Connect with us

Foreign

Hamas proposes releasing 34 hostages in Israel deal talks

Published

on

ADVERTISEMENT
Zoom Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Zoom Ad

A Hamas official said on Sunday that the Palestinian militants were ready to release 34 hostages as part of the “first phase” of a potential deal with Israel, following Israel’s confirmation that indirect talks on a truce and hostage release agreement had resumed in Qatar.

Mediators Qatar, Egypt, and the United States have been working for months to broker a deal to end the conflict. The latest effort comes just days before Donald Trump assumes office as President of the United States on 20 January.

The talks coincided with continued Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Sunday, which, according to rescuers, killed at least 23 people nearly 15 months into the conflict.

During this period, there has been only one truce — a one-week pause in November 2023, during which 80 Israeli hostages were freed alongside 240 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.

Advertisement

“Hamas has agreed to release 34 Israeli prisoners from a list presented by Israel as part of the first phase of a prisoner exchange deal,” the Hamas official said.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, stated that Hamas has yet to provide a list of hostages to be released under the agreement.

The Hamas official, speaking anonymously as he was not authorised to discuss the ongoing negotiations publicly, said the initial swap would involve all women, children, elderly, and sick captives still held in Gaza.

He added that some hostages may already be deceased and that Hamas requires time to verify their condition.

Advertisement

“Hamas has agreed to release the 34 prisoners, whether alive or dead. However, the group needs a week of calm to communicate with the captors and identify those who are alive and those who are dead,” the official said.

The conflict began on 7 October 2023, when militants seized 251 hostages during an attack that sparked the Gaza war. The Israeli military has reported that 96 hostages remain in Gaza, of whom 34 are believed to be dead.

Until the Hamas official’s statement, there had been no updates on the resumed negotiations in Qatar.

“Efforts are underway to free the hostages,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz told the family of a hostage on Saturday, according to his office.

Advertisement

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told RTL radio: “We continue to exert the necessary pressure” to achieve a deal, adding, “Unfortunately, it does not depend solely on us.”

Rescuers using ‘bare hands’

In December, Qatar expressed optimism that “momentum” was returning to the negotiations following Trump’s election victory. However, both Hamas and Israel have since accused each other of imposing new conditions.

In northern Gaza on Sunday, the Civil Defence agency reported that an airstrike on a house in Sheikh Radwan killed at least 11 people.

Advertisement

Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal stated that the victims included women and children, and rescuers were using their “bare hands” to search for five people still trapped beneath the rubble.

The Israeli military reported that it had struck over 100 “terror targets” in Gaza over the past two days, indicating an escalation in its assault.

The Hamas-run territory’s health ministry reported that 88 people were killed in the previous 24 hours.

In one airstrike, five members of the Abu Jarbou family were killed in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to rescuers.

Advertisement

AFP footage from another strike in the Bureij camp showed rescuers transporting bodies and injured individuals to a hospital. In one scene, a medic attempted to resuscitate a wounded man in an ambulance, while another carried an injured child into the hospital.

Relatives were seen grieving over the bodies of two men wrapped in white shrouds.

Strikes against rocket fire

Several Israeli strikes targeted sites from which militants had launched rockets into Israel in recent days, according to the military.

Advertisement

Separately, the military announced that its forces had killed a militant commander in close combat in northern Gaza last week. The individual was a member of Islamic Jihad’s rocket unit and had participated in the 7 October 2023 attack.

Last week, Defence Minister Katz warned that intensified strikes should rocket fire persist.

While the frequency of rocket launches had decreased during the conflict, they have recently increased as Israel has pressed its land and air offensive in northern Gaza since early October.

Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in 1,208 deaths, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli data.

Advertisement

In response, Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has claimed 45,805 lives in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry, which the United Nations deems reliable.

AFP

Foreign

Strikes on Iran to continue until ‘I say it’s enough’ – President Trump declares

Published

on

By

ADVERTISEMENT
Zoom Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Zoom Ad

US President Donald Trump has vowed that American military strikes on Iran will continue until he personally decides they have achieved their objectives, declaring that the campaign will not stop “until I say it’s enough.”

Speaking with Fox  News on Tuesday, July 24, Trump said the US forces would ‘hit them very hard tonight, very hard tomorrow night’ in a brutal campaign that won’t stop until he says ‘enough.’

‘I’ll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we’ll hit energy targets,’ Trump warned.

‘We’re going to hit them very hard the night after, and then next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants.’

Advertisement

Trump also said the US would target bridges next week unless Iran was willing to negotiate a peace deal that included giving up their nuclear ambitions.

He vowed the attacks will continue ‘until I say it’s enough.’

In an update late on Tuesday night, CENTCOM advised another round of strikes had been completed, hitting dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas.

‘US fighter aircraft, drones, and naval vessels launched precision munitions against Iranian missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, and coastal defense systems during the seven-hour wave to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping and civilian crews,’ the update said.

Advertisement

US forces resumed the naval blockade against vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas.

The latest US bombing comes after Trump notified Congress that the war would resume after Iran breached the memorandum of understanding by targeting commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump did not rule out using US ground forces to ensure that his key objectives are met, especially when it comes to removing Iran’s enriched uranium.

US forces had been careful not to harm Iran’s civilian population with strikes, but Trump warned Iran that everything was on the table.

Advertisement

‘You better make a deal, or you’re not going to have anything left,’ he said.

The President also likened Iran to ‘a great boxer’ that needed to be put to the mat.

‘You think you have them beat, then they’ll come back and give you a shot,’ Trump said.

Trump suggested later in the interview with Fox News that he wasn’t interested in continuing negotiations  with Iran because ‘they lie.’

Advertisement

He also said the last contact he had with negotiators was an hour ago.

The President praised his Cabinet for its work on the Iran issue, including Pete Hegseth, as he said ‘oil is flowing like never before.’

He also announced he was replacing the 20 percent fee the US was charging on the Strait of Hormuz to various Gulf States.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Foreign

UK announces social media curfew for 16, 17-year-olds

Published

on

By

ADVERTISEMENT
Zoom Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Zoom Ad

Children aged 16 and 17-year-olds in the UK will face a voluntary overnight social media curfew, alongside a shutdown of infinite scrolling and mandatory breaks in AI chatbot use, under new plans announced by Technology Secretary Liz Kendall.

According to a report by The Independent UK on Tuesday, the measures form part of the government’s wider restrictions on children’s social media use, and will see default settings block access for older teenagers between midnight and 6 am.

Kendall, in a statement, said, “These measures will be crucial in helping young people get the sleep they need, focus on school and college, and spend more quality time with family and friends, all of which are fundamental to building a happy, healthy and fulfilling adult life.

“We want young people to enjoy the benefits of technology while having the tools to make the online world a place where they can thrive.”

Advertisement

The Independent said features designed to keep users engaged, such as never-ending video reels and algorithmic feeds, will also be automatically switched off under the new defaults.

However, the report noted that critics have questioned how effective the measures will be, given that 16 and 17-year-olds will be able to turn off these default settings themselves.

The curfew plan follows last month’s announcement of a broader social media ban for under-16s by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s government, expected to cover platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X, but not messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal, from next spring, according to the newspaper.

The report added that responsibility for working out key details of the policy will fall to Andy Burnham, who is set to become prime minister after winning the Makerfield by-election.

Advertisement

Kendall is also reportedly pushing new safeguards for children using artificial intelligence, including requiring under-18s to take regular breaks while using chatbots, and a crackdown on AI services that give dangerous, misleading or unverified mental health advice.

Ministers are said to be considering banning chatbots deemed a serious threat to children.

Conservative shadow education secretary Laura Trott reportedly criticised the plan, describing it as “another dog’s dinner from Labour” and arguing that curfews teenagers can simply switch off “won’t achieve anything.”

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Foreign

South Africa Confirms Visa-Free Entry for 22 African Countries, Excludes Nigeria

Published

on

By

ADVERTISEMENT
Zoom Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Zoom Ad

The South African government has reaffirmed its visa exemption policy, allowing citizens of 22 African countries to enter the country without obtaining a visa in advance, subject to the permitted duration of stay and applicable entry conditions.

According to the country’s official visa exemption policy, eligible travellers may enter South Africa for periods ranging from 30 to 90 days, depending on their nationality.

The African countries currently eligible for visa-free entry include:

Algeria – up to 30 days
Benin – 30 days or less
Botswana – up to 90 days
Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) – 30 days or less
Comoros – up to 90 days
Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) – up to 30 days
Gabon – 30 days or less
Guinea – up to 90 days
Kenya – up to 30 days
Lesotho – 30 days or less
Madagascar – up to 30 days
Malawi – 30 days or less
Mauritius – 30 days or less
Mozambique – up to 90 days
Namibia – 30 days or less
Rwanda – up to 30 days
Seychelles – 30 days or less
Eswatini – 30 days or less
Tanzania – up to 90 days for ordinary passport holders
Tunisia – up to 90 days
Zambia – 30 days or less
Zimbabwe – up to 90 days

Advertisement

South Africa also grants visa-free entry to holders of the African Union Laissez-Passer and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Laissez-Passer under its exemption policy.

Authorities, however, noted that visa-free access for some countries, including Kenya, Benin and Gabon, is subject to specific conditions. Travellers are therefore advised to confirm the latest entry requirements with South African authorities before making travel arrangements.

Notably, Nigeria is not among the countries currently eligible for visa-free entry into South Africa, meaning Nigerian passport holders are still required to obtain a visa before travelling.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2024 Naija Blitz News