Palestinian militants holding an Israeli soldier issued a new set of demands yesterday, calling for the release of 1,000 prisoners and a halt to Israel's military offensive in Gaza, in a sign that diplomatic efforts to resolve the standoff were making little progress.
Israel rejected the demands.
"The Israeli position is that he should be released immediately and unconditionally," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.
PHOTO: AFP
The militants, linked to the Palestinians' ruling Hamas party, issued their latest demands as Israel kept up its military pressure. Aircraft strikes pounded Gaza for a fourth straight night, and artillery from tanks and gunboats bombarded northern and southern Gaza yesterday morning.
There were no reports of casualties.
Concerned about the rising tensions, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Friday.
The Palestinians asked the UN's most powerful body to condemn Israel's actions and order a halt to the Israeli offensive. But no resolution was circulated, apparently because of opposition by the US, Israel's closest ally.
The new call for a prisoner swap was issued by Hamas' military wing and two smaller militant groups with ties to Hamas -- the Popular Resistance Committees and the Army of Islam. The three groups have claimed responsibility for Sunday's abduction of Corporal Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid.
In a joint statement, the militants condemned Israel for launching a military operation while diplomatic efforts were continuing. Egyptian mediators have been trying to find a resolution for days.
"Despite the efforts of the mediators, who quietly tried to quickly resolve this humanitarian case, the enemy and its political leadership is still under the influence of their military and security commanders, who know nothing but the language of invasion, destruction and killing,'' it said.
The militants called for the release of 1,000 prisoners, including non-Palestinian Muslims and Arabs held by Israel. The gesture appeared to be aimed at boosting support in the broader Arab world.
The statement repeated a demand made earlier this week for the release of all Palestinian women and minors held in Israeli prisons -- an estimated 500 people -- in exchange for information about Shalit.
As with its earlier demand, yesterday's statement did not promise to release the soldier or provide any information about his condition.
Israel's Channel 1 TV, citing a senior Israeli security official, reported on Friday that a Palestinian doctor treated Shalit for minor shoulder and stomach wounds, and that the soldier was in good condition.
Israel Radio said the doctor's visit took place on Thursday.
The fate of the prisoners held by Israel is an emotional issue in Palestinian society. Palestinian leaders routinely call for their release, and the militants' calls for a prisoner swap has won widespread support among the general public.
Israel sent troops into southern Gaza on Wednesday -- the first major raid into the territory since Israeli soldiers pulled out last year after a 38-year occupation -- and began a wave of airstrikes across the coastal strip.
In addition to its clampdown in Gaza, it has detained eight Palestinian Cabinet ministers and in an unprecedented measure, revoked the Jerusalem residency rights of four senior Hamas officials.
One of the artillery rounds fired into Gaza yesterday morning hit a Hamas training camp. One of the missiles fired from the air struck one of the greenhouses Israel left behind when it pulled out of Gaza over the summer after a 38-year occupation.
Then, the greenhouses were a symbol of hope for rallying Gaza's economy, shattered by the preceding five years of fighting between Israel and the Palestinians. But violence after the pullout has dashed these hopes.
The current military offensive has left many Gazans without electricity or water. The UN on Friday warned the territory is on the edge of a humanitarian crisis, and the international Red Cross said it was working to get aid shipments into the area.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing