Hamas has 'no major issue' with Israel's Gaza truce counter-proposal

This live blog is wrapping up now. Thanks to all for following. The New Arab will be back at 9am with live updates from Gaza. 

The US Central Command has reported that its forces “successfully engaged five airborne unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) over the Red Sea” early on Monday.

This incident is part of a broader context involving drone and missile attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeting Red Sea shipping routes.

The Houthi group, which governs Yemen's capital and its most populous regions, initiated this campaign as a reaction to Israel’s military actions in Gaza. They have stated they will halt the attacks if a ceasefire is achieved.

April 28 Red Sea Update

Between 1:48 and 2:27 a.m. (Sanaa time), April 28, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) successfully engaged five airborne unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) over the Red Sea.

It was determined the UAVs presented an imminent threat to U.S., coalition, and… pic.twitter.com/KzVTsX9eA3

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 29, 2024

A UNRWA staff member and photojournalist, who lost both legs in the bombardment of northern Gaza by Israel, has arrived in Qatar for medical treatment, according to UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini.

Abdallah “miraculously survived” the incident but subsequently found himself at the al-Shifa Hospital, where he “witnessed the horrors of a two-week long siege by the Israeli Forces,” Lazzarini stated.

Following a challenging transfer, he was moved to Rafah, Lazzarini noted in a social media post.

Lazzarini expressed gratitude towards Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation Lolwah Alkhater and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their assistance in enabling Abdallah to “receive the lifesaving care he needs.”

The UN reports that 180 UNRWA employees have perished in Gaza since October, with many others suffering severe injuries.

Abdallah is our @UNRWA colleague & photojournalist who miraculously survived bombardment in northern #Gaza but got severely injured + lost both legs. While he was in Al-Shifa Hospital, he witnessed the horrors of a 2-weeks long siege by the Israeli Forces, before being moved with… pic.twitter.com/K2AJenH5kW

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) April 28, 2024

Israeli air strikes on three houses in the southern Gaza city of Rafah killed 13 people and wounded many others, medics said to the Reuters news agency on Monday.

Hamas media outlets put the death toll at 15.

In Gaza City, in the north of the strip, Israeli planes struck two houses, killing and wounding several people, health officials said.

The strikes on Rafah, where over a million people are sheltering from months of Israeli bombardment, came hours before Egypt was expected to host leaders of Hamas to discuss prospects for a ceasefire agreement with Israel.

Seven people, including women and children, have been killed as Israeli warplanes targeted two residences in Gaza City tonight, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Wafa's correspondent and medical sources stated that five people, including children and women, died and many were injured following an Israeli airstrike on a house in the western part of Gaza City.

Additionally, two women lost their lives in an Israeli attack on a house in the al-Sabra neighbourhood, south of Gaza City, Wafa reports, noting that several individuals are still unaccounted for beneath the debris.

As Palestinians return to their homes in Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, following Israel’s siege, Israel continues its airstrikes on regions it had previously instructed people to evacuate to. 

The Israeli government has been informed by senior legal figures that the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor is contemplating issuing arrest warrants for Israeli officials, including PM Benjamin Netanyahu, as per a report by Israel’s Channel 12.

The ICC is currently probing Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Alongside Netanyahu, these investigations might also result in arrest warrants for Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.

The Israeli newspaper Maariv has also reported that Netanyahu is "frightened and unusually stressed" about the potential of an ICC arrest warrant.

On Friday, Netanyahu stated on X that under his leadership, "Israel will never accept any attempt by the ICC to undermine its inherent right of self-defence."

The ICC case is distinct from several ongoing cases against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), including one initiated by South Africa which accuses Israel of committing the crime of genocide in its ongoing conflict in Gaza.

The ICJ was established to settle disputes between states, whereas the ICC prosecutes individuals for crimes.

Meshal Hamad Al-Thani has stated that Qatar does not financially support protests on US college campuses, despite conspiracy theories to the contrary.

"Qatar is not a large donor to US universities. The Qatar Foundation covers the expenses for six US universities to maintain faculty and operate campuses in Qatar, providing education and degrees to both women and men from Qatar and others interested in studying there," he explained in a post on X.

"These are not donations," he clarified. "Qatar does not influence these universities, and we have nothing to do with activities on their home campuses in the US."

Regarding media reports alleging some link between Qatar and recent events on U.S. university campuses, it is important to get the facts straight.

Qatar is not a large donor to U.S. universities.

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— Meshal Hamad AlThani (@Amb_AlThani) April 28, 2024

US President Joe Biden spoke with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone Sunday and "reviewed ongoing talks" regarding a potential truce based on the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, the White House said.

The two allies "reviewed ongoing talks to secure the release of hostages together with an immediate ceasefire in Gaza," the White House statement said, as diplomatic efforts intensified to reach a long-sought truce in the war-battered region.

The Israeli government has come under intense pressure from its global allies to reach a ceasefire, as well as from protesters within Israel demanding the release of hostages held in Gaza. 

Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate a new truce for months.

Biden and Netanyahu "also discussed increases in the delivery of humanitarian assistance into Gaza including through preparations to open new northern crossings starting this week," the statement said.

"The President stressed the need for this progress to be sustained and enhanced in full coordination with humanitarian organizations," it said.

With humanitarian agencies sounding ever more dire warnings of a crisis in Gaza, Israel has come under increasing pressure -- globally and from the United States specifically -- to allow more aid into the territory.

Biden also "reiterated his clear position" on any Israeli assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the statement said.

Netanyahu has vowed to send troops into Rafah, where more than 1.5 million civilians have taken refuge.

The Biden administration, while backing Israel, has repeatedly voiced alarm over the heavy toll on civilians in the Gaza offensive and has pressed Israel to hold off on any Rafah assault.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel and Jordan on a trip through Wednesday, the State Department announced, after the US and Israeli leaders discussed hostage-release talks.

Blinken will travel to both countries, a State Department official confirmed as the top US diplomat refuelled Sunday in Ireland on his way to a previously announced stop in Saudi Arabia.

The trip was announced after President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by telephone about ongoing talks to halt Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip in return for the release of hostages.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate a new truce between Israel and Hamas for months, as public pressure mounts for a deal.

Biden also reiterated concerns about Israel launching an operation in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than one million Palestinians have taken shelter.

The State Department did not immediately announce details of the two stops.

In a statement announcing the earlier Saudi stop, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Blinken will work on ceasefire efforts but added: "It is Hamas that is standing between the Palestinian people and a ceasefire."

AFP is quoting a Hamas official who says that the group has "no major issues" with Israel's Gaza truce counter-proposal.

Hamas officials are due in Egypt on Monday to give a formal response to the Israeli proposal. 

The Axios news website, citing two Israeli officials, reported on Sunday that Israel's latest proposal includes a willingness to discuss the "restoration of sustainable calm" in Gaza after hostages are released.

It is the first time in the nearly seven-month war that Israeli leaders have suggested they are open to discussing an end to the war, Axios said.

US President Joe Biden spoke with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone Sunday and "reviewed ongoing talks" to free hostages, the White House said.

The two allies "reviewed ongoing talks to secure the release of hostages together with an immediate ceasefire in Gaza," the White House statement said, as diplomatic efforts intensified to reach a long-sought truce in the war-battered region.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz called for Hamas to be destroyed, as planned by the government when it went to war after the Palestinian group's 7 October surprise attack.

"If you decide to raise a white flag and cancel the plan to occupy Rafah aimed at destroying Hamas in order to restore security to Israel, then the government headed by you will have no right to exist," Smotrich wrote on X, addressing the premier.

"The Egyptian deal is a humiliating surrender... it sentences the hostages to death, and above all, constitutes an immediate existential danger to the state of Israel."

Gantz, a former army chief and defence minister, also pushed for Rafah to be invaded.

"Entering Rafah is important in the long struggle against Hamas," he said in a statement issued by his party.

"If a responsible outline for the return of hostages backed by the entire defence establishment is achieved, which doesn't entail ending the war, and the ministers who led the government on October 7 prevent it -- the government will not have the right to continue to exist."

The Commission for Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society reported that Israeli forces detained 15 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Sunday.

Among the detainees were a girl, two children, and former prisoners.

The detentions occurred overnight in Tulkarem, Qalqiliya, Jenin, Tubas, Salfit, Jericho, and occupied East Jerusalem.

“This brings the number of Palestinians detained by Israeli forces since October 7 to 8,495,” the organisations stated.

Furthermore, the organisations added that since that date, sixteen detainees have died in Israeli prisons, with the bodies of all but one currently withheld by Israeli authorities, thus preventing families from conducting burials

The Israeli military reported that it targeted and destroyed a Hezbollah military installation in the Ayta Ash Shab region of Lebanon, according to Al Jazeera. 

Additionally, the Israeli military noted that two rockets had been fired from Lebanon toward the Har Dov area in northern Israel.

Since October 8, there have been ongoing exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli military

The White House has said that the pro-Palestinian protests sweeping through American university campuses need to stay peaceful, especially after the recent arrests of 275 protestors across four campuses.

“We certainly respect the right of peaceful protests,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby stated on ABC’s This Week program.

The protests, which began at Columbia University in New York, have quickly spread throughout the nation and even globally.

Despite generally peaceful conditions on many campuses, the arrest numbers are climbing, often involving police in riot gear using chemical irritants and tasers.

The detainees include 100 at Northeastern University in Boston, 80 at Washington University in St. Louis, 72 at Arizona State University, and 23 at Indiana University.

At Washington University, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was among those arrested. She criticised the police for what she described as aggressive tactics that “provoked the sort of trouble they are meant to quell.”

The Israeli military said in a statement on Sunday that the amount of aid going into Gaza will "scale up" in the coming days.

US President Joe Biden plans to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, Sunday, a US official has said.

World Central Kitchen (WCK) said it would resume operations in the Gaza Strip on Monday, a month after seven workers of the U.S.-based charity were killed in an Israeli air strike.

The charity said it had 276 trucks with the equivalent of almost 8 million meals ready to enter through the Rafah Crossing and will also send trucks into Gaza from Jordan.

"The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire," said the charity's chief executive officer Erin Gore. "We are restarting our operation with the same energy, dignity, and focus on feeding as many people as possible."

Saudi Arabia on Sunday said the international community has failed Gaza and reiterated its call for a Palestinian state at a global economic summit attended by a host of mediators.

"The situation in Gaza obviously is a catastrophe by every measure - humanitarian, but also a complete failing of the existing political system to deal with that crisis," Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said during the first day of a Saudi-hosted World Economic Forum special meeting.

The White House said Sunday that a US-made pier meant to boost aid to Gaza will become operational in a few weeks but cannot replace land routes with trucks as the best way to feed people in the territory.

"It will take probably two to three weeks before we can really see an operation," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Sunday on ABC News.

Kirby said the floating platform to bring more food and other essentials into Gaza will help, but has its limits.

"Nothing can replace, quite frankly, nothing can replace the ground routes and the trucks that are getting in," Kirby said.

A Democratic senator on Sunday questioned whether the Biden administration was properly assessing whether Israel was complying with international law, following a Reuters report that some senior U.S. officials did not find that country's assurances credible.

"This reporting casts serious doubt on the integrity of the process in the Biden administration for reviewing whether the Netanyahu government is complying with international law in Gaza," Senator Chris Van Hollen said in a statement.

The Reuters report found that some senior State Department officials have advised Secretary of State Antony Blinken that they do not find "credible or reliable" Israel's assurances that it is using U.S.-supplied weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Blinken must tell Congress by May 8 whether he finds Israel's assurances credible. According to an internal State Department memo, several bureaus within the agency did not find Israel's statements credible, citing military actions that raised questions about potential violations of international humanitarian law.

Israel has agreed to listen to U.S. concerns and thoughts before it launches an invasion of the border city of Rafah in Gaza, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Sunday.

"They've assured us that they won't go into Rafah until we've had a chance to really share our perspectives and our concerns with them," Kirby told ABC.

"What we're hoping is that after six weeks of a temporary ceasefire, we can maybe get something more enduring in place," said Kirby, who also noted that the number of aid trucks into the north of Gaza was starting to increase.

"The Israelis have started to meet the commitments that (U.S.) President (Joe) Biden asked them to meet," he said.

Attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on Red Sea shipping pose no threat to Saudi coastal resorts, the kingdom's tourism minister told AFP Sunday at a summit focused on regional instability.

"What is happening is at the end of the Red Sea, at the very south of the Red Sea," Ahmed Al Khateeb said Sunday, on the sidelines of a two-day World Economic Forum special meeting in the Saudi capital.

"All of our projects in the Red Sea or NEOM are in the middle and north of the Red Sea, far away from the conflict, and it is definitely not a target for the Houthis," Khateeb said.

"The south is a very important product for us," he said, adding that Asir province - which borders Yemen and is home to projects like the Soudah luxury mountain development - is "very safe, very stable".

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken flew out Sunday to Saudi Arabia on a new bid to work with Arab leaders to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas as public pressure grows.

Blinken will meet Monday with leaders of Gulf Arab states including Qatar, which along with Egypt has been mediating a plan to halt the Gaza war and release hostages, with Hamas promising a response on Monday.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Blinken will work on ceasefire efforts but added: "It is Hamas that is standing between the Palestinian people and a ceasefire."

A senior Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that the group would deliver its response to Israel's latest counter-proposal for a Gaza ceasefire on Monday in Egypt.

"A Hamas delegation headed by Khalil al-Hayya will arrive in Egypt tomorrow... and deliver the movement's response" to the Israeli proposal during a meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials, said the official who declined to be named.

Israeli forces detained at least 15 Palestinians between Saturday night and Sunday morning during multiple raids in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian WAFA news agency reported citing local sources and witnesses.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday only the United States could stop Israel attacking the border city of Rafah in Gaza, adding that the assault, which he expects within days, could force much of the Palestinian population to flee the enclave.

"We call on the United States of America to ask Israel to not carry on the Rafah attack. America is the only country able to prevent Israel from committing this crime," Abbas told a special meeting of the World Economic Forum in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

"What will happen in the coming few days is what Israel will do with attacking Rafah because all the Palestinians from Gaza are gathered there," Abbas said, adding that only a "small strike" on Rafah would force the Palestinian population to flee the Gaza strip.

"The biggest catastrophe in the Palestinian people's history would then happen."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday demanded the fighting in Gaza to stop and for aid to be provided to the battered enclave.

Speaking from the World Economic Forum summit in Riyadh, Abbas said the Palestinian Authority "absolutely" refuses the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza or the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

"I am worried Israel will try to push the Palestinians out of the West Bank after it's done with Gaza," he said.

A Hamas delegation will visit Cairo on Monday for Gaza ceasefire talks, a Hamas official who asked not to be named told Reuters, adding that the delegation will discuss a proposed ceasefire offered by mediators as well as Israel's response.

The Gaza Strip's health ministry said Sunday that at least 34,454 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory during nearly seven months of Israel's offensive.

The tally includes at least 66 deaths in the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 77,575 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war broke on October 7.

A senior Qatari official has urged both Israel and Hamas to show "more commitment and more seriousness" in cease-fire negotiations in interviews with Israeli media.

In the interviews, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari expressed disappointment in both Hamas and Israel, saying each side has made its decisions based on political interests and not with the good of civilians in mind.

"We were hoping to see more commitment and more seriousness on both sides," he told Haaretz.

He did not reveal details of the current state of the talks, other than to say they have "effectively stopped," with "both sides entrenched in their positions."

"If there is a renewed sense of commitment on both sides, I’m sure we can reach a deal," he said.

The Israeli journalists conducted the interviews in Qatar, which has no formal diplomatic ties with Israel.

France's foreign minister said that he would make proposals to Lebanese officials on Sunday aimed at easing tensions between Hezbollah and Israel and preventing a war breaking out.

"If I look at the situation today if there was not a war in Gaza, we could be talking about a war in southern Lebanon given the number of strikes and the impact on the area," Stephane Sejourne said after visiting the United Nations peace keeping force in Naqoura, southern Lebanon.

"I will pass messages and make proposals to the authorities here to stabilise this zone and avoid a war."

An election-year roast of President Joe Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House correspondents' dinner Saturday butted up against growing public discord over the Gaza war, with protests outside the event condemning both Biden's handling of the conflict and the Western news' media coverage of it.

"Shame on you!" protesters draped in the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh cloth shouted, running after men in tuxedos and suits and women in long dresses who were holding clutch purses as guests hurried inside for the dinner.

“SHAME ON YOU! SHAME ON YOU!”

Wild scene outside of White House Correspondents Dinner #WHCD as #FreePalestine protesters hold U.S. corporate media complicit in genocide pic.twitter.com/OXrv01meyr

— #StopCopCity (@ChuckModi1) April 27, 2024

Saudi Arabia on Sunday called for regional "stability", warning of the effects of Israel's ongoing war on Gaza on global economic sentiment at the start of a summit attended by a host of Gaza mediators.

The Gaza war along with conflicts in Ukraine and elsewhere put "a lot of pressure" on the economic "mood", Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said at one of the first panel discussions of the two-day World Economic Forum (WEF) special meeting.

"I think cool-headed countries and leaders and people need to prevail, and you need to make sure that you actually de-escalate," Jadaan said.

"The region needs stability."