World
Blinken says Israel accepts Gaza proposal, urges Hamas to do same
Despite U.S. expressions of optimism and Netanyahu’s office describing the meeting as positive, both Israel and Hamas have signalled that any deal will be difficult.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted a “bridging proposal” presented by Washington to tackle disagreements blocking a ceasefire deal in Gaza, and urged Hamas to do the same, Reuters reported.
Blinken spoke to journalists after a day of meetings with Israeli officials, including a 2-1/2-hour meeting with Netanyahu. The top U.S. diplomat had said earlier that this push was probably the best and possibly last opportunity for a deal.
Talks in Qatar seeking a ceasefire and hostage return agreement last week paused without a breakthrough, but were expected to resume this week based on the U.S. proposal to bridge the gaps between Israel and Hamas.
Blinken’s visit comes as U.S. President Joe Biden, opens new tab faces mounting election-year pressure over his stance on the conflict, with his Democratic party starting its national convention on Monday amid pro-Palestinian protests and worries about Muslim and Arab American votes in swing states, read the report.
However, with the Palestinian Islamist group announcing a resumption of suicide bombing inside Israel after many years, and claiming responsibility for a blast in Tel Aviv on Sunday night, and medics saying Israeli military strikes killed at least 30 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Monday, there are few signs of conciliation on the ground and fears of wider war.
“In a very constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu today, he confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal – that he supports it,” Blinken told reporters in Tel Aviv.
“It’s now incumbent on Hamas to do the same, and then the parties, with the help of the mediators – the United States, Egypt and Qatar – have to come together and complete the process of reaching clear understandings about how they’ll implement the commitments that they’ve made under this agreement.”
Despite U.S. expressions of optimism and Netanyahu’s office describing the meeting as positive, both Israel and Hamas have signalled that any deal will be difficult.
Months of on-off talks have circled the same issues, with Israel saying the war can only end with the destruction of Hamas as a military and political force and Hamas saying it will only accept a permanent, not temporary, ceasefire, Reuters reported.
There are disagreements over Israel’s continued military presence inside Gaza, particularly along the border with Egypt, the free movement of Palestinians inside the territory, and the identity and number of prisoners to be freed in a swap.
Hamas officials accused Washington of favouring Israel.
“When Blinken says that the Israelis agreed and then the Israelis say that there is an updated proposal, this means that the Americans are subject to Israeli pressure and not the other way around. We believe that it is a manoeuvre that gives the Israelis more time,” senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Reuters.
The current war in Gaza 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.
Israel’s military has since levelled 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.
Blinken, on his ninth trip to the region since the war began, met Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Netanyahu on Monday. He later met Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and is due also to visit Egypt and Qatar in the coming days, read the report.
Egyptian security sources said further ceasefire talks in Cairo this week were contingent on agreement over a security mechanism for the so-called Philadelphia Corridor between Egypt and Gaza. The U.S. has proposed an international presence in the area, a suggestion that could be acceptable if it was limited to a maximum of six months, the sources said.
In Israel, families of hostages – who have staged protests urging a deal – spoke out again on Monday.
“Don’t sacrifice my daughter and the dozens of helpless hostages,” said Ayelet Levy-Shachar on Kan Radio. Her daughter Naama, 20, was captured at an army base.
Some at a protest in Tel Aviv held U.S. flags and signs saying “Hostage deal now,” “Hey Joe! Mr Biden, help us save them,” and “They have no time.”
Inside Gaza, Palestinians said they had little optimism that Blinken’s visit would bring a ceasefire, Reuters reported.
“They are lying just to destroy us more and more. Kill us and kill our children, starve us and make us homeless. Blinken is useless, his visit will harm the Palestinian people,” said Hanan Abu Hamid, who was displaced from her home in Rafah.
The conflict has 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.
World
Trump urges Russia to stop attacks; Rubio says US might walk away from peace efforts
Zelenskiy wrote on the messaging app Telegram that his top military commander reported that Russia had already conducted nearly 70 attacks on Sunday.

President Donald Trump urged Russia on Sunday to stop its attacks in Ukraine while his top diplomat said the United States might walk away from peace efforts if it does not see progress, Reuters reported.
Speaking to reporters in New Jersey, Trump said he was disappointed that Russia has continued to attack Ukraine, and said his one-on-one meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the Vatican on Saturday had gone well.
“I see him as calmer. I think he understands the picture, and I think he wants to make a deal,” Trump said of Zelenskiy.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, said the Trump administration might abandon its attempts to broker a deal if Russia and Ukraine do not make headway.
“It needs to happen soon,” Rubio told the NBC program “Meet the Press.'” “We cannot continue to dedicate time and resources to this effort if it’s not going to come to fruition.”
Trump and Zelenskiy, in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, met in a Vatican basilica on Saturday to try to revive faltering efforts to end the war in Ukraine. The meeting was the first between the two leaders since an angry encounter in the White House Oval Office in February and comes at a critical time in negotiations aimed at bringing an end to the conflict, read the report.
Trump rebuked Russian President Vladimir Putin after that meeting, saying on social media that there is “no reason” for Russia to shoot missiles into civilian areas.
In a pre-taped interview that aired on the CBS program “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would continue to target sites used by Ukraine’s military. When asked about a Russian strike on Kyiv last week that killed civilians, Lavrov said that “the target attacked was not something absolutely civilian” and that Russia targets only “sites which are used by the military.”
Zelenskiy wrote on the messaging app Telegram that his top military commander reported that Russia had already conducted nearly 70 attacks on Sunday.
“The situation at the front and the real activity of the Russian army prove that there is currently insufficient pressure on Russia from the world to end this war,” Zelenskiy said.
Ukrainian and European officials pushed back last week against some U.S. proposals on how to end the war, making counterproposals on issues from territory to sanctions.
American proposals called for U.S. recognition of Russia’s control over Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Moscow seized and annexed in 2014, as well as de facto recognition of Russia’s hold on other parts of Ukraine.
In contrast, the European and Ukrainian proposal defers detailed discussion about territory until after a ceasefire is concluded.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Sunday that Ukraine should not agree to the American proposal, saying it went too far in ceding swathes of territory in return for a ceasefire.
Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, said the U.S. president has “expressed his frustration” at both Putin and Zelenskiy but remains determined to help negotiate an agreement. Waltz also said the United States and Ukraine would eventually reach an agreement over rare earth minerals, Reuters reported.
Chuck Schumer, the top U.S. Senate Democrat, said on Sunday that he is concerned Trump will “cave in to Putin.”
“To just abandon Ukraine, after all the sacrifice that they made, after so much loss of life, and with the rallying of the whole West against Putin, it would just be a moral tragedy,” Schumer said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.
World
Trump and Zelenskiy meet one-on-one in Vatican basilica to seek Ukraine peace

U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, met one-on-one in a marble-lined Vatican basilica on Saturday to try to revive faltering efforts to end Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Zelenskiy said the meeting could prove historic if it delivers the kind of peace he is hoping for, and a White House spokesman called it “very productive”.
The two leaders, leaning in close to each other with no aides around them while seated in St Peter’s Basilica, spoke for about 15 minutes, according to Zelenskiy’s office, which also released photographs of the meeting.
The meeting at the Vatican, their first since an angry encounter in the Oval Office in Washington in February, comes at a critical time in negotiations aimed at bringing an end to fighting between Ukraine and Russia.
In a post on social media platform Telegram, Zelenskiy wrote: “Good meeting. One-on-one, we managed to discuss a lot. We hope for a result from all the things that were spoken about.”
He said those topics included: “The protection of the lives of our people. A complete and unconditional ceasefire. A reliable and lasting peace that will prevent a recurrence of war.”
Zelenskiy added: “It was a very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic if we achieve joint results. Thank you, President Donald Trump!”
Steven Cheung, White House communications director, said the two leaders had met privately and had “a very productive discussion. More details about the meeting will follow”.
In one photograph released by Zelenskiy’s office, the Ukrainian and U.S. leaders sat opposite each other in a hall of the basilica, around two feet apart, and were leaning in towards each other in conversation. No aides could be seen in the image.
In a second photograph, from the same location, Zelenskiy, Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were shown standing in a tight huddle. Macron had his hand on Zelenskiy’s shoulder.
After Trump and Zelenskiy met in the basilica, the two men joined other world leaders outside in Saint Peter’s Square at the funeral service for Pope Francis, who made the pursuit of peace, including in Ukraine, a motif of his papacy.
Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who gave the sermon at the funeral service, recalled how Pope Francis did not stop raising his voice to call for negotiations to end conflicts.
“War always leaves the world worse than it was before: it is always a painful and tragic defeat for everyone,” the cardinal said.
A Zelenskiy spokesman had earlier said aides to the two leaders were working on arrangements for a follow-up meeting in Rome later on Saturday. The spokesman subsequently said, after Trump’s aircraft took off from Rome, that the second meeting did not happen, citing the presidents’ tight schedules.
Trump, who has been pressing both sides to agree a ceasefire, said on Friday that there had been productive talks between his envoy and the Russian leadership in Moscow, and called for a high-level meeting between Kyiv and Moscow to close a deal.
Trump had previously warned his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
(Reuters)
World
Senior Russian military officer killed in car explosion near Moscow

A senior Russian military officer was killed when a car exploded on Friday in the town of Balashikha just east of Moscow, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.
It named the officer as Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, and said it had opened a criminal case into the incident, Reuters reported.
“According to available data, the explosion occurred as a result of the detonation of a homemade explosive device filled with destructive elements,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement.
The statement did not say who might be behind the incident. Several high-ranking Russian military figures have been assassinated since the start of the war in Ukraine in operations blamed by Moscow on Kyiv.
Russian media outlet Baza, which has sources in Russia’s law enforcement agencies, said a bomb in a parked car had been detonated remotely when the officer – who lived locally – walked past.
The Izvestia newspaper published video footage showing a person approaching a line of parked cars outside an apartment complex and an explosion that sent parts of a vehicle flying metres into the air.
Kommersant newspaper said a second person was also killed.
Moskalik, who held the rank of major general, had participated in several high-level Russian delegations, according to defence ministry bulletins and media reports.
He joined the Russian contingent in a meeting in October 2015 of the Normandy Format, a group made up of teams from Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France who oversaw the Minsk agreements designed to end the war between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatist forces that broke out in 2014.
Moskalik represented the army’s General Staff at the negotiations alongside Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, according to the Kremlin website.
Russia’s RBC newspaper listed Moskalik as a participant in the security subgroup in the Minsk talks.
In December, Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service used a bomb hidden in an electric scooter to kill Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, whom Kyiv accused of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops.
The SBU did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reported death of Moskalik.
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