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

[Saif]

No issue in Attacking Israeli army. Why are you killing civilians? Pared girls naked . Killing infants. When you do that, you loose sympathy of non Muslims.

Israel has killed close to 60 thousand innocent Palestinians which includes women and children. Could you please show me some proofs about the killing of infants by Hamas? Israel has destroyed even the hospitals, schools and UN food centers.

 

[Krishna with Flute]

Israel has killed close to 60 thousand innocent Palestinians which includes women and children. Could you please show me some proofs about the killing of infants by Hamas? Israel has destroyed even the hospitals, schools and UN food centers.

Here is the news of 9 month old abducted and later his dead body was returned.

Hamas returns 4 bodies, including 2 young children taken hostage but not their mother, Israel says

Hamas released four bodies, including the youngest captive taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, Kfir Bibas, and his brother.

www.cbsnews.com

When you (Any individual or group) become aggressor and kill inocent, there is no rule that your when enemy kills same number of people, they will stop. If your enemy is powerful, its response will be disproportionate. Had palestinians not backed Hamas, their casually would have been very low. They should have demonstrated just once against the killing of 1500 innocent Israeli civilians.

Pakistan under the leadership of Xia ul Haque had killed 25000 palestinians. You have no issue with that. Saudi get Thousands of Muslims killed. Even your own army committed biggest genocide of the century of your own people. You don't have any issues with them. That is why your selective sympathy is meaningless. When Muslims celebrates the inhuman killing of others and expects world to sympathies with them, it will not happen. Fake Muslim brotherhood and Ummah is purely political. No civilized world has the power ko kill more civilians than Muslims themselves.

 

[Saif]

Here is the news of 9 month old abducted and later his dead body was returned.

Hamas returns 4 bodies, including 2 young children taken hostage but not their mother, Israel says

Hamas released four bodies, including the youngest captive taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, Kfir Bibas, and his brother.

www.cbsnews.com

When you (Any individual or group) become aggressor and kill inocent, there is no rule that your when enemy kills same number of people, they will stop. If your enemy is powerful, its response will be disproportionate. Had palestinians not backed Hamas, their casually would have been very low. They should have demonstrated just once against the killing of 1500 innocent Israeli civilians.

Pakistan under the leadership of Xia ul Haque had killed 25000 palestinians. You have no issue with that. Saudi get Thousands of Muslims, even your own army committed biggest genocide of your own people. You don't have any issues with them. That is why your selective sympathy is meaningless. When Muslims celebrates the inhuman killing of others and expects world to sympathise with them, it will not happen. Fake Muslim brotherhood and Ummah is purely political. No civilized world has the power ko kill more civilians than Muslims themselves.

Palestinians see Israel as an aggressor who forcefully occupied their land in the 40s. Israel conducted a genocide to grab Palestinians land. The level of hatred that exists between them is impossible to comprehend. But killing of innocent children by anybody be that Hamas or IDF should not be condoned.

 

[Saif]

Israeli Prime Minister says he believes Trump can help seal a ceasefire deal

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he believed his discussions with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday would help advance talks on a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal that Israeli negotiators resumed in Qatar on Sunday. Israeli negotiators taking part in the ceasefire talks h

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Israeli Prime Minister says he believes Trump can help seal a ceasefire deal

REUTERS
Published :
Jul 07, 2025 00:05
Updated :
Jul 07, 2025 00:05

An Israeli tank maneuvers in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 6, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he believed his discussions with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday would help advance talks on a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal that Israeli negotiators resumed in Qatar on Sunday.

Israeli negotiators taking part in the ceasefire talks have clear instructions to achieve a ceasefire agreement under conditions that Israel has accepted, Netanyahu said on Sunday before boarding his flight to Washington.

"I believe the discussion with President Trump can certainly help advance these results," he said, adding that he was determined to ensure the return of hostages held in Gaza and to remove the threat of Hamas to Israel.

It will be Netanyahu's third visit to the White House since Trump returned to power nearly six months ago.

Public pressure is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire and end the war in Gaza, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. Others, including Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, have expressed support.

Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a U.S.-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a "positive spirit", a few days after Trump said Israel had agreed "to the necessary conditions to finalize" a 60-day truce.

But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.

Netanyahu's office said in a statement that changes sought by Hamas to the ceasefire proposal were "not acceptable to Israel". However, his office said the delegation would still fly to Qatar to "continue efforts to secure the return of our hostages based on the Qatari proposal that Israel agreed to".

Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a demand the militant group has so far refused to discuss.

Netanyahu said he believed he and Trump would also build on the outcome of the 12-day air war with Iran last month and seek to further ensure that Tehran never has a nuclear weapon. He said recent Middle East developments had created an opportunity to widen the circle of peace.

HOSTAGES

On Saturday evening, crowds gathered at a public square in Tel Aviv near the defence ministry headquarters to call for a ceasefire deal and the return of around 50 hostages still held in Gaza. The demonstrators waved Israeli flags, chanted and carried posters with photos of the hostages.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Gaza's health ministry says Israel's retaliatory military assault on the enclave has killed over 57,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger crisis, displaced the population, mostly within Gaza, and left the territory in ruins.

Around 20 of the remaining hostages are believed to be still alive. A majority of the original hostages have been freed through diplomatic negotiations, though the Israeli military has also recovered some.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza truce talks to resume in Doha before Netanyahu heads to US

Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are set to resume Sunday in Doha for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal, ahead of a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House...

www.newagebd.net

Gaza truce talks to resume in Doha before Netanyahu heads to US
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem, Undefined 06 July, 2025, 23:46

A smoke plume billows from a building that was hit by Israeli bombardment in the Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on July 6, 2025. | AFP photo

Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are set to resume Sunday in Doha for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal, ahead of a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House.

Netanyahu had earlier announced he was sending a team to Qatar, a key mediator in the conflict, though he said Hamas’s response to a draft US-backed ceasefire deal contained ‘unacceptable’ demands.

Under mounting pressure to end the war, now approaching its 22nd month, Netanyahu is scheduled to meet on Monday with US President Donald Trump, who has been making a renewed push to end the fighting.

A Palestinian official familiar with the talks and close to Hamas said international mediators had informed the group that ‘a new round of indirect negotiations... will begin in Doha today’.

The talks would focus on conditions for a possible ceasefire, including hostage and prisoner releases, and Hamas would also seek the reopening of Gaza’s Rafah crossing to evacuate the wounded, the official told AFP.

Hamas’s delegation, led by its top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, was in Doha, the official told AFP. Israel’s public broadcaster said the country’s delegation had left for the Qatari capital in the early afternoon.

Netanyahu met Israeli President Isaac Herzog for talks on Gaza and efforts to expand ties with Arab states before his departure for the United States at 5:00 pm (1400 GMT).

In Tel Aviv on Saturday, protesters gathered for a weekly rally demanding the return of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, which triggered the war.

Macabit Mayer, the aunt of captives Gali and Ziv Berman, called for a deal ‘that saves everyone’.

Two Palestinian sources close to the discussions told AFP the proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.

However, they said, the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel’s withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system.

On the ground, Gaza’s civil defence agency said 14 people were killed by Israeli forces on Sunday.

The agency said 10 were killed in a pre-dawn strike on Gaza City’s Sheikh Radawn neighbourhood, where AFP images showed Palestinians searching through the rubble for survivors with their bare hands.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it could not comment on specific strikes without precise coordinates.

Sheikh Radawn resident Osama al-Hanawi told AFP: ‘The rest of the family is still under the rubble.’

‘We are losing young people, families and children every day, and this must stop now. Enough blood has been shed.’

Since the Hamas attack sparked a massive Israeli offensive with the aim of destroying the group, mediators have brokered two temporary halts in fighting, during which hostages were freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.

Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

Recent efforts to broker a new truce have repeatedly failed, with the primary point of contention being Israel’s rejection of Hamas’s demand for a lasting ceasefire.

The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip.

Karima al-Ras, from Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, said ‘we hope that a truce will be announced’ to allow in more aid.

‘People are dying for flour,’ she said.

A US- and Israel-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, took the lead in food distribution in the territory in late May, when Israel partially lifted a more than two-month blockade on aid deliveries.

UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

The UN human rights office said more than 500 people have been killed waiting to access food from GHF distribution points.

The Hamas attack of October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,418 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.​

 

[Krishna with Flute]

Palestinians see Israel as an aggressor who forcefully occupied their land in the 40s. Israel conducted a genocide to grab Palestinians land. The level of hatred that exists between them is impossible to comprehend. But killing of innocent children by anybody be that Hamas or IDF should not be condoned.

We too believe that Bangladesh and Pakistani Islamist has captured our Sanatan land. What Should we do?

 

[Saif]

We too believe that Bangladesh and Pakistani Islamist has captured our Sanatan land. What Should we do?

You should fart.

 

[Saif]

Netanyahu to meet Trump at White House as Israel, Hamas discuss ceasefire

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, while Israeli officials hold indirect talks with Hamas, aimed at a US-brokered Gaza hostage-release and ceasefire deal. Trump said on Sunday there was a good chance such a deal cou

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Netanyahu to meet Trump at White House as Israel, Hamas discuss ceasefire

REUTERS
Published :
Jul 07, 2025 18:15
Updated :
Jul 07, 2025 18:15

US President Donald Trump welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the entrance of the White House in Washington, DC, US, April 7, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Leah Millis/Files

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, while Israeli officials hold indirect talks with Hamas, aimed at a US-brokered Gaza hostage-release and ceasefire deal.

Trump said on Sunday there was a good chance such a deal could be reached this week. The right-wing Israeli leader said he believed his discussions with Trump would help advance talks underway in Qatar.

It will be Netanyahu’s third White House visit since Trump returned to office in January, and follows Trump’s order last month for US air strikes against Iran and a subsequent ceasefire halting the 12-day Israel-Iran war.

Israel is hoping that its 12-day war with Iran will also pave the way for new diplomatic opportunities in the region.

Avi Dichter, an Israeli minister and a member of Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said he expected Trump’s meeting with the Israeli leader would go beyond Gaza to include the possibility of normalising ties with Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

“I think it will first of all be focused on a term we have often used but now has real meaning; a new Middle East,” he told Israel’s public broadcaster Kan on Monday.

Ahead of the visit, Netanyahu told reporters he would thank Trump for the US air strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, and said Israeli negotiators were driving for a deal on Gaza in Doha, Qatar’s capital.

Israel and Hamas were set to hold a second day of indirect talks in Qatar on Monday. An Israeli official described the atmosphere so far at the Gaza talks, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, as positive. Palestinian officials said that initial meetings on Sunday had ended inconclusively.

A second Israeli official said the issue of humanitarian aid had been discussed in Qatar, without providing further details.

The US-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza and discussions on ending the war entirely. Hamas has long demanded a final end to the war before it would free remaining hostages; Israel has insisted it would not agree to halt fighting until all hostages are free and Hamas dismantled.

Trump told reporters on Friday it was good that Hamas said it had responded in “a positive spirit” to a US-brokered 60-day Gaza ceasefire proposal, and noted that a deal could be reached this week.

Some of Netanyahu’s hardline coalition partners oppose ending the fighting but, with Israelis having become increasingly weary of the 21-month-old war, his government is expected to back a ceasefire.

A ceasefire at the start of this year ended in March, and talks to revive it have so far been fruitless. Meanwhile, Israel has intensified its military campaign in Gaza and sharply restricted food distribution.

“God willing, a truce would take place,” Mohammed Al Sawalheh, a 30-year-old Palestinian displaced from Jabalia in northern Gaza, told Reuters on Sunday after an Israeli air strike overnight.

“We cannot see a truce while people are dying. We want a truce that would stop this bloodshed.”

The Gaza war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with 20 believed to be alive.

Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health ministry. Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced by the war and nearly half a million people are facing famine within months, according to United Nations estimates.

TRUMP LASHED OUT AT ISRAELI PROSECUTORS

Trump has been strongly supportive of Netanyahu, even wading into domestic Israeli politics last month by lashing out at prosecutors over a corruption trial against the Israeli leader on bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust charges Netanyahu denies.

Trump, who has faced his own legal troubles, argued last week that the judicial process would interfere with Netanyahu’s ability to conduct talks with Hamas and Iran.

Trump said he expected to discuss Iran and its nuclear ambitions with Netanyahu, lauding the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites as a tremendous success. On Friday, he told reporters that he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently, although Iran could restart efforts elsewhere.

Trump insisted on Friday that he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, and said Tehran wanted to meet with him. Iran has always denied seeking a nuclear weapon.​

 

[Saif]

Trump hosts Netanyahu in push for Gaza deal

US President Donald Trump hosted Benjamin Netanyahu for dinner at the White House on Monday as he pressed the Israeli prime minister to end the devastating Gaza war. Netanyahu’s third visit since Trump’s return to power comes at a crucial time, with the US president hoping to capitalize on the...

en.prothomalo.com

Trump hosts Netanyahu in push for Gaza deal
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,523 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers the figures reliable.

AFP Washington
Published: 08 Jul 2025, 09: 27

US President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on 7 July 2025AFP

US President Donald Trump hosted Benjamin Netanyahu for dinner at the White House on Monday as he pressed the Israeli prime minister to end the devastating Gaza war.

Netanyahu’s third visit since Trump’s return to power comes at a crucial time, with the US president hoping to capitalize on the momentum from a recent truce between Israel and Iran.

“I don’t think there is a hold up. I think things are going along very well,” Trump told reporters at the start of the dinner when asked what was preventing a peace deal.

Sitting on the opposite side of a long table from the Israeli leader, Trump also voiced confidence that Hamas was willing to end the conflict in Gaza, which is entering its 22nd month.

“They want to meet and they want to have that ceasefire,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if clashes involving Israeli soldiers would derail talks.

The meeting in Washington came as Israel and Hamas held a second day of indirect talks in Qatar on an elusive ceasefire.

Netanyahu meanwhile said he had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize -- the US president’s long-held goal -- presenting him with a letter he sent to the prize committee.

“He’s forging peace as we speak, in one country, in one region after the other,” Netanyahu said.

‘We don’t care’

But Netanyahu was more cagey on peace with the Palestinians and ruled out a full Palestinian state, saying that Israel will ‘always’ keep security control over the Gaza Strip.

“Now, people will say it’s not a complete state, it’s not a state. We don’t care,” Netanyahu said.

Several dozen protesters gathered near the White House as Trump and Netanyahu met, chanting slogans accusing the Israeli prime minister of “genocide.”

Trump has strongly backed key US ally and fellow conservative Netanyahu, lending US support in Israel’s recent war by bombing Iran’s key nuclear facilities.

But at the same time he has increasingly pushed for an end to what he called the “hell” in Gaza. Trump said on Sunday he believes there is a “good chance” of an agreement this coming week.

“The utmost priority for the president right now in the Middle East is to end the war in Gaza and to return all of the hostages,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

Leavitt said Trump wanted Hamas to agree to a US-brokered proposal “right now” after Israel backed the plan for a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

The latest round of negotiations on the war in Gaza began on Sunday in Doha, with representatives seated in different rooms in the same building.

Monday’s talks ended with “no breakthrough,” a Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told AFP. The Hamas and Israeli delegations were due to resume talks later.

Envoy trip

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff was due to join the talks in Doha later this week in an effort to get a ceasefire over the line.

The US proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel, two Palestinian sources close to the discussions had earlier told AFP.

The group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel’s withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system, they said.

In Gaza, the civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed at least 12 people on Monday, including six in a clinic housing people displaced by the war.

Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 Hamas attack that triggered the war, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,523 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers the figures reliable.​

 

[Saif]

Former DOGE official rushed grant to Trump-backed Gaza aid group over staff objections

A top US State Department official waived nine mandatory counterterrorism and anti-fraud safeguards to rush a $30 million award last month to a Gaza aid group backed by the Trump administration and Israel, according to an internal memorandum seen by Reuters. Jeremy Lewin, a former Department of Go

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Former DOGE official rushed grant to Trump-backed Gaza aid group over staff objections

REUTERS
Published :
Jul 09, 2025 22:21
Updated :
Jul 09, 2025 22:21

Palestinians gather to collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution center of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Stringer/Files

A top US State Department official waived nine mandatory counterterrorism and anti-fraud safeguards to rush a $30 million award last month to a Gaza aid group backed by the Trump administration and Israel, according to an internal memorandum seen by Reuters.

Jeremy Lewin, a former Department of Government Efficiency associate, signed off on the award despite an assessment in the memorandum that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's (GHF) funding plan failed to meet required "minimum technical or budgetary standards."

The June 24 action memorandum to Lewin was sent by Kenneth Jackson, also a former DOGE operative who serves as an acting deputy US Agency for International Development administrator. The pair has overseen the agency’s dismantling and the merger of its functions into the State Department.

Lewin also overrode 58 objections that USAID staff experts wanted GHF to resolve in its application before the funds were approved, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Lewin, who runs the State Department's foreign aid program, cleared the funds only five days after GHF filed its proposal on June 19, according to the June 24 "action memorandum" bearing his signature seen by Reuters.

"Strong Admin support for this one," Lewin wrote to USAID leaders in a June 25 email - also seen by Reuters - that urged disbursement of the funds by the agency "ASAP."

The action memorandum was first reported by CNN.

Lewin and Jackson did not respond to requests for comment.

The documents underline the priority the Trump administration has given GHF despite the group's lack of experience and the killing of hundreds of Palestinians near its Gaza aid distribution hubs.

GHF, which closely coordinates with the Israeli military, has acknowledged reports of violence but says they occurred beyond its operations area.

Lewin noted in the email that he had discussed the funds with aides to Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump's negotiator on Gaza, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio's office.

He acknowledged that authorizing the funds would be controversial, writing: "I'm taking the bullet on this one."

The White House did not respond to requests for comment. Witkoff and Rubio did not reply to a question about whether they were aware of and supported the decision to waive the safeguards.

The State Department said in a statement that the $30 million was approved under a legal provision allowing USAID to expedite awards in response to "emergency situations" to "meet humanitarian needs as expeditiously as possible."

"The GHF award remains subject to rigorous oversight, including of GHF’s operations and finances," the statement said. "As part of the award, GHF was subject to new control and reporting requirements."

RAISING THE RISK

In response to a request for comment, a GHF spokesperson said: "Our model is specifically designed to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse. Every dollar we receive is safeguarded to ensure all resources — which will eventually include American taxpayer funds — reach the people of Gaza."

The spokesperson added that such requests for clarification from the US government about fund applications were routine.

Speaking about the nine conditions that were waived, the spokesperson said: "We are addressing each question as per regulations and normal procedure and will continue to do so as required."

GHF says its operation is preventing Hamas from hijacking food aid and using it to control the enclave's population, charges denied by the Islamist militants who ran Gaza.

In the June 24 action memorandum, Jackson wrote that GHF is “uniquely positioned to operate in areas with restricted access,” and said it has delivered millions of meals and diluted Hamas’ control over Gaza’s 2.1 million Palestinians.

He acknowledged that GHF “is a new organization that has not met USAID’s various formal criteria for eligibility” for the $30 million award.

Jackson listed nine conditions that applicants normally must satisfy before receiving USAID funds, explicitly outlining the terms of each and the risks of waiving them.

For instance, he noted a “legal requirement” that aid organizations working in Gaza or the West Bank undergo vetting for ties to extremist organizations before they are awarded USAID funds, the document said.

“Waiving the requirement could increase the risk” that an aid group, its subcontractors or vendors “could be found ineligible due to terrorism-related concerns,” said the document.

Jackson also wrote that USAID was required to examine whether an organization has sufficient internal controls to manage awards. He warned that waiving the condition “could raise the risk of misuse of taxpayer resources,” according to the document.

GHF submitted a plan – required prior to approval of funds – that was incomplete on how it would deal with legal and operational risks of operating in Gaza, the document said.

Waiving the need for a full plan “could risk programmatic diversion, reputational harm, and potential violations of US counterterrorism laws," it continued.

Despite the risks, Jackson recommended waiving all nine requirements and allowing GHF to fulfill them later because of the "humanitarian and political urgency" of its operation, the memo said. Lewin checked a box labeled “Approve” on each of the recommendations, it showed.

In addition to waiving the nine requirements, two sources familiar with the matter said, Lewin overrode 58 objections from USAID staff reviewing GHF's application.

Two former top USAID officials said they had never heard of a senior official like Lewin expediting an award over the objections of professional staff.

"I oversaw something like 1,500 grants. I never saw it happen," said Sarah Charles, who led USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance from 2021-2024. "Very occasionally, we would do the vetting after an award in a sudden onset emergency - think earthquake - but that was at the recommendation of staff."

In the review, the USAID experts questioned how GHF would ensure the safety of Palestinians collecting food packages at its sites; whether its staff had proper humanitarian training and its plans to distribute powdered infant formula in an enclave with scarce access to clean drinking water, the sources said.​

 

[Saif]

Israel, Hamas defiant as US presses for ceasefire

Israel’s bid to crush Hamas’s capabilities and bring the hostages home dominated talks between Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump, the Israeli prime minister said, even as the Palestinian militants vowed no surrender in Gaza...

www.newagebd.net

Israel, Hamas defiant as US presses for ceasefire
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 10 July, 2025, 00:23

Israel’s bid to crush Hamas’s capabilities and bring the hostages home dominated talks between Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump, the Israeli prime minister said, even as the Palestinian militants vowed no surrender in Gaza.

Netanyahu’s visit to Washington — his third since Trump returned as US president in January — came as Doha hosted discussions between the two sides on a possible halt to 21 months of fighting and a hostage release deal.

The indirect talks began on Sunday and have not yet seen any agreement but Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said he was still hopeful of a ceasefire deal.

‘The release of all of our hostages — the living and the deceased, and the elimination of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, thereby ensuring that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel,’ Netanyahu said after meeting Trump for a second time in 24 hours.

‘We focused on the efforts to release our hostages,’ he said.

‘We are not relenting, even for a moment, and this is made possible due to the military pressure by our heroic soldiers.’

Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack on Israel sparked the war in Gaza, said in a statement it would never give up.

‘Gaza will not surrender and the resistance will impose the conditions, just as it imposed the equations,’ it added.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said 22 people, including at least six children, were killed in Israeli strikes in the Palestinian territory on Wednesday.

A Palestinian official close to the talks blamed Israel for a lack of progress after the latest round of discussions broke up late Tuesday with no breakthrough.

‘The current round of negotiations in Doha between Hamas and Israel is still stalling due to the Israeli delegation’s refusal to accept the free entry of aid into the Gaza Strip,’ he said.

Another Palestinian source familiar with the negotiations said the Israeli delegation was ‘mostly listening rather than negotiating, which reflects Netanyahu’s on-going policy of obstruction and sabotaging any potential agreement’.

Witkoff, however, was more upbeat, in line with the US leader who has pushed for a ceasefire deal.

‘We are hopeful that by end of this week we will have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire,’ Witkoff said.

The deal would include the return of 10 live hostages held by Palestinian militant groups since Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, and nine dead hostages, Witkoff added.

Of 251 hostages seized during attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hamas has refused pushes to release all the hostages, demanding an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel wants to ensure militants in Gaza never again pose a threat to its security.

Qatari mediators had warned on Monday that it would take time to seal a deal, though Trump kept up his push to reach an agreement.

‘It’s a tragedy, and he wants to get it solved, and I want to get it solved, and I think the other side wants to,’ Trump told reporters, in reference to Netanyahu and Hamas.

Asked earlier as he met US House speaker Mike Johnson if a ceasefire announcement was imminent, Netanyahu replied: ‘We’re certainly working on it.’

On the ground, Gaza’s civil defence agency on Wednesday said 20 people, including at least six children, were killed in two Israeli air strikes overnight.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the report when contacted by AFP.

‘The explosion was massive, like an earthquake,’ said Zuhair Judeh, 40, who witnessed one of the strikes.

‘It destroyed the house and several nearby homes. The bodies and remains of the martyrs were scattered,’ he added, calling it ‘a horrific massacre’.

Due to restrictions imposed on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties accessing the area, AFP is unable to independently verify the death tolls and details shared by the parties involved.

Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,575 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers the figures reliable.

An Israeli group of legal experts on Tuesday accused Hamas of using sexual violence as ‘part of a genocidal scheme’ during its 2023 attack.

Hamas, it said, ‘used sexual violence as a tactical weapon, as part of a genocidal scheme and with the goal of terrorising and dehumanising Israeli society’.

The militant group has categorically denied allegations of using sexual violence, without providing evidence to support its claims.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli blockade in Gaza hits ‘critical point’: UN

The United Nations humanitarian office, OCHA, has warned that the fuel crisis in Gaza due to the Israeli blockade has reached a “critical point” and will cause further deaths and suffering in the besieged Palestinian territory.

www.thedailystar.net

Israeli blockade in Gaza hits ‘critical point’: UN

The United Nations humanitarian office, OCHA, has warned that the fuel crisis in Gaza due to the Israeli blockade has reached a "critical point" and will cause further deaths and suffering in the besieged Palestinian territory.

OCHA said the fuel powering vital functions in Gaza, including water desalination stations and hospitals' intensive care units, is running out quickly, with "virtually no additional accessible stocks left".

"Hospitals are rationing. Ambulances are stalling. Water systems are on the brink," the office said in a statement.

"The deaths this is likely causing could soon increase sharply unless the Israeli authorities allow new fuel in – urgently, regularly and in sufficient quantities."

Israel has imposed a suffocating siege on Gaza since early March.

Over the past weeks, it has allowed some food into Gaza to be distributed through a United States-backed group at sites where hundreds of aid seekers have been shot dead by Israeli fire.

But fuel has not entered the territory in months. Senior World Food Programme official Carl Skau also decried the lack of fuel in Gaza.

"The needs are greater than ever, and our capacity to respond has never been more constrained. Famine is spreading, and people are dying trying to find food," Skau said in a social media post.

"Our teams in Gaza are doing their best to deliver aid and are often caught in the crossfire. We are suffering from shortages of fuel, spare parts and essential communications equipment," Skau added.​