Hamas confirms it responded to latest Gaza ceasefire proposal
The response included proposed amendments to clauses on the entry of aid, maps of areas from which the Israeli army should withdraw, and guarantees on securing a permanent end to the war, according to a Palestinian source familiar with ongoing talks in Doha.
Negotiators from both sides have been holding indirect talks in Doha with mediators in an attempt to reach an agreement on a truce deal that would see the release of Israeli hostages.
Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas' 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
But the talks have dragged on for more than two weeks without a breakthrough, with each side blaming the other for refusing to budge on their key demands.
For Israel, dismantling Hamas' military and governing capabilities is non-negotiable, while Hamas demands firm guarantees on a lasting truce, a full withdrawal of Israeli troops and the free flow of aid into Gaza.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer on Wednesday accused Hamas of obstructing talks.
"Israel has agreed to the Qatari proposal and the updated (US special envoy Steve) Witkoff proposal, it is Hamas that is refusing," Mencer told reporters, adding that Israel's negotiating team was still in Doha and talks were ongoing.
The US said Witkoff will head to Europe this week for talks on a possible ceasefire and an aid corridor.
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Korea Herald
2 hours ago
- Korea Herald
UK warns it could recognize Palestine
Britain said on Tuesday it would recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel takes steps to relieve suffering in Gaza, where starvation is spreading, and reaches a ceasefire in the nearly two-year war with Hamas. The warning came after a hunger monitor said a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding and immediate action is needed to avoid widespread death. Palestinian authorities said more than 60,000 Palestinians were now confirmed killed by Israel's air and ground assault on the Gaza Strip. The hunger alert and the new death toll are grim milestones in a conflict that began almost two years ago when Hamas attacked Israel, sparking an offensive that has flattened much of the enclave and ignited hostilities across the Middle East. The alert by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification raised the prospect that the man-made starvation crisis in Gaza could be formally classified as a famine, in the hope that this might raise the pressure on Israel to let in far more food. Britain's warning heightens pressure on Israel amid an international outcry over its conduct of the war. France announced it would recognize Palestinian statehood in a move that enraged the Israeli government. Israel dismissed Britain's announcement as a "reward" for Hamas. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told his Cabinet on Tuesday that Britain would follow suit at the UN General Assembly in September "unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, reaches a ceasefire, makes clear there will be no annexation in the West Bank, and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a two-state solution," his government said. The move, if carried through, would be mostly symbolic, with Israel occupying the territories where the Palestinians have long aimed to establish that state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital. It makes Israel appear more isolated on the international stage as a growing number of countries call for it to allow unfettered aid into Gaza, where it controls all entry and exit points to the besieged coastal territory. However, US President Donald Trump's administration -- Israel's closest and most influential ally -- has made clear it has no intention of joining others in recognizing Palestinian statehood anytime soon. Since returning to office in January, Trump has left it unclear whether he would support an eventual Palestinian state. Trump said on Tuesday he and Starmer did not discuss Britain's proposal to recognize a Palestinian state when the two held talks in Scotland over the weekend. Trump told reporters at the time he did "not mind" if Britain did so. With the international furor over Gaza's ordeal growing, Israel announced steps over the weekend to ease aid access. But the UN World Food Program said Tuesday it was not getting the permissions it needed to deliver enough aid since Israel began humanitarian pauses in warfare on Sunday. "Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths," the IPC said, adding that "famine thresholds" have been reached for food consumption in most of Gaza. It said it would quickly carry out the formal analysis that could allow it to classify Gaza as "in famine." Gaza health authorities have been reporting more and more people dying from hunger-related causes. The total stands at 147, among them 88 children, most of whom died in the last few weeks. Images of emaciated Palestinian children have shocked the world, with Israel's strongest ally Trump declaring that many people were starving. He promised to set up new "food centers." Israel has denied pursuing a policy of starvation. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday that the situation in Gaza was "tough" but there were lies about starvation there. The Gazan casualty figures, which are often cited by the UN and have previously been described as reliable by the World Health Organization, underline the war as the deadliest involving Israel since its establishment in 1948. Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas' cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, when militants killed some 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage -- Israel's deadliest ever day. Since Israel launched ground operations in Gaza in October 2023, 454 soldiers have been killed. The new Palestinian toll does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. Thousands more bodies are believed to be buried under rubble, meaning the true toll is likely to be significantly higher, Palestinian officials and rescue workers say. Israeli airstrikes overnight killed at least 30 Palestinians in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, Gaza health authorities said. Doctors at Al-Awda Hospital said at least 14 women and 12 children were among the dead. The hospital also said that 13 people had been killed and dozens wounded by Israeli gunfire along the Salahudeen Road as they waited for aid trucks to roll into Gaza. Saar said 5,000 aid trucks had entered Gaza in the last two months, and that Israel would assist those wanting to conduct airdrops -- a delivery method that aid groups say is ineffective and tokenist. Ross Smith, a senior regional programme adviser at the World Food Program, told reporters in Geneva by video, "We're getting approximately 50 percent of what we're requesting into Gaza since these humanitarian pauses started on Sunday. "We are not going to be able to address the needs of the population unless we can move in the volume that we need." Israel and the US accuse Hamas of stealing aid -- which the militants deny -- and the UN of failing to prevent it. The UN says it has not seen evidence of Hamas diverting much aid. Hamas accuses Israel of causing starvation and using aid as a weapon. (Reuters)
Korea Herald
a day ago
- Korea Herald
France calls on EU to pressure Israel to come to table on Palestinian two-state solution
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — France on Monday called on the EU to pressure Israel to agree to a two-state solution with the Palestinians, the latest escalation from the French as they seek an end to the deadly Gaza war days after pledging to recognize Palestine as a state. Jean-Noel Barrot, the French foreign minister, told reporters at the UN that while there is international consensus that the time for a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is now, world powers need to back up their words with actions. 'The European Commission, on behalf of the EU, has to express its expectations and show the means that we can incentivize the Israeli government to hear this appeal,' he said. Barrot spoke on the first day of a high-level UN meeting on a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is being co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia. The conference, which was postponed from June and downgraded to the ministerial level, is taking place in New York as international condemnation of Israel's handling of the war in Gaza reaches a fever pitch. Both Israel and its closest ally, the US, refused to participate in the meeting, which Barrot said is being attended by representatives of 125 countries, including 50 ministers. The aim of the conference, Barrot said, is 'to reverse the trend of what is happening in the region — mainly the erasure of the two-state solution, which has been for a long time the only solution that can bring peace and security in the region.' He urged the European Commission to call on Israel to lift a financial blockade on 2 billion euros he says the Israeli government owes the Palestinian Authority, stop settlement building in the West Bank, which threatens the territorial integrity of a future Palestinian state, and end the 'militarized' food delivery system in Gaza by the Israeli-backed US Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has resulted in hundreds of killings. Dubravka Suica, the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean, told the meeting the EU is examining new sanctions and said it's 'imperative' that Israel transfer money owed to the Palestinians, and allow the delivery of food and other aid to Gaza. She said the EU has been a long-term partner promoting reforms of the Palestinian Authority and welcomed the recent announcement of presidential and general elections within a year across the Palestinian territories. 'We are keeping the Palestinian Authority from financial collapse,' she said, underscoring that the EU is supporting it with 161.6 billion euros ($187.3 billion) for the next three years. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the two-state solution on both nationalistic and security grounds. The US has echoed that sentiment and on Monday called the conference 'unproductive and ill-timed.' 'The US will not participate in this insult but will continue to lead real-world efforts to end the fighting and deliver a permanent peace,' State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement. 'Our focus remains on serious diplomacy: not stage-managed conferences designed to manufacture the appearance of relevance.' Ahead of the meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would recognize Palestine as a state at the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly in September. The bold but mostly symbolic move is aimed at adding diplomatic pressure on Israel. France is now the biggest Western power and the only member of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations to recognize the state of Palestine, and the move could pave the way for other countries to do the same. More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe. At the conference opening, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa called for all countries that have not yet recognized Palestine as a state to do so 'without delay.' 'The path to peace begins by recognizing the state of Palestine and preserving it from destruction,' he said. The other issue being discussed at the conference is normalization between Israel and the Arab states in the region. Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi foreign minister, stressed that normalization of relations with Israel 'can only come through the establishment of a Palestinian state.' With global anger rising over desperately hungry people in Gaza starting to die from starvation, US President Donald Trump on Monday called for increasing aid to Palestinians, a rare glimpse of daylight between him and Netanyahu, who has said there is no starvation. Both Barrot and Farhan said Monday that the US is an essential actor in the region and that it was the American president in January who secured the only ceasefire in the 21-month war. 'I am firmly in the belief that Trump's engagement can be a catalyst for an end to the immediate crisis in Gaza and potentially a resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the long term,' Farhan said.
Korea Herald
3 days ago
- Korea Herald
Macron goes alone on Palestine recognition
PARIS (Reuters) -- President Emmanuel Macron's announcement that France would become the first Western member of the UN Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state in September has caused diplomatic ructions from the Middle East through Europe to Washington. But it did not come out of the blue. When Macron visited the Egyptian town of Arish on the border with Gaza in April, he was struck by the mounting humanitarian crisis and made clear on his return home that Paris would soon opt for recognition. Working with Saudi Arabia, Macron came up with a plan to have France plus G7 allies Britain and Canada recognize Palestinian statehood, while pushing Arab states to adopt a softer stance toward Israel through a UN conference. But despite weeks of talks he failed to get others on board. Three diplomats said London did not want to face the wrath of the US, and Ottawa took a similar stance, leaving Macron to go it alone. "It became increasingly apparent that we could not wait to get partners on board," said a French diplomat, adding France will work to get more states on board ahead of conference on a two-state solution in September. Domestically Macron was under rising pressure to do something amid widespread anger at the harrowing images coming out of Gaza. Although with both Europe's biggest Muslim and Jewish communities and a polarized political landscape, there was no obvious course of action that would satisfy all sides. Israel and its staunch supporter the US have blasted France's move, branding it a reward for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which ran Gaza and whose attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 triggered the current war. Macron had discussed the matter extensively with both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in advance. Trump said on Friday that France's decision didn't "carry any weight" but added Macron was "a good guy." French officials previously considered an announcement at a conference scheduled for June at the UN, co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, to sketch out a roadmap to a viable Palestinian state while also ensuring Israel's security. But the conference was postponed amid intense US diplomatic pressure and after Israeli airstrikes on Iran. Macron's announcement on Thursday is linked to a rescheduled and rejigged version of the UN conference, now planned to take place Monday and Tuesday. That meeting will be at ministerial level, but Paris decided it would hold a second event with heads of state and government on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September, where Macron will announce formal recognition. Some analysts say Macron has used the carrot of recognition to extract concessions from Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority which is a moderate rival to Hamas, and other regional players. "Macron here is acting as a catalyst to get the Palestinians to deliver on the needed reforms, to get the Arabs to deliver on a stabilization force and the disarming of Hamas," said Rym Momtaz, editor-in-chief of the Strategic Europe blog run by the Carnegie Europe think tank. Others say while recognition has symbolic value, there will still be no functioning Palestinian state whenever the war in Gaza comes to an end. "Recognition by a European heavyweight like France is indicative of the rising frustration with Israel's intransigent policies," said Amjad Iraqi, senior analyst at International Crisis Group. "What's the point of recognizing a state if they're doing little to stop it from turning into ruins?" French officials point to months of intense Israeli lobbying to try to prevent Macron's move -- and Netanyahu's fierce criticism of it -- as evidence that it matters a lot to Israeli leaders. Sources familiar with the matter say Israel's warnings to France had ranged from scaling back intelligence-sharing to complicating Paris' regional initiatives -- even hinting at possible annexation of parts of the West Bank. But French officials concluded that Netanyahu would do whatever he thought was in his interests in the West Bank anyway, regardless of what France did on recognition. Israel's parliament voted on Wednesday in favor of a non-binding declaration urging the government to apply Israeli law to the West Bank, widely seen as a de facto annexation of the territory. That added to the urgency in Paris. "If there is a moment in history to recognize a Palestinian state, even if it's just symbolic, then I would say that moment has probably come," said a senior French official.
