Live blog: US sees new momentum in Gaza hostage talks — White House

Friday, April 26, 2024

1616 GMT — White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan has said he saw fresh momentum in talks to end the war in Gaza and return the remaining Israeli hostages.

"I believe that there is a renewed effort under way involving Qatar and Egypt as well as Israel to try to find a way forward," Sullivan told MSNBC in an interview.

"Do I think that there is new momentum, new life in these hostage talks? I believe there is."

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1800 GMT — Türkiye slams Israeli foreign minister’s social media post

Türkiye has slammed a recent social media post by the Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz targeting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling it "banal."

"The social media post by the Israeli Foreign Minister targeting President Erdogan is a banal statement that is devoid of any seriousness," a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said.


"Targeting President Erdogan, who expressed the facts in all their nakedness, in this way is an indication of the state of mind of the Israeli government,” the statement added.

The ministry stressed that all members of the Israeli government would "be brought to justice" for their actions.

1725 GMT — New pro-Palestinian encampments erected at two US universities

New anti-war encampments were established at the University of North Carolina and Arizona State University as protests calling for their institutions of higher learning to condemn Israel's war on Gaza and divest from Israeli firms persist.

Police attempted to clear the sit-in at Arizona State University, but protesters defiantly remained on a campus lawn after their tents were torn down and carried away by law enforcement. Demonstrators attempted to gather what they could, and locked arms around a canopy that was left standing.

1624 GMT — UN gives update on 19 staff accused by Israel

UN investigators examining Israeli accusations that 12 staff from the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA took part in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks have closed one case due to a lack of evidence from Israel and suspended three more, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric has said.

He said the inquiry by the Office for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) continues into the remaining eight cases.

In the closed case, Dujarric said "no evidence was provided by Israel to support the allegation s against the staff member" and that the U.N. is "exploring corrective administrative action to be taken in that person's case."

1617 GMT — Israel to Egypt: 'one last chance' at hostage deal before Rafah assault

Israeli officials told their Egyptian counterparts that Israel is ready to give hostage negotiations "one last chance" to reach a deal with Hamas before moving forward with an invasion of Rafah, Axios cited two Israeli officials as saying.

"Israel told Egypt that it is serious about preparations for the operation in Rafah and that it will not let Hamas drag its feet," it quoted one of the officials as saying.

1559 GMT — 37M tonnes of debris in Gaza could take years to clear: UN

There are some 37 million tonnes of debris to clear away in Gaza once the Israeli offensive is over, a senior official with the UN Mine Action Service has said.

And unexploded ordnance buried in the rubble would complicate that work, said UNMAS' Pehr Lodhammar, who has run mine programmes in countries such as Iraq. It was impossible to say how much of the ammunition fired in Gaza remained live, said Lodhammar.

"We know that typically there is a failure rate of at least 10 percent of land service ammunition," he told journalists in Geneva. "What we do know is that we estimated 37 million tonnes of debris, which is approximately 300 kilos of debris per square metre," he added.

Starting from a hypothetical number of 100 trucks, that would take 14 years to clear away, he said.

1409 GMT — ICC decisions will not affect Israel's actions: Netanyahu

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that any rulings issued by the International Criminal Court would not affect Israel's actions but would "set a dangerous precedent".

"Under my leadership, Israel will never accept any attempt by the International Criminal Court in the Hague to undermine its basic right to defend itself," Netanyahu said in a statement shared on Telegram.

"While decisions made by the court in the Hague will not affect Israel's actions, they will set a dangerous precedent that threatens soldiers and public figures."

1407 GMT — Saudi to host top Arab, EU diplomats for Gaza talks: officials

Top Arab and European diplomats are expected to begin arriving in the Saudi capital this weekend for an economic summit and meetings on the war in Gaza, diplomatic officials said.

The two-day World Economic Forum special meeting, scheduled to begin in Riyadh on Sunday, includes in its official programme appearances by the Saudi, Jordanian, Egyptian and Turkish foreign ministers.

A Gaza-focused session on Monday is set to feature newly appointed Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Sigrid Kaag, the United Nations aid coordinator for Gaza.

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne is among European officials travelling to Riyadh during the summit for talks on the war.

1346 GMT — Israeli assault on Rafah will bring 'disaster' to MidEast: aid group

An Israeli assault on southern Gaza's Rafah area would spell disaster for civilians, not only in Gaza but across the Middle East, the head of an aid group has warned, saying the region faced a "countdown to an even bigger conflict".

Jan Egeland, the Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Reuters that 1.3 million civilians seeking refuge in Rafah - including his aid group's staff - were living in "indescribable fear" of an Israeli offensive.

Israel has stepped up airstrikes on Rafah this week after saying it would evacuate civilians ahead of an all-out assault, despite allies' warnings this could cause mass casualties.

1332 GMT — Hamas criticises US proposal that ignores Gaza ceasefire demand

Hamas has criticised a proposal from the United States and 17 other countries that called on it to release all of its hostages as a pathway to end the crisis in Gaza, saying it failed to address Palestinian demands, a statement said.

Hamas is open to ceasefire ideas and sticks to the main demands outlined by the group, the statement added.

1331 GMT — Scores arrested as Berlin police clear Gaza war protesters’ camp

Police have violently cleared a camp of Gaza war protesters at the German parliament, arresting several people.

There were "repeated crimes and violations" committed by residents of the protest camp, including acts of violence by residents against police officers, police wrote on X.

According to police, they had repeatedly asked the residents of the camp to leave the site and when they refused, they proceeded to start arresting mainly young protesters who were seen flashing the victory sign with their fingers as they were whisked away to the police vehicle.

1243 GMT — Israel, Palestine dispute turned into conflict between oppressors and oppressed: Türkiye

The long-running dispute between Israel and Palestine is no ordinary conflict but rather a struggle between oppressors and the oppressed, the Turkish foreign minister has said.

"The conflict between Israel and Palestine has ceased to be a war and has turned into a struggle of the oppressors and the oppressed," Hakan Fidan told a joint news conference with Winston Peters, his counterpart from New Zealand.

The conflict also evolved into a "struggle between the founders of the international system and the oppressed within this system," he added.

He said Israel has not only been killing Palestinians but also international law.

1257 GMT — Netanyahu etches his name as 'butcher of Gaza': Erdogan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, like villains before him, has etched his name in history with shame as the butcher of Gaza, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

Speaking in Istanbul, he said anyone looking for "modern pharaohs need not look far, just look at those who have mercilessly killed 35,000 Palestinians in the last 203 days".

Türkiye would continue its struggle for a free Palestine, he said, adding no one should expect Ankara to remain silent in the face of Israel's genocidal acts in Gaza.

1241 GMT — Gaza protests a hallmark of democracy: Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said protests at US universities over US-ally Israel's war in Gaza are a hallmark of American democracy, but criticised what he called the "silence" about Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

"In our own country, it's a hallmark of our democracy that our citizens make known their views, their concerns, their anger, at any given time, and I think that reflects the strength of the country, the strength of democracy," Blinken said.

1139 GMT — EU commits $73M more for Gaza aid

The European Union has said it was giving an extra $73 million to provide desperately needed aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

"In light of the continued deterioration of the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and the steady rise of needs on the ground, the (European) Commission is stepping up its funding to support Palestinians affected by the ongoing war," an EU statement said.

"This support brings total EU humanitarian assistance to 193 million euros for Palestinians in need inside Gaza and across the region in 2024."

1131 GMT — Israel kills 51 more, raising Gaza death toll to 34,356

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has said that at least 34,356 people have been killed in the territory during more than six months of Israeli war on the besieged enclave.

The tally includes at least 51 deaths in the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 77,368 people have been wounded in Gaza since Israel launched a brutal war on Gaza following the Hamas attack on October 7.

1103 GMT — Team from Gaza mediator Egypt heads to Israel: source

A delegation from mediator Egypt is travelling to Israel, a source close to the Israeli government told AFP, in what local media said is a bid to reignite stalled hostage-release negotiations.

The effort comes alongside preparations for a Israeli military offensive in southern Gaza's Rafah, and with spillover from the war in Gaza leading to stepped-up exchanges of fire over Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

Israel's army said missile fire near that border killed an Israeli civilian.

0825 GMT — Seven Palestinians held by Israeli troops in occupied West Bank raid

Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that seven Palestinians, including a woman, have been detained by Israeli forces during overnight raids that continued till Friday morning inside the occupied West Bank.

In Ramallah province, an Israeli army unit stormed Al-Jalazon refugee camp, where they detained three Palestinians, including a 33-year-old woman, Jehad Nakhla.

In Jenin province, Israeli forces stormed the town of Qabatiya and arrested two Palestinians after raiding and searching their homes.

An Israeli army force stormed Balata refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank city of Nablus, where they detained at least one Palestinian youth.

0410 GMT — North Gaza still headed toward famine as Israel block aid

Northern Gaza is still heading toward famine because Israel hasn’t allowed the daily delivery of food and other critical items for hundreds of thousands of people in desperate need, the UN food agency’s deputy chief has said.

Carl Skau, the deputy executive director of the World Food Program, said that a little progress has been made since Israel made commitments on April 5 to speed up aid deliveries, but not enough.

Seven to 12 trucks have gone to the area every other day, or every third day in the last three weeks, he said, with at least 30 trucks needed each day.

“We haven’t seen that paradigm shift that is needed to avert a famine,” Skau said.

0451 GMT — Yemen's Houthis claim attacks on ship, Israeli city

Yemen’s Houthi group has said that they carried out attacks targeting an Israeli vessel and multiple sites in the southern Israeli city of Eilat.

The group's military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said in a televised speech that their forces successfully targeted the Israeli ship MSC Darwin using missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the Gulf of Aden.

Saree said they also conducted missile strikes on targets located in Eilat.

He also highlighted that their forces are persistently obstructing the navigation of Israeli and affiliated vessels in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.

0400 GMT — Israel masses military vehicles along Gaza border

The Israeli military has massed dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles along its border with southern Gaza in what appears to be preparations for an invasion of the border city of Rafah.

Journalists saw the movement of the vehicles near Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing, which is next to Rafah.

Despite widespread international opposition, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to invade the city, located along the Egyptian border, as part of his plan to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s Oct. 7 operation into southern Israel.

0337 GMT — Israeli finance minister urges Mossad to target Hamas leaders

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called on the Mossad intelligence agency to target Hamas leaders and completely destroy Gaza.

''The time has come for the Mossad to resume dealing with what it was trained to do: Taking out Hamas leaders across the world and not (taking part in) negotiations that have been conducted irresponsibly and harm Israel’s security,'' the far-right minister wrote on X.

Rejecting negotiations with Hamas on a prisoner exchange deal, Smotrich said "from now, we should only speak to Hamas with shelling and bombs.''

He also called for Israeli forces to enter the southern Gaza city of Rafah ''as quickly and hard as possible before continuing throughout the entire Strip until (Hamas’s) total destruction.''

0320 GMT — Gaza faces epidemic risk as heat waves worsen conditions in displacement camps

The Gaza Civil Defence Agency has warned of the spread of epidemics and diseases in displacement camps in the southern part of the enclave as heat waves intensified.

"The suffering of displaced people in the displacement camps in the southern governorates of Gaza seems to be increasing with the intensification of heat waves,'' the agency said in a statement.

It added that this situation "forewarns of the widening spread of epidemics and diseases among them, especially among children and pregnant women."

The statement called on the World Health Organization (WHO) ''to urgently take actions to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees and find alternative places to tents amid severe heat waves in the coming days."

0256 GMT — Israel to present new deal to Hamas for prisoner exchange: Report

Israel has revealed a new proposed deal for a prisoner exchange with Hamas and a ceasefire in Gaza, Israeli media has reported.

The Israeli security cabinet convened to advance a new initiative for the release of hostages held in Gaza, according to Israel's Channel 13.

Israeli negotiators presented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the cabinet with a fresh plan that will be presented to Hamas by mediators, it said.

2330 GMT — Bodies found in Gaza mass graves suggest 'organ theft' by Israel

Paramedics and rescue workers have raised suspicions about organ theft by Israeli military after recovering bodies of civilians from mass graves, WAFA news agency reported.

Medics and rescuers have found at least 392 bodies in Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. About165 of them remain unidentified after their bodies were found to have been disfigured.

Medics reported that some bodies were found with their abdomens cut and stitched in a manner that is different from the usual wound closure techniques performed in besieged Gaza, raising suspicions of organ theft, while a mutilated body of a little girl found wearing surgical grown, suggesting she was buried while still alive.

According to the report, many bodies were found wrapped in black and blue shrouds made of plastic and nylon — used to raise the temperature — which are different from the colour of shrouds used in Gaza, also suggesting that Israel wanted to speed up the decomposition and conceal the evidence.

2306 GMT — US drops aid into Gaza amid weapon supply to Israel

US Central Command [CENTCOM] has conducted another round of airdrops into northern besieged Gaza even as Washington has approved nearly $27 billion in weapons package for Tel Aviv, which is accused of committing genocide in Gaza.

Planes dropped over 25,000 meals ready to eat [MREs], CENTCOM said on X, adding the US has dropped more than 1,082 tons of humanitarian assistance to date.

"The DoD humanitarian airdrops contribute to the ongoing US and partner-nation government efforts to alleviate human suffering," it added, referring to the Department of Defence.

2304 GMT — Columbia University faces federal complaint after arresting protesters

A pro-Palestine US group has filed a federal civil rights complaint against Columbia University following last week's mass arrest of anti-war protesters after the school called police to clear demonstrator encampments, the group said.

Palestine Legal, an organisation that seeks to protect the rights of people in the US to speak out on behalf of Palestinians, urged the US Education Department to probe the school's actions, which it alleges were discriminatory against those who are pro-Palestine.

Columbia University declined to comment.

2301 GMT — USC cancels graduation ceremony as anti-war protests grow

The University of South California [USC] has announced the cancellation of the May 10 graduation ceremony a day after more than 90 protesters were arrested on campus.

The university said it would still host dozens of commencement events, including all the traditional individual school commencement ceremonies. Tensions were already high after USC cancelled a planned commencement speech by the school's pro-Palestinian valedictorian, citing safety concerns.

"We understand that this is disappointing; however, we are adding many new activities and celebrations to make this commencement academically meaningful, memorable, and uniquely USC," the university said in a statement.

US authorities have arrested more than 530 students and staff in more than a dozen universities amid ongoing anti-war protests.

2300 GMT — Activists begin encampment at University of Pennsylvania

Pro-Palestine activists have launched a protest at the University of Pennsylvania against Israel's ongoing carnage in besieged Gaza.

According to media reports, they marched through Philadelphia's Center City neighbourhood before setting up an encampment at Penn City Hall.

There have been no reports of arrests so far.

2243 GMT — UK Parliament holds panel on Anadolu's Gaza documentary

A panel on Anadolu Agency's documentary The Evidence, which showcases Israel's war crimes in besieged Gaza, has been held in Britain's Parliament.

The documentary consists of photographs and images taken by AA reporters from the first moment the attacks began and interviews with experts in the field.

Speaking at the event, Osman Koray Ertas, Türkiye's Ambassador to the UK, said the Israeli response to the October 7 attack has triggered "the worst human-made disasters" of modern times in besieged Gaza.

"Those responsible must be held accountable to uphold justice for the Palestinians and to restore faith in international law and the rules-based order," he noted.

2212 GMT — US professors detained in pro-Palestine protests

At least two professors at Emory University in Georgia have been detained at pro-Palestinian protests that have spread across US college campuses to demand a ceasefire in besieged Gaza.

Several dozen protesters, including economics professor Caroline Fohlin and Noelle McAfee, the chair of the philosophy department, were arrested after an encampment was formed on the campus in Atlanta.

In video footage posted on X, McAfee, handcuffed behind her back, is seen telling someone: "Can you call the Philosophy Department office and tell them I've been arrested?...I'm Noelle McAfee, I'm Chair of the Philosophy Department."

2100 GMT — France threatens new sanctions against Zionist settlers

France is considering extending sanctions on Israeli illegal settlers behind violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, President Emmanuel Macron's office said he spoke with Jordan's King Abdullah II.

The two leaders "firmly condemned recent Israeli announcements about settlements" in the occupied West Bank, "which are contrary to international law," Macron's office said in a statement.

2045 GMT — US says Netanyahu's comments on campus protests not a call for crackdown

The US State Department has refused to say that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comments on pro-Palestine protests at US universities were a call for a crackdown and an interference in American affairs.

"I will leave it to the prime minister's office to offer any clarification on his comments, but I don't believe he called for a crackdown," State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said when asked if Netanyahu's remarks were a call for a crackdown on protestors using their right to demonstrate.

When pressed on whether Netanyahu's remarks were an interference by a foreign leader in American affairs, Patel responded: "I wouldn’t equate that to interfering."

For our live updates from Thursday, April 25, click here.