Connect with us
  • tg

Stock Markets

Gaza ceasefire plan for hostage release awaits Hamas response

letizo News

Published

on

5/5
Gaza ceasefire plan for hostage release awaits Hamas response
© Reuters. Dahlia Cooper hangs a picture of her father-in-law Amiram Cooper, who was kidnapped on the deadly October 7 attack by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel,

2/5

By Jonathan Landay, Maya Gebeily, Andrew Mills and Nidal al-Mughrabi

WASHINGTON/BEIRUT/DOHA (Reuters) – Hamas is studying a three-phase Gaza ceasefire plan that would secure the release of most Israeli hostages but does not yet commit Israel to end its war with the Palestinian militant group, according to sources with knowledge of the proposal.

The viability of the plan formulated by U.S., Israeli and Egyptian spy chiefs and Qatar’s prime minister hinges on whether or not Hamas, which rules the enclave, will agree to the first phase without agreeing to a permanent end to the war – thus far a core demand of the group.

“We don’t know and we cannot predict what Hamas’ response will be,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister, said on Monday.

Hamas told Reuters in a statement on Tuesday the proposal would involve three stages, including the release of hostages held by the group and Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. The statement corroborated some details of the framework provided to Reuters by two sources briefed on the proposal.

Men, children, the elderly and wounded would be released in the first stage, the statement said, and the plan had been sent to Gaza to obtain the opinion of Hamas leaders there. “After that, the Hamas leadership will meet to discuss the paper and express its final opinion on it,” the statement said.

More than 100 Israeli hostages are still held, following the release of a similar number in an earlier truce in November that involved the release of scores of Palestinian prisoners.

Versions of the phased ceasefire framework have been under discussion since late December, but Israel did not sign onto the concept until David Barnea, the Mossad chief, met his U.S. and Egyptian counterparts and Sheikh Mohammed in Paris on Sunday.

Egyptian sources said Qatar, Egypt and Jordan would guarantee that Hamas adheres to any agreement, while the U.S. and France would do the same on the Israeli side. Reuters was unable to establish what assurances the guarantors would be able to offer.

Israeli officials did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, who says the group is open to all ideas that will lead to an end to Israel’s Gaza offensive, announced on Tuesday he would visit Cairo to discuss the plan.

WOMEN, CHILDREN, THE ELDERLY

Its first phase would consist of a pause in fighting and the release of elderly, civilian women and children hostages, said a source briefed on the Paris talks and a second source with in-depth knowledge of the talks and their results. Major deliveries of food and medicine to Gaza, facing a ruinous humanitarian crisis, would resume, according to both sources.

The sources differed on how long the first stage ceasefire would last, but two of them said it would be set for at least a month.

The second phase would see the releases of female Israeli soldiers, and another increase in aid deliveries and restoration of utility services to Gaza, and the third phase would see the release of the bodies of deceased Israeli troops in exchange for Palestinian prisoners freed, the two sources said.

The Hamas statement said the second phase would also involve the release of male military recruits.

“Military operations on both sides will stop during the three stages,” it said. The number of Palestinian prisoners to be released is to be left to the negotiation process “at every stage, with the Israeli side preparing to release those with high sentences,” the Hamas statement said.

    Both sources said that although Israel has not committed to a permanent ceasefire, the ultimate aim of this phased approach is a fourth phase in which the war would end and Hamas would release male IDF soldiers held captive in exchange for Israel’s release of additional Palestinian prisoners held in jail.

“There is a consensus on the concept of the framework, but critical details of each phase still need to be worked out,” said an official briefed on the negotiations.

If Hamas does agree to the framework proposal it could still take days or weeks to settle logistical details of the ceasefire and the release of hostages and prisoners, the official said.

During the talks preceding the truce in November, the indirect chain of communication between Hamas leaders based in the group’s Gaza tunnels and Israeli officials broke several times because of power outages amid intense fighting, a source briefed on those talks said at that time.

The current behind-the-scenes discussions are proceeding in tandem with a public standoff in which both sides in the conflict appear to want to pressure the other by issuing statements ruling out various potential concessions.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not quit Gaza or free thousands of Palestinian prisoners, while Hamas ally Islamic Jihad said it would not engage in any understandings on hostages without ensuring a comprehensive ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

A far-right partner in Netanyahu’s coalition, Itamar Ben-Gvir, threatened on Tuesday to quit the government over any attempt to enter a “reckless” deal with Hamas on the hostages.

‘WHAT REALLY MATTERS’

It was not immediately clear whether such public positioning reflected developments in the backroom discussions.

The framework agreed in Paris is based on elements of an initial proposal made by Israel and a counterproposal made by Hamas, Sheikh Mohammed said at Washington’s Atlantic Council think tank on Monday.

“We tried to blend things together to come up with some sort of reasonable ground that brings everybody together,” he said.

The source with in-depth knowledge of the proposal said it could still be amended.

“The number of days or hostage calculations can change, but with this approach it allows for a sort of win-win shaped by what really matters to the two sides,” the source said.

Significant gaps remain, almost four months after Hamas fighters killed 1,200 people and took 253 others hostage on Oct. 7 in a bloody rampage through southern Israel towns.

    Israel has responded by bombarding the narrow, densely populated Gaza Strip, killing more than 26,000 Palestinians and turning the enclave into a wasteland of rubble.

    The source with in-depth knowledge of the talks said the discussions in Paris were “productive,” but that the deal could only move forward if both Hamas and Israel received robust guarantees from its backers.

   By leaving the issue of male hostages from the Israeli Defense Forces to the end, the source said, Hamas could be made to feel it retained some leverage over the Israeli military.

Stock Markets

Palantir, Anduril join forces with tech groups to bid for Pentagon contracts, FT reports

letizo News

Published

on

(Reuters) – Data analytics firm Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:) and defense tech company Anduril Industries are in talks with about a dozen competitors to form a consortium that will jointly bid for U.S. government work, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

The consortium, which could announce agreements with other tech groups as early as January, is expected to include SpaceX, OpenAI, autonomous shipbuilder Saronic and artificial intelligence data group Scale AI, the newspaper said, citing several people with knowledge of the matter.

“We are working together to provide a new generation of defence contractors,” a person involved in developing the group told the newspaper.

The consortium will bring together the heft of some of Silicon Valley’s most valuable companies and will leverage their products to provide a more efficient way of supplying the U.S. government with cutting-edge defence and weapons capabilities, the newspaper added.

Palantir, Anduril, OpenAI, Scale AI and Saronic did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. SpaceX could not be immediately reached for a comment.

Reuters reported earlier this month that President-elect Donald Trump’s planned U.S. government efficiency drive involving Elon Musk could lead to more joint projects between big defense contractors and smaller tech firms in areas such as artificial intelligence, drones and uncrewed submarines.

Musk, who was named as a co-leader of a government efficiency initiative in the incoming government, has indicated that Pentagon spending and priorities will be a target of the efficiency push, spreading anxiety at defense heavyweights such as Boeing (NYSE:) , Northrop Grumman (NYSE:) , Lockheed Martin (NYSE:) and General Dynamics (NYSE:) .

Musk and many small defense tech firms have been aligned in criticizing legacy defense programs like Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet while calling for mass production of cheaper AI-powered drones, missiles and submarines.

Such views have given major defense contractors more incentive to partner with emerging defense technology players in these areas.

Continue Reading

Stock Markets

Weakened Iran could pursue nuclear weapon, White House’s Sullivan says

letizo News

Published

on

By Simon Lewis (JO:)

(Reuters) -The Biden administration is concerned that a weakened Iran could build a nuclear weapon, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday, adding that he was briefing President-elect Donald Trump’s team on the risk.

Iran has suffered setbacks to its regional influence after Israel’s assaults on its allies, Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, followed by the fall of Iran-aligned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Israeli strikes on Iranian facilities, including missile factories and air defenses, have reduced Tehran’s conventional military capabilities, Sullivan told CNN.

“It’s no wonder there are voices (in Iran) saying, ‘Hey, maybe we need to go for a nuclear weapon right now … Maybe we have to revisit our nuclear doctrine’,” Sullivan said.

Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful, but it has expanded uranium enrichment since Trump, in his 2017-2021 presidential term, pulled out of a deal between Tehran and world powers that put restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activity in exchange for sanctions relief.

Sullivan said that there was a risk that Iran might abandon its promise not to build nuclear weapons.

“It’s a risk we are trying to be vigilant about now. It’s a risk that I’m personally briefing the incoming team on,” Sullivan said, adding that he had also consulted with U.S. ally Israel.

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, could return to his hardline Iran policy by stepping up sanctions on Iran’s oil industry.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo

Sullivan said Trump would have an opportunity to pursue diplomacy with Tehran, given Iran’s “weakened state.”

“Maybe he can come around this time, with the situation Iran finds itself in, and actually deliver a nuclear deal that curbs Iran’s nuclear ambitions for the long term,” he said.

Continue Reading

Stock Markets

Ukraine says Russian general deliberately targeted Reuters staff in August missile strike

letizo News

Published

on

(Reuters) -Ukraine’s security service has named a Russian general it suspects of ordering a missile strike on a hotel in eastern Ukraine in August and said he acted “with the motive of deliberately killing employees of” Reuters.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a statement on Friday that Colonel General Alexei Kim, a deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff, approved the strike that killed Reuters safety adviser Ryan Evans and wounded two of the agency’s journalists on Aug. 24.

In a statement posted on Telegram messenger the SBU said it was notifying Kim in absentia that he was an official suspect in its investigation into the strike on the Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk, a step in Ukrainian criminal proceedings that can later lead to charges.

In a separate, 15-page notice of suspicion, in which the SBU set out findings from its investigation, the agency said that the decision to fire the missile was made “with the motive of deliberately killing employees of the international news agency Reuters who were engaged in journalistic activities in Ukraine”.

The document, which was published on the website of the General Prosecutor’s Office on Friday, said that Kim had received intelligence that Reuters staff were staying in Kramatorsk. It added that Kim would have been “fully aware that the individuals were civilians and not participating in the armed conflict”.

The Russian defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the SBU’s findings and has not replied to previous questions about the attack. The Kremlin also did not respond to a request for comment. Kim did not reply to messages sent by Reuters to his mobile telephone seeking comment about the SBU’s statement and whether the strike deliberately targeted Reuters staff.

The SBU did not provide evidence to support its claims, nor say why Russia targeted Reuters. In response to questions from the news agency, the security agency declined to provide further details, saying its criminal investigation was still under way and it was therefore not able to disclose such information.

Reuters has not independently confirmed any of the SBU’s claims.

Reuters said on Friday: “We note the news today from the Ukrainian security services regarding the missile attack on August 24, 2024, on the Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk, a civilian target more than 20 km from Russian-occupied territory.”

“The strike had devastating consequences, killing our safety adviser, Ryan Evans, and injuring members of our editorial team. We continue to seek more information about the attack. It is critically important for journalists to be able to report freely and safely,” the statement said.

Reuters declined to comment further on the allegation that its staff were deliberately targeted.

The SBU statement said Kim had been named a suspect under two articles of the Ukrainian criminal code: waging an aggressive war and violating the laws and customs of war.

“It was Kim who signed the directive and gave the combat order to fire on the hotel, where only civilians were staying,” it said.

Evans, a 38-year-old former British soldier who had worked as a safety adviser for Reuters since 2022, was killed instantly in the strike.

The SBU statement gave some details about how the strike had occurred, according to its investigation.

“To carry out the attack, the Russian colonel general involved one of his subordinate missile forces units,” the Ukrainian agency said, adding that the strike was carried out with an Iskander-M ballistic missile.

The SBU did not identify the specific unit.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Reuters safety advisor Ryan Evans holds a cat during a news assignment, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, during intense shelling in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, December 26, 2022. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo

Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey, a videographer for the news agency who was in a room across the corridor, was seriously wounded. Kyiv-based text correspondent Dan Peleschuk was also injured.

The remaining three members of the Reuters team escaped with minor cuts and scratches.

Continue Reading

Trending

©2021-2024 Letizo All Rights Reserved