Latest news with #TaherAlNunu
LBCI
17-05-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Hamas: New Gaza talks 'without any preconditions' underway in Doha
A senior Hamas official said a new round of indirect negotiations with Israel aimed at ending the war in Gaza started in Doha "without any preconditions" on Saturday. "This round of negotiations began without any preconditions from either side, and the negotiations are open to discussing all issues," Taher al-Nunu said. "Hamas will present its viewpoint on all issues, especially ending the war, withdrawal and prisoner exchange." AFP
LBCI
16-05-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Hamas urges US to press Israel to lift Gaza blockade after hostage release
A senior Hamas official told AFP Friday that the group expects the United States to pressure Israel into lifting its aid blockade of Gaza after the group released a U.S.-Israeli hostage this week. "Hamas is awaiting and expecting the U.S. administration to exert further pressure on the Netanyahu government to open the crossings and allow the immediate entry of humanitarian aid -- food, medicine and fuel -- to the hospitals in the Gaza Strip," Taher al-Nunu said, adding that aid entry was part of an understanding with U.S. envoys in exchange for Edan Alexander's release. AFP
Khaleej Times
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Hamas says lost contact with group holding Israeli-American hostage
A spokesperson of Hamas armed wing said on Tuesday that contact with the group holding Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander has been lost. A senior Hamas official said on Monday that the Palestinian group is prepared to release all Israeli hostages in exchange for a "serious prisoner swap" and guarantees that Israel will end the war in Gaza. Hamas left Cairo on Monday after negotiations with mediators from Egypt and Qatar — two nations working alongside the US to broker a ceasefire in the besieged territory. "We are ready to release all Israeli captives in exchange for a serious prisoner swap deal, an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the entry of humanitarian aid," said Taher Al Nunu, a senior Hamas official. The war in Gaza broke out after Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Militants also took 251 hostages, 58 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Khaleej Times
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Hamas sets four conditions to free all Israeli hostages
A senior Hamas official said on Monday that the Palestinian group is prepared to release all Israeli hostages in exchange for a "serious prisoner swap" and guarantees that Israel will end the war in Gaza. Hamas left Cairo on Monday after negotiations with mediators from Egypt and Qatar — two nations working alongside the United States to broker a ceasefire in the besieged territory. "We are ready to release all Israeli captives in exchange for a serious prisoner swap deal, an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the entry of humanitarian aid," Taher Al Nunu, a senior Hamas official, told AFP. However, he accused Israel of obstructing progress towards a ceasefire. "The issue is not the number of captives," Nunu said, "but rather that the occupation is reneging on its commitments, blocking the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and continuing the war". "Hamas has therefore stressed the need for guarantees to compel the occupation (Israel) to uphold the agreement," he added. Israeli news website Ynet reported on Monday that a new proposal had been put to Hamas. Under the deal, the group would release 10 living hostages in exchange for US guarantees that Israel would enter negotiations for a second phase of the ceasefire. The first phase of the ceasefire, which began on January 19 and included multiple hostage-prisoner exchanges, lasted two months before disintegrating. Efforts towards a new truce have stalled, reportedly over disputes regarding the number of hostages to be released by Hamas, with 58 people still held in the Palestinian territory. Pointing to those failed negotiations, Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said it was against talks aimed at phased hostage releases. "The phases method wastes valuable time and jeopardises all of the hostages", the group representing relatives of hostages said. "We demand to choose the necessary, feasible and appropriate solution: ending the war and returning all the hostages together, in one immediate phase." Meanwhile, Nunu said that Hamas would not disarm, a key condition that Israel has set for ending the war. "The weapons of the resistance are not up for negotiation," Nunu said. The war in Gaza broke out after Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Militants also took 251 hostages, 58 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead. Gaza's health ministry said on Sunday that at least 1,613 Palestinians had been killed since March 18, when the ceasefire collapsed, taking the overall death toll since the war began to 50,983.
Khaleej Times
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Hamas says open to talks as Israel keeps up Gaza strikes
Hamas said it remained open to negotiations while calling for pressure on Israel on Wednesday to implement a Gaza truce after its deadliest bombing since the fragile ceasefire began in January. Israel carried out fresh air strikes on Gaza on Wednesday, killing 13 people according to the territory's civil defence agency, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday's raids were "only the beginning". The United Nations and countries around the world condemned the high civilian death toll in the renewed strikes, which have killed more than 400 people, according to Hamas-run territory's health ministry. Hamas is open to talks on getting the ceasefire back on track but will not renegotiate the agreement that took effect on January 19, an official from the militant group said. "Hamas has not closed the door on negotiations but we insist there is no need for new agreements," Taher Al Nunu told AFP. "We have no conditions, but we demand that the occupation be compelled to immediately halt its aggression and war of extermination, and begin the second phase of negotiations." Negotiations have stalled over how to proceed with a ceasefire whose first phase expired in early March, with Israel and Hamas disagreeing on whether to move to a new phase intended to bring the war to an end. Instead, Israel and the United States have sought to change the terms of the deal by extending stage one. That would delay the start of phase two, which was meant to establish a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and was swiftly rejected by Hamas, which demanded full implementation of the original deal. "There is no need for new agreements in light of the existing agreement signed by all parties," Nunu said. 'Only the beginning' Israel and the United States have portrayed Hamas's rejection of an extended stage one as a refusal to release more Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Netanyahu's office said he ordered the renewed strikes on Gaza after "Hamas's repeated refusal to release our hostages". In a televised address late on Tuesday, the premier said: "From now on, negotiations will take place only under fire... Military pressure is essential for the release of additional hostages. "Hamas has already felt the strength of our arm in the past 24 hours. And I want to promise you — and them — this is only the beginning." The White House said Israel consulted US President Donald Trump's administration before launching the strikes, while Israel said the return to fighting was "fully coordinated" with Washington. The intense Israeli bombardment sent a stream of new casualties to the few hospitals still functioning in Gaza and triggered fears of a return to full-blown war after two months of relative calm. The roads were once again filled with Palestinian civilians on the move as families responded to evacuation warnings from the Israeli army. "Today I felt that Gaza is a real hell," said Jihan Nahhal, a 43-year-old from Gaza City, adding some of her relatives were wounded or killed in the strikes. "Suddenly there were huge explosions, as if it were the first day of the war." The Gaza health ministry said the bodies of 413 people had been received by hospitals, adding people were still under the rubble. A spokeswoman for the UN children's agency Unicef said medical facilities that "have already been decimated" by the war were now "overwhelmed". 'Shattering' hopes Governments in the Middle East, Europe and beyond called for the renewed hostilities to end. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Israel's raids on Gaza "are shattering the tangible hopes of so many Israelis and Palestinians of an end to suffering on all sides". European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she told her Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar that the new strikes on Gaza were "unacceptable". Both Egypt and Qatar, which brokered the Gaza ceasefire alongside the United States, condemned Israel's resort to military action. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi said the strikes were part of "deliberate efforts to make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable and force the Palestinians into displacement". Trump has floated a proposal to move Palestinians out of Gaza, an idea rejected by Palestinians and governments in the region and beyond, but embraced by some Israeli politicians. Israel's resumption of military operations in Gaza, after it already halted all humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza this month, drew an immediate political dividend for Netanyahu. The far-right Otzma Yehudit party, which quit his ruling coalition in January in protest at the Gaza ceasefire, rejoined its ranks with its firebrand leader Itamar Ben Gvir again becoming national security minister. The war began with Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures. Israel's retaliation in Gaza has killed at least 48,577 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory's health ministry. Of the 251 hostages seized during the attack, 58 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
