Prospects for a Gaza ceasefire appeared slim yesterday, as Hamas reiterated its demand for an end to the war in exchange for the freeing of hostages, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flatly ruled out, while Jerusalem said it would shut down al-Jazeera’s operations in Israel over its coverage.
In their second day of truce talks in Cairo with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, Hamas negotiators maintained their stance that any truce agreement must end the war, Palestinian officials said.
Israeli officials have not traveled to Cairo to participate in indirect diplomacy, but yesterday Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s aim since the start of the war nearly seven months ago: to disarm and dismantle the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas for good or else endanger Israel’s future security.
Photo: Reuters
The prime minister said Israel was willing to pause fighting in Gaza to secure the release of hostages still being held by Hamas, believed to number more than 130.
“But while Israel has shown willingness, Hamas remains entrenched in its extreme positions, first among them the demand to remove all our forces from the Gaza Strip, end the war, and leave Hamas in power,” Netanyahu said. “Israel cannot accept that.”
Thousands of Israelis protested on Saturday, demanding that Netanyahu accept a ceasefire agreement with Hamas that would see the remaining hostages brought home.
In a statement released yesterday shortly after Netanyahu’s, Hamas’ leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said the group is still keen on reaching a comprehensive ceasefire that ends the Israeli “aggression,” guarantees Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and achieves “a serious” deal to free Israelis being held hostage in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
He blamed Netanyahu for “the continuation of the aggression and the expansion of the circle of conflict, and sabotaging the efforts made through the mediators and various parties.”
Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s Cabinet said it would shut down al-Jazeera’s operations in Israel for as long as the war conintues, on the grounds the Qatari television network threatens national security.
Al-Jazeera rejected accusations that it harmed Israel’s security as a “dangerous and ridiculous lie” that puts its journalists at risk and said that it reserved the right to “pursue every legal step.”
The network, which is funded by the Qatari government, has been critical of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, from where it has reported around the clock throughout the war.
“The incitement channel al-Jazeera will be closed in Israel,” Netanyahu wrote on social media following the unanimous Cabinet vote.
A government statement said Israel’s communications minister signed orders to “act immediately,” but at least one lawmaker who supported the closure said al-Jazeera could still try to block it in court.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
WHAT WAS ALL THAT FOR? Jaw Shaw-kong said that Cheng Li-wen had pushed for more drastic cuts and attacked him, just for the outcome to be nearly identical to his bill The legislature yesterday passed a supplementary budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of US military equipment, with the combined amount of spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.8 billion). The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their legislative majority to pass the bill, which runs until 2033 and has two main funding provisions. One was for NT$300 billion of arms sales already approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, the other was for NT$480 billion for another arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The bill, which fell short of the NT$1.25
‘CLEAR MESSAGE’: The bill would set up an interagency ‘tiger team’ to review sanctions tools and other economic options to help deter any Chinese aggression toward Taiwan US Representative Young Kim has introduced a bill to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, calling for an interagency “tiger team” to preplan coordinated sanctions and economic measures in response to possible Chinese military or political action against Taiwan. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習近平] has directed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China has a plan. America should have one too,” Kim said in a news release on Thursday last week. She introduced the “Deter PRC [People’s Republic of China] aggression against Taiwan act” to “ensure the US has a coordinated sanctions strategy ready should
RSS