Latest news with #قناةالجزيرة
Al-Ahram Weekly
08-02-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Hamas frees three Israeli captives as 5th prisoner exchange begins - War on Gaza
Hamas released three Israeli captives on Saturday in exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails held by Israel in the fifth exchange of a fragile Gaza ceasefire. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that the images of three freed captives in Gaza were "shocking". "The shocking images that we have seen today will not go unaddressed," the office said in a statement after Hamas militants brought the three pale-looking hostages onto a stage before handing them over to the Red Cross. The Israeli military said that the three captives freed by Hamas on Saturday were now in the custody of its troops in Gaza. "Three returning hostages have just been transferred to IDF (military) and ISA (domestic security agency) forces in the Gaza Strip," the military said in a statement. Jubilant crowds in Israel's commercial hub, Tel Aviv, cheered as they watched live footage of the three hostages, flanked by masked gunmen, brought on stage in Deir el-Balah before being handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The stage was festooned with a banner bearing images of destroyed Israeli armoured vehicles and a dejected-looking Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister. Dozens of armed Hamas fighters had formed a cordon around the open area where the release took place, apparently to control crowds of onlookers. The three hostages were identified as Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami. Dozens of armed Hamas fighters formed a cordon around an open area in the city of Deir el-Balah early Saturday, apparently to control crowds eager to watch the captives' release. بدء عملية تسليم الأسرى الإسرائيليين إلى الصليب الأحمر في دير البلح وسط قطاع #غزة#حرب_غزة #الأخبار — قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) February 8, 2025 As with past exchanges, a stage was erected for the occasion, festooned with a banner bearing images of destroyed Israeli armoured vehicles and a dejected-looking Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister. اعتلاء مسؤولي الصليب الأحمر وأحد قادة القسام منصة التسليم للتوقيع على قرار الإفراج عن الأسرى الثلاثة واستلامهم من قبل الصليب الأحمر#حرب_غزة #الأخبار — قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) February 8, 2025 In Tel Aviv's "Hostages Square", where hundreds were expected later to watch the handover, a huge screen counted down the days, hours, minutes and seconds since Hamas's unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack, when the hostages were first seized. Former captive Yarden Bibas, who was freed last week by Hamas militants in Gaza, on Friday urged Netanyahu to help bring back his wife and two children from the Palestinian territory. "Prime Minister Netanyahu, I'm now addressing you with my own words... bring my family back, bring my friends back, bring everyone home," Bibas said in his first public message following his release. Hamas previously said his wife Shiri and his two sons Ariel and Kfir -- the youngest hostages -- were dead, but Israel has not confirmed their deaths. The exchange comes despite uproar in the region over a proposal by US President Donald Trump to clear out the Gaza Strip of its inhabitants and for the United States to take over the Palestinian territory. Netanyahu, who is in Washington, will "monitor this phase of the captives' release from the control centre of the delegation in the US", the premier's office said in a separate statement. Short link:
Al-Ahram Weekly
08-02-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
BREAKING: Hamas frees three Israeli captives as 5th prisoner exchange begins - War on Gaza
Hamas released three Israeli captives on Saturday in exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails held by Israel in the fifth exchange of a fragile Gaza ceasefire. The three men released on Saturday are Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami, according to Hamas. Their names were confirmed by Netanyahu's office. Dozens of armed Hamas fighters formed a cordon around an open area in the city of Deir el-Balah early Saturday, apparently to control crowds eager to watch the captives' release. بدء عملية تسليم الأسرى الإسرائيليين إلى الصليب الأحمر في دير البلح وسط قطاع #غزة#حرب_غزة #الأخبار — قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) February 8, 2025 As with past exchanges, a stage was erected for the occasion, festooned with a banner bearing images of destroyed Israeli armoured vehicles and a dejected-looking Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister. اعتلاء مسؤولي الصليب الأحمر وأحد قادة القسام منصة التسليم للتوقيع على قرار الإفراج عن الأسرى الثلاثة واستلامهم من قبل الصليب الأحمر#حرب_غزة #الأخبار — قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) February 8, 2025 In Tel Aviv's "Hostages Square", where hundreds were expected later to watch the handover, a huge screen counted down the days, hours, minutes and seconds since Hamas's unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack, when the hostages were first seized. Former captive Yarden Bibas, who was freed last week by Hamas militants in Gaza, on Friday urged Netanyahu to help bring back his wife and two children from the Palestinian territory. "Prime Minister Netanyahu, I'm now addressing you with my own words... bring my family back, bring my friends back, bring everyone home," Bibas said in his first public message following his release. Hamas previously said his wife Shiri and his two sons Ariel and Kfir -- the youngest hostages -- were dead, but Israel has not confirmed their deaths. The exchange comes despite uproar in the region over a proposal by US President Donald Trump to clear out the Gaza Strip of its inhabitants and for the United States to take over the Palestinian territory. Netanyahu, who is in Washington, will "monitor this phase of the captives' release from the control centre of the delegation in the US", the premier's office said in a separate statement. Short link:
Al-Ahram Weekly
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades officially mourns Chief of Staff Mohamed Deif: Abu Obeida - War on Gaza
Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida officially mourned the brigades Chief of Staff Mohamed Deif, saying he was killed while leading the battle against the Israeli army near Khan Younis last July. In a video statement, Abu Obeida also mourned several other members of Qsaam's Military Council who were also killed during battles against the Israeli army. أبو عبيدة: نزف إلى أبناء شعبنا العظيم استشهاد قائد هيئة أركان كتائب القسام محمد #الضيف#حرب_غزة #الأخبار — قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) January 30, 2025 "The Al-Qassam Brigades announce to our great people the martyrdom of a group of distinguished fighters and heroic commanders," Abu Obeida announced in a video statement. Israel had previously claimed to have killed Deif and confirmed his death in early August. However, Hamas consistently denied these reports until Thursday's announcement. Israel had accused Deif of being one of the key architects of the group's 7 October offensive, along with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed on 16 October 2024. آخر ظهور للقائد العام لكتائب القسام محمد الضيف في مشاهد حصرية بثها برنامج #ما_خفي_أعظم على #الجزيرة، وهو يضع اللمسات الأخيرة على التحضيرات لهجوم السابع من أكتوبر، من داخل غرفة عمليات كتائب القسام#حرب_غزة — قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) January 30, 2025 Deif, known as 'the cat with nine lives' for surviving seven failed Israeli assassination attempts, was born in 1965 to a Palestinian refugee family from al-Qubeiba. He joined Hamas in 1987, just weeks after its formation during the First Intifada. He was arrested by Israeli forces in 1989 and imprisoned for 16 months without trial. Deif, a top target on Israel's wanted list, appeared in only three known photographs: one from years ago, another with his face masked, and a third showing only his silhouette. Despite Israel's extensive intelligence operations, no recent image of him was ever obtained. After being released in a prisoner exchange, Deif went on to establish the Al-Qassam Brigades in the 1990s and oversaw numerous operations against Israel. Known as "the mastermind," he is believed to have organized the 2006 raid into Israel that killed two Israeli soldiers and captured Gilad Shalit. Hamas held Shalit captive for over five years until his release on 18 October 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange deal. Deif also orchestrated the five-year effort to deceive Israeli intelligence services, Mossad and Shin Bet, about Shalit's location in Gaza. Although he had close ties with the Palestinian Authority, he was briefly arrested by them in 2000, reportedly as part of an agreement with Israel, only to be released or escape from prison later that year. Deif took full command of Hamas in 2002 after the assassination of Al-Qassam's commander-in-chief, Salah Shehadeh. However, for several years, the effective command was exercised by Deif's deputy, Ahmed Jabari, after Deif was severely wounded in an Israeli assassination attempt. Short link:
Al-Ahram Weekly
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Palestinians return to north Gaza after breakthrough in captive diplomacy - War on Gaza
Palestinians began returning to the north of the war-battered Gaza Strip on Monday after Israel and Hamas said they had reached a deal for the release of another six captives. Palestinians began returning to the north of the war-battered Gaza Strip on Monday after Israel and Hamas said they had reached a deal for the release of another six hostages. The breakthrough preserves a fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, which has devastated the Gaza Strip and displaced nearly all its residents, paving the way for more hostage-prisoner swaps under an agreement aimed at ending the more than 15-month conflict. #تغطية_مباشرة - آلاف الفلسطينيين يتجمعون استعدادا للعودة إلى شمال #غزة تطبيقا لاتفاق وقف إطلاق النار#حرب_غزة — قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) January 26, 2025 Israel had been preventing vast crowds of Palestinians from returning to their homes in northern Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating the truce by failing to release civilian women hostages. Throngs of Palestinians began making their way north on Monday morning, an official at the Hamas-run Interior Ministry told AFP. "The passage of displaced Palestinians has begun", the official said. Hamas said Monday that the return of Gazans to the north of the devastated territory after being forced to flee by more than 15 months of war was a victory against "plans" for the forced displacement of the Palestinians. "The return of the displaced is a victory for our people, and signals the failure and defeat of the plans for occupation and displacement," the resistance group said as thousands of Gazans streamed northward after Israel stopped blocking their passage. Hamas's ally Islamic Jihad called it a "response to all those who dream of displacing our people". آلاف يعودون إلى منازلهم.. كاميرا الجزيرة ترصد تدفق النازحين عبر محور نتساريم في طريق العودة إلى مدينة #غزة وشمال القطاع#حرب_غزة #الأخبار — قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) January 27, 2025 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said earlier that a deal had been reached for the release of three hostages on Thursday and another three on Saturday. Hamas confirmed the agreement in its own statement Monday. Palestinian leaders meanwhile slammed a plan floated by US President Donald Trump to "clean out" Gaza, vowing to resist any effort to forcibly displace residents of the war-battered territory. Trump said Gaza had become a "demolition site", adding he had spoken to Jordan's King Abdullah II about moving Palestinians out. "I'd like Egypt to take people. And I'd like Jordan to take people," Trump told reporters. Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, who is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, "expressed strong rejection and condemnation of any projects" aimed at displacing Palestinians from Gaza, his office said. Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas's political bureau, told AFP that Palestinians would "foil such projects", as they have done to similar plans "for displacement and alternative homelands over the decades". Islamic Jihad, which has fought alongside Hamas in Gaza, called Trump's idea "deplorable". For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark memories of what the Arab world calls the "Nakba", or catastrophe -- the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel's creation in 1948. "We say to Trump and the whole world: we will not leave Palestine or Gaza, no matter what happens," said displaced Gaza resident Rashad al-Naji. Jordan, Egypt reject displacement Trump floated the idea to reporters Saturday aboard Air Force One: "You're talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing." Moving Gaza's roughly 2.4 million inhabitants could be done "temporarily or could be long term", he said. Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich -- who opposed the truce deal and has voiced support for re-establishing Israeli settlements in Gaza -- called Trump's suggestion of "a great idea". The Arab League rejected the idea, warning against "attempts to uproot the Palestinian people from their land". "The forced displacement and eviction of people from their land can only be called ethnic cleansing", the league said in a statement. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said "our rejection of the displacement of Palestinians is firm and will not change. Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians." Egypt's foreign ministry said it rejected any infringement of Palestinians' "inalienable rights". Israel had said it would prevent Palestinians' passage until the release of Arbel Yehud, a civilian woman hostage. She is among those slated for return on Thursday, according to Netanyahu's office. Hamas said that blocking returns to the north also amounted to a truce violation, adding it had provided "all the necessary guarantees" for Yehud's release. Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said Monday that residents would be allowed to return on foot starting at 07:00 am (0500 GMT) and by car at 9:00 am. 'Dire' humanitarian situation During the first phase of the Gaza truce, 33 hostages are supposed to be freed in staggered releases over six weeks in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. The most recent swap saw four Israeli women hostages, all soldiers, and 200 prisoners, nearly all Palestinian, released Saturday -- the second such exchange during the fragile truce entering its second week. Dani Miran, whose hostage son Omri is not slated for release during the first phase, demonstrated outside Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem on Sunday. "We want the agreement to continue and for them to bring our children back as quickly as possible -- and all at once," he said. The truce has brought a surge of food, fuel, medicines and other aid into rubble-strewn Gaza, but the UN says "the humanitarian situation remains dire". Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that ignited the war, 87 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead. The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 47,306 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable. Short link:
