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Netanyahu says Israel to decide which international forces in Gaza acceptable
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday Israel would determine which foreign forces it would allow as part of a planned international force in Gaza to help secure an end to its war under U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan.
It remains unclear whether Arab and other states will be ready to commit troops while Israel has expressed concerns about the make-up of the force. While the Trump administration has ruled out sending U.S. soldiers into Gaza, the force could draw on troops from Egypt, Indonesia and Gulf Arab countries, Reuters reported.
“We are in control of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that Israel will determine which forces are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate,” Netanyahu told a session of his cabinet.
“This is, of course, acceptable to the United States as well, as its most senior representatives have expressed in recent days.”
Israel, which besieged Gaza for two years to back up its air and ground war in the enclave against Hamas after the Palestinian militant group’s cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, continues to control all access to the territory.
ISRAEL OPPOSED TO TURKISH ROLE IN GAZA FORCE
Last week Netanyahu hinted that he would be opposed to any role for Turkish security forces in the Gaza Strip. Once warm Turkish-Israeli relations hit new lows during the Gaza war, with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan lambasting Israel’s devastating air and ground war in the small Palestinian enclave.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on a visit to Israel aimed at shoring up the fragile ceasefire, said on Friday the international force would have to be made up of “countries that Israel’s comfortable with”, but declined to comment specifically on Turkish involvement.
Rubio added that Gaza’s future governance still needs to be worked out among Israel and partner nations but could not include Hamas.
Rubio later said U.S. officials were getting input on a possible U.N. resolution or international agreement to authorise the multinational force in Gaza and would discuss the issue in Qatar on Sunday.
The Trump administration wants Arab states to contribute funds and troops.
A major challenge is that Hamas has not committed to disarming and, since a ceasefire took hold two weeks ago as the first stage of Trump’s 20-point plan, has embarked on a violent crackdown against groups that have tested its grip on power.
Netanyahu also said on Sunday Israel was an independent country and rejected the notion that “the American administration controls me and dictates Israel’s security policy.” Israel and the U.S., he said, are a “partnership.”
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Trump says Iran talks to take place on Monday, sets no deadline for deal
Asked if there was a deadline for Iran to come to an agreement, Trump declined to answer.
U.S. President Donald Trump said talks with Iran will happen on Monday but declined to set a deadline for an agreement after earlier saying he had called off an imminent attack in hopes of quickly reaching a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resolve the impasse over Tehran’s nuclear capabilities, Reuters reported.
Trump had said late on Saturday on his Truth Social platform that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked for time to complete a deal that would lead to “the Immediate, Complete and Total” reopening of the strait and “an end to Iran’s nuclear threat” but that Tehran must “rapidly make a DEAL.”
As he returned to Washington from a weekend in New Jersey, Trump told reporters on Sunday that a negotiation would begin on Monday afternoon but did not provide details of where it would take place or who would be involved.
Asked if there was a deadline for Iran to come to an agreement, Trump declined to answer. “Would I rather make a deal? I’m not looking to kill people because people die, a lot of people die, and we don’t want that,” Trump said in response.
Trump has repeatedly issued threats that he would escalate the war on Iran he launched along with Israel in late February, only to allow more time for talks, which have so far not led to a comprehensive deal.
Trump’s apparent de-escalation after days of threats of new attacks from each side was the latest twist in the war. Attacks have spread across the Gulf to the Red Sea and even a Mediterranean facility in Egypt.
Iran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas before the start of the war, causing energy prices to rise and stoking broader inflation.
The U.S. president has argued that his stated goal of keeping Iran from gaining nuclear weapons justifies higher fuel costs in the near term, but the economic pain has put political pressure on him to find a way to end the conflict, read the report.
Oil prices were down more than 4% in early trading on Monday.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi held phone calls with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir to discuss diplomatic efforts, Iran’s state media reported on Sunday.
The official Iranian news agency IRNA reported earlier that negotiations between Tehran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz were in their final stages, citing Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said negotiations were focused on agreeing a new route through the strait, adding that it had “no link to the Strait of Hormuz being opened or closed. That is a separate discussion.”
Last month Iran publicly rejected an Omani proposal, backed by Gulf states, to manage the strait they share. People familiar with the matter had told Reuters the plan included the collection of voluntary fees for using the strait.
Eli Cohen, Israel’s energy minister and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said there was close security and intelligence coordination between Israel and the U.S. on everything happening in the region.
But he added: “With or without an agreement, and regardless of any external commitments, if Iran attempts to renew its nuclear program or advance its ballistic missile industries, we will be there. We will take action, and we will strike.”
Trump and Netanyahu met on Tuesday in Washington, with an Israeli official saying they had explored all possible paths to curb Iran’s nuclear program, including diplomacy, economic pressure and force. Tehran denies it is seeking a nuclear weapon.
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Suspected suicide bombing at police station kills at least 14 in Pakistan, officials say
At least 14 people were killed in a suspected suicide bombing outside a police station in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, a rescue group and a regional police official said, as the country battles widening insurgencies.
The explosion took place in the Kabal area of Swat, a district in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Reuters reported.
A pro-police rally of local residents was taking place in the same area on Sunday, but it was not immediately clear whether the rally was the intended target.
Fida Hussain, a regional police official, said the victims included five police officers and eight civilians. The 14th person was believed to be the suicide bomber, he told Reuters.
At least 18 people were wounded, according to a police statement. It said an operation had been launched to arrest anyone who may have assisted the attack.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in a statement expressed “deep grief and sorrow over the suicide blast”.
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Bomb carried by woman kills three, injures 21 near Moscow restaurant, authorities say
A homemade bomb carried by a woman killed three people and injured at least 21 in an explosion near an upscale restaurant in central Moscow on Saturday evening, the authorities said.
The explosion occurred just before 2000 local time close to an Italian restaurant located in one of Moscow’s seven Stalin-era skyscrapers at Kudrinkskaya Square, the police said, Reuters reported.
Russia’s Anti-Terrorism Committee said that an unidentified woman had tried to get into the restaurant but was stopped by a security guard, the state RIA news agency reported.
It said the woman, the security guard and a customer at the Balzi Rossi Italian restaurant had been killed in the blast that followed.
Those injured received wounds of varying seriousness, the police said.
Russia’s state RIA news agency released video of heavily armed law enforcement officers at the scene, which had been closed off to the public.
The authorities did not name those killed or injured nor did they say who they thought might have been responsible.
More than four years into a full-scale war with Ukraine, Russia’s FSB security service said earlier this year that authorities would step up protection for high-ranking military officials after a series of assassinations and attempted killings it blamed on Kyiv.
The Kommersant daily newspaper cited its own sources as saying that the bomb had been intended to maim and kill guests who were enjoying themselves on the restaurant’s summer terrace outside.
It suggested that the bomb had been set off by someone else remotely and that the woman carrying it may not have known that it was an explosive device.
The restaurant’s website said the venue had been closed on Saturday for a private event.
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