World

U.S. and UK strike Yemen’s Houthis, Hamas discusses ceasefire deal

Published

3 months ago

05/02/2024

Israeli strikes across Gaza killed scores overnight as battles raged Sunday in the besieged territory’s south as Hamas reviewed a proposal for a halt in the nearly four-month-long war.

That’s as the U.S. and the UK launched strikes against 36 Houthi targets in Yemen, in the second day of major operations against Iran-linked groups following a deadly attack on American troops last weekend, the latest blows in a conflict that is spreading into the wider Middle East.

The Houthis, who control swathes of Yemen, have been attacking Israeli-linked ships passing through the Red Sea. They say their actions are in solidarity with Palestinians as Israel strikes Gaza. “These attacks will not deter us from our ethical, religious and humanitarian stance in support of the resilient Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” a spokesperson said.

Meanwhile in Gaza, the local health ministry said Israeli strikes had killed at least 92 people overnight, with strikes and tank fire hitting the Strip’s main southern city of Khan Younis, while air raids struck the enclave’s last refuge for displaced people in Rafah.

Israel has warned its ground forces could advance on the border city where hundreds of thousands of people seeking refuge from the fighting are sheltered in makeshift encampments. Once home to 200,000 people, Rafah now hosts more than half of Gaza’s population, the United Nations said.

“We are exhausted,” said displaced Gazan Mahmud Abu al-Shaar, urging “a ceasefire so that we can return to our homes.”

Experts and rights groups say that Israeli forces have systematically destroyed buildings near the border in an attempt to create a buffer zone inside the Palestinian territory. Israel has not publicly confirmed the plan, which Nadia Hardman, a refugee rights expert at Human Rights Watch, said “may amount to a war crime.”

“We are seeing mounting evidence that Israel appears to be rendering large parts of Gaza unlivable,” she said. Currently the death toll in Gaza since the beginning of October stands at 27,238, higher than the death toll in Ukraine, a conflict which is soon set to enter its second year.

Negotiations for truce

With the Gaza war set to enter its fifth month on Wednesday, international mediators were pressing to seal a proposed truce deal thrashed out in a Paris meeting of top U.S., Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials. A top Hamas official in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, said on Saturday that the proposed framework needed developing to truly halt the violence.

The group needed more time to “announce our position,” Hamdan said, “based on… our desire to put an end as quickly as possible to the aggression that our people suffer.” He added that he valued “the efforts undertaken by our brothers in Egypt and Qatar in their attempts to help reach a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.”

Hamas has said for there to be a ceasefire, there must be a complete halt to the fighting, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, ending the blockade, reconstruction of the Strip and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners. Other points of contention appear to be a buffer zone that Israel is carving out on the Gaza side of the border.

A Hamas source had said the proposal involves an initial six-week pause that would see more aid delivered into the Gaza Strip and exchanges of some Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

Concern for hostages still in Gaza and security failures surrounding the October 7 attack – the deadliest in Israel’s 75-year history – have led to criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and rallies against the government.

Michal Hadas, protesting in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, said she feared Israel’s leaders were dragging out the conflict for political reasons, “because as long as the war continues there will be no election.”

At a rally for hostages’ families, Carmit Palty Katzir, sister of captive Elad Katzir, called for swifter action. “Every second a deal is not closed, the price goes up. The number of hostages who won’t return alive goes up. The number of soldiers risking their lives without a clear plan for the day after goes up,” she said.

Wider conflict brewing

The war has sent regional tensions soaring, with a surge in attacks from Israel on Hezbollah fighters and by Iran-allied groups against Israeli and U.S. targets in solidarity with Gaza, triggering counterattacks from Tel Aviv’s allies Washington and London.

U.S. and UK strikes against Yemen late on Saturday hit buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems, launchers and other capabilities, the Pentagon said. The Houthis have used these facilities to attack Israeli-linked shipping – and now U.S. and UK ships in the Red Sea. It added that Sunday’s strikes had support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

Residents said the attacks shook buildings in Houthi-controlled Sanaa. The group’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the U.S. strikes “will not pass without a response and consequences.” The group did not announce any casualties. Houthi-run media called these “the most violent” strikes yet.

“This is not an escalation,” said UK Defense Minister Grant Shapps. “We have already successfully targeted launchers and storage sites involved in Houthi attacks, and I am confident that our latest strikes have further degraded the Houthis’ capabilities.”

The Yemen strikes are running parallel to an unfolding U.S. campaign of retaliation over the killing of three American soldiers in a drone strike on an outpost in Jordan a week ago. On Friday, the U.S. carried out the first wave of that retaliation, striking in Iraq and Syria against more than 85 targets, reportedly killing nearly 40.

The Pentagon has said it does not want war with Iran, which it has accused of being linked to the attacks on U.S. soldiers, and does not believe Tehran wants war either. U.S. Republicans have been putting pressure on President Joe Biden, a Democrat, to deal a blow to Iran directly.

Iran has joined Iraq and Syria in condemning the attacks and accusing the U.S. of violating the sovereignty of countries in the region

The Israeli military said on Saturday that since the outbreak of the war on Gaza it had struck more than 50 targets in Syria linked to Lebanon’s Hezbollah. It added that it had also attacked 34,000 Hezbollah targets, putting the number of dead at more than 200.

The remarks, in a briefing by chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, were a departure from Israel’s usual reticence about Syria operations. “Everywhere Hezbollah is, we shall be. We will take action everywhere required in the Middle East,” Hagari said.

Source(s): CGTN

World

Gaza truce uncertain, Hamas to deliver ‘final response’ in two days

Published

11 hours ago

06/05/2024

Prospects for a Gaza ceasefire appeared uncertain on Sunday as a Hamas delegation left Cairo.

A Palestinian source, who preferred not to mention his name, said the Hamas delegation, who departed Cairo on Sunday for consultations with the movement’s leadership in Doha, Qatar, will return with a “final response” to the Egyptian proposal two days later.

According to the source, during the two-day talks in Cairo, the Hamas delegation met with Egyptian security officials and addressed “all issues” that could hinder reaching an agreement on the Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange with Israel, confirming that “significant” consensus has been achieved between the delegation and the Egyptian mediators.

The Egyptian proposal consists of three stages, aimed at exchanging Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, taking necessary measures to reach a ceasefire, and restoring sustainable calm.

The first stage would span 40 days and bring out a temporary halt of military operations between the two sides, an exchange of hostages and prisoners, and the return of internally displaced civilians to their areas of residence in Gaza. It also includes facilitating the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid, relief materials and fuel into Gaza, as well as the equipment needed to remove rubble, establish camps for the displaced, and rehabilitate and operate hospitals, health centers and bakeries in the strip.

Also on Sunday, Hamas Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement that his movement is keen to reach a comprehensive agreement that ends the current conflict in Gaza and ensures a prisoner exchange with Israel. Meanwhile, he accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “inventing constant justifications to continue the aggression, expand the scope of the conflict, and sabotage mediation efforts.”

Israel has not officially commented on the proposal. The main point of contention between the two sides remains the duration of the truce, with Hamas demanding that Israel halt the conflict, while Israel insists on continuing until it deems Hamas defeated.

Despite intensive mediation efforts and international calls for a ceasefire, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday that Israel assesses the likelihood of reaching an agreement with Hamas as low, adding the order to launch an onslaught on Rafah, the enclave’s southernmost city, will be given “very soon.”

About 1.2 million people have been sheltering in Rafah, according to estimates by the United Nations, escaping Israeli bombardments in other areas as well as the famine-stricken northern Gaza.

World Food Program Executive Director Cindy McCain said in an NBC News interview broadcast on Sunday that based on the “horror” on the ground: “There is famine, full-blown famine, in the north, and it’s moving its way south.”

Also on Sunday, Israeli authorities raided a Jerusalem hotel room used by Al Jazeera as its office, an Israeli official and an Al Jazeera source told Reuters.

Netanyahu’s cabinet has agreed to shut down the network’s local operations for as long as the conflict in Gaza continues, saying it threatened national security.

Al Jazeera said the move was a “criminal action” and the accusation that the network threatened Israeli security was a “dangerous and ridiculous lie” that put its journalists at risk. It reserved the right to “pursue every legal step.”

Source(s): CGTN

World

UN report: Conflict could set Gaza development back four decades

Published

4 days ago

03/05/2024

The development of Gaza could face a retrogression by over four decades if the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict was to last for nine months, according to a UN report.

The report, issued on Thursday, reveals a joint study by the UN Development Programme and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), which warns of sharp decline in the Human Development Index (HDI), a summary measure of well-being, in the Gaza Strip and Palestine amid the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The study showed that after nine months of the conflict, the HDI for Gaza could fall to 0.551, setting back progress by 44 years. For Palestine, development could retrogress by more than 20 years – to earlier than 2004.

“This assessment projects that Gaza will be rendered fully dependent on external assistance on a scale not seen since 1948, as it will be left without a functional economy, or any means of production, self-sustainment, employment, or capacity for trade,” said ESCWA Executive Secretary Rola Dashti.

As the conflict approaches its seventh month, the poverty rate in Palestine has surged to 58.4 percent and its GDP has plunged by 26.9 percent, resulting in a loss of $7.1 billion from a 2023 no-war baseline, the UN report showed.

At least 34,596 Palestinians have been killed and 77,816 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, according to latest update by Palestine’s health ministry.

Hamas said on Thursday it is studying Israeli ceasefire proposals in a “positive spirit” and a delegation is set to visit Egypt soon for further talks, as Israel reiterates it will attack Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah regardless.

Meanwhile, Israel launched an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights on Thursday night against a military site near the Syrian capital of Damascus, injuring eight soldiers and causing material losses, the Syrian Defense Ministry said.

The targeted areas are known strongholds for elements of Hezbollah and Iranian-backed militias, according to the observatory in Syria.

This attack follows a reported decline in Israeli attacks over the past month, which the Syrian observatory’s director attributed to the strikes on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1.

Iran on Thursday announced sanctions on several American and British individuals and entities for supporting Israel in its war against Hamas. The sanctions include prohibiting accounts and transactions in the Iranian financial and banking systems, and blocking assets within the jurisdiction of Iran as well as visa issuance and entry to the Iranian territory.

Türkiye also announced the halt of all trade activities with Israel as of Thursday until the latter allows the flow of humanitarian aid to the region, said the Turkish trade ministry.

A Shiite militia in Iraq on Thursday claimed responsibility for a missile attack on three sites in the cities of Tel Aviv and Be’er Sheva in Israel “in solidarity with the people of Gaza,” and pledged to persist in targeting the “enemy’s strongholds.” The group has launched multiple attacks on Israeli and U.S. bases in the region since the Gaza conflict broke out.

Source(s): CGTN

World

Hamas plans to suspend Gaza ceasefire negotiations if Israel attacks Rafah

Published

5 days ago

02/05/2024

Hamas said on Wednesday that ceasefire negotiations with Israel would be suspended if Israel attacks the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, said in an interview with Lebanon-based al-Manar TV that Hamas would halt all indirect negotiations with Israel if it launches military operations against Rafah.

Accusing Israel of seeking “to blackmail all the parties by its threats of attacking Rafah,” the official said “the resistance is still having its power to defend our people.”

On Monday, a Hamas delegation left Cairo and said they would return with a written response to the latest truce proposal.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on his seventh visit to the Middle East, on Wednesday urged Hamas to accept the truce deal which would see 33 hostages released in exchange for a larger number of Palestinian prisoners and a halt to the fighting, with the possibility of further steps towards a comprehensive deal later.

“Israel has made very important compromises,” he said. “There’s no time for further haggling. The deal is there. They (Hamas) should take it.”

A senior Hamas official said on Wednesday that Hamas was still studying the proposed deal but said Israel was the real obstacle.

Israel is holding off sending a delegation to Cairo for follow-up truce talks, pending a response from Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, an Israeli official told Reuters.

Israel’s military chief of staff Herzi Halevi on Wednesday said that the country’s offensive operation in Gaza “will continue with strength” and that Israel was “preparing for an offensive in the north.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously said that Israel will enter Rafah and eliminate the Hamas battalions there “with or without” a deal with Hamas.

With an Israeli ground operation in Rafah on the horizon, United Nations (UN) aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Tuesday that Israeli improvements to aid access in Gaza “cannot be used to prepare for or justify a full-blown military assault on Rafah.”

More than one million people face famine after six months of the conflict, the UN has said.

As night fell on Wednesday, Israeli planes and tanks pounded several areas across Gaza, residents and Hamas-linked media said.

Medics in Gaza said at least 27 Palestinians were killed in strikes on Wednesday, with others likely hurt or killed in areas they were unable to reach.

To speed the flow of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave, the U.S. military has so far constructed over 50 percent of a maritime pier that will be placed off the coast of Gaza, according to the Pentagon.

However, U.S. lawmakers have questioned whether the pier is a worthwhile endeavor. On the one hand, it will cost the American taxpayers at least $320 million to operate the pier for only 90 days; on the other hand, the U.S. military personnel could become targets of Hamas militants, Republican Senator Roger Wicker told Reuters.

Source(s): CGTN