CAIRO: Israeli and Egyptian ceasefire negotiators are in talks about an electronic surveillance system along the border between Gaza and Egypt that could allow Israel to pull back its troops from the area if a ceasefire is agreed, according to two Egyptian sources and a third source familiar with the matter.
The question of whether Israeli forces stay on the border is one of the issues blocking a potential ceasefire deal because both Palestinian militant group Hamas and Egypt, a mediator in the talks, are opposed to Israel keeping its forces there.
Israel is worried that if its troops leave the border zone, referred to by Israel as the Philadelphi corridor, Hamas’ armed wing could smuggle in weapons and supplies from Egypt into Gaza via tunnels that would allow it to re-arm and again threaten Israel.
A surveillance system, if the parties to the negotiations agree on the details, could therefore smooth the path to agreeing a ceasefire — though numerous other stumbling blocks remain.
Discussions around a surveillance system on the border have been reported before, but Reuters is reporting for the first time that Israel is engaging in the discussions as part of the current round of talks, with a view to pulling back forces from the border area.
The source familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the discussions are about “basically sensors that would be built on the Egyptian side of the Philadelphi (corridor).”
“The idea is obviously to detect tunnels, to detect any other ways that they’d be trying to smuggle weapons or people into Gaza. Obviously this would be a significant element in a hostage agreement.”
Asked if this would be significant for a ceasefire deal because it would mean Israeli soldiers would not have to be on the Philadelphi corridor, the source said: “Correct.”
The two Egyptian security sources, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israeli negotiators had spoken about a high-tech surveillance system.
Egypt was not opposed to that, if it was supported and paid for by the United States, according to the two Egyptian sources. They said though Egypt would not agree to anything that would change border arrangements between Israel and Egypt set out in a prior peace treaty.
At a military event on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he could only agree to a deal that preserved Israeli control of the Gaza-Egypt border, but he did not spell out if that meant having troops physically present there.
Talks are underway in Qatar and Egypt on a deal, backed by Washington, that would allow a pause in the fighting in Gaza, now in its 10th month, and the release of hostages held by Hamas.
Israel started its assault on the Gaza Strip last October after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, its forces have killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, according to medical authorities in Gaza.
Israeli officials have said during the war that Hamas used tunnels running under the border into Egypt’s Sinai region to smuggle arms. Egypt says it destroyed tunnel networks leading to Gaza years ago and created a buffer zone and border fortifications that prevent smuggling.
Israel’s advance into southern Gaza’s Rafah area in early May led to the closure of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza and a sharp reduction in the amount of international aid entering the Palestinian territory. Egypt says it wants aid deliveries to Gaza to resume, but that a Palestinian presence should be restored at the Rafah crossing for it to reopen.
Gaza talks explore alternative to Israeli troops on Gaza-Egypt border: sources
https://arab.news/yfuqc
Gaza talks explore alternative to Israeli troops on Gaza-Egypt border: sources
- Israel, Egypt discussing hi-tech surveillance on border
- Surveillance system is part of Gaza ceasefire talks, System addresses Israeli worries about Hamas smuggling
Jordanian Industry Ministry launches group to empower women-owned enterprises
- Women’s Empowerment Unit aims ti improve access to economic opportunities for women
AMMAN: Jordan’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply on Sunday held the first meeting of a new working group aimed at empowering women-owned businesses, Jordan Press Agency reported.
The gathering included prominent female entrepreneurs, representatives from organizations focused on women’s empowerment, and officials from various industry and commerce chambers.
Dana Al-Zoubi, the ministry’s secretary-general, spoke about the importance of the working group in achieving the ministry’s objectives and highlighted the ministry’s dedication to increasing women’s participation in the economy in various sectors.
Al-Zoubi praised the efforts of the Ministerial Committee for Women’s Empowerment and the Jordanian National Committee for Women’s Affairs for tackling the challenges faced by women.
She also reviewed the ministry’s major accomplishments in 2023 and the first half of the current year, as well as ongoing plans and strategies.
Al-Zoubi acknowledged the role of the newly established Women’s Empowerment Unit in improving access to economic opportunities for women.
Participants at the meeting discussed the working group’s goals, which include consulting on future strategies for women’s empowerment, addressing the challenges women encounter, expanding access to opportunities and resources for women-owned businesses, and creating a supportive business environment.
The group agreed that the WEU would draft a work charter outlining the group’s objectives, structure, meeting frequency and responsibilities.
Members were encouraged to provide feedback on the charter and suggest additional topics for discussion. The proposal to form special technical teams to focus on improving women’s access to economic opportunities was well received, with several suggestions made for future areas of focus.
US moves in Middle East are defensive, aimed at reducing tensions -White House
- US says move is not a prediction, it is prudent planning
WASHINGTON: The United States is telling its citizens to leave Lebanon and is deploying more military might in the Middle East as preventative and defensive measures, Jonathan Finer, White House National Security Council deputy adviser, said on Sunday.
“Our goal is de-escalation, our goal is deterrence, our goal is defense of Israel,” Finer said in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Regional tensions have soared following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ top leader, in Tehran on Wednesday, a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, a senior military commander from the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran.
Suspected missile attack by Yemen’s Houthis hits container ship in first attack in 2 weeks
- The Houthis have offered no explanation for the two-week pause in their attacks on shipping through the Red Sea corridor
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: A suspected missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi struck a container ship traveling through the Gulf of Aden, authorities said Sunday, likely the first assault by the group since Israeli airstrikes targeted them.
The Houthis have offered no explanation for the two-week pause in their attacks on shipping through the Red Sea corridor, which have seen similar slowdowns since the assaults began in November over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
But the resumption comes after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor, amid renewed concerns over the war breaking out into a regional conflict.
The attack on Saturday happened some 225 kilometers (140 miles) southeast of Aden in a stretch of the Gulf of Aden that has seen numerous Houthi attacks previously.
A security official on the vessel said a missile struck the vessel, but “no fires, water ingress or oil leaks have been observed,” according to a statement from the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, a clearinghouse for information on attacks in the Mideast. The UKMTO did not immediately identify the vessel hit.
The private security firm Ambrey also reported the attack. Details reported by the two organizations suggested the vessel targeted was the Liberian-flagged container ship Groton, which had left Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates bound for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The Groton’s Greek managers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack Saturday. However, it can take the militia hours or even days before they acknowledge an assault.
The militia have targeted more than 70 vessels by firing missiles and drones in their campaign that have killed four sailors. They have seized one vessel and sunk two in the time since. Other missiles and drones have been either intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or splashed down before reaching their targets.
The Houthis maintain that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain as part of the militia’s campaign they say seeks to force an end to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the war — including some bound for Iran.
The Houthis also have launched drones and missiles toward Israel, including an attack July 19 that killed one person and wounded 10 others in Tel Aviv. Israel responded the next day with airstrikes on the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida that hit fuel depots and electrical stations, killing and wounding a number of people, the Houthis say.
In the time since, there has not been a reported attack on shipping through the Red Sea corridor, which links Asia and the Middle East onto Europe through the Suez Canal. Since November, Houthi attacks have disrupted the $1 trillion flow of goods passing through the region annually while also sparking the most-intense combat the US Navy has seen since World War II.
The killing of Haniyeh in Tehran has sparked concerns of a new escalation in the Israel-Hamas war. Already, the US military says it will move a fighter jet squadron to the Middle East and keep an aircraft carrier in the region.
The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group will enter the Middle East to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, which is in the Gulf of Oman. Other ships are in the Mediterranean Sea with a Marine detachment if regional evacuations become necessary.
Meanwhile Saturday, the US military’s Central Command said its forces destroyed a Houthi missile and launcher in Yemen.
Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage, sparked the war. In the time since, Israel has killed at least 39,550 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and 590 in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials say.
Foreign nationals told to leave Lebanon
- France, Canada and Jordan were among the latest governments to issue calls for their citizens to leave Lebanon
- Several Western airlines have suspended flights to the region
BEIRUT: Urgent calls for foreign nationals to leave Lebanon grew on Sunday with France warning of “a highly volatile” situation as Iran and its allies ready their response to high-profile killings blamed on Israel.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, which has traded near-daily fire with Israeli forces since the Gaza war broke out in October, announced its fighters had fired a barrage of rockets at Israel’s north overnight.
The Israeli military said 30 projectiles were launched from Lebanon, with most of them intercepted.
With Israel on high alert anticipating major military action from Tehran-aligned armed groups including Hezbollah and Hamas, medics and police said two people were killed on Sunday in a stabbing attack in a Tel Aviv suburb.
The assailant, a Palestinian from the occupied West Bank, was “neutralized” by police and taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Israeli forces meanwhile kept bombarding the Gaza Strip, witnesses and officials in the besieged Hamas-ruled territory said, with no end in sight to the nearly 10-month Israeli agression on Gaza.
France, Canada and Jordan were among the latest governments to issue calls for their citizens to leave Lebanon.
“In a highly volatile security context,” French nationals were “urgently asked” to avoid traveling to Lebanon, and those already in the country “to make their arrangements now to leave... as soon as possible,” the foreign ministry in Paris said.
The United States and Britain have issued similar warnings.
Several Western airlines have suspended flights to the region.
On Sunday Qatar Airways said that “in light of recent developments in Lebanon,” the Doha-Beirut route “will operate exclusively during daylight hours” at least until Monday.
The killing Wednesday of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, hours after the Israeli assassination of Hezbollah’s military chief in Beirut, has triggered vows of vengeance from Iran and the so-called “axis of resistance” of Tehran-backed armed groups.
Israel, accused by Hamas, Iran and others of carrying out the attack that killed Haniyeh, has not directly commented on it.
Israel’s agression on the Gaza strip has killed at least 39,550 people, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Haniyeh, Hamas’s political chief, was the group’s lead negotiator in efforts to end the war.
His killing raised questions about the continued viability of efforts by Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators to broker a truce and exchange of hostages and prisoners.
On the ground in Gaza, fighting continued on Sunday.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said eight bodies had been recovered from a residential building in north Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp after an Israeli air strike.
Medics at central Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital said at least five people were killed and 16 wounded in an Israeli drone strike on tents housing displaced Palestinians at the medical complex, with a separate attack on a house nearby in the same area killing three.
On Saturday, an Israeli strike on a school turned displacement shelter killed at least 17 people, the civil defense agency said. Israel claims the facility was used by militants.
An AFP correspondent reported Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling early Sunday in and around Gaza City, while witnesses said there was more shelling, gunfire and at least two air strikes on the territory’s south.
The Israeli military said its air forces had struck “approximately 50 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip” in the past 24 hours.
Israeli ally the United States said it would move warships and fighter jets to the region to protect US personnel and defend Israel.
Analysts have told AFP that a joint but measured action from Iran and its allies was likely, while Tehran said it expects Hezbollah to hit deeper inside Israel and no longer be confined to military targets.
US President Joe Biden, asked by reporters if he thought Iran would stand down, said: “I hope so. I don’t know.”
On Sunday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi will visit Tehran to meet his Iranian counterpart, his ministry said.
Haniyeh’s killing “has brought the Middle East to its moment of greatest peril in years,” the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said in a report issued on Saturday.
“The risk of a spiralling conflagration is high,” with the potential for a miscalculation that would trigger a war “without constraints... likely greater now than it was in April,” it added.
On April 13, Iran launched its first ever direct attack on Israeli soil, firing a barrage of drones and missiles — most of which were intercepted — after a strike killed Revolutionary Guards at Tehran’s consulate in Damascus.
The ICG said that securing “a long overdue ceasefire” in Gaza was “the best way of meaningfully reducing tensions in the region.”
Hamas officials but also some analysts as well as protesters in Israel have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prolonging the war to safeguard his ruling hard-right coalition.
On Sunday, Netanyahu told his cabinet he was “making every effort” to return the hostages and was prepared “to go a long way” to do so.
Jordan’s foreign minister to hold talks in Iran amid regional tensions
- Safadi will also deliver a message to Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian on regional developments and bilateral relations
- Safadi would be the first senior Jordanian official to pay an official visit to Iran in over 20 years
AMMAN: Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi is set to make a rare visit to Iran on Sunday for talks with his Iranian counterpart Ali Bagheri-Kani on regional developments, state news agency Petra reported.
Safadi will also deliver a message on behalf of King Abdullah II to Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian regarding the situation in the region and bilateral relations.
Earlier the official news agency in Iran, IRNA, said that Safadi would “exchange views with Iranian officials on regional and international issues” during his visit to Tehran.
The royal court in Amman also said that King Abdullah had received a phone call from French President Emmanuel Macron “which covered the dangerous situation in the region.”
The king appealed “further international efforts to reach comprehensive calm and prevent a regional expansion of the conflict,” a statement said.
Regional tensions have spiked following the assassination of Haniyeh on Wednesday, which came a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, a senior military commander from the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Hamas and Iran have both accused Israel of carrying out the assassination of Haniyeh and have pledged to retaliate. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the death nor denied it.
Safadi would be the first senior Jordanian official to pay an official visit to Iran in over 20 years.
The last time a senior Jordanian official traveled to Iran on an official visit was in 2004 when then-Prime Minister Faisal Al-Fayez went to Tehran.
Iran has held talks with multiple Arab countries including Jordan, Egypt, Oman and Qatar among others since Haniyeh’s killing.
Tehran repeatedly reaffirmed its “inherent right” to take action against Israel.
