Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
Hamas and other militant groups say a Gaza ceasefire deal is now “closer than ever” but sources have claimed key differences over the proposed hostages-for-detainees swap are among the issues yet to be settled.
Speaking to The National on Sunday, the sources said the two sides remain at odds over details of the planned exchange, with Israel rejecting the names of 70 from among 200 Palestinians serving long prison terms that Hamas wants freed from Israeli jails.
It said Hamas had agreed to an Israeli demand that the 200 and their families leave the Palestinian territories to live in exile only on the condition Israel does not trigger a veto on releasing any of them.
The release of Palestinians held in prisons would be in return for Hamas freeing some of the estimated 100 hostages it is still holding in Gaza. The Israeli military says about 40 are believed to have died in captivity.
Hamas, say the sources, was prepared to release between 20 and 30 captives at the rate of one every 48 hours during a 60-day truce proposed by US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators. In return, Hamas wants Israel to free about 1,000 Palestinians incarcerated in its prisons on security-related charges.
The latest round of negotiations is taking place simultaneously in Egypt and Qatar. Talks have been energised by US president-elect Donald Trump's threat that “there will be hell to pay” if the hostages held by Hamas are not released before his inauguration on January 20.
“The possibility of reaching an agreement [for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal] is closer than ever, provided the enemy stops imposing new conditions,” Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said in a rare joint statement issued after talks in Cairo this weekend.
Israel, for its part, wants all hostages to be released within the proposed 60-day truce, with female soldiers, US citizens and the elderly and ill the first to be freed. Hamas, however, maintains that releasing all the hostages must be part of a “comprehensive” deal that provides for an eventual full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire.
Israel is refusing to commit to a timetable for a gradual withdrawal from Salah Al Din, a narrow border strip on the Palestinian side of the Egypt-Gaza border, creating another obstacle, the sources say. The area, also known as the Philadelphi Corridor, encompasses the Rafah crossing to Egypt, the only exit from Gaza not controlled by the Israelis.
Egypt closed the Rafah crossing in protest against the Israeli capture of the area, which it views as a breach of its 1979 peace treaty with Israel and subsequent accords. Israel insists it must have some security presence in the area to prevent Hamas from using underground tunnels to smuggle weapons from Egypt, which Cairo denies.
A Hamas leader, meanwhile, was quoted by AFP on Saturday as saying negotiators had made “significant and important progress” in recent days. “Most points related to the ceasefire and prisoner exchange issues have been agreed upon,” he said on condition of anonymity.
“Some unresolved points remain but they do not hinder the process. The agreement could be finalised before the end of this year, provided it is not disrupted by [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's new conditions.”
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was hopeful a deal would prevail but avoided predicting when. “I don't want to hazard a guess as to what the probability is,” he said at the Council on Foreign Relations. "It should happen. It needs to happen. We need to get people home,” he said, referring to the release of hostages under a ceasefire deal.
The US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators have been trying without success for a year to broker a deal to pause the Gaza war and release the hostages. As they held seemingly endless negotiations in Cairo, Doha and elsewhere, the war in Gaza continued to take a heavy toll on the 2.3 million residents.
More than 45,200 Palestinians have been killed to date in Israel's bombardment of Gaza and more than twice that number injured, according to the Hamas-run government in Gaza, whose figures are widely believed to be accurate although they do not distinguish between combatants and civilians in death tolls.
The war, which has also displaced the vast majority of Gaza's residents and razed most of the territory's built-up areas, has drawn accusations of genocide and war crimes against Israel, which Mr Netanyahu's government has repeatedly denied.
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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- 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
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
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Price: From Dh98,800
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Kathryn Hawkes of House of Hawkes on being a good guest (because we’ve all had bad ones)
- Arrive with a thank you gift, or make sure you have one for your host by the time you leave.
- Offer to buy groceries, cook them a meal or take your hosts out for dinner.
- Help out around the house.
- Entertain yourself so that your hosts don’t feel that they constantly need to.
- Leave no trace of your stay – if you’ve borrowed a book, return it to where you found it.
- Offer to strip the bed before you go.
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
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War
Director: Siddharth Anand
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Ashutosh Rana, Vaani Kapoor
Rating: Two out of five stars
A German university was a good fit for the family budget
Annual fees for the Technical University of Munich - £600
Shared rental accommodation per month depending on the location ranges between £200-600
The family had budgeted for food, books, travel, living expenses - £20,000 annually
Overall costs in Germany are lower than the family estimated
As proof that the student has the ability to take care of expenses, international students must open a blocked account with about £8,640
Students are permitted to withdraw £720 per month
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
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- Financial well-being incentives
SANCTIONED
- Kirill Shamalov, Russia's youngest billionaire and previously married to Putin's daughter Katarina
- Petr Fradkov, head of recently sanctioned Promsvyazbank and son of former head of Russian Foreign Intelligence, the FSB.
- Denis Bortnikov, Deputy President of Russia's largest bank VTB. He is the son of Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB which was responsible for the poisoning of political activist Alexey Navalny in August 2020 with banned chemical agent novichok.
- Yury Slyusar, director of United Aircraft Corporation, a major aircraft manufacturer for the Russian military.
- Elena Aleksandrovna Georgieva, chair of the board of Novikombank, a state-owned defence conglomerate.
RESULT
Manchester United 2 Burnley 2
Man United: Lingard (53', 90' 1)
Burnley: Barnes (3'), Defour (36')
Man of the Match: Jesse Lingard (Manchester United)
OPENING FIXTURES
Saturday September 12
Crystal Palace v Southampton
Fulham v Arsenal
Liverpool v Leeds United
Tottenham v Everton
West Brom v Leicester
West Ham v Newcastle
Monday September 14
Brighton v Chelsea
Sheffield United v Wolves
To be rescheduled
Burnley v Manchester United
Manchester City v Aston Villa
SM Town Live is on Friday, April 6 at Autism Rocks Arena, Dubai. Tickets are Dh375 at www.platinumlist.net
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
RESULT
Bayer Leverkusen 2 Bayern Munich 4
Leverkusen: Alario (9'), Wirtz (89')
Bayern: Coman (27'), Goretzka (42'), Gnabry (45'), Lewandowski (66')
What it means to be a conservationist
Who is Enric Sala?
Enric Sala is an expert on marine conservation and is currently the National Geographic Society's Explorer-in-Residence. His love of the sea started with his childhood in Spain, inspired by the example of the legendary diver Jacques Cousteau. He has been a university professor of Oceanography in the US, as well as working at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Biodiversity and the Bio-Economy. He has dedicated his life to protecting life in the oceans. Enric describes himself as a flexitarian who only eats meat occasionally.
What is biodiversity?
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, all life on earth – including in its forests and oceans – forms a “rich tapestry of interconnecting and interdependent forces”. Biodiversity on earth today is the product of four billion years of evolution and consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The term ‘biodiversity’ is relatively new, popularised since the 1980s and coinciding with an understanding of the growing threats to the natural world including habitat loss, pollution and climate change. The loss of biodiversity itself is dangerous because it contributes to clean, consistent water flows, food security, protection from floods and storms and a stable climate. The natural world can be an ally in combating global climate change but to do so it must be protected. Nations are working to achieve this, including setting targets to be reached by 2020 for the protection of the natural state of 17 per cent of the land and 10 per cent of the oceans. However, these are well short of what is needed, according to experts, with half the land needed to be in a natural state to help avert disaster.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
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Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
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