Live updates: Follow the latest from Israel-Gaza
There was more political chaos in Israel on Thursday after reports emerged that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on the brink of signing up to a temporary pause in fighting with Hezbollah, only for him to then issue a hasty statement expressing commitment to the campaign in Lebanon after severe backlash from within his government.
Far-right ministers, members of Mr Netanyahu’s own party and municipal leaders slammed any suggestion of a pause in fighting, which is being pushed by the US and France, saying it would allow Hezbollah time to recover from a devastating few weeks in which Israel ramped up attacks on the group, which has also had a massive toll on civilians.
The prospect of a pause in fighting was also criticised by members of the opposition, a sign that, after 11 months of tit-for-tat strikes between both sides, there is widespread desire in Israel for a decisive campaign against Hezbollah, despite the group having the firepower to inflict massive damage on Israel.
Israel has been mobilising significant forces on the northern border during the past few weeks as military chiefs say the army is preparing for a possible ground campaign and political leaders made returning residents an official war goal. It blew up thousands of walkie-talkies owned mainly by Hezbollah, then began air strikes this week across Lebanon, in what it said were targeted attacks on the group's senior members and infrastructure. Hezbollah fired volleys of rockets into Israel, landing missiles across the north and as far as Tel Aviv.
Almost 700 people have been killed in Lebanon as a result of Israel's strikes in the last few days, and over 500,000 forced to flee, the country's government said.
The far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to take his party out of Mr Netanyahu’s coalition if a ceasefire with Hezbollah was signed. “The most basic and understandable thing is that when your enemy is on his knees, you do not allow him to recover, but work to defeat him,” Mr Ben-Gvir said, adding that stopping the campaign “conveys weakness”. In response to reports of a deal being close, Mr Netanyahu’s office issued a statement calling the potential deal “an American-French proposal that the Prime Minister has not even responded to”.
The US, France and other nations had called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Israel-Lebanon border in a joint statement on Wednesday evening which also expressed support for a ceasefire in Gaza.
A host of other right-wing and far-right government politicians slammed the prospect of a ceasefire and even politicians further to the left were sceptical. Opposition leader Yair Lapid, one of the few politicians who publicly backed some form of a pause in fighting, said Israel should accept the “Biden-Macron ceasefire proposal, but only for seven days so as not to allow Hezbollah to restore its command and control systems”.
Moshe Davidovich, who leads a regional council in northern Israel, told the Israeli outlet Ynet that a ceasefire would be a “present we must not give [Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah]”. More than 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated from northern areas of Israel, a major unsolved political scandal facing the government.
Israeli pollster Dahlia Scheindlin told The National that the regional escalation involving Hezbollah is “more rallying for Israelis” than fighting in Gaza. “The war in Gaza, as much as Israelis see it as justified, is still viewed as a failure of the country. Whereas Hezbollah woke up one day and decided to start shelling Israel, therefore the fight in the north has less ambiguity and is easier to rally around,” she said.
“In terms of whether Israel should go for a little war with Hezbollah or a bigger one that risks regional escalation with Iran, that’s where you have significant ambiguity among the Israeli public. We see a bare majority for more significant military action, but I sense there is definitely trepidation around the idea of an all-out war that risks escalation with Hezbollah and other countries in the Middle East,” she added. “No one likes a multi-front war. Specifically, Hezbollah’s ability to hit civilian infrastructure anywhere in the country is of concern.”
Despite Mr Netanyahu’s swift denial of an emerging deal, diplomatic sources told The National on Thursday that negotiations have not finished. “Everything is on the table – negotiations are ongoing, and nothing is final. We remain in a phase of high-level talks, and the United Nations General Assembly provides the ideal framework,” a Western diplomat said.
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if you go
NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
Planes grounded by coronavirus
British Airways: Cancels all direct flights to and from mainland China
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific: Cutting capacity to/from mainland China by 50 per cent from Jan. 30
Chicago-based United Airlines: Reducing flights to Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong
Ai Seoul: Suspended all flights to China
Finnair: Suspending flights to Nanjing and Beijing Daxing until the end of March
Indonesia's Lion Air: Suspending all flights to China from February
South Korea's Asiana Airlines, Jeju Air and Jin Air: Suspend all flights
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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'Peninsula'
Stars: Gang Dong-won, Lee Jung-hyun, Lee Ra
Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Rating: 2/5
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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SPECS
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Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
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The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
Company profile
Name: Thndr
Started: October 2020
Founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: pre-seed of $800,000
Funding stage: series A; $20 million
Investors: Tiger Global, Beco Capital, Prosus Ventures, Y Combinator, Global Ventures, Abdul Latif Jameel, Endure Capital, 4DX Ventures, Plus VC, Rabacap and MSA Capital
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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How to donate
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
