Middle East live: Hamas official says nobody knows how many of the remaining hostages are alive
Speaking to CNN, Hamas spokesperson says any deal to release the hostages would need to include a permanent ceasefireSee all our Israel-Gaza war coverage and the wider Middle East crisisIt has gone 10.30am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. This is our latest live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.A senior Hamas official has told CNN that “no one has an idea” how many of the 120 remaining hostages in Gaza are alive. He added that any deal to release them would need to include guarantees of a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.Israeli tanks rolled into the western part of Rafah on Thursday as the city came under intense helicopter, drone and artillery fire in what residents described as one of the worst bombardments of the area so far. The assault on Rafah has driven out more than a million Palestinians who had been sheltering there, forcing them into areas with little or no access to food, water or shelter. The UN has warned that more than a million people are expected to “face death and starvation by the middle of July”.Missiles fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels struck the Palau-flagged Verbena cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, sparking a fire and severely injuring one of her crew, US Central Command said.The UN’s relief agency for Palestinians, the largest aid organisation operating in Gaza, has said Israeli authorities are frequently preventing it from delivering aid and hampering its operations in the territory. “We are getting very few positive responses to our requests for aid delivery and permits to move around Gaza,” said Tamara Alrifai, the director of external relations for Unrwa.G7 Leaders, who are meeting at the summit in Italy, have released a draft statement on the Israel-Gaza war. Part of the draft statement reads: “We are concerned about the consequences of the ongoing ground operations in Rafah on the civilian population and the possibility of a large-scale military offensive that would have further disastrous consequences on civilians. We call on the government of Israel to refrain from such an offensive, in line with its obligations under international law.”At the G7 summit, US president, Joe Biden, called Hamas “the biggest hang-up so far” to a deal on a Gaza truce and hostage release. “I’ve laid out an approach that has been endorsed by the UN security council, by the G7, by the Israelis, and the biggest hang-up so far is Hamas refusing to sign on even though they have submitted something similar,” he told reporters. “Whether or not that comes to fruition remains to be seen,” he said.Support for armed struggle as the best means to end Israeli occupation and achieve statehood rose among Palestinians while backing for the militant group Hamas also increased slightly in the last three months, according to an opinion poll. The poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) showed support for armed struggle climbed by 8 percentage points to 54% of those surveyed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has launched its biggest salvo of rockets at Israel since the war in Gaza began in retaliation for the killing of a senior field commander, bringing the two sides closer to all-out conflict. An Israeli airstrike on the village of Jouaiya in southern Lebanon late on Tuesday night killed three Hezbollah operatives as well as Taleb Abdallah, the most senior commander to be killed since hostilities began eight months ago.The US, France and Israel have agreed to work together to step up efforts to push forward a roadmap presented by Paris earlier this year to defuse tensions between Hezbollah and Israel, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.The heads of six UN agencies and three international humanitarian organisations issued a joint appeal Thursday to Yemen’s Houthi rebels for the immediate release of 17 members of their staff who were recently detained along with many others also being held by the Iranian-backed group. The Houthis said Monday they had arrested members of an “American-Israeli spy network,” days after detaining the staffers from the U.N. and aid organisations. Continue reading...
Speaking to CNN, Hamas spokesperson says any deal to release the hostages would need to include a permanent ceasefire
It has gone 10.30am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. This is our latest live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.
A senior Hamas official has told CNN that “no one has an idea” how many of the 120 remaining hostages in Gaza are alive. He added that any deal to release them would need to include guarantees of a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Israeli tanks rolled into the western part of Rafah on Thursday as the city came under intense helicopter, drone and artillery fire in what residents described as one of the worst bombardments of the area so far. The assault on Rafah has driven out more than a million Palestinians who had been sheltering there, forcing them into areas with little or no access to food, water or shelter. The UN has warned that more than a million people are expected to “face death and starvation by the middle of July”.
Missiles fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels struck the Palau-flagged Verbena cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, sparking a fire and severely injuring one of her crew, US Central Command said.
The UN’s relief agency for Palestinians, the largest aid organisation operating in Gaza, has said Israeli authorities are frequently preventing it from delivering aid and hampering its operations in the territory. “We are getting very few positive responses to our requests for aid delivery and permits to move around Gaza,” said Tamara Alrifai, the director of external relations for Unrwa.
G7 Leaders, who are meeting at the summit in Italy, have released a draft statement on the Israel-Gaza war. Part of the draft statement reads: “We are concerned about the consequences of the ongoing ground operations in Rafah on the civilian population and the possibility of a large-scale military offensive that would have further disastrous consequences on civilians. We call on the government of Israel to refrain from such an offensive, in line with its obligations under international law.”
At the G7 summit, US president, Joe Biden, called Hamas “the biggest hang-up so far” to a deal on a Gaza truce and hostage release. “I’ve laid out an approach that has been endorsed by the UN security council, by the G7, by the Israelis, and the biggest hang-up so far is Hamas refusing to sign on even though they have submitted something similar,” he told reporters. “Whether or not that comes to fruition remains to be seen,” he said.
Support for armed struggle as the best means to end Israeli occupation and achieve statehood rose among Palestinians while backing for the militant group Hamas also increased slightly in the last three months, according to an opinion poll. The poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) showed support for armed struggle climbed by 8 percentage points to 54% of those surveyed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has launched its biggest salvo of rockets at Israel since the war in Gaza began in retaliation for the killing of a senior field commander, bringing the two sides closer to all-out conflict. An Israeli airstrike on the village of Jouaiya in southern Lebanon late on Tuesday night killed three Hezbollah operatives as well as Taleb Abdallah, the most senior commander to be killed since hostilities began eight months ago.
The US, France and Israel have agreed to work together to step up efforts to push forward a roadmap presented by Paris earlier this year to defuse tensions between Hezbollah and Israel, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.
The heads of six UN agencies and three international humanitarian organisations issued a joint appeal Thursday to Yemen’s Houthi rebels for the immediate release of 17 members of their staff who were recently detained along with many others also being held by the Iranian-backed group. The Houthis said Monday they had arrested members of an “American-Israeli spy network,” days after detaining the staffers from the U.N. and aid organisations. Continue reading...
