logo
Mediators present updated Gaza ceasefire proposal to Israel and Hamas, Axios reports, World News

Mediators present updated Gaza ceasefire proposal to Israel and Hamas, Axios reports, World News

AsiaOne18-07-2025
WASHINGTON — Qatar, Egypt and the US presented Israel and Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas with an updated Gaza ceasefire proposal on Wednesday, Axios reported on Thursday (July 18), citing two sources.
The two main updates in the latest proposal had to do with the scope of the Israeli military's withdrawal from Gaza during a ceasefire and the ratio of Palestinian prisoners to be released for each Israeli hostage, Axios reported.
The Qatari prime minister is expected to meet with Hamas leaders in Doha on Saturday in an effort to get their agreement to the updated proposal, the report added.
Israel previously insisted on maintaining a presence in a zone stretching 5km north of the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border and has now reduced that demand to 1.5km, closer to Hamas' demand that Israel withdraw to the same position as under the last ceasefire, Axios reported.
US President Donald Trump met with Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani on Wednesday.
Israeli and Hamas negotiators have been taking part in the latest round of ceasefire talks in Doha since July 6, discussing a US-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire.
A previous two-month ceasefire ended when Israeli strikes killed more than 400 Palestinians on March 18.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered in October 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, Israeli tallies show.
Gaza's health ministry says Israel's subsequent military assault has killed over 58,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced Gaza's entire population and prompted accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice and of war crimes at the International Criminal Court. Israel denies the accusations.
[[nid:720297]]
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

White House seeks fines from other universities after Columbia deal
White House seeks fines from other universities after Columbia deal

Straits Times

time43 minutes ago

  • Straits Times

White House seeks fines from other universities after Columbia deal

Find out what's new on ST website and app. Columbia University disciplined more than 70 student protesters who occupied a campus library in May. WASHINGTON - The White House is seeking fines from several universities it says failed to stop antisemitism on campus, including Harvard University , in exchange for restoring federal funding, a Trump administration official said on July 25. The administration is in talks with several universities, including Cornell, Duke, Northwestern and Brown, the source said, confirming a report in the Wall Street Journal. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the administration is close to striking deals with Northwestern and Brown and potentially Cornell. A deal with Harvard, the country's oldest and richest university, is a key target for the White House, the official added. A spokesperson for Cornell declined to comment. Other universities did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Mr Trump and his team have undertaken a broad campaign to leverage federal funding to force change at US universities, which the Republican president says are gripped by antisemitic and 'radical left' ideologies. Mr Trump has targeted several universities since returning to office in January over the pro-Palestinian student protest movement that roiled college campuses last year. Columbia University said on July 23 it will pay more than US$200 million to the US government in a settlement with the administration to resolve federal probes and have most of its suspended federal funding restored. The Trump administration has welcomed the Columbia deal, with officials believing the university set the standard on how to reach an agreement, the official said. Harvard has taken a different approach, suing the federal government in a bid to get suspended federal grants restored. REUTERS

Trade on agenda as Trump lands in Scotland for diplomacy and golf
Trade on agenda as Trump lands in Scotland for diplomacy and golf

CNA

time2 hours ago

  • CNA

Trade on agenda as Trump lands in Scotland for diplomacy and golf

TURNBERRY, United Kingdom: US President Donald Trump landed in Scotland on Friday (Jul 25) for a five-day visit set to mix diplomacy, business and leisure, as a huge UK security operation swung into place amid planned protests near his family-owned golf resorts. The president, whose mother was born in Scotland, will split his time between two seaside golf courses bearing his name, in Turnberry on the southwestern coast and Aberdeen in the northeast. Air Force One, carrying the president and White House staff, touched down at Prestwick Airport near Glasgow shortly before 8.30pm local time (7.30pm GMT). Police officers lined surrounding streets and several hundred curious Scots came out hoping for a glimpse of the US leader as he then made his way to Turnberry by motorcade. Trump has no public events scheduled for Saturday and is expected to play golf at his picturesque resort, before meeting EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday for trade talks. Trump is also due to meet UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during the trip. He said the meeting would be "more of a celebration than a workout", appearing to row back on previous comments that a bilateral trade deal struck in May needed "fine tuning". "The deal is concluded," he told reporters on the tarmac at Prestwick. But the unpredictable American leader appeared unwilling to cede to a UK request for reduced steel and aluminium tariffs. Trump has exempted British exports from blanket 50 per cent tariffs on both metals, but the fate of that carve-out remains unclear. "If I do it for one, I have to do it for all," Trump said in Washington before embarking on his flight, when asked if he had any "wiggle room" for the UK on the issue. The international outcry over the conflict in Gaza may also be on the agenda, as Starmer faces growing pressure to follow French President Emmanuel Macron and announce that Britain will also recognise a Palestinian state. PROTESTS Trump is due to return to the UK in September for a state visit - his second - at the invitation of King Charles III, which promises to be lavish. During a 2023 visit, Trump said he felt at home in Scotland, where his mother Mary Anne MacLeod grew up on the remote Isle of Lewis before emigrating to the United States at age 18. "He's original, he does things the way he wants to. I think a lot of our politicians could take a good leaf out of his book," 45-year-old Trump fan Lisa Hart told AFP as she waited to see his plane touch down. But the affection between Trump and Scotland is not always mutual. Residents, environmentalists and elected officials have voiced discontent over the Trump family's construction of a new golf course, which he is expected to open before he departs the UK on Tuesday. Police Scotland, which is bracing for mass protests in Edinburgh and Aberdeen as well as close to Trump's golf courses, have said there will be a "significant operation across the country over many days". Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who will also meet Trump during the visit, said the nation "shares a strong friendship with the United States that goes back centuries". Trump has also stepped into the sensitive debate in the UK about green energy and reaching net zero, with Aberdeen being the heart of Scotland's oil industry. In May, he wrote on his Truth Social platform that the UK should "stop with the costly and unsightly windmills" as he urged incentivising drilling for oil in the North Sea. US DISCONTENT The trip to Scotland puts physical distance between Trump and the latest twists in the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier accused of sex trafficking who died in prison in 2019 before facing trial. In his heyday, Epstein was friends with Trump and others in the New York jet-set, but the president is now facing backlash from his own MAGA supporters who demand access to the Epstein case files. Many support a conspiracy theory under which "deep state" elites protected rich and famous people who took part in an Epstein sex ring. But Trump is urging his supporters to move on from the case. The Wall Street Journal, which published an article detailing longstanding links between Trump and the sex offender, is being punished by the White House. Its reporting team plans to travel to Scotland on their own and join the White House press pool. But it has now been denied a seat on Air Force One for the flight back home. While Trump's family has undertaken many development projects worldwide, the president no longer legally controls the family holdings.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store