Author: ALJAZEERA

Hamas says it is studying proposal ‘in positive spirit’ as delegation reportedly set to visit Cairo for further talks.Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has discussed the latest Israeli proposal for a truce in Gaza and an exchange of captives for prisoners with Egyptian and Qatari mediators. Haniyeh held separate phone calls with Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel and Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Thursday. A statement by the Palestinian group said a delegation is set to visit Egypt soon for further indirect ceasefire talks with the objective of “ending the aggression against” people in…

President Joe Biden says “order must prevail” on university campuses in the United States, just hours after police raided and dismantled another protest encampment in support of Palestinians. In a brief news conference on Thursday, Biden said both the right to free speech and the rule of law “must be upheld” but stressed that “violent protest is not protected”. “Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduation — none of this is a peaceful protest. Threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not a peaceful protest,” he said. “Dissent is essential to…

Turkey’s Ministry of Trade cites humanitarian crisis in Gaza for its decision to suspend imports and exports.Turkey has halted exports and imports to and from Israel, the Turkish Ministry of Trade says, citing the “worsening humanitarian tragedy” in Gaza. “Export and import transactions related to Israel have been stopped, covering all products,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday. “Turkey will strictly and decisively implement these new measures until the Israeli Government allows an uninterrupted and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.” The announcement came after Israel’s foreign minister said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was breaking agreements…

UN Development Programme official estimates post-war reconstruction will cost between $40-50bn.The level of destruction in Gaza has not been since World War II, according to a United Nations official who estimated that post-war reconstruction could cost up to $50bn. “We have not seen anything like this since 1945,” Abdallah al-Dardari, director of the regional bureau for Arab states at the UN Development Programme (UNDP), said on Thursday during an online news briefing. “That intensity, in such a short time and the massive scale of destruction,” he added. More than 70 percent of all housing has been destroyed, the UN official…

Source link

The trial was a historic attempt at justice, marking the first time victims of the abuse that took place at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq testified in front of civilian jurors in the United States. But on Thursday, the judge overseeing the civil case in Virginia declared a mistrial, as the jury was unable to overcome a deadlock after eight days of deliberation. The trial focused on the human rights abuses committed at the prison following the US’s invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. Reports of abuse started to emerge in 2003 and later hit a fever pitch in…

Police cleared two of the Tunisian capital’s irregular Black migrant camps, busing residents to an unknown location.Tunis, Tunisia – Hundreds of refugees and migrants camped in the centre of Tunis have disappeared, with reports suggesting that the group, including several infants, had been abandoned in the desert near Algeria. According to local media reports, security forces swept into the encampments in the prosperous Berge de Lac business district early on Friday, rounding up men, women and children and destroying the shelters they had built. One encampment was in a walled-off public park and the other was in an alleyway outside…

Botched strike is latest incident to raise questions about lack of accountability for civilian deaths from US strikes.The United States Department of Defense has acknowledged that a drone strike in Syria, initially said to have successfully targeted an al-Qaeda leader, actually killed a farmer. The Pentagon stated on Thursday that the drone strike on May 3, 2023, killed a 56-year-old shepherd named Lutfi Hasan Masto, whom they initially misidentified as a senior member of al-Qaeda. US Central Command, which oversees military activities in the Middle East, wrote that it “acknowledges and regrets the civilian harm that resulted from the airstrike”.…

Statement released after Israeli and US officials rebuke the court for possible arrest warrants over Gaza war.The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said in a statement on Friday that all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence its officials must cease immediately. While the prosecutor’s statement did not mention Israel, it was issued after Israeli and US…

Antonio Guterres says he fears war in Gaza ‘will worsen exponentially’ without a truce as Israel’s Rafah assault looms.United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has renewed his calls for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as a Hamas delegation is set to visit the Egyptian capital, Cairo, soon for renewed indirect talks. “For the sake of the people of Gaza, the hostages & their families, and the region & the wider world – I strongly encourage the government of Israel & Hamas leadership to reach an agreement in their negotiations,”  the secretary-general said in a post on X on Friday. The…