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Hamas delegation in Egypt receives new Gaza truce plan - reports
Hamas negotiators in Cairo have received a new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, calling for a 60-day truce and hostage release in two batches, a Palestinian official said on Monday.
“The proposal is a framework agreement to launch negotiations on a permanent ceasefire,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that “Hamas will hold internal consultations among its leadership” and with leaders of other Palestinian factions to review the proposal.
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Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, said on Monday it had decided to exclude six companies with connections to the West Bank and Gaza from its portfolio, following a review of its Israeli investments.
The $2tn wealth fund did not name the companies it had decided to exclude, but said these would be made public once the divestment was completed, Reuters reports.
The announcement follows an urgent review launched this month after reports that the fund had built a stake in an Israeli jet engine group that provides services to Israel’s armed forces, including the maintenance of fighter jets.
The fund’s ethics council watchdog said it would continue to assess Israeli companies every quarter.
Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty, visiting the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Monday, said that “as we speak now, there are Palestinian and Qatari delegations present on Egyptian soil working to intensify efforts to put an end to the systematic killing and starvation”, AFP reports.
Last week, Abdelatty said that Cairo was working with Qatar and the United States to broker a 60-day truce “with the release of some hostages and some Palestinian detainees and the flow of humanitarian and medical assistance to Gaza without restrictions”.
More than two weeks of negotiations in the Qatari capital Doha ended last month with no breakthrough.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer has been urged to recall parliament to “impose immediate sanctions” on Israel in a joint letter signed by politicians in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, PA Media reports.
The letter urges the prime minister to “act now” to exert pressure on Israel to end the war in Gaza.
It has been signed by Northern Ireland’s first minister Michelle O’Neill, Alliance party leader Naomi Long, SDLP leader Claire Hanna, the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn and the convener of the party’s Holyrood group Stuart McMillan.
Other co-signatories include co-leader Lorna Slater of Scottish Greens, Alistair Carmichael from the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth and Plaid Cymru’s Westminster group leader Liz Saville Roberts.
The letter says: “The humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza is both man-made and avoidable.
“It is characterised not only by relentless bombardment and destruction, but by the deliberate creation of conditions that are starving a civilian population.
“The blocking of food, water, and medical supplies has precipitated what UN agencies and humanitarian experts describe as a man-made famine; one that is rapidly claiming lives and inflicting irreparable harm on an already traumatised population.”
It calls upon Starmer to recall Parliament, impose sanctions on Israel and “support a ceasefire and meaningful diplomatic intervention to protect civilians and secure a just, lasting peace”.
It also calls for an immediate end to all arms sales to Israel, support for an “independent, international investigations into alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide in Gaza”.
The letter also says the UK should use its “diplomatic influence to press for the unimpeded delivery of food, water, medicine, and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza”.
It adds: “The UK’s moral standing and commitment to human rights will be measured by its response to this crisis.
“We urge you to act decisively by standing against the man-made famine, the mass killing of children, and the broader assault on civilian life.
“History will remember whether we chose to remain silent or to stand on the side of humanity.”
Hamas delegation in Egypt receives new Gaza truce plan - reports
Hamas negotiators in Cairo have received a new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, calling for a 60-day truce and hostage release in two batches, a Palestinian official said on Monday.
“The proposal is a framework agreement to launch negotiations on a permanent ceasefire,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that “Hamas will hold internal consultations among its leadership” and with leaders of other Palestinian factions to review the proposal.
Hamas delegation in Egypt receives new Gaza truce plan, AFP reports.
More to follow …
Gaza’s journalists are talented, professional and dignified. That’s why Israel targets them
Nesrine Malik
The first time I met Al Jazeera’s Gaza team lead, Tamer Almisshal, was in July last year. His team had already buried two journalists, Hamza al-Dahdouh and Samer Abu Daqqa. The rest, he told me, were hungry. They were also dealing with trying to get hold of protective gear, threats from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the killing of family members. Ismail al-Ghoul hadn’t seen his wife and child in months and was missing them intensely. Hossam Shabat, Mohammed Qraiqea and Anas al-Sharif were asking for time to secure food in the morning before they could start reporting. Today, they are all dead.
I spoke with various members of the Gaza team while writing a profile of Gaza’s veteran reporter Wael al-Dahdouh, who lost his wife, three of his children and grandson. All spoke of their work as a duty that needed to be carried out despite the risks. Three members of that team have since been killed in a chain of assassinations. Each time I sent condolences, the response was always that the coverage would not cease. “We are continuing,” the Gaza editor told me last week, after he lost his entire Gaza City team in the targeted strike that claimed the lives of Sharif, Mohammed Nofal, Ibrahim Thaher and Qraiqea. “We will not betray their message, or their last wishes.”
Read the full piece here:
Iran will continue talks with the IAEA - the UN nuclear watchdog - and the two sides will probably have another round of negotiations in the coming days, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, according to Reuters.
Here are some images coming to us over the wires.
US envoy Tom Barrack called on Israel to honour its commitments under a ceasefire that ended its war with Hezbollah, after the Lebanese government launched a process to disarm the militant group.
Under the truce agreement, weapons in Lebanon were to be restricted to the state, and Israel was to fully withdraw its troops from the country, although it has kept forces in five border points it deems strategic.
“I think the Lebanese government has done their part. They’ve taken the first step. Now what we need is Israel to comply with that equal handshake,” Barrack said following a meeting in Beirut with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, AFP reports.
Tens of thousands of protesters gather in Tel Aviv to pressure Israeli government to halt military campaign
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv on Sunday evening to demand an end to the war in Gaza and the release of hostages – one of the largest demonstrations in Israel since the start of the fighting in October 2023.
The evening rally was the culmination of a day of protest and a general strike to pressure the government to halt the military campaign.
“Bring them all home! Stop the war!” shouted the vast crowd, which had converged on the so-called Hostage Square in Tel Aviv plaza – a focal point for protesters throughout the war.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum, the initiator of the day of protest, estimated that about 500,000 people joined the demonstration in Tel Aviv – a figure not confirmed by the police. “We demand a comprehensive and achievable agreement and an end to the war,” said Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan and a leading figure of the protest movement.
In other developments:
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Amnesty International on Monday accused Israel of enacting a “deliberate policy” of starvation in Gaza, citing testimonies of displaced Palestinians and medical staff treating malnourished children in the territory. Israel, while heavily restricting aid allowed into the Gaza Strip, has repeatedly rejected claims of deliberate starvation in the 22-month-old war. Contacted by AFP, the military and foreign ministry did not immediately comment on Amnesty’s findings.
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The Australian government cancelled the visa of a far-right Israeli politician on Monday ahead of a speaking tour, a move event organisers tagged “viciously antisemitic”. Simcha Rothman, whose party is part of Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, had been scheduled to speak at events organised by the Australian Jewish Association.
