Gaza mediators intensify ceasefire efforts, Israeli strikes kill 20 people

A Palestinian boy looks as others inspect the damage at a tent camp sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Al-Mawasi area, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, December 18, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 19 December 2024
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Gaza mediators intensify ceasefire efforts, Israeli strikes kill 20 people

  • Palestinian official close to the negotiations said that mediators had narrowed gaps on most of the agreement’s clauses
  • He said Israel had introduced conditions which Hamas rejected but would not elaborate

CAIRO: The United States, joined by Arab mediators, sought on Wednesday to conclude an agreement between Israel and Hamas to halt the 14-month-old war in the Gaza Strip where medics said Israeli strikes killed at least 20 Palestinians overnight.
A Palestinian official close to the negotiations said on Wednesday that mediators had narrowed gaps on most of the agreement’s clauses. He said Israel had introduced conditions which Hamas rejected but would not elaborate.
On Tuesday, sources close to the talks in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, said an agreement could be signed in coming days on a ceasefire and a release of hostages held in Gaza in return for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people in a house in the northern town of Beit Lahiya while six were killed in separate airstrikes in Gaza City, Nuseirat camp in central areas, and Rafah near the border with Egypt.
In Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, medics said four people were killed in an airstrike on a house. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military spokesman.
Israeli forces have operated in the towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya as well as the nearby Jabalia camp since October, in a campaign the military said aimed to prevent Hamas militants from regrouping.
Palestinians accuse Israel of carrying out acts of “ethnic cleansing” to depopulate the northern edge of the enclave to create a buffer zone. Israel denies it.
Hamas does not disclose its casualties, and the Palestinian health ministry does not distinguish in its daily death toll between combatants and non-combatants.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it struck a number of Hamas militants planning an imminent attack against Israeli forces operating in Jabalia.
Later on Wednesday, Muhammad Saleh, director of Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, said Israeli shelling in the vicinity damaged the facility, wounding seven medics and one patient inside the hospital.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
In the Central Gaza camp of Bureij, Palestinian families began leaving some districts after the army posted new evacuation orders on X and in written and audio messages to mobile phones of some of the population there, citing new firing of rockets by Palestinian militants from the area.

CEASEFIRE GAINS MOMENTUM
The US administration, joined by mediators from Egypt and Qatar, has made intensive efforts in recent days to advance the talks before President Joe Biden leaves office next month.
In Jerusalem, Israeli President Isaac Herzog met Adam Boehler, US President-elect Donald Trump’s designated envoy for hostage affairs. Trump has threatened that “all hell is going to break out” if Hamas does not release its hostages by Jan. 20, the day Trump returns to the White House.
CIA Director William Burns was due in Doha on Wednesday for talks with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on bridging remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas, other knowledgeable sources said. The CIA declined to comment.
Israeli negotiators were in Doha on Monday looking to bridge gaps between Israel and Hamas on a deal Biden outlined in May.
There have been repeated rounds of talks over the past year, all of which have failed, with Israel insisting on retaining a military presence in Gaza and Hamas refusing to release hostages until the troops pulled out.
The war in Gaza, triggered by a Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw more than 250 abducted as hostages, has sent shockwaves across the Middle East and left Israel isolated internationally.
Israel’s campaign has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, displaced most of the 2.3 million population and reduced much of the coastal enclave to ruins. 


Jordan-Syria coordination council will strengthen ties, King Abdullah says

Updated 22 May 2025
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Jordan-Syria coordination council will strengthen ties, King Abdullah says

  • Nations’ leaders speak after deal signed to establish new body
  • Ahmed Al-Sharaa praises Jordan’s support for Syria

LONDON: King Abdullah II of Jordan and Syrian Arab Republic interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa spoke on Thursday about bilateral relations and regional developments.

The telephone conversation came after the two countries this week signed an agreement to establish the Higher Coordination Council, which aims to strengthen collaboration in key sectors such as water, energy and trade.

The king said the new body would institutionalize cooperation and maximize opportunities for both nations. He also reiterated his support for Syrians and the country’s security, stability and territorial integrity, the Jordan News Agency reported.

Al-Sharaa praised Jordan’s support for enhancing Syria’s international presence after both the EU and US this month announced the lifting of Assad-era sanctions on the country.

The two leaders also emphasized the need to increase efforts to stabilize southern Syria and improve border security.


Sweden to charge militant over Jordanian pilot burnt to death in Syria: prosecutor

Updated 22 May 2025
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Sweden to charge militant over Jordanian pilot burnt to death in Syria: prosecutor

  • Prosecutors plan to charge the Swedish citizen with “serious war crimes and terrorist crimes in Syria“

STOCKHOLM: Prosecutors said Thursday they plan to indict a convicted Swedish militant for his suspected involvement in the 2014 capture of a Jordanian pilot in Syria and burning him to death in a cage.

Sweden’s Prosecution Authority said in a statement it planned to charge a 32-year-old Swedish citizen on May 27 with “serious war crimes and terrorist crimes in Syria.”

The man, Osama Krayem, has already been sentenced for his involvement in the 2015 attacks in Paris and the attacks in Brussels a year later.


Summer comes early for Iraq with 49 degrees Celsius in Basra

Updated 22 May 2025
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Summer comes early for Iraq with 49 degrees Celsius in Basra

  • In Iraq, summer temperatures often exceed 50 degrees Celsius, especially in July and August

BAGHDAD: Summer has come early for Iraq this year with temperatures hitting 49 degrees Celsius (topping 120 degrees Fahrenheit) in the southern city of Basra on Thursday, the national weather center said.

“It is the highest temperature recorded in Iraq this year,” weather center spokesperson Amer Al-Jabiri told AFP.

He said the early heat was in contrast to last year, when the temperature was “relatively good” in May and “it only began to rise in June.”

In Iraq, summer temperatures often exceed 50 degrees Celsius, especially in July and August, and sometimes reach these levels earlier.

On Sunday, two cadets died and others were admitted to hospital with heat stroke at a military academy in the southern province of Dhi Qar, authorities said.

The defense ministry said nine cadets “showed signs of fatigue and exhaustion due to sun exposure” while waiting to be assigned to battalions.

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani ordered an investigation into the deaths of the two cadets.

Iraq is one of the five countries most impacted by some effects of climate change, according to the United Nations. It has also seen a prolonged drought and frequent dust storms.


Israel army issues evacuation warning for 14 areas of north Gaza

Updated 22 May 2025
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Israel army issues evacuation warning for 14 areas of north Gaza

  • The army told residents that it was operating with intense force

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army issued an evacuation warning on Thursday for 14 neighborhoods in the northern Gaza Strip, including parts of Beit Lahia and Jabalia.

The army told residents in an Arabic-language statement that it was “operating with intense force in your areas, as terrorist organizations continue their activities and operations” there.

A similar warning for parts of northern Gaza was issued on Wednesday evening in what the army said was a response to rocket fire.

It said that one “projectile that was identified crossing into Israel from the northern Gaza Strip was intercepted” by the air force.

It later announced three more launches from northern Gaza, but said the projectiles had fallen inside the Palestinian territory.

Israel has ramped up its Gaza operations in recent days in what it says is a renewed push to destroy Hamas.

The territory’s civil defense agency said Israeli attacks had killed at least 19 people on Thursday.


Turkiye’s Erdogan says Damascus must keep focused on Kurdish SDF deal

Updated 22 May 2025
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Turkiye’s Erdogan says Damascus must keep focused on Kurdish SDF deal

  • Ankara views the SDF and its factions as a terrorist group

ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Syria’s government must keep focused on its deal with the Kurdish, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) under which it is to integrate into the Syrian armed forces, pressing Damascus for its implementation.

Speaking to reporters on a flight from Budapest, he said Turkiye, Syria, Iraq and the United States had a committee to discuss the fate of Daesh militants in prison camps in northeast Syria, which have been run by the SDF for years.

Ankara views the SDF and its factions as a terrorist group.

“We are especially following the YPG issue very, very closely. It is important for the Damascus administration not to take its attention away from this issue,” his office on Thursday cited him as saying. The YPG militia spearheads the SDF.

He added that Iraq should focus on the issue of the camps, as most women and children at the Al-Hol camp there were from Iraq and Syria, and that Iraq should repatriate its nationals.