Israel-Hamas war latest: Key mediator Egypt expresses skepticism of cease-fire proposal
Key mediator Egypt expressed skepticism Wednesday as more details emerged of the proposal meant to bridge gaps in cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas, a day before negotiations were expected to resume in Cairo.
The challenges around the so-called bridging proposal appear to undermine the optimism for an imminent agreement that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken carried into his latest Mideast visit this week. Diplomatic efforts had redoubled as fears grow of a wider regional war after the recent targeted killings of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, both blamed on Israel, and threats of retaliation.
Officials in Egypt, in its unique role as both a mediator and affected party since it borders Gaza, told The Associated Press that the Hamas militant group will not agree to the bridging proposal for a number of reasons — ones in addition to the long-held wariness over whether a deal would truly remove Israel forces from Gaza and end the war.
One Egyptian official, with direct knowledge of the negotiations, said the bridging proposal requires the implementation of the deal’s first phase, which has Hamas releasing the most vulnerable civilian hostages captured in its Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war. Parties during the first phase would negotiate the second and third phases with no “guarantees” to Hamas from Israel or mediators.
“The Americans are offering promises, not guarantees,” the official said. “Hamas won’t accept this, because it virtually means Hamas will release the civilian hostages in return for a six-week pause of fighting with no guarantees for a negotiated permanent cease-fire.”
He also said the proposal doesn’t clearly say Israel will withdraw its forces from two strategic corridors in Gaza, the Philadelphi corridor alongside Egypt and the Netzarim corridor east to west across the territory. Israel offers to downsize its forces in the Philadelphi corridor, with “promises” to withdraw from the area, he said.
“This is not acceptable for us and of course for Hamas,” the Egyptian official said.
Earlier, Lebanon’s Hezbollah launched more than 50 rockets, hitting a number of private homes in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
First responders in Golan Heights said they treated a 30-year-old man who was moderately wounded with shrapnel injuries in Wednesday’s attack. Hezbollah said the attack was in response to an Israeli strike deep into Lebanon on Tuesday night that killed one and injured 19.
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Israel police say they arrested 5 ultra-Orthodox protesters in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM — Israel police say they arrested five ultra-Orthodox protesters at a demonstration in Jerusalem against mandatory enlistment.
Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox demonstrated outside of the Israeli military enlistment office in Jerusalem on Wednesday, blocking streets and preventing people who had received summons from the army from presenting themselves for enlistment.
Approximately 3,000 ultra-Orthodox have received summons in recent weeks after Israel’s Supreme Court unanimously ordered the government to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish men into the army.
The landmark ruling in June seeks to end a system that has allowed them to avoid enlistment into compulsory military service.
Under longstanding arrangements, ultra-Orthodox men have been exempt from the draft, which is compulsory for most Jewish men and women, who serve 2-3 years as well as reserve duty until around age 40.
Roughly 1.3 million ultra-Orthodox Jews make up about 13% of Israel’s population and oppose enlistment because they believe studying full-time in religious seminaries is their most important duty.
These exemptions have long been a source of anger among the secular public, a divide that has widened during the ten-month-old war, as the military has called up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers and says it needs all the manpower it can get. Over 600 soldiers have been killed since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
Blinken discusses Israel-Hamas cease-fire negotiations in call with Turkey’s foreign minister
ISTANBUL — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed developments in the Hamas-Israel cease-fire negotiations in a phone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, a spokesman for the ministry said Wednesday.
The conversation was held at the request of the U.S., Oncu Keceli said in a social media post. Turkey is a close supporter of Hamas and has condemned Israel’s campaign in Gaza as “genocide.”
Blinken and Fidan discussed “diplomatic efforts to prevent regional escalation and their shared commitment to creating conditions for a durable ceasefire, bringing the hostages home and ensuring vital humanitarian aid reaches those in need in Gaza,” according to a statement by the U.S. State Department.
Israel orders evacuation of residential area near main hospital in central Gaza
JERUSALEM — Israel has ordered the evacuation of a residential area near the main hospital in central Gaza.
The military on Wednesday ordered people to leave an area in Deir al-Balah that is a few hundred meters (yards) away from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, one of the last functioning medical centers in the territory. The military said it would soon act against militants in the area.
There was no evacuation order for the hospital itself, but during past evacuations people have fled from areas adjacent to the declared zones for fear the fighting could spread.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza, launched in retaliation for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, has displaced the vast majority of the territory’s 2.3 million residents, often multiple times.
The coastal strip, which is just 25 miles (40 kilometers) long by about 7 miles (11 kilometers) wide, has been completely sealed off by Israeli forces since May.
Around 84% of Gaza’s territory has been placed under evacuation orders by the Israeli military, according to the United Nations.
The war has destroyed much of Gaza’s health sector, and hospitals have struggled to function as they face waves of casualties from Israeli strikes. They have also been transformed into shelters, with thousands of people pitching tents in courtyards and parking lots.
Israeli forces have raided hospitals on several occasions since the start of the war, accusing Hamas and other militant groups of using them for military purposes, allegations denied by Gaza health officials.
Israeli airstrike in Lebanon kills brother of high-ranking official from Palestinian faction’s military wing, Palestinian officials say
Beirut — An Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon on Wednesday killed the brother of a high-ranking official from the Palestinian faction Fatah’s military wing, state media and Palestinian officials in Lebanon said.
Khalil al-Maqdah, the brother of Fatah Gen. Mounir al-Maqdah, was killed in a strike on a vehicle, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Israeli officials have accused Mounir al-Maqdah of facilitating the smuggling of weapons into the West Bank.
Mounir al-Maqdah told the Beirut-based pan-Arab TV network Al Mayadeen on Wednesday that his brother had been a brigadier general in Fatah’s armed wing and vowed the group “will respond inside of Israel.”
Earlier this month, another Israeli drone strike hit an SUV on a main road in Sidon, killing a Hamas official identified as Samer al-Haj.
The Lebanese wings of Hamas and the allied Palestinian Islamic Jihad have launched occasional attacks on northern Israel from Lebanon over the past 10 months, and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has near-daily clashes with Israeli forces against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Fatah, a rival of Hamas, has not announced taking part in any of those operations to date.
Commercial ship ‘not under command’ after repeated attacks target it in Red Sea, British say
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A commercial ship traveling through the Red Sea came under repeated attack Wednesday, leaving the vessel “not under command” in an assault suspected to have been carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the British military said.
Details remained few about the attack, though it comes during the Houthis’ monthslong campaign targeting ships over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The attack saw men on small boats first open fire with small arms, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The ship also was hit by three projectiles, it added.
“The vessel reports being not under command,” the UKMTO said, likely meaning it lost all power. “No casualties reported.”
The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack, though it can take them hours or even days before they acknowledge one of their assaults.
Israel says military is shifting its attention to the border with Lebanon
TEL AVIV, Israel — Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says Israel’s military is shifting its attention from Gaza to the border with Lebanon.
Touring northern Israel on Tuesday, Gallant said Israel has scaled back its activities in Gaza, where it has been fighting a war against Hamas for nearly a year, and turned its focus to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
“Our strongholds are moving from the south to the north, we are gradually changing, we still have a number of missions in the south,” Gallant told troops.
Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The sides have been engaged in almost daily fighting since then, raising fears of a broader regionwide war. Those fears have grown as Hezbollah has vowed retaliation for an Israeli strike in Beirut last month that killed a top Hezbollah commander.
Hezbollah launched more than 120 projectiles toward northern Israel on Tuesday, causing damage to a home and sparking a number of fires. Israel said it was striking the source of the launches.
More than 500 people have been killed in Lebanon, including at least 100 civilians. In Israel, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed.
By The Associated Press
