Gaza ceasefire ‘closer than ever’ as sides work on final details

Palestinians mourn the death of their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their shelter in Deir El-Balah in the Gaza Strip on January 14, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 15 January 2025
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Gaza ceasefire ‘closer than ever’ as sides work on final details

  • Israel continues military strikes despite talks
  • Hamas says it waiting for Israel to submit withdrawal maps

DOHA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Negotiators were trying to hammer out the final details of a ceasefire in Gaza on Wednesday after marathon talks in Qatar, and US and Egyptian leaders promised to stay in close contact about a deal over the coming hours.
More than eight hours of talks in Doha had fueled optimism. Officials from mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US as well as Israel and Hamas said an agreement for a truce in the besieged enclave and release of hostages was closer than ever.
But a senior Hamas official told Reuters late on Tuesday that the Palestinian group had not delivered its response yet because it was still waiting for Israel to submit maps showing how its forces would withdraw from Gaza.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari earlier told a news conference that both sides were presented with a text and talks on the last details were under way.
US President Joe Biden, whose administration has been taking part alongside an envoy of President-elect Donald Trump, said a deal was close after the war decimated Gaza, killed tens of thousands of people and triggered conflicts in the region.
Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi talked about progress in the negotiations on Tuesday.
“Both leaders committed to remain in close coordination directly and through their teams over the coming hours,” the White House said in a statement after the leaders’ telephone call.
The two presidents “emphasized the urgent need for a deal to be implemented.”

'Critical phase'
Hamas said the talks had reached the final steps and it hoped this round of negotiations would lead to a deal.
An Israeli official said talks had reached a critical phase although some details needed to be worked out: “We are close, we are not there yet.”
White House National Security adviser Jake Sullivan said hopefully a Gaza hostage deal will be reached this week.
Visiting Rome, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday he believed a majority of Israel’s coalition government would support a Gaza deal if one is finally agreed, despite vocal opposition from hard-line nationalist parties in the coalition.
Militant group Islamic Jihad, which is separate from Hamas and also holds hostages in Gaza, said it was sending a senior delegation that would arrive in Doha on Tuesday night to take part in final arrangements for a ceasefire deal.
If successful, the phased ceasefire — capping over a year of start-and-stop talks — could halt fighting that decimated Gaza, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, made most of the enclave’s population homeless and is still killing dozens a day.
That in turn could ease tensions across the wider Middle East, where the war has fueled conflict in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and raised fears of all-out war between Israel and Iran.
Israel would recover around 100 remaining hostages and bodies from among those captured in the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas that precipitated the war. In return it would free Palestinian detainees.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who gave a speech in Washington outlining a vision for governing the Palestinian territories after the war, said it was up to Hamas to accept a deal that was already set for implementation.

Children, Women hostages would be released first
“The deal ... would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started,” Biden said on Monday.
Despite the efforts to reach a ceasefire, the Israeli military, the Shin Bet internal intelligence agency and the air force attacked about 50 “terrorist” targets throughout Gaza over the last 24 hours, according to a statement issued by Shin Bet and the military.
Meanwhile, the United Nations said it was busy preparing to expand humanitarian assistance to Gaza under a potential ceasefire but uncertainty around border access and security remained obstacles.
Families of hostages in Israel were caught between hope and despair.
“We can’t miss this moment. This is the last moment; we can save them,” said Hadas Calderon, whose husband Ofer and children Sahar and Erez were abducted.
An Israeli official said the deal’s first stage would see the release of 33 hostages, including children, women including some female soldiers, men above 50, and the wounded and sick. Israel would gradually and partially withdraw some forces.
A Palestinian source said Israel would free 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in the first phase over 60 days.
Israel launched its assault in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters stormed across its borders on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israeli forces have killed more than 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials.
Both sides have been committed in principle for months to the prospect of a ceasefire accompanied by a swap of remaining hostages for detainees. But Hamas rejected any deal that stopped short of bringing a permanent end to the war, while Israel said it would not end the war until Hamas is dismantled.
Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration is now widely seen as a de facto deadline for a ceasefire agreement.


US deputy Mideast envoy says Hezbollah must not be part of Lebanon government

Updated 8 sec ago
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US deputy Mideast envoy says Hezbollah must not be part of Lebanon government

Beirut: The US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Friday said that Hezbollah’s presence in Lebanon’s new government was a red line, welcoming the end of the Iran-backed group’s “reign of terror.”
“We have set clear red lines in the United States that they (Hezbollah) won’t be able to terrorize the Lebanese people, and that includes by being a part of the government,” Morgan Ortagus said after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Beirut, adding: “the end of Hezbollah’s reign of terror in Lebanon and around the world has started and it’s over.”

Al-Qaeda in Yemen says senior official killed in blast

Updated 59 min 30 sec ago
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Al-Qaeda in Yemen says senior official killed in blast

  • Abu Yusuf Al-Muhammadi Al-Hadrami died when a motorcycle packed with explosives detonated near where he worked in Marib

Dubai: A senior member of Al-Qaeda in Yemen has been killed in a bomb blast, according to a statement from the extremist group behind a string of high-profile attacks.
Abu Yusuf Al-Muhammadi Al-Hadrami died when a motorcycle packed with explosives detonated near where he worked in Marib, east of the rebel-held capital Sanaa.
Washington regards the group, known as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), as most dangerous branch of group
Born in 2009, AQAP grew and developed in the chaos of Yemen’s war.
It has been responsible for multiple attacks, including the deadly 2000 bombing of the USS Cole off the coast of Aden, which killed 17 US military personnel.
In 2015, AQAP claimed that two French gunmen who massacred 12 people in an attack on the Paris offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine were acting on its behalf.


US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW

Updated 07 February 2025
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US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW

  • On January 24, four days after US President Donald Trump returned to power, NGOs linked to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) received a letter asking them to cease all activities

Beirut: Human Rights Watch warned Friday that US aid suspensions could worsen “life-threatening conditions” in camps holding relatives of suspected Daesh terrorists in northeast Syria, urging Washington to maintain support.
Kurdish-run camps and prisons in the region still hold around 56,000 people with alleged or perceived links to the Daesh group, years after the jihadists’ territorial defeat.
They include jihadist suspects locked up in prisons, as well as the wives and children of IS fighters held in the Al-Hol and Roj internment camps.
“The US government’s suspension of foreign aid to non-governmental organizations operating in these camps is exacerbating life-threatening conditions, risking further destabilization of a precarious security situation,” HRW said in a statement.
The rights group said the aid freeze could “limit provision of essential services for camp residents,” citing international humanitarian workers.
On January 24, four days after US President Donald Trump returned to power, NGOs linked to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) received a first letter asking them to cease all activities funded by the agency.
A week later, another letter, seen by AFP, authorized them to resume certain missions intended for “life-saving humanitarian assistance.”
The orders have left aid groups in the northeast “unsure how to proceed with deliveries of essential goods, like kerosene and water, further exacerbating pre-existing shortages,” the statement said.
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio should continue US assistance to organizations providing essential lifesaving assistance in northeast Syria,” the group said.
Following the January 24 order, HRW said Blumont, an organization responsible for camp management in Al Hol and Roj, suspended activities and withdrew all staff, including guards.
A few days later, the group received a two-week exemption allowing it to work.
Al-Hol is northeast Syria’s largest internment camp, with more than 40,000 detainees from 47 countries.
The vast majority of Al-Hol and Roj residents are women and children living in dire conditions.
HRW also said that “any political settlement in the region should include ending the arbitrary detention of those with alleged Daesh ties and their families.”
“Thousands of lives, many of them children, are hanging in the balance, and the indefensible status quo of the last six years should not be allowed to continue,” said Hiba Zayadin of Human Rights Watch.
The call comes amid talks between Syria’s new authorities and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) over the group’s future and as clashes rage in the north between the Kurdish-led group and Turkish-backed factions.


Doubling down on his proposal, Trump says Israel would hand over Gaza to the US after fighting is over

Updated 07 February 2025
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Doubling down on his proposal, Trump says Israel would hand over Gaza to the US after fighting is over

  • Trump has said he aims to take over and develop the Gaza Strip into the “Riviera of the Middle East”
  • Proposal comes just as Israel and Hamas expected to begin talks on second stage of ceasefire deal 

JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Thursday Israel would hand over Gaza to the United States after fighting was over and the enclave’s population was already resettled elsewhere, which he said meant no US troops would be needed on the ground.
A day after worldwide condemnation of Trump’s announcement that he aimed to take over and develop the Gaza Strip into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” Israel ordered its army to prepare to allow the “voluntary departure” of Gaza Palestinians.
Trump, who had previously declined to rule out deploying US troops to the small coastal territory, clarified his idea in comments on his Truth Social web platform.
“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” he said. Palestinians “would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region.” He added: “No soldiers by the US would be needed!“
Earlier, amid a tide of support in Israel for what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Trump’s “remarkable” proposal, Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the army to prepare a plan to allow Gaza residents who wished to leave to exit the enclave voluntarily.
“I welcome President Trump’s bold plan. Gaza residents should be allowed the freedom to leave and emigrate, as is the norm around the world,” Katz said on X.
He said his plan would include exit options via land crossings, as well as special arrangements for departure by sea and air.
Trump, a real-estate-developer-turned-politician, sparked anger around the Middle East with his unexpected announcement on Tuesday, just as Israel and Hamas were expected to begin talks in Doha on the second stage of a ceasefire deal for Gaza, intended to open the way for a full withdrawal of Israeli forces, a further release of hostages and an end to a nearly 16-month-old war.

Regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia rebuffed the proposal outright and Jordan’s King Abdullah, who will meet Trump at the White House next week, said on Wednesday he rejected any attempts to annex land and displace Palestinians.
Egypt also weighed in, saying it would not be part of any proposal to displace Palestinians from neighboring Gaza, where residents reacted with fury to the suggestion.
“We will not sell our land for you, real estate developer. We are hungry, homeless, and desperate but we are not collaborators,” said Abdel Ghani, a father of four living with his family in the ruins of their Gaza City home. “If (Trump) wants to help, let him come and rebuild for us here.”
It was unclear whether Trump would go ahead with his proposal or, in keeping with his self-image as a shrewd dealmaker, has simply laid out an extreme position as a bargaining tactic. His first term in 2017-21 was replete with what critics said were over-the-top foreign policy pronouncements, many of which were never implemented.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Thursday that people would have to live elsewhere while Gaza was rebuilt. He did not say whether they would be able to return under Trump’s plan to develop the enclave, home to more than 2 million Palestinians.
Axios reported Rubio planned to visit the Middle East in mid-February with an itinerary that includes Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Displacement
What effect Trump’s shock proposal may have on the ceasefire talks remains unclear. Only 13 of a group of 33 Israeli hostages due for release in the first phase have so far been returned, with three more due to come out on Saturday. Five Thai hostages have also been released.
Hamas official Basem Naim accused Israel’s defense minister of trying to cover up “for a state that has failed to achieve any of its objectives in the war on Gaza,” and said Palestinians are too attached to their land to ever leave.
Displacement of Palestinians has been one of the most sensitive issues in the Middle East for decades. Forced or coerced displacement of a population under military occupation is a war crime, banned under the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

Details of how any such plan might work have been vague. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said different thinking was needed on Gaza’s future but that any departures would have to be voluntary and states would have to be willing to take them.
“We don’t have details yet, but we can talk about principles,” Saar told a press conference with his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani. “Everything must be based on the free will of (the) individual and, on the other hand, of a will of a state that is ready to absorb,” he said.
A number of far-right Israeli politicians have openly called for Palestinians to be moved from Gaza and there was strong support for Trump’s push among both security hawks and the Jewish settler movement, which wants to reclaim land in Gaza used for Jewish settlements until 2005.
Giora Eiland, an Israeli former general who attracted wide attention in an earlier stage of the war with his “Generals’ Plan” for a forced displacement of people from northern Gaza, said Trump’s plan was logical and aid should not be allowed to reach displaced people returning to northern Gaza.
Israel’s military campaign has killed tens of thousands of people since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, cross-border attack on Israel touched off the war, and has forced Palestinians to repeatedly move around within Gaza in search of safety.
But many say they will never leave the enclave because they fear permanent displacement, like the “Nakba,” or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were dispossessed from homes in the war at the birth of the state of Israel in 1948.
Katz said countries that have opposed Israel’s military operations in Gaza should take in the Palestinians.
“Countries like Spain, Ireland, Norway, and others, which have levelled accusations and false claims against Israel over its actions in Gaza, are legally obligated to allow any Gaza resident to enter their territories,” he said.


Bodies of migrants recovered in two locations in Libya, security and Red Crescent say

Updated 07 February 2025
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Bodies of migrants recovered in two locations in Libya, security and Red Crescent say

  • 19 bodies — believed to be related to smuggling activites — were discovered in a mass grave in a farm some 441 km from Benghazi, say police
  • Libya's Red Crescent said the bodies of 10 other migrants were recovered after their boat sank off Dila port in the city of Zawiya, near Tripoli

BENGHAZI, Libya: At least 29 bodies of migrants have been recovered in two locations in the southeast and west of Libya, a security directorate and the Libyan Red Crescent said on Thursday.
The Alwahat district Security Directorate said in a statement that 19 bodies were discovered in a mass grave in a farm in Jikharra area, some 441 km from Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, and said the deaths were related to smuggling activites.
The directorate posted on Facebook pictures showing police officers and Jalu Red Crescent volunteers placing the bodies in black plastic bags.
Separately, the Libyan Red Crescent said on Facebook late Thursday evening that its volunteers recovered the bodies of 10 migrants earlier in the day after their boat sank off Dila port in the city of Zawiya, some 40 km from Tripoli, the capital.
The Red Crescent posted pictures showing volunteers on the dockside placing bodies in white plastic bags, while one volunteer put numbers on one of the bags.
"In the presence of the Public Prosecution Office in Jalu, the directorate was able to recover 19 bodies resulting from smuggling and illegal migration activities in Jikharra area, belonging to a known smuggling network," the directorate said.
It said the bodies were found in a total of three graves on the farm, with one grave holding one body, a second grave holding four bodies, and the remaining 14 bodies found in the third grave.
"The bodies were all referred to a forensic doctor to conduct the necessary tests," the directorate said.
Libya has turned into a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe across the Mediterranean.
At the end of January, Alwahat Criminal Investigation Department said it had freed 263 migrants from different Sub-Saharan nationalities, saying they were "being held by a smuggling gang in extremely poor human and health conditions."