Israel-Hamas truce in Gaza begins, after delay

Displaced Palestinians have started to return to Rafah on Jan. 19, 2025 amid a delay in the long-awaited ceasefire in the conflict. (AFP)
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Updated 19 January 2025
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Israel-Hamas truce in Gaza begins, after delay

  • Israeli strikes killed 8 people during delay, says Gaza's civil defense agency
  • Israel confirms receiving hostages list that caused the delay in ceasefire 

JERUSALEM: Israel on Sunday said a truce with Hamas began in Gaza at 0915 GMT, nearly three hours after initially scheduled, following a last-minute delay on the orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

During the delay, Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli strikes killed eight people.

A statement from Netanyahu’s office, issued less than an hour before the truce had been set to start at 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT), said he had “instructed the IDF (military) that the ceasefire... will not begin until Israel has received the list” of hostages to be freed.

Hamas attributed the delay to “technical reasons,” as well as the “complexities of the field situation and the continued bombing,” ultimately publishing at around 10:30 a.m. the names of three Israeli women to be released on Sunday.

Israel confirmed it had received the list and was “checking the details,” before confirming shortly afterwards that the truce would begin at 11:15 am local time.

AFPTV live images from northeastern Gaza showed a plume of grey smoke about 30 minutes after the truce was earlier to take effect, and again around 30 minutes later.

The Israeli military confirmed it was continuing “to strike within the Gaza area” following Netanyahu’s directive.

Gaza civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said three people were killed in the north of the territory and five in Gaza City, with 25 wounded.

AFP images showed displaced Gazans streaming northwards from areas around Gaza City where they had been sheltering, some flashing the victory sign.

But others saw their plans to return home thwarted by the delay of the ceasefire.

“I was on my way home with my family when we heard the sound of bombing,” said Mohammed Baraka, 36.

“We can’t reach our house; the situation is dangerous. I don’t know what to do. I feel frustrated and devastated.”

The initial exchange was to see three Israeli hostages released from captivity in return for a first group of Palestinian prisoners.

A total of 33 hostages taken by militants during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel will be returned from Gaza during an initial 42-day truce.

Under the deal, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli jails.

The truce is intended to pave the way for an end to more than 15 months of war sparked by Hamas’s attack, the deadliest in Israeli history.

It follows a deal struck by mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt after months of negotiations, and takes effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president.

In a televised address on Saturday, Netanyahu called the 42-day first phase a “temporary ceasefire” and said Israel had US support to return to war if necessary.

In Gaza City, shortly after the deal was initially meant to go into effect, people were already celebrating, waving Palestinian flags in the street.

But as it became clear the hostilities were continuing, the joy gave way to desperation for some.

“I’m dying of despair,” said Maha Abed, a 27-year-old displaced from Rafah who had been waiting since dawn for her husband to pick her up and take her home. “He called to tell me we won’t be returning today. The drones are firing at civilians.”

“Enough playing with our emotions — we’re exhausted,” she added. “I don’t want to spend another night in this tent.”

In Deir Al-Balah, an AFP journalist observed dozens of Palestinians gathered in front of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital seeking information about the unfolding events, particularly whether or not they would be able to return to their homes.

The Israeli army warned Gaza residents early Sunday not to approach its forces or Israeli territory.

“We urge you not to head toward the buffer zone or IDF forces for your safety,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on Telegram.

“At this stage, heading toward the buffer zone or moving from south to north via Gaza Valley puts you at risk.”

At a rally for the hostages in Tel Aviv the night before, attendees were guarded ahead of the scheduled exchanges.

“I’m really stressed because I don’t know about the situation of Ofer, my cousin,” said Ifat Kaldron, whose cousin is among the hostages.

“I’m just going to be happy whenever I see the last hostage crossing the border.”

Israel has prepared reception centers to provide medical treatment and counselling to the freed hostages before they return to their families after their long ordeal.

Israel’s justice ministry had previously said 737 Palestinian prisoners and detainees would be freed during the deal’s first phase, starting from 4:00 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Sunday.

Egypt on Saturday said more than 1,890 Palestinian prisoners would be freed in the initial phase.

Hundreds of trucks waited at the Gaza border, poised to enter from Egypt as soon as they get the all-clear to deliver desperately needed aid.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said 600 trucks a day would enter Gaza after the ceasefire takes effect, including 50 carrying fuel.

There has been only one previous truce in the war, lasting for one week in November 2023.

That ceasefire also saw the release of hostages held by militants in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing at least 46,899 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

The truce was to take effect on the eve of Trump’s inauguration for a second term as president of the United States.

Trump, who claimed credit for the ceasefire deal, after months of effort by the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden, told US network NBC on Saturday that he had told Netanyahu that the war “has to end.”

“We want it to end, but to keep doing what has to be done,” he said.

Brett McGurk, the pointman for outgoing President Joe Biden, was joined in the region by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff in an unusual pairing to finalize the agreement, US officials said.

Under the deal, Israeli forces will withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences,” the Qatari prime minister said.

Biden said an unfinalized second phase of the agreement would bring a “permanent end to the war.”


Jordan, Spain sign partnership deal, affirm support for Palestinian state

Updated 4 sec ago
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Jordan, Spain sign partnership deal, affirm support for Palestinian state

  • King Abdullah meets King Felipe VI, Spanish PM in Madrid
  • Jordan plays vital role in supporting Palestinians, Pedro Sanchez says

LONDON: Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday witnessed the signing of a declaration to establish a strategic partnership between their countries.

The deal is designed to increase cooperation in the economic, commercial, social, cultural and defense fields. A memorandum of understanding for the agriculture sector and an extradition agreement were also signed, the Jordan News Agency reported.

During his visit to Madrid, King Abdullah also met King Felipe VI of Spain. He praised the European nation’s support for Palestinian rights, its efforts to achieve peace in the region and its commitment to ending the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip.

He emphasized the significance of Spain’s decision to recognize the Palestinian state and said Jordan was working to gain greater European support for the Arab plan aimed at rebuilding Gaza without displacing its residents.

Sanchez said Jordan had a vital role in supporting Palestinians and that the war in Gaza must end.

King Abdullah was joined for the talks by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, Director of the King’s Office Alaa Batayneh and Jordan’s Ambassador to Spain Raghad Al-Saqqa.


Red Sea marine traffic up 60 percent after Houthis narrowed targets, EU commander says

Updated 05 June 2025
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Red Sea marine traffic up 60 percent after Houthis narrowed targets, EU commander says

  • Shipping traffic, which reached a low of 20-23 ships daily in August last year, is still short of an average of 72-75 ships a day, said Gryparis
  • Gryparis said he could not guarantee that merchant ships won’t be attacked

MADRID: Red Sea marine traffic has increased by 60 percent to 36-37 ships a day since August 2024, but is still short of volumes seen before Yemen’s Houthis began attacking ships in the region, according to the commander of the EU’s Aspides naval mission.

The number of merchant ships using the narrow Bab Al-Mandab strait increased after missile and drone attacks by the Houthis slowed and the US and the rebel group signed a ceasefire deal, Rear Admiral Vasileios Gryparis said in an interview in Madrid.

But shipping traffic, which reached a low of 20-23 ships daily in August last year, is still short of an average of 72-75 ships a day seen before the Houthis began attacks in the Red Sea in November in 2023 in support of Palestinians over Israel’s war in Gaza, said Gryparis.

The mission, which was established to safeguard navigation in the strategic trade route linking the Mediterranean with the Gulf of Asia through the Suez Canal, was extended in February when it was also tasked with tracking illegal arms shipments and monitoring vessels carrying sanctioned Russian oil.

The last attack on a merchant ship took place in November 2024 and the Houthis have also narrowed their objectives, saying their targets are Israeli ships and ships that have a connection with Israel or have docked at an Israeli port, Gryparis said.

“If you have a vessel that does not correspond to this criteria... there is a huge possibility — more than 99 percent — that you’re not going to be targeted by the Houthis,” Gryparis said.

Still, Gryparis said he could not guarantee that merchant ships won’t be attacked.

Some companies have been deterred from using the route because of the mission’s lack of ships, which can cause delays of as much as a week for those seeking to be escorted through the area, he said.

He said the mission has between two and three ships operating at one time and has requested the EU provide it with 10 ships to increase its capacity for protection.

The mission has provided close protection to 476 ships, shot down 18 drones, destroyed two remote-controlled boats used to attack ships and intercepted four ballistic missiles, he said.


How many hostages are left in Gaza?

Updated 05 June 2025
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How many hostages are left in Gaza?

  • Hostages still in captivity: 56, of whom Israel believes 33 are dead

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel has recovered the bodies of two hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli American Gad Haggai and Judih Weinstein — who was Israeli, American and Canadian — were killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel that ignited the war in Gaza. Their remains were returned to

Israel in a special operation by the army and the Shin Bet internal security agency, Netanyahu said.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages in the Oct. 7 attack. More than 54,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, have been killed in the ensuing conflict, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Here are details on the hostages:

Total hostages captured on Oct. 7, 2023: 251

Hostages taken before the Oct. 7 attack: 4, including 2 who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015 and the bodies of 2 soldiers killed in the 2014 war

Hostages released in exchanges or other deals: 148, of whom 8 were dead

Bodies of hostages retrieved by Israeli forces: 43

Hostages rescued alive: 8

Hostages still in captivity: 56, of whom Israel believes 33 are dead. Netanyahu has said there are “doubts” about the fate of several more.

The hostages in captivity include: 5 non-Israelis ( 3 Thais, 1 Nepalese, 1 Tanzanian), of whom 3 (2 Thais and 1 Tanzanian) have been confirmed dead.

 


Egypt, Greece agree to protect status of Mount Sinai monastery, after court ruling

Updated 05 June 2025
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Egypt, Greece agree to protect status of Mount Sinai monastery, after court ruling

  • Egypt and Greece intend to move forward based on the long-standing tradition and the already established status of an emblematic monastery for its Greek Orthodox character of worship

ATHENS: Greece and Egypt have agreed to safeguard the status of one of the world’s oldest sites of Christian worship, foreign ministers of both countries said late on Wednesday, after an Egyptian court ruling last week cast uncertainty over its future.

The St. Catherine’s Monastery, at the foot of Egypt’s Mount Sinai, was founded in the 6th century and is the oldest Christian monastery still in use for its original function, says UNESCO, which has listed the area as a World Heritage site.

Revered by Christians, Muslims and Jews, the monastery is at the site where by Biblical tradition Moses received the Ten Commandments.

But last week, an Egyptian court ruling seen by Reuters ordered Orthodox monks to vacate several plots of land that the monks have used for years, including vineyards and gardens adjacent to the monastery compound, on the grounds that they were illegally sequestered, prompting a diplomatic flurry between Cairo and Athens over the site’s status.

“We agreed in the immediate future to work toward safeguarding the rights of the monastery, as well as its legal status,” Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said after meeting his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty in Cairo.

“Both Egypt and Greece intend to move forward based on the long-standing tradition and the already established status of an emblematic monastery for its Greek Orthodox character of worship.”

Abdelatty said that the ruling preserves the monastery’s profound spiritual value and religious standing, and confirmed that the monks would continue to have access to and use of the monastery and its religious and historical sites, according to a foreign ministry statement. With a long history of diplomatic ties, Greece and Egypt have deepened cooperation in recent years.

St. Catherine’s is a sprawling complex, and according to tradition it was built around a burning bush where God was said to have spoken to Moses as described in the Book of Exodus. Its library is one of the most extensive worldwide, containing some of the world’s earliest Christian manuscripts.


Israel PM says bodies of two hostages retrieved from Gaza

Updated 05 June 2025
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Israel PM says bodies of two hostages retrieved from Gaza

  • The bodies were of Judy Weinstein-Haggai and Gad Haggai from Kibbutz Nir Oz

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday the bodies of two Israelis killed in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack and held in Gaza had been returned to Israel.

“In a special operation by the (security agency) and the (military) in the Gaza Strip, the bodies of two of our hostages held by the murderous terrorist organization Hamas were returned to Israel: Judy Weinstein-Haggai and Gad

Haggai from Kibbutz Nir Oz, may their memory be blessed,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “Judy and Gad were murdered on October 7 and abducted to the Gaza Strip,” he added.