All posts tagged: Qatar

Israel and Hamas set stage for new round of cease-fire talks – POLITICO

Israel and Hamas set stage for new round of cease-fire talks – POLITICO

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the militant group’s latest demands “absurd,” but said he would send a negotiating team to Qatar to continue talks on a cease-fire and the release of hostages. The talks could resume on Sunday afternoon or Monday, according to media reports. Despite agreeing to resume the talks, Netanyahu has pressed on with a planned offensive on the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, where more than 1.3 million Palestinians have sought refuge from Israeli bombardments. Israel’s allies and critics have warned Netanyahu against invading the city, fearing mass civilian casualties. Israeli officials have repeatedly claimed that southern Gaza is one of the Hamas group’s last strongholds, which they have vowed to eradicate. At least 31,645 Palestinians have been killed and 73,676 wounded in Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Saturday. The United Nations has also warned that one in three children under the age of two in northern Gaza is now acutely malnourished and that famine is imminent. Source link

Belgian PM warns Israel against using hunger as ‘weapon of war’ in Gaza – POLITICO

Belgian PM warns Israel against using hunger as ‘weapon of war’ in Gaza – POLITICO

Along with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, Belgium’s De Croo — who faces elections in June — is among Europe’s most outspoken supporters of the Palestinian cause, a credential he repeatedly touted on the first day of his Mideast trip. “Belgium has a very clear position. We are part of a core of countries, with Spain and Ireland, that have been calling for a cease-fire,” De Croo said. After a morning huddle with Kaag, De Croo spent more than an hour chatting with Belgian air force troops at a Jordanian airfield that is a staging ground for airdrops into the Gaza Strip. Standing under the wing of a military transport plane being loaded with aid pallets, he said Belgium’s efforts to champion the Palestinian cause and deliver aid had raised Belgium’s standing in the Arab world — even if relations between Israel and Belgium have rarely been frostier. With Belgium holding the rotating presidency of the European Union, De Croo is expected to press EU leaders to focus on …

Brussels’ spy problem is the tip of the iceberg, says Belgian justice minister – POLITICO

Brussels’ spy problem is the tip of the iceberg, says Belgian justice minister – POLITICO

The problem is of course far from new, given Brussels’ role on the international stage. “It is said that espionage is the second oldest profession in the world,” he said. Therefore, European coordination is key and continuously improving, said Van Tigchelt, who currently chairs meetings of the EU’s justice ministers as his country holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU. Because of the spying threats, the Belgian government has doubled the manpower of the state security services up to about 1,000 staffers. Its priority has also partly shifted from counterterrorism — following the Paris and Brussels terror attacks in 2015 and 2016 — to counterintelligence. Belgium has also invested in liaison officers in Washington, The Hague and Morocco. Evolving threats Belgium has had to deal with several high-profile spying scandals of late. There’s Qatargate, in which suspects linked to the European Parliament are alleged to have accepted money or gifts in exchange for doing the bidding of Qatar. Morocco and Mauritania were also allegedly suspected of being behind cash-for-influence operations in the EU Parliament. …

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 …

Israel’s plan to hunt down Hamas killers – POLITICO

Israel’s plan to hunt down Hamas killers – POLITICO

In January 1973, Hussein al-Bashir, a representative in Cyprus of Fatah, the largest faction of the PLO, was killed in Nicosia by a bomb under his hotel bed. Next, and again in Paris, it was the turn in April 1973 of Basil al-Kubaisi, a Beirut law professor suspected of assisting with logistics for Munich. He was shot a dozen times returning home from dinner. The shots precisely targeted his head and heart, in a sign of a disciplined, professional hit, French police noted. That same month, Israeli commandos carried out an audacious amphibious landing along Beirut’s seafront called Operation Spring of Youth. With undercover Mossad agents already stationed in the city, the commandos joined paratroopers in a full-frontal attack on the headquarters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, killing three top commanders. Further Israeli attacks were carried out in Athens, Rome, Paris and Warsaw. The last to die in the assassination campaign were Abu Al Hassan Qasim and Hamdi Adwan, blown up by a car bomb in Limassol, Cyprus, in February 1988 …

Gaza cease-fire hopes rise as delegations arrive in Cairo – POLITICO

Gaza cease-fire hopes rise as delegations arrive in Cairo – POLITICO

Pressure for a cease-fire deal intensified last week after more than 100 civilians were killed during an aid delivery in Gaza, triggering outrage from European leaders. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians on Thursday who were taking food from delivery trucks in Gaza City. Israel contests this, saying most of the injuries were caused by people stampeding toward the trucks for supplies. Israel is under pressure to agree to a cease-fire with Hamas to bring an end to the conflict in Gaza that was triggered by an attack by the militant group on October 7. Since then, Gaza’s health ministry says that Israel’s defense forces have killed more than 30,000 Palestinians and international leaders have become more critical of Israel’s retaliation. The United Nations has warned that a quarter of the population in Gaza are “one step away from famine,” saying civilians are depending on “woefully inadequate” food aid. Source link

Gaza Truce for Ramadan Hangs in Balance as Hamas Seeks Plan to End War

Gaza Truce for Ramadan Hangs in Balance as Hamas Seeks Plan to End War

By Ahmed Mohamed Hassan and Nidal al-Mughrabi CAIRO (Reuters) -Mediators expected to reconvene in Cairo as soon as Sunday and search for a formula acceptable to Israel and Hamas for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, sources with knowledge of talks said, as pressure mounted for a pause in fighting by Ramadan. Israeli and Hamas delegations were expected to arrive in Cairo on Sunday, two Egyptian security sources said, though another source briefed on the talks said Israel would not send a delegation until it got a full list of hostages who are still alive. War in Israel and Gaza Hopes for the first pause in fighting since November rose this week after a previous round of talks mediated by Qatar and Egypt in Doha and indications from U.S. President Joe Biden that agreement was close. Hamas has not backed away from its position that a temporary truce must be the start of a process towards ending the war altogether, the Egyptian sources and a Hamas official said. However, the Egyptian sources said assurances had been …

‘In Gaza, football is the only escape’: Palestine star Mahmoud Wadi on war | Football

‘In Gaza, football is the only escape’: Palestine star Mahmoud Wadi on war | Football

On October 7, Palestinian footballer Mahmoud Wadi was recovering from an injury in Egypt when Israel launched its war on Gaza, following the Hamas attacks on southern Israel. The 29-year-old, from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, has spent the past five months desperately seeking news about the safety of his friends and family in the besieged enclave while travelling with the Palestinian national team. He has lived through three Israeli military assaults on Gaza – in 2008, 2012 and 2014 – and says he remembers spending every night wondering if he would make it to dawn. Wadi, who now lives in Cairo and plays for Arab Contractors in the Egyptian Premier League, was part of Palestine’s squad for the AFC Asian Cup 2023 in Qatar, where the team recorded a historic second-round finish. The al-Fidayi (as the Palestinian team is known to its fans) received passionate support from the crowds of people from various countries, religions and age groups, who turned up in their tens of thousands to support the Palestinian team before their round-of-16 …

Could AI deepen inequalities in the world? | Technology News

Could AI deepen inequalities in the world? | Technology News

Doha, Qatar – At one of the world’s largest technology conferences, whether it was on the main stage, its side panels, or at the dozens of glitzy, towering company booths, there was one term on everybody’s lips: artificial intelligence (AI). At Web Summit – held for the first time in the Middle East in Doha – and which wrapped up on Thursday, entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders from around the world were all talking about AI’s capabilities. Hundreds of international companies and startups were present at Web Summit [Urooba Jamal/Al Jazeera] Yet alongside that excitement, there are also growing concerns among experts that these technologies could exacerbate inequities dividing the world. Technologies, including AI, run the risk of amplifying biases that already exist, according to Ayo Tometi, co-creator of the US-based antiracist movement Black Lives Matter. “We’re seeing quite literally, that prejudice is being programmed into the technologies that are being deployed in our communities. And these biases must be addressed,” Tometi said at the summit. The social justice leader shared the example of predictive …

Global condemnation follows deadly Israeli gunfire near aid convoy

Global condemnation follows deadly Israeli gunfire near aid convoy

“DAY FROM HELL” Aerial images released by the Israeli army showed what it said were scores of people surrounding aid trucks in the city. Ali Awad Ashqir, who said he had gone to get some food for his starving family, said he had been waiting for two hours when trucks began to arrive. “The moment they arrived, the occupation army fired artillery shells and guns,” he told AFP. Hagari denied Israeli forces carried out any shelling or strikes at the time. Looting of aid trucks has previously occurred in northern Gaza, where residents have taken to eating animal fodder and even leaves to stave off starvation. The chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said no UN agency had been involved in Thursday’s aid delivery, and called the incident “another day from hell”. Among its war aims, Israel says it is fighting to bring home 130 hostages captured by militants on Oct 7 who remain in Gaza, including 31 presumed dead. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under increasing pressure over the …