Biden tells Gaza peace negotiators: ‘Get me a deal’
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Joe Biden, the US President, told negotiators holding talks on a Gaza ceasefire to ‘get me a deal’, according to US officials.
The President made the remarks to the emir of Qatar and the president of Egypt, who are helping negotiate the terms of a temporary ceasefire, on Thursday, Axios reported.
Mr Biden is under major pressure from voters over the US alliance with Israel, and the president was punished at the ballot box by protesting young Democrats in the primaries last week.
Negotiators are working towards an agreement prior to the beginning of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan on March 10.
A potential deal could include a six-week pause in fighting, the release of approximately 400 Palestinian prisoners in return for the freeing of 40 Israeli hostages, as well as preparation for a gradual return of Palestinian citizens to the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, vice president Kamala Harris called for an “immediate ceasefire” as she prepared to meet Israeli cabinet minister Benny Gantz.
Speaking in Selma Alabama she called for a minimum six week pause in the fighting.
“This would allow us to build something more enduring to ensure Israel is secure and to respect the right of the Palestinian people to dignity, freedom and self-determination,” she said.
04:58 PM GMT
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04:57 PM GMT
Today’s headlines
Representatives from Hamas, Qatar and the US arrived in Cairo today to “resume a new round of negotiations” for a temporary ceasefire.
Israel did not attend the negotiations, after Hamas refused to supply a list of the remaining surviving hostages. Hamas said that a truce would be possible within 24 to 48 hours, if Israel accepted its terms.
A Hamas official also said that there would be no deal without a permanent ceasefire.
The Israel Defence Forces have claimed that the “majority” of Palestinians killed or injured in the incident near aid trucks in Northern Gaza died as a result of a “stampede”
The number of civilians killed in Gaza has risen to 30,410, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
A top Israeli Cabinet minister’s trip to Washington for talks with US officials has angered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to an Israeli source.
Houthi rebels have vowed to continue targeting British ships in the Gulf of Aden following the sinking of the UK-owned vessel, the Rubymar.
04:23 PM GMT
No deal without permanent ceasefire, says Hamas official
Unless Israel includes a permanent ceasefire in its terms, there will be no ceasefire deal, an official from the terrorist group has told CNN.
The official said that three terms of the proposed deal made it “highly unlikely” any deal would be agreed in the next 48 hours.
The conditions that Hamas are still demanding include a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the entire Gaza Strip and the return of displaced people to the north of the strip.
Israel did not send a delegation for the talks in Cairo after Hamas rejected its demand to provide a list of all remaining surviving hostages.
04:04 PM GMT
Analysis: How a potential ceasefire is dividing Israeli society
The terms of a potential ceasefire deal are sparking a critical divide in Israeli society, Melanie Swan writes from Tel Aviv.
While there is a broad agreement on the need to bring back hostages, an exchange deal to release hundreds more Palestinian prisoners, many of whom are in prison on terror charges, is being met with fierce resistance.
Israel security officials have told me the swap deal is raising alarming memories of the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal in which over 1,000 Palestinians were released in return for one Israeli soldier. To see it repeated would “signal disaster for those who remember” one official said.
The government is walking a fine line in the face of accusations of abandoning the hostages held in Gaza, while being under fire for the hundreds of soldiers lost on the ground in a rising death toll in the hundreds.
The war has taken far longer and caused a far higher death toll in Gaza due to the complexities of fighting a war where Israel’s hostages are on the front lines. In spite of the divisions in society, one thing unites Israelis; that the war must go on, ceasefire or otherwise, for the eradication of Hamas.
03:49 PM GMT
Watch: IDF strikes into Khan Younis amid speculation on Gaza ceasefire deal
The Israel Defence Forces have released a video showing strikes on Hamas targets in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, after it announced it had intensified operations in the region.
The claimed strikes come as ceasefire negotiations continue today.
03:36 PM GMT
Gaza ceasefire deal: What each step could look like
Further ceasefire talks are underway in Egypt following the arrival of a Hamas delegation in Cairo.
Both Israel and Hamas will have to make significant compromises under the drafted deal.
The general aim is to have a ceasefire deal in place in time to stop fighting for the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which begins on March 10th.
What could the proposed deal look like?
In the first phase of the deal, there could be a six-week ceasefire, the first extended truce of the war.
Fighting would cease in time to stop the planned Israeli assault on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are sheltering.
Dozens of hostages held by the militants would be freed in return for 400 of Palestinian prisoners - although initially, Hamas would free only women, children, the elderly and the sick.
In the second phase of the deal, aid to Gaza would be significantly increased, including the provision of tents, caravans and the rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries.
Read more on what a ceasefire agreement could look like here.
03:18 PM GMT
Israeli security minister barred after leaking sensitive information
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s hardline security minister, has been barred from intelligence briefings after leaking a number of sensitive documents.
Israel’s Shin Bet domestic intelligence chiefs also refused to meet with the security minister any more last month, following clashes in weekly security meetings.
A senior Israeli intelligence source told The Telegraph: “The biggest threat to Israel from within is Ben-Gvir. He acts within his own rules and tries to disregard everyone around him, in spite of his not having any background in national security and defence issues himself. He is a liability.”
Read more from Melanie Swan here.
02:47 PM GMT
Pictured: UK-owned vessel Rubymar sunk in the Red Sea
The first aerial pictures of the UK-owned vessel, the Rubymar, which was sunk by a Houthi missile, has been released by the US Central Command.
In a statement on X, the Central Command said the Rubymar was carrying 21,000 tonnes of ammonium phosphate sulphate fertiliser, posing an “environmental risk to the Red Sea”.
Greenpeace MENA also reported on the “imminent danger” the shipwreck poses to marine ecosystems and coastal communities.
The carrier sank yesterday after being struck by an Iranian-backed Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile on February 18th.
02:16 PM GMT
Houthis vow to continue sinking British ships
Houthi rebels have vowed to continue targeting British ships in the Gulf of Aden following the sinking of the UK-owned vessel, Rubymar.
The US military confirmed on Saturday that the UK-owned vessel, Rubymar, had sunk after being struck by a missile fired by the Yemeni militant group on February 18.
Houthi rebels, who control much of Yemen, have been attacking commercial shipping in support of Hamas and in protest at the war in Gaza.
“Yemen will continue to sink more British ships, and any other repercussions or damages will be added to Britain’s bill”, Hussein al-Ezzi, deputy foreign minister in the Houthi-led government said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Britain “is a rogue state that attacks Yemen and partners with America in sponsoring ongoing crimes against civilians in Gaza”, he added.
01:33 PM GMT
Pope Francis calls for end of Gaza conflict
Pope Francis has appealed for the end to the conflict in Gaza, as he recovers after suffering from bronchitis.
Francis stressed the consequences of the conflict on children and asked for the release of all the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7th.
“Do you really think you can build a better world in this way? Do you really think you will achieve peace? Enough please! Let us all say enough please! Stop!” Francis said.
01:04 PM GMT
Twins born during war buried in Rafah
Infant twins Wesam and Naeem Abu Anza, born a few weeks into the war, have been buried in Rafah.
They were the youngest of 14 family members who were killed in an Israeli strike on a house overnight, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
12:15 PM GMT
Israel’s wartime Cabinet rattled by dispute between Netanyahu and top political rival
A top Israeli Cabinet minister’s trip to Washington for talks with US officials has angered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to an Israeli official, in a sign of widening rifts in Israel’s wartime government.
According to an anonymous Israeli official from Netanyahu’s Likud party, Benny Gantz, a centrist political rival who joined Netanyahu’s government in the early days of the war, made the trip without permission from the Israeli leader.
The official said Netanyahu subsequently had a “tough talk” with Gantz about the visit and told him the country “has just one prime minister”.
However, another official remarked that Gantz informed Netanyahu of his visit, with the aim of strengthening ties with Washington, bolstering support for Israel’s ground campaign and pushing for the release of Israeli hostages.
US priorities in the region have increasingly been hampered by Netanyahu’s hard-line Cabinet, dominated by ultranationalists. Gantz’s more moderate party has at times acted as a counterweight to Netanyahu’s far-right allies.
11:48 AM GMT
Palestinian Authority president Abbas to visit Turkey next week
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, will visit Turkey next week for talks about the Gaza war and reconciliation efforts between Palestinian factions, the Turkish foreign minister said on Sunday.
The visit comes as intensive diplomacy is underway to pause the fighting in the almost five-month-old war between Israel and Hamas.
Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s Foreign Minister, said “There is a serious desire and effort to reach a ceasefire before Ramadan”
11:31 AM GMT
Hamas says Gaza truce possible ‘within 24 to 48 hours’ if Israel accepts terms
A senior Hamas official has said that a ceasefire in Gaza could be secured “within 24 to 48 hours” if Israel accepts the group’s demands in ongoing talks.
The anonymous official said that these terms would include the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid.
Negotiations are set to resume in Cairo today, with the arrival of the Hamas delegation. However, another source briefed on the talks said that Israel would not send a representative until it got a full list of the hostages who are still alive.
A ceasefire could start “today if Hamas agrees to release the defined category of vulnerable hostages... the sick, the wounded, elderly and women,” a US official said on Saturday.
”Right now, the ball is in the camp of Hamas.”
10:58 AM GMT
At least 15 children dead from malnutrition and dehydration at Gaza hospital, according to Gaza health ministry
At least 15 children have died over the past few days from malnutrition and dehydration at Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital, the Hamas-run health ministry said in a statement.
10:45 AM GMT
Pictured: Pro-Palestinian protests in New York
10:31 AM GMT
Delegations from Qatar and US arrive in Cairo in addition to Hamas officials
Delegations from Qatar and the United States have arrived in Egypt in addition to officials from the Hamas terror group “to resume a new round of negotiations” for a ceasefire in Gaza, Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News reports.
It remains uncertain if Israel will send a delegation without receiving a list of the remaining living hostages from Hamas.
10:18 AM GMT
Pictured: IDF troops’ operational activities in the Gaza Strip
10:07 AM GMT
Gaza civilian death toll rises to 30,410
The number of civilians killed in Gaza has risen to 30,410 after 90 people were killed in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has said.
It added 71,700 people have also been wounded in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7.
09:58 AM GMT
IDF claims stampede killed Palestinians in disputed aid truck deaths
The IDF has claimed the “majority” of Palestinians killed or injured in the incident near aid trucks in Northern Gaza died as a result of a “stampede”
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that “warning shots” were fired to “disperse the stampede” west of Gaza City on Thursday.
Hagari said the IDF’s review of the incident gathered information from commanders and forces in the field and determined that no strike was carried out towards the aid convoy.
“After our forces had started retreating, several looters approached our forces and posed an immediate threat to them. According to the initial review, the soldiers responded toward several individuals,” he said.
09:26 AM GMT
Hamas arrives in Cairo for ceasefire talks
A Hamas delegation has arrived in Cairo for ceasefire talks, according to a Reuters report.
The delegation is being led by Hamas’ deputy chief in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya.
