Israeli media: Mossad head in Qatar for talks on Gaza ceasefire, hostages
The reports say David Barnea was in Doha on Thursday and met Qatar's prime minister. Qatar is acting as a mediator between Israel and the Islamic group Hamas.
Ceasefire negotiations have been stalled since an Israeli delegation left Qatar at the end of last month.
Hamas announced on Tuesday that its delegation had visited Egypt, another mediator, to hold talks with senior government officials there.
The focus now is whether ceasefire talks will resume.
Israel continues attacks on Gaza while stepping up pressure on Hamas. The country announced a plan to extend its military operation in the territory.
Health authorities in Gaza said on Thursday that 54 people had died during the previous 24 hours, bringing the total death toll in the enclave to 61,776 since the current conflict began in October 2023.
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Japan Times
13 hours ago
- Japan Times
U.S. suspends visas for Gazans after far-right influencer posts
The U.S. government said Saturday it is suspending visitor visas for Gazans after a far-right influencer with the ear of President Donald Trump complained that wounded Palestinians had been allowed to seek medical treatment in the United States. The announcement came one day after a series of furious social media posts by Laura Loomer, who is known for promoting racist conspiracy theories and claiming that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an inside job. "All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days," the State Department, which is led by Marco Rubio, wrote on X. In a series of posts on X Friday, Loomer called on the State Department to stop giving visas to Palestinians from Gaza who she said were "pro-HAMAS ... affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and funded by Qatar," without providing evidence. Loomer's target was the U.S.-based charity HEAL Palestine, which said last week it had helped 11 critically wounded Gazan children — as well as their caregivers and siblings — arrive safely in the U.S. for medical treatment. It was "the largest single medical evacuation of injured children from Gaza to the U.S.," the charity said on its website. "Truly unacceptable," Loomer wrote in another X post. "Someone needs to be fired at @StateDept when @marcorubio figures out who approved the visas." "Qatar transported these GAZANS into the U.S. via @qatarairways," she said. Qatar is "literally flooding our country with jihadis," she added. Loomer said she had spoken to the staff of Republican Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, adding that they were "also looking into how these GAZANS got visas to come into the U.S." Republican Rep. Randy Fine explicitly commended Loomer after the visa change was announced, in a sign of her sway over some U.S. policy. "Massive credit needs to be given to @LauraLoomer for uncovering this and making me and other officials aware. Well done, Laura," Fine wrote on X. The Palestine Children's Relief Fund, a U.S.-based charity, called on the Trump administration to "reverse this dangerous and inhumane decision." Over the last 30 years the charity has evacuated thousands of Palestinian children to the U.S. for medical care, it said a statement. "Medical evacuations are a lifeline for the children of Gaza who would otherwise face unimaginable suffering or death due to the collapse of medical infrastructure in Gaza." Though Loomer holds no official position, she wields significant power, and is reported to have successfully pushed for the dismissal of several senior U.S. security officials she deemed disloyal to Trump. In July, Loomer took aim at a job offer made to a highly qualified Biden-era official for a prestigious position at the West Point military academy. The Pentagon rescinded the offer one day later. Trump also fired the head of the highly sensitive National Security Agency, Timothy Haugh, and his deputy Wendy Noble in April at the apparent urging of Loomer, after she met with the president at the White House. "No other content creator or journalist has gotten as many Biden holdovers fired from the Trump admin!" Loomer posted on X on Saturday.
The Mainichi
15 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Israel prepares to move Palestinians to southern Gaza as Israelis urge mass protest over war
NAHARIYA, Israel (AP) -- Israel announced Saturday that it is preparing to move Palestinians from combat zones to southern Gaza as plans move ahead for a military offensive in some of the territory's most populated areas. The Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, COGAT, said the supply of tents to the territory would resume on Sunday. The military said it had no comment on when the mass movement of Palestinians would begin, but Defense Minister Israel Katz said on social media that "we are now in the stage of discussions to finalize the plan to defeat Hamas in Gaza." Meanwhile, anxious families of Israeli hostages called for a "nationwide day of stoppage" in Israel on Sunday to express growing frustration over 22 months of war. Families of hostages fear the coming offensive further endangers the 50 hostages remaining in Gaza, just 20 of them thought to still be alive. They and other Israelis were horrified by the recent release of videos showing emaciated hostages speaking under duress and pleading for help and food. The families and supporters have pressed the government for a deal to stop the war -- a call that some former Israeli army and intelligence chiefs have made as well in recent weeks. A group representing the families has urged Israelis into the streets on Sunday. "Across the country, hundreds of citizen-led initiatives will pause daily life and join the most just and moral struggle: the struggle to bring all 50 hostages home," it said in a statement. "I want to believe that there is hope, and it will not come from above, it will come only from us," said Dana Silberman Sitton, sister of Shiri Bibas and aunt of Kfir and Ariel Bibas, who were killed in captivity. She spoke at a weekly rally in Tel Aviv, along with Pushpa Joshi, sister of kidnapped Nepalese hostage Bipin Joshi, a student seized from a kibbutz. "I miss my best friend," Pushpa said. Airstrike kills a baby girl and her parents An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed a baby girl and her parents on Saturday, Nasser hospital officials and witnesses said. Motasem al-Batta, his wife and the girl were killed in their tent in the crowded Muwasi area. "Two and a half months, what has she done?" neighbor Fathi Shubeir asked, sweating as temperatures in the shattered territory soared above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius). "They are civilians in an area designated safe." Israel's military said it couldn't comment on the strike without more details. It said it is dismantling Hamas' military capabilities and takes precautions not to harm civilians. Muwasi is one of the heavily populated areas in Gaza where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel plans to widen the coming military offensive, along with Gaza City and "central camps" -- an apparent reference to the built-up Nuseirat and Bureij camps in central Gaza. Israel may be using the threat to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages taken in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war. Elsewhere, an official at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said it received the bodies of six people who were killed in the Zikim area of northern Gaza, as well as four people killed in shelling. 11 more deaths related to malnutrition Another 11 malnutrition-related deaths occurred in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the territory's Health Ministry said Saturday, with one child among them. That brings malnutrition-related deaths during the war to 251. The United Nations is warning that levels of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest since the war began. Palestinians are drinking contaminated water as diseases spread, while some Israeli leaders continue to talk openly about the mass relocation of people from Gaza. A 20-year old Palestinian woman described as being in a "state of severe physical deterioration" died Friday after being transferred from Gaza to Italy for treatment, the hospital said Saturday. The U.N. and partners say getting food and other aid into the territory of over 2 million people, and then on to distribution points, remains highly challenging with Israeli restrictions and pressure from crowds of hungry Palestinians. The U.N. human rights office says at least 1,760 people were killed while seeking aid between May 27 and Wednesday. It says 766 were killed along routes of supply convoys and 994 in the vicinity of "non-U.N. militarized sites," a reference to the Israeli-backed and U.S.-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which since May has been the primary distributor of aid in Gaza. US stops visitor visas for people from Gaza The U.S. State Department on Saturday said all visitor visas for people from Gaza are being stopped while a review is carried out of how "a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas" were issued in recent days. The Hamas-led attack in 2023 killed around 1,200 people in Israel. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed 61,897 people in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry, which does not specify how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.
NHK
15 hours ago
- NHK
Putin calls Russia-US summit 'very useful'
Russian President Vladimir Putin has told senior members of his administration that the summit talks with US President Donald Trump were "very useful." Putin held a government executive meeting in Moscow on Saturday, a day after Putin and Trump held their first face-to-face talks since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. But they did not provide any specifics about a ceasefire. Putin described the summit as "timely and very useful." He said he and Trump talked about a resolution of the Ukraine crisis on a fair basis as well as its origins and causes. Putin also said they had the opportunity once again to explain their positions calmly and in detail. He said Moscow respects Washington's position on seeking an immediate halt to the fighting and Russia is also seeking an end. Putin went on to say the summit brought Russia closer to the necessary solution in line with its position. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy plan to meet on Monday.
