What comes next?
Sultan Barakat, a professor in conflict and humanitarian studies at the Qatar Foundation’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University, says the negotiations about phase two of the Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas are likely to start tomorrow.
“The negotiations about phase two of the ceasefire agreement were supposed to start around the 16th day of phase one and conclude by day 30,” he said. The ceasefire started on January 19 this year, so 23 days have already passed since the start of phase one.
“Now it is unlikely to happen because of Netanyahu’s visit to Washington and the very delusional proposal made by Trump and the delays that were associated with that.”
Barakat concluded that after the captive-prisoner exchange is completed today, the talks are likely to follow tomorrow.
Trump says Israel to decide on ‘deadline’ on release off all captives
The US president has welcomed the release of the three captives earlier in Gaza, saying they “seem to be in good shape!”
“Israel will now have to decide what they will do about the 12:00 O’CLOCK, TODAY, DEADLINE imposed on the release of ALL HOSTAGES,” Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
This appeared to the be in reference to the ultimatum that Trump himself had issued demanding the release of the captives by Saturday midday, warning that otherwise “all hell will break loose.”
He added on Truth Social: “The United States will back the decision they make!”
Israeli PM to hold talks with top officials
We’re getting reports that Netanyahu will hold consultations with senior Israeli officials at 7pm local time (17:00 GMT), the time when Trump’s ultimatum about the release of all the captives held in Gaza expires.
As per the terms of the US-mediated deal agreed between Israel and Hamas last month, Palestinian groups released three captives earlier today in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
PA’s Abbas says calls to forcibly displace Palestinians ‘a diversion from war crimes’
The head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has rejected any attempts to forcibly displace the Palestinians from their homeland.
Speaking at the 38th African Union Summit in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, Abbas said, “Anyone who thinks they can impose a new ‘Deal of the Century’ or displace the Palestinian people from their homeland is deluded.”
He added that “calls to remove the Palestinian people from their land and forcefully displace them were merely a diversion from the war crimes, genocide, and destruction in Gaza, as well as the crimes of settlement expansion and attempts to annex the West Bank”.
“The only place where the 1.5 million refugees living in Gaza should return to is their cities and villages from which they were displaced in 1948, in accordance with United Nations Resolution 194,” he added.
Abbas also stressed that “Israeli colonial practices require urgent action from the international community and the UN Security Council to prevent the rise of extremist forces that seek to bury the two-state solution.”
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