Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza
Top mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar are meeting in Doha on Wednesday, and a Palestinian delegation has arrived in Cairo, sources told The National, as US-led efforts to broker a Gaza ceasefire and a prisoner and hostage swap deal gains momentum.
They said CIA director William Burns and his Egyptian counterpart Abbas Kamel were due in Doha later in the day, where they will meet Qatar’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdurrahman Al Thani, to discuss implementing the latest proposals to end the Gaza war.
While in Doha, the chief Egyptian and Qatari mediators will be contacting Hamas leaders based in Qatar, primarily to put pressure on them to show flexibility on the latest Gaza ceasefire proposals announced by US President Joe Biden on May 31, the sources confirmed.
A delegation representing two of Hamas’s closest allies – the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – has meanwhile arrived in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials on the latest proposals, according to the sources, which have first-hand knowledge of the process.
“Meetings with the Palestinian delegation in Cairo aim to persuade them to put pressure on Hamas to show flexibility over President Biden’s proposals,” said one of the sources.
Hamas has yet to respond to the latest proposals. Officials from the militant group say they need to have a clear commitment from Israel to a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal from Gaza.
Also due in Cairo on Wednesday is Brett McGurk, the US National Security Council’s co-ordinator on the Middle East and North Africa, who will discuss with Egyptian officials proposals for the running of the Palestinian side of Gaza’s border crossing with Egypt, as well as the latest proposals for a Gaza ceasefire.
Israel captured the Gaza end of the crossing on May 7 and later said that it had done so to prevent money and weapons from being smuggled into Gaza through underground tunnels.
Egypt has categorically denied the charges and insisted that it would not open its end of the crossing until Israel withdrew its forces from the other end, as well as a corridor that runs the length of its border with Gaza.
The latest proposals to end the Gaza war, which reaches the eight-month mark later this week, involve a “complete ceasefire” and an increase in aid to Gaza, with the release of some of the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the first, six-week phase.
The second phase proposes a “permanent end to hostilities” and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, with the rest of the hostages released, while the final phase brings in the reconstruction of Gaza and the return of the remaining hostages to their families.
The release of the hostages held by Hamas will be in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails. No precise figure has been announced, but they are expected to be in the low thousands.
Israel believes that more than a third of the remaining Gaza hostages who are widely believed to number around 130 are dead, a government tally showed on Tuesday.
On Monday, the US said it was seeking support from the UN Security Council for the proposed ceasefire and sent a draft resolution stressing “the importance of the parties adhering to the terms of the deal once agreed, with the aim of bringing about a permanent cessation of hostilities,” according to a Reuters report.
The sources also said that a top Israeli delegation made up of the Mossad, its domestic security sister, and the army was expected in Cairo later this week.
The delegation was due to bring Israel's response to a joint plan by the Palestinian Authority and Egypt for the Rafah border crossing and the technical details of the redeployment of Israeli forces away from built-up areas in the first phase of President Biden’s plan.
The proposal, which Mr Biden described as an “Israeli proposal”, has widened the rift among members of Israel's war cabinet as it waits for a Hamas response.
Centrist politicians Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot have spent recent weeks amplifying calls for elections and threats to abandon the administration, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not setting clear objectives for the war and abandoning Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
Far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have threatened to bring down the government if Mr Netanyahu pursues anything other than a full-throttle war effort in Gaza, despite mounting international concern over the humanitarian toll.
There is also growing uncertainty among the Israeli public that total victory over Hamas is possible.
The Gaza war was triggered by an attack by Hamas in south Israel in October that left 1,200 dead. The attack drew a devastating Israeli response that has to date killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents and laid to waste large swathes of the built-up areas.
The US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have been trying without success to broker a ceasefire since a week-long truce ended on December 1.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The low down
Producers: Uniglobe Entertainment & Vision Films
Director: Namrata Singh Gujral
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Nargis Fakhri, Bo Derek, Candy Clark
Rating: 2/5
ENGLAND SQUAD
Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
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Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
if you go
Getting there
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Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
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Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
The specs
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The five pillars of Islam
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
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Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
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Rating:2/5
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Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Developer: Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft Toronto
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows
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Types of bank fraud
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Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
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The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
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The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
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Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
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Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
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Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
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