Turkiye spy chief talks Gaza truce with senior Hamas leader
ISTANBUL, June 30 — Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met senior Hamas leaders on Sunday for talks on Gaza's humanitarian tragedy and efforts to reach a ceasefire, state news agency Anadolu reported.
Kalin held talks with Mohammad Darwish, head of the political council of Hamas that rules Gaza, and his delegation at an undisclosed location, Anadolu said, citing security sources.
They discussed the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza and Turkey's efforts to end the war and 'ensure the immediate passage of aid' to the territory.
They also spoke of 'the need to reach a consensus among Palestinian groups during this critical period... (and) the steps to be taken to achieve a permanent ceasefire in Gaza,' the sources said.
The meeting came after US President Donald Trump voiced optimism about a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, saying Friday it could happen 'within the next week'.
Mediators have engaged in months of negotiations aimed at ending 20 months of war in Gaza, where Israel stopped all food entering over two months ago, leading to warnings of famine.
It has since allowed a resumption of food deliveries through the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation involving US security contractors, with Israeli troops at the periphery.
Witnesses and Gaza officials have reported multiple instances of Palestinians being killed while trying to get aid. — AFP
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New Straits Times
an hour ago
- New Straits Times
Israel eyes peace accords with Syria, Lebanon
JERUSALEM: Israel said Monday it is "interested" in striking peace agreements with neighbouring Lebanon and Syria, a potentially historic shift in the region after decades of war and animosity. With Syria under new leadership after the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hizbollah movement weakened, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told journalists his government wanted more normalisation agreements with Arab countries. "Israel is interested in expanding the Abraham Accords circle of peace and normalisation," Saar said of the US-brokered deals that Israel signed with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco in 2020, during US President Donald Trump's first term. "We have an interest in adding countries such as Syria and Lebanon, our neighbours – to the circle of peace and normalisation while safeguarding Israel's essential and security interests," Saar told a news conference in Jerusalem alongside his Austrian counterpart Beate Meinl-Reisinger. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel's recent "victory" in a 12-day war against Iran "opens the path to dramatically enlarge the peace accords." Control of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has long been a source of tension between Israel and Syria, which are technically still at war. Saar insisted that the strategic plateau, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognised by the United Nations, "will remain part of the State of Israel" under any future peace agreement. Following Assad's overthrow in December, Israel moved forces into the UN-patrolled demilitarised zone in the Golan, and has carried out hundreds of strikes against military targets in Syria. In Lebanon, Hizbollah has diminished after it had emerged bruised from a conflict with Israel last year, fuelled by Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. Israel, however, has kept up strikes against Hizbollah despite a November ceasefire. There was no immediate response from Lebanese or Syrian officials to Saar's remarks. US officials say the end of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran with a ceasefire on June 24 has raised prospects for broader peace efforts in the region. On Sunday, a senior US diplomat called for peace agreements by Israel with Syria and Lebanon in the wake of the Iran-Israel ceasefire and expected there would be discussions about it. Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey who is also a special envoy to Syria, said Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa "has indicated that he doesn't hate Israel and that he wants peace on that border," Barrack told Turkish news agency Anadolu. "I think that will also happen with Lebanon. It's a necessity to have an agreement with Israel," he added. Pressure has risen on the Israeli government to end its offensive in the Gaza Strip, prompted by Hamas's deadly attack in October 2023. "Everybody is starting to move back towards the Abraham Accords, especially as the Gaza situation dissipates," Barrack said. "What just happened between Israel and Iran is an opportunity for all of us to say: 'Time out. Let's create a new road'," he added.

Malay Mail
2 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Palestinian rights group loses legal fight to block UK from supplying components for Israeli F-35 warplanes
LONDON, June 30 — The High Court in London rejected a legal challenge today brought by a Palestinian rights group seeking to block the UK from supplying components for Israeli F-35 fighter jets. Israel has used the jets to devastating effect in its bombardment of Gaza. Both sides have been accused of atrocities during a conflict that has killed tens of thousands -- the vast majority of them Palestinian civilians, according to figures the United Nations deems reliable. The UK government suspended some export licences for military equipment after concluding there was a risk Israel could be breaching international humanitarian law but made an exemption for some parts for Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth jets. In its claim to the High Court, rights group Al-Haq called for a judicial review, saying the 'carve out' was unlawful and alleging the government had misunderstood the applicable rules of international law. It was supported by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam and others in its case. Judges Stephen Males and Karen Steyn said they 'reject all' of the grounds for challenging the government's decision. The case was not about 'whether the UK should supply arms or other military equipment to Israel', said the judges. Rather, the case was concerned with 'whether it is open to the court to rule that the UK must withdraw from a specific multilateral defence collaboration' because of the prospect that some UK manufactured components may be used by Israel in the Gaza war in actions that could break international humanitarian law. 'Under our constitution that acutely sensitive and political issue is a matter for the executive, which is democratically accountable to parliament, and ultimately to the electorate, not for the courts,' said the judges. 'Once the true nature of the issue is identified, it is clear that the claim must fail. Accordingly, permission to bring a judicial review claim is refused,' they added. Shawan Jabarin, General Director of Al-Haq said in a statement issued to AFP: 'By exposing serious government failings in facilitating international crimes against Palestinians through its arms exports, civil society and human rights organisations have achieved a crucial breakthrough. 'We will continue to persevere in the UK and beyond until governments are held accountable. Israel's impunity is challenged and justice for the Palestinian people is realised,' he added. 'Loophole' The UK contributes components to an international defence programme that produces and maintains the F-35s. Defence Secretary John Healey argued a suspension would impact the 'whole F-35 programme' and have a 'profound impact on international peace and security'. Lawyers for Al-Haq said the government had known there was a 'clear risk' Israel would use the jet parts to commit violations of international law. But government lawyer James Eadie said the court was not placed to rule on the legality of Israel's actions, and that attempting to do so could have a 'potentially deleterious' effect on 'foreign relations with a friendly state, namely Israel'. In September 2024, the new Labour government announced it was suspending around 30 of 350 export licences following a review of Israel's compliance with international humanitarian law. But the partial ban did not cover British-made F-35 parts, which include refuelling probes, laser targeting systems, tyres and ejector seats, according to Oxfam. Healey has previously said suspending F-35 licences would 'undermine US confidence in the UK and NATO' but lawyers for Al-Haq have described the exemption as a 'loophole'. UK-based NGO Campaign Against Arms Trade has said that licencing figures showed the government had made a 'shocking increase in military exports to Israel' in the months after its September 2024 announcement of partial suspensions. It said the figures showed the UK approved £127.6 million (RM715 million) in military equipment to Israel in single-issue licences from October to December 2024, saying this was more than for the period from 2020 to 2023 combined. Most of the licences were for military radars, components and software, as well as targeting equipment, according to the NGO, which was involved in the case against the government. Israel launched war on Gaza after an attack by militants from Palestinian group Hamas on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 56,500 people in Gaza, an occupied Palestinian territory, most of them civilians, according to the territory's health ministry. The UN considers these figures to be reliable. — AFP


New Straits Times
3 hours ago
- New Straits Times
After Iran, pressure mounts on Netanyahu to end Gaza war
ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rise in popularity during the war with Iran may already be fading, as pressure mounts at home to end the conflict in Gaza. Netanyahu claimed victory over the Islamic republic in the 12-day war that ended with a ceasefire last week, after President Donald Trump ordered US warplanes to join in bombing Iranian nuclear sites. Political scientist Assaf Meydani, in a column on Israeli website Ynet on Saturday, said that alongside a "victory for both Trump and Netanyahu" in Iran, the Israeli leader "will have to explain a series of failures." Most notable among them, according to Meydani, is Netanyahu's "failure to end the campaign in Gaza", where Israel has been fighting to crush the Palestinian resistance group Hamas since October 2023. "Hamas, though battered, has not been destroyed, and 'Swords of Iron' has become prolonged attrition," Meydani said, using Israel's name for its military campaign in the Gaza Strip. "The people of Israel are strong, but tensions are simmering." Israelis fearful of the threat of a nuclear Iran rallied behind Netanyahu as he led the campaign against Israel's longtime rival. Now that that war is over, domestic and international pressure has resumed to secure an end to the fighting in Gaza. A public opinion poll published by Israel's Kan public broadcaster the day after Tuesday's ceasefire with Iran suggested a rise in support for Netanyahu. But while his approval ratings went up compared to previous polls, 52 per cent of respondents in the Kan survey still said they wanted Netanyahu – Israel's longest-serving prime minister – out of office. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said they wanted the Gaza war to end, compared to 22 per cent who favoured continuing the fighting. Israeli newspaper Maariv said Friday that its polling showed a "surge" for Netanyahu immediately after the ceasefire with Iran had "evaporated almost entirely" within days. In the coastal hub of Tel Aviv on Saturday, thousands of people gathered to demand a ceasefire deal that would bring home the dozens of hostages still held in Gaza since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war. Liri Albag, who was released from captivity in January under a short-lived truce, told the crowd that Netanyahu and Trump "made brave decisions on Iran. Now make the brave decision to end the war in Gaza and bring (the hostages) home." Trump wrote on Saturday on his Truth Social platform that "Netanyahu is negotiating a deal with Hamas that will include the release of the hostages." On Sunday, he added: "MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!" On the same day, Netanyahu said that the war with Iran had created "opportunities" to free the remaining hostages. Netanyahu has also faced renewed pressure from one of his political rivals, former prime minister Naftali Bennett. Criticising the Netanyahu government's "inability to decide" on Gaza, Bennett called for "a comprehensive agreement that includes the release of all the hostages" to end "the terrible impasse and political confusion." "Netanyahu must step down. He has been in power for 20 years... that's far too long", Bennett told Israel's Channel 12 in an interview that aired on Saturday. "The people want change, they want calm," added Bennett, who is widely expected to run for office again in the next elections, scheduled for late 2026. Gil Dickman, a prominent activist demanding action by Israel to secure the release of the hostages, said that while "the operation in Iran was a success", Netanyahu had "failed" to "make people forget his responsibility" for failing to prevent Hamas's unprecedented 2023 attack. Dickman, whose cousin Carmel Gat was killed in captivity and her body retrieved from Gaza in August, told AFP that Netanyahu's "terrible failures and the abandonment of the hostages will not be forgotten." Expressing "cautious optimism" after Trump's recent remarks, Dickman said there was "apparently an opportunity to end the war." "We couldn't save my cousin, but we can still save those who are still alive in Gaza."