All posts tagged: cease-fire

Israeli troops seize Gaza side of Rafah crossing, hit Rafah with airstrikes

Israeli troops seize Gaza side of Rafah crossing, hit Rafah with airstrikes

Israel’s military said Tuesday its forces had taken control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, a day after ordering tens of thousands of Palestinians to leave the area and launching repeated airstrikes. The Israeli operation comes after weeks of Israeli officials saying an offensive in Rafah was necessary to achieve their goal of defeating Hamas, while the United States, the United Nations and others warned that launching an offensive in an area crowded with Palestinian civilians could create a humanitarian disaster. The developments in Rafah also follow an announcement by Hamas that it had accepted a cease-fire proposal worked out with Egyptian and Qatari negotiators. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Monday the cease-fire proposal was “far from Israel’s essential demands,” but that Israel would send negotiators to Cairo to continue talks. During the past week, efforts to secure a cease-fire intensified, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s traveling to the region and repeatedly telling Hamas that Israel had made compromises, and that Hamas should …

Israelis grapple with how to celebrate Passover, a holiday about freedom, while many remain captive

Israelis grapple with how to celebrate Passover, a holiday about freedom, while many remain captive

JERUSALEM (AP) — Every year, Alon Gat’s mother led the family’s Passover celebration of the liberation of the ancient Israelites from Egypt thousands of years ago. But this year, Gat is struggling with how to reconcile a holiday commemorating freedom after his mother was slain and other family members abducted when Hamas attacked Israel. Gat’s sister, Carmel, and wife, Yarden Roman-Gat, were taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attack. His wife was freed in November but his sister remains captive. “We can’t celebrate our freedom because we don’t have this freedom. Our brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers are still in captivity and we need to release them,” Gat said. On Monday, Jews around the world will begin celebrating the weeklong Passover holiday, recounting the biblical story of their exodus from Egypt after hundreds of years of slavery. But for many Israelis, it’s hard to fathom a celebration of freedom when friends and family are not free. The Hamas attack killed some 1,200 people, while about 250 others were taken hostage. About half were …

Muslim leaders reject chance to break bread with Biden as anger over Gaza festers

Muslim leaders reject chance to break bread with Biden as anger over Gaza festers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Last year, President Joe Biden hadn’t even spoken a word at the White House celebration of Ramadan before someone shouted out “we love you.” Hundreds of Muslims were there to mark the end of the holy month that requires fasting from sunrise to sunset. There are no such joyous scenes during this Ramadan. With many Muslim Americans outraged over Biden’s support for Israel’s siege of Gaza, the White House chose to hold a smaller iftar dinner on Tuesday evening. The only attendees were people who work for his administration. “We’re just in a different world,” said Wa’el Alzayat, who leads Emgage, a Muslim advocacy organization. “It’s completely surreal. And it’s sad.” Alzayat attended last year’s event, but he declined an invitation to break his fast with Biden this year, saying, “It’s inappropriate to do such a celebration while there’s a famine going on in Gaza.” After rejections from Alzayat and others, he said the White House adjusted its plans Monday, telling community leaders that it wanted to host a meeting focused on …

More than 140 global Christian leaders call for Gaza cease-fire in Holy Week letter

More than 140 global Christian leaders call for Gaza cease-fire in Holy Week letter

(RNS) — More than 140 global Christian leaders, including a Guatemalan Catholic cardinal and the presiding bishops of the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, called for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and for an end to foreign military support for Israel in a Tuesday (March 26) letter to U.S. President Joe Biden and other politicians. “We, as global Christian leaders, stand with our brothers and sisters in Christ in Palestine and around the world and say the killing must stop, and the violence must be brought to an end,” they wrote. “The horrific actions Hamas committed on October 7th in no way justify the massive deaths of tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli military.” In separate text specifically addressed to Biden, the signatories wrote, “We implore you to have the moral courage to end U.S. complicity in the ongoing violence and, instead, do everything in your power to prevent the potential genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.” The letter comes just one day after the …

China Envoy Meets Hamas Leader as Beijing Steps Into Israel Conflict

China Envoy Meets Hamas Leader as Beijing Steps Into Israel Conflict

Tel Aviv, Israel —  China’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday acknowledged a meeting between its diplomat Wang Kejian and the political leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, on Sunday in Qatar to discuss the conflict in Gaza. In a short statement, the ministry said Wang and Haniyeh discussed the conflict but did not elaborate. The meeting is the first announced to have taken place between the Chinese envoy and Hamas since the militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 Israelis and taking about 250 hostage. Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed nearly 32,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, Gaza health officials say. The Israeli military says it has killed thousands of Hamas fighters. The meeting came just days after Wang met separately with officials from Israel and from the Palestinian Authority as part of Beijing’s efforts at diplomacy. The Jerusalem Post reports Hamas on Sunday night said Haniyeh told Wang the war must end quickly, the Israel Defense Forces must withdraw from Gaza and an independent Palestinian state needs …

Blinken to Discuss Cease-fire Push, Post-War Gaza Plans at Talks in Saudi Arabia and Egypt

Blinken to Discuss Cease-fire Push, Post-War Gaza Plans at Talks in Saudi Arabia and Egypt

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to visit Saudi Arabia and Egypt this week for talks that he said will focus on pushing for a cease-fire in Gaza, the release of hostages held by Palestinian militants, and planning for a post-war Gaza. Speaking Tuesday during a visit to the Philippines, Blinken told reporters that there will need to be arrangements in place for how to approach governance, security, humanitarian assistance and redevelopment of Gaza. Blinken said the United States has impressed upon Israel the imperative of having a plan, and that the hope remains the conflict will end as soon as possible. Much of the Gaza Strip’s infrastructure and homes have been leveled as Israel pursued its campaign to eliminate the Hamas militant group following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people according to Israeli tallies and included the capture of about 250 hostages. The Gaza health ministry says the Israeli counteroffensive has killed nearly 32,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. More than half of Gaza’s population …

‘Our Film Shows Where Dehumanization Leads’

‘Our Film Shows Where Dehumanization Leads’

The director of The Zone of Interest accepted his Oscar with a startlingly pointed anti-war speech. Rich Polk/Variety/Getty March 11, 2024, 12:16 AM ET The Oscars are not built for somber appeals about current events, though the show has tried in the past to balance celebration with seriousness. Sometimes that effort has worked: In 2002, after 9/11, Tom Cruise opened the evening with a vague but elegant speech about needing movie magic “more than ever,” which eased the apparent anxiety in the room. Other times, it couldn’t completely control the proceedings: In 2003, shortly after the Iraq War began, the show tried to dissuade flashy displays of emotion and even scrapped the red carpet. But the notoriously vocal director Michael Moore had other ideas, using his Best Documentary acceptance speech to criticize President George W. Bush until he was booed offstage. This year seemed poised for another festive but dry evening, devoid of any real reminders of life outside Hollywood. But then the historical drama The Zone of Interest won for Best International Feature, and …

Biden’s pier for food aid into Gaza is no substitute for a Ramadan cease-fire

Biden’s pier for food aid into Gaza is no substitute for a Ramadan cease-fire

(RNS) — For a man who is worried about looking vigorous, President Joe Biden’s decision this week to order the U.S. military to drop 37,000 meals-ready-to eat to a starving population of millions in Gaza appeared weak and impotent. The parachutes of some of the foodstuff air-dropped by American planes malfunctioned, killing Palestinians. In last night’s State of the Union address, Biden announced he would send the U.S. military to build a temporary pier to inject more food aid into Gaza, but even that gesture seemed to misunderstand the situation. This famine is not the result of natural causes but a deliberate act of revenge by an American ally. But faced with daily footage of Palestinians starving under Israel’s blockade of food for 2.3 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza, Biden put pressure not on Israel but on Hamas, through negotiators from Egypt and Qatar, hoping to score a deal for a cease-fire and a hostage release before the holy month of Ramadan begins March 11 or 12. American and Israeli military experts have made it …

Jerusalem Palestinians prepare for Ramadan amid holy month’s uneasy politics

Jerusalem Palestinians prepare for Ramadan amid holy month’s uneasy politics

JERUSALEM (RNS) — The stores near the Damascus Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem are filled with holiday sweets, and the butcher shops are overflowing with lamb and beef. Ramadan lamps and extra-large bags of charcoal for nightly iftar break fasts greet customers at the minimarkets. Despite the bustle of holiday prep, “Ramadan feels different this year, sadder because of the war,” said a shopper named Layla, who, like many East Jerusalem Palestinians, preferred not to share her last name due to caution about publicizing their views.  The Israel-Hamas war that began on Oct. 7, when Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 more, and Israel’s subsequent military onslaught in Gaza, has gutted Muslims around the world, but none more perhaps than those in the Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem. “How can we have big festive iftar meals when we know that the people in Gaza don’t have enough food?” said Fadi, a young East Jerusalem resident who works in a sporting goods store. Nearly all of the more than 2 million …

Have the Houthis Become Unstoppable?

Have the Houthis Become Unstoppable?

The Leader is a man of about 40, with a smooth, youthful face and a thin beard and mustache. In televised speeches, he wears a blazer with a shawl over his shoulders, his dark eyes menacing and humorless. Apart from that, so little is known about him that he might as well be a phantom. He has no birth certificate or passport and is said to have spent his formative years living in caves. No foreign diplomat has ever met him in person. He presides over a starving, brutalized people in northern Yemen and has sent an armada of child soldiers to their deaths. In January, one of his courts condemned nine men to be executed for homosexual behavior—seven by stoning, two by crucifixion. Yet Abdulmalik al-Houthi may now be the most popular public figure in the Middle East. Ever since his soldiers began attacking and boarding commercial ships in the Red Sea in November—ostensibly in defense of Palestine—he has been treated like a latter-day Che Guevara, his portrait and speeches shared on social media …