UNITED NATIONS: A Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal “now is in sight,” the US envoy to the United Nations told the Security Council on Thursday, urging members to press Palestinian militant group Hamas to accept a bridging proposal agreed to by Israel.
Months of on-off talks have circled the same issues, but Israel and Hamas have stuck to their demands.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said a bridging proposal put forward last week by the US, Qatar and Egypt was consistent with a plan outlined by President Joe Biden in May and endorsed by the Security Council in June.
“Israel has accepted the bridging proposal. Now Hamas must do the same,” she told the council. “As members of this council, we must speak with one voice, and we must use our leverage to press Hamas to accept the bridging proposal.”
Disagreements over Israel’s future military presence in Gaza and over Palestinian prisoner releases are obstructing a deal, sources familiar with talks told Reuters, stemming from demands Israel has introduced since Hamas accepted Biden’s May proposal.
“It’s a decisive moment for ceasefire talks and for the region, and so every member of this council should continue to send strong messages to other actors in the region to avoid actions that would move us away from finalizing this deal,” said Thomas-Greenfield.
The conflict in Gaza put the entire Middle East region on edge, triggering months of border clashes between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, and threatening a wider escalation drawing in major powers.
Iran has also vowed retaliation over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, which it blamed on Israel. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied it was behind the killing.
“There’s very real danger of regional escalation,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “So let us do everything in our power to get this ceasefire and hostage release deal over the finish line now.”
The current war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel’s military has leveled swathes of the Palestinian enclave, driving nearly all of its 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and killing at least 40,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
US envoy tells UN: Gaza ceasefire deal ‘now is in sight’
https://arab.news/9j4rc
US envoy tells UN: Gaza ceasefire deal ‘now is in sight’
- “Israel has accepted the bridging proposal. Now Hamas must do the same,” she told the council
- Disagreements over Israel’s future military presence in Gaza and over Palestinian prisoner releases are obstructing a deal, sources familiar with talks told Reuters
US launches new retaliatory strikes against Daesh in Syria after deadly ambush
- CENTCOM said operation ordered by President Donald Trump
- Launched in response to the deadly Dec. 13 Daesh attack in Palmyra
WASHINGTON: The US has launched another round of retaliatory strikes against the Daesh in Syria following last month’s ambush that killed two US soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in the country.
The large-scale strikes, conducted by the US alongside partner forces, occurred around 12:30 p.m. ET, according to US Central Command. The strikes hit multiple Daesh targets across Syria.
Saturday’s strikes are part of a broader operation that is part of President Donald Trump’s response to the deadly Daesh attack that killed Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, the civilian interpreter, in Palmyra last month.
“Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” US Central Command said in a statement Saturday.
A day earlier, Syrian officials said their security forces had arrested the military leader of Daesh’s operations in the Levant.
The US military said Saturday’s strikes were carried out alongside partner forces without specifying which forces had taken part.
The Trump administration is calling the response to the Palmyra attacks Operation Hawkeye Strike. Both Torres-Tovar and Howard were members of the Iowa National Guard.
It launched Dec. 19 with another large-scale strike that hit 70 targets across central Syria that had Daesh infrastructure and weapons.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has for years been the US’s main partner in the fight against Daesh in Syria, but since the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December 2024, Washington has increasingly been coordinating with the central government in Damascus.
Syria recently joined the global coalition against Daesh.
