Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced tonight that he is sending a delegation to Doha to negotiate the continuation of the ceasefire with the Palestinian movement Hamas, which has been in effect since January 19th.
After another exchange of Israeli hostages in Gaza for Palestinians held by Israel, Netanyahu ordered a delegation to be sent to Qatar.
Netanyahu plans to hold a security cabinet meeting on the topic tomorrow upon his return from the US, according to an Israeli government statement.
Qatar is the main mediator in the ceasefire negotiations, the first phase of which is due to end on March 1st.
Hamas announced earlier today that it is ready to resume negotiations.
(BETA)
The Israeli military announced today that it had carried out an attack on a weapons depot of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in southern Syria.
"(Air Force) fighter jets carried out an attack on a weapons depot of the Hamas terrorist organization in the Deir Ali area, in southern Syria," the statement said, adding that the weapons were intended to be used to attack Israeli soldiers.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based non-governmental organization with a vast network of sources in Syria, said there had been an attack south of Damascus but did not say whether there had been any casualties.
(BETA)
The Gaza Health Ministry said today that at least 48.181 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory during the war with Israel, AFP reports.
Hamas and Israel reached a ceasefire agreement, which came into effect on January 19, bringing a fragile peace. But the confirmed death toll, reported by the Gaza Health Ministry, continues to rise daily as bodies are found under rubble, victims are identified or people die from previous injuries sustained during the war.
In the past 48 hours, 26 new deaths have been recorded, while more than 570 previous deaths have been confirmed, according to the ministry. A total of 111.638 people have been wounded since the start of the war in October 2023. The ministry's figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Israel has repeatedly questioned the credibility of the ministry's data, which the United Nations considers reliable.
A study published in early January in the British medical journal The Lancet estimated that the number of deaths in Gaza due to hostilities during the first nine months of the war was about 40 percent higher than the data registered by the Gaza Ministry of Health.
A senior Hamas official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Israel's "lack of commitment" to the Gaza ceasefire had put the agreement at risk of collapsing.
"Israeli procrastination and lack of commitment in implementing the first phase... certainly put this agreement in danger, and it could be suspended or collapse completely," said Basem Naim, a member of Hamas' political bureau.
Hamas "does not want to continue the war" that was launched against Israel in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, senior Palestinian movement official Bassem Naim told Agence France-Presse today.
Although the second phase of ceasefire negotiations, planned for last Monday, has not yet begun, Naim said that "continuing the war is absolutely not our desire, nor our decision," and assessed that the ceasefire is "in danger."
A member of Hamas' political bureau stressed that Hamas is ready to continue negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Naim also said that Hamas is ready to participate in negotiations in Qatar on the continuation of the ceasefire in effect since January 19, with the release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons, which would lead to an end to the war.
In the interview, Naim urged Arab countries not to normalize relations with Israel, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected an agreement with Saudi Arabia.
However, Saudi authorities have said that there will be no normalization of relations with Israel without the formation of a Palestinian state, emphasizing that this position is "unwavering."
Saudi Arabia has been in talks with Israel since 2020 to normalize relations in exchange for a defense pact with Washington and support for its civilian nuclear program. However, Riyadh suspended those talks after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip. (BETA)
The Israeli Prison Service confirmed today that 183 Palestinians have been released as part of the fifth round of exchanges, this time three Israelis - hostages of the Palestinian Hamas, based on the Hamas-Israeli ceasefire agreement.
The released prisoners were sent to East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Their number matches the number announced last night by the Prisoners' Club, the Palestinian NGO responsible for this.
Israel considers these prisoners terrorists, while Palestinians see them as freedom fighters resisting decades of Israeli military occupation.
Almost every Palestinian has a friend or family member who has been imprisoned in Israel at some point for attacks or minor offenses, such as throwing stones, demonstrating, or being a member of a political group banned in Israel. Some have been held in prison for years without trial, which Israel claims is necessary to prevent attacks and to avoid sharing sensitive intelligence.
Eighteen Palestinians freed today were sentenced to life in prison, and 54 Palestinians were serving long prison sentences for their involvement in deadly attacks on Israelis. Seven convicted of the most serious crimes will be sent to Egypt, from where they will be deported to other countries.
Among those released today are 111 Palestinians who were imprisoned after the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered a war now temporarily halted by a ceasefire, the continuation of which is being negotiated. They were imprisoned without trial.
Hamas today condemned what it said was the "slow death" of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, as seven of the newly released prisoners were immediately hospitalized due to poor treatment in prisons.
Among those taken to hospital was Damal al-Twil, Hamas' political leader in the West Bank. The hospitalisations reflect "the aggression and systematic mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli prison authorities," Hamas said, adding that Israelis treat them "with contempt for their age or the health problems they have."
Among the Palestinians freed in exchanges under the truce that began on January 19 is Abu Shakadam, 49, who was sentenced to 18 life sentences for his involvement in a Hamas attack that killed dozens of Israelis during the Second Intifada - the Palestinian uprising from 2000 to 2005.
Among the most severe of these attacks was a double suicide bombing that blew up two buses in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba in 2004, killing 16 Israelis and wounding 100.
Shakadam had been on the run for weeks and was arrested in his West Bank city of Hebron in November 2004, after an exchange of fire with Israeli security forces, in which he was shot ten times.
During his 21 years in prison, his family said he graduated from high school and received a certificate in psychology courses.
Another freed Palestinian is Al Tawil (61), a prominent Hamas politician in the West Bank who spent almost two decades in Israeli prisons on and off, partly on charges of helping to plan suicide attacks.
He was last arrested by Israel in 2021 on charges of participating in violent riots and mobilizing Hamas political activists in Ramallah, the seat of the semi-autonomous Palestinian Authority – Hamas's main rival.
He has been in prison without charge or trial since then. After his arrest, he went on a hunger strike for more than three weeks.
His daughter, 32-year-old journalist Bushra al-Tawil, was among dozens of women and teenagers freed in the first round of hostage-for-prisoner swaps on January 19. Al-Tawil has also been in the hospital since her release. (BETA)
Three Israeli hostages from Gaza released today as part of the fifth round of exchanges under the Hamas-Israel ceasefire agreement looked tortured and emaciated, and were forced to speak by armed militants during a staged release ceremony.
The three were brought to the exchange site and paraded by Hamas in front of hundreds of people in Gaza. They were taken to a stage, and a masked Hamas fighter held a microphone in front of each one and made them speak to the crowd. During previous rounds of releases, the hostages had not spoken.
Eli Sharabi (52), Ohad Ben Ami (56) and Or Levi (34), kidnapped on October 7, 2023, in a Hamas attack on Israel, when around 1.200 people were killed, leading to the war that Israel launched against Gaza, were released.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel "will not accept the shocking scenes" that took place today. The statement did not announce any punitive measures for the incident, but previous chaotic hostage releases have led to delays in the reciprocal release of Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that in a "cynical and cruel spectacle" Hamas was exploiting hostages who had "spent 491 days of hell, starving, emaciated and tortured."
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the ceasefire with Hamas should still be extended so that dozens of remaining hostages can return home.
Israel confirmed that it had received three hostages who Hamas had handed over to the Red Cross. They will be returned to their families after medical examinations.
This is the fifth round of hostage exchanges for Palestinians held in Israeli jails since the Gaza ceasefire began on January 19. So far, 18 hostages and more than 550 Palestinians have been released from Israeli prisons.
The ceasefire ended a 15-month war in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli attacks have killed more than 47.000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
(BETA)
Hamas handed over three Israeli hostages to the International Red Cross in the center of the Gaza Strip today in a new, fifth round of hostage exchanges for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, under the Gaza ceasefire agreement with Israel, Agence France-Presse journalists report.
Three Israeli hostages, a visibly emaciated Ohad Ben Ami (56), who also holds German citizenship, Eli Sharabi (52) and Or Levi (34), were handed over to the Red Cross in Deir el-Balah. They were kidnapped during a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the Gaza war.
In Tel Aviv, at the so-called Hostage Square, a crowd of people watched the release of the hostages live on a large screen, reports the AP agency.
In exchange for three of its hostages, Israel is to release 183 Palestinians from its prisons, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, a non-governmental organization leading the case, announced yesterday. As stated, these are 18 prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, 54 sentenced to heavy prison sentences and 111 arrested in Gaza after October 7, 2023, who have not yet been tried.
This is the fifth exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners since the ceasefire began on January 19. So far, 18 hostages and more than 550 Palestinians have been released from Israeli prisons.
Dozens of masked and armed Hamas fighters, some in white pickup trucks with mounted rifles, were securing the exchange near the main north-south road in central Gaza.
A small group of onlookers gathered at the site, while a line of Hamas fighters kept them at a distance from the makeshift stage.
Observers have expressed concern that US President Donald Trump's stunning proposal to move the Palestinian population from Gaza and for the US to take control of the territory could undermine this fragile agreement.
The ceasefire halted a 15-month war in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli retaliation has killed more than 47.000 people, according to the Hamas Health Ministry. (BETA)
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