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Live blog: Talks over Gaza truce, prisoner swap stalled — Israeli media
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, now in its 307th day, has killed at least 39,677 Palestinians — mostly women and children — and wounded over 91,645 others, with 10,000+ estimated to be buried under debris of flattened buildings.
Palestinian Maryam Abu Obeid, 65, mourns while sitting by her grandson Khaled’s makeshift gravesite at their home in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood on August 7, 2024. / Photo: AFP
AFP
Palestinian Maryam Abu Obeid, 65, mourns while sitting by her grandson Khaled’s makeshift gravesite at their home in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood on August 7, 2024. / Photo: AFP
Thursday, August 8, 2024
0105 GMT — Negotiations over a proposed hostage-prisoner exchange and a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine in Gaza have hit a standstill, with no meetings planned, Israeli media reported.
The information was reported by KAN, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, citing unnamed Israeli and foreign sources.
The sources indicated that talks on resuming negotiations on the proposed deal are currently “stalled.”
Consequently, no new dates have been set for meetings between the heads of the Israeli, Qatari, Egyptian and American security agencies.
Additionally, KAN reported that families of Israeli captives in Gaza who met with the Israeli negotiating team recently received “highly pessimistic messages” about the prospects of progress in the negotiations.
Members of the Israeli negotiation team informed the families that they “do not expect a breakthrough in these negotiations in the near term.”
Stalled talks have been attributed not only to preparations for a potential Iranian response to Israel’s assassination of Hamas political bureau chief and lead peace negotiator Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital Tehran last week but also due to unresolved disagreements over Israel’s positions on the Philadelphi Corridor and Netzarim Corridor, areas from which Israel refuses to withdraw.
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2336 GMT — Israel kills another World Central Kitchen member in Gaza
Israel has killed Nadi Sallout, member of World Central Kitchen, in an attack on Deir al Balah in central Gaza, Palestinian media reported.
World Central Kitchen, whose seven members were bombed to death by Israel in April, confirmed the killing of Sallout and called him “a humanitarian at his very core.”
The US-based non-governmental organisation said Sallout was “an integral member of our warehouse team from the early days of our response in Rafah and a humanitarian at his very core”.
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Haniyeh assassination: A move to destabilise the political future of Hamas?
2129 GMT — Jordan calls for ‘transformative actions’ to force Israel to accept truce
Jordan has called for taking “transformative actions” to force Israel to accept a ceasefire in besieged Gaza.
Speaking to the US news channel CNN, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said, “the assassination of the chief negotiator of Hamas (Ismail Haniyeh) is a violation of international law and a reckless move that we condemn as a crime.”
“We must undertake transformative actions to force Israel to accept a cease-fire and end its aggression on Gaza,” he added.
2117 GMT — Officials of Russia and Palestine discuss Gaza
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has discussed the situation in the Middle East with the head of the Palestinian National Initiative movement, Mustafa Barghouti, in a phone call.
The conversation was held at the initiative of the Palestinian side, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
According to the ministry, the bulk of the call concerned Israel’s ongoing military carnage in Gaza and the growing humanitarian disaster in the blockaded enclave.
“The issues of restoring Palestinian national unity on the political platform of the Palestine Liberation Organization were separately touched upon, including in light of the results of inter-Palestinian meetings held earlier in Moscow and Beijing,” it said.
2027 GMT — Netanyahu denies US claims of progress in Gaza truce talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to comments by US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on a ceasefire deal in besieged Gaza.
Netanyahu claimed that his government had not received a response from the Palestinian resistance group on a ceasefire and prisoner exchange proposal, despite submitting a “clear proposal” and sending a negotiation team to Cairo last Saturday.
That was after Kirby told the reporters that “there is a good proposal before both sides, and they need to both accept that proposal so we can get this in place.”
The US believes both sides “need to do a final bit of work” to get to a conclusion, he added.
“We are as close as we think we have ever been.”
2137 GMT — Israel court hears bid to close prison where soldiers raped Palestinian
The Israeli Supreme Court has considered a petition to shutter a notorious desert military torture centre where soldiers have been abusing and raping Palestinians, as a new video emerged showing the sexual assault of a Palestinian abductee by Israeli troops, who Netanyahu claims are part of the “most moral army” in the world.
Rights groups have been engaged in a legal battle since June to shut down the torture facility known as Sde Teiman, where Israel has held many Palestinians abducted in besieged Gaza during the 10-month carnage.
The groups claim that conditions at the facility are grave and that abuse by Israeli soldiers is common, basing their claims on testimony from released abductees and Israeli whistleblowers.
Defence lawyer Nati Rom told The Associated Press that the soldiers were arrested about a month after the attack and are accused of performing acts of sodomy on the detainee.
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2052 GMT — Turkish, Saudi officials discuss Israeli genocide
Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Nuh Yilmaz and his Saudi Arabian counterpart have discussed the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, said the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Yilmaz met with Waleed A. Elkhereiji on the margins of an extraordinary Organization of Islamic Cooperation Executive Committee meeting in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, the ministry said on X.
“During the meeting, the ongoing Israeli massacre in Gaza and regional developments were discussed,” it added.
2017 GMT — US urges Israel to probe itself over rape of Palestinian abductees
Israel should fully investigate allegations of sexual abuse against Palestinian abductees by its soldiers, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller hassaid, calling for “zero tolerance” for perpetrators.
Asked about a video, aired by Israel’s Channel 12, that appeared to show soldiers taking an abductee out of sight of surveillance cameras to carry out abuses and about broader allegations of abuses against prisoners, Miller said US officials had reviewed the video.
“We have seen the video, and reports of sexual abuse of detainees are horrific. They ought to be investigated fully by the government of Israel, by the IDF,” Miller said, referring to the Israeli military.
“There ought to be zero tolerance for sexual abuse, rape of any detainee, period. … If there are detainees who have been sexually assaulted or raped, the government of Israel, the IDF need to fully investigate those actions and hold anyone responsible accountable to the full extent of the law.”
The White House also called the reports of rape, torture and abuse of Palestinian prisoners “deeply concerning.”
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Leaked video shows Israeli soldiers sexually assault Palestinian detainee
1951 GMT — EU, France, UK slam Israel minister for Gaza starvation comment
The European Union, UK and France condemned far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for suggesting it would be “justified and moral” to starve two million Palestinians in besieged Gaza to free scores of captives held in the Palestinian territory.
“It demonstrates, once again, his contempt for international law and for basic principles of humanity,” the EU said in a statement.
“We expect the Israeli government to unequivocally distance itself from the words of Minister Smotrich,” the EU said, as it called for access to cover the humanitarian needs of Gazans, including hundreds of thousands of children.
France also criticised Smotrich, expressing its “deep dismay at the scandalous remarks”.
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy said on X that there “can be no justification for Minister Smotrich’s remarks”, and called on “the wider Israeli government to retract and condemn them”.
For our live updates from Wednesday, August 7, 2024, click here.
SOURCE: TRTWORLD AND AGENCIES
