CAIRO: Egypt has proposed an initial two-day ceasefire in Gaza to exchange four Israeli hostages of Hamas for some Palestinian prisoners, Egypt’s president said on Sunday as Israeli military strikes killed 45 Palestinians across the enclave.
Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah El-Sisi made the announcement as efforts to defuse the devastating, more than year-long war resumed in Qatar with the directors of the CIA and Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency taking part.
Speaking alongside Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune during a press conference in Cairo, El-Sisi also said that talks should resume within 10 days of implementing the temporary ceasefire in efforts to reach a permanent one.
There was no immediate comment from Israel or Hamas but a Palestinian official close to the mediation effort told Reuters: “I expect Hamas would listen to the new offers, but it remains determined that any agreement must end the war and get Israeli forces out of Gaza.”
Israel has said the war cannot end until Hamas has been wiped out as a military force and governing entity in Gaza.
The US, Qatar and Egypt have been spearheading negotiations to end the war that erupted after Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7 last year, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, by Israeli tallies.
The death toll from Israel’s retaliatory air and ground onslaught in Gaza is approaching 43,000, Gaza health officials say, with the densely populated enclave in ruins.
An official briefed on the talks told Reuters earlier on Sunday that negotiations in Doha will seek a short-term ceasefire and the release of some hostages being held by Hamas in exchange for Israel’s release of Palestinian prisoners.
The objective, still elusive after multiple mediation attempts, is to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a halt in fighting for less than a month in the hope this would lead to a more permanent ceasefire.
At least 43 of those killed in Gaza on Sunday were in the north of the enclave, where Israeli troops have returned to root out Hamas fighters who it says have regrouped there.
Jabalia in focus
Earlier on Sunday, 20 people were killed following an airstrike on houses in Jabalia, the largest of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, which has been the focus of an Israeli military offensive for more than three weeks, medics and the Palestinian official news agency WAFA said.
Another Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinian families in Shati camp in Gaza City, killed nine people and wounded 20 others, with many in critical condition, medics said.
Footage circulated on Palestinian media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed people rushing to the bomb site to help evacuate the casualties. Bodies were scattered on the ground, while some carried wounded children in their arms before loading them in a vehicle.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the report on the strike on the school.
Three local journalists were among those killed at the school in Shati — Saed Radwan, head of digital media at Hamas Al-Aqsa television, Hanin Baroud, and Hamza Abu Selmeya, according to Hamas media.
On Sunday, Israel’s military said it had killed more than 40 militants in the Jabalia area in the past 24 hours, as well as dismantling infrastructure and locating large quantities of military equipment.
Israeli military strikes on the towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza have so far killed around 800 people during a three-week offensive, the Gaza health ministry said.
Egypt proposes initial two-day truce in Gaza with limited hostage-prisoner exchange
https://arab.news/v7auq
Egypt proposes initial two-day truce in Gaza with limited hostage-prisoner exchange
- El-Sisi also said that talks should resume within 10 days of implementing the temporary ceasefire in efforts to reach a permanent one
- Israel has said the war cannot end until Hamas has been wiped out as a military force and governing entity in Gaza
Yemeni riyal nears historic low in government-controlled areas
- Violent protests have erupted in Aden, the interim capital, and other cities in recent years, as the riyal’s depreciation has raised food and fuel prices
AL-MUKALLA: The Yemeni riyal fell to 2,045 against the dollar in government-controlled areas on Sunday, just days after an all-time low of 2,000.
As the Yemeni government and its financial institutions called for an international bailout, money traders and local media said the riyal was on track to break another record of 2,100 against the dollar.
The riyal traded at 215 against the dollar during the early months of the war, which began after the Houthi militia forcibly took power a decade ago.
Violent protests have erupted in Aden, the interim capital, and other cities in recent years, as the riyal’s depreciation has raised food, fuel and transportation prices.
The Aden-based central bank has shut down unlicensed exchange firms and ships, as well as those not following its monetary rules. It has ordered the relocation of banks from Houthi-controlled Sanaa to Aden, and sold dollars from its dwindling foreign currency reserves in public auctions to help local traders obtain enough to import food and other essentials.
But the measures have failed to support the riyal, which fell from around 1,200 per dollar in April 2022, following the formation of the Presidential Leadership Council, to 2,000 a week ago.
The government has blamed the Yemeni riyal’s devaluation on Houthi attacks on oil terminals in the southern provinces of Hadramout and Shabwa, which resulted in a halt in oil exports, as well as currency speculation by local money traders and exchange firms.
It comes as Ahmed Ghaleb, governor of Aden’s central bank, reiterated a governmental appeal to the international community to help contain the riyal’s depreciation and ensure it can continue meeting financial obligations such as paying salaries.
According to official Yemen news agency SABA, Ghaleb, currently in Washington DC, said during a meeting with US Yemen envoy Tim Lenderking that the Houthis’ strikes on oil facilities in late 2022, as well as their attacks on international shipping, had deprived the Yemeni government of its main source of revenue. They had also increased shipping and insurance costs, exacerbating the country’s humanitarian crisis.
Speaking last week to a gathering of central bank governors and financial ministers from the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan region, Ghaleb said Yemen had lost over $6 billion in revenue in the 30 months since its oil exports stopped. He also said Houthi attacks on ships had disrupted the flow of supplies and escalated poverty and food insecurity.
The Yemeni government has repeatedly said it cannot pay employees in areas under its control without financial aid.
Teachers, security and military personnel, and other government employees in Aden, Al-Mukalla and other government-controlled cities have complained their salaries are paid weeks late and have lost value due to the riyal’s depreciation.
“Salaries are paid late, losing value. The teacher, who previously received $320, is now paid $53. We went on strike to protest the collapse of salaries, but no one paid attention,” Abu Mohammed, a teacher from Hadramout province, told Arab News on Sunday.
Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon delay army officer’s hometown burial
- Burials in temporary alternative locations the norm with many of those killed from villages along southern border amid clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants
BEIRUT: Ongoing Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon have forced the burial of Lebanese Army officer Maj. Mohammed Farhat to take place in an alternative location.
Farhat, 30, was killed on Thursday alongside Cpls. Mohammed Hussein Nazzal and Moussa Youssef Mahna while attempting to evacuate wounded civilians in Yater, a town in the Bint Jbeil district.
Originally from Deir Qanoun Ras Al-Ain in Tyre, Farhat’s family was unable to bury him in his hometown due to the conflict.
Instead, he was laid to rest temporarily in the Maronite-majority town of Rash’in, located 95 km north of Beirut.
Burials in temporary alternative locations have been the norm with many of those killed from villages along the southern border amid clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants.
The burial, marked by a joint Muslim-Christian ceremony, symbolized national unity and coexistence amid deep political divides and Lebanon’s ongoing crisis.
The ceremony began at the Central Military Hospital in Beirut, where Gen. Joseph Aoun, army commander, saluted Farhat’s coffin.
The procession then moved to Saint Maron Church in Rash’in, where a Muslim cleric prayed over Farhat’s body, underscoring Lebanon’s diverse yet united respect for its fallen soldiers.
Farhat’s death has sparked accusations of targeted violence, as social media activists recalled his confrontation with Israeli forces in March 2023.
At that time, Farhat challenged Israeli officers over an attempt to install barbed wire in disputed territory near Aita Al-Shaab, which earned him widespread admiration in Lebanon.
“Rash’in welcomed my brother with honor, just as they had when he served there for nine years,” said Farhat’s brother, Ali.
“The people of Rash’in insisted on holding the prayer in their town as a tribute to him,” he added.
In a eulogy, a representative of Aoun commemorated Farhat’s bravery, describing him as “a son of Deir Qanoun Ras Al-Ain” and “a courageous officer.”
He added: “Our martyr is an example of courage and giving, a man of difficult missions who stood firm and strong in front of the soldiers of the Israeli enemy in defense of his land, and he was an honorable model of good morals, chivalry, nobility and virtue.”
Hezbollah says fired rockets at north Israel
- Lebanese group said it targeted a “military industries base north of Haifa... with a large rocket salvo”
- Since late September Hezbollah has announced similar strikes against defense industry facilities and military bases near Haifa
BEIRUT: Hezbollah said it fired rockets at northern Israel on Sunday, a day after it declared several areas in the region a “legitimate target” due to the presence of Israeli troops.
The Iran-backed Lebanese group, at war with Israel since last month, said it targeted a “military industries base north of Haifa... with a large rocket salvo.”
Since late September Hezbollah has announced similar strikes against defense industry facilities and military bases near Haifa, a major northern Israeli city.
The group also claimed rocket fire on Nahariya and drone strikes near Acre, both of which are north of Haifa.
Hezbollah issued an evacuation warning for more than 20 areas in northern Israel on Saturday.
It called on residents to “evacuate immediately,” saying the mentioned zones have “become legitimate military targets” for its forces.
Israel also pressed on with its aerial campaign on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Sunday.
At least eight people were killed and 25 wounded in an Israeli raid near the city of Sidon in southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
The Israeli military on Sunday told residents of several villages in south Lebanon to leave immediately, warning that it would strike Hezbollah targets there.
But it did not mention the Sidon suburb of Haret Saida.
In the southern city of Nabatiyeh, “a house was completely destroyed, and residential buildings, shops and dozens of cars were severely damaged” after an Israeli strike on a neighborhood, Lebanon’s official National News Agency said.
Hezbollah and Israel have been trading cross-border fire since October last year.
Last month, Israel escalated air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds and sent in ground forces, after killing several top commanders in the group.
Israel dealt Hezbollah a seismic blow when it assassinated it’s leader Hassan Nasrallah on September 27 in an air strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
UN Security Council expected to meet Monday over Israel’s strike on Iran, diplomats say
- Scores of Israeli jets completed three waves of strikes before dawn on Saturday against missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in western Iran
NEW YORK: The United Nations Security Council is expected to meet on Monday to discuss Israel’s attack on Iran, diplomats said on Sunday.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi called on the Security Council to meet over the attack and diplomats said the council was likely to discuss the situation on Monday.
“Israeli regime’s actions constitute a grave threat to international peace and security and further destabilize an already fragile region,” Araqchi said in a letter to the 15-member council on Saturday.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran, in alignment with the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and under international law, reserves its inherent right to legal and legitimate response to these criminal attacks at the appropriate time,” he wrote.
Scores of Israeli jets completed three waves of strikes before dawn on Saturday against missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in western Iran, Israel’s military said.
It was retaliation for Iran’s Oct. 1 attack on Israel with about 200 ballistic missiles, and Israel warned its heavily armed arch-foe not to hit back after the latest strike.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon rejected Iran’s complaint at the United Nations, saying in a statement on Sunday that Iran was “trying to act against us in the diplomatic arena with the ridiculous claim that Israel has violated international law.”
“As we have stated time and time again, we have the right and duty to defend ourselves and will use all the means at our disposal to protect the citizens of Israel,” Danon said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed “to all parties to cease all military actions, including in Gaza and Lebanon, exert maximum efforts to prevent an all-out regional war and return to the path of diplomacy,” his spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday.
UN chief ‘shocked by harrowing levels of death, injury and destruction’ in north Gaza
- “The plight of Palestinian civilians trapped in North Gaza is unbearable,” Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said
UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Antonio Guterres said Sunday he was “shocked by harrowing levels of death, injury and destruction” in north Gaza, where Israeli forces are carrying out attacks they say aim to prevent Hamas regrouping.
“The plight of Palestinian civilians trapped in North Gaza is unbearable,” Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
“The Secretary-General is shocked by the harrowing levels of death, injury and destruction in the north, with civilians trapped under rubble, the sick and wounded going without life-saving health care, and families lacking food and shelter.”
The spokesman said that according to Gaza’s health ministry, hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks and more than 60,000 others were forced to flee.
“Repeated efforts to deliver humanitarian supplies essential to survive — food, medicine and shelter — continue to be denied by the Israeli authorities, with few exceptions, putting countless lives in peril,” Dujarric said.
“In the name of humanity, the Secretary-General reiterates his calls for an immediate ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and accountability for crimes under international law.”
