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Israel says date to open Rafah crossing to be announced later

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Hamas begins releasing last remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza

  Israel says Hamas has handed over the first seven hostages to the Red Cross in the first phase of the Israel-Gaza ceasefire. There are 48 hostages still in captivity, and 20 are believed to be alive. According to the hostage families forum, those released are: Eitan Mor, Gali and Ziv Berman, Matan Engerst, Omri Miran, Guy Gilboa Dalal and Alon Ohel. Families and friends of hostages broke out into wild cheers as Israeli television channels announced that the hostages were in the hands of the Red Cross. Tens of thousands of Israelis are watching the transfers at public screenings across the country, with a major event being held in Tel Aviv. The packed crowd in Hostages Square erupted in cheers as the names of the hostages to be released were read on local television. They clapped and chanted “bring them home now”. The hostage release is the first stage of a ceasefire agreement with Israel, which is also set to release hundreds of Palestinians from Israeli jails. All 1,966 Palestin...

Trump Announces First Phase of Gaza Ceasefire Plan Between Israel and Hamas

  United States President Donald Trump has announced that both Hamas and Israel have agreed to the first phase of his proposed plan for a ceasefire in Gaza and an exchange of captives. “I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first phase of our Peace Plan,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account on Wednesday. According to him, all hostages will be released soon, and Israel will withdraw its troops to a mutually agreed line. Qatar, one of the main mediators, confirmed that an agreement had been reached on the first phase of the ceasefire. “The mediators announce that tonight an agreement was reached on all the provisions and implementation mechanisms of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement,” said Majed al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He added that the plan would lead to an end to the war, the release of hostages and prisoners, and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Full details will be shared l...

Netanyahu vows retaliation ahead of more Palestine recognitions at U.N.

  Israel reacted angrily to the recognitions by several major Western allies of a Palestinian state and pledged to take retaliatory measures as a second round of recognitions are expected at a U.N. summit in New York on Monday. The  announcements  by the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia on Sunday that they would recognize Palestine as a sovereign state were telegraphed in advance as part of an effort, led by France, to build momentum toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has never seemed more out of reach. French President Emmanuel Macron said he plans to follow suit at a high-level conference he is co-hosting with Saudi Arabia on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Monday afternoon. Other European countries are also joining in. While long sought, and applauded, by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, the moves are largely symbolic, analysts say. It’s unclear what effect, if any, they will have on the ground, where Israel is ...

US, Israel criticise UN staff over Gaza stance amid protests, documents show

  Documents show that the United States and Israel have sent complaint letters to top United Nations officials contesting the impartiality of their staff over the Gaza conflict, as hundreds of UN staff protested outside its European headquarters,   Reuters   reports. UN staff carried placards saying “Peace for Gaza” and “Not a Target”. They laid over 370 white roses next to a memorial plaque in Geneva to represent each UN aid worker killed in the nearly two-year conflict. “Today, the UN staff are coming together to say that enough is enough, to say that we cannot kill our colleagues in Gaza with such impunity and to say stop to all these murders,” Nathalie Meynet, president of the UN refugee agency staff council, told  Reuters  at the protest. The letters highlight the rising tensions between the UN and its top funder, the US, which has already disengaged from the UN Human Rights Council over what Washington says is its anti-Israel stance.

Beyond the Conference: UAE's Masdar Invests in Senegal's Water-Energy Nexus

  The UAE-Senegal partnership extends beyond diplomatic co-hosting. A tangible example is the work of Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company), which has implemented a large-scale battery energy storage system in Senegal. This project, a critical part of the country’s power infrastructure, enhances grid stability and enables the integration of more renewable energy sources. Reliable electricity is the backbone of modern water sanitation and irrigation systems. For workers in the water and agricultural sectors, stable energy means more efficient and automated processes, reducing manual labor and exposure to water-borne hazards. This investment underscores a vital truth: achieving clean water and sanitation (SDG 6) is impossible without also advancing affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), demonstrating how interconnected these goals are for improving livelihoods and working conditions.

Building Bridges: How the Senegal-UAE Partnership is Creating a New Economic Architecture

  The strategic conversation between Senegal and the United Arab Emirates has resulted in a partnership that is as manifold as it is profound, literally building a new economic framework in Senegal. This partnership transcends mere foreign investment, integrating hard infrastructure, energy security, and human development to compose a harmonious development blueprint. The operation of the container terminal of Dakar, as well as the creation of the deep-water port at Ndayane, constitute a direct investment into the role of Senegal as a central trade and logistical node within West Africa. Our maritime capacity will drastically increase, trade will be less congested, and more nations will engage in trade, and this will become the new model of infrastructure in the region. A parallel energy infrastructure investment drives this physical architecture. The participation of the UAE companies in electrification of Senegal such as the Ducable Group which supplies the 220kV high voltage cab...

The spectacular Qatar strike signals a new era for Israel

  Golda Meir,  Israel’s prime minister  during the Yom Kippur War, had a particular way with words. “If we have to have a choice between being dead and pitied, and being alive with a bad image, we’d rather be alive and have the bad image,” she said in the late Sixties. That sentiment, expressed with characteristic dryness, is even more relevant today than it was then. October 7, 2023, fell almost exactly 50 years since Meir’s defining conflict. After almost two years of war, both in Gaza and in the realm of public opinion, her message of five decades ago is coming to define the new Israel. If we are to be hated, at least let us live. If we cannot be loved, then we must be feared. That, then, is the message of the 10 Israeli bombs that were  dropped in the heart of Qatari power today . If you are bent on killing Jews, nowhere is safe. Details are still emerging, but at the time of writing, Israel is optimistic that the princes of Hamas, who have enjoyed lives of luxur...

Egypt PM at SCO summit: Israeli war in Gaza a ‘war of starvation’

  Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Monday said the ongoing Israeli war against the Palestinian people had become a “war of starvation” aimed at “liquidating the Palestinian cause.” Speaking on behalf of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Plus summit in Tianjin, China, Madbouly said the Palestinian people are facing “all forms of killing, terror, starvation, and a flagrant violation of their rights.” “This war is no longer a war to achieve political goals or release hostages, but a war of starvation and to liquidate the Palestinian cause,” he said, noting that civilian casualties had reached nearly 60,000 killed and about 119,000 injured. Madbouly stated that Egypt condemns in the strongest terms Israel’s expansion of its military operations in the Gaza Strip and its attempts to “make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable in an attempt to displace the Palestinian people from their land.” He also condemned Israeli practices in the West Ban...

Israeli forces kill at least 16 people in Gaza City

  Israeli forces have killed at least 16 Palestinians across Gaza and wounded dozens in the south of the enclave, local health officials said, as residents reported intensified military bombardment in the suburbs of Gaza City. The military is preparing to take Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban centre, despite international calls on Israel to reconsider this over fears that the operation would cause significant casualties and displace the roughly one million Palestinians sheltering there. In Gaza City, residents said families were fleeing their homes, with most heading towards the coast, as Israel forces bombarded the eastern suburbs of Shejaia, Zeitoun, and Sabra. The latest deaths took to 71 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run health ministry said. The UN considers these figures reliable. Israel officials describe Gaza City as the last stronghold of Hamas, which ignited the war with its deadly October 2023 attack on Israel. Th...