Latest news with #militantGroup
Khaleej Times
a day ago
- General
- Khaleej Times
Hamas response to ceasefire offer 'totally unacceptable', says US envoy
The US envoy to the Middle East on Saturday criticised Hamas over its response to a US-proposed ceasefire deal, with the militant group saying it would free 10 living hostages from Gaza. "It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward," Steve Witkoff wrote on X. "Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week. "That is the only way we can close a 60-day ceasefire deal in the coming days in which half of the living hostages and half of those who are deceased will come home to their families and in which we can have at the proximity talks substantive negotiations in good-faith to try to reach a permanent ceasefire," he added.
News24
2 days ago
- Health
- News24
Hamas responds to US truce proposal, to free 10 living hostages
Hamas responded to a US ceasefire plan, offering to release 10 hostages. The proposal includes a 60-day truce and prisoner exchange. Gaza faces famine as civilian deaths rise amid Israel's offensive. Hamas announced on Saturday that it had submitted its response to a ceasefire proposal from US envoy Steve Witkoff, saying 10 living hostages would be freed from Gaza under the deal. The White House had said the latest proposal for a deal was approved in advance by Israel, which on Friday warned Hamas to either accept the deal and free the hostages 'or be annihilated'. The Palestinian militant group did not explicitly say it had accepted the version of the proposal it received on Thursday, which had also reportedly included a provision for the release of 10 living hostages and a truce of at least 60 days. In a statement on Saturday, Hamas said it had 'submitted its response to US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff's latest proposal to the mediating parties'. 'As part of this agreement, 10 living prisoners of the occupation held by the resistance will be released, in addition to the return of 18 bodies, in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners,' it added. A breakthrough in negotiations has been elusive ever since a previous ceasefire fell apart on 18 March with the resumption of Israeli operations. But US President Donald Trump had said on Friday that the parties were 'very close to an agreement'. Hamas has maintained that any deal should lay out a pathway to a permanent end to the war, something Israel has resisted. Two sources close to the negotiations had said Witkoff's proposal involved a 60-day truce, potentially extendable to 70 days. It would see the release of five living hostages and nine bodies in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners during the first week, followed by a second exchange the following week, the sources said. 'Hungriest place on Earth' Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack that triggered the war, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead. 'After 603 days of war, we wish to remind everyone that war is a means, not an end in itself,' the main group representing hostages' families said in a statement. Israeli society was 'united around one consensus', bringing home all the remaining hostages 'even at the cost of ending the war', the Hostages and Missing Families Forum added. Israel, however, insists on the need to destroy Hamas, and recently stepped up its campaign in Gaza in a bid to defeat the group. But it has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations recently warned the entire population was at risk of famine. This week, a spokesperson for the UN humanitarian agency called the territory 'the hungriest place on Earth'. Aid is only trickling into Gaza after the partial lifting by Israel of a more than two-month blockade, and the UN has recently reported looting of its trucks and warehouses. The World Food Programme has called on Israel 'to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster', saying desperation was 'contributing to rising insecurity'. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 4 117 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed its offensive on 18 March, taking the war's overall toll to 54 381, mostly civilians. Hamas's attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1 218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
LBCI
4 days ago
- General
- LBCI
Hamas says new Israel settlements 'defiance' of international law
Hamas condemned Israel's announcement Thursday that it is establishing 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law. "This is a blatant defiance of the international will and a grave violation of international law and United Nations resolutions," said a statement from the Palestinian militant group which rules Gaza. AFP
Telegraph
19-05-2025
- Telegraph
Migrant who called for slaughter of Jews pleads guilty to attempting to enter UK illegally
An alleged Palestinian gunman who called for the slaughter of Jews has pleaded guilty to attempting to enter the UK illegally. Appearing before Canterbury Crown Court, Abu Wadee, also known as Mosab Abdulkarim Al-Gassas, admitted trying to get into the country across the Channel on a boat on March 6 without leave or valid entry clearance. Wadee, 33, was a member of a militant group that called for the slaughter of all Jews and posed with AK-47s. He triggered a security scare after he posted a video of himself flicking a V-for-victory sign at the front of a boat packed with migrants in orange lifejackets. He was arrested by immigration enforcement officers after arriving on the small boat in Kent, having paid smugglers €1,500 (£1,300), the court had been previously told. He was then placed in a hotel in the Manchester area. The court was told that Wadee, who left Gaza in 2022 before making asylum claims in Greece, Germany and Belgium, had no family or financial ties to the UK and had stayed between Calais and Dunkirk in France for about seven days before making the crossing. Alleged militant has 170,000 TikTok followers His arrival in the UK made headlines after it emerged that he had posted support for Hamas and hate speech calling for the death of Jews on social media. Wadee, from the city of Khan Younis, posted a video on his Facebook page last September in which he was seen calling for Allah to 'punish [Jews] completely.' In another picture, posted on Facebook in March 2021, it is claimed Wadee stared into the camera while smoking a cigarette and brandishing an assault rifle with a telescopic sight. The alleged militant has 170,000 TikTok followers. He also has a YouTube channel followed by 189,000 subscribers, which collects money via PayPal. A video of him throwing pipe bombs was posted on his Facebook page in June 2021. The Telegraph also obtained footage of Wadee throwing two pipe bombs during night clashes with Israeli forces in the desert in 2021. 'A minor celebrity in Gaza' Joe Truzman, a terrorism expert and the editor of the Long War Journal, who has tracked Wadee for more than seven years, said the Palestinian was affiliated with terror groups in Gaza. Pictures showed him with Mustafa al-Zaqout, aka Abu Suheib, the leader of a Hamas-aligned terror group called the Al-Qadir al-Husseini Brigades. Wadee came to prominence in 2018 when there were riots and demonstrations on the border with Israel. Mr Truzman aid he was a part of a group or 'unit' made up of young men, organised by terror groups who would foment violence at the Gaza-Israel border. 'He is lucky he wasn't killed. These units would set fires and throw IEDs at Israeli soldiers during clashes at the border. There is evidence of Abu Wadee holding a pipe bomb,' said Mr Truzman. 'The protests were called the Great March of Return, and lasted from 2018 to 2022. 'Abu Wadee was openly part of these clashes, and he posted a lot of what he did on Facebook. During this period, he became a minor celebrity in Gaza. He describes himself as a revolutionary for the Palestinian cause.'
CNN
13-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Israel targets Hamas leader Mohammad Sinwar in hospital strike in Gaza
Israel has targeted Hamas leader Mohammad Sinwar in a strike on a hospital in southern Gaza on Tuesday evening, according to a senior Israeli official and two sources familiar with the matter. He became the militant group's de facto leader after the Israeli military killed his brother, Yahya Sinwar, last October. This is a developing story and will be updated.
