A senior Hamas official yesterday said the group would deliver its response to Israel’s latest counterproposal for a Gaza ceasefire today in Egypt.
“A Hamas delegation headed by Khalil al-Hayya will arrive in Egypt tomorrow ... and deliver the movement’s response” to the Israeli proposal during a meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials, said the official, who declined to be named.
Egypt had sent its own delegation to Israel this week to jump-start stalled negotiations even as fighting in the Gaza Strip rages.
Photo: Reuters
Egypt, Qatar and the US have been unsuccessfully trying to broker a new Gaza truce deal ever since a one-week halt to the fighting in November saw 80 Israeli hostages exchanged for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
US news Web site Axios, citing two Israeli officials, reported that Israel’s latest proposal includes a willingness to discuss the “restoration of sustainable calm” in Gaza after hostages are released.
It is the first time in the nearly seven-month war that Israeli leaders have suggested they are open to discussing an end to the war, Axios said.
“Hamas is open to discussing the new proposal positively,” another Hamas source close to the negotiations said.
The source added that the group is “keen to reach an agreement that guarantees a permanent ceasefire, the free return of displaced people, an acceptable deal for [prisoner] exchange and ensuring an end to the [Gaza] siege.”
The announcement came after Hamas on Saturday released a video showing two hostages alive, in an apparent bid to increase pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Palestinian militant group’s military wing posted a video showing American-Israeli citizen Keith Siegel, 64, and Israeli Omri Miran, 47, who spoke briefly in the video.
Protests inside Israel over the fate of the hostages are also escalating. Thousands gathered in central Tel Aviv late on Saturday, including relatives of Gaza detainees demanding a hostage deal and early elections.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia yesterday called for regional “stability,” warning of the effects of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war on global economic sentiment at the start of a summit attended by a host of Gaza mediators.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Palestinian leaders and high-ranking officials from other countries trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas are on the guest list for the two-day World Economic Forum in Riyadh.
The Gaza war along with conflicts in Ukraine and elsewhere put “a lot of pressure” on the economic “mood,” Saudi Arabian Minister of Finance Mohammed al-Jadaan said at one of the first panel discussions.
“I think cool-headed countries and leaders and people need to prevail,” al-Jadaan said. “The region needs stability.”
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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