Hamas seeks amendments to Gaza ceasefire proposal
The Hamas official said proposed amendments focus on 'the US guarantees, the timing of hostage release, the delivery of aid and the withdrawal of Israeli forces'. There were no details.
A separate Hamas statement said the proposal aims for a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an ensured flow of aid.
It said 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 others would be released 'in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners'.
Fifty-eight hostages remain and Israel believes 35 are dead.
Mr Witkoff described a 60-day ceasefire deal that would free half the living hostages in Gaza and return half of those who have died.
He urged Hamas to accept the framework proposal as the basis for talks that he said could begin next week.
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim accused Israel of disagreeing with agreed provisions and alleged a 'complete bias towards the other side' which he said violates the fairness of mediation.
Israeli officials have approved the US proposal for a temporary ceasefire in the nearly 20-month war.
US President Donald Trump has said negotiators were nearing a deal.
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NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
Lone wolf attacks in Boulder and D.C. highlight the difficulties in securing public spaces
OULDER, Colo. — Once again, the war in Gaza has come home to America. A man using what police called a "makeshift flamethrower" launched a gruesome attack on demonstrators in Boulder on Sunday, raising questions about why security wasn't stronger in the wake of an earlier attack in Washington, D.C. Run for Their Lives, the organization behind the long-standing demonstration that advocated for the return of Israeli hostages, had anticipated that its members would have safety concerns. The group offered principles to make the events safer, including "don't protest," "be polite and peaceful" and "don't disturb your neighbors." "Focus on humanity," the guidance on its website says. "This is about innocent children, women, the elderly, and other civilians being held by terrorists—not about the war." The Boulder chapter of Run for Their Lives has been holding regular demonstrations demanding that Hamas release the hostages seized during the terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Kyle and Elizabeth Shorter, who live in a Denver suburb and were taking their wedding pictures in Boulder when the attack happened, said the Run for Their Lives demonstrators had become fixtures on the street. 'Every time we've come up here the past couple of years, they've always been here,' said Elizabeth Shorter, 26. 'They've never been aggressive or chanting, just simply walking.' And that, an expert said, could make them harder to protect from a terrorist. 'Usually, there is a regular detail assigned to protect protesters,' said Brian Higgins, who teaches at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City and runs a security consulting firm called Group 77. 'But it's not uncommon for a mindset to set in that, as time goes on and nothing out of the ordinary happens, that there's no need to be on high alert.' Higgins, who said he wasn't aware of what security measures Boulder police had in place Sunday, was taken aback by video that showed the attacker threatening people before police intervened. 'That shouldn't have happened,' Higgins said. 'That raises questions for me about how much security there was at this protest.' Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said his department is aware of events taking place later in the month and will plan to provide additional security coverage. 'We want to ensure that people feel comfortable and safe in this community,' he told reporters on Monday. Shira Weiss, global coordinator for Run for Their Lives, said that some chapters have long relied on protection from local police or private security but that it's "really the individual group leader's decision how and when they want to use security." And while some local chapters have paused to "recompose themselves and give themselves space to heal" after the Boulder attack, others have said, "We won't stop; we're going to be right back out there next week," Weiss said. 'We obviously keep reiterating to our group leaders that safety is the No. 1 priority,' she said. Although clearly frightened by what she witnessed, attack survivor Lisa Turnquist, 66, said she won't be deterred from speaking out against Hamas and on behalf of the Israeli hostages. "This is when we have to get up and we have to stand out and push back," said Turnquist, who spoke to a reporter outside the historic Boulder County Courthouse, where the attack happened. "We just want the hostages home." A dozen people were injured Sunday, eight of whom remain hospitalized, authorities said. Initial calls to police reported people "being set on fire," and officers found multiple victims with burns and other injuries, Boulder's police chief told reporters. Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, has been charged with attempted murder and a hate crime, among other offenses. The attack happened just 11 days after two Israeli Embassy workers were gunned down outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington. In both the Boulder and the Washington attacks, the attackers are alleged to have yelled the same thing: 'Free Palestine.' Security experts who spoke with NBC News questioned how the man in Boulder was able to allegedly launch such an attack downtown even amid heightened awareness after the Washington killings. Higgins said his security clients include several major Jewish organizations. And ever since the killings of Israeli Embassy workers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim on May 22, they have been adding extra layers of security, he said. 'Given what's going on out there and the agitation out there, my recommendation is that there should be an elevated level of security at all Gaza protests,' Higgins said. Run for Their Lives has been holding regular demonstrations outside the county courthouse on Pearl Street since Hamas launched a bloody surprise attack on Israel and took 250 hostages. That spawned an Israeli invasion of Gaza that has left more than 54,000 people dead, many of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Michael Alcazar, a former hostage negotiator with the New York Police Department who also teaches at John Jay, said Pearl Street is a soft target for a terrorist attack. He said the attacker was able to approach the demonstrators because they didn't appear to be protected. 'The police chief dropped the ball not having a uniform presence over there,' Alcazar said. 'Is the police chief not aware of what's going in the world?' The Boulder Police Department didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. The Anti-Defamation League said it had been in contact with local law enforcement in Boulder. 'We feel at ADL like many across the country feel, which is just vulnerability and both sadness and anger at the violence that we've seen,' said Oren Segal, the Anti-Defamation League's senior vice president for counterextremism and intelligence. 'This is a wake-up call — not just for the Jewish community." The FBI also said in a statement that "our goal is always to get ahead of any threats." "We have long warned that lone actors or small groups of conspirators present a great challenge to law enforcement because there may not be a lot of clues about their intentions," it said. An affidavit alleged that Soliman, a married father of five, had been planning the attack for over a year and was waiting for one of his daughters to graduate before he set his alleged plan into motion. It didn't specify where his daughter was graduating from. Soliman told investigators during his arrest interview that he researched how to make Molotov cocktails on YouTube, according to the affidavit. It alleged that he was also unrepentant about the attack, saying he would do it again to stop Israel from taking over 'our land,' referring to the Palestinian territories. Elias Rodriguez, the Chicagoan charged with the deaths of Lischinsky and Milgrim, was also motivated by the Gaza war, authorities said. He told police when he was arrested, ' I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,' according to court records and published reports. In his first comments since the attack, President Donald Trump condemned the "horrific" incident Monday on Truth Social. Earlier, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller sought to shift blame onto the Biden administration for allowing Soliman in the country. 'He was granted a tourist visa by the Biden Administration and then he illegally overstayed that visa,' Miller said Sunday on X. 'In response, the Biden Administration gave him a work permit.' Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, amplified that on X, saying that Soliman "is illegally in our country" and that he applied for asylum in September 2022. McLaughlin later told NBC News that Soliman's asylum claim was pending and that while his visa had expired, he hadn't yet exhausted all legal routes to stay in the United States. y.
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Disgusted Tucker Carlson turns on Republican party after congressman calls for Gaza to be 'nuked'
Tucker Carlson said he's not sure he can support the Republican party after a Florida congressman called for Gaza to be nuked. Congressman Randy Fine, who was recently elected to replace Mike Waltz in Florida as the preferred candidate of President Trump, made the jaw dropping comments in a Fox News interview last month. He said: 'In World War 2 we did not negotiate a surrender with the Nazis, we did not negotiate a surrender with the Japanese. 'We nuked the Japanese twice in order to get unconditional surrender. That needs to be the same here in Gaza. 'There is something deeply wrong with its culture and it needs to be defeated.' The extraordinary comments sparked widespread outrage and prompted a response from Hamas itself - the terror cell and de facto government in Gaza. Carlson, speaking on his podcast alongside Glenn Greenwald, said he was so taken aback by the comments that he initially thought they couldn't have been made by a real politician. 'I text a friend of mine in Congress,' Carlson said. 'This is a person who I confirmed is a real person. I didn't believe it at first... I didn't believe he was really a member of Congress.' Congressman Randy Fine, who was recently elected to replace Mike Waltz in Florida as the preferred candidate of President Trump (pictured together), made the jaw dropping comments in a Fox News interview last month 'It's evil. How can you say something like that and not get expelled from Congress? How can that person still be in the Republican party?' Carlson went on to say that Fine's comments had made him question whether he could remain loyal to the Republican party. 'I don't know if I can support a party with someone like Randy Fine... that's so disgusting. 'So we're gonna nuke Gaza because of its culture? We're going to kill everyone because we don't like their culture?' he repeated incredulously. 'There are Christians in Gaza. Muslims in Gaza. To say there is some Gazan culture that's cohesive.' Carlson has been one of MAGA's most outspoken and high profile supporters, particularly loyal to Trump. But Fine is a Jewish Trump-backed pick who won 83 percent of the Republican primary vote after the president's endorsement. 'Randy Fine has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, RANDY, RUN!' Trump said at the time. Fine has a history of bad blood with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has also fallen out with Trump after running against him in the Republican presidential primary. 'I think these are voters who didn't like Randy Fine, but who basically were like, ''You know what? We're going to take one for the team. The President needs another vote up there. And so we're going to do it'',' DeSantis said of Fine's victory, going on to describe him as a 'squish.' And the Florida congressman doubled down in his attacks on Gaza on Monday, sharing a post to Instagram in the wake of the anti-Israel terror attack in Boulder, Colorado. 'We need to not be afraid to call evil by its name. Palestinianism,' he wrote. Fine added that his Jewish sons had been picked on at school since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel which led to the current conflict in the region.
ITV News
4 hours ago
- ITV News
Ensure no UK-made weapons used to ‘ethnically cleanse' Palestinians, MP urges
The UK Government must suspend all arms exports to Israel to remove the risk of British-made weapons being used to 'ethnically cleanse' Palestinians, the Commons has heard. Labour MP Steve Witherden said Gaza is 'already a slaughterhouse' as he urged ministers to detail their 'red line' which would halt further exports. The MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr added the 'true scale' of UK military exports to Israel 'remains unknown and unaccountable' before raising questions over the supply of 'crucial' components to Israel connected to the F-35 fighter jet programme. We cannot condemn atrocity whilst simultaneously fuelling the machinery that enables it. Labour MP Steve Witherden Business minister Douglas Alexander said the UK Government is not selling F-35 components 'directly to the Israeli authorities' and the export licence prevents 'direct shipments for Israel for use in Israel'. MPs were told the UK's exports of spare F-35 parts are part of a global supply network and exporters have 'no sight and no control over the specific ultimate end users for their export'. In September last year, Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the suspension of around 30 arms sale licences to Israel amid concerns a 'clear risk' exists that they could be used to breach international humanitarian law. The Government said exports to the global F-35 programme would be excluded from the suspension decision, except where going directly to Israel, to avoid 'prejudicing the entire' scheme. Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights organisation, which has brought a legal action against the Department for Business and Trade over its decisions, said the 'carve-out' gives 'rise to a significant risk of facilitating crime'. Mr Witherden, leading an adjournment debate on arms and military cargo export controls and Israel, told the Commons: 'The Foreign Secretary's recent condemnation of Israel's action as 'monstrous' was welcome but incomplete for my very same Government continues to facilitate such actions. 'We cannot have it both ways. We cannot condemn atrocity whilst simultaneously fuelling the machinery that enables it. We cannot claim to uphold international law while profiting from its breach.' Mr Witherden raised several issues, including asking the Government to explain how it defines 'defensive' weapons and what makes an F-35 component compatible with this definition. He said: 'It's the Government's position that the need to continue to supply F-35 components outweighs the risk of genocide and, if so, is there any circumstance that would lead to the UK stopping that supply? 'The Government has claimed that there are red lines that would trigger a halt to exports, but Gaza is already a slaughterhouse. 'Children are emaciated or dying of hunger. Hospitals have been intentionally destroyed. Israel's leaders vow to wipe out Gaza and still the weapons flow. 'So finally I ask the minister where is our red line? I call on this Government to suspend all arms exports to Israel to ensure that no British-made weapons are used in Israel's brutal plans to annexe, starve and ethnically cleanse the Palestinian population. 'The credibility of this House depends not just on what we condemn but on what we enable and history will remember we enabled too much.' Mr Alexander began by condemning the 'act of barbarism' by Hamas in Israel on October 7 2023, which killed around 1,200 people, before he warned that Israel's operations have been 'indefensible', 'disproportionate' and 'counterproductive to any lasting peace settlement'. The minister reiterated that the UK Government in September last year suspended arms exports licences for items to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) that could be used in military operations in Gaza. He said: 'This measure is still in place and I'd like to reiterate that based on our current assessment of potential breaches of international humanitarian law, we are not licencing military equipment provided directly to the IDF that could be used for military operations in Gaza. 'It is right to acknowledge that our export licences granted in relation to Israel cover a wider remit than simply those items that may be used in Gaza. 'There are a relatively small number of licences for the IDF relating to equipment which we assess would not be used in the current conflict, including – for example – parts of air defence systems that defend Israel from acts such as the major aerial attack from Iran in April 2024. 'We also think it is right for us to continue providing military grade body armour used by non-governmental organisations and journalists and to provide parts to the supply chain which are ultimately re-exported back out of Israel to support the defence of our Nato allies.' Mr Alexander also said: 'Undermining the F-35 programme at this juncture would, in the view of the Government, disrupt international peace and security, Nato deterrence and European defence as a whole. 'In relation to components for the F-35 aircraft, our exporters provide these to a global spares pool and the common production line for new aircraft where they have no sight and no control over the specific ultimate end users for their export. 'Put plainly, it is not possible to suspend licencing of F-35 components for use by one F-35 nation without ceasing supply to the entire global F-35 programme. It was therefore judged necessary by the Government to exclude F-35 components from the scope of the suspension. 'But let me be very clear, the UK Government is not selling F-35 components directly to the Israeli authorities and the licence that allows the export of F-35 components was amended in September to specifically make clear that direct shipments for Israel for use in Israel are not permitted.'
