Latest news with #hostageRelease
BBC News
5 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Hamas official says it rejects new US Gaza ceasefire plan backed by Israel
A senior Hamas official has told the BBC the Palestinian armed group will reject the latest US proposal for a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release White House said on Thursday that Israel had "signed off" on US envoy Steve Witkoff's plan and that it was waiting for a formal response from media cited Israeli officials as saying it would see Hamas hand over 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages in two phases in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli Hamas official said the proposal did not satisfy core demands, including an end to the war, and that it would respond in due course. The Israeli government has not commented, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told hostages' families on Thursday that he accepted Witkoff's imposed a total blockade on Gaza and resumed its military offensive against Hamas on 18 March following the collapse of a two-month ceasefire brokered by the US, Qatar and said it wanted to put pressure on Hamas to release the 58 hostages it is still holding, at least 20 of whom are believed to be 19 May, the Israeli military launched an expanded offensive that Netanyahu said would see troops "take control of all areas" of Gaza. The next day, he said Israel would also ease the blockade and allow a "basic" amount of food into Gaza to prevent a 4,000 people have been killed in Gaza over the past 10 weeks, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. The UN says another 600,000 people have been displaced again by Israeli ground operations and evacuation orders, and a report by the UN-backed IPC warns that about 500,000 people face catastrophic levels of hunger in the coming months. At a news conference in Washington DC on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked whether she could confirm a report by Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV that Israel and Hamas had agreed a new ceasefire deal."I can confirm that Special Envoy Witkoff and the president submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed and supported. Israel signed off on this proposal before it was sent to Hamas," she said."I can also confirm that those discussions are continuing, and we hope that a ceasefire in Gaza will take place so we can return all of the hostages home," she a senior Hamas official later said the deal contradicted previous discussions between the group's negotiators and official told the BBC that the offer did not include guarantees the temporary truce would lead to a permanent ceasefire, nor a return to the humanitarian protocol that allowed hundreds of trucks of aid into Gaza daily during the last he said Hamas remained in contact with the mediators and would submit its written response in due course. Earlier, Israel's Channel 12 TV reported the Netanyahu told hostages' families at a meeting: "We agree to accept the latest Witkoff plan that was conveyed to us tonight. Hamas has not yet responded. We do not believe Hamas will release the last hostage, and we will not leave the Strip until all the hostages are in our hands."His office later issued a statement accusing one of the channel's reporters of trying to "smuggle" a recording device into the room where the meeting took place. But it did not deny that he had agreed to the US has previously said that Israel will end the war only when all the hostages are released, Hamas is either destroyed or disarmed, and its leaders have been sent into has said it is ready to return all of those held captive, in exchange for a complete end to hostilities and full Israeli pull-out from launched a military campaign in Gaza in response Hamas' cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken four people, two of them dead, were already being held captive in Gaza before the far, Israel has secured the return of 197 hostages, 148 of them alive, mostly through two temporary ceasefire deals with least 54,249 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, including 3,986 since Israel resumed its offensive, according to the territory's health Thursday, at least 54 people were killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency. They included 23 people who died when a home in the central Bureij area was hit, it Israeli military said it had struck "dozens of terror targets" over the past day.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Witkoff presents Israel new deal proposal with one fewer live hostage, source tells 'Post'
Nine living hostages and 18 hostage bodies would be released for a 60-day ceasefire, minor IDF withdrawal, and aid distribution changes. US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff haspresented Israel and Hamas with a modified version of his outline for a partial hostage release-ceasefire deal, a source told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. According to the source, his modified proposal would include the release of nine living hostages, one less than the previous version, referred to by Israel as the "Witkoff outline." The hostage release would take place in two rounds. The proposal included four additional key points. The first point is the release of 18 deceased hostages alongside the nine living ones. It was not specified when the bodies would be released. This means that in total, the proposal would see the release of 27 out of the remaining 58 hostages still in Gaza. Additionally, both sides would agree to a 60-day ceasefire. The proposal clarifies that at the end of this period, Israel can resume fighting if it wishes, or extend the ceasefire if meaningful negotiations have been ongoing. Finally, the IDF would withdraw from recently captured areas in theGaza Strip, and the distribution of humanitarian aid would return to the United Nations. Notably, this would replace aid distribution through centers within the Gaza Strip by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is being facilitated by American volunteers. The aid division stipulation indicates that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is the driving factor behind the new proposal. Before Witkoff's new proposal, Hamas falsely claimed on Wednesday that it had agreed to the previous version. A source toldThe Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that 'Hamas's attempt to use the 'Witkoff framework' as a branded concept to promote their own vision will not succeed.' The new proposal is based on discussions held in Washington in recent days between Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Witkoff, as well as talks conducted by Bishara Bahbah in Qatar with senior Hamas officials. The main point of contention between the parties is what will happen on the final day of the ceasefire if no further agreement is reached. This is a developing story.
The Independent
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Feted by school children, tossing out a first pitch: Former Israeli hostage grapples with celebrity
Three months after his release from Hamas captivity, Omer Shem Tov stood on the pitcher's mound at a Boston Red Sox game. Surrounded by supporters, he tossed out the first pitch, then raised his arms in celebration. His name flashed on the stadium billboard. The moment was emblematic of the new-found — and for Shem Tov, unsought and at times unsettling — celebrity the 22-year-old has found since his release from 505 days of captivity in the Gaza Strip. Before being taken hostage, Shem Tov had just finished military service, was working in a restaurant, having fun with friends and planning an overseas trip. Now, he's in the public eye as he travels the globe campaigning for the release of the remaining 58 hostages — a third of whom are believed still alive. Upon his arrival at Boston's Logan International Airport Shem Tov was greeted by dozens of schoolchildren and their teachers — wearing 'Boston Loves Omer' T-shirts — singing Israeli songs in Hebrew and dancing with him. He toured Gillette Stadium, home of the NFL's New England Patriots and Major League Soccer's New England Revolution. He met with an Israeli player for the Revolution, and saw the Patriots' six Super Bowl rings. Both teams are owned by entrepreneur Robert Kraft, whose foundation campaigns against antisemitism. 'I don't like the word, but I'm famous,' Shem Tov acknowledged of the chance to throw out the first pitch at his very first baseball game ever, and the other firsts he's had in Boston. 'I know that a lot of people, a big nation waited for me and a lot of people (fought) for me to come back home," he said of the international campaign waged by hostage families since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, when 251 hostages were seized and about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed by Hamas-led militants. More than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children have been killed in Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Huge areas of Gaza have been destroyed and around 90% of its population displaced. A return to normal, but also a sense of guilt Shem Tov believes he is doing 'something important' but said it 'can be hard." His return to normal life has not been without challenges. He still freezes when he hears the sound of a jet plane, and is wracked with guilt that things he now enjoys are beyond the reach of the remaining hostages. 'I get greeted in the street. People stop me and want selfies and stuff like this,' he said. 'I support it and I will speak to anyone, anyone, anyone ... because everyone wants to give out love.' Still, little things like 'going and grabbing a bite to eat, I feel it here,' Shem Tov said, clutching his throat. 'It's choking me that I know what they are going through. Maybe they don't have food." "I remember taking the first bite of anything, it was heavenly," he said. "I'm showering and I have guilt that they don't take a shower." Shem Tov, who was attending the Tribe of Nova music festival in southern Israel the day of the attack, described trying to flee with friends Maya and Itay Regev in a car driven by Ori Danino, a stranger who took them in. Militants shot at the car, forced them out and dragged them into Gaza. The Regev siblings were released in a November 2023 ceasefire; Danino was later killed. 'I remember the festival itself, the freedom and happiness and us as youth having fun,' Shem Tov said. 'In seconds, life changed for us. My friends who were there with me, some got killed. Those who came back, they are not the same." Living in darkness Shem Tov said he was initially held above ground with Itay Regev, shuttled between apartments in Gaza — wearing women's cloths to hide their identities. He was eventually moved to a cell 130 feet (40 meters) underground, where he was often in total darkness. He survived on little more than a biscuit daily, he said — dropping from around 176 pounds (80 kilograms) to 121 pounds (55 kilograms). 'There were times I thought, I'm blind. I have been starved. I have been spat on. I've been cursed. Difficult, difficult times,' Shem Tov said. His faith got him through the worst, he said. He began daily conversations with God, offering a greeting and, over time, thanks for all he had — the 'air in my lungs,' 'the small amounts of food that I have' and that his family was safe. Shem Tov said he initially wasn't aware of the battle raging above him. But when he was moved to a tunnel closer to the surface, he could hear Israeli tanks rumbling above and bombs shaking the area. At one point, he could hear Israeli soldiers' voices through a ventilation unit. 'As much as I was glad to hear them, I was very, very scared for my life,' he said. 'The captors that kept me in the tunnels told me as soon as the army or soldiers are heading here, we'll shoot you." 'The first time I feel safe' When he was released on Feb. 22 with five others as part of a ceasefire deal, video showed Shem Tov surrounded by masked, armed Hamas fighters. Under duress, he was seen kissing the head of a Hamas fighter and blowing kisses to the crowd. A van passed in front of the stage, he recalled, and a door opened revealing two hostages who were not being released. He was handed over to the Red Cross and taken to an area controlled by the Israeli military. 'I get out of the vehicle, I look around, I see the sky, the sun. The first time, I feel safe,' he said, adding that he asked an Israeli soldier if he could hug her. 'It's the first time in forever I feel love and warmth,' he said. Shem Tov was taken to meet his parents — his mother, Shelly Shem Tov, had kept his bedroom as he left it, with instructions that nobody should touch or clean it until he came home and did it himself. 'I see my mom and my dad and I run up to them, and I hug them,' Shem Tov said. 'I waited for this moment for so long. I imagined it for so long. This is what I want every hostage to experience.' Shem Tov has embraced the role of advocating for those still hostage — something his parents were already doing — telling anyone who listens they must be brought home. 'It's really fulfilling. I love what I am doing but don't like the cause,' he said. 'I wish they were all here today. I hope it will be soon and in good circumstances.' And while he is reluctant to talk politics, Shem Tov worries Israel's latest offensive in Gaza puts the remaining hostages in danger. 'Every soldier for me is a hero,' he said. 'But there is a big but. For me and the hostages, it's difficult for us while the army is in the area. Places near us are being bombed. I support the army but we have to get them out." "If you keep on going with the military pressure, there is a big chance they will be killed.'
Arab News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Rubio says some ‘optimism' Gaza war could end ‘pretty quickly'
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced guarded optimism Wednesday for a solution 'pretty quickly' to end the Gaza war. 'I have some level of optimism that we may have breakthrough achievements here quickly, hopefully on an end to this and the release of all the hostages,' Rubio told a congressional hearing.
New York Times
21-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Suddenly Trump Is No Longer Buying What Bibi Has Been Selling
On May 12 an American-Israeli dual citizen and Israeli soldier, Edan Alexander, was released from Hamas captivity in Gaza after direct U.S.-Hamas negotiations that sidestepped Israel. The images that accompanied his release looked like an American operation that just happened to take place in Israel. It was a U.S. hostage negotiator, Adam Boehler — who conducted direct talks with Hamas in March — who accompanied Mr. Alexander's mother on the flight from her home in America to Israel, and it was a U.S. envoy, Steve Witkoff, who handed her a phone to speak with her son at the moment of his release. Headlines highlighted President Trump's phone call with Mr. Alexander. The message was clear: It was Mr. Trump, not Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who got Israel's soldier out of Gaza. This is not the Trump administration that Mr. Netanyahu had so eagerly anticipated. On almost every significant strategic and geopolitical issue that matters to Israel — from seeking a new nuclear deal with Iran to a cease-fire with the Houthis, from embracing the new Syrian regime to negotiating directly with Hamas on hostage release — Mr. Trump is not only bypassing Israel but also moving in a very different direction from what Mr. Netanyahu would have chosen. The U.S. administration has sidelined Israel again and again. In so doing, Mr. Trump and his team have managed to expose Israel's policy of destruction and the failings of Israel's leader, whose lone success has been staying in power through pursuing constant war. That doesn't mean that there is an open crisis between Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu or that Israel has lost the United States as its most powerful ally or even that Mr. Trump will force Israel to stop the war in Gaza. Indeed, in Gaza the United States has mostly left the Netanyahu coalition to its own devices. When the prime minister sat down with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office in February, after a cease-fire in Gaza was imposed on Mr. Netanyahu, he and his far-right coalition received the gift of Mr. Trump's Gaza Riviera idea — which lent legitimacy to the idea of mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. The Trump administration has since provided further support and weapons to Israel, including the 2,000-pound bombs that President Joe Biden had restricted, and reportedly floated the idea of transferring one million Palestinians to Libya. But Mr. Trump talks about putting 'an end to this very brutal war,' while Mr. Netanyahu is now openly promising to 'take control of all parts of Gaza' and 'complete victory.' Since Israel broke the cease-fire in March, more than 3,000 Gazans have been killed, many of them civilians. Israel's policy has starved the remaining two million people of Gaza, which Mr. Trump acknowledged as he departed the Persian Gulf region on May 16, even as he did not prevent it from happening. And Israel is not any closer to victory. On May 18, after more than two months of freezing all aid into Gaza on the allegation that Hamas has been profiting from it, Mr. Netanyahu grudgingly approved the immediate entry of nominal aid after the United States and the Israeli military warned that the strip is on the brink of mass starvation. Now Britain, France and Canada have issued a statement threatening punitive action, including sanctions on Israel, if it does not stop its renewed military offensive and immediately let more aid in. Mr. Netanyahu is increasingly in a corner. He can no longer blame his inability to defeat Hamas on the Biden administration for restricting him on Gaza. Nor can he blame his defense minister or army chief of staff or those leading the negotiating team — all of whom he recently replaced — or even a top Hamas leader, Muhammad Sinwar, whom Israel is reported to have targeted on May 13. There is a crisis among reservist soldiers experiencing a combination of fatigue and lack of motivation for an operation they don't believe will achieve its goals, compounded by ultra-Orthodox coalition partners demanding a law to exempt their constituents from military service. A majority of the Israeli public and a critical mass of former heads of Israel's security establishment favor a hostage deal to end the war. They have turned directly to lobbying Mr. Trump, hoping he might force Mr. Netanyahu's hand, as the president did to secure the release of Mr. Alexander. It appears that the White House finally sees Mr. Netanyahu for what he is: a weak Israeli leader with seemingly little or nothing to offer Mr. Trump, who appears more interested in trade, business and a Nobel Peace Prize than in continuing to fund an endless war. That is quite a shift. After Mr. Trump won the election, Mr. Netanyahu saw an ally coming into the White House. This was, after all, the same president who recognized Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights and moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in his first term. And it is the same president who, since retaking office, protected Mr. Netanyahu from the International Criminal Court warrant for his arrest by imposing sanctions on the court and overseeing an aggressive campaign to repress free speech and dismantle pro-Palestinian activism in the United States. Now it is the president who has left Mr. Netanyahu looking more isolated, humiliated and inept than ever before. A few months ago, Israel appeared to be making historic gains in its decades-long battle for hegemony in the Middle East: It had crushed Hezbollah in Lebanon, left Iran vulnerable and contributed to the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. These days, Israel is a shell of itself. The country is left with a military with vast capabilities and resources adept at surveillance and destruction and a leader who has mastered the art of political survival by crushing dissent and manipulating narratives. Mr. Netanyahu's coalition of far-right settlers and ultra-Orthodox Jews is sticking together because they have nowhere else to go. Whether Mr. Trump will finally compel Mr. Netanyahu to end the war on Gaza is still very much in question, but Israel's ability to steer the conversation or shape the terms of regional dynamics has been significantly diminished by its dead-end campaign. What Mr. Netanyahu is selling — a zero-sum victory over Hamas and with no guarantee of returning the remaining hostages — no longer has any buyers. These days he seems trapped. But he is also a master of self-preservation. The question is how he will get himself out of it this time and how many more lives it will cost.
