DOHA: Qatar’s foreign ministry said Tuesday efforts to forge a Gaza truce were “ongoing,” after several rounds of talks aimed at ending the now 11-month war ended without a breakthrough.
“The efforts are still ongoing and channels of communication remain open... the goals and visits and meetings are ongoing,” ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told reporters.
Months of behind-the-scenes negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to halt the fighting between Hamas and Israel, apart from a one-week truce beginning in late November.
Recent mediation in Doha and Cairo has been based on a framework laid out in May by US President Joe Biden and a “bridging proposal” presented to the warring parties in August.
The US State Department said Monday Secretary of State Antony Blinken would visit Egypt this week to “discuss ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire,” his tenth trip to the region since the Gaza Strip war began on October 7.
After in-person talks last month in Egypt and Qatar broke up without a final agreement, Washington indicated that mediators were preparing to present another adapted framework for a ceasefire.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday Washington was working “expeditiously” on a new proposal.
Ansari declined to comment Tuesday on whether any further proposal had been relayed to Israel or Hamas.
“When it comes to the possibility of a deal taking place anytime soon, of course we remain hopeful at every juncture,” he said.
“I can’t comment on the prospects of a deal taking place right now but I can tell you that we remain hopeful and we continue with our efforts.”
Hamas said its delegation met Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Doha last week to discuss a truce and potential hostage and prisoner exchange, again without indicating that any breakthrough had been reached.
Pressure inside Israel for a deal has intensified after authorities announced the deaths of six hostages at the start of September after their bodies were recovered from a Gaza tunnel.
But in the face of the external calls for an agreement, both Israel and Hamas have publicly signalled deeper entrenchment in their negotiating positions.
On Tuesday Israel announced an expansion of its war aims, widening its fight against Hamas in Gaza to focus on Hezbollah along its northern border with Lebanon.
The October 7 attack by Palestinian militants on southern Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,252 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.
Qatar says Gaza truce mediation efforts ‘ongoing’
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Qatar says Gaza truce mediation efforts ‘ongoing’
- Months of behind-the-scenes negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to halt the fighting
- Recent mediation in Doha and Cairo has been based on a framework laid out in May by US President Joe Biden
Fighting in Sudan’s North Darfur kills at least 13 children, UNICEF says
The children were between 6 and 17 years old, the UN agency said in a statement on Sunday.
The Sudanese army on Friday launched airstrikes that targeted a market in the town of Al Kuma, around 70 kilometers (43 miles) east of the North Darfur capital of El Fasher, the local Daily Sudan Post reported.
The airstrikes, which also hit the city of Mellit, killed at least 45 people and injured dozens of others, according to the Sudan Tribune news portal and the Central Observatory for Human Rights.
Hamrat Al-Sheikh in North Kordofan was also struck, according to Mohammed H. Al-Ta’ishi, a former member of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, who said Saturday that the strikes targeted areas that “haven’t seen any form of confrontation since the war began.”
War between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces broke out in April 2023 in the capital, Khartoum, and has spread across the country. Darfur has seen particularly intense fighting.
“These attacks on children are unacceptable. Children have no role to play in wars or civil conflict, but children are the ones who are suffering the most as the conflict in Sudan grinds on,” said Sheldon Yett, a UNICEF representative to Sudan.
“Children should be safe everywhere, in their homes, neighborhoods, and on the streets,” Yett added.
The UN estimated that 20,000 people have been killed and thousands injured since the conflict began. The war has also displaced over 10 million people, including 2.4 million who fled to neighboring countries and other nations.
Jordan foreign minister arrives in Beirut in show of solidarity
- Jordan FM Ayman Safadi stressed his country’s support against the escalating Israeli aggression
BEIRUT: Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi arrived in Beirut on board a Jordanian aid plane, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.
The aircraft was the seventh aid plane dispatched to Lebanon since the onset of the war, carrying 13 tonnes of food, relief items and medical supplies, according to the Jordanian foreign minister.
As part of his “solidarity visit,” Safadi met with Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati and stressed Jordan’s support against the escalating Israeli aggression.
He reiterated his country’s commitment to achieving ceasefire and providing Jordan with the necessary aid to overcome the repercussions of the intense Israeli bombing.
Safadi is scheduled to meet Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berry and Commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces Joseph Aoun during his visit.
Hezbollah vows to keep fighting Israeli ‘aggression’
- The Israeli army deployed another division to participate in operations in Lebanon
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Monday vowed to keep up the fight against Israeli “aggression,” on the anniversary of its militant group ally Hamas’s October 7 attack that triggered war in the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah and the Lebanese have paid a “heavy price” for the Iran-backed group’s decision to open a “support front” for Gaza on October 8, but “we are confident... in the ability of our resistance to oppose the Israeli aggression,” it said in a statement, calling Israel a “cancerous gland that must be eliminated, no matter how long it takes.”
Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli troops in a south Lebanon border village on Monday, as the Israeli army said it had deployed another division to participate in operations in Lebanon.
Hezbollah fighters “bombed... a gathering of Israeli forces in the Maroun Al-Ras park with a rocket salvo,” the Iran-backed group said in a statement, after announcing separately it had targeted several areas of northern Israel and military positions across the border.
The Israeli army on Monday said it had deployed another division to participate in operations in Lebanon — making it the third troop grouping at division strength to be used in the ground fight against Hezbollah.
“The soldiers of the 91st Division began localized and targeted operational activity in southern Lebanon,” said a statement from the army.
“Victory in Gaza may be delayed, but it is coming” says Hamas former leader Khaled Mashaal
DUBAI: Hamas’ former leader Khaled Mashaal said what is happening in Gaza is a “holocaust” in a speech he delivered on Monday morning.
Mashaal said the Oct. 7. attacks happened because all political horizons were closed and has achieved "strategic results" since.
He thanked Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran for supporting Hamas and called on Arab countries to provide financial support to Gaza.
Mashaal said Israel opened the war front in Lebanon after failing to achieve its goals in Gaza and claimed that Israel is conspiring against Jordan and Egypt.
A year after Oct. 7, Israel has opened a new front in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which has traded fire with Israel since the war in Gaza began.
“Israel is defeated although it has achieved accomplishments against Iran and Hezbollah,” added Mashaal.
Mashaal concluded by asking the people of Gaza not to despair and promised them victory soon.
Over the past year in Gaza, more than 40,000 people, including over 10,000 children, have been killed by Israel’s forces, exacting indiscriminate and disproportionate vengeance for the 1,200 Israelis killed by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Advisor to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Al-Habash said Mashaal's statements are "empty slogans that achieve nothing".
Al-Habash said "real victory is protecting our people" and added that Hamas should have moved towards unity with the Palestinian authority.
Globally, people have hit the streets to protest against Israel’s deadly military offensives in Gaza and Lebanon.
Demonstrators expressed outrage against the Israeli aggression, demanding an end to the war in Gaza, describing the situation as “genocide,” and calling upon the global community to act.
Protests have taken place from the Middle East to Europe, the US, India, Pakistan and Far East Asia.
Israeli hostage forum announces death of captive held in Gaza
- Idan Shtivi, 28, was abducted from the site of the Nova music festival
TEL AVIV: An Israeli campaign group on Monday announced the death of a hostage held in Gaza, as the country marked the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Idan Shtivi, 28, was abducted from the site of the Nova music festival and his “body is still held captive by Hamas.”
The forum said Shtivi had just arrived at the festival site when the attack began.
“On October 7, Idan arrived at the Nova Festival in the early morning to document his friends’ performances and workshops,” the forum said in a statement.
“However, he never made it inside. When the attack began, Idan helped two strangers he had just met escape from the site. This selfless choice ultimately led to his abduction.”
