Middle-East
Who are the Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli hostages?
Israel released 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Saturday in the latest exchange for Israeli hostages captured by Hamas, as a fragile ceasefire held.
Israel views the prisoners as terrorists. Palestinians often see them as freedom fighters resisting a decades-long Israeli military occupation.
Nearly every Palestinian has a friend or family member who has been jailed by Israel for militant attacks or lesser offenses such as rock-throwing. Some are incarcerated for months or years without trial in what is known as administrative detention, which Israel says is needed to prevent attacks and avoid sharing sensitive intelligence.
Among those newly released, 36 had been sentenced to life for involvement in deadly attacks against Israelis. Twelve of those were allowed to return to homes in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Palestinian medics said that four were hospitalized for urgent care. The 24 others with life sentences were being sent into exile.
The rest of the 333 Palestinians released had been detained in Gaza after Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the war. Israeli forces have arrested hundreds of people in Gaza and held them without trial. As part of the ceasefire, Israel committed to releasing more than 1,000 of them on the condition that they hadn't participated in the Oct. 7 attack.
A look at some prominent prisoners released since the truce took effect on Jan. 19:
Ahmed Barghouti, 48
Among the most prominent prisoners released is a close aide of militant leader and political figure Marwan Barghouti, who is still imprisoned. The two aren't closely related.
Ahmed Barghouti was given 13 life sentences for dispatching assailants to carry out attacks that killed Israeli civilians during the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, in the early 2000s. As a commander in Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, an armed offshoot of the secular Fatah Party, he was also convicted of possession of firearms and attempted murder.
He was sent to Egypt.
The Sarahneh brothers
Three brothers from east Jerusalem were released after more than 22 years in prison for their involvement in suicide bombings that killed Israelis during the second intifada. Israeli authorities brought Ibrahim, 55, and Musa, 63, to their homes in the West Bank.
The third brother, Khalil, 45, who was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to life in 2002, was sent to Egypt.
Ibrahim Sarahneh's Ukrainian wife, Irena, had been sentenced to life in prison in 2002 for organizing with her husband a suicide bombing that killed two people in the Israeli city of Rishon Lezion. She was released in 2011 as part of a swap for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas.
“The conditions of detention are more difficult than you could imagine,” Ibrahim Sarahneh told The Associated Press as he stepped off a bus in the West Bank village of Beitunia. “There is beating, insults, cursing.”
The Israeli Prison Service says it ensures “all basic rights” of prisoners and detains them according to the law.
The Aweis brothers
Hassan Aweis, 47, and Abdel Karim Aweis, 54, from the occupied West Bank, were released on Saturday after nearly 23 years in prison.
Hassan Aweis was sentenced to life in 2002 on charges of voluntary manslaughter, planting an explosive device and attempted murder. He was involved in planning attacks during the second intifada for the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade.
“It's an indescribable feeling of pain mixed with joy,” Aweis said.
Abdel Karim Aweis — sentenced to the equivalent of six life sentences for throwing an explosive device, attempted murder and assault, among other charges — was transferred to Egypt.
Iyad Abu Shakhdam, 49
Abu Shakhdam was sentenced to the equivalent of 18 life sentences over his involvement in Hamas attacks that killed dozens of Israelis during the second intifada. They included a suicide bombing that blew up two buses in Beersheba in 2004, killing 16 Israelis, including a 4-year-old.
Abu Shakhdam was arrested in the West Bank in 2004 following a gunfight with Israeli security forces in which he was shot 10 times.
During 21 years in prison, his family said, he finished high school and earned a certificate for psychology courses. He was released on Feb. 8.
Jamal al-Tawil, 61
Al-Tawil, a prominent Hamas politician in the occupied West Bank, spent nearly two decades in and out of Israeli prisons, in part over allegations that he helped plot suicide bombings.
Most recently, the Israeli military arrested al-Tawil in 2021, saying he had participated in riots and mobilized Hamas political activists in Ramallah, the seat of the semiautonomous Palestinian Authority, Hamas’ main rival. He was held without charge or trial.
Too weak to walk, al-Tawil was taken to a hospital after his release in Ramallah on Feb. 8.
Mohammed el-Halabi, 47
The Palestinian manager of the Gaza branch of World Vision, a Christian aid organization, was arrested in 2016 and accused of diverting tens of millions of dollars to Hamas in a case that drew criticism from rights groups. He was freed on Feb. 1.
El-Halabi and World Vision denied the allegations and independent investigations found no proof of wrongdoing.
Zakaria Zubeidi, 49
A prominent militant leader in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade during the second intifada, Zubeidi later became a theater director in the Jenin refugee camp, where he promoted what he described as cultural resistance to Israel.
His jailbreak in 2021 — when he and five others used spoons to tunnel out of one of Israel’s most secure prisons and remained at large for days before being caught — thrilled Palestinians and stunned the Israeli security establishment.
In 2019, after Zubeidi had served years in prison for attacks in the early 2000s, Israel arrested him again, accusing him of being involved in shooting attacks that targeted buses of Israeli settlers but caused no injuries.
Zubeidi had been awaiting trial when he was sentenced to five years in prison for his jailbreak. He was released on Jan. 30 into the West Bank.
Mohammed Odeh, 52, Wael Qassim, 54, and Wissam Abbasi, 48They hail from east Jerusalem and rose within the ranks of Hamas. Held responsible for deadly attacks during the second intifada, they were handed multiple life sentences in 2002.
They were accused of plotting a suicide bombing at a pool hall near Tel Aviv in 2002 that killed 15 people. Later that year, they were found to have orchestrated a bombing at Hebrew University that killed nine people, including five American students.
All were transferred to Egypt on Jan. 25.
Mohammad al-Tous, 67
Al-Tous held the title of longest continuously held prisoner in Israel until his release on Jan. 25, Palestinian authorities said.
First arrested in 1985 while fighting Israeli forces along the Jordanian border, the Fatah party activist spent a total of 39 years behind bars. Originally from the West Bank, he was sent into exile.
3 hours ago
Hamas says it will release more Israeli hostages as planned
Hamas said Thursday it would release the next group of Israeli hostages as planned, apparently resolving a major dispute that threatened the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The militant group said Egyptian and Qatari mediators have affirmed that they will work to “remove all hurdles,” and that it would implement the ceasefire deal.
The statement indicated three more Israeli hostages would be freed Saturday. There was no immediate comment from Israel after Hamas’ announcement.
Hamas' move would allow the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to continue for now, but its future remains in doubt.
Trump wants Jordan and Egypt to take in Palestinians from Gaza. Here's why the idea is rejected
Hamas had threatened to delay the next release of Israeli hostages, accusing Israel of failing to meet its obligations to allow in tents and shelters, among other alleged violations of the truce. Israel, with the support of US President Donald Trump, had threatened to renew its offensive if hostages were not freed.
Hamas said its delegation held talks in Cairo with Egyptian officials and was in contact with Qatar’s prime minister about increasing the entry of shelters, medical supplies, fuel and heavy equipment for clearing rubble into Gaza.
Egypt’s state-run Qahera TV, which is close to the country’s security services, reported that Egypt and Qatar had succeeded in resolving the dispute. The two Arab countries have served as key mediators with Hamas and helped broker the ceasefire, which took effect in January, 15 months into the war.
3 days ago
Trump wants Jordan and Egypt to take in Palestinians from Gaza. Here's why the idea is rejected
Jordan's King Abdullah II once again rejected any mass displacement of Palestinians after meeting with President Donald Trump, who has called for the Gaza Strip's roughly 2 million residents to be removed from the war-ravaged territory.
Trump has suggested they could be resettled in Jordan and Egypt, both of which are vehemently opposed to any such scenario. The Palestinians also reject Trump's plan, which they view as an attempt to forcibly displace them from part of their homeland. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have also rejected such plans.
Israel's leaders have welcomed Trump's proposal, which Human Rights Watch and others have said would amount to “ethnic cleansing,” the forcible displacement of the civilian population of a national group from a geographic area.
During his meeting with Trump, Abdullah volunteered to accept up to 2,000 children from Gaza who have cancer or otherwise require medical treatment.
But in a post on X after the meeting, he “reiterated Jordan’s steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank," adding that it was a "unified Arab position.”
Here's a look at why Jordan and Egypt refuse to accept large numbers of Palestinian refugees.
A history of displacement
Before and during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation, some 700,000 Palestinians — a majority of the prewar population — fled or were driven from their homes in what is now Israel, an event the Palestinians commemorate as the Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe.
Israel refused to allow them to return because it would have resulted in a Palestinian majority within its borders. The refugees and their descendants now number around 6 million, with large communities in Gaza, where they make up the majority of the population, as well as the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
In the 1967 Mideast war, when Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 300,000 more Palestinians fled, mostly into Jordan. The kingdom hosts the largest population of Palestinian refugees, with over 2 million, most of whom have been granted Jordanian citizenship.
Some Israeli soldiers traveling abroad targeted for alleged war crimes in Gaza
The decades-old refugee crisis has been central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and was one of the thorniest issues in peace talks that last broke down in 2009. The Palestinians claim a right of return, while Israel says they should be absorbed by surrounding Arab countries.
Many Palestinians view the latest war in Gaza, in which entire neighborhoods have been shelled to oblivion and 90% of the population have been forced from their homes, as a new Nakba. They fear that if large numbers of Palestinians leave Gaza, then they too may never return.
Steadfastly remaining on one's land is central to Palestinian culture, and was on vivid display in Gaza last month, when thousands of people returned to the most heavily destroyed part of the territory.
A red line for countries that made peace with Israel
Egypt and Jordan fiercely rejected the idea of accepting Gaza refugees early in the war, when it was floated by some Israeli officials.
Both countries have made peace with Israel but support the creation of a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem. They fear that the permanent displacement of Gaza's population could make that impossible.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has also warned of the security implications of transferring large numbers of Palestinians to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, bordering Gaza.
Hamas and other militant groups are deeply rooted in Palestinian society and are likely to move with the refugees, which would mean that future wars would be fought on Egyptian soil. That could unravel the historic Camp David peace treaty, a cornerstone of regional stability.
That's what happened in Lebanon in the 1970s, when Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization, the leading militant group of its time, transformed the country's south into a launchpad for attacks on Israel. The refugee crisis and the PLO's actions helped push Lebanon into a 15-year civil war in 1975. Israel invaded twice and occupied southern Lebanon from 1982 until 2000.
Jordan clashed with the PLO and expelled it under similar circumstances in 1970.
Israeli ultranationalists have long suggested that Jordan be considered a Palestinian state so that Israel can keep the West Bank, which they view as the biblical heartland of the Jewish people. Jordan's monarchy has vehemently rejected that scenario.
Can Trump force Egypt and Jordan to accept refugees?
Israeli police raid Palestinian bookstore, seize conflict-related books
That depends on how serious Trump is about the idea and how far he is prepared to go.
U.S. tariffs — one of Trump's favorite economic tools — or outright sanctions could be devastating for Jordan and Egypt. The two countries receive billions of dollars in American aid each year, and Egypt is already mired in an economic crisis.
Trump has suggested he might withhold aid but declined to repeat the threat in his meeting with Abdullah on Tuesday, saying: “I don’t have to threaten that. I do believe we’re above that.”
Allowing an influx of refugees could also be destabilizing for both countries. Egypt says it is currently hosting some 9 million migrants, including refugees from Sudan's civil war. Jordan, with a population of less than 12 million, is hosting over 700,000 refugees, mainly from Syria.
Trump's Gaza plan could also complicate efforts to broker diplomatic normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which says it won't forge ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
4 days ago
Pakistan says at least 16 nationals died in migrant boat sinking near Libya
At least 16 Pakistanis died and 10 others are unaccounted for after a boat carrying dozens of Europe-bound migrants sank at the weekend off the coast of Libya, officials said Tuesday.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that 33 of the 37 survivors were in Libyan police custody and one was being treated at a hospital. An estimated 65 people were on the boat, it said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his deep grief and sorrow for those lost in the capsizing in Marsa Dela port in the western city of Zawiya.
Sharif ordered the Foreign Ministry to complete the process of identifying the victims and provide assistance to those affected. He also ordered action against those involved "in heinous acts like human trafficking,” according to a statement.
Most of the victims came from Kurram, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, where hundreds of people have been killed in recent years in sectarian clashes.
Hamas' threat to delay the next release of Israeli hostages raises fears for Gaza ceasefire
"People try to travel to Europe through illegal means because of unemployment” at home, said Javed Hussain, a nephew of Shehzad Hussain, one of the victims. He said mourners were gathering at the homes of those who perished in the latest tragedy.
In January, authorities said dozens of Pakistanis died when a boat capsized off West Africa. Some of the survivors later accused smugglers of killing 43 migrants in a dispute over payment. Pakistan has since confirmed the deaths of 13 of its nationals.
Hundreds of Pakistanis die every year while trying to reach Europe by land and sea with the help of human smugglers. They also use dangerous land and sea routes to reach Europe in an effort to find jobs.
Libya, which has borders with six nations and a long shore on the Mediterranean, was plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Since then, the oil-rich country has emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East for Europe.
At least 674 migrants were reported dead and more than 1,000 missing off Libya in 2024, according to the International Organization for Migration’s missing migrants project. More than 21,700 migrants were intercepted and returned to the chaos-stricken country.
In 2023, the IOM reported 962 migrants dead and 1,563 missing off Libya. Around 17,200 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya that year, it said.
Those who are returned are held in government-run detention centers rife with abuses, including forced labor, beatings, rapes and torture — practices that amount to crimes against humanity, according to U.N.-commissioned investigators. The abuse often accompanies attempts to extort money from the families of the imprisoned migrants before releasing them or allowing them to leave Libya on traffickers’ boats to Europe.
4 days ago
Some Israeli soldiers traveling abroad targeted for alleged war crimes in Gaza
An Israeli army reservist's dream vacation in Brazil ended abruptly last month over an accusation that he committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
Yuval Vagdani woke up on Jan. 4 to a flurry of missed calls from family members and Israel's Foreign Ministry with an urgent warning: A pro-Palestinian legal group had convinced a federal judge in Brazil to open a war crimes investigation for his alleged participation in the demolition of civilian homes in Gaza.
A frightened Vagdani fled the country on a commercial flight the next day to avoid the grip of a powerful legal concept called “universal jurisdiction,” which allows governments to prosecute people for the most serious crimes regardless of where they are allegedly committed.
Vagdani, a survivor of Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on an Israeli music festival, told an Israeli radio station the accusation felt like “a bullet in the heart.”
The case against Vagdani was brought by the Hind Rajab Foundation, a legal group based in Belgium named after a young girl who Palestinians say was killed early in the war by Israeli fire as she and her family fled Gaza City.
Aided by geolocation data, the group built its case around Vagdani's own social media posts. A photograph showed him in uniform in Gaza, where he served in an infantry unit; a video showed a large explosion of buildings in Gaza during which soldiers can be heard cheering.
Judges at the International Criminal Court concluded last year there was enough evidence to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for crimes against humanity for using “starvation as a method of warfare” and for intentionally targeting civilians. Both Israel and Netanyahu have vehemently denied the accusations.
Israeli police raid Palestinian bookstore, seize conflict-related books
Since forming last year, Hind Rajab has made dozens of complaints in more than 10 countries to arrest both low-level and high-ranking Israeli soldiers. Its campaign has yet to yield any arrests. But it has led Israel to tighten restrictions on social media usage among military personnel.
“It’s our responsibility, as far as we are concerned, to bring the cases," Haroon Raza, a co-founder of Hind Rajab, said from his office in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. It is then up to authorities in each country — or the International Criminal Court — to pursue them, he added.
The director general of Israel's Foreign Ministry, Eden Bar-Tal, last month said fewer than a dozen soldiers had been targeted, and he dismissed the attempted arrests as a futile public relations stunt by “terrorist organizations.”
Universal jurisdiction is not new. The 1949 Geneva Conventions -- the post Second World War treaty regulating military conduct — specify that all signatories must prosecute war criminals or hand them over to a country who will. In 1999, the United Nations Security Council asked all U.N. countries to include universal jurisdiction in their legal codes, and around 160 countries have adopted them in some form.
“Certain crimes like war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity are crimes under international law," said Marieke de Hoon, an international law expert at the University of Amsterdam. "And we’ve recognized in international law that any state has jurisdiction over those egregious crimes.”
Israel used the concept to prosecute Adolf Eichmann, an architect of the Holocaust. Mossad agents caught him in Argentina in 1960 and brought him to Israel where he was sentenced to death by hanging.
Hamas releases 3 more Israeli hostages for dozens of Palestinian prisoners under Gaza ceasefire
More recently, a former Syrian secret police officer was convicted in 2022 by a German court of crimes against humanity a decade earlier for overseeing the abuse of detainees at a jail. Later that year, an Iranian citizen was convicted by a Swedish court of war crimes during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
In 2023, 16 people were convicted of war crimes through universal jurisdiction, according to TRIAL International, a Swiss organization that tracks proceedings. Those convictions were related to crimes committed in Syria, Rwanda, Iran and other countries.
In response to Brazil's pursuit of Vagdani, the Israeli military has prohibited soldiers below a certain rank from being named in news articles and requires their faces to be obscured. It has also warned soldiers against social media posts related to their military service or travel plans.
The evidence Hind Rajab lawyers presented to the judge in Brazil came mostly from Vagdani’s social media accounts.
"That's what they saw and that's why they want me for their investigation," he told the Israeli radio station Kan. “From one house explosion they made 500 pages. They thought I murdered thousands of children.”
Vagdani does not appear in the video and he did not say whether he had carried out the explosion himself, telling the station he had come into Gaza for “maneuvers” and “was in the battles of my life.”
Social media has made it easier in recent years for legal groups to gather evidence. For example, several Islamic State militants have been convicted of crimes committed in Syria by courts in various European countries, where lawyers relied on videos posted online, according to de Hoon.
The power of universal jurisdiction has limits.
Trump's Gaza plan shocks the world but finds support in Israel
In the Netherlands, where Hind Rajab has filed more than a dozen complaints, either the victim or perpetrator must hold Dutch nationality, or the suspect must be in the country for the entirety of the investigation — factors likely to protect Israeli tourists from prosecution. Eleven complaints against 15 Israeli soldiers have been dismissed, some because the accused was only in the country for a short time, according to Dutch prosecutors. Two complaints involving four soldiers are pending.
In 2016, activists in the U.K. made unsuccessful attempts to arrest Israeli military and political leaders for their roles in the 2008-09 war in Gaza.
Raza says his group will persist. “It might take 10 years. It might be 20 years. No problem. We are ready to have patience.”
There is no statute of limitations on war crimes.
5 days ago
Israeli police raid Palestinian bookstore, seize conflict-related books
Israeli police have conducted a raid on a long-standing Palestinian-owned bookstore in east Jerusalem, detaining the owners and seizing books related to the protracted conflict, reports AP.
Authorities stated that the books contained material inciting violence.
Erdogan again rejects US proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza
The Educational Bookshop, which has been in operation for over 40 years, serves as a centre for intellectual activity in east Jerusalem. Israel captured the area in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it to its capital—a move not internationally recognised. The majority of Jerusalem’s Palestinian population resides in the east, and Palestinians aspire to establish their future state’s capital there.
The three-storey bookstore, raided on Sunday, offers a vast collection of books, primarily in Arabic and English, covering the conflict and broader Middle Eastern affairs, including works by Israeli and Jewish authors. It also hosts cultural events and is particularly frequented by researchers, journalists, and foreign diplomats.
According to May Muna, wife of co-owner Mahmoud Muna, police detained bookstore owners Ahmed and Mahmoud Muna, confiscated hundreds of books concerning the conflict, and ordered the shop’s closure. She described how the soldiers selected books based on Palestinian titles or flags, using Google Translate to interpret Arabic titles before taking them away in plastic bags.
A similar raid took place last week at another Palestinian-owned bookstore in east Jerusalem’s Old City.
In a statement, police claimed the two owners had been arrested for “selling books containing incitement and support for terrorism.”
Palestinian Crisis: Egypt to host emergency Arab Summit on Feb 27
As an example, police cited an English-language children’s colouring book titled From the River to the Sea, a phrase referring to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, encompassing present-day Israel, the occupied West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.
Both Palestinians and hard-line Israelis consider the entire territory as their rightful homeland. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government opposes Palestinian statehood, has asserted that Israel must retain indefinite control over all land west of the Jordan River.
Israeli-Palestinian tensions have intensified since Hamas’ attack on 7 October 2023 from Gaza triggered the ongoing war. A ceasefire has temporarily halted hostilities, leading to the release of several Israeli hostages taken in the attack and hundreds of Palestinians detained by Israel. Meanwhile, tensions remain high in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted approximately 250 others in the 7 October assault. The ensuing war has resulted in over 47,000 Palestinian deaths, more than half of whom were women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not specify how many casualties were fighters. Israel claims to have killed over 17,000 militants but has not provided evidence.
Israel took control of the West Bank, Gaza, and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, and Palestinians seek all three territories for their future state. The last significant peace negotiations collapsed after Netanyahu returned to office in 2009.
6 days ago
Erdogan again rejects US proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has once again rejected a U.S. proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, stating that Israel should be responsible for covering the damage caused in the region and financing its reconstruction.
While in Malaysia on Monday, Erdogan emphasized that the idea of forcing Palestinians, who have lived in the region for centuries, to leave is not to be taken seriously.
He condemned the suggestion, likening it to a second Nakba—the mass displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
On his four-day tour through Malaysia, Indonesia, and Pakistan, Erdogan also drew attention to the extensive destruction in Gaza, urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to focus on compensating for the estimated $100 billion in damages instead of attempting to find a new home for Gaza's people.
6 days ago
Palestinian Crisis: Egypt to host emergency Arab Summit on Feb 27
Egypt will convene an emergency summit of Arab nations on February 27 to discuss the “latest serious developments” in the Palestinian territories, the country’s foreign ministry announced on Sunday.
The summit follows Egypt’s efforts to rally regional opposition against a proposal reportedly linked to former US President Donald Trump, which suggests relocating Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan while placing the coastal territory under US control.
According to the statement, the summit was convened after extensive consultations between Egypt and Arab nations, including Palestine, which formally requested the meeting. Coordination efforts also involved Bahrain, the current chair of the Arab League.
On Friday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty engaged with regional counterparts, including officials from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, to reinforce opposition to any forced displacement of Palestinians.
War-torn Lebanon forms its first government in over 2 years
Last week, Trump floated the idea of US administration over Gaza, proposing to transform the war-torn region into the “Riviera of the Middle East” after relocating its Palestinian residents to neighboring countries. The suggestion has sparked global condemnation, with Arab nations firmly rejecting the plan and reiterating their commitment to a two-state solution, ensuring an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Source: With input from Arab News
1 week ago
War-torn Lebanon forms its first government in over 2 years
Lebanon’s new prime minister on Saturday formed the country’s first full-fledged government since 2022.
President Joseph Aoun announced in a statement that he had accepted the resignation of the former caretaker government and signed a decree with new Prime Minister Nawaf Salam forming the new government.
Salam’s cabinet of 24 ministers, split evenly between Christian and Muslim sects, was formed less than a month after he was appointed, and comes at a time where Lebanon is scrambling to rebuild its battered southern region and maintain security along its southern border after a devastating war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal ended the war in November.
Lebanon is also still in the throes of a crippling economic crisis, now in its sixth year, which has battered its banks, destroyed its state electricity sector and left many in poverty unable to access their savings.
Hamas releases 3 more Israeli hostages for dozens of Palestinian prisoners under Gaza ceasefire
Salam, a diplomat and former president of the International Court of Justice, has vowed to reform Lebanon’s judiciary and battered economy and bring about stability in the troubled country, which has faced numerous economic, political, and security crises for decades.
Though Hezbollah did not endorse Salam as prime minister, the Lebanese group did engage in negotiations with the new prime minister over the Shiite Muslim seats in government, as per Lebanon’s power-sharing system.
Lebanon’s new authorities also mark a shift away from leaders that are close to Hezbollah, as Beirut hopes to continue improving ties with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations that have been concerned by Hezbollah’s growing political and military power over the past decade.
In early January, former army chief Aoun was elected president, ending that position’s vacuum. He was also a candidate not endorsed by Hezbollah and key allies.
Aoun has shared similar sentiments to Salam, also vowing to consolidate the state’s right to “monopolize the carrying of weapons,” in an apparent reference to the arms of Hezbollah.
1 week ago
Hamas releases 3 more Israeli hostages for dozens of Palestinian prisoners under Gaza ceasefire
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas-led militants released three more hostages, all Israeli civilian men, on Saturday, and Israel was to free dozens of Palestinian prisoners as part of a fragile agreement that has paused the war in the Gaza Strip.
The three hostages — Eli Sharabi, 52; Ohad Ben Ami, 56; and Or Levy, 34 — appeared gaunt and frail as armed Hamas fighters led them from a white van onto a stage set up in the town of Deir al-Balah. They appeared to be in poorer physical condition than any of the 18 other hostages released so far during the ceasefire.
All were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war.
Before a crowd of hundreds of people, Hamas fighters pointed a microphone at each of the three in turn and made them make a statement, before handing them over to waiting Red Cross officials. It was the first time hostages freed during this phase of the ceasefire have been made to make public statements during their release.
U.S. President Donald Trump's stunning proposal to transfer the Palestinian population out of Gaza, welcomed by Israel but vehemently rejected by the Palestinians and most of the international community, does not appear to have affected the current phase of the truce, which runs until early March.
But it could complicate talks over the second and more difficult phase, when Hamas is to release dozens more hostages in return for a lasting ceasefire. Hamas may be reluctant to free more captives — and lose its main bargaining chip — if it believes the U.S. and Israel are serious about depopulating the territory, which rights groups say would violate international law.
Hours before Saturday's release, dozens of masked and armed Hamas fighters, some driving white pickup trucks with guns mounted on them, lined up at the location of the exchange near the territory's main north-south highway in Central Gaza.
This was the fifth swap of hostages for prisoners since the ceasefire began on Jan. 19. Before Saturday, 18 hostages and more than 550 Palestinian prisoners had been freed.
“The disturbing images from the release of Ohad, Eli, and Or serve as yet another stark and painful evidence that leaves no room for doubt — there is no time to waste for the hostages,” said the Hostages Families Forum, a group representing relatives of most of the hostages.
The first phase of the ceasefire calls for the release of 33 hostages and nearly 2,000 prisoners, the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the devastated territory. Last week, wounded Palestinians were allowed to leave Gaza for Egypt for the first time since May.
Who was released on Saturday?Sharabi and Ben Ami were both taken hostage from Kibbutz Beeri, one of the hardest-hit farming communities in the Hamas attack. Levy was abducted from the Nova music festival, where he was taking shelter in a saferoom when the militants arrived.
Sharabi’s wife and two teenage daughters were killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, while his brother Yossi was also abducted and died in captivity. Levy’s wife was also killed during the attack. His now 3-year-old son has been cared for by relatives for the past 16 months.
Ben Ami, a father of three, was kidnapped with his wife, Raz. Raz Ben Ami was released during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.
Relatives of the hostages cheered, clapped and cried as they watched live footage of their loved ones being released.
Or Levy's brother, Michael, said his brother’s young son, Almog, was already informed his father was on his way.
“Mogi, we found daddy,” Michael Levy said he told the boy, using his nickname, in an interview with Israeli Channel 12. “We haven’t seen happiness like that in him for a long time."
The 183 Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel on Saturday include 18 people serving life sentences for committing deadly attacks, 54 serving long-term sentences and 111 Palestinians from Gaza who were detained after the Oct. 7 attack. All are men, ranging in age from 20 to 61.
While Israel considers them to be terrorists, Palestinians view them as heroes battling Israeli occupation. Virtually every Palestinian has a friend, relative or acquaintance who has been imprisoned.
More than 100 hostages were released during a weeklong ceasefire in Nov. 2023. More than 70 are still in Gaza, and Israel has said 34 of those are believed to have been killed in the initial attack or to have died in captivity. Israel says Hamas has confirmed that eight of the 33 to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire are dead.
Ceasefire is holding but next phase is uncertainIt is not clear whether Israel and Hamas have begun negotiating a second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for releasing the remaining hostages and extending the truce indefinitely. The war could resume in early March if an agreement is not reached.
Israel says it is still committed to destroying Hamas, even after the militant group reasserted its rule over Gaza within hours of the latest ceasefire. A key far-right partner in Netanyahu’s coalition is calling for the war to resume after the ceasefire’s first phase.
Hamas says it won’t release the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
In the Oct. 7 attack that started the war, some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed. More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory air and ground war, over half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were militants.
The Israeli military says it killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because its fighters operate in residential neighborhoods.
Senior militants among Palestinian prisoners set for releaseOf the 72 security prisoners being released Saturday, five hail from east Jerusalem, 14 from the Gaza Strip and the remaining 53 from the occupied West Bank. Seven are set to be transferred to Egypt ahead of further deportation.
A total of 47 prisoners will be freed Saturday from Ofer prison, in the West Bank, and transferred to Palestinian custody at the Betunia crossing point near the administrative center of Ramallah where scores of relatives, friends and supporters were preparing a hero’s welcome.
The Palestinian security prisoners were detained over offenses ranging from bomb attacks to involvement in militant organizations, in some cases dating back decades.
Among them is Iyad Abu Shakhdam, 49, who has been locked up for nearly 21 years over his involvement in Hamas militant attacks in crowded civilian areas that killed dozens of Israelis during the Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s. That included a notorious 2004 suicide bus bombing in Israel’s southern desert city of Beersheba that killed 16 people, including a 4-year-old child.
Another is Jamal al-Tawil, a prominent Hamas politician in the occupied West Bank and former mayor of the village of al-Bireh, abutting Ramallah.
He has spent nearly two decades in and out of Israeli jail, with the military reporting his last arrest in 2021 over his alleged participation in violent riots and efforts to entrench Hamas' leadership in the West Bank. He was transferred to administrative detention, a repeatedly renewable six-month period in which suspects are held without charge or trial.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state.
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