Blinken calls for push to get Gaza truce deal over ‘finish line’

People and first responders inspect the rubble of a collapsed residential building that was hit by Israeli bombardment in the Saraya area in Al-Rimal in central Gaza City on January 4, 2025. (AFP)
People and first responders inspect the rubble of a collapsed residential building that was hit by Israeli bombardment in the Saraya area in Al-Rimal in central Gaza City on January 4, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 06 January 2025
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Blinken calls for push to get Gaza truce deal over ‘finish line’

People and first responders inspect the rubble of a collapsed residential building that was hit by Israeli bombardment.
  • “We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks, the time we have remaining,” Blinken told a news conference in South Korea
  • Israel has sent a team of mid-ranking officials to Qatar for talks brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators

JERUSALEM/CAIRO: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Monday for a final push for a Gaza ceasefire before President Joe Biden leaves office, after a Hamas official told Reuters the group had cleared a list of 34 hostages as first to go free under a truce.
“We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks, the time we have remaining,” Blinken told a news conference in South Korea, when asked whether a ceasefire deal was close.
Israel has sent a team of mid-ranking officials to Qatar for talks brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Some Arabic media reports said David Barnea, the head of Mossad, who has been leading negotiations, was expected to join them. The Israeli prime minister’s office did not comment.
It remains unclear how close the two sides remain, with some signs of movement but little indication of a shift in some of the key demands that have so far blocked any truce for more than a year.
US President-elect Donald Trump has said there would be “hell to pay” in the Middle East if hostages held by Hamas were not freed before his inauguration on Jan. 20, now viewed in the region as an unofficial deadline for a truce deal.
According to Gaza health officials, nearly 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza. The assault was launched after Hamas fighters stormed Israeli territory in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, by Israeli tallies.
More than 100 hostages are still believed to be held in Gaza, and Hamas says it will not free them without an agreement that ends the war with Israeli withdrawal. Israel says it will not halt its assault until Hamas is dismantled as a military and governing power and all hostages go free.
A Hamas official told Reuters the group had cleared a list submitted by Israel of 34 hostages who could be freed in the initial phase of a truce. The list provided by the official included female soldiers, plus elderly, female and minor-aged civilians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the list had been given by Israel to Qatari mediators as far back as July, and Israel had so far received no confirmation or comment from Hamas about whether the hostages on it were alive.
“Israel will continue to act relentlessly for the return of all our hostages,” it said in a statement.
Baby dies of cold
Israeli forces, which have intensified their operations in recent weeks, continued bombardments across the enclave, killing at least 48 people and wounding 75 over the past 24 hours, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Harsh winter weather continued to exact a toll on the hundreds of thousands displaced into makeshift shelters, with officials saying a 35-day-old baby had died of exposure, at least the eighth victim of the cold in the past two weeks.
Officials from Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip said an Israeli airstrike at a school compound sheltering displaced families had wounded at least 40 people.
While Israel’s military says Hamas has largely been destroyed as an organized military force, its fighters continue to hold out in the rubble of Gaza, which has been largely reduced to wasteland by the months of bombardment.
On Monday, three rockets were fired from Gaza, one of which hit a building in the nearby Israeli city of Sderot without casing casualties, Israeli police said.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a separate Palestinian territory where violence has also surged since the start of the Gaza war, gunmen killed three Israelis and wounded several others when they opened fire on a car and bus near the Israeli settlement of Kedumim.


UAE president stresses regional peace during meeting with Turkish foreign minister

UAE president stresses regional peace during meeting with Turkish foreign minister
Updated 6 sec ago
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UAE president stresses regional peace during meeting with Turkish foreign minister

UAE president stresses regional peace during meeting with Turkish foreign minister
  • Leaders examined the strategic relationship between Ankara and Abu Dhabi

LONDON: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan at the Qasr Al-Shati palace in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

They examined the strategic relationship between Ankara and Abu Dhabi, seeking ways to enhance it according to their mutual interests, the Emirates News Agency reported.

Sheikh Mohamed and Fidan discussed regional and international issues, highlighting developments in the Middle East. They stressed the necessity of fostering regional peace and stability in a way that benefits all nations.

The meeting was attended by several senior officials, including Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the deputy chairman of the Presidential Court for Special Affairs; Sheikh Mohamed bin Hamad bin Tahnoun Al-Nahyan, the adviser to the UAE president; Ali bin Hammad Al-Shamsi, the secretary-general of the Supreme Council for National Security; and Khalifa Shaheen Al-Marar, the minister of state.


Emir of Qatar discusses ties in phone call with India PM Modi

Emir of Qatar discusses ties in phone call with India PM Modi
Updated 45 min 36 sec ago
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Emir of Qatar discusses ties in phone call with India PM Modi

Emir of Qatar discusses ties in phone call with India PM Modi
  • The leaders shared perspectives on regional and international developments of mutual concern

LONDON: The Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani discussed ties with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a phone call on Tuesday.

The leaders discussed ways to strengthen the relationship between Doha and New Delhi. They also shared perspectives on regional and international developments of mutual concern, according to the Qatar News Agency.

Sheikh Tamim visited India last February to enhance bilateral collaboration between the two countries in areas such as trade, investment, energy, and finance.


UN urges probe into 'disturbing' video of abducted Libyan MP

UN urges probe into 'disturbing' video of abducted Libyan MP
Updated 42 min 53 sec ago
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UN urges probe into 'disturbing' video of abducted Libyan MP

UN urges probe into 'disturbing' video of abducted Libyan MP
  • UNSMIL said it was “alarmed” by Ibrahim el-Dirsi’s “enforced disappearance”
  • It described circulating images of his detention as “disturbing“

TRIPOLI: The UN mission in Libya on Tuesday called for an independent investigation into images of an abducted member of the country’s eastern-based parliament that showed signs of torture.
In a statement, UNSMIL said it was “alarmed” by Ibrahim el-Dirsi’s “enforced disappearance” and described circulating images of his detention as “disturbing.”
Dirsi, a member of the Libyan house of representatives, was kidnapped in May 2024 in Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city which he represents.
The North African country has been mired in unrest since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
It remains split between the UN-recognized Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli, and a rival eastern administration backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
On Monday, Libya’s Al-Ahrar TV aired photos and a video showing Dirsi, apparently in a prison cell, wearing only shorts and chained with a padlock around his neck.
UNSMIL said it had asked UN digital forensic experts to verify the footage’s authenticity.
Tripoli’s GNU described the conditions in the images as “degrading, shocking and inhumane.”
It criticized the “so-called General Command,” referring to Haftar’s forces, after the video appeared to show Dirsi pleading for forgiveness.
The pro-Haftar Al-Masar TV channel quoted lawmakers as saying the images were “fabricated” and “produced using artificial intelligence.”
The eastern-based interior ministry blamed “unidentified criminals affiliated with a gang,” saying the case was under “thorough investigation.”
UNSMIL also condemned “widespread and systemic abuses in detention facilities by law enforcement and security actors in Benghazi, Tripoli, Sabha, and other locations across Libya.”
It said “arbitrary detentions, abductions, torture, enforced disappearances and deaths in custody are serious human rights violations and may constitute international crimes that can be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court.”
“Libyan authorities must ensure these practices immediately cease and that perpetrators are brought to justice,” the statement added.
In 2019, Siham Sergewa, another representative in Benghazi, was abducted from her home shortly after criticizing Haftar on television. She remains missing.


Attack on MSF hospital in South Sudan was deliberate, UN rights commission says

Attack on MSF hospital in South Sudan was deliberate, UN rights commission says
Updated 54 min 43 sec ago
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Attack on MSF hospital in South Sudan was deliberate, UN rights commission says

Attack on MSF hospital in South Sudan was deliberate, UN rights commission says
  • “This was not a tragic accident. It was a calculated, unlawful attack on a protected medical facility,” Sooka
  • “The aerial bombing of the MSF hospital in Old Fangak is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law”

NAIROBI: A bombing attack on a Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital and pharmacy in South Sudan over the weekend was deliberate and may amount to a war crime, the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said on Tuesday.
MSF said on Saturday that at least seven people had been killed and 20 wounded in South Sudan’s Fangak county when a bomb was dropped on the pharmacy, burning it to the ground and damaging the hospital, followed by another drone attack on Old Fangak, a town in the Greater Upper Nile region.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack, which came on the heels of air strikes and heavy clashes in the region in recent months between national forces and an ethnic militia allegedly allied with First Vice President Riek Machar.
“This was not a tragic accident. It was a calculated, unlawful attack on a protected medical facility,” Yasmin Sooka, chair of the commission, said in a statement.
“The aerial bombing of the MSF hospital in Old Fangak is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and could amount to a war crime ...
“Targeting medical facilities and services violates the Geneva Conventions and represents a direct assault on foundations of humanitarian action that are intended to protect civilians in conflict zones.”
Information Minister Michael Makuei did not respond to requests for comment.
South Sudan has officially been at peace since a deal in 2018 ended a five-year civil war between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and fighters loyal to Machar.
But the house arrest of Machar in March on accusations of trying to start a rebellion has sparked international concern that conflict could reignite.


Druze near Damascus resist demand to turn in arms as tensions boil

Druze near Damascus resist demand to turn in arms as tensions boil
Updated 06 May 2025
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Druze near Damascus resist demand to turn in arms as tensions boil

Druze near Damascus resist demand to turn in arms as tensions boil
  • Such violence threatens the new government’s control of Syria
  • Syrian authorities have negotiated deals to allow Druze fighters to protect their own areas

JARAMANA, Syria: Druze residents near Syrian Arab Republic’s capital are resisting a demand by the Islamist-led government to hand in their light weapons, saying authorities have yet to address fears of new attacks by Sunni Muslim militants after days of sectarian violence.
Clashes last week pitted Sunni fighters against armed Druze residents of the town of Jaramana southeast of Damascus, later spreading to another district near the capital and then south to the predominantly Druze province of Sweida.
Such violence threatens the new government’s control of Syria, where armed gangs are attacking religious minorities and Israel is stepping up its military intervention under the banner of protecting the Druze community.
Syrian authorities have negotiated deals to allow Druze fighters to protect their own areas as enlisted members of Syria’s security forces, but this week asked that all weapons held by residents of these areas be turned in to the state.
“We told them, as soon as there is a state capable of regulating its forces, we’ll have no problem handing in our weapons,” said Makram Obeid, a member of the Jaramana committee that is negotiating with the Syrian government.
Obeid said his committee had told government officials it would be better for them to focus on disarming the gangs now harassing minorities.
“It’s our right to be scared, because we saw what happened in other areas,” he told Reuters, an apparent reference to killings in March of hundreds of civilians from the Alawite minority to which former President Bashar Assad belongs.
It was the deadliest episode of sectarian violence in years in Syria, where a 14-year war ended last December when rebels toppled Assad, who fled to Russia.
“People want to feel safe. It’s enough to have (more than) 11 years of killing, strikes, and worries,” Obeid said. “And we’re coming to another phase that we thought, with the collapse of the regime, would leave us in a much better place. But until now, we don’t feel reassured.”
Fahad Haydar, a resident of Jaramana, echoed those fears.
“These weapons that are turned against us — that’s what we’re afraid of. If those weapons get handed in, then we’ll hand in ours,” he told Reuters.

SEEKING GUARANTEES
Mowaffaq Abu Shash, a Druze cleric in Jaramana, said the Druze had already compromised enough.
“We take one step, they ask for a second. We take the second step, they ask for a third,” he said. “We ask for a guarantee that what happened on the coast will not happen to us.”
One influential Druze spiritual leader, Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hajjri, has called for international intervention to protect his community from Syria’s leaders, whom he has branded “terrorists.”
The Druze, an Arab minority sect who practice a religion originally derived from Islam, live in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel has vowed to protect Syria’s Druze militarily if they face threats.
Last week’s violence was ignited by a voice recording purportedly cursing the Prophet Muhammad, which Sunni militants suspect was made by a Druze. More than a dozen people were killed in Jaramana before the violence spread west and south.
It also drew in Israel, which carried out a drone strike on what it said were fighters preparing to attack Druze in the town of Sahnaya, west of Jaramana. A Syrian security source told Reuters one member of the security forces was killed in the strike.
As the clashes reached Sweida province, Israel bombed near the presidential palace in Damascus — the clearest sign yet of its hostility toward Syria’s new leaders.
Syria’s interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa once headed a branch of Al-Qaeda before renouncing ties to the group in 2016.