Politics
200 troops to monitor Gaza truce, says US
Admiral Brad Cooper, head of the US Central Command, will initially lead the 200-strong team on the ground.
“His role will be to monitor, observe, and ensure there are no violations,” a senior official told reporters.
The team is expected to include military officials from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and possibly the UAE.
Another official clarified that “no US troops are planned to enter Gaza.”
“The idea is to make the operation collaborative,” the first official added, noting that Israeli forces will maintain constant communication with the team.
“Having Admiral Cooper involved provided significant confidence and reassurance to the Arab countries,” the official said.
“It also sent a clear message to Hamas that the US, and the President, are strongly committed to their guarantees.”
The second official stated that US personnel are tasked with helping establish a joint control center and coordinating with other security forces to deconflict with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Israel govt approves hostage deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday that the government had “approved the framework” of a hostage release deal with Hamas, as both sides edged closer to ending more than two years of hostilities in Gaza.
Israel previously said “all parties” had signed the first phase of a ceasefire agreement, adding that Hamas freeing the captives would “bring the end to this war”.
The accord in Egypt follows a 20-point peace plan for Gaza announced last month by US President Donald Trump, who said he planned to leave on Sunday for the Middle East.
Egypt is planning an event to celebrate the conclusion of the deal, with Trump also expected to stop in Israel and consider going to devastated Gaza.
The Israeli government had said the ceasefire was to take hold within 24 hours of meetings on Thursday to approve the deal, under which the military should eventually withdraw from Gaza.
And in a statement early on Friday, Netanyahu’s office said the government had “approved the framework for the release of all the hostages — both the living and the deceased”.
Netanyahu had faced pushback from his far-right allies, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir saying he would vote against the agreement, calling the plan to release thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the 47 hostages remaining in Gaza “an unbearable heavy price”.
Despite celebrations in Israel and Gaza and a flood of messages from world leaders hailing the deal, numerous issues remain unsettled, including the plan’s call for Hamas to disarm and a proposed transitional authority for Gaza led by Trump himself.
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the Palestinian Islamist movement rejected the latter.
“No Palestinian would accept this. All the factions, including the Palestinian Authority, reject this,” Hamdan told Qatar-based broadcaster Al Araby.
Trump said the issue of Hamas surrendering its weapons would be addressed in the second phase of the peace plan.
“There will be disarming,” he told reporters, adding there would also be “pullbacks” by Israeli forces.
Senior US officials said a military team of 200 people, led by US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper, would be deployed in the Middle East to “oversee” the truce.
One official said Egyptian, Qatari, Turkish and probably Emirati military officials would be embedded in the team. A second official said “no US troops are intended to go into Gaza”.
Tears of joy
Confirming that the first-phase draft had been signed by “all parties” early Thursday, Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian told journalists that “all of our hostages, the living and the deceased, will be released 72 hours later, which will bring us to Monday”.
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the release of the hostages “should bring the end to this war”.
In a rare interview with an Israeli network, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas told the Channel 12 broadcaster that “what happened today is a historic moment”.
“Today, we are very happy that the bloodshed has ceased. We hope it remains this way, and that peace, security, and stability will prevail between us and Israel,” Abbas said.
US envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner travelled to Jerusalem Thursday night, where they met both Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog, their offices said.
Israeli media reported that the pair later participated in the government meeting held to approve the plan.
The deal, thrashed out in indirect, closed-door talks in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, also envisions a surge of aid into Gaza, where the UN has declared famine.
The announcement sparked joy in Gaza, much of which has been flattened by Israel’s offensive.
“Honestly, when I heard the news, I couldn’t hold back. Tears of joy flowed.
Two years of bombing, terror, destruction, loss, humiliation, and the constant feeling that we could die at any moment,” displaced Palestinian Samer Joudeh told AFP.
In Israel, thousands of people gathered in a Tel Aviv square to celebrate, some holding photos of hostages still in Gaza and waving Israeli and US flags.
“We have been waiting for this day for 734 days. We cannot imagine being anywhere else this morning,” said Laurence Ytzhak, 54.
Hamas has submitted a list of Palestinian prisoners it wants released from Israeli jails in the first phase.
The list names 250 Palestinians sentenced to life imprisonment and 1,700 others arrested by Israel since the war began, according to a Hamas source.
Explosions continue
The talks were taking place under the shadow of the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also took 251 people hostage into Gaza, where 47 remain, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,194 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.
The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.
Gaza’s civil defence agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas’s authority, reported several strikes on the territory after the announcement of the deal.
AFP journalists and witnesses said more explosions and artillery fire could be heard Thursday evening in southern and central Gaza.
- Khamenei terms wave of protests “American conspiracy”.
- Iran’s supreme leader says will not spare domestic criminals.
- DPM Dar expresses hope for peace and stability in region.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday accused US President Donald Trump of being responsible for “casualties” during a protest wave in the country.
“We hold the American president guilty for the casualties, damages and accusations he has levelled against the Iranian nation,” he told a crowd of supporters during an address marking a religious holiday.
“This was an American conspiracy,” he said, adding that “America’s goal is to swallow Iran… the goal is to put Iran back under military, political and economic domination”.
He further said authorities “must break the back of the seditionists” after a crackdown on the protest wave.
“We do not intend to lead the country to war, but we will not spare domestic criminals… worse than domestic criminals, international criminals, we will not spare them either,” he added.
“By God’s grace, the Iranian nation must break the back of the seditionists just as it broke the back of the sedition.”
It is pertinent to mention here that more than 3,000 people have died in Iran’s nationwide protests, rights activists said on Saturday, while a “very slight rise” in internet activity was reported in the country after an eight-day blackout.
The protests erupted on December 28 over economic hardship and swelled into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule in the country, culminating in mass violence late last week.
Tensions in Iran, however, subsided after three weeks of protests under an internet blackout. The capital Tehran, however, has been comparatively quiet for four days, said several residents reached by Reuters.
Drones were flying over the city, but there were no signs of major protests on Thursday or Friday, said the residents, who asked not to be identified for their safety.
Separately, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar held telephonic conversation with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi today.
They discussed the current situation in Iran and the wider region.
DPM Dar expressed hope for peace and stability, and both sides agreed to continue bilateral consultations on matters of mutual interest.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump thanked Iran’s leaders for cancelling what he said were hundreds of planned executions of protesters after a crackdown.
Taking to his social media platform, he said the mass hangings had been called off and praised Tehran for the move.
US President Donald Trump, whose repeated threats to act had included a vow to “take very strong action” if Iran executed protesters, said Tehran’s leaders had called off mass hangings.
“I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!” he posted on social media.
- Venezuela’s Machado gave her Nobel medal to Trump.
- Donald Trump says he intends to keep the medal.
- Original laureate recorded in history as prize recipient.
OSLO: The Nobel Peace Prize remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation that won it, though the medal can be given away, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said on Friday, a day after last year’s winner gave her medalto US President Donald Trump.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gave her medalon on Thursday to Trump, who thanked her for it. The White House released a photo of Trump and Machado, with Trump holding up a gold-coloured frame displaying it, and a White House official said Trump intends to keep it.
Machado’s award also consists of a diploma and 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.19 million).
“Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma, or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history as the recipient of the prize,” the award body said in a statement.
“There are no restrictions in the statutes of the Nobel Foundation on what a laureate may do with the medal, the diploma, or the prize money. This means that a laureate is free to keep, give away, sell, or donate these items,” it added.
‘Inseparably linked’
The medal and the diploma are physical symbols confirming that an individual or organisation has been awarded the prize, said the five-strong award committee.
“The prize itself – the honour and recognition – remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation designated as the laureate by the Norwegian Nobel Committee,” it said.
The committee, which did not refer to Trump and Machado by name in its statement, said it does not comment on a laureate’s statements, decisions or actions after the prize is announced.
It was not the first time a Nobel laureate has given away the medal. In 1943, Nobel literature laureate Knut Hamsun gave his to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
In 2022, Nobel Peace laureate Dmitry Muratov sold his medal for $100 million to raise money for the UN children’s fund Unicef to help Ukrainian refugee children.
In 2024, the widow of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan donated his 2001 Nobel Peace Prize medal and diploma to the UN office in Geneva.
US President Donald Trump purchased about $100 million in municipal and corporate bonds from mid-November to late December, his latest disclosures showed, including up to $2 million in Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery bonds just weeks after the companies announced their merger.
Financial disclosures posted on Thursday and Friday showed the majority of Trump’s purchases were municipal bonds from cities, local school districts, utilities and hospitals.
But he also bought bonds from companies including Boeing, Occidental Petroleum and General Motors.
The investments were the latest reported assets added to Trump’s expanding portfolio while he is in office.
It includes holdings in sectors that benefit from his policies, raising questions about conflicts of interest.
For example, Trump said in December that he would have a say in whether Netflix can proceed with its proposed $83 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, which faces a rival bid from Paramount Skydance.
Any deal to acquire Warner Bros will need regulatory approval.
A White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said on Friday that Trump’s stock and bond portfolio is independently managed by third-party financial institutions and neither Trump nor any member of his family has any ability to direct, influence or provide input regarding how the portfolio is invested.
Like many wealthy individuals, Trump regularly buys bonds as part of his investment portfolio.
He previously disclosed at least $82 million in bond purchases from late August to early October.
Premier League live updates: Liverpool vs. Burnley, Chelsea vs. Brentford
Kim Kardashian losing North West to Kanye?
George Kittle’s wife shares live reaction to husband’s Achilles injury: ‘Doesn’t make any f—ing sense’
-
Tech5 days agoNew Proposed Legislation Would Let Self-Driving Cars Operate in New York State
-
Sports7 days agoClock is ticking for Frank at Spurs, with dwindling evidence he deserves extra time
-
Sports1 week ago
Commanders go young, promote David Blough to be offensive coordinator
-
Entertainment4 days agoX (formerly Twitter) recovers after brief global outage affects thousands
-
Fashion6 days agoSouth India cotton yarn gains but market unease over US tariff fears
-
Fashion7 days agoChina’s central bank conducts $157-bn outright reverse repo operation
-
Business1 week agoSoftBank reduces Ola Electric stake to 13.5% from 15.6% – The Times of India
-
Sports6 days agoUS figure skating power couple makes history with record breaking seventh national championship