Netanyahu, Witkoff discuss Hamas refusal to ceasefire
Despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff's claims, Hamas has said it only suggested changes to adress the deal's 'bias' toward Israel
Hamas said it has not rejected a ceasefire proposal presented by US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, senior Hamas official Basem Naim told Reuters on Saturday.
Naim said Israel's response to Witkoff's proposal was incompatible with what the group agreed on, adding that the US envoy's position towards the group was "unfair" and showed "complete bias" towards Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a phone call with US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Saturday to discuss Hamas's refusal to accept a ceasefire proposal.
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff slammed Hamas for making what he called were "backward" changes to the US-backed hostage deal proposal.
"I received the Hamas response to the United States' proposal. It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward. Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week," Witkoff said on X/Twitter.
According to Al Mayadeen, Hamas reportedly requested several changes to the proposal, including a permanent ceasefire between the two sides for a period of 5-7 years, guaranteed by the mediators and negotiated within 60 days.
The terrorist group also expressed its commitment to release 10 living hostages within those 60 days: four on the first day, two on the 30th day, and four on the 60th day.
Hamas also stated an independent committee would manage theGaza Strip immediately upon the commencement of the agreement's implementation.
AMICHAI STEIN and REUTERS contributed to this report.
This is a developing story.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News24
12 minutes ago
- News24
‘A new chapter': Lebo M rekindles romance with Mel Ntsala and proposes once again
Internationally acclaimed producer Lebo M and Mel Ntsala have gotten engaged again after they called it quits in 2019. After sparking rumours about their romance in May 2024, the couple went public with their rekindled romance with snaps aboard a dreamy yacht in Dubai. Previously married four times and engaged eight, the producer and composer also declared his unwavering belief in love and new beginnings. After publicly declaring that he would not tie the knot again after his most recent failed marriage to Pretty Samuels, renowned composer and producer Lebohang 'Lebo M' Morake has again asked for Mel Ntsala's hand in marriage. The couple shared the news on Sunday with loved-up snaps of them on a luxurious yacht in Dubai, with Morake declaring, 'The day we stop believing in love and possibilities is the day we stop dreaming.' 'Absolutely grateful to have fulfilled my dream and begin a new chapter with you.' He continued to declare his undying love for the Free State beauty, saying, 'Love always.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lebo M Morake (@thereallebo_m) This marks the pair's second attempt at tying the knot after they got engaged in 2019 but called it quits because Morake was allegedly entertaining another ex, Angela Casara. Rumours of a romantic rekindling surfaced in May 2024 when Morake posted – and later deleted – a cosy photo with a female passenger on a private jet. At the time, his manager and nephew, Tshepo Mboni, downplayed the speculation, telling News24 that 'he has no romantic relations with anyone, especially Mel Ntsala.' However, a 'trusted' source told online publication Zimoja otherwise. The source told the publication that the woman in his life was someone he had dated previously. 'The woman could not take it and broke it off, but there has never been bad blood between them. The woman just wanted him to get over his ex,' the source said. Months later, the pair fuelled the flames when they were spotted on vacation together in Mauritius as part of his 60th birthday celebrations. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lebo M Morake (@thereallebo_m) Speaking to Sunday World months after their engagement and wedding were called off, Ntsala attributed their split to them getting tired of each other. 'We were both tired of each other. You know, relationships. We decided that, you know what, this is not good for us. This [is] not for us,' she said. Morake, no stranger to the ups and downs of love, has been married four times and engaged a total of eight – a number that continues to make headlines. His tumultuous fallout with ex-wife Pretty Samuels ended in public accusations and mudslinging.
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Boulder attack: eight injured in Colorado after man allegedly targets rally for Israeli hostages
Eight people were injured in an attack in Boulder, Colorado after a man is alleged to have thrown an incendiary device into a crowd and yelled 'Free Palestine', in what the FBI is treating as an 'act of terrorism'. The 45-year-old man, identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, is alleged to have thrown the device into a group of people who had assembled in a pedestrianised zone for a peaceful protest for Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. 'It is clear that this is a targeted act of violence and the FBI is investigating this as an act of terrorism,' Mark Michalek, an FBI special agent, told a press conference, citing witnesses. Boulder police chief Stephen Redfearn had earlier refused to call the incident an act of terrorism, saying it was too early to speculate on the alleged attacker's motivations. He said the department received calls at about 1.26pm local time of a man with a weapon near a downtown courthouse and that people were being set on fire. When police responded, they found people with injuries consistent with burns. A suspect was pointed out to officers and a man was taken into custody and then to the hospital with minor injuries. Redfearn said the police were investigating 'a vehicle of interest' on the scene, and several blocks had been closed off. Police and bomb squads are still 'clearing the area for devices', he said. Michalek said there was no evidence that the man was connected to a wider group. The six people injured were between the ages of 67 and 88, police said, and their injuries ranged from minor to 'very serious'. Four were taken to a local hospital, while two had to be airlifted to a hospital in Aurora. Brooke Coffman, a university student at the scene of the attack, said she saw four women on the ground with burns on their legs, Reuters reported. One of them appeared to have been badly burned on most of her body and had been wrapped in a flag by someone, she said. The attack comes amid heightened tensions in the United States over Israel's war in Gaza, which has spurred both an increase in antisemitic hate crimes as well as efforts by conservative supporters of Israel to brand pro-Palestinian protests as antisemitic. Donald Trump's administration has detained protesters of the war without charge and cut off funding to elite US universities that have permitted such demonstrations. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement that the victims were attacked 'simply because they were Jews' and that he trusted US authorities would prosecute 'the cold blood perpetrator to the fullest extent of the law'. Colorado governor Jared Polis said that he is 'closely monitoring' the situation, adding: 'My thoughts go out to the people who have been injured and impacted by this heinous act of terror. Hate-filled acts of any kind are unacceptable.' The Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, a prominent Jewish Democrat, described the attack as 'horrifying'. 'We must stand up to antisemitism,' he said. The attack follows the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington DC who had attended an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group that fights antisemitism and supports Israel. The crowd targeted in Boulder had gathered for an event called Run for Their Lives, a walk to show support for the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, according to a statement by the Boulder Jewish Community Centre. The group meets every Sunday to call for the hostages' release. 'Our hearts go out to those who witnessed this horrible attack, and prayers for a speedy recovery to those who were injured,' the statement reads.'When events like this enter our own community, we are shaken. Our hope is that we come together for one another.' With Reuters
The Verge
35 minutes ago
- The Verge
28 Years Later honors digital heritage with a 20-camera iPhone rig
Upcoming horror threequel 28 Years Later is far from the first Hollywood movie to be shot with the help of an iPhone, but it might just be the first shot on 20 iPhones. That's how many phones director Danny Boyle had mounted on a special rig for select shots in the movie, which releases June 20th. For Boyle, shooting on iPhones is more than just a gimmick. He returns to the series after directing the 2002 original 28 Days Later, which was shot on a digital video camcorder, a meta nod to the fact that this was how home videos were shot at the time. He and returning cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle took that as an 'influence' in choosing to shoot partially on a phone, the camcorder's closest modern equivalent. It was first reported last year that Boyle had shot 28 Years Later on an iPhone 15 Pro Max, but according to IGN the movie actually uses a mix of regular cameras, drones, and iPhones, including three special rigs designed to hold eight, 10, or 20 iPhones at once. 'There is an incredible shot in the second half [of the film] where we use the 20-rig camera, and you'll know it when you see it,' Boyle told IGN. 'It's quite graphic but it's a wonderful shot that uses that technique, and in a startling way that kind of kicks you into a new world rather than thinking you've seen it before.' Boyle calls the 20-phone rig 'basically a poor man's bullet time,' explaining that it allowed the crew to shoot some of the film's more violent scenes in new ways. 'It gives you 180 degrees of vision of an action, and in the editing you can select any choice from it, either a conventional one-camera perspective or make your way instantly around reality, time-slicing the subject, jumping forward or backward for emphasis.' It's not the film's only unusual cinematographic choice. It was also shot in an especially wide 2.76:1 aspect ratio, the equivalent of 70mm film, to keep viewers guessing about where the film's infected could pop up: 'If you're on a widescreen format, they could be anywhere… you have to keep scanning, looking around for them.'
