Israeli Defence Minister approves plan to conquer Gaza City, call-up of 60,000 reservists
The latest truce proposal came after Israel's security cabinet approved plans to conquer Gaza City, despite fears it would worsen the catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have mediated the frequent rounds of shuttle diplomacy.
Qatar said the latest proposal was 'almost identical' to an earlier version agreed by Israel, while Egypt said Monday that 'the ball is now in its [Israel's] court'.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to publicly comment on the plan but said last week his country would accept 'an agreement in which all the hostages are released at once and according to our conditions for ending the war'.
Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi said on social media his group had 'opened the door wide to the possibility of reaching an agreement, but the question remains whether Netanyahu will once again close it, as he has done in the past'.
The latest truce proposal came as Netanyahu faces increasing pressure at home and abroad.
In Gaza, the civil defence agency reported Israeli strikes and fire killed 48 people across the territory on Tuesday.
Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP the situation was 'very dangerous and unbearable' in the Zeitoun and Sabra neighbourhoods of Gaza City, where he said 'shelling continues intermittently'.
The Israeli military declined to comment on specific troop movements, saying only that it was 'operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities' and took 'feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm'.
The military later said a strike in Khan Yunis overnight targeted a Hamas militant.
A proposed truce includes prisoner exchanges and aid entry into Gaza. Photo / Getty Images
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swathes of the Palestinian territory mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.
In the Zikim area of northern Gaza on Tuesday, an AFP journalist saw Palestinians hauling sacks of food aid along dusty roads lined with rubble and damaged buildings.
Gazan Shawg Al-Badri said it took 'three to four hours' to carry flour, what she called 'white gold', back to her family's tent.
'This bag is worth the whole world,' she said.
Hamas' October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel's offensive has killed at least 62,064 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which the United Nations considers reliable.
– Agence France-Presse
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NZ Herald
10 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Israeli Defence Minister approves plan to conquer Gaza City, call-up of 60,000 reservists
Israel and Hamas have held on-and-off indirect negotiations throughout the war, resulting in two short truces during which Israeli hostages were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The latest truce proposal came after Israel's security cabinet approved plans to conquer Gaza City, despite fears it would worsen the catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have mediated the frequent rounds of shuttle diplomacy. Qatar said the latest proposal was 'almost identical' to an earlier version agreed by Israel, while Egypt said Monday that 'the ball is now in its [Israel's] court'. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to publicly comment on the plan but said last week his country would accept 'an agreement in which all the hostages are released at once and according to our conditions for ending the war'. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi said on social media his group had 'opened the door wide to the possibility of reaching an agreement, but the question remains whether Netanyahu will once again close it, as he has done in the past'. The latest truce proposal came as Netanyahu faces increasing pressure at home and abroad. In Gaza, the civil defence agency reported Israeli strikes and fire killed 48 people across the territory on Tuesday. Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP the situation was 'very dangerous and unbearable' in the Zeitoun and Sabra neighbourhoods of Gaza City, where he said 'shelling continues intermittently'. The Israeli military declined to comment on specific troop movements, saying only that it was 'operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities' and took 'feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm'. The military later said a strike in Khan Yunis overnight targeted a Hamas militant. A proposed truce includes prisoner exchanges and aid entry into Gaza. Photo / Getty Images Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swathes of the Palestinian territory mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military. In the Zikim area of northern Gaza on Tuesday, an AFP journalist saw Palestinians hauling sacks of food aid along dusty roads lined with rubble and damaged buildings. Gazan Shawg Al-Badri said it took 'three to four hours' to carry flour, what she called 'white gold', back to her family's tent. 'This bag is worth the whole world,' she said. Hamas' October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's offensive has killed at least 62,064 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which the United Nations considers reliable. – Agence France-Presse
NZ Herald
16 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Disgraced ex-MP Maguire jailed for misleading corruption inquiry over Australian property deal
The former Liberal Party MP will be eligible for parole in January. In sentencing, Farnan told the court the misleading evidence given by Maguire concerned his dealings with a multimillion-dollar property development. 'The evidence there was nothing in it for him was misleading … and he was to receive a commission if the property was to be sold,' she said. Daryl Maguire is the ex-boyfriend of former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Photo / Getty Images Farnan said Maguire was 'clearly trying to protect his reputation, among other things'. 'The community is entitled to expect that those who hold power will conduct themselves with integrity,' she said. Maguire has maintained his innocence, saying he answered the Icac questions to the best of his ability. He is expected to file an appeal, with the court expected to resume on Wednesday morning before the magistrate to hear details of the appeal. Farnan said Maguire had displayed no remorse for his actions, though he had no history of similar offending, and his likelihood of reoffending remained low. 'The need for general deterrence does require a period of full-time imprisonment,' she said. While a 12-month stint behind bars was initially to be ordered, Maguire was offered a two-month discount because of delays in the court proceedings. Farnan also took into account the impact of 'significant media interest' in the case on the 66-year-old's mental health. Maguire, eligible for parole in January, plans to appeal the conviction. Photo / Jeremy Piper, NewsWire, The small courtroom was packed with members of the media on Wednesday, who watched on closely as Maguire was taken into custody. During the Icac probe, Maguire denied asking to receive a financial benefit for brokering a property deal in the Sydney suburb of Canterbury. However, in recorded phone conversations, the former MP admitted he had asked for a slice of the profits if the multimillion-dollar deal with a Chinese developer was finalised. Maguire was found guilty of the charge in June. The former Wagga Wagga MP resigned from the New South Wales Parliament in 2018 after Icac launched a separate investigation into his conduct while in office. The inquiry revealed he had been in a secret five-year 'close personal relationship' with ex-Premier Gladys Berejiklian. She resigned from her position in September 2021 after Icac announced it would investigate whether she breached the ministerial code of conduct. The commission found in July 2023 that both Maguire and Berejiklian engaged in serious corrupt conduct. More to come.
Scoop
a day ago
- Scoop
Cancelling The Ethnic Cleansers: Australia Revokes Simcha Rothman's Visa
It is a curious feeling to see a government, let alone any politician, suddenly find their banished backbones and retired principles. The spine, on being discovered, adds a certain structural integrity to arguments otherwise lacking force and credibility. The recent spat between Israel and Australia suggests that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's often insecure, and often overly cautious administration, is starting to show some muscle and certitude. The cancellation of Simcha Rothman's visa by the Albanese government was something of a minor revelation. Rothman is a member of Mafdal-Religious Zionism, a party led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that has made its position on Palestinians unmistakably clear. (Smotrich became the subject of sanctions by Australia along with Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom in June for 'inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.') As a certain garden variety shrub of hate he decries countries for not taking in Palestinians as part of an approved ethnic cleansing program, accusing them of 'aiding and abetting a terrorist organisation using them as human shields'. In an interview with Australia's national broadcaster, Rothman made his primary colour position clear: 'I think the government of Australia needs to decide, do they want to be on the side of Hamas, or do they want to be on the side of Israel?' Advertisement - scroll to continue reading The letter of revocation stated that he would be engaged in events that would 'promote his controversial views and ideologies, which may lead to fostering division in the community'. Being in Australia 'would or might be a risk to the good order of the Australian community or a segment of the Australian community, namely, the Islamic population'. Adduced examples of demerit included arguments that Palestinian children were not perishing to hunger in the Gaza Strip, that those children, in any case, were enemies of the Israeli state, along with the notion that the two-state solution had 'poisoned the minds of the entire world'. The nature of such 'inflammatory statements' might, were Rothman to enter Australia licensed by the government, 'encourage others to feel emboldened to voice any anti-Islamic sentiments, if not to take action to give effect to that prejudice'. Far from engaging these reasons, Rothman's enchantingly shrunken worldview was clear in its chiselled simplicity: Australia was behaving undemocratically, its government falsely claiming to argue against 'hate and division' despite permitting protestors 'to shout on the streets calls for genocide of the Jewish people.' Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar was quick in response, revoking the residency visas of Australia's diplomatic representatives responsible for affairs concerning the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. 'I also instructed the Israeli Embassy in Canberra to carefully examine any official Australian visa application for entry to Israel,' Sa'ar fumed on X. In this apoplectic reaction, no one seemed to recall that Australia had already revoked the visa of a former Israeli justice minister, Ayelet Shaked, at the end of October last year over what Australia's Home Minister Tony Burke described as 'concerns she would threaten social cohesion'. Shaked had been slated to attend events organised by the Australia Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC). Admittedly, she was a former politician rather than a sitting member of the Israeli parliament. In an interview with the Erin Molan Show, an otherwise underwhelming program, Sa'ar recapitulated his cranky position. 'This is the opposite of what should be done,' he objected. 'Instead of battling antisemitism in Australia, the Australian government is doing the opposite – they are fuelling it.' The Palestinian Authority surprised nobody in calling the measure to cancel visas 'illegal and in violation of the Geneva Conventions, international law, the United Nations resolutions, which do not grant the occupying power such authority.' The statement went on to stress 'that such actions reflect Israeli arrogance and a state of political imbalance, and will only strengthen Australia's and other countries' determination to uphold international law, the two-state solution, and recognition of the State of Palestine as the path to peace.' Australia's foreign minister, Penny Wong, also thought this all a bit much. Calling the decision to cancel the visas of Australia's diplomats in the West Bank an 'unjustified reaction' to Canberra's decision to recognise Palestine, Wong felt confident enough to retort that the Israeli decision had been foolish. 'At a time when dialogue and diplomacy are needed more than ever, the Netanyahu Government is isolating Israel and undermining international efforts towards peace and a two-state solution.' This messiness was appropriately crowned by that grand figure of demagoguery himself, the Israeli Prime Minister. 'History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews,' came the scornful blast from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli PM is certainly not wrong about Albanese being weak but mistaken about what he has been weak about. Most intriguingly, Albanese has found some courage on this front, albeit the sort of courage fortified by allies. But that's something.
