Author: France 24

Talks to reach a Gaza truce were expected to resume Sunday after officials from the Hamas Islamist organisation and Israel publicly disagreed over demands to end their seven-month war. Israel has yet to send a delegation to Cairo as it awaits a written response from Hamas which is due Sunday, ABC Correspondent Jordana Miller told FRANCE 24, adding that the two parties are “the closest” that they’ve been to a deal in many months. Source link

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his government has voted unanimously to shut down the local offices of Qatar-owned broadcaster Al Jazeera, escalating Israel’s long-running feud with the channel at a time when ceasefire negotiations with Hamas — mediated by Qatar — are gaining steam. Qatar is currently hosting Hamas’s leadership. “This has probably got a lot more to do with these negotiations, pressure, or some sort of message being sent to Qatar than it has to do with Al Jazeera as a television network,” said John Lyndon, executive director at the Alliance for Middle East Peace.…

Palestinians wait in long queues for food in Gaza as shortages persist despite slight improvements in deliveries of aid to the besieged Strip. Gazans say they are forced to skip meals and haven’t seen vegetables in weeks. “There is famine, full-blown famine in the north and it’s moving its way south,” World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain said in an interview Friday as she called for a ceasefire and unfettered, safe access to Gaza. Source link

Dressed all in black, pop idol Madonna broke into her hit “Nothing Really Matters” Saturday night before throngs of joyful fans jammed onto Brazil’s famed Copacabana beach in Rio. Source link

In Gaza, Israeli forces have reportedly been using AI to identify tens of thousands of potential targets with a software called Lavender. It analyses data collected on most of Gaza’s more than 2 million residents and scores them based on how likely they are to be a militant. Source link

Real Madrid claimed a record-extending 36th LaLiga title on Saturday after Girona’s 4-2 thrashing of local rivals Barcelona left Carlo Ancelotti’s side with an unassailable lead in the standings. Source link

Dozens of rappers have been arrested in Iran since the rise of hip-hop in the country in the early 2000s. But the death sentence pronounced on April 24 against the rapper Toomaj Salehi marks a turning point in the Iranian regime’s intolerance of artists with a political message. Exiled rap artists Justina and Ghogha told FRANCE 24 of their admiration for Salehi, “who scares the powers that be”. Source link

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to launch a ground assault in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah despite ongoing truce talks with Hamas. If Israeli ground forces invade Rafah, “Gaza will become uninhabitable in the sense that the whole infrastructure of the Gaza Strip would have been destroyed,” warned Oliver Mcternan, director of NGO Forward Thinking. “We’ve got, for the sake of humanity, to have a ceasefire,” he said. Source link

Fans of Star Wars celebrate the franchise across the world Saturday as they look forward to the annual French light sabre tournament due to be held in Paris in June. The 7th edition of the Open de France de Sabre Laser 2024 is the largest of its kind in the world with 80 participants, event founder Alexis Leperlier told FRANCE 24. Source link

A Hamas delegation heads to Cairo on Saturday as pressure mounts to reach a truce deal. “Hamas will not agree to a deal unless at the end of the three phases there is a ceasefire and a withdrawal of Israeli troops,” said Scott Lucas, professor of US and International Politics at the Clinton Institute, University College. Meanwhile “Israel will under no circumstances agree to the end of the war as part of an agreement to release hostages,” Lucas stressed. Source link