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Business Standard
28 minutes ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
Israel accepts US-backed Gaza truce plan, Hamas gives cool response
Israel has accepted a new US proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Hamas, the White House said Thursday. US President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, expressed optimism earlier this week about brokering an agreement to halt the Israel-Hamas war and return more of the hostages captured in the attack that ignited it. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Israel backed and supported the new proposal. Hamas officials gave the Israeli-approved draft a cool response, but said they wanted to study the proposal more closely before giving a formal answer. The Zionist response, in essence, means perpetuating the occupation and continuing the killing and famine, Bassem Naim, a top Hamas official, told The Associated Press. He said it does not respond to any of our people's demands, foremost among which is stopping the war and famine. Nonetheless, he said the group would study the proposal with all national responsibility. Hamas had previously said it had agreed with Witkoff on a general framework of an agreement that would lead to a lasting ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an influx of aid, and a transfer of power from the militant group to a politically independent committee of Palestinians. Here's what's known about the emerging negotiations that aim to bring about an extended truce in the war in exchange for hostages that remain in captivity: What do Israel and Hamas want? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to end the war until all the hostages are released and Hamas is either destroyed or disarmed and sent into exile. He has said Israel will control Gaza indefinitely and facilitate what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of its population. Palestinians and most of the international community have rejected plans to resettle Gaza's population, a move experts say would likely violate international law. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages its only bargaining chip in return for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal. It has offered to give up power to a committee of politically independent Palestinians that could oversee reconstruction. Hamas is still holding 58 hostages. Around a third are believed to be alive, though many fear they are in grave danger the longer the war goes on. Thousands of Palestinians have been killed since Israel renewed its airstrikes and ground operations after ending a ceasefire in March. The dispute over whether there should be a temporary ceasefire to release more hostages as Israel has called for or a permanent one as Hamas wants has bedeviled talks brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar for more than a year and a half, and there's no indication it has been resolved. What is the latest ceasefire proposal? Witkoff has not publicised his latest proposal, but a Hamas official and an Egyptian official independently confirmed some of the details. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks. They say it calls for a 60-day pause in fighting, guarantees of serious negotiations leading to a long-term truce and assurances that Israel will not resume hostilities after the release of hostages, as it did in March. Israeli forces would pull back to the positions they held during the ceasefire Israel ended that month. Hamas would release 10 living hostages and a number of bodies during the 60-day pause in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including 100 serving long sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks. Each day, hundreds of trucks carrying food and humanitarian aid would be allowed to enter Gaza, where experts say a nearly three-month Israeli blockade slightly eased in recent days has pushed the population to the brink of famine. Why is it so hard to end the war? Hamas-led militants stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 hostages. More than half the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel has rescued eight and recovered dozens of bodies. Israel's ensuing military campaign has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of roughly 2 million Palestinians, with hundreds of thousands living in squalid tent camps and unused schools. Hamas has been vastly depleted militarily and lost nearly all of its top leaders in Gaza. It most likely fears that releasing all the hostages without securing a permanent ceasefire would allow Israel to launch an even more devastating campaign to ultimately destroy the group. Israel fears that a lasting ceasefire and withdrawal now would leave Hamas with significant influence in Gaza, even if it surrenders formal power. With time, Hamas might be able to rebuild its military might and eventually launch more Oct. 7-style attacks. Netanyahu also faces political constraints: His far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he ends the war too soon. That would leave him more vulnerable to prosecution on longstanding corruption charges and to investigations into the failures surrounding the Oct. 7 attack. A broader resolution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict appears more distant than ever. The Palestinians are weak and divided, and Israel's current government the most nationalist and religious in its history is opposed to Palestinian demands for a state in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war. The last serious peace talks broke down more than 15 years ago.
Time of India
41 minutes ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Israel accepts a US proposal for a temporary Gaza ceasefire and Hamas gives a cool response
A new U.S. proposal for a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been accepted by Israel, while Hamas is considering the draft. The proposal suggests a 60-day pause in fighting in exchange for hostages and the release of Palestinian prisoners. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Israel has accepted a new U.S. proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Hamas , the White House said Thursday.U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, expressed optimism earlier this week about brokering an agreement to halt the Israel-Hamas war and return more of the hostages captured in the attack that ignited House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Israel "backed and supported" the new officials gave the Israeli-approved draft a cool response, but said they wanted to study the proposal more closely before giving a formal answer."The Zionist response, in essence, means perpetuating the occupation and continuing the killing and famine," Bassem Naim, a top Hamas official, told The Associated Press. He said it "does not respond to any of our people's demands, foremost among which is stopping the war and famine."Nonetheless, he said the group would study the proposal "with all national responsibility."Hamas had previously said it had agreed with Witkoff on a "general framework" of an agreement that would lead to a lasting ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an influx of aid, and a transfer of power from the militant group to a politically independent committee of what's known about the emerging negotiations that aim to bring about an extended truce in the war in exchange for hostages that remain in captivity:What do Israel and Hamas want? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to end the war until all the hostages are released and Hamas is either destroyed or disarmed and sent into exile. He has said Israel will control Gaza indefinitely and facilitate what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of its and most of the international community have rejected plans to resettle Gaza's population, a move experts say would likely violate international has said it will only release the remaining hostages - its only bargaining chip - in return for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal. It has offered to give up power to a committee of politically independent Palestinians that could oversee is still holding 58 hostages. Around a third are believed to be alive, though many fear they are in grave danger the longer the war goes on. Thousands of Palestinians have been killed since Israel renewed its airstrikes and ground operations after ending a ceasefire in dispute over whether there should be a temporary ceasefire to release more hostages - as Israel has called for - or a permanent one - as Hamas wants - has bedeviled talks brokered by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar for more than a year and a half, and there's no indication it has been is the latest ceasefire proposal? Witkoff has not publicized his latest proposal, but a Hamas official and an Egyptian official independently confirmed some of the details. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive say it calls for a 60-day pause in fighting, guarantees of serious negotiations leading to a long-term truce and assurances that Israel will not resume hostilities after the release of hostages, as it did in March. Israeli forces would pull back to the positions they held during the ceasefire Israel ended that would release 10 living hostages and a number of bodies during the 60-day pause in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including 100 serving long sentences after being convicted of deadly day, hundreds of trucks carrying food and humanitarian aid would be allowed to enter Gaza, where experts say a nearly three-month Israeli blockade - slightly eased in recent days - has pushed the population to the brink of is it so hard to end the war? Hamas-led militants stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 hostages. More than half the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel has rescued eight and recovered dozens of ensuing military campaign has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of roughly 2 million Palestinians, with hundreds of thousands living in squalid tent camps and unused has been vastly depleted militarily and lost nearly all of its top leaders in Gaza. It most likely fears that releasing all the hostages without securing a permanent ceasefire would allow Israel to launch an even more devastating campaign to ultimately destroy the fears that a lasting ceasefire and withdrawal now would leave Hamas with significant influence in Gaza, even if it surrenders formal power. With time, Hamas might be able to rebuild its military might and eventually launch more Oct. 7-style also faces political constraints: His far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he ends the war too soon. That would leave him more vulnerable to prosecution on longstanding corruption charges and to investigations into the failures surrounding the Oct. 7 attack.A broader resolution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict appears more distant than Palestinians are weak and divided, and Israel's current government - the most nationalist and religious in its history - is opposed to Palestinian demands for a state in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast last serious peace talks broke down more than 15 years ago.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- General
- Yahoo
Authorities eyeing whether a kitchen job had a role in the ‘Devil in the Ozarks' prison escape
Arkansas authorities are looking at whether a job in the prison kitchen played a role in the weekend escape of a convicted former police chief known as the 'Devil in the Ozarks.' Grant Hardin, 56, was housed in a maximum-security wing of the medium-security Calico Rock prison, where he also held a job in the kitchen, Arkansas Department of Corrections spokesperson Rand Champion said Thursday. Authorities have said Hardin escaped Sunday by donning an outfit designed to look like a law enforcement uniform. 'His job assignment was in the kitchen, so just looking to see if that played a part in it as well,' Champion told The Associated Press. The kitchen is divided into two shifts of about 25 workers each, according to a 2021 accreditation report that involved an extensive review of the prison. In the kitchen, 'tools and utensils were stored on shadow boards with proper controls for sign out/in of all tools,' the report states. 'A check of the inventory control sheets found them to be accurate and up to date.' The kitchen is in one of 16 buildings on over 700 acres (280 hectares) of prison land. The sprawling grounds include a garden, two greenhouses, and extensive pasture lands where a herd of more than 100 horses is raised and trained by staff and inmates. Hardin, the former police chief in the small town of Gateway near the Arkansas-Missouri border, was serving lengthy sentences for murder and rape. He was the subject of the TV documentary 'Devil in the Ozarks.' A prison expert said corrections officials are likely investigating whether the kitchen job gave Hardin access to other parts of the prison or to tools in the kitchen that could have helped him, including fashioning the makeshift uniform. Bryce Peterson, a criminal justice expert at security-based research organization CNA, said prison escapes are usually a combination of motivation and opportunity. 'You wouldn't immediately think of a kitchen as a source of a bunch of escape tools,' Peterson said. 'But these people are really smart and what they're thinking about day in and day out is how they can escape if that's what their motivation is.' Local, state and federal law enforcement are continuing their search for Hardin, and the FBI announced Thursday it was offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to his arrest. Champion said officials remained confident that Hardin was in the north-central Arkansas area. Officials have said there are plenty of hideouts in the Ozark Mountains area, from caves to campsites. Elsewhere Thursday, a sheriff's office in southern Missouri said it had received a report of a sighting of someone resembling Hardin's description in the Moody/Bakersfield area, less than an hour's drive north of Calico Rock. Deputies with the Howell County Sheriff's Office responded but were unable to locate anyone though agents were continuing to canvass the area, the agency said in a Facebook post. 'At this time, we have no information indicating with any degree of certainty this suspicious person was the escapee or that he is even in the state of Missouri,' the post said. Champion said Arkansas authorities were aware of the tip and were looking into it. The department late Wednesday said search teams also responded to Faulkner County in the central Arkansas area after receiving a tip. Champion did not immediately know how many other inmates were housed in the prison's maximum-security wing. Hardin's assignment to the prison, formally known as the North Central Unit, has drawn questions from legislators in the area and family members of the former chief's victims. Hardin received culinary training at some point during his incarceration, said Cheryl Tillman, whose brother James Appleton was shot to death by Hardin in 2017. Tillman said she was aware that Hardin had been working in the kitchen at the Calico Rock prison and questioned why he would be allowed to do so. 'It sounds like to me that he was given free range down there,' she said this week during an interview. Now that he's free, 'it makes it uneasy for all of us, the whole family,' she said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Japan says China will resume Japanese seafood imports it halted over Fukushima water discharge
TOKYO (AP) — Japan said Friday that China will resume imports of Japanese seafood that it banned in August 2023 over the discharge of wastewater from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea. Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the two sides reached an agreement after Japanese and Chinese officials met in Beijing and the imports will resume once the necessary paperwork is done. China did not immediately comment. The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Boston Globe
2 hours ago
- Climate
- Boston Globe
Swiss glacier collapse renews focus on risks of climate change as glaciers retreat around the world
A huge mass of rock and ice from a glacier thundered down a Swiss mountainside, sending plumes of dust skyward and coating with mud nearly all of an Alpine village that authorities had evacuated earlier this month as a precaution. — The Associated Press (@AP) While the debris insulated the glacier and slowed melting, its weight caused the ice to begin moving — which accelerated dramatically a few weeks ago. Authorities ordered the evacuation of about 300 people, as well as all livestock, from the village in recent days, 'when it became clear that there's a whole mountainside that's about to collapse,' said Truffer, who is from Switzerland. Glacial lakes pose threat Advertisement Lakes that form at the base of glaciers as they melt and retreat also sometimes burst, often with catastrophic results. Water can even lift an entire glacier, allowing it to drain, said Truffer, adding that Alaska's capital of Juneau has flooded in recent years because a lake forms every year on a rapidly retreating glacier and eventually bursts. In 2022, an apartment building-sized chunk of the Marmolada glacier in Italy's Dolomite mountains detached during a summer heat wave, sending an avalanche of debris down the popular summer hiking destination, killing 11. Advertisement A glacier in Tibet's Aru mountain range suddenly collapsed in 2016, killing nine people and their livestock, followed a few months later by the collapse of another glacier. An aerial view shows the destruction of Blatten on ordered the evacuation of about 300 people, as well as all livestock, from the village in recent days. JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOTT/Associated Press There also have been collapses in Peru, including one in 2006 that caused a mini tsunami; most recently, a glacial lagoon overflowed in April, triggering a landslide that killed two. 'It's amazing sometimes how rapidly they can collapse,' said Lonnie Thompson, a glacier expert at the Ohio State University. 'The instability of these glaciers is a real and growing problem, and there are thousands and thousands of people that are at risk.' Scientists say melting glaciers will raise sea levels for decades, but the loss of inland glaciers also acutely affects those living nearby who rely on them for water for drinking water and agriculture. No way to stop the melting Scientists say greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal have already locked in enough global warming to doom many of the world's glaciers — which already have retreated significantly. For example, glaciers in the Alps have lost 50% of their area since 1950, and the rate at which ice is being lost has been accelerating, with 'projections ... that all the glaciers in the Alps could be gone in this century,' Thompson said. Related : Switzerland, which has the most glaciers of any country in Europe, saw 4% of its total glacier volume disappear in 2023, the second-biggest decline in a single year after a 6% drop in 2022. A 2023 study found that Peru has lost more than half of its glacier surface in the last six decades, and 175 glaciers disappeared due to climate change between 2016 and 2020, mostly due to the increase in the average global temperature. Advertisement An aerial view shows the destruction of Blatten. Scientists say melting glaciers will raise sea levels for decades, but the loss of inland glaciers also acutely affects those living nearby who rely on them for water for drinking water and agriculture. JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOTT/Associated Press A study published Thursday in Science said that even if global temperatures stabilized at their current level, 40% of the world's glaciers still would be lost. But if warming were limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit ) — the long-term warming limit since the late 1800s called for by the 2015 Paris climate agreement — twice as much glacier ice could be preserved than would be otherwise. Even so, many areas will become ice-free no matter what, Truffer, the University of Alaska expert. 'There's places in Alaska where we've shown that it doesn't take any more global warming,' for them to disappear, Truffer said. 'The reason some ... (still) exist is simply because it takes a certain amount of time for them to melt. But the climate is already such that they're screwed.'
