Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
The Trump administration is proposing a 21-day truce in Gaza and the release of six hostages as part of a plan that Hamas and Israeli negotiators will discuss with mediators in Egypt this week, sources told The National on Wednesday.
They said that Israeli and Hamas negotiators were expected in Cairo on Thursday, when they will begin discussions on the proposal with mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar.
The latest attempt to reach a Gaza ceasefire comes days before President Donald Trump starts a tour of the Middle East that will take him to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.
The sources said the US proposal provided for the release of six living hostages, including a dual US-Israel national, and the remains of six others who died while in captivity. Israel will free an as-yet unspecified number of Palestinians detained in its prisons, they added.
Hamas is believed to be still holding 59 hostages, of whom 24 are believed to be alive, according to the Israeli military.
The US proposal makes no mention of an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza or a permanent ceasefire – two long-standing demands by Hamas – or include ideas on how post-war Gaza will be run or rebuilt, according to the sources.
They said the humanitarian assistance that will flow into Gaza if a deal is reached would only be distributed at a proposed “safe zone” in the southern part of the coastal enclave around the city of Rafah.
A private US company will be entrusted with the distribution of aid under the supervision of the Israeli military. Both the company and the military would jointly work to ensure that Hamas is denied access to the aid, said the sources. Entry into the safe zone would only be granted after security screening of the Palestinians wishing to receive food and other supplies, a measure designed to keep militants out, they said.
Gaza's estimated 2.3 million residents are facing acute food shortages as a result of Israel's two-month blockade of the territory, where more than 52,000 Palestinians have died since the Gaza war began in October 2023.
The sources spoke two days after they told The National that Israel was planning to push the entire Gaza population to a “safe zone” in the south of the enclave where it will distribute humanitarian assistance.
They said that Israel expected 500,000 to 900,000 Palestinians to remain in the so-called safe zone after the rest of the population has left the enclave to seek a better life elsewhere.
The zone will be created over an area of between 50 and 70 square kilometres near Egypt's border with Gaza, they said, and Israel expects Palestinians from across the enclave to rush to the safe zone to escape hunger and intensifying military operations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet voted this week to intensify the offensive against Hamas in Gaza to the point of seizing the entire enclave, according to Israeli officials.
They said the newly approved Gaza offensive plan would move the strip's civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into the hands of Hamas.
They explained that Israel intended to provide Palestinians inside the zone with so little food and rudimentary services that they will find life too hard and leave.
Israel has embraced proposals first made by Mr Trump in January to resettle Gaza's Palestinians, mainly in Egypt and Jordan, before effecting a US takeover of the territory on a corner of the Eastern Mediterranean and turning it into a kitsch beach resort.
Cairo and Amman, along with many nations around the world and UN agencies, denounced the proposals, with some labelling the plan as ethnic cleansing.
Also on Wednesday, Reuters reported that the US and Israel have discussed the possibility of Washington leading a temporary post-war administration of Gaza.
Quoting sources, they said the “high-level” consultations have centred on a transitional government led by a US official that would oversee Gaza until it had been demilitarised and stabilised, and a viable Palestinian administration had emerged.
Hamas has already expressed its readiness to be excluded from running post-war Gaza and the reconstruction of the territory, where most of its built-up areas have been reduced to rubble.
Gaza has since the war started had two ceasefires; one of a week in late November 2023 and another that went into effect on January 19, 2025, and ended on March 1. Gaza remained relatively calm until March 18, when Israeli resumed air strikes and ground operations.
As well as the large number of deaths, the war has wounded more than 100,000 Palestinians, according to figures released by authorities in Gaza.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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
Tomb%20Raider%20I%E2%80%93III%20Remastered
%3Cp%3EDeveloper%3A%20Aspyr%0D%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20Aspyr%0D%3Cbr%3EConsole%3A%20Nintendo%20Switch%2C%20PlayStation%204%26amp%3B5%2C%20PC%20and%20Xbox%20series%20X%2FS%0D%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Results
6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes (PA) Group 3 Dh175,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner: Aatebat Al Khalediah, Fernando Jara (jockey), Ali Rashid Al Raihe (trainer).
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Down On Da Bayou, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
7.40pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Dubai Avenue, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: My Catch, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: Dubai Creek Mile (TB) Listed Dh265,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Secret Ambition, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Golden Goal, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
The%20specs
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Sanchez's club career
2005-2006: Cobreloa
2006-2011 Udinese
2006-2007 Colo-Colo (on loan)
2007-2008 River Plate (on loan)
2011-2014 Barcelona
2014–Present Arsenal
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Test series fixtures
(All matches start at 2pm UAE)
1st Test Lord's, London from Thursday to Monday
2nd Test Nottingham from July 14-18
3rd Test The Oval, London from July 27-31
4th Test Manchester from August 4-8
Company profile
Name: The Concept
Founders: Yadhushan Mahendran, Maria Sobh and Muhammad Rijal
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: 2017
Number of employees: 7
Sector: Aviation and space industry
Funding: $250,000
Future plans: Looking to raise $1 million investment to boost expansion and develop new products
Honeymoonish
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Elie%20El%20Samaan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENour%20Al%20Ghandour%2C%20Mahmoud%20Boushahri%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
More from Aya Iskandarani
Retirement funds heavily invested in equities at a risky time
Pension funds in growing economies in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have a sharply higher percentage of assets parked in stocks, just at a time when trade tensions threaten to derail markets.
Retirement money managers in 14 geographies now allocate 40 per cent of their assets to equities, an 8 percentage-point climb over the past five years, according to a Mercer survey released last week that canvassed government, corporate and mandatory pension funds with almost $5 trillion in assets under management. That compares with about 25 per cent for pension funds in Europe.
The escalating trade spat between the US and China has heightened fears that stocks are ripe for a downturn. With tensions mounting and outcomes driven more by politics than economics, the S&P 500 Index will be on course for a “full-scale bear market” without Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, Citigroup’s global macro strategy team said earlier this week.
The increased allocation to equities by growth-market pension funds has come at the expense of fixed-income investments, which declined 11 percentage points over the five years, according to the survey.
Hong Kong funds have the highest exposure to equities at 66 per cent, although that’s been relatively stable over the period. Japan’s equity allocation jumped 13 percentage points while South Korea’s increased 8 percentage points.
The money managers are also directing a higher portion of their funds to assets outside of their home countries. On average, foreign stocks now account for 49 per cent of respondents’ equity investments, 4 percentage points higher than five years ago, while foreign fixed-income exposure climbed 7 percentage points to 23 per cent. Funds in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are among those seeking greater diversification in stocks and fixed income.
• Bloomberg
WTL%20SCHEDULE
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Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
Company%20Profile
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Diriyah%20project%20at%20a%20glance
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EMIRATES'S%20REVISED%20A350%20DEPLOYMENT%20SCHEDULE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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