwanese company and its Hungarian partner on Wednesday reportedly denied making pagers that exploded while being used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon.
The New York Times, citing American and other anonymous officials, reported that Israel had inserted explosive material into a shipment of pagers from Taiwan’s Gold Apollo.
Taiwanese prosecutors launched an investigation.
Gold Apollo denied producing the devices and instead pointed the finger at its Budapest-based partner BAC Consulting KFT.
Gold Apollo head Hsu Ching-kuang said the pagers were “100 percent not” made in Taiwan.
“They are not our products from beginning to end. How can we produce products that are not ours?” Hsu told reporters in Taipei.
The company said in a separate statement that it has established a “long-term partnership” with the Hungarian company to use its trademark and the model mentioned in media reports “is produced and sold by BAC.”
But BAC Consulting CEO Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono told US broadcaster NBC News that her company worked with Gold Apollo but did not make pagers.
“I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediate. I think you got it wrong,” NBC cited Barsony-Arcidiacono as saying on the phone.
Barsony-Arcidiacono did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
The explosions in Lebanon killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded up to 2,800 others.
Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the attack.
At BAC Consulting’s registered postal address in a Budapest suburb, a woman there told reporters that the two-story semi-detached building belongs to a company providing virtual business addresses.
Barsony-Arcidiacono appears to be the only employee of the company founded in 2022, according to legal documents consulted by AFP, which also report an annual revenue of 210 million forints ($590,000) and profit of around 18 million forints.
On an archived version of a currently inaccessible website, the consultancy described itself as “agents of change with a network of consultants,” while Barsony-Arcidiacono touted her experience as a “strategic adviser” for international organizations.
The Times reported about 3,000 pagers were ordered from Gold Apollo, mostly its AR924 model.
“Our company only provides the brand trademark authorization and is not involved in the design or manufacturing of this product,” Gold Apollo said.
The company declined to comment further, citing ongoing investigations.
“We have assigned the case to the chief prosecutor of the national security team to actively investigate. Our office will clarify the facts of the case as soon as possible,” Taipei’s Shilin District Prosecutors Office said in a statement.
“If there is any illegality involved, it will be severely punished in accordance with the law,” the office added.
Taiwan’s economic affairs ministry said Gold Apollo’s pagers made in Taiwan only have “a receiving function” and the capacity of their built-in battery “is about that of an ordinary AA battery that is not possible to explode to cause death or injury.”
“After reviewing media reports and pictures, we think it’s very questionable that (the model used) is the company’s product,” the ministry said, adding that there is no record of the company directly exporting to Lebanon.
A source close to Hezbollah, asking not to be identified, previously told AFP that “the pagers that exploded concern a shipment recently imported by Hezbollah of 1,000 devices” which appear to have been “sabotaged at source.”
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the explosions.
