Concerns grew yesterday over the chances of securing a Gaza truce, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected making any “concessions” in stalled talks toward a hostage release deal.
Netanyahu told a televised press conference at the end of a day of nationwide protests that he would “not give in to pressure” to renege on demands in indirect negotiations with Hamas to end the war, now nearing its 12th month.
Gripped by grief and fury after six dead hostages were recovered from Gaza, Israelis took to the streets on Sunday and Monday to ramp up pressure on their government to secure the release of the remaining captives.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The military said the six were all captured alive during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war, and shot dead by the captors shortly before troops had found them.
“These murderers executed six of our hostages,” said Netanyahu, who has increasingly faced accusations from critics in Israel, as well as Hamas officials and analysts, of prolonging the war for political gain.
US President Joe Biden, who on Monday met negotiators working alongside Qatar and Egypt to try to secure a truce deal, replied “no” when asked by reporters in Washington if he thought Netanyahu was doing enough to secure a hostage deal.
“I will not give in to pressure,” Netanyahu told the press conference, saying Israel must control Gaza’s border with Egypt to stop Hamas from rearming.
Israeli daily Haaretz said Netanyahu was “masking his motives with security concerns,” but said he was primarily concerned with his own political survival.
“His coalition... might unravel if a Gaza deal goes through,” it said.
Netanyahu again called for “maximum pressure on Hamas” and stated that “the achievement of the war’s objectives” requires control of the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border.
Adding to the pressure on Israel, Britain on Monday said it would suspend some arms exports, citing a “clear risk” they could be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law.
Meanwhile, fighting raged on in Gaza, where civil defense rescuers reported two killed, including a child, in an Israeli strike that hit a displacement camp near Khan Yunis yesterday.
The civil defense agency as well as witnesses and war correspondents reported more airstrikes and artillery shelling across southern and central Gaza.
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.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
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