Gaza’s Rafah border crossing will stay closed by means of Wednesday, Israel says
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will keep closed by means of Wednesday and the move of assist into the Palestinian enclave shall be diminished, three Israeli officers stated on Tuesday.
The choice got here after Palestinian militant group Hamas didn’t hand over our bodies of hostages it’s holding as a part of the brand new US-brokered ceasefire deal, the officers stated, with out elaborating on how lengthy the transfer would final.
Hamas beforehand indicated that recovering the our bodies of some useless hostages might take longer, as not all burial websites amid the widespread rubble of Gaza are recognized.
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Hamas says it would return our bodies of 4 Israeli hostages tonight
Hamas has advised mediators it plans to switch the our bodies of 4 deceased Israeli hostages to Israel at 10pm native time (7pm GMT) on Tuesday, an official concerned within the operation has advised Reuters.
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Solely half the variety of agreed assist vehicles shall be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip from Wednesday, with a ban on gasoline and fuel, in accordance with the Israeli authorities physique often called Coordination of Authorities Actions within the Territories (Cogat).
In a press release, Cogat stated Hamas had violated the settlement by not releasing the our bodies of useless Israeli hostages.
It learn:
Yesterday, Hamas violated the settlement relating to the discharge of the our bodies of the hostages held within the Gaza Strip.
In consequence, the political management has determined to impose a lot of sanctions associated to the humanitarian settlement that was reached.
Beginning tomorrow, solely half of the agreed variety of vehicles — 300 vehicles — shall be allowed to enter, and all of them will belong to the UN and humanitarian NGOs, with no non-public sector involvement.
No gasoline or fuel shall be allowed into the strip, apart from particular wants associated to humanitarian infrastructure.
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The day to this point
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will keep closed by means of Wednesday and the move of assist into the Palestinian enclave shall be diminished, three Israeli officers stated on Tuesday. The choice got here after Palestinian militant group Hamas didn’t hand over our bodies of hostages it’s holding as a part of the brand new US-brokered ceasefire deal, the officers stated, with out elaborating on how lengthy the transfer would final.
A nephew of late Palestinian chief Yasser Arafat has returned to the West Financial institution after 4 years of self-exile, outlining a roadmap to safe peace in Gaza with Hamas remodeling right into a political occasion and declaring his readiness to assist govern. Nasser al-Qudwa, a outstanding critic of the present Palestinian management, additionally urged “a critical confrontation of corruption on this nation”.
A few of the close to 2,000 Palestinian prisoners launched on Monday are affected by a spread of well being issues they developed throughout years in Israeli detention, medical doctors and freed prisoners within the occupied West Financial institution advised the Related Press. The Palestine Medical Complicated in Ramallah obtained 14 males launched on Monday as a part of the trade and discharged all however two.
The European Union ought to maximise its affect in Gaza’s restoration course of and be a part of a US-proposed “Board of Peace” meant to quickly oversee governance of the territory, the EU’s diplomatic arm stated in a doc seen by Reuters. Israel and the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas carried out a hostage-prisoner trade on Monday and a ceasefire is in drive beneath the primary section of president Donald Trump’s 20-point initiative for Gaza after two years of warfare.
The Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal that halts two years of armed battle in Gaza presents a chance for a long-lasting financial restoration within the area, the Worldwide Financial Fund’s deputy chief economist stated on Tuesday. Petya Koeva-Brooks stated the IMF stands able to cooperate with the worldwide group on the restoration of Gaza and regional economies which have been deeply affected by the battle, together with Egypt and Jordan.
The Hostages and Lacking Households Discussion board, the primary Israeli group campaigning for the discharge of all hostages, has stated that Hamas’s failure to launch all the our bodies “should be met with a critical response”. On Monday, Hamas launched the ultimate 20 residing hostages taken on 7 October 2023, whereas Israel handed over practically 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees as a part of Donald Trump’s 20-point plan.
Egyptian international minister Badr Abdelatty advised the Related Press forward of Monday’s summit that 15 Palestinian technocrats have been chosen to manage postwar Gaza. He stated their names had been already vetted by Israel, with out disclosing them. “We have to deploy them to maintain the day by day lifetime of the individuals in Gaza, and the board of peace ought to assist and supervise the move of finance and cash, which is able to come for the reconstruction of Gaza,” he stated, referring to a board that might govern Gaza and be chaired by US president Donald Trump.
The ICRC has acknowledged that it’ll take time at hand over the stays of Israeli hostages in Gaza, calling it a “huge problem” given the difficulties of discovering our bodies amid the territory’s rubble. “That’s an excellent greater problem than having the individuals alive being launched. That’s an enormous problem,” the ICRC’s spokesperson Christian Cardon was quoted by Reuters as having stated.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez has stated the Israel-Hamas ceasefire settlement should not come on the expense of holding accountable these accountable for the “genocide” in Gaza. “Peace can’t imply forgetting; it can’t imply impunity,” he stated throughout an interview with Cadena Ser radio.
Israel’s army stated it opened hearth on individuals who it says approached Israeli forces working within the northern Gaza Strip. The army stated the individuals in query had crossed a boundary for an preliminary Israeli pullback beneath the US-brokered ceasefire plan, in a violation of the deal.
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A nephew of late Palestinian chief Yasser Arafat has returned to the West Financial institution after 4 years of self-exile, outlining a roadmap to safe peace in Gaza with Hamas remodeling right into a political occasion and declaring his readiness to assist govern.
Nasser al-Qudwa, a outstanding critic of the present Palestinian management, additionally urged “a critical confrontation of corruption on this nation”. He stated president Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Motion wanted deep reform and should do extra to counter Jewish settler violence within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution.
“The primary obligation … is to regain confidence of the road – one thing that we misplaced – and we now have to be courageous sufficient and say that we don’t have it anymore, and with out it, frankly, it’s ineffective,” Qudwa advised Reuters in an interview.
Qudwa left the West Financial institution in 2021 after he was expelled from Fatah, the motion based by his uncle, over his choice to discipline his personal checklist in elections, defying Abbas who cancelled the vote.
Abbas, 89, readmitted Qudwa to Fatah final week, after providing an amnesty for expelled members.
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A few of the close to 2,000 Palestinian prisoners launched on Monday are affected by a spread of well being issues they developed throughout years in Israeli detention, medical doctors and freed prisoners within the occupied West Financial institution advised the Related Press (AP).
The Palestine Medical Complicated in Ramallah obtained 14 males launched on Monday as a part of the trade and discharged all however two. Docs inspecting the boys stated their situations instructed they’d been crushed.
“It signifies that these sufferers had been subjected to extreme beatings, reflecting the extent of the violence they endured,” stated Imed al-Shami, a resident physician on the hospital’s emergency division.
The AP couldn’t independently confirm the claims. The Israel Jail Service stated it was unaware of such claims.
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The European Union ought to maximise its affect in Gaza’s restoration course of and be a part of a US-proposed “Board of Peace” meant to quickly oversee governance of the territory, the EU’s diplomatic arm stated in a doc seen by Reuters.
Israel and the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas carried out a hostage-prisoner trade on Monday and a ceasefire is in drive beneath the primary section of president Donald Trump’s 20-point initiative for Gaza after two years of warfare.
However necessary particulars of how you can safe a long-lasting peace nonetheless need to be labored out, together with on governance and safety preparations, and EU international ministers will meet in Luxembourg on Monday to debate how Europe can contribute to Trump’s plan.
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The Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal that halts two years of armed battle in Gaza presents a chance for a long-lasting financial restoration within the area, the Worldwide Financial Fund’s deputy chief economist stated on Tuesday.
Petya Koeva-Brooks stated the IMF stands able to cooperate with the worldwide group on the restoration of Gaza and regional economies which have been deeply affected by the battle, together with Egypt and Jordan.
She stated Egypt’s outlook had already been upgraded to 4.3% actual GDP development in 2025 and 4.5% in 2026 due to a restoration in tourism and a lift to the non-oil manufacturing sector.
These sectors have offset declines in Egypt’s conflict-hit Suez Canal revenues, however she stated Suez and mining actions had been anticipated to get better in 2026.
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Up to date at 10.37 EDT
Gaza’s Rafah border crossing will stay closed by means of Wednesday, Israel says
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will keep closed by means of Wednesday and the move of assist into the Palestinian enclave shall be diminished, three Israeli officers stated on Tuesday.
The choice got here after Palestinian militant group Hamas didn’t hand over our bodies of hostages it’s holding as a part of the brand new US-brokered ceasefire deal, the officers stated, with out elaborating on how lengthy the transfer would final.
Hamas beforehand indicated that recovering the our bodies of some useless hostages might take longer, as not all burial websites amid the widespread rubble of Gaza are recognized.
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The Hostages and Lacking Households Discussion board, the primary Israeli group campaigning for the discharge of all hostages, has stated that Hamas’s failure to launch all the our bodies “should be met with a critical response”.
On Monday, Hamas launched the ultimate 20 residing hostages taken on 7 October 2023, whereas Israel handed over practically 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees as a part of Donald Trump’s 20-point plan.
The IDF earlier confirmed the id of two of the 4 our bodies (Man Illouz and Bipin Joshi) of deceased hostages it obtained yesterday. See publish at 10.01 for extra particulars.
Bereaved households of the 24 different useless Israeli and international hostages have expressed anger and sorrow that their beloved one’s stays had been additionally not handed over yesterday.
In a press release posted to X earlier at this time, the Hostages and Lacking Households Discussion board wrote:
The households of the hostages and the returned embrace the households of Man Illouz and Bipin Joshi, together with two further households whose family members had been lately returned for correct burial.
Alongside the grief and the understanding that their hearts won’t ever be complete, the return of Man and Bipin, might their reminiscences be a blessing, along with two further deceased hostages, brings some measure of consolation to households who’ve lived with agonising uncertainty and doubt for over two years. We is not going to relaxation till all 24 hostages are introduced house.
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What points are nonetheless to be resolved within the Gaza ceasefire deal?
My colleagues Archie Bland and Peter Beaumont have executed a helpful explainer on the unresolved points surrounding the ceasefire settlement, which remains to be in its early levels of its implementation. Listed here are a number of the predominant points they’ve recognized:
Up to now, Israel has pulled again from Gaza’s main cities, to a “yellow line” which means it occupies about 53% of the territory. In principle, withdrawals will observe in two additional levels: first, when a global stabilisation drive is mobilised; second, to a long-lasting “safety buffer zone”.
However Benjamin Netanyahu’s language in latest days had a unique emphasis. “The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] stays deep inside Gaza territory and controls all of its dominating factors,” he stated in a press release final week. “We’re encircling Hamas from all instructions.”
With out actual carrots and sticks for Netanyahu, the latest precedents for additional withdrawal should not promising.
Palestinian individuals return to properties devastated by Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. {Photograph}: Anadolu/Getty Photographs
Disarmament is a central tenet of the Trump plan – however on Saturday a senior Hamas official advised Agence France-Presse that disarmament was “out of the query”, including: “The demand that we hand over our weapons shouldn’t be up for negotiation.” Even because the hostages had been launched on Monday, there have been pictures of armed fighters in elements of Gaza, an obvious try by Hamas to reassert its authority.
The White Home plan was devised with no significant enter from Palestinian civil society on the bottom in Gaza. The transitional authorities will contain the previous British prime minister Tony Blair however as but no credible Palestinian determine. Netanyahu seems unwilling to just accept the eventual function for the Palestinian Authority floated by the US; in any case, that physique and its chief, Mahmoud Abbas, are deeply unpopular in Gaza. There is no such thing as a Palestinian possession of this course of. It isn’t a grand peace cope with a imaginative and prescient of a state on the finish of it.
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Up to date at 09.18 EDT
Andrew Sparrow
British prime minister Keir Starmer spoke in regards to the Gaza ceasefire within the Home of Commons this morning.
He stated:
Let me now flip to the Center East and phrases I’ve longed to say on this home for a really very long time – the surviving hostages are freed, the bombardment of Gaza has stopped and desperately wanted assist is beginning to enter because of the peace plan led by President Trump.
Starmer stated the reduction is tempered by concern for individuals who have died, and for the harmless civilians killed. “This has been two years of residing hell,” he stated.
He stated the ceasefire deal is historic. However “what issues now could be implementation”, and this has to occur as rapidly as doable.
He went on:
Let nobody be any doubt that none of this could have been doable with out President Trump.
However Starmer additionally paid tribute to worldwide allies, and he says the UK has “labored behind the scenes for months with the US, Arab and European nations to assist ship a ceasefire, get the hostages out, get assist in and safe a greater future for Israel”.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer talking throughout a press release on the Center East within the Home of Commons, London. {Photograph}: Home of Commons/UK Parliament/PAShare
Up to date at 10.37 EDT
