[🇧🇩] Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker?

[Saif]

Hamas agrees to Gaza ceasefire proposal, its chief says

Hamas has agreed to a Gaza ceasefire proposal it received two days ago from mediators Egypt and Qatar, the Palestinian militant group's chief said on Saturday. "Two days ago, we received a proposal from the mediators in Egypt and Qatar. We dealt with it positively and accepted it," Khalil al-Hayya

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Hamas agrees to Gaza ceasefire proposal, its chief says
REUTERS
Published :
Mar 30, 2025 11:37
Updated :
Mar 30, 2025 11:58

Hamas officials, Khalil Al-Hayya and Osama Hamdan, attend a press conference in Beirut, Lebanon on November 21, 2023 — Reuters/File

Hamas has agreed to a Gaza ceasefire proposal it received two days ago from mediators Egypt and Qatar, the Palestinian militant group's chief said on Saturday.

"Two days ago, we received a proposal from the mediators in Egypt and Qatar. We dealt with it positively and accepted it," Khalil al-Hayya said in a televised speech.

"We hope that the (Israeli) occupation will not undermine (it)," said Hayya, who leads the Hamas negotiating team in indirect talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza that erupted in October 2023.

Security sources told Reuters on Thursday that Egypt had received positive indications from Israel over a new ceasefire proposal that would include a transitional phase.

The proposal suggests Hamas release five of the Israeli hostages it is holding each week, the sources said.

The Israeli prime minister's office said it had held a series of consultations according to the proposal that was received from the mediators, and that Israel had conveyed to the mediators a counter-proposal in full coordination with the United States.

Reuters asked the prime minister's office if it had also agreed to the ceasefire proposal but it did not immediately respond.

PHASED CEASEFIRE

The first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into force on Jan. 19 after 15 months of war and involved a halt to fighting, the release of some of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, and the freeing of some Palestinian prisoners.

Phase two of the three-phase deal is intended to focus on agreements on the release of the remaining hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Hamas says any proposals must allow the launch of the second phase, while Israel has offered to expand the first 42-day phase.

In response to calls on Hamas to disarm by Israel and the United States, Hayya said the group's arsenal was a red line and that it would not disarm as long as the "Israeli" occupation exists.

Israel and the US say Hamas must not have a role in post-war Gaza arrangements.

Israeli military strikes on Gaza continued on Saturday, killing at least 20 Palestinians across the enclave, health authorities said.

The Israeli military said it had begun "ground activity" in the Jneina neighbourhood of the Rafah area to expand what it described as the security zone in southern Gaza.

On March 18, Israel resumed bombing and ground operations in Gaza, which it said were intended to increase pressure on Hamas to free hostages.

It has since issued evacuation orders to tens of thousands of residents in several areas in the northern and southern Gaza Strip, citing rocket firing into Israeli territories.

More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli offensive in Gaza, Palestinian officials say.

Israel began its offensive after thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.​

 

[Saif]

Netanyahu vows to pressure Hamas after ceasefire proposal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated a demand on Sunday for Hamas to disarm and for its leaders to leave Gaza as he promised to step up pressure on the group while continuing efforts to return hostages..He said Israel would work to implement US President Donald Trump’s “volun

www.thedailystar.net

Netanyahu vows to pressure Hamas after ceasefire proposal

A Palestinian woman visits the grave of her relative at a cemetery, on the first day of Eid-ul-Fitr that marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on March 30, 2025. Photo: Reuters/Mahmoud Issa.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated a demand on Sunday for Hamas to disarm and for its leaders to leave Gaza as he promised to step up pressure on the group while continuing efforts to return hostages.

He said Israel would work to implement US President Donald Trump's "voluntary emigration plan" for Gaza and said his cabinet had agreed to keep pressuring Hamas, which says it has agreed to a ceasefire proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Netanyahu's comments were a recipe for "endless escalation" in the region.

Netanyahu rejected assertions that Israel, which has resumed its bombardment of Gaza after a two-month truce and sent troops back into the enclave, was not negotiating, saying "we are conducting it under fire, and therefore it is also effective".

"We see that there are suddenly cracks," he said in a video statement issued on Sunday.

On Saturday, Khalil al-Hayya, the Hamas leader in Gaza, said the group had agreed to a proposal that security sources said included the release of five Israeli hostages each week. But he said laying down its arms as Israel has demanded was a "red line" the group would not cross.

On Sunday, the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday, health authorities in Gaza said at least 24 people, including several children, had been killed in Israeli strikes. Nine were killed in a single tent in the southern city of Khan Younis, they said.

Later on Sunday, the Palestinian Red Crescent Service said it had finally been able to get access to search for rescue teams that had come under Israeli fire during a rescue mission in western Rafah, a week after the attack.

It said it had recovered 13 bodies from the scene, seven of them were Palestinian Red Crescent members, another five were from the Gaza Civil Emergency Service, and another was a United Nations worker. There was no immediate Israeli comment.

Since Israel resumed its attacks in Gaza on March 18, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and tens of thousands have been forced to evacuate areas in northern Gaza where they had returned following the ceasefire agreement in January.

Netanyahu said Israel was demanding that Hamas lay down its arms and said its leaders would be allowed to leave Gaza. He gave no detail on how long Israeli troops would remain in the enclave but repeated that Hamas's military and government capacities must be crushed.

"We will ensure general security in the Gaza Strip and enable the implementation of the Trump plan, the voluntary emigration plan," he said. "That is the plan, we do not hide it, we are ready to discuss it at any time."

Trump originally proposed moving the entire 2.3 million population of Gaza to countries including Egypt and Jordan and developing the Gaza Strip as a US-owned resort. However, no country has agreed to take in the population and Israel has since said that any departures by Palestinians would be voluntary.

Eid In Gaza

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after a devastating Hamas attack on Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 that killed some 1,200 people, according to an Israeli tally, and saw 251 abducted as hostages.

The Israeli campaign has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities, and devastated much of the coastal enclave, leaving hundreds of thousands of people in tents and makeshift shelters.

Sunday's strikes took place as Palestinians celebrated the Eid holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

"We are here to celebrate the rituals of God amid the destruction and the sounds of cannons," said Minnatallah Al-Far, in Jabalia, in northern Gaza, where most of the area has been laid waste by Israeli bombardment.

"In Gaza, our situation is very difficult. Other people are celebrating these rituals in peace and safety, but we do them amid destruction and bombardment," she said.

In Israel, Netanyahu has faced a wave of demonstrations since the military resumed its action in Gaza, with families and supporters of the remaining 59 hostages joining forces with protesters angry at government actions they see as undermining Israeli democracy.

On Sunday, he rejected what he described as "empty claims and slogans" and said military pressure was the only thing that had returned hostages.​

 

[Saif]

Israel's Netanyahu to visit Hungary, defying ICC arrest warrant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Hungary this week, his office said on Sunday, defying an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court issued over allegations of war crimes in Gaza. During the visit, due to begin on Wednesday and run until Sunday, Netanyahu will mee

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Israel's Netanyahu to visit Hungary, defying ICC arrest warrant
REUTERS
Published :
Mar 30, 2025 19:34
Updated :
Mar 30, 2025 19:34

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks on, as he meets with members of the U.S. Congress at the Capitol in Washington, U.S., February 6, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Kent Nishimura/Files

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Hungary this week, his office said on Sunday, defying an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court issued over allegations of war crimes in Gaza.

During the visit, due to begin on Wednesday and run until Sunday, Netanyahu will meet his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban, who invited him in November, soon after the ICC issued the arrest warrant.

Orban said at the time that the warrant would "not be observed".

All European Union member states, including Hungary, are members of the ICC, which means they are required to enforce its warrants. Orban, a right-wing nationalist, has often been at odds with the EU over democratic standards and human rights in Hungary.

There was no immediate comment by Hungary about this week's visit.

It will be Netanyahu's second trip abroad since the ICC announced the warrants, following a visit to Washington in February to meet U.S. President Donald Trump.

Israel has denounced the warrants against Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, describing the allegations as "false and absurd". The ICC has also issued a warrant for the arrest of a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri.​

 

[Saif]

Pick up arms to resist Trump’s Gaza relocation plan: Hamas

Hamas calls on 'anyone who can bear arms' worldwide to fight Trump's Gaza plan

www.thedailystar.net

Pick up arms to resist Trump’s Gaza relocation plan: Hamas
Hamas calls on 'anyone who can bear arms' worldwide to fight Trump's Gaza plan

Photo: AFP Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr prayers, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in the Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip yesterday.

A senior Hamas official today called on supporters worldwide to pick up weapons and fight US President Donald Trump's plan to relocate more than two million Gazans to neighbouring countries such as Egypt and Jordan.

"In the face of this sinister plan -- one that combines massacres with starvation -- anyone who can bear arms, anywhere in the world, must take action," Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement.

"Do not withhold an explosive, a bullet, a knife, or a stone. Let everyone break their silence."

Abu Zuhri's call comes a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered to let Hamas leaders leave Gaza but demanded that the Palestinian group disarm in the final stages of the war in Gaza.

Hamas has expressed a willingness to relinquish Gaza's administration, but has warned its weapons are a "red line".

Netanyahu said Israel was working towards a plan proposed by Trump to displace Gazans to other countries.

Netanyahu said that after the war, Israel would ensure overall security in Gaza and "enable the implementation of the Trump plan" -- which had initially called for the mass displacement of all 2.4 million people living in the Palestinian territory -- calling it a "voluntary migration plan".

Days after taking office in January, Trump floated a proposal to move Gaza's population out of the war-battered territory, suggesting that Egypt or Jordan could take them in.

Both countries, along with other Arab allies, governments around the world and the Palestinians themselves, have flatly rejected the notion.

Trump later appeared to backtrack on the proposal, saying he was "not forcing" his widely condemned plan.

"Nobody's expelling any Palestinians," Trump said at the White House in mid-March, remarks welcomed by Egypt, Jordan and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Arab nations have since come up with an alternative plan for rebuilding the Gaza Strip without relocating its people, which would take place under the future administration of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.

For Palestinians, any attempts to force them out of Gaza would evoke dark memories of what the Arab world calls the "Nakba", or catastrophe -- the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel's creation in 1948.

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz in February said that a special agency would be established for the "voluntary departure" of Gazans.

A defence ministry statement said an initial plan included "extensive assistance that will allow any Gaza resident who wishes to emigrate voluntarily to a third country to receive a comprehensive package, which includes, among other things, special departure arrangements via sea, air, and land".

Israel resumed intense bombing of Gaza on March 18 and then launched a new ground offensive, ending a nearly two-month ceasefire in the war with Hamas.

Since the fighting restarted, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says that at least 1,001 people have been killed.

Israel's military campaign has killed at least 50,357 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the territory's health ministry.​