Hamas urges US pressure on Israel as Netanyahu says ‘no deal in the making’

Hamas urges US pressure on Israel as Netanyahu says ‘no deal in the making’
Smoke rises after an explosion in Gaza, seen from the Israel-Gaza border, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, Sept. 3, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 06 September 2024
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Hamas urges US pressure on Israel as Netanyahu says ‘no deal in the making’

Hamas urges US pressure on Israel as Netanyahu says ‘no deal in the making’
  • Both sides have traded blame over stalling talks for a ceasefire and hostage exchange
  • Netanyahu insists that Israel must retain control over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: Hamas called on the United States Thursday to “exert real pressure” on Israel to reach a Gaza ceasefire agreement as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there is no deal in the making.

The two sides have traded blame over stalling talks for a ceasefire and hostage exchange as Netanyahu faces pressure to seal a deal that would free remaining captives, after Israeli authorities announced on Sunday the deaths of six whose bodies were recovered from a Gaza tunnel.

“If the US administration and its President (Joe) Biden really want to reach a ceasefire and complete a prisoner exchange deal, they must abandon their blind bias toward the Zionist occupation,” Hamas’s Qatar-based lead negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya said, calling on the US to “exert real pressure on Netanyahu and his government.”

But Netanyahu told US talk show Fox & Friends: “There is not a deal in the making... Unfortunately, it’s not close but we will do everything we can to get them to the point where they do make a deal and at the same time we prevent Iran from resupplying Gaza as this great terror enclave.”

Netanyahu insists that Israel must retain control over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border to prevent weapons smuggling to Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel started the war.

Hamas is demanding complete Israeli withdrawal from the area and on Thursday said Netanyahu’s position “aims to thwart reaching an agreement.”

The Palestinian militant group says a new deal is unnecessary because they agreed months ago to a truce outlined by Biden.

“We do not need new proposals,” Hamas said in a statement.

“We warn against falling into the trap of Netanyahu... who uses negotiations to prolong the aggression against our people,” the group said.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby nonetheless said that Washington believes a ceasefire deal is 90 percent agreed.

But he added that “nothing is negotiated until everything is negotiated, and the things that are still in play right now are very, very detailed... issues, and that’s when things get difficult.”

At Israeli protests in several cities this week, Netanyahu’s critics have blamed him for hostages’ deaths, saying he has refused to make necessary concessions for striking a ceasefire deal.

“We’ll do everything so that all hostages will be with us. And if the leaders don’t want to sign a deal, we’ll make them,” said Gil Dickmann, cousin of Carmel Gat, one of the six hostages whose bodies were found in a Gaza tunnel last week.

Dickmann took part in an anti-government rally at Tel Aviv on Thursday evening, where crowds of demonstrators carried symbolic coffins in a procession, an AFP journalist reported.

Key mediator Qatar has said that Israel’s approach was “based on an attempt to falsify facts and mislead world public opinion by repeating lies.”

Such moves “will ultimately lead to the demise of peace efforts,” Qatar’s foreign ministry warned.

The October 7 attack by Hamas resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians including some hostages killed in captivity, according to official Israeli figures.

Of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the attack, 97 remain in Gaza including 33 the Israeli military says are dead. Scores were released during a one-week truce in November.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has so far killed at least 40,878 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Most of the dead are women and children, according to the UN rights office.

Strikes continued across Gaza on Thursday, with medics and rescuers reporting a total of 12 dead in separate attacks in the north and south of the territory.

While Israel presses its Gaza offensive, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the military should use its “full strength” against Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.

“These terrorist organizations that have various names, whether in Nur Al-Shams, Tulkarem, Faraa or Jenin, must be wiped out,” he said, referring to cities and refugee camps where an Israeli military operation is underway.

The Israeli military said Thursday its aircraft “conducted three targeted strikes on armed terrorists” in the Tubas area, which includes Faraa refugee camp.

A strike on a car killed five men aged 21 to 30 and wounded two others, the territory’s health ministry said.

Eyewitnesses told AFP they saw a large number of Israeli troops storming Faraa camp, where explosions were heard.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said the Israeli military handed over the dead body of a 17-year-old, after medics were prevented from reaching him when he was wounded.

Israel has killed at least 36 Palestinians across the northern West Bank since its assault there started on August 28, according to figures released by the health ministry, including children and militants.

One Israeli soldier was killed in Jenin, where the majority of the Palestinian fatalities have been.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has left the territory in ruins, with the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure blamed for the spread of disease.

The humanitarian crisis has led to Gaza’s first polio case in 25 years, prompting a massive vaccination effort launched Sunday with localized “humanitarian pauses” in fighting.

Nearly 200,000 children in central Gaza have received a first dose, the World Health Organization said, and a second stage got underway Thursday in the south, before medics move north.

The campaign aims to fully vaccinate more than 640,000 children, with second doses due in about four weeks.

Louise Wateridge, spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), warned however that the vaccination drive in the south may not reach all children, as some do not reside in the designated humanitarian zones where Israel has agreed not to strike.


Sudan volunteers help families give Khartoum war dead proper burials

Sudan volunteers help families give Khartoum war dead proper burials
Updated 3 sec ago
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Sudan volunteers help families give Khartoum war dead proper burials

Sudan volunteers help families give Khartoum war dead proper burials
  • Teams of workers in dust-streaked white hazmat suits comb vacant lots, looking for the spots where survivors say they buried their loved ones
  • Each body is disinfected, wrapped and labelled by Red Crescent volunteers before being transported to Al-Andalus cemetery
KHARTOUM: In Sudan’s war-scarred capital Khartoum, Red Crescent volunteers have begun the grisly task of exhuming the dead from makeshift plots where they were buried during the fighting so their families can give them a proper funeral.
Teams of workers in dust-streaked white hazmat suits comb vacant lots, looking for the spots where survivors say they buried their loved ones.
Mechanical diggers peel back layers of earth under the watchful eye of Hisham Zein Al-Abdeen, head of the city’s forensic medicine department.
“We’re finding graves everywhere – in front of homes, inside schools and mosques,” he said, surveying the scene.
“Every day we discover new ones.”
Here, in the southern neighborhood of Al-Azhari, families buried their loved ones wherever they could, as fighting raged between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
When war broke out in April 2023, the RSF quickly swept through Khartoum, occupying entire districts as residents fled air and artillery bombardments and street fighting.
In March, the army and its allies recaptured the capital in a fierce offensive.
It is only now, after the front lines of the conflict moved elsewhere, that bereaved families can give their loved ones a proper burial.
“My daughter was only 12,” said Jawaher Adam, standing by a shallow makeshift grave, tears streaming down her face.
“I had only sent her out to buy shoes when she died. We couldn’t take her to the cemetery. We buried her in the neighborhood,” she said.
Months on, Adam has come to witness her daughter’s reburial – this time, she says, with dignity.
Each body is disinfected, wrapped and labelled by Red Crescent volunteers before being transported to Al-Andalus cemetery, 10 kilometers (six miles) away.
“It’s painful,” said Adam, “but to honor the dead is to give them a proper burial.”
Many of the war’s deadliest battlegrounds have been densely populated residential districts, often without access to hospitals to care for the wounded or count the dead.
That has made it nearly impossible to establish a firm death toll for the war.
Former US envoy Tom Perriello has said that some estimates suggest up to 150,000 people were killed in the conflict’s first year alone.
In the capital, more than 61,000 people died during the first 14 months of war – a 50 percent increase on the pre-war death rate – according to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Of those deaths, 26,000 were attributed to violence.
At first glance, the vacant lot in Al-Azhari where Red Crescent volunteers are digging seems to be full of litter – pieces of wood, bricks, an old signpost.
Look more closely, however, and it becomes clear they have been placed in straight lines, each one marking a makeshift grave.
Volunteers exhumed 317 graves in that one lot, Zein Al-Abdeen said.
Similar mass graves have been uncovered across the capital, he said, with 2,000 bodies reburied so far.
But his team estimates there could be 10,000 bodies buried in makeshift graves across the city.
At the exhumation site, grieving mothers watch on silently, their hands clasped tightly to their chest.
They, like Adam, are among the lucky few who know where their loved ones are buried. Many do not.
At least 8,000 people were reported missing in Sudan last year, in what the International Committee of the Red Cross says is only “the tip of the iceberg.”
For now, authorities label unclaimed bodies, and keep their details on file.
With the bodies now exhumed, the community can have some degree of closure, and the vacant lot can be repurposed.
“Originally, this site was designated as a school,” said Youssef Mohamed Al-Amin, executive director of Jebel Awliya district.
“We’re moving the bodies so it can serve its original purpose.”
The United Nations estimates that up to two million people may return to Khartoum state by the end of the year – but much depends on whether security and basic services can be restored.
Before the war, greater Khartoum was home to nine million people, according to the UN Development Programme, but the conflict has displaced at least 3.5 million.
For now, much of the capital remains without power or running water, as hospitals and schools lie in ruins.

Foreign ministers of five countries condemn Israeli plan to seize Gaza City

Foreign ministers of five countries condemn Israeli plan to seize Gaza City
Updated 09 August 2025
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Foreign ministers of five countries condemn Israeli plan to seize Gaza City

Foreign ministers of five countries condemn Israeli plan to seize Gaza City
  • Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City, escalating military operations in the devastated Palestinian territory

GAZA: The foreign ministers of Australia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom on Friday strongly condemned the Israeli Security Cabinet’s decision to launch a new large-scale military operation in Gaza.

“The plans that the Government of Israel has announced risk violating international humanitarian law,” the ministers said in a joint statement.

Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City, escalating military operations in the devastated Palestinian territory. The move drew renewed criticism at home and abroad on Friday, as concerns mounted over the nearly two-year-old war. 

 


Turkiye hails US-brokered Armenia-Azerbaijan deal

Turkiye hails US-brokered Armenia-Azerbaijan deal
Updated 09 August 2025
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Turkiye hails US-brokered Armenia-Azerbaijan deal

Turkiye hails US-brokered Armenia-Azerbaijan deal
  • “At a time when international conflicts and crises are intensifying, this step constitutes a highly significant development for the promotion of regional peace and stability

ISTANBUL: Turkiye hailed an agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan as progress toward a “lasting peace” on Friday after US President Donald Trump declared the foes had committed to permanently end hostilities.

“We welcome the progress achieved toward establishing a lasting peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and the commitment recorded in Washington today in this regard,” Turkiye’s foreign ministry said, in a statement.

“At a time when international conflicts and crises are intensifying, this step constitutes a highly significant development for the promotion of regional peace and stability. We commend the contributions of the US administration in this process.”

 


Hunger and disease spreading in war-torn Sudan, WHO says

Hunger and disease spreading in war-torn Sudan, WHO says
Updated 08 August 2025
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Hunger and disease spreading in war-torn Sudan, WHO says

Hunger and disease spreading in war-torn Sudan, WHO says
  • 770,000 children under 5 years old are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year

LONDON: Hunger and disease are spreading in war-torn Sudan, with famine already present in several areas, 25 million people acutely food insecure, and nearly 100,000 cholera cases recorded since last July, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

Sudan’s conflict between the army and rival Rapid Support Forces has displaced millions and split the country into rival zones of control, with the RSF still deeply embedded in western Sudan, and funding cuts are hampering humanitarian aid.

“Relentless violence has pushed Sudan’s health system to the edge, adding to a crisis marked by hunger, illness, and despair,” WHO Senior Emergency Officer Ilham Nour said in a statement.

BACKGROUND

Cholera has hit a camp for Darfur refugees in neighboring eastern Chad, the UN refugee agency said on Friday.

“Exacerbating the disease burden is hunger,” she said, adding that about 770,000 children under 5 years old are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year.

Cholera has also hit a camp for Darfur refugees in eastern Chad, the UN refugee agency said on Friday.

The World Health Organization said nearly 100,000 cholera cases had been reported in Sudan since July last year.

An outbreak in the Dougui refugee settlement has so far resulted in 264 cases and 12 deaths, said Patrice Ahouansou, UNHCR’s situation coordinator in the region, leading the agency to suspend the relocation of refugees from the border with Sudan to prevent new cases.

“Without urgent action, including enhancing access to medical treatment, to clean water, to sanitation, to hygiene, and most importantly, relocation from the border, many more lives are on the line,” Ahouansou told a briefing in Geneva.

Oral cholera vaccination campaigns had been conducted in several states, including the capital Khartoum, he told a press conference with the Geneva UN correspondents’ association ACANU.

“While we are seeing a declining trend in numbers, there are gaps in disease surveillance, and progress is fragile,” he said.

“Recent floods, affecting large parts of the country, are expected to worsen hunger and fuel more outbreaks of cholera, malaria, dengue, and other diseases.”

Cholera is an acute intestinal infection that spreads through food and water contaminated with bacteria, often from feces. It causes severe diarrhea, vomiting, and muscle cramps.

Cholera can kill within hours when not attended to, though it can be treated with simple oral rehydration and antibiotics for more severe cases.

There has been a global increase in cholera cases and their geographical spread since 2021.

“In Sudan, unrelenting violence has led to widespread hunger, disease, and suffering,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“Cholera has swept across Sudan, with all states reporting outbreaks. Nearly 100,000 cases have been reported since July last year.”

As for hunger, Tedros said there were reports from El-Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur state, that people were eating animal feed to survive.

“In the first six months of this year, nutrition centers supported by WHO have treated more than 17,000 severely malnourished children with medical complications. But many more are beyond reach,” Tedros warned.

The UN health agency’s efforts were being hindered by limited access and a lack of funding, he added, with the WHO having received less than a third of the money it had appealed for to provide urgent health assistance in Sudan.

The WHO director-general said that as long as the violence continues in Sudan, “we can expect to see more hunger, more displacement and more disease.”

 


Plans to take Gaza City are met with defiance from war-weary Palestinians and anger by many Israelis

Plans to take Gaza City are met with defiance from war-weary Palestinians and anger by many Israelis
Updated 08 August 2025
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Plans to take Gaza City are met with defiance from war-weary Palestinians and anger by many Israelis

Plans to take Gaza City are met with defiance from war-weary Palestinians and anger by many Israelis
  • “What does (Israel) want from us? ... There is nothing here to occupy,” said a woman in Gaza City
  • Ruby Chen, a dual US-Israeli citizen whose son, Itay, is a hostage held in Gaza, told AP that the decision puts the remaining hostages in danger

TEL AVIV: Israel’s decision to take over Gaza City was met with resignation and defiance by Palestinians who have survived two years of war and repeated raids. Many Israelis responded with fear and anger, worried it could be a death sentence for hostages held in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday that Israel would intensify its 22-month war with Hamas by taking over Gaza City, large parts of which have been destroyed by past bombardment and ground incursions.

A major ground operation is almost sure to cause more mass displacement and worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis.

“What does (Israel) want from us? ... There is nothing here to occupy,” said a woman in Gaza City who identified herself as Umm Youssef. “There is no life here. I have to walk every day for more than 15 minutes to get drinking water.”

Ruby Chen, a dual US-Israeli citizen whose son, Itay, is a hostage held in Gaza, told The Associated Press that the decision puts the remaining hostages in danger.

“What is the plan now that is different from the last 22 months?” he said.

Ehud Olmert, a former prime minister and harsh critic of Netanyahu, told the AP “there’s not any objective that can be achieved that’s worth the cost of the lives of the hostages, the soldiers” and civilians, echoing concerns expressed by many former top security officials in Israel.

‘I will die here’

Netanyahu says military pressure is key to achieving Israel’s war goals of returning all the hostages and destroying Hamas. On Thursday, he told Fox News that Israel intends to eventually take over all of Gaza and hand it over to a friendly Arab civilian administration.

But Hamas has survived nearly two years of war and several large-scale ground operations, including in Gaza City. In a statement, the militant group said the people of Gaza would “remain defiant against occupation” and warned Israel that the incursion “will not be a walk in the park.”

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled Gaza City in the opening weeks of the war, the first of several mass displacements. Many returned during a ceasefire earlier this year. Now, residents say they are too busy searching for food and trying to survive amid the city’s bombed-out buildings and tent camps to think about another exodus.

“I have no intention to leave my home, I will die here,” said Kamel Abu Nahel from the city’s urban Shati refugee camp.

Israel already controls and has largely destroyed around 75 percent of the Gaza Strip, with most of its population of some 2 million Palestinians now sheltering in Gaza City, the central city of Deir Al-Balah and the sprawling displacement camps in the Muwasi area along the coast.

The offensive has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians. It says women and children make up around half the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and other experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of casualties, while Israel disputes them.

Ismail Zaydah said he and his family had remained in Gaza City throughout the war.

“This is our land, there is no other place for us to go,” he said. “We are not surrendering ... We were born here, and here we die.”

‘This madman called Netanyahu’

Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that started the war and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Though most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals, 50 are still in Gaza, less than half of them believed by Israel to be alive.

Relatives of many of the hostages and their supporters have repeatedly protested against the continuation of the war, demanding that Israel reach a ceasefire with Hamas that would include the return of their loved ones. The long-running talks broke down last month.

“Somebody’s got to stop this madman called Netanyahu,” said Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is held hostage. He said faith in the United States to help is also dwindling. “I lost hope with Donald Trump ... he’s letting Netanyahu just do whatever he likes,” he said.

But other Israelis voiced support for the decision.

“They need to go after Hamas,” said Susan Makin, a Tel Aviv resident. “Why are they not asking why Hamas has not given back the hostages and put (down) their arms?”

The agony around the plight of the hostages has worsened in recent days as Palestinians militants have released videos showing two of the captives emaciated and pleading for their lives. Families fear their loved ones, who may be held in other parts of Gaza, are running out time.

Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general and chairman of Israel’s Defense and Security Forum, said there are a few hostages in Gaza City and the army will have to decide how to manage the situation.

He said they might be able to surround the hostages and negotiate directly with their captors or leave those areas untouched. Under pressure, Hamas might decide to release the captives, he said.

That strategy carries great risk. Last year, Israeli forces recovered the bodies of six hostages who were killed by their captors when troops approached the tunnel where they were being held.