CAIRO: Hamas said on Sunday that a new proposal meant to bridge the gaps between Israel and the armed group over a Gaza ceasefire were too close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent positions.
Hamas’ statement came only hours after US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in Israel in a bid to secure a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, dimming hopes for an imminent breakthrough in negotiations.
Hamas received the new proposal from mediators, Qatar, Egypt and the United States, following a two-day round of talks in Doha.
It said that the new proposal was aligned with Netanyahu, who refuses to end the war and withdraw Israeli forces from Gaza, including from the border with Egypt, two conditions the group sees as the basis for any agreement.
“We hold Netanyahu fully responsible for thwarting the mediators’ efforts, delaying the agreement, and for the lives of his prisoners who are exposed to the same danger as our people due to his ongoing aggression and systematic targeting of all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip,” said Hamas.
“We call on the mediators to assume their responsibilities and compel the occupation to implement what was agreed upon,” Hamas said, adding that it was fully committed to the previous July proposal.
Hamas says new Gaza proposal too close to Israel’s demands
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Hamas says new Gaza proposal too close to Israel’s demands
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- Hamas received the new proposal from mediators, Qatar, Egypt and the US, following a round of talks in Doha
- It said new proposal was aligned with Netanyahu, who refuses to end the war and withdraw Israeli forces from Gaza, including from the border with Egypt
Algeria election results are being questioned by the opposition candidates and the president himself
Algeria election results are being questioned by the opposition candidates and the president himself
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- Algeria is Africa’s largest country by area. With almost 45 million people, it’s the continent’s second most populous after South Africa to hold presidential elections in 2024
Algerians expected an uneventful election that would bestow President Abdelmadjid Tebboune a second term. Instead, they got the president himself calling into question the vote count and legal challenges from his opponents alleging fraud.
Such a surprising turn of events marks a departure for Algeria, where elections have historically been carefully choreographed by the ruling elite and military apparatus that backs it.
The country’s constitutional court has until next week to rule on the appeals from Tebboune’s two opponents. But it’s anyone’s guess how questions about the election will be resolved, whether tallies will be re-tabulated and what it means for Tebboune’s efforts to project an image of legitimacy and popular support.
WHAT’S THE CONFUSION?
Algeria’s National Independent Election Authority, or ANIE, published figures throughout election day showing a low turnout. By 5 p.m. on Saturday, the reported turnout in Algeria was 26.5 percent — far fewer than had voted by that time in the election five years ago. After unexplained delays, it said “provisional average turnout” by 8 p.m. had spiked to 48 percent.
But the next day, it reported that only 5.6 million out of nearly 24 million voters had cast ballots — nowhere near 48 percent.
It said 94.7 percent voted to re-elect Tebboune. His two challengers — Abdelali Hassani Cherif of the Movement of Society for Peace and Youcef Aouchiche of the Socialist Forces Front — won a dismal 3.2 percent and 2.2 percent of the vote, respectively.
Cherif, Aouchiche and their campaigns subsequently questioned how results were reported and alleged foul play including pressure placed on poll workers and proxy voting.
None of that surprised observers.
But later, Tebboune’s campaign joined with his opponents in releasing a shared statement rebuking ANIE for “inaccuracies, contradictions, ambiguities and inconsistencies,” legitimizing questions about the president’s win and aligning him with popular anger that his challengers had drummed up.
Cherif and Aouchiche filed appeals at Algeria’s constitutional court on Tuesday after their campaigns further rebuked the election as “a masquerade.”
WHY IS VOTER TURNOUT CLOSELY WATCHED IN ALGERIA’S ELECTION?
Turnout is notoriously low in Algeria, where activists consider voting tantamount to endorsing a corrupt, military-led system rather than something that can usher in meaningful change.
Urging Algerians to participate in the election was a campaign theme for Tebboune as well as his challengers. That’s largely due to the legacy of the pro-democracy “Hirak” protests that led to the ouster of Tebboune’s predecessor.
After an interim government that year hurriedly scheduled elections in December 2019, protesters boycotted them, calling them rigged and saying they were a way for the ruling elite to handpick a leader and avoid the deeper changes demanded.
Tebboune, seen as the military’s preferred candidate, won with 58 percent of the vote. But more than 60 percent of the country’s 24 million voters abstained and his victory was greeted with fresh rounds of protests.
His supporters had hoped for a high turnout victory this year would project Tebboune’s popular support and put distance between Algeria and the political crisis that toppled his predecessor. It appears that gambit failed after only 5.6 million out of 24 million voters participated.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HIRAK PROTESTS?
In 2019, millions of Algerians flooded the streets for pro-democracy protests that became known as the “Hirak” (which means movement in Arabic).
Protesters were outraged after 81-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced plans to run for a fifth term. He had rarely been seen since a 2013 stroke left him paralyzed. The Hirak was jubilant but unsatisfied when Bouteflika resigned and top businessmen were charged with corruption. Protesters never coalesced around leaders or a new vision for Algeria, but called for deeper reforms to foster genuine democracy and remove from power members of what Algerians simply call “the power” — the elites from business, politics and the military thought to run the country.
Hirak protesters rejectedTebboune as a member of the old guard and interpreted most of his earlyovertures as empty gestures meant to placate them.
Before, during and after Tebboune’s election, protests continued. Then, COVID-19 hit and they were outlawed. Authorities continued to repress freedom of expression and imprison journalists and activists made famous by the pro-democracy movement, though protests restarted in 2021.
Figures from the Hirak denounced the 2024 election as a rubber stamp exercise to entrench Algeria’s status quo and called for another round of boycotts to express a deep lacking of faith in the system. Many said the high abstention rate in Saturday’s election proved Algerians were still aligned with their criticisms of the system.
“Algerians don’t give a damn about this bogus election,” said former Hirak leader Hakim Addad, who was banned from participating in politics three years ago. “The political crisis will persist as long as the regime remains in place. The Hirak has spoken.”
WHAT DOES TEBBOUNE QUESTIONING THE RESULTS MEAN?
Nobody knows. Few believe the challenges could lead to Tebboune’s victory being overturned.
Op-ed columnists and political analysts in Algeria have condemned ANIE, the independent election authority established in 2019, and its president Mohamed Charfi, for bungling elections that the government hoped would project its own legitimacy in the face of its detractors.
Hasni Abidi, an Algeria analyst at the Geneva-based Center for Studies and Research on the Arab World and Mediterranean, called it “a mess within the regime and the elite” and said it dealt a blow to both the credibility of institutions in Algeria and Tebboune’s victory.
Some argue his willingness to join opponents and criticize an election that he won suggest infighting among the elite thought to control Algeria.
“The reality is that this remains a more fragmented, less coherent political system than it ever has been or than people have ever assumed,” said Riccardo Fabiani, International Crisis Group’s North Africa director.
WHAT ARE THE STAKES?
Though Tebboune will likely emerge the winner, the election will reflect the depth of support for his political and economic policies five years after the pro-democracy movement toppled his predecessor.
Algeria is Africa’s largest country by area. With almost 45 million people, it’s the continent’s second most populous after South Africa to hold presidential elections in 2024 — a year in which more than 50 elections are being held worldwide, encompassing more than half the world’s population.
Thanks to oil and gas revenue, the country is relatively wealthy compared to its neighbors, yet large segments of the population have in recent years decried increases in the cost of living and routine shortages of staples including cooking oil and, in some regions, water.
The country is a linchpin to regional stability, often acting as a power broker and counterterrorism ally to western nations as neighboring countries — including Libya, Niger and Mali — are convulsed by violence, coups and revolution.
It’s a major energy supplier, especially to European countries trying to wean themselves off Russian gas and maintains deep, albeit contentious, ties with France, the colonial power that ruled it for more than a century until 1962.
The country spends twice as much on defense as any other in Africa and is the world’s third largest importer of Russian weapons after India and China, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s Arms Transfers Database.
UN Palestinian refugee agency says six staffers killed in two airstrikes in Gaza
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- “Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people,” UNRWA said on X
CAIRO: The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said six staffers were killed after two airstrikes hit a school in central Gaza on Wednesday, marking what it said was the highest death toll among its staff in a single incident.
“Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people,” UNRWA said on X.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli army said in a statement that it conducted a strike on a command and control center in Nuseirat in central Gaza, which it said was operated by Palestinian militant faction Hamas.
“This school has been hit five times since the war began. It is home to around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children,” UNRWA added.
The Hamas-run government media office said the Israeli strike killed at least 18 people, including the UNRWA staff members.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Reuters on Wednesday that a lack of accountability for the killing of United Nations staff and humanitarian aid workers in Gaza was “totally unacceptable.”
The Israeli military says it takes steps to reduce the risk of harm to civilians and that at least a third of the Palestinian fatalities in Gaza are militants. It accuses Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields, which Hamas denies.
The war was triggered on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health ministry.
Libya’s factions progress in central bank crisis talks, says UN Libya mission
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CAIRO: Libya’s rival factions made progress on talks over the central bank crisis and will continue discussions on Thursday to reach a final agreement, the UN Libya mission said on Wednesday, in a bid to defuse a crisis that has slashed oil output and exports.
“The participants of the two (legislative) chambers made progress in agreeing on the general principles governing the interim period leading to the appointment of a new governor and board of directors for the Central Bank,” the United Nations Libya mission (UNSMIL) said in a statement.
The meeting hosted by UNSMIL featured representatives from the Benghazi-based House of Representatives, the High Council of State and the Presidential Council, which are both based in Tripoli.
The standoff began last month when western Libyan factions moved to oust a veteran central bank governor, prompting eastern factions to declare a shutdown to all oil output.
Although Libya’s two legislative bodies said last week they agreed to jointly appoint a central bank governor within 30 days, the situation remains fluid and uncertain.
Libyan oil exports fell around 81 percent
last week, Kpler data showed on Wednesday, as the National Oil Corporation canceled cargoes amid a crisis over control of Libya’s central bank and oil revenue.
Turkish-American activist’s family awaits body for burial
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- Her family is still waiting for Eygi’s body to arrive and is hoping to bury her in the southwestern town of Didim on Friday
DIDIM, Turkiye: The family of a Turkish-American activist killed during a protest in the occupied West Bank is expecting to bury her in Turkiye, her uncle told AFP on Wednesday.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot dead last week while demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank town of Beita.
The United Nations rights office has accused Israeli forces of having shot Eygi, 26, in the head.
The Israeli army has acknowledged opening fire in the area and said it was looking into the case.
Her family is still waiting for Eygi’s body to arrive and is hoping to bury her in the southwestern town of Didim on Friday.
“It’s sad but it’s also a source of pride for Didim,” Eygi’s uncle Ali Tikkim, 67, told AFP.
“It’s important that a young girl, martyred and sensitive to the world is buried here.”
Eygi was a frequent visitor to the Aegean seaside resort.
“It’s likely that the funeral will take place on Friday but nothing is certain,” said Tikkim, who said he believed her body was still in Israel.
“Israel asked for an autopsy” but Eygi’s parents refused and have “hired a lawyer” to inform Israeli authorities, Tikkim said.
The US embassy in Turkiye’s capital Ankara said it was “following the case” but refused to comment.
Tikkim said that Eygi’s mother, who lives in Seattle on the US west coast, arrived in Didim on Wednesday and that her father was on his way.
The family wanted Eygi to be buried in Didim, where her grandfather lives and her grandmother has been laid to rest, said Tikkim.
“Aysenur was here about two weeks ago. She came here twice a year when she could, to swim and visit her family,” he said.
“Then she told us she was going to Jordan. She went to Palestine for humanitarian reasons.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to ensure “that Aysenur Ezgi’s death does not go unpunished.”
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for Israel to provide “full accountability” for Eygi’s death.
Hamas meets with mediators in Doha over Gaza truce
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- The Palestinian group said they had discussed “developments concerning the Palestinian cause and the aggression on the Gaza Strip“
- Months of behind-the-scenes negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to secure a halt to the fighting
DOHA: A Hamas delegation met Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Doha on Wednesday to discuss a truce in Gaza and a potential hostage and prisoner exchange, the militant group said in a statement.
Hamas said its lead negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya met with Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.
The Palestinian group said they had discussed “developments concerning the Palestinian cause and the aggression on the Gaza Strip” without indicating that talks had resulted in a breakthrough.
Months of behind-the-scenes negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to secure a halt to the fighting between Hamas and Israel, with the exception of a one-week truce beginning in late November.
During the sole pause in the now 11-month war, 105 hostages were released to Israel in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners under the deal struck by mediators.
Recent rounds of mediation held in Doha and Cairo have been based on a framework laid out in May by US President Joe Biden and a “bridging proposal” presented to the parties in August.
The Hamas statement reiterated its “readiness for the immediate implementation of the ceasefire agreement based on President Biden’s declaration.”
Pressure for a deal has intensified after Israeli authorities announced the deaths of six hostages at the start of September when their bodies were recovered from a Gaza tunnel.
But in the face of the external calls for an agreement, both Israel and Hamas have publicly signalled deeper entrenchment in their negotiating positions.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has doubled down in his calls for Israeli control of the so-called Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border — a key sticking point in negotiations — saying it was necessary to stop Hamas from rearming
Last week, Egypt and then Qatar rejected the charge that the border was being used to arm Hamas, accusing Netanyahu of trying to distract Israeli public opinion and obstruct a ceasefire deal.
In the statement on Wednesday, Hamas also restated its demand for Israel’s withdrawal from “all Gaza territories.”
The militant group also claimed it had not placed any further demands on negotiators and at the same time was “rejecting any new conditions to this agreement from any party.”