JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday threatened to withdraw from the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and resume its fight against Hamas if the militant group does not go ahead with the next scheduled release of hostages on Saturday.
Hamas said Monday — and reiterated Tuesday — that it planned to delay the release of three more hostages after accusing Israel of failing to meet the terms of the ceasefire, including by not allowing enough tents and other aid into Gaza.
US President Donald Trump has emboldened Israel to call for the release of even more remaining hostages on Saturday, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether Netanyahu’s threat referred to the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza, or just the three scheduled for release on Saturday.
Earlier Tuesday, an Israeli official said Netanyahu ordered the army to add more troops in and around the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu also ordered officials “to prepare for every scenario if Hamas doesn’t release our hostages this Saturday,” according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting.
Israel had signaled Monday it planned to reinforce defenses along the Gaza border. The all-scenario plan was announced during a four-hour meeting between Netanyahu and his Security Cabinet that focused on Hamas’ threat, which risks jeopardizing the three-week-old ceasefire.
So far, Hamas has released 21 hostages in a series of exchanges for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
President Donald Trump has said Israel should cancel the entire ceasefire if all of the roughly 70 hostages aren’t freed by Saturday. Hamas brushed off his threat on Tuesday, doubling down on its claim that Israel has violated the ceasefire and warned that it would only continue releasing hostages if all parties adhered to the ceasefire.
Trump is hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday as he escalates pressure on the Arab nation to take in refugees from Gaza — perhaps permanently — as part of his audacious plan to remake the Middle East.
Palestinians and the international community have seethed over Trump’s recent comments that any Palestinians potentially expelled from Gaza would not have a right to return.
During the first six-week phase of the ceasefire, Hamas committed to freeing 33 hostages captured in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, while Israel said it would release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The sides have carried out five swaps since Jan. 19.
The war could resume in early March if no agreement is reached on the more complicated second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for the return of all remaining hostages and an indefinite extension of the truce.
But if Israel resumes the war, it will face a drastically different battlefield. After forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to evacuate to southern Gaza in the early stages of the war, Israel allowed many of those displaced people to return to what is left of their homes, posing a new challenge to its ability to move ground troops through the territory.
Netanyahu threatens to resume fighting in Gaza if hostages aren’t released Saturday
https://arab.news/wpezr
Netanyahu threatens to resume fighting in Gaza if hostages aren’t released Saturday
- War could resume in early March if no agreement is reached on the more complicated second phase of the ceasefire
Gaza rescuers say recovered 15 bodies after Israel fire on ambulances
Bodies of eight medics from the Red Crescent, six members of Gaza’s civil defense agency and one employee of a UN agency were retrieved, the Red Crescent said in a statement.
It said one medic from the Red Crescent remained missing.
The group said the those killed “were targeted by the Israeli occupation forces while performing their humanitarian duties as they were heading to the Hashashin area of Rafah to provide first aid to a number of people injured by Israeli shelling in the area.”
“The occupation’s targeting of Red Crescent medics ... can only be considered a war crime punishable under international humanitarian law, which the occupation continues to violate before the eyes of the entire world.”
In an earlier statement the Red Crescent said the bodies “were recovered with difficulty as they were buried in the sand, with some showing signs of decomposition.”
Gaza’s civil defense agency also confirmed that 15 bodies had been recovered, adding that the deceased UN employee was from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, also known as UNRWA.
The incident occurred on March 23 in Rafah city’s Tal Al-Sultan neighborhood, close to the Egyptian border, just days after the military resumed its bombardments of Gaza following an almost two-month-long truce.
On Saturday, the Red Crescent had accused Israeli authorities of refusing to allow search operations to locate its crew.
The Israeli military acknowledged its troops had opened fire on ambulances.
It told AFP in a statement this week that its forces had “opened fire toward Hamas vehicles and eliminated several Hamas terrorists.”
“A few minutes afterwards, additional vehicles advanced suspiciously toward the troops” who “responded by firing toward the suspicious vehicles,” it said, adding that several “terrorists” were killed.
“Some of the suspicious vehicles... were ambulances and fire trucks,” the military statement said, citing “an initial inquiry” into the incident.
It condemned “the repeated use” by “terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip of ambulances for terrorist purposes.”
Tom Fletcher, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that since resumption of hostilities on March 18, Israeli air strikes have hit “densely populated areas,” with “patients killed in their hospital beds. Ambulances shot at. First responders killed.”
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 921 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since Israel resumed its large-scale strikes.
Jordanian authorities arrest 10 drug traffickers in major anti-narcotics operations
- Among most significant arrests was that of notorious suspected synthetic cannabis dealer in Irbid Governorate
AMMAN: Jordan’s Anti-Narcotics Department arrested 10 alleged drug traffickers and smugglers in five high-profile cases as part of an ongoing crackdown on drug-related crimes across the country, a spokesperson for the Public Security Directorate announced on Sunday.
Among the most significant arrests was that of a notorious suspected synthetic cannabis dealer in Irbid Governorate.
Authorities also detained three individuals said to be involved in the production and distribution of the potent “Joker” drug, which is a synthetic cannabinoid, also known as a neocannabinoid, which are designer drugs that mimic the effects of cannabis.
A raid on the main suspect’s apartment led to the seizure of 6 kg of the substance, along with hazardous chemicals used in its manufacture. Three additional suspects were arrested in Ramtha District on suspicion of assisting in the operation.
In Aqaba Governorate, an alleged drug dealer was apprehended in possession of 60 hashish pills, while another suspected trafficker in Madaba Governorate was caught with 10 palm-sized sheets of hashish, a quantity of crystal meth, and a weapon after resisting arrest.
Meanwhile, authorities in Mafraq Governorate arrested an individual found with half a kilogram of crystal meth.
Additionally, security forces intercepted a suspicious package arriving in Amman from an unamed neighboring country. Upon inspection, they discovered 10,000 narcotic pills. Further investigations led to the arrest of three individuals connected to the case.
The Public Security Directorate reaffirmed its commitment to combating drug trafficking and bringing perpetrators to justice, emphasizing that efforts to dismantle criminal networks will continue nationwide, Jordan News Agency reported.
Morocco’s $728m ‘water highway’ faces sustainability concerns
- The project succeeds in heading off immediate threat to the water supply of the country’s most populous region
KENITRA: Morocco is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on tapping northern rivers to supply water to parched cities farther south but experts question the sustainability of the project in the face of climate change.
The North African kingdom has spent $728 million so far on what it dubs a “water highway” to redirect the surplus flow of the Sebou River to meet the drinking water needs of capital Rabat and economic hub Casablanca, according to official figures.
In the future, it plans to tap other northern rivers to extend the project to the southern city of Marrakech.
FASTFACT
Morocco has long suffered from extreme disparities in rainfall between the Atlas mountain ranges and the semi-arid and desert regions farther south.
Officials say the project has been a success in heading off the immediate threat to the water supply of the country’s most populous region.
“Transferring surplus water from the Sebou basin in the north allowed us to prevent about 12 million people from running out of water,” said senior agriculture ministry official Mahjoub Lahrache.
In late 2023, the capital Rabat and its surrounding region came perilously close to running out of water when the main reservoir supplying the city ran dry.
Morocco has long suffered from extreme disparities in rainfall between the Atlas mountain ranges and the semi-arid and desert regions farther south.
“Fifty-three percent of rainfall occurs in just seven percent of the national territory,” Water Minister Nizar Baraka told AFP.
In the past, rainfall in the Atlas ranges has created sufficient surplus flow on most northern rivers for them to reach the ocean even in the driest months of the year.
It is those surpluses that the “water highway” project seeks to tap.
A diversion dam has been built in the city of Kenitra, just inland from the Atlantic coast, to hold back the flow of the Sebou River before it enters the ocean.
The water is then treated and transported along a 67-kilometer (42-mile) underground canal to supply residents of Rabat and Casablanca.
Inaugurated last August, the “water highway” had supplied more than 700 million cubic meters (24.7 billion cubic feet) of drinking water to the two urban areas by early March, according to official figures.
But experts question how long the Sebou and other northern rivers will continue to generate water surpluses that can be tapped.
The kingdom already suffers from significant water stress after six straight years of drought.
Annual water supply has dropped from an average of 18 billion cubic meters in the 1980s to just five billion today, according to official figures.
Despite heavy rains in the northwest in early March, Morocco remains in the grip of drought with rainfall 75 percent below historical averages.
The dry spell has been “the longest in the country’s history,” the water minister said, noting that previous dry cycles typically lasted three years at most.
Rising temperatures — up 1.8 degrees Celsius last year alone — have intensified evaporation.
Experts say that climate change is likely to see further reductions in rainfall, concentrated in the very areas from which the “water highway” is designed to tap surplus flows.
“Future scenarios indicate that northern water basins will be significantly more affected by climate change than those in the south over the next 60 years,” said water and climate researcher Nabil El Mocayd.
“What is considered surplus today may no longer exist in the future due to this growing deficit,” he added, referencing a 2020 study in which he recommended scaling back the “water highway.”
Demand for water for irrigation also remains high in Morocco, where the farm sector employs nearly a third of the workforce.
Researcher Abderrahim Handouf said more needed to be done to help farmers adopt water-efficient irrigation techniques.
Handouf said the “water highway” was “an effective solution in the absence of alternatives” but warned that climate challenges will inevitably “create problems even in the north.”
“We must remain cautious,” he said, calling for greater investment in desalination plants to provide drinking water to the big cities.
Iran rejects direct negotiations with US in response to Trump’s letter
- unday’s remarks from President Masoud Pezeshkian represented the first official acknowledgment of how Iran responded to Trump’s letter
- It also suggests that tensions may further rise between Tehran and Washington
DUBAI:Iran’s president said Sunday that Tehran had rejected direct negotiations with the United States in response to a letter from President Donald Trump over its rapidly advancing nuclear program.
The remarks from President Masoud Pezeshkian represented the first official acknowledgment of how Iran responded to Trump’s letter. It also suggests that tensions may further rise between Tehran and Washington.
Pezeshkian said: “Although the possibility of direct negotiations between the two sides has been rejected in this response, it has been emphasized that the path for indirect negotiations remains open.”
It’s unclear, however, whether Trump would accept indirect negotiations. Indirect negotiations for years since Trump initially withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018 have been unsuccessful.
Trump’s overture comes as both Israel and the United States have warned they will never let Iran acquire a nuclear weapon, leading to fears of a military confrontation as Tehran enriches uranium at near weapons-grade levels — something only done by atomic-armed nations.
Iran has long maintained its program is for peaceful purposes, even as its officials increasingly threaten to pursue the bomb as tensions are high with the US over its sanctions and after the collapse of a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Since Trump returned to the White House, his administration has consistently said that Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons. A report in February, however, by the UN’s nuclear watchdog said Iran has accelerated its production of near weapons-grade uranium.
Netanyahu says military pressure on Hamas working, ‘cracks’ emerging in negotiations
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel’s intensified military pressure on Hamas in Gaza has been effective
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel’s intensified military pressure on Hamas in Gaza has been effective, stressing the Palestinian group must lay down its arms.
“We are negotiating under fire... We can see cracks beginning to appear” in what the group demanded in its negotiations, Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting.
Netanyahu’s remarks came as mediators — Egypt, Qatar, and the United States — continued efforts to broker a ceasefire and secure the release of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.
A senior Hamas official stated on Saturday that the group had approved a new ceasefire proposal put forward by mediators and urged Israel to support it.
Netanyahu’s office confirmed receipt of the proposal and said Israel had submitted a counterproposal.
However, the details of the latest mediation efforts remain undisclosed.
On Sunday, Netanyahu rejected claims Israel was not interested in discussing a deal that would secure the release of hostages still held in Gaza, but insisted Hamas must surrender its weapons.
“We are willing. Hamas must lay down its arms... Its leaders will be allowed to leave” from Gaza, he said.
He said that Israel would ensure overall security in Gaza and “enable the implementation of the Trump plan — the voluntary migration plan.”
Days after taking office, US President Donald Trump had announced a plan that would relocate Gaza’s more than two million inhabitants to neighboring Egypt and Jordan.
His announcement was slammed by much of the international community.
A fragile truce that had provided weeks of relative calm in the Gaza Strip collapsed on March 18 when Israel resumed its aerial bombardment and ground offensive in the Palestinian territory.
On Sunday, an Israeli air strike killed at least eight people in Gaza’s Khan Yunis area, including five children, the territory’s civil defense agency reported.
