Connect with us

World

Hamas accepts proposed deal for ceasefire with Israel and hostage release

Published

on

Hamas has accepted the latest proposal for a 60-day ceasefire with Israel that includes the return of half the hostages the group holds in Gaza and Israel’s release of some Palestinian prisoners, an Egyptian official source said on Monday, Reuters reported.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim wrote on Facebook: “The movement has handed over its approval to the new proposal presented by the mediators.”

The Egyptian official source said the latest proposal included a suspension of Israeli military operations for 60 days and a path to a comprehensive deal to end the nearly two-year war.

A source familiar with the matter said the proposal was nearly identical to one put forward previously by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, which Israel had accepted.

Israel’s plans to seize control of Gaza City have stirred alarm abroad and at home where tens of thousands of Israelis on Sunday held some of the largest protests since the war began, urging a deal to end the fighting and free the remaining 50 hostages held in Gaza since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. Israeli officials believe 20 are alive.

The planned offensive has spurred Egyptian and Qatari ceasefire mediators to step up efforts to forge a deal.

Thousands of Palestinians fearing an imminent Israeli ground offensive have left their homes in eastern areas of Gaza City, now under constant Israeli bombardment, for points to the west and south in the shattered territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described Gaza City as Hamas’ last big urban bastion. But, with Israel already holding 75% of Gaza, the military has warned that expanding the offensive could endanger hostages still alive and draw troops into protracted and deadly guerrilla warfare.

Dani Miran, whose son Omri was taken hostage on October 7, said he feared the consequences of an Israeli ground offensive in Gaza City. “I’m scared that my son would be hurt,” he told Reuters in Tel Aviv on Monday.

In Gaza City, many Palestinians have also been calling for protests to demand an end to a war that has demolished much of the territory and wrought a humanitarian disaster, and for Hamas to intensify talks to avert the Israeli ground offensive.

An Israeli armoured incursion into Gaza City could displace hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have been uprooted multiple times during the war.

Ahmed Mheisen, Palestinian shelter manager in Beit Lahiya, a war-devastated suburb abutting eastern Gaza City, said 995 families had departed the area in recent days for the south.

With the Israeli offensive looming, Mheisen put the number of tents needed for emergency shelter at 1.5 million, saying Israel had allowed only 120,000 tents into the territory during a January-March ceasefire.

The U.N. humanitarian office said last week 1.35 million people were already in need of emergency shelter items in Gaza.

“I am heading south because I need to ease my mental state,” Mousa Obaid, a Gaza City resident, told Reuters. “I do not want to keep moving left and right endlessly. There is no life left, and as you can see, living conditions are hard, prices are high, and we have been without work for over a year and a half.”

A protest by unions is scheduled for Thursday in Gaza City, and people took to social media platforms vowing to participate, which will raise pressure on Hamas.

DIPLOMATIC DEADLOCK

The last round of indirect ceasefire talks ended in deadlock in late July with the sides trading blame for its collapse.

Israel says it will agree to cease hostilities if all the hostages are released and Hamas lays down its arms – the latter demand publicly rejected by the Islamist group until a Palestinian state is established.

A Hamas official told Reuters earlier on Monday the group rejects Israeli demands to disarm or expel its leaders from Gaza.

Sharp differences also appear to remain over the extent of an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and how humanitarian aid will be delivered around the enclave, where malnutrition is rife and aid groups warn of unfolding famine.

U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on his social media platform on Monday: “We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be.”

On Saturday, the Israeli military said it was preparing to help equip Gazans with tents and other shelter equipment ahead of relocating them from combat zones to the south of the enclave. It did not provide further details on quantities or how long it would take to get the equipment into the enclave.

“Existing tents where people are living (in the south) have worn out and won’t protect people against rainwater. There are no new tents in Gaza because of the Israeli restrictions on aid at the border crossings,” Palestinian economist Mohammad Abu Jayyab told Reuters.

He said some Gaza City families had begun renting property and shelters in the south and moved in their belongings.

“Some people learned from previous experience, and they don’t want to be taken by surprise. Also, some think it is better to move earlier to find a space,” Abu Jayyab added.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 61,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Israel’s ensuing air and ground war in Gaza, according to local health officials who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.

Five more Palestinians have died of malnutrition and starvation in the past 24 hours, the Gaza health ministry said on Monday, raising the number of people who died of those causes to 263, including 112 children, since the war started.

Israel disputed the figures provided by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

World

US and Denmark reach deal on Greenland, Trump says

In a separate statement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the deal “permanently ​and completely” addressed Washington’s ⁠national security concerns with respect to the island.

Published

on

The United States, Denmark and Greenland have entered into an agreement for the US to ‌develop a significant military presence on Greenland, while prohibiting US adversaries from building their own bases on the island, Donald Trump said on Friday.

In a Truth Social post, the US president wrote that no US enemies would be able to make sensitive investments on the island without the approval of the United States and that the agreement had no expiry date, Reuters reported.

“At my ​direction, we worked with representatives of Denmark and Greenland to guarantee that the United States will FOREVER have the complete ability to do ​what is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the security of Greenland, and the United States of ⁠America,” Trump wrote.

Earlier on Friday, Reuters exclusively reported that the US and Denmark were closing in on a deal that would result in an increased ​US military presence in Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, but would stop well short of Trump’s long-held dream of acquiring the island for the United ​States.

The US already has nearly total overflight and basing rights in Greenland due to a 1951 treaty.

Trump’s announcement suggests he was nonetheless pleased with the outcome of the negotiations and that he might not revive his territorial claims, at least in the near future. He said, without elaborating, that the US would soon be rolling out a large military presence ​on the island, which already hosts one Space Force base in its remote northwest.

“This is a dream come true for the United States of America,” Trump ​wrote.

EXTENT OF AGREEMENT REMAINS UNCLEAR

The Danish prime minister’s office said on Friday that the agreement would strengthen North Atlantic and Arctic security.

Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in a ‌statement that ⁠the agreement recognized Greenland’s interests and the Arctic island’s place in international cooperation. “This benefits us all,” he said.

Much was unclear as of Friday night, including whether any new US bases would be constructed as a result of the agreement. Trump’s Truth Social posts about negotiations or agreements often lack context or specifics.

Imran Bayoumi, a former Pentagon official now with the Atlantic Council think tank, said it would be new if the US can build bases without the approval of ​Greenland or Denmark but that largely “it seems ​that Washington could have achieved ⁠a lot of these objectives through diplomacy and dialogue without straining the broader US-NATO relationship.”

It was also unclear how the agreement would be received in Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. The island’s residents aspire to independence and have bristled at ​US attempts to assert control.

In a separate statement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the deal “permanently ​and completely” addressed Washington’s ⁠national security concerns with respect to the island.

“Greenland will forever be part of the strategic defense area of North America and exclude any adversary from it and the surrounding area,” he wrote.

A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss specific terms, said the deal prohibits non-NATO countries from building a base in ⁠Greenland and will ​allow only the US and its allies to make unspecified “sensitive investments.” The official said the ​agreement grants the US permanent access, basing and overflight rights, and would continue to apply even if Greenland becomes independent.

Continue Reading

World

UN allows Palestinian president to again speak via video after US denies visa

Published

on

The United Nations General Assembly voted on Thursday to allow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to address ​the annual gathering of world leaders next week via video – ‌for the second year in a row – after the United States again denied him a visa to travel to New York.

The resolution received 152 votes in favor and three ​votes against, while four countries abstained. It also allows Abbas and ​any other high-level Palestinian officials to take part in U.N. ⁠meetings or conferences via video over the next year if they are ​prevented from traveling to the United State, Reuters reported.

The US said last year that ​Abbas and about 80 other Palestinians would be affected by its decision to deny and revoke visas from members of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization and the West Bank-based ​Palestinian Authority. Washington announced on Wednesday that it had extended the visa ​bans.

“If the PA wants to be treated as a partner, it must stop subsidizing ‌terror ⁠and stop using diplomatic theater as a substitute for serious governance,” Deputy US Ambassador to the United Nations Tammy Bruce told the assembly before the vote.

Palestinian leaders rejected and condemned the move by the United States, Palestinian ​UN envoy Riyad Mansour ​told the General ⁠Assembly.

Without naming specific officials, the US State Department said on Wednesday it would extend visa sanctions against Palestinian ​officials over actions they took to “internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” ​including pursuing ⁠cases against Israel at international tribunals.

A Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed Abbas’ visa had been denied.

Under a 1947 U.N. “headquarters agreement,” the U.S. ⁠is ​generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats ​to the UN in New York. However, Washington has said it can deny visas for ​security, extremism and foreign policy reasons.

Continue Reading

World

North Korea’s Kim vows to expand ties with Russia, backs victory in ‘sacred war’

Kim ​delivered a ⁠similar message to Chinese President Xi Jinping in a reply published by KCNA ​on Sunday.

Published

on

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he would “expand and deepen” joint work with Russia ​in a message to Russian President Vladimir ‌Putin, state media KCNA reported on Tuesday.

In a reply sent on Monday to Putin’s congratulations for North Korea’s 78th ​founding anniversary, Kim said Pyongyang’s government had a ​firm will to broaden cooperation with Russia “in a ⁠comprehensive way” based on friendship, mutual assistance, and ​what he described as the countries’ alliance relations.

Kim ​also said he was convinced of Russia’s victory in the current “sacred war for defending the security interests of the country and international ​justice”, language that appeared to refer to Russia’s war ​in Ukraine.

He pledged his “invariable support” for Putin and the Russian ‌people.

The ⁠remarks come as Moscow and Pyongyang have drawn markedly closer, with North Korea sending troops to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine in 2024 and deepening military cooperation under a ​mutual defence pact.

Kim ​delivered a ⁠similar message to Chinese President Xi Jinping in a reply published by KCNA ​on Sunday, saying North Korea would ​work with ⁠China to further develop their traditional friendship and advance their shared socialist cause.

Both messages were responses to ⁠congratulatory ​letters sent by Putin and Xi ​on September 9, when North Korea marked the 78th anniversary of ​its founding.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending

Copyright © 2026 Ariana News. All rights reserved!