Israeli and Palestinian security officials have begun indirect contacts aimed at ending a major Israeli offensive in northern Gaza, an Israeli military official said yesterday, but the claim was denied by the Palestinians.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Palestinians delivered messages through mediators, offering to try to prevent rocket fire on Israeli towns if Israel ends the attacks, which have left 68 Palestinians dead in six days.
PHOTO: AFP
However, Israel appears to be in no rush to end the operation. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Monday that "it will take time until we can be sure that we remove the threat of the ... rockets."
A senior Palestinian official said he was unaware of contacts with Israel, which refuses to negotiate directly with the Palestinian Authority. However, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Monday urged militants "not to give the occupation (Israel) any excuse against us," an apparent appeal to stop the rocket fire.
The report of cease-fire contacts came as Palestinians pushed for quick adoption of a UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to the Israeli offensive.
Arab nations that introduced the resolution said they wanted a vote yesterday.
The US ambassador to the UN, John Danforth, said another resolution is not the answer, and that the council "acts as the adversary of the Israelis and cheerleader to the Palestinians."
The Palestinian Authority has complained about what it considers the world's forgiving response to the unprecedented Gaza attacks.
Hundreds of troops are deployed at the northern end of the strip, controlling the towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, as well as the Jebaliya refugee camp, an area with tens of thousands of residents.
The army says the offensive was launched to push rocket launchers back, out of range of Israeli border towns and Jewish settlements. It was triggered by the killing of two Israeli children by Hamas rocket fire last week.
However, the Palestinians say the military has gone much further, destroying dozens of homes, uprooting trees and tearing up roads. Hospital officials say civilians account for nearly half the 68 killed and about 60 percent of the more than 400 wounded.
The US, the EU and a number of European countries have urged restraint by Israel and raised concerns about civilian casualties.
France condemned the Israeli operation on Monday, while Egypt's foreign minister urged Israel to stop its "policy of assassination and destruction," the semiofficial Middle East News Agency reported.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole