Hamas will reject US Gaza ceasefire plan
Hamas will reject the latest US proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, a senior official from the Palestinian terror group said.
On Thursday, the US said that Israel had agreed to the plan and that it was waiting for a response from Hamas.
Israeli officials said the deal would see Hamas hand over 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages in two phases across 60 days. Around 1,200 Palestinian prisoners would also be released in return.
A senior Hamas official told the BBC that the proposed deal did not satisfy the group's demands, which include a permanent end to the war.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, told hostages' families on Thursday evening that he had accepted the deal.
The deal – which is it is guaranteed by Donald Trump, Egypt and Qatar – includes sending increased aid into Gaza. It would be delivered by groups such as the Red Crescent and UN.
It is designed to facilitate further negotiations across 60 days in order to achieve a permanent end to the war. Once that is achieved, the remaining 30 of the 58 remaining Israeli hostages would be released.
Israel would also end all military operations in Gaza as soon as the deal comes into effect.
Basem Naim, a Hamas political bureau member, said on Thursday that the deal meant 'the continuation of killing and famine... and does not meet any of our people's demands, foremost among them halting the war and famine'.
'Nonetheless, the movement's leadership is studying the response to the proposal with full national responsibility,' he added.
Negotiations have been ongoing after the previous ceasefire deal collapsed in March.
Israel under pressure from international community
Hamas has repeatedly rejected Israel's demand to surrender its weapons and called on Mr Netanyahu to withdraw all of his troops out of the war-torn Palestinian enclave.
Steve Witkoff, the US president's envoy who has led negotiations, told reporters on Wednesday that he believed a long-term deal was close.
'I have some very good feelings about getting to a long-term resolution, temporary ceasefire and a long-term resolution, a peaceful resolution, of that conflict,' he said.
Israel has intensified its offensive in recent weeks, sending in more troops in bid to seize the entire Strip, while also preventing aid deliveries.
On Thursday, it also announced the creation of 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, putting further strain on relations with the international community.
It has come under increasing pressure from its allies, including the UK, France and Canada, who earlier this month demanded Israel stop its offensive and increase the flow of aid into the strip.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
26 minutes ago
- Reuters
Reckitt eyes new options to advance Air Wick unit sale, sources say
LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - Britain's Reckitt (RKT.L), opens new tab is considering new options to advance a sale of its Essential Home business, home to Air Wick fresheners and Cillit Bang cleaners, after bids came in below expectations, two people with knowledge of the process said. The company still plans to pursue a sale, the people said, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are private. Private equity firm Advent remains in talks for the assets, one of the people and a third person said. Reckitt, which also makes Mucinex cold medication and Durex condoms, said in July it was looking to offload a portfolio of homecare brands by the end of 2025. The proposed sale comes at a challenging time for businesses with factories around the world as they navigate U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, which are roiling supply chains, boosting costs and dampening shopper sentiment. Reckitt could keep a stake in the business or structure a sale another way to bridge a gap in valuations, one of the people said, adding that some of the bids came in below its hopes of over 4 billion pounds ($5.4 billion). Reuters could not determine if other bidders remained in the process. Reckitt and Advent declined to comment. Bankers and CEOs have hit the brakes on mergers and acquisitions since Trump launched his trade war, with fewer deals getting signed than during the bleakest days of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. Reckitt said in April that it was "continuing to progress" the sale of the Essential Home business but that market conditions might affect the time frame. Consumer staples companies are considered relatively resilient to economic downturns, but big brands like Reckitt, P&G (PG.N), opens new tab and Unilever (ULVR.L), opens new tab increasingly face competition from cheaper private label brands that gained popularity during the pandemic. Reckitt's Essential Home business has struggled for several quarters, with sales falling 7% in the first quarter of this year to 482 million pounds, about 13% of total revenue for the quarter. Reckitt has been undergoing a turnaround under CEO Kris Licht, who has sought to reassure shareholders concerned about the strength of the company's brands in North America and Europe, where consumer confidence has been dwindling. ($1 = 0.7397 pounds)
Telegraph
30 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Hamas fighters smash kneecaps of Gazan ‘food thief'... then post video
Hamas fighters have been filmed torturing a man alleged to have stolen food in Gaza. The graphic footage, circulating on social media accounts linked to the terror group, shows several figures standing over a blindfolded man as they use a metal bar to break his knees. The video comes as the terror group attempts to retain control of Gaza. Statements on Hamas -linked channels report multiple 'executions' of Gazans for taking food in recent days. The Strip was under a total blockade from the beginning of March until late May. Reports indicate that parts of the civilian population are approaching starvation. Aid is being distributed from four purpose-built sites in and around the southern area of Rafah via a controversial US private contractor, but the project has got off to a shaky start with reports of chaotic scenes and multiple killings, allegedly by the IDF, which Israel says it is investigating. There are increasing reports of both criminal gangs and ordinary Gazans looting aid lorries and warehouses. Israel said that bypassing the previous aid model – whereby food and supplies would be delivered directly into communities, but was vulnerable to theft by Hamas – is crucial to breaking the terror group's hold over the population. In Tuesday's video, the blindfolded man screams and writhes in agony as his joints are struck multiple times. Other footage that surfaced in recent days appears to show summary killings of civilians. The evidence is not published via official Hamas accounts and is difficult to verify. But the footage is often accompanied by warnings purporting to be from the terror group. One prominent account stated on Tuesday that 'security forces pursued thieves, executed four of them, suppressed 16 others, and shot eight' in central Gaza in the past 48 hours. Others suggested six people had been killed across the Strip. A message said: 'To every thief, every agent, every exploiter, and highway robber... This is our final message before your files are sealed with bullets.' Similar statements speak of 'field sentences' for defiant civilians, many of whom are named on the Telegram social media channel. Last week, it emerged that Hamas militants kidnapped, tortured and killed 22-year-old Oldai Naser Saadi, one of the leaders of the anti-Hamas protest movement in Gaza. He was reportedly tortured for four hours. His body was then dumped at his family's home. Despite the chaos, the Israeli government has lauded the new aid distribution system, delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, as crucial for breaking the 'fear barrier' among the population of Hamas. It is alleged that the terror group physically tried to prevent people from walking to collect aid as well as releasing propaganda against the GHF. The Telegraph has spoken to ordinary Gazans who say they are turning to theft of food from aid trucks because they are so hungry. During the height of the ceasefire in Jan and Feb, approximately 600 vehicles were entering the Strip each day. But figures suggest that over a 12-day period in late May the total number was just over 1,000.
The Independent
42 minutes ago
- The Independent
Truth is revealed — How Trump posts to his social site a whopping 17 times a day as he governs by social media
Nearly a decade after his twitchy Twitter fingers helped him shock the world by defeating Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump 's social media habit is playing an even larger role in his messaging and governing during the opening months of his second term. Since returning to the White House on Jan. 20, Trump has taken to the social media site he owns, Truth Social, for a total of 2,145 original posts, which he has used to announce hirings and firings, launch an unprovoked trade war with China (and most of the world), roll out policy changes and threaten friend and foe alike, often with the curt sign-off: 'Thank you for your attention to this matter!' Over his first 100 days, The Independent found he had posted to his site more than 1,600 times, or at least 15 times a day on average through the end of April with the most frequent subject being illegal immigration. A Washington Post review of his Truth Social output that includes his 'retruths' — reposts of content posted by another user on the platform — brings his total to 2,262 posts and reposts starting from the day he was sworn in until this past Sunday. That's more than three times the number of posts to his former favorite platform, Twitter (now known as X), during the same time period in his first term, for an average of 17 posts to his Truth Social account on any given day. Some of his posts are mundane announcements that any of a wide range of Republicans running for offices at every level have received his 'complete and total endorsement' in whatever race they are running. Others, like those marking holidays, have become a genre of their own in which he marks the holiday but then launches into a screed against various enemies, real or perceived. He most recently added to the ranks of this set of posts last week on Memorial Day with a 172-word, all caps rant: 'Happy Memorial Day to all, including the scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy our country through warped radical left minds, who allowed 21,000,000 million people to illegally enter our country, many of them being criminals and the mentally insane.' But it's the reposts that often raise eyebrows as Trump shares content from any of his millions of followers on the Truth Social platform, some of which crosses into the conspiratorially bizarre. In one repost last weekend, he shared a post from a follower who claimed that his successor turned predecessor, former president Joe Biden, had actually been replaced by a 'soulless mindless' robot clone because the real Biden — according to the user — was put to death in 2020. The White House declined to say whether Trump believes Biden, who hosted him at the White House after he won the 2024 election and accompanied him to his swearing-in at the Capitol this past January, was actually a robot clone. Instead, a White House spokesperson, Taylor Rogers, claimed that Trump's social media use makes him 'the most transparent president in history and is meeting the American people where they are to directly communicate his policies, message, and important announcements.' Trump's prolific use of his Truth Social site, on which he boasts more than 10 million followers, theoretically lacks the reach of his previous favorite megaphone on X (formerly Twitter) which can immediately broadcast his missives to 104 million people — approximately 20 million more than the 80 million-plus who followed him when he was banned from the platform in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a riotous mob of his supporters. Though he was reinstated to the platform after it was acquired by Elon Musk in 2022, he has continued to post first on Truth Social, possibly due to contractual obligations that require him to post to Truth Social before any other platform. In total, his posts to X since returning to the White House number around 100, and those are largely copied from his Truth Social output. According to a White House official who spoke to The Independent on condition of anonymity, Trump's social media posting is still managed in part by Dan Scavino, the longtime aide who has worked for the president since he was hired as the manager of his Westchester, New York golf club in 2008 but first encountered him years before as a golf caddy at another one of his courses. Scavino, who ended Trump's first term as deputy chief of staff for communications, still holds a position as an assistant to the president with the title of deputy White House chief of staff. And he still has access to Trump's Truth Social and other social media accounts. But the days where he was the main author of Trump's posts are over. Now, Scavino works with other loyal staffers, including Natalie Harp, the former right-wing broadcaster who sits close to the Oval Office as one of Trump's closest aides. Trump's been filmed dictating posts to both advisers, but the official stressed that many of Trump's most bombastic posts are from the president's own thumbs, particularly ones that come late at night or early in the morning as he is watching television.
