CAIRO: Hamas said on Wednesday it would not take part in a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks slated for Thursday in Qatar, but an official briefed on the talks said mediators expected to consult with the Palestinian group afterwards.
The US has said it expects indirect talks to go ahead as planned in Qatar’s capital Doha on Thursday, and that a ceasefire agreement was still possible, while warning that progress was needed urgently to avert a wider war.
Axios reported that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed a trip to the Middle East that had been expected to begin on Tuesday. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that CIA Director Bill Burns and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk will represent Washington at the talks on Thursday in Qatar.
Three senior Iranian officials have said that only a ceasefire deal in Gaza would hold Iran back from direct retaliation against Israel for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on its soil last month.
“Israel will send the negotiations team on the agreed upon date, that’s tomorrow Aug. 15th, in order to finalize the details of the implementation of the framework agreement,” government spokesperson David Mencer said in a briefing.
The delegation includes Israel’s spy chief David Barnea, head of the domestic security service Ronen Bar and the military’s hostages chief Nitzan Alon, a defense official said.
Hamas has voiced skepticism about the talks, accusing Israel of stalling. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been the main obstacle to a deal.
“Going to new negotiations allows the occupation to impose new conditions and employ the maze of negotiation to conduct more massacres,” Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
Hamas’ absence from the talks does not eliminate chances of progress since its chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya is based in Doha and the group has open channels with Egypt and Qatar.
“Hamas is committed to the proposal presented to it on July 2, which is based on the UN Security Council resolution and the Biden speech and the movement is prepared to immediately begin discussion over a mechanism to implement it,” said Abu Zuhri.
A source familiar with the matter said Hamas wants the mediators to come back with a “serious response” from Israel. If that happens, the group says, it will meet with mediators after the Thursday session. An official briefed on the talks process said mediators expected to consult with Hamas.
In a statement Hamas issued late on Wednesday jointly with some smaller factions, it reaffirmed the outstanding demands the factions wanted a ceasefire agreement to achieve.
The group said negotiations “should examine mechanisms to implement what was agreed upon in the framework deal submitted by mediators that would achieve a comprehensive ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces, breaking the siege, opening crossings and reconstruction of Gaza as well as reaching a serious hostages/prisoners deal.”
The statement rejected any US or Israeli intervention in shaping the day after the war in Gaza.
Hamas to stay out of Gaza truce talks but may meet mediators afterwards
https://arab.news/2hn6m
Hamas to stay out of Gaza truce talks but may meet mediators afterwards
- The US has said it expects indirect talks to go ahead as planned in Qatar’s capital Doha on Thursday
- Hamas has voiced skepticism about the talks, accusing Israel of stalling
Houthis abduct another Yemeni employee of US Embassy in Sanaa
- Armed Houthis, including Zaynabiyat policewomen, stormed the house of Mohammed Abdullah Shammakh
- Shammakh was in a nearby market purchasing items for his family when the raid occurred
AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Houthi militia has abducted a Yemeni employee of the US Embassy in Sanaa, becoming the latest known victim of the Houthis’ crackdown on aid and civil society workers in Yemeni areas under their control.
A group of armed Houthis, including Zaynabiyat policewomen, have stormed the house of Mohammed Abdullah Shammakh, an administrative officer at the US Embassy in Sanaa, and abducted him after searching it, according to his friend and Yemeni journalist Sami Ghaleb.
Ghaleb, who spoke with residents of Sanaa’s Al-Ziraah neighborhood, where the abducted man lived, told Arab News on Thursday that the Houthis raided the three-story building on Oct. 10 and instructed its occupants, including children and women, to go to the roofs.
They then confined them, before storming Shammakh’s apartment and conducting a search.
Shammakh was in a nearby market purchasing items for his family when the raid occurred and was taken aback when he observed the Houthis occupying his residence, his friend said.
When he returned home, the Houthis abducted him, leaving behind a chaotic house and a terrified family, according to Ghaled.
“He’s more like a family member than a friend. He is a great person, like his father, lovable and helpful, and he assists his neighbors,” said Ghaled, who published an article on his news site, www.alndaa.net, in which he urged the Houthis to release him and other abducted individuals.
“You are responsible for these heinous violations, and no one in the historic capital is willing to listen to your ridiculous argument. These are simply helpless employees,” Ghaled wrote on his website on Wednesday.
The US Embassy in Yemen, which is now based in Riyadh, responded to Arab News’ request for comment on the abduction of its employee in Sanaa by saying: “We are aware of that report but cannot confirm if it is true at this time.”
The US Embassy in Yemen has been closed since early 2015, and the diplomatic mission has been relocated to Riyadh, months after the Houthis seized power.
In 2021, the Houthis raided the US Embassy compound in Sanaa, abducting Yemeni employees from the building and also abducting other former and current embassy employees from their Sanaa homes.
According to lawyers in Sanaa, the Houthis recently referred six abducted US Embassy employees to court and intend to try them on espionage charges.
Over the past four months, the Houthis have abducted more than 70 Yemeni workers from UN agencies, international human rights and aid organizations, and foreign diplomatic missions, accusing them of spying for US and Israeli intelligence agencies.
Relatives of some of those abducted have told Arab News that the Houthis have denied their requests to visit them in detention, call them, or provide information about their conditions.
On Wednesday, the office of the UN Yemen envoy, Hans Grundberg, said that he discussed efforts to release the UN workers abducted by the Houthis with Nada Al-Nashif, the UN deputy high commissioner for human rights, and reiterated his appeal to the Houthis to release them.
“The UN remains steadfast in demanding their immediate and unconditional release,” Grundberg’s office said.
Middle East conflicts to leave ‘lasting scars’: IMF
- IMF lowers its predicted growth for the Middle East and Central Asia to 2.1 percent for 2024
- IMF forecasts for Lebanon, where conflict with Israel has sharply escalated this month, have been suspended
DUBAI: Gaza, Lebanon and Sudan will take decades to recover from the conflicts raging on their soil, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday after downgrading the region’s growth forecast.
Israel’s military actions against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Sudan’s civil war would have enduring impacts, the IMF said.
“The damage caused by these conflicts will leave lasting scars at their epicenters for decades,” the global lender said in a statement.
The IMF has lowered its predicted growth for the Middle East and Central Asia to 2.1 percent for 2024, a drop of 0.6 percent due to the wars and lower oil production.
Depending on the conflicts, growth should rise to 4.0 percent next year, according to the IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook which was compiled in September.
“This year has been challenging with conflicts causing devastating human suffering and lasting economic damage,” Jihad Azour, the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department director, told reporters in Dubai.
“The recent escalation in Lebanon has greatly increased the uncertainty in the whole MENA region.”
IMF forecasts for Lebanon, where conflict with Israel has sharply escalated this month, have been suspended. But “conservative” estimates show a 9.0-10 percent contraction this year, Azour said.
“The impact (on Lebanon) will be severe and it will depend how long this conflict will last,” said the former Lebanese finance minister.
Saudi-led oil cuts through the OPEC+ group, aimed at propping up prices, “are contributing to sluggish near-term growth in many economies,” the IMF said.
For the region’s oil exporters, “medium-term growth is projected to moderate, as economic diversification reforms will take time to yield results,” it added.
Downside risks continue to dominate, the lender said, including fluctuating commodity prices, conflicts and climate shocks.
Syria state media report Israel strikes on town near Lebanon border
DAMASCUS: Syrian state media said Israeli strikes hit the town of Qusayr near the Lebanese border on Thursday, the latest in a series of raids in the area.
“An Israeli aggression targeted the Qusayr area in the southern Homs countryside,” causing “material damage to the industrial city and some residential neighborhoods,” the official SANA news agency said.
Doctors Without Borders surgeon detained by Israel in north Gaza hospital raid
- Mohammed Obeid, an MSF orthopaedic surgeon working at Kamal Adwan hospital in north Gaza, was detained during an Israeli military raid on the site on Oct. 26, MSF said
GENEVA: Medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Thursday that one of its doctors working in a north Gaza hospital has been detained by Israeli forces.
Mohammed Obeid, an MSF orthopaedic surgeon working at Kamal Adwan hospital in north Gaza, was detained during an Israeli military raid on the site on Oct. 26, MSF said.
“We are extremely alarmed by the detention of our colleague,” it said.
“We call for the safety and the protection of our colleague, and for all medical staff in Gaza who work under impossible conditions and are facing horrific violence as they try to provide care.”
Israeli military says it downed drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel
- Egypt says it destroyed tunnel networks leading to Gaza years ago and created a buffer zone and border fortifications that prevent smuggling
DUBAI: Israel’s military said on Thursday it shot down a drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel on Wednesday.
Israeli officials have said during the war in Gaza that Palestinian armed group 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.
Earlier in October, the Israeli military also said it foiled a weapon smuggling attempt from Egypt after downing a drone carrying guns and bullets.
