Hamas said Thursday it will send a delegation to Cairo as soon as possible to continue work on ceasefire negotiations in response to Egypt’s latest proposal. In a statement, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said he spoke with Egypt’s intelligence chief and “emphasized the movement’s positive spirit in studying the ceasefire proposal.” The statement did not say when the delegation would travel.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to the Middle East this week in a renewed effort for a ceasefire agreement. The proposed truce would release hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a halt to fighting and the delivery of much-needed food, medicine and water to Gaza. Palestinian prisoners are also expected to be released as part of the deal.
If the Israel-Hamas war ended today, it would still take until 2040 to rebuild all the homes that were destroyed in nearly seven months of Israeli bombings and ground offensives in the besieged territory, according to United Nations estimates released Thursday.
The war has driven around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes, caused vast destruction in numerous towns and cities, and pushed northern Gaza to the brink of famine. The death toll in Gaza has risen to more than 34,500 people, according to local health authorities, and the territory’s entire population has been plunged into a humanitarian catastrophe.
The war began on October 7, when Palestinian militants launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and kidnapping around 250 hostages. Israel says militants still hold about 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 other people.
At the moment:
— As Hamas considers a ceasefire, the question remains: Will Israel end the war without destroying the group?
— The president of Colombia says the country will break diplomatic relations with Israel because of the war in Gaza.
— The Biden administration is evaluating measures to help Palestinians bring families from the region.
— As protests and police action roil U.S. schools, there has been a lull in the media’s nonstop coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas.
— Student journalists are covering their own campuses in upheaval. Here’s what they had to say
— Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest are ready to remove Palestinian flags or symbols.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here are the latest:
JERUSALEM — Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid met with the UAE foreign minister in Abu Dhabi.
State news agency WAM confirmed the meeting between Lapid and Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. WAM described Sheikh Abdullah as telling Lapid about “the importance of working to achieve a ceasefire and avoid regional repercussions” in the Israel-Hamas war still raging in the Gaza Strip.
Sheikh Abdullah also said that permanent peace would have to be based on a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
On social platform X, Lapid wrote: “I told him that the most urgent thing is to return the hostages home.” A currently proposed ceasefire would allow some of the remaining hostages who were taken prisoner following the Hamas attack on October 7 to be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.
Lapid’s visit comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to visit the UAE since reaching a diplomatic recognition agreement with Israel in 2020. The UAE has faced criticism in the Arab world for its ties with Israel, especially as the war continues and as health officials in Gaza say more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the latest round of fighting.
JERUSALEM — Israel’s national security council has issued a warning urging people to reconsider traveling to Malmo, Sweden, for the next Eurovision song contest.
In a statement, the council described Malmo as “a hotbed for anti-Israel protests” that include calls to attack Israelis and the burning of Israeli flags.
“These developments raise the tangible concern that terrorists will exploit the protest and anti-Israel atmosphere to carry out an attack on Israelis arriving for Eurovision,” he said.
He stated that he considers the trip to Malmo a “moderate threat” and recommends that Israelis heading to the city “reconsider the need for the trip”.
It said the warning will remain in place for the duration of the Eurovision contest – scheduled to take place from May 7-11.
The war in Gaza has increased tensions surrounding Israel’s participation in Eurovision. Pro-Palestinian groups are expected to hold large protests in Malmo, and pageant organizers say they reserve the right to remove any Palestinian flags or pro-Palestinian symbols at the show.
CAIRO — Hamas says it will send a delegation to Cairo to continue ceasefire negotiations.
Hamas was expected to deliver a response to Egypt’s latest proposal as early as Thursday.
In a statement, the group’s supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said he had spoken with Egypt’s intelligence chief and “emphasized the movement’s positive spirit in studying the ceasefire proposal.”
The statement said that Hamas negotiators would travel to Egypt as soon as possible “to complete ongoing discussions with the aim of working towards an agreement”.
The statement did not say when the delegation would travel.
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and a ceasefire in a phone call on Thursday, the government said. German government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner, without providing details.
Further improvements in providing humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza were also a theme, Buechner said in an emailed statement.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany is the second largest arms supplier to Israel, behind the United States. It is also among the countries that announced they would resume cooperation with the United Nations aid agency for Palestinians in Gaza following the publication of an independent analysis of its neutrality – a decision that Israel’s Foreign Ministry called “regrettable and disappointing.”
BEIRUT – Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Thursday that the bodies of 28 people killed by Israeli strikes had been taken to local hospitals in the past 24 hours. Hospitals also received 51 injured people, the daily report said.
This brings the total number of Palestinians killed in the war between Israel and Hamas to at least 34,596, the ministry said, and 77,816 injured. The Ministry of Health does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its calculations, but says that women and children represent around two-thirds of those killed.
The Israeli military claims to have killed around 13,000 militants, without providing evidence to support the claim.
AMMAN, Jordan — If the war in Gaza ended today, it would still take until 2040 to rebuild all the homes that were destroyed in nearly seven months of Israeli bombing and ground offensives in the territory, according to United Nations estimates released Thursday.
“Each day that this war continues imposes enormous and growing costs on Gazans and all Palestinians,” said United Nations Development Program Administrator Achim Steiner.
At least 370,000 housing units in Gaza were damaged, including 79,000 completely destroyed, according to the new report from UNDP and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, which details how Israel’s attack, launched after the Hamas attack on October 7, devastated the economy of the Palestinian territories and how the impact will increase as the conflict lasts.
Following previous conflicts between Israel and Hamas, housing was rebuilt at a rate of 992 units per year. Even if Israel allows a five-fold increase in the entry of construction materials into Gaza, it would take until 2040 to rebuild the destroyed homes without repairing the damaged ones, the report states.
In Gaza, the Israeli offensive practically paralyzed the economy, which contracted by 81% in the last quarter of 2023. The report states that the “productive base of the economy was destroyed”, with sectors suffering losses of more than 90%.
Gaza, where around 2.3 million Palestinians live, has been under blockade by Israel and Egypt since Hamas took power in 2007, imposing strict controls on what enters and leaves the territory. Even before the war, it faced “hyperunemployment” of 45%, reaching almost 63% among younger workers. Since the start of the war, it has lost around 201,000 jobs.
The war also had an impact on the West Bank, where Israel imposed restrictions on movement for months. In 2024, the entire Palestinian economy – including Gaza and the West Bank – has so far contracted by 25.8% and, if the war continues, the loss will reach 29% in July, the equivalent of $7.6 billion, the report states. .
BEIRUT – The Palestinian militant group Hamas praised Colombia’s announcement that it would break ties with Israel, saying such a move was a recognition of the suffering of the Palestinian people.
In its statement on Thursday, Hamas called on other Latin American leaders to cut their countries’ diplomatic relations with Israel, which it described as “a dishonest and fascist entity that continues its crimes against our people.”
Historically, Colombia has been one of Israel’s closest partners in Latin America. But relations between the two nations have cooled since Gustavo Petro was elected Colombia’s first left-wing president in 2022.
Petro announced that his government would sever diplomatic relations with Israel from Thursday, describing Israel’s siege of Gaza as “genocide.” He previously suspended arms purchases from Israel and compared that country’s actions in Gaza to those of Nazi Germany. Hamas said it highly values Petro’s position.
Weeks after the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, which triggered the current war in Gaza and killed some 1,200 people, Petro recalled Colombia’s ambassador to Israel while criticizing the country’s military offensive.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
