Gaza ceasefire to start early Sunday morning

Israel’s cabinet voted to approve the ceasefire deal early Saturday, ending days of uncertainty about whether the truce would go into effect this weekend. (AFP)
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Updated 18 January 2025
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Gaza ceasefire to start early Sunday morning

  • Qatar foreign ministry makes announcement on social media
  • Israel to free 737 prisoners during the first phase of the truce deal

JERUSALEM/DOHA: A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will take effect at 0630 GMT on Sunday morning, Qatar, which helped mediate the deal, said on Saturday.

“As coordinated by the parties to the agreement and the mediators, the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin at 8:30 am on Sunday, January 19, local time in Gaza,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said on X.

“We advise the inhabitants to take precaution, exercise the utmost caution, and wait for directions from official sources.”

The exact time of the ceasefire’s start had been unclear, though Israel, whose cabinet earlier on Saturday approved the hostage and prisoner exchange deal, had said no prisoners would be freed before 1400 GMT.

During the first phase of the truce deal, Israel’s justice ministry said 737 prisoners and detainees will be freed.

It said in a statement on its website that “the government approves” the “release (of) 737 prisoners and detainees” currently in the custody of the prison service.

Palestinian militant group Hamas also said on Saturday that the mechanism of the release of Israeli hostages it holds in Gaza would depend on the number of Palestinian prisoners Israel would free.

In a statement, Hamas said the list of Palestinian prisoners to be released would be published one day before the exchange under terms of its ceasefire deal reached with Israel on Wednesday.

Israel’s cabinet voted to approve the ceasefire deal early Saturday, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, ending days of uncertainty about whether the truce would go into effect this weekend.

Those named by the ministry include men, women and children who it said will not be released before Sunday at 4:00 p.m. local time (1400 GMT).

It had previously published a list of 95 Palestinian prisoners, the majority women, to be freed in exchange for Israeli captives in Gaza.

Among those on the expanded list was Zakaria Zubeidi, a chief of the armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party.

Zubeidi escaped from Israel’s Gilboa prison with five other Palestinians in 2021, sparking a days-long manhunt, and is lauded by Palestinians as a hero.

Also to be freed is Khalida Jarar, a leftist Palestinian lawmaker whom Israel arrested and imprisoned on several occasions.

Jarar is a prominent member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group designated a “terrorist organization” by Israel, the United States and the European Union.

Detained in late December in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, the 60-year-old has been held since then without charge.

Two sources close to Hamas said that the first group of hostages to be released consists of three Israeli women soldiers.

However, since the Palestinian Islamist movement considers any Israeli of military age who has completed mandatory service a soldier, the reference could also apply to civilians abducted during the attack that triggered the war.

The first three names on a list obtained by AFP of the 33 hostages set to be released in the first phase are women under 30 who were not in military service on the day of the Hamas attack.

Justice ministry spokeswoman Noga Katz has said the final number of prisoners to be released in the first swap would depend on the number of live hostages released by Hamas.


124 journalists killed, most by Israel, in deadliest year for reporters

Updated 12 February 2025
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124 journalists killed, most by Israel, in deadliest year for reporters

  • The uptick in killings marks a 22 percent increase over 2023
  • Journalists murdered across 18 different countries, including Palestine's Gaza, Sudan and Pakistan

NEW YORK: Last year was the deadliest for journalists in recent history, with at least 124 reporters killed — and Israel responsible for nearly 70 percent of that total, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported Wednesday.
The uptick in killings, which marks a 22 percent increase over 2023, reflects “surging levels of international conflict, political unrest and criminality worldwide,” the CPJ said.
It was the deadliest year for reporters and media workers since CPJ began keeping records more than three decades ago, with journalists murdered across 18 different countries, it said.
A total of 85 journalists died in the Israeli-Hamas war, “all at the hands of the Israeli military,” the CPJ said, adding that 82 of them were Palestinians.
Sudan and Pakistan recorded the second highest number of journalists and media workers killed, with six each.
In Mexico, which has a reputation as one of the most dangerous countries for reporters, five were killed, with CPJ reporting it had found “persistent flaws” in Mexico’s mechanisms for protecting journalists.
And in Haiti, where two reporters were murdered, widespread violence and political instability have sown so much chaos that “gangs now openly claim responsibility for journalist killings,” the report said.
Other deaths took place in countries such as Myanmar, Mozambique, India and Iraq.
“Today is the most dangerous time to be a journalist in CPJ’s history,” said the group’s CEO Jodie Ginsberg.
“The war in Gaza is unprecedented in its impact on journalists and demonstrates a major deterioration in global norms on protecting journalists,” she said.
CPJ, which has kept records on journalist killings since 1992, said that 24 of the reporters were deliberately killed because of their work in 2024.
Freelancers, the report said, were among the most vulnerable because of their lack of resources, and accounted for 43 of the killings in 2024.
The year 2025 is not looking more promising, with six journalists already killed in the first weeks of the year, CPJ said.


UAE’s president receives phone call from US secretary of state

Updated 12 February 2025
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UAE’s president receives phone call from US secretary of state

  • Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan tells Marco Rubio that 2-state solution is key for peace in Middle East

LONDON:  Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the president of the UAE, received a phone call from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday.

The UAE’s president told Rubio that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the key to peace in the Middle East.

Sheikh Mohamed emphasized the need for a just and lasting peace in the region, ensuring security and stability for everyone, the Emirates News Agency reported.

The parties discussed ways to strengthen cooperation across various fields to serve the countries’ strategic relationship.


Egypt projects 4% growth in 2025 amid strong economic reforms

Updated 12 February 2025
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Egypt projects 4% growth in 2025 amid strong economic reforms

  • Results of fiscal discipline, says economy minister Rania Al-Mashat
  • Increased capital inflows, foreign direct investment being recorded

DUBAI: Egypt is likely to record 4 percent growth at the end of 2025, the nation’s Planning and Economic Development Minister Rania Al-Mashat said at the World Governments Summit on Wednesday.

In a session titled “The Regional Economic Outlook of 2025,” Al-Mashat, presented an optimistic view of Egypt’s trajectory amid global challenges.

Panelists during the session addressed disruptions Egypt has faced, notably the 70 percent decline in Suez Canal revenues.

In addition, they highlighted geopolitical tensions stemming from President Donald Trump’s recent threats to displace Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan.

Despite these challenges, Al-Mashat emphasized Egypt’s resilience and strategic economic measures.

“At the outset, macroeconomic stability is a necessary condition for growth and private sector engagement,” she said.

She detailed Egypt’s home-grown program with the International Monetary Fund since March 2024, focusing on fiscal consolidation, reducing domestic debt, stringent public investment discipline, and tighter monetary policy to control inflation.

These measures have restored macroeconomic stability, leading to increased capital inflows and foreign direct investment.

Al-Mashat reported 3.2 percent growth in the first quarter of the 2024/2025 fiscal year, with notable performance in the manufacturing sector, signifying stronger integration with global value chains.

However, she stressed that macroeconomic stability alone was insufficient without structural reforms aimed at increasing competitiveness, private sector involvement, and promoting the green transition.

Egypt has attracted nearly $4 billion in renewable energy investments over the past year, positioning itself as a regional energy hub.

“Agility and resilience are key,” she noted, projecting a 4 percent growth rate by year-end, despite global headwinds such as inflationary pressures and monetary policy shifts.

Al-Mashat concluded by emphasizing Egypt’s proactive stance in financing for development, including domestic resource mobilization, debt swaps, and concessional finance for the green transition, all vital for Egypt’s economic future.


‘We are gearing towards becoming a multiplanetary species,’ says UAE space director

Updated 12 February 2025
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‘We are gearing towards becoming a multiplanetary species,’ says UAE space director

DUBAI: All the UAE’s space projects are gearing toward humanity becoming a multiplanetary species, Salem Al-Marri, director-general of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, told the World Governments Summit on Wednesday.

Speaking to Arab News, Al-Marri discussed the UAE’s partnership with the Saudi space mission. 

“Having our (Saudi Arabia and the UAE) astronauts in space at the same time is the first time we had that many Arabs in space at one time,” he said.

Al-Marri said he hoped to have the two countries work together more extensively and share resources to further develop the Arab space industry.

“We’d love to have our astronauts visit Saudi along with the Saudi astronauts, Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali Al-Qarni, have some joint outreach activities and really take it from there. I think also from the research perspective, the data, the outreach, we are now working on different projects that we will announce soon,” he added.

But Al-Marri jokingly revealed that he, personally, was not ready to relocate to Mars, even if the opportunity were to come up tomorrow.

“Not in my lifetime, no. If there’s a return ticket then yes, if it’s a visit for a couple of years and coming back, I would do that. But I think within the next decade we would see some sort of human presence on Mars for a quick type of mission,” he said.

“The global exploration roadmap is moving towards trying to get a permanent presence on the moon and around the moon, and then using that to go to Mars,” he said. 

In a panel discussion with Salem Butti Al-Qubaisi, director-general of the UAE Space Agency, the directors discussed UAE’s space missions and progress since the UAE space mission to Mars was announced in 2014.

“We see a big benefit of having these astronauts sent into space, performing hundreds of experiments, which benefit us here on the ground,” Al-Marri said.

When asked if the UAE’s scarcity of water in any way limited the space mission, both directors said it served as motivation for the project to go further.

“One of the main objectives of the space mission is to help understand water. We can see if there are other sources of water available. If we are planning to go deeper into space we must ensure that there are adequate resources out there,” Al-Qubaisi said.

Al-Marri said MBRSC’s goal and motivation was to see an Emirati on the moon in the next 10 years.

The UAE Astronaut Program was launched in 2017 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the vice president and prime minister of the UAE, and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who was deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces at the time and is now the UAE president.

Sultan Al-Neyadi was the first Emarati and Arab astronaut to undertake a long-term space mission and the first to complete a spacewalk.

Al-Neyadi, together with NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, were part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 that lifted off on March 2, 2023 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The crew conducted more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations during their stay at the space station and returned to earth on Sept. 4, 2023.

 


Hamas says group’s delegation in Cairo for talks on Gaza ceasefire

Updated 12 February 2025
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Hamas says group’s delegation in Cairo for talks on Gaza ceasefire

  • “A delegation headed by Khalil Al-Hayya, head of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, arrived in Cairo and began meetings with Egyptian officials,” group said

GAZA: A Hamas delegation was in Cairo on Wednesday for Gaza truce talks, the group said, rejecting “American and Israeli threats” and demanding that Israel comply with the ceasefire deal.
The truce which came into effect last month largely halted more than 15 months of war, but has come under increasing strain in recent days, prompting a new push by mediators Qatar and Egypt to salvage it.
“A delegation headed by Khalil Al-Hayya, head of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, arrived in Cairo and began meetings with Egyptian officials,” the Palestinian group said in a statement.
It added that the delegation, led by Hamas’s chief negotiator, was monitoring “the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.”
A senior Hamas official told AFP the delegation “will discuss ways to end the current crisis and ensure the (Israeli) occupation’s commitment to implementing the agreement.”
On Tuesday Israel warned that it could resume fighting if hostages are not released by Saturday, echoing a threat by US President Donald Trump who said “hell” would break out if Hamas failed to release “all” Israeli hostages by that day.
A sixth hostage-prisoner exchange under the truce deal was scheduled for Saturday, but earlier this week Hamas had announced it was postponing the upcoming release, citing Israel’s failure to allow the entry of key humanitarian aid into Gaza.
A diplomat familiar with the talks said that mediators were engaged with both Israel and Hamas to resolve the dispute and ensure the implementation of the long elusive agreement.
“Mediators are engaging with both Israel and Hamas to try to solve the current issues and ensure both parties of the conflict adhere to the ceasefire and hostage release agreement in place,” the diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the group demanded that Israel “adhere to the agreed humanitarian protocol.”
“The Israeli occupation is evading the implementation of several provisions of the ceasefire agreement,” Qassem said in a separate statement.
“Our position is clear, and we will not accept the language of American and Israeli threats. Israel must commit to implementing the terms of the ceasefire agreement” to secure the release of its hostages, he said.
The spokesman added that talks with mediators were ongoing to ensure the agreement’s implementation.
“We have received assurances from mediators that efforts are being made to compel the occupation to uphold the ceasefire terms in Gaza,” said Qassem.
A Palestinian source familiar with the issue earlier told AFP that mediators Egypt and Qatar were “working intensively” to resolve the crisis surround the ceasefire deal.