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SvennoJ 5 days ago
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Main events on March 3rd

  • Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s envoy, will return to the Middle East in the coming days “to work out either a way to extend phase one or advance to phase two” of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, according to the US State Department.
  • Israel’s military launched attacks on southern Gaza, killing at least two Palestinians and wounding three others after the Israeli government blocked aid to the Strip and refused talks on a second stage of the ceasefire deal.
  • Hamas condemned Israel’s “cheap blackmail” of using humanitarian aid to pressure the Palestinian group, and has insisted on advancing the ceasefire deal into a second stage.
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas of consequences it cannot imagine if the captives held in Gaza are not freed, and again backed Trump’s “brave and innovative” plan to empty Gaza of its population.
  • Hundreds of Israeli protesters clashed with security officers in Israel’s parliament as they tried to enter the Knesset’s main hall where Netanyahu was speaking.
  • Volker Turk, the UN rights chief, expressed alarm at Israel’s offensive in the occupied West Bank – including deadly air raids, the destruction and emptying of refugee camps, and the displacement of tens of thousands of people – and called for the campaign to end.
  • Israeli forces bombed what they called a “military site” near the Syrian port city of Tartous, in an action immediately condemned by Jordan.

Israel wants captives freed without full troop withdrawal from Gaza

Nabeel Khoury, a former US diplomat, told Al Jazeera that Israel wants to extend phase one of the Gaza ceasefire to secure the release of the remaining captives, while also avoiding the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territory that was stipulated in the deal.

Khoury said Hamas has pledged to release the remaining captives being held in Gaza in phase two of the deal, together with Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza.

Khoury also said that if the Israeli government and the Trump administration really intended to move on to permanent peace talks, they would proceed with the second phase.

“There is clearly some manoeuvring going on, particularly on the part of Netanyahu’s government and a willingness by the Trump administration to go along with him,” Khoury concluded.