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Negotiations held after Israeli prime minister’s postwar plan for Gaza draws US criticism
More than 100 people were reported killed early on Saturday in overnight strikes across Gaza, as Israel’s spy chief was in Paris for talks seeking to “unblock” progress towards a truce and the return of hostages held by Palestinian militants.
News agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that the Paris negotiations come after a plan for a postwar Gaza unveiled by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, drew criticism from key ally the US and was rejected by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas on Friday.
Where are we supposed to go?
We can’t stand on our feet because of hunger and lack of food.
US forces shot down three Houthi attack drones near commercial ships in the Red Sea on Friday and destroyed seven anti-ship cruise missiles positioned on land, the US military said. Attacks from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis targeting shipping have persisted despite repeated US and UK strikes. A day earlier, US forces struck four Houthi drones and two anti-ship cruise missiles, the US military said.
Under Benjamin Netanyahu’s “day after” plan for Gaza – his first official proposal for when the war in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory ends – Israel would maintain security control over all land west of Jordan, including the occupied West Bank and Gaza, territories where the Palestinians want to create an independent state. In the long-term goals listed, the Israeli prime minister rejected the “unilateral recognition” of a Palestinian state, while for the medium term he outlined demilitarisation and deradicalisation in Gaza as goals.
Netanyahu also called for shutting down the UN Palestinian refugees agency (UNRWA) and replacing it with other international aid groups in his “day after” plan, which was presented to members of Israel’s security cabinet on Thursday and seen by Reuters on Friday.
The spokesperson for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said Netanyahu’s “day after” proposal was doomed to fail, as were any Israeli plans to change the geographic and demographic realities in Gaza. “If the world is genuinely interested in having security and stability in the region, it must end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and recognise an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” he said.
UN experts warned on Friday that any transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel that would be used in Gaza was likely to violate international humanitarian law and must cease immediately. “State officials involved in arms exports may be individually criminally liable for aiding and abetting any war crimes, crimes against humanity or acts of genocide,” the experts said. They also noted that arms transfers to Hamas and other armed groups are also prohibited by international law.
Hamas said on Friday that its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, had left Egypt after holding talks with Egyptian officials about a possible ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and an exchange of hostages held by the militants for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
Two Egyptian security sources confirmed that Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel would head on Friday to Paris for the talks with the Israelis, after wrapping up talks with Haniyeh on Thursday.
Israel’s army said on Friday a Palestinian militant on his way to carry out a shooting attack was killed in a drone strike in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin a day earlier. Yasser Hanun from the Islamic Jihad group had previously been detained for his involvement in the “terrorist organisation’s military activities”, the army said. Palestinian news agency Wafa said two people were killed and four others wounded in the strike. AFP footage showed a car severely burned from the hit.
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