The nearly two-month-old ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will not be complete until Israeli troops withdraw from the Palestinian territory under a peace plan backed by Washington and the UN, mediator Qatar’s prime minister said Saturday.

“Now we are at the critical moment … A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces, (and) there is stability back in Gaza,” Qatari premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told the Doha Forum, an annual diplomatic conference in the Gulf state’s capital.

Qatar, alongside the United States and Egypt, helped secure the long-elusive truce in Gaza, which came into effect on Oct. 10 and has mostly halted two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas.

Under a second phase of the deal, which has yet to begin, Israel is to withdraw from its positions in the territory, an interim authority is to take over governance, and an international stabilization force (ISF) is to be deployed.

Arab and Muslim nations have been hesitant to participate in the new stabilization force, which could end up fighting Palestinian militants.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, also speaking at the forum, said talks on the force were ongoing and that critical questions remained about its command structure and which countries would contribute.

But its first goal, Fidan said, “should be to separate Palestinians from the Israelis.”

“This should be our main objective. Then we can address the other remaining issues,” he added.

Hamas is also supposed to disarm under the 20-point plan first outlined by US President Donald Trump, with members who decommission their weapons allowed to leave Gaza. The militant group has repeatedly rejected the proposition.

Turkey has indicated it wants to take part in the stabilization force, but its efforts are viewed unfavorably in Israel, which considers Ankara too close to Hamas.

“I think the only viable way to finish this war is to engage faithfully and forcefully in peace talks,” Fidan said.

Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar and fellow truce guarantors Turkiye, Egypt, and the US were “getting together in order to force the way forward for the next phase” of the deal.

“And this next phase is just also temporary from our perspective,” he said.

“If we are … just resolving what happened in the last two years, it’s not enough,” he continued, calling for a “lasting solution that provides justice for both people.”

Deployment of stabilization force in Gaza ‘as soon as possible’

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Saturday urged the rapid deployment of an international ceasefire monitoring force under the second phase of a peace deal for the Gaza Strip.

“As for the International Stabilization Force, we need to deploy this force as soon as possible on the ground because one party, which is Israel, is every day violating the ceasefire … so we need monitors,” the minister said.

He warned that Egypt’s Rafah crossing into Gaza “is not going to be a gateway for displacement. It’s only for flooding Gaza with humanitarian and medical care.”

• Over 2 million people affected by Sri Lanka cyclone.
• 209 people remain missing after catastrophic storm.
• 75,000 homes damaged in cyclone disaster: authorities
  

Sri Lankan authorities issued fresh landslide warnings on Sunday with rains lashing areas already devastated by a powerful cyclone, as the death toll rose to 618.

More than two million people — nearly 10% of the population — have been affected by last week´s floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah, the worst on the island this century.

The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said monsoon storms were adding more rain and making hillsides unstable, including the central mountainous region and the north-western midlands.

Helicopters and planes were being used on Sunday to supply communities cut off by landslides in the centre of the country.

The Sri Lanka Air Force said it had received a planeload of relief supplies from Myanmar on Sunday, the latest batch of foreign aid.

The government has confirmed 618 dead, 464 from the lush tea-growing central region, while 209 people remain unaccounted for.

The number of people in state-run refugee camps had dropped to 100,000 from a peak of 225,000 as floodwaters receded across the island by Sunday, the DMC said.

More than 75,000 homes were damaged, including close to 5,000 that were completely destroyed, it added.

The government on Friday unveiled a major compensation package to rebuild homes and revive businesses wiped out by the natural disaster, which hit the island as it was emerging from its 2022 economic meltdown.

A senior official earlier said recovery and reconstruction might cost up to $7 billion.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday it was considering Sri Lanka’s request for an additional $200 million to help with rebuilding.

The money is on top of the $347 million tranche due later this month, part of a four-year, $2.9 billion IMF bailout loan agreed in 2023.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told parliament on Friday that Sri Lanka’s economy had made a significant recovery, but was not strong enough to withstand the latest shock alone.

Survivors will be offered up to LKR10 million ($33,000) to buy land in a safer location and build a new house, the finance ministry said in a statement late on Friday.

One LKR1 million is being offered in compensation for each person killed or left permanently disabled.

The government did not say how much the package would cost, raising concerns given the country´s recent economic turbulence.

The central bank has ordered commercial lenders, both state-owned and private, to reschedule loans.

LOS ANGELES: Fresh lava fountains spewed in spectacular fashion from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano on Saturday, US volcanologists said, marking nearly a year since one of the world’s most active volcanoes began erupting.

“Sustained lava fountains approximately 50–100 feet (15–30 metres) in height are currently erupting from the north vent,” the US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in a statement, adding that “fountain heights are increasing rapidly.”

The latest episode in the ongoing eruption – the 38th such surge of molten rock and gases from deep underground – began at 8:45 am local time (18:45 GMT), USGS said.

Such activity has been intermittent since an eruption began on December 23, 2024, USGS said, and typically continues for “a day or less.”

All the eruptive activity is “confined to Halema’uma’u crater within the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park,” the service said, and local airports are not expected to be affected by volcanic gas or ash.

Officials are on watch for high levels of volcanic gas and a phenomenon called “Pele’s hair,” in which strands of volcanic glass “often produced by lava fountaining activity” are “carried well over 10 miles (15 kilometres) from the vent.”

Hot glassy volcanic fragments “can fall on the ground within 1–2 miles (1–3 kilometres) of the eruptive vents.”

Kilauea has been very active since 1983 and erupts relatively regularly.

It is one of six active volcanoes located in the Hawaiian Islands, which also include Mauna Loa, the largest volcano in the world.

Kilauea is much smaller than neighbouring Mauna Loa, but is far more active and regularly wows helicopter-riding tourists who come to see its red-hot shows.