WASHINGTON DC: Israel has broadly accepted a ceasefire deal with Hamas, a senior US official said Saturday, as the first American air drops of humanitarian aid were carried out over war-ravaged Gaza.
The framework agreement envisages a six-week cessation of hostilities, which could begin immediately if the Palestinian militant group signs off on the release of the most vulnerable hostages it holds, the official told reporters on a call.
“The Israelis have more or less accepted it,” the administration official said. “Right now, the ball is in the camp of Hamas.”
The announcement came hours after US military cargo planes began airdropping humanitarian aid into the besieged Gaza Strip.
The United Nations has warned of famine in Gaza, and more than 100 people were left dead earlier this week in a frenzied scramble for food from a truck convoy delivering aid, with Israeli forces opening fire on the crowd.
Saturday’s drop, which included 38,000 meals, was conducted “to provide essential relief to civilians affected by the ongoing conflict,” the US Central Command said.
A CENTCOM official told AFP that the meals were made up of US military rations that did not contain pork, the consumption of which is prohibited by Islam.
Negotiators from regional powers have been working around the clock to secure a Gaza truce by the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in about one week.
“It will be a six-week ceasefire in Gaza starting today if Hamas agrees to release the defined category of vulnerable hostages... the sick, the wounded, elderly and women,” the administration official said.
Hamas militants took about 250 hostages during their unprecedented cross-border attack on Israel on October 7, 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 31 that Israel says are presumed dead. It was unclear how many of the remaining hostages are deemed vulnerable.
The United States hopes any truce would create space for a more enduring peace. A Hamas delegation was expected to fly to Cairo on Saturday for talks on a truce, a source close to the group told AFP.
The administration official said a ceasefire would also allow a “significant surge” in humanitarian aid to Gaza, with airdrops not seen as a replacement for full-scale relief convoys.
“None of these — maritime corridors, airdrops — are an alternative to the fundamental need to move assistance through as many land crossings as possible. That’s the most efficient way to get aid in at scale,” a second US official told reporters.
The brutal October 7 attack by Hamas resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, according to official figures.
Israel responded with a relentless assault on Hamas-controlled Gaza that has taken a devastating toll on civilians trapped there, killing more than 30,000 people, according to the territory’s health ministry.
The amount of aid brought into Gaza by truck has plummeted during nearly five months of war, and Gazans are facing dire shortages of food, water and medicines.
Some foreign militaries have airdropped supplies to Gaza, sending long lines of aid pallets floating down into the war-torn territory on parachutes.
Jordan has been conducting many of the operations with the support of countries including Britain, France and the Netherlands, while Egypt sent several military planes on an air drop Thursday together with the United Arab Emirates.
Biden has pushed Israel to reduce civilian casualties and allow aid in, while at the same time he has maintained military assistance for the key US ally.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby described the airdrops as a “tough military operation” that required careful planning by the Pentagon for the safety of both Gazan civilians and US military personnel.
Israel on board with Gaza peace deal, as US airdrops begin
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Israel on board with Gaza peace deal, as US airdrops begin
- International mediators have been working for weeks to broker a deal to pause fighting
- Ball is in Hamas’ camp now, says senior US administration official on Gaza peace deal
Israeli military intercepts missile launched from Yemen, army says
Israel has carried out numerous retaliatory airstrikes on Houthi targets
CAIRO: The Israeli military’s aerial defense system intercepted a missile launched from Yemen on Thursday following alarms sounding in several areas of Israel, the army said in a statement.
The Iran-backed Houthis have been launching missiles and drones at Israel as well as attacking numerous vessels in global shipping lanes, in a campaign that they say is aimed at showing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel has been fighting a war in Gaza since a deadly raid by the Palestinian militant group Hamas into southern Israel in October 2023.
Israel has carried out numerous retaliatory airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
The launch, the second in two days, coincides with US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Gulf. Trump announced earlier in May that he reached a ceasefire with Yemen’s Houthis that would halt attacks on US vessels.
Tunisia Jewish pilgrimage sees low turn out amid security concerns
- The pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue, Africa’s oldest, has in the past drawn thousands of pilgrims from Europe, Israel and beyond
- This year’s activities were restricted to indoor events at the place of worship
DJERBA, Tunisia: Only about 30 people turned up Thursday at this year’s Jewish pilgrimage on Tunisia’s island of Djerba amid safety concerns following a deadly 2023 attack and as the war in Gaza rages on.
The pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue, Africa’s oldest, has in the past drawn thousands of pilgrims from Europe, Israel and beyond, attracting international and local tourists as well.
But after a 2023 deadly attack on the synagogue that killed two worshippers and three police officers, fewer pilgrims have been turning out to make the pilgrimage.
“It has been difficult for people to come, given what’s happening in the world,” Rene Trabelsi, the event organizer, told AFP.
“The pilgrimage has gone through many difficult periods in its history,” he said.
This year’s activities were restricted to indoor events at the place of worship.
“In 30 years, I have never seen the Ghriba synagogue so empty,” said Khoudhir Hanya, the synagogue’s manager.
“Usually even a week beforehand, pilgrims begin to arrive — sometimes up to 1,000 people.”
Earlier this month, a knife attack injured a local Jewish jeweller, but Trabelsi said it was unclear whether it was motivated by anti-Semitism, as authorities have not provided further details.
The pilgrimage is at the heart of Jewish tradition in Tunisia, where only about 1,500 members of the faith still live — mainly on Djerba. Many have left for Israel and France.
Organizers say more than 5,000 people, mostly from abroad, attended the pilgrimage in 2023, whereas up to 8,000 pilgrims had attended in previous years.
Security at the synagogue had already been tightened after previous attacks.
A suicide truck bombing in 2002, claimed by Al-Qaeda, killed 21 at the synagogue, and another attack in 1985 killed four worshippers and a police officer.
US top diplomat Rubio meets Syrian counterpart; discuss Israel, human rights
- Rubio underscored the critical importance of protecting the human rights of all Syrians
ANTALYA: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani in Turkiye on Thursday, the State Department said in a statement.
“(Rubio) welcomed the Syrian government’s calls for peace with Israel, efforts to end Iran’s influence in Syria, commitment to ascertaining the fate of US citizens missing or killed in Syria, and elimination of all chemical weapons,” the department said.
“The Secretary underscored the critical importance of protecting the human rights of all Syrians regardless of ethnicity or religion,” the department said.
UN rules out role in US-backed foundation’s Gaza aid operation
- UN participates in aid operations if they are in accordance with its basic principles, spokesperson says
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations on Thursday ruled out involvement with a new US-backed foundation for aid to Gaza, as Israel’s months-long blockade brings severe shortages to the war-battered territory.
“I made it clear that we participate in aid operations if they are in accordance with our basic principles,” said UN spokesman Farhan Haq.
“As we’ve stated repeatedly, this particular distribution plan does not accord with our basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality, independence, and we will not be participating in this,” he added.
The US State Department said last week the non-governmental foundation would soon announce its plans, effectively sidelining the UN.
Israel has imposed a blockade for over two months on Gaza, leading UN agencies and other humanitarian groups to warn of shrinking fuel and medicine supplies to the territory of 2.4 million Palestinians.
Since returning to office in January, US President Donald Trump has stopped the vast majority of the country’s international assistance.
Israel has already leveled most of Gaza’s buildings following militants’ unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on the country.
But it has rejected claims that a humanitarian crisis is unfolding and has vowed to increase pressure on Hamas.
Israel has long criticized involvement of the UN, seeing it as biased, and has banned work of the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees.
Little is known about the new organization, although a listing in Switzerland showed the establishment in February of the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.”
Swiss newspaper Le Temps earlier reported that the foundation was looking to hire “mercenaries” to work in the distribution of aid, sparking alarm in Amnesty International’s Swiss chapter.
Haq said: “The UN have a plan, an excellent plan, that is ready to be implemented as soon as we’re allowed to do our work.”
“I’ve talked about how we have trucks ready to go. We have more than 171,000 metric tons of food, on top of other life-saving supplies, and they’re ready to go the minute that Israel opens the gates,” he added.
But Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, called on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to “recalculate” the body’s approach to what would be a “major” operation.
He added that Israel would not be contributing to its costs, but would allow it to go ahead.
“We will not fund those efforts. We will facilitate them,” he said.
“We will enable them. Some of them will have to cross through territory that we operate, but we will definitely not fund them.”
At UN Nakba commemoration, Palestinian president urges action on Gaza
UNITED NATIONS: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, at a UN event Thursday commemorating the Nakba, urged more action to end the war in Gaza, linking the historical displacement during Israel’s creation to the current conflict.
The United Nations has since 2023 commemorated the “Nakba” — “catastrophe” in Arabic — which refers to the flight and expulsion of an estimated 700,000 Palestinians during the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
This year the anniversary is particularly painful, as Palestinians say history is being repeated in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Tens of thousands have been killed in Gaza and an aid blockade threatens famine, while Israeli leaders continue to express a desire to empty the territory of Palestinians as part of the war sparked by Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack.
“History is indelible and justice is not time bound,” Abbas said in a speech read out here by the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour.
“Today we stand before you, not only to commemorate the somber anniversary, but to renew the pledge that the ‘Nakba’ was not and will not be the permanent and inevitable faith of our people.”
Abbas said the war Israel has been waging for 19 month is a continuation of the “Nakba,” with the world standing by as Israel engages in “genocide” and starvation.
He said Israel’s goal was to remove the Palestinians from Gaza and steal land that should be part of a sovereign Palestinian state.
“The time has come for real and effective international action to stop this historic injustice and ongoing tragedy which has become a disgrace to humanity,” Abbas said.
The UN General Assembly is scheduled to hold a conference in June to promote a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It will be co-sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia.
“Peace will require tangible, irreversible and permanent progress toward the two-state solution, an end to the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with Gaza as integral part,” said Khaled Khiari, assistant secretary-general for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific.
