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Hamas quietly reasserts control in Gaza as post-war talks grind on

A new Gaza government can be formed once the United Nations approves Trump’s plan, the spokesperson said, adding that progress has been made towards forming the multinational force.

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From regulating the price of chicken to levying fees on cigarettes, Hamas is seeking to widen control over Gaza as U.S. plans for its future slowly take shape, Gazans say, adding to rivals’ doubts over whether it will cede authority as promised, Reuters reported.

After a ceasefire began last month, Hamas swiftly reestablished its hold over areas from which Israel withdrew, killing dozens of Palestinians it accused of collaborating with Israel, theft or other crimes. Foreign powers demand the group disarm and leave government but have yet to agree who will replace them.

Now, a dozen Gazans say they are increasingly feeling Hamas control in other ways. Authorities monitor everything coming into areas of Gaza held by Hamas, levying fees on some privately imported goods including fuel as well as cigarettes and fining merchants seen to be overcharging for goods, according to 10 of the Gazans, three of them merchants with direct knowledge.

Ismail Al-Thawabta, head of the media office of the Hamas government, said accounts of Hamas taxing cigarettes and fuel were inaccurate, denying the government was raising any taxes.

The authorities were only carrying out urgent humanitarian and administrative tasks whilst making “strenuous efforts” to control prices, Thawabta said. He reiterated Hamas’ readiness to hand over to a new technocratic administration, saying it aimed to avoid chaos in Gaza: “Our goal is for the transition to proceed smoothly”.

Hatem Abu Dalal, owner of a Gaza mall, said prices were high because not enough goods were coming into Gaza. Government representatives were trying to bring order to the economy – touring around, checking goods and setting prices, he said.

Mohammed Khalifa, shopping in central Gaza’s Nuseirat area, said prices were constantly changing despite attempts to regulate them. “It’s like a stock exchange,” he said.

“The prices are high. There’s no income, circumstances are difficult, life is hard, and winter is coming,” he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan secured a ceasefire on October 10 and the release of the last living hostages seized during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

The plan calls for the establishment of a transitional authority, the deployment of a multinational security force, Hamas’ disarmament, and the start of reconstruction.

But Reuters, citing multiple sources, reported this week that Gaza’s de facto partition appeared increasingly likely, with Israeli forces still deployed in more than half the territory and efforts to advance the plan faltering.

Nearly all of Gaza’s 2 million people live in areas controlled by Hamas, which seized control of the territory from President Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority (PA) and his Fatah Movement in 2007.

Ghaith al-Omari, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute think-tank, said Hamas’ actions aimed to show Gazans and foreign powers alike that it cannot be bypassed.

“The longer that the international community waits, the more entrenched Hamas becomes,” Omari said.

Asked for comment on Gazans’ accounts of Hamas levying fees on some goods, among other reported activities, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said: “This is why Hamas cannot and will not govern in Gaza”.

A new Gaza government can be formed once the United Nations approves Trump’s plan, the spokesperson said, adding that progress has been made towards forming the multinational force, Reuters reported.

The PA is pressing for a say in Gaza’s new government, though Israel rejects the idea of it running Gaza again. Fatah and Hamas are at odds over how the new governing body should be formed.

Munther al-Hayek, a Fatah spokesperson in Gaza, said Hamas actions “give a clear indication that Hamas wants to continue to govern”.

In the areas held by Israel, small Palestinian groups that oppose Hamas have a foothold, a lingering challenge to it.

Gazans continue to endure dire conditions, though more aid has entered since the ceasefire.

A senior Gazan food importer said Hamas hadn’t returned to a full taxation policy, but they “see and record everything”.

They monitor everything that enters, with checkpoints along routes, and stop trucks and question drivers, he said, declining to be identified. Price manipulators are fined, which helps reduce some prices, but they are still much higher than before the war began and people complain they have no money.

Hamas’ Gaza government employed up to 50,000 people, including policemen, before the war. Thawabta said that thousands of them were killed, and those remaining were ready to continue working under a new administration.

Hamas authorities continued paying them salaries during the war, though it cut the highest, standardizing wages to 1,500 shekels ($470) a month, Hamas sources and economists familiar with the matter said. It is believed that Hamas drew on stockpiled cash to pay the wages, a diplomat said.

The Hamas government replaced four regional governors who were killed, sources close to Hamas said. A Hamas official said the group also replaced 11 members of its Gaza politburo who died.

Gaza City activist and commentator Mustafa Ibrahim said Hamas was exploiting delays in the Trump plan “to bolster its rule”. “Will it be allowed to continue doing so? I think it will continue until an alternative government is in place,” he said.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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