Politics
‘Sending you love from Gaza’: Palestinians hail ceasefire deal
Palestinians in southern Gaza clapped, cheered and danced in the pre-dawn darkness on Thursday, after Israel and Hamas agreed a ceasefire deal to end the devastating two-year war in the territory.
A crowd of around a dozen young men shouted joyful chants of “Allahu akbar”, meaning God is the greatest, outside Khan Yunis’s Nasser Hospital, as one man lifted another onto his shoulders.
A man wearing a journalist’s press vest could also be seen carried above the crowd, speaking into a microphone.
“Thanks to God for this ceasefire, thanks for the end of the bloodshed and the killing,” said Abdelmajid Abedrabbo, a resident of south Gaza.
“I am not the only one who is happy, all of the Gaza Strip is happy, all of the Arab people are happy about the ceasefire,” he added.
“Thanks and love to all those who stood with us and played a part in ending the bloodshed, sending you love from Gaza.”
Israel and Hamas on Thursday agreed a Gaza ceasefire deal that could free the remaining living hostages within days, in a major step toward ending a war that has killed tens of thousands and unleashed a humanitarian crisis.
The agreement, to be signed on Thursday, also calls for Israel to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as well as prompt a surge of aid into Gaza after more than two years of war started in October 2023 attack on Israel.
‘We are happy’
“Despite all the wounding and the killing, and the loss of loved ones and relatives, we are happy today after the ceasefire,” Ayman al-Najjar told AFP in Khan Yunis.
“I lost my cousins and some friends, and a week ago I lost my beloved grandfather, may his soul rest in peace. But today, and in spite of all this, we are happy,” he added.
The Israel-Hamas war, which began on October 7, 2023, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,183 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.
Militants also took 251 people hostages into Gaza, where 47 remain, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.
‘Indescribable’
The ceasefire agreement follows a 20-point peace plan for Gaza announced last month by US President Donald Trump.
“Thank God, President Trump has announced that war ended, we are very happy,” said Wael Radwan.
“We thank our brothers and all of those who participated even with just words to stop this war and this bloodshed.”
Khaled Al-Namnam, 26, who is displaced in Al-Maghzai in the central Gaza Strip, said he had not expected the news.
“Suddenly, I woke up in the morning to incredibly beautiful news… everyone was talking about the end of the war, aid coming in, and the crossings being opened. I felt immense happiness,” he told AFP by telephone.
“It’s a strange feeling— indescribable— after two years of bombing, fear, terror, and hunger. Truly, it feels like we are being born again.”
- 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.
US President Donald Trump has reiterated his claim of having stopped a war between Pakistan and India, while also saying that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked him for saving at least 10 million lives.
He made the remarks at the renaming of Southern Boulevard to Donald J Trump Boulevard in Washington on Friday.
“In a year, we made eight peace deals and ended the conflict in Gaza. We have peace in the Middle East…We stopped India and Pakistan from fighting, two nuclear nations…The Pakistani Prime Minister said Donald Trump saved at least 10 million people, and it was amazing,” he said.
The US president further recalled that the Pakistani prime minister’s remarks were an honour for him.
Trump cited his administration’s foreign policy record and repeated assertions of brokering peace between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Trump has made similar claims multiple times since May 10 last year, arguing that US pressure helped defuse tensions between India and Pakistan.
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