Donald Trump claims a deal has been reached for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza, but many hurdles and conditions remainedin the Palestinian territory
“The agreement will be carried out in carefully structured phases,” the US president said on social media. “As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors.”
Senior Hamas officials have <a href="https://todaytrendnews7.com/pbs-news-hour-breaking-down-the-gdp-report-as-u-s-economy-slows/” title=”PBS News Hour | Breaking down the GDP report as U.S. economy slows”>reportedly agreed to the plan, but the question of whether the group disarms before or after Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza has already emerged as a point of contention. “We will not take any action regarding disarmament prior to Israel’s withdrawal from the Strip,” Ghazi Hamad, a member of the Hamas negotiating team, told Al Jazeera
Earlier an Israeli official told the Reuters news agency that the proposed terms were not satisfactory
“Israel demands the complete disarmament of Hamas, including the removal of weapons from Gaza and the complete demilitarisation of the Strip as a precondition for any process,” the official said, adding that the plan under discussion did not “provide a satisfactory response to these demands and Israel conveyed its objections”
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The announcement comes nine months after a US-brokered ceasefire was signed. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas had largely deadlocked over the implementation of its second phase, including the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza
In the US-Israeli war on Iran, which is showing signs of escalating across the region, Iran’s army on Friday launched drone strikes at US military facilities at the Ahmad Al Jaber airbase in Kuwait. The strikes were in response to recent US attacks on Iran including a strike on a home in Qeshm, Iran’s state media reported
And Saudi Arabia is preparing for a major military offensive against the Houthis by sea and possibly by land in centralYemen, Yemenits through the southern Red Sea
Twenty-five commodities vessels passed through the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Thursday, while traffic through the strait of Hormuz remained low with only two tankers transiting, according to Kpler shipping data
Analysts are expecting major oil companies to report large profits while fighting between Iran and the US impeded petroleum shipments. Six of Europe’s largest oil companies have posted first-quarter profits of $22bn altogether, a total 43% higher than the same time last year
Saudi Arabia on Thursday said it had set up a maritime defence alliance of 14 regional countries to secure navigation around the Bab al-Mandab strait
An Iranian strike hit a Chinese firm’s building in Kuwait on Thursday, severely damaging the structure and killing a worker, Kuwait’s military said, hours after Jordan’s air defences shot down five missiles launched from Iran
Egypt’s government said on Thursday authorities were analysing drone fragments from an unprecedented strike on one of its ports, after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned of regional escalation. His government had earlier confirmed that a fire on two gas vessels in the Damietta port – one of which was US-owned – was a result of a drone strike, the first to target the country since the outbreak of the Middle East war
