CAIRO: Hamas said on Sunday that it rejects new Israeli conditions put forward in Gaza ceasefire talks, casting further doubt on the chances of a breakthrough in the latest US-backed effort to end the 10-month-old war.
Months of on-off talks have failed to produce an agreement to end Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza or free the remaining hostages seized by Hamas in the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war.
Key sticking points in ongoing talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar include an Israeli presence in the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow 14.5 km-long (nine-mile) stretch of land along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.
Hamas said Israel has backtracked on a commitment to withdraw troops from the Corridor and put forward other new conditions, including the screening of displaced Palestinians as they return to the enclave’s more heavily populated north when the ceasefire begins.
“We will not accept discussions about retractions from what we agreed to on July 2 or new conditions,” Hamas official Osama Hamdan told the group’s Al-Aqsa TV on Sunday.
In July, Hamas accepted a US proposal to begin talks on releasing Israeli hostages, including soldiers and men, 16 days after the first phase of an agreement aimed at ending the Gaza war, a senior Hamas source has told Reuters.
Hamdan also said Hamas has handed to mediators its response to the latest proposal, saying US talk of an imminent deal is false.
Hamas says it rejects new Israeli conditions in Gaza ceasefire talks
https://arab.news/cbquz
Hamas says it rejects new Israeli conditions in Gaza ceasefire talks
- Months of on-off talks have failed to produce an agreement to end Israel’s devastating military campaign in the Palestinian enclave
Hamas chief Sinwar thanks Hezbollah in letter to Nasrallah
- Sinwar has not appeared in public since the Oct. 7 attacks
- Hezbollah is the most powerful faction in an alliance of Iran-backed groups known as the Axis of Resistance
BEIRUT: Hamas chief Yehya Sinwar thanked the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah for his group’s support in the conflict with Israel, Hezbollah said on Friday, in the first reported message since Sinwar became Hamas leader in August.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah has been waging attacks on Israel for nearly a year in a conflict across the Lebanese-Israeli border that has been taking place in parallel to the Gaza war. Hezbollah says its attacks aim to support the Palestinians.
“Your blessed actions have expressed your solidarity on the fronts of the Axis of Resistance, supporting and engaging in the battle,” Sinwar told Nasrallah, according to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar broadcaster.
Sinwar has not appeared in public since the Oct. 7 attacks, and is widely thought to be running the war from tunnels beneath Gaza. It was the second time this week he is reported to have sent a letter. Hamas said on Tuesday he had sent one congratulating Algerian President Abdulmadjid Tebboune on his reelection.
Hezbollah is the most powerful faction in an alliance of Iran-backed groups known as the Axis of Resistance, which have also entered the fray with attacks from Yemen and Iraq in support of Hamas during the Gaza war.
In the early days of the conflict, former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal hinted at frustration over the scale of Hezbollah’s intervention, thanking the group but saying “the battle requires more.”
Over the last year, Israel has killed around 500 Hezbollah fighters, including its top military commander Fuad Shukr. The toll is greater than Hezbollah’s losses in its 2006 war with Israel. Hezbollah has said it had no advance knowledge of the Oct. 7 attack, which Sinwar helped plan.
Sinwar also thanked Nasrallah for a letter he sent expressing condolences for the death of Ismail Haniyeh, the former Hamas leader killed in Tehran in July in an assassination widely believed to have been carried out by Israel.
The hostilities across the Lebanese-Israeli border have forced tens of thousands of people to leave both sides of the frontier. The risk of escalation has loomed large.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday that Israeli forces are near to fulfilling their mission in Gaza and their focus will turn to the Lebanon border.
Israeli leaders have said they would prefer to resolve the conflict through an agreement that would push Hezbollah away from the border. Hezbollah has said that it will continue fighting as long as the Gaza war continues.
Body of activist shot in West Bank arrives in Turkiye
- The UN rights office has accused Israeli forces of shooting Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the head
- Her family said she was ‘shot in the head and killed by a bullet from an Israeli soldier’
ISTANBUL: The body of a US-Turkish activist, shot dead by Israeli forces while protesting against illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, arrived in Turkiye on Friday.
The killing last week of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, has sparked international condemnation.
The United Nations rights office has accused Israeli forces of shooting Eygi in the head.
The Israeli army has acknowledged opening fire in the area and has said it is looking into the case.
Turkish officials, including Istanbul governor Davut, Gul attended the ceremony at Istanbul’s airport, where they prayed before the coffin wrapped in the Turkish flag.
Ankara has launched an investigation into Eygi’s death during a protest in the occupied West Bank town of Beita.
It has also petitioned the UN to launch an independent inquiry into the killing.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a vocal opponent of Israel’s war in Gaza, has vowed to ensure “that Aysenur Ezgi’s death does not go unpunished.”
Her family said she was “shot in the head and killed by a bullet from an Israeli soldier” during a weekly demonstration against Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law.
US President Joe Biden called on Wednesday for Israel to provide “full accountability” and demanded it “do more” to avoid such killings.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said on Tuesday that increased violence in the occupied West Bank meant it risked becoming “a new Gaza.”
Eygi’s family is hoping to hold her funeral on Saturday in the western coastal town of Didim.
“It’s sad but it’s also a source of pride for Didim,” Eygi’s uncle Ali Tikkim, 67, who lives in the town, said on Wednesday.
US blames Iran-linked group for attack on Iraq diplomatic compound
- The attack occurred amid rising regional tensions over the Gaza war and shortly ahead of a visit by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to Iraq
BAGHDAD: The US embassy in Iraq on Friday blamed Iran-linked groups for an attack this week on a US diplomatic compound at Baghdad airport, warning it retained “the right to self-defense.”
The embassy said in a statement there were “no reported casualties” in the attack Tuesday which it said “was initiated by Iran-aligned militia groups which operate freely in Iraq.”
It called on Iraq to protect its personnel and facilities.
The compound, located within the airport perimeter but attached to the US embassy, provides logistical support and medical services, among other things.
The attack occurred amid rising regional tensions over the Gaza war and shortly ahead of a visit by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to Iraq.
In its statement, the US embassy said Iraq had “repeatedly committed to protect diplomatic missions” and US military personnel in the country “at the government of Iraq’s invitation.”
“We again call on the government of Iraq, as we have done on many occasions, to protect diplomatic and coalition partner personnel and facilities,” it added.
“We reiterate that we reserve the right to self-defense and to protect our personnel anywhere in the world.”
A senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP on Wednesday that “two Katyusha-type rockets” had caused the explosion.
US military and civilian facilities in Iraq have come under repeated attack, both by Sunni Muslim extremists and by Shiite armed groups backed by Iran.
Lebanon health ministry says three killed in Israeli strike
- Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group has been trading near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces
Beirut: The Lebanese health ministry said a child was among three people killed in an Israeli strike in the country’s south on Thursday, amid ongoing exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group has been trading near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces since Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, sparking war in the Gaza Strip.
The Lebanese health ministry said an “Israeli enemy strike” hit the village of Kfarjouz near Nabatieh, around 10 kilometers (six miles) from the border with Israel.
The strike killed “three people, among them a child, and wounded three others,” the ministry said, without providing further details.
A source close to Hezbollah confirmed that one of the dead was “a fighter in Hezbollah” and the two others were “civilians.”
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the strike “targeted two motorcycles on the Nabatieh-Kfarjouz road,” adding that a passing car was also hit.
In a statement posted to Telegram early Friday, Hezbollah said it had fired a barrage of Katyusha rockets at Israel’s Northern Command “in response to the attack and assassination carried out” in Kfarjouz.
The Israeli military said shortly after that “approximately 20 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory” around Safed, where the Northern Command is based.
“Most were successfully intercepted, the rest fell in open areas,” the army said in a statement, adding that no injuries were reported but teams were working to “extinguish the fire that erupted due to a fall in the area.”
Earlier Thursday, Hezbollah said it had launched a number of attacks on military positions in northern Israel, some with drones.
The Israeli military said at the time that “approximately 15 projectiles” were identified crossing from Lebanon, with some intercepted and no casualties reported.
The cross-border violence since early October has killed about 622 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also including at least 142 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, authorities have announced the deaths of at least 24 soldiers and 26 civilians.
Deadly Israeli strike on Gaza school draws global condemnation
- UN chief Antonio Guterres branded the strike “totally unacceptable”
- EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was “outraged” by the deaths
GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: Israel faced international condemnation Thursday after a strike killed 18 people at a school-turned-shelter for displaced Palestinians in war-torn Gaza, where the Israeli military said it targeted Hamas militants.
The attack flattened part of the UN-run Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat on Wednesday, leaving only a charred heap of rebar and concrete.
“For the fifth time, Israeli forces bombed the UNRWA-run Al-Jawni School, killing 18 citizens,” Gaza civil defense spokesperson Mahmud Bassal wrote on Telegram, referring to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
UNRWA later said six of its staff had been killed in two Israeli strikes on the school and its surroundings, calling it the highest death toll among its team in a single incident.
“Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people,” it said on X. “Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target.”
The Israeli military said it had conducted a “precise strike” on Hamas militants within the school grounds. It did not elaborate on the outcome, but said “numerous steps” were taken to reduce the risk to civilians.
UN chief Antonio Guterres branded the strike “totally unacceptable.”
His condemnation was echoed by Israeli ally Germany, which said “humanitarian aid workers must never be victims of rockets.”
Jordan and the European Union also criticized the attack, while Israel’s main backer the United States called on it to protect humanitarian sites.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was “outraged” by the deaths and that the strikes showed a “disregard of the basic principles” of international humanitarian law.
US Secretary of State Blinken said: “We need to see humanitarian sites protected, and that’s something that we continue to raise with Israel.”
Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said UNRWA had not provided the names of its killed workers, “despite repeated requests.”
He said a military inquiry found that “a significant number of the names (of the dead) that have appeared in the media and on social networks are Hamas terrorist operatives.”
In response, UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma said the agency was “not aware of any such requests,” that it provided Israel each year with a list of its staff and that it “called repeatedly” on Israel and Palestinian militants “to never use civilian facilities for military or fighting purposes.”
She said the agency was “not in a position to determine” if the school had been used by Hamas for military purposes, but UNRWA had “repeatedly called for independent investigations” into “these very serious claims.”
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said the school was “no longer a school” and had become “a legitimate target” as it was used by Hamas to launch attacks.
UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid into Gaza, has been in crisis since Israel accused a dozen of its 30,000 employees of being involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks that sparked the war.
The UN immediately fired the implicated staff members, and a probe found some “neutrality related issues” but stressed Israel had not provided evidence for its chief allegations.
Survivors of the strike scrambled to recover bodies and belongings from the rubble, saying they had to step over “shredded limbs.”
“I can hardly stand up,” a man holding a plastic bag of human remains told AFP.
“We’ve been going through hell for 340 days now, what we’ve seen over these days, we haven’t even seen it in Hollywood movies, now we’re seeing it in Gaza.”
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said after the school strike that at least 220 members of the agency’s staff had been killed in the war.
“Endless & senseless killing, day after day,” he posted on X.
“Humanitarian staff, premises & operations have been blatantly & unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war.”
Across Gaza, many school buildings have been repurposed to shelter displaced families, with the vast majority of the territory’s 2.4 million people repeatedly uprooted by the war.
In Gaza City, civil defense spokesman Bassal said two strikes in the Zeitun neighborhood killed seven people — including two children.
Later, he said two people were killed in the Jabalia camp. Medical sources said five people were killed in strikes on the Khan Yunis area.
The bloodshed shows no signs of abating despite months of ceasefire negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.
A Hamas delegation met Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Doha on Wednesday, the Palestinian Islamists said, though there was no indication of a breakthrough.
The October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Among the dead included in that count were hostages killed in captivity.
Israel’s retaliation has killed at least 41,118 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
