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Added on the 26/04/2017 22:53:54 - Copyright : France 24 EN
Israel and Hamas on Thursday agreed to extend their cease-fire by another day, just minutes before it was set to expire. The truce in Gaza appeared increasingly tenuous as the number of women and children held by the militants as bargaining chips dwindled after dozens were released. Word of the extension came just as the truce was to expire at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) Thursday. The Qatari Foreign Ministry said the truce was being extended under the same terms as in the past, with Hamas releasing 10 Israeli hostages per day in exchange for Israel's release of 30 Palestinian prisoners. International pressure has mounted for the cease-fire to continue as long as possible after nearly eight weeks of Israeli bombardment and a ground campaign in Gaza that have killed thousands of Palestinians, uprooted three quarters of the population of 2.3 million and led to a humanitarian crisis. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel late Wednesday on his third trip to the region since the start of the war, and is expected to press for further extensions of the truce and the release of more hostages. The announcement followed a last-minute standoff, with Hamas saying Israel had rejected a proposed list that included seven living captives and the remains of three who the group said were killed in Israeli airstrikes. Israel later said Hamas submitted an improved list, paving the way for the extension. The talks appear to be growing tougher with most of the women and children taken hostage by Hamas during the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war already freed. The militants are expected to make greater demands in return for freeing men and soldiers. As truce talks get tougher, FRANCE 24's Angela DIFFLEY is joined by Oliver McTernan, Co-Founder and Director of Forward Thinking.
A fragile truce between Israel and Hamas entered its fifth day on Tuesday, with the militant group promising to release more hostages to delay the expected resumption of the war and Israel under growing pressure to spare Palestinian civilians when it renews its offensive. For the first time since the cease-fire began, Israel and Hamas traded accusations of a serious violation. The Israeli military said three explosive devices were detonated near its troops at two locations in northern Gaza, and that militants at one site opened fire on the troops, who fired back. It said its troops were in positions in accordance with the terms of the truce, Hamas, in turn, accused Israel of committing a “blatant breach of the ceasefire,” triggering retaliation by its fighters, without providing details. It said in a statement that it “was still committed to the cease-fire so long as the enemy is committed to it,” and urged mediators to intervene. It was not immediately clear if the exchange posed a threat to the truce. But it underscored the fragility of the truce in northern Gaza, where Israeli forces and Hamas fighters are holding their positions in close proximity to each other, each preparing for a potential resumption of fighting when the cease-fire ends. The sides agreed to extend their truce through Wednesday, with another two planned exchanges of militant-held hostages for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. But Israel has vowed to resume the war with “full force” to destroy Hamas once it's clear that no more hostages will be freed under the deal. The Biden administration has told Israel it must avoid “significant further displacement” and mass casualties among Palestinian civilians if it resumes the offensive, and that it must operate with more precision in southern Gaza than it has in the north, according to U.S. officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House. For more on the fragile truce and a deeper perspective on what lies ahead, FRANCE 24's Genie Godula is joined by Avi Meyerstein, Founder and President of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP).
A temporary cease-fire agreement to facilitate the release of dozens of people taken hostage during Hamas’ raid on Israel is expected to bring the first respite to war-weary Palestinians in Gaza and a glimmer of hope to the families of the captives. Israel and Hamas agreed to the four-day halt, which was announced Wednesday and will also see the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The deal, brokered by Qatar, the U.S. and Egypt, was made public as fighting intensified in central neighborhoods of Gaza City. Egypt’s state-run Qahera TV channel said the truce would take effect Thursday morning local time. It caps weeks of fitful indirect negotiations and sets the stage for a tense period that could determine the course of the war, which was set off by Hamas' Oct. 7 raid and has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities. Hamas and other militant groups abducted some 240 and killed at least 1,200 people. Israel, Hamas and Qatar have released different details of the agreement, but those details do not appear to contradict each other. Qatar announced Wednesday that Hamas will release 50 hostages in exchange for what Hamas said would be 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Those released by both sides will be women and minors. The hostages would be released in bursts throughout the cease-fire. Once the first batch is released, Israel is expected to free the first group of Palestinian prisoners. Israel said the truce would be extended by a day for every 10 additional hostages released. Qatar said Israel would also allow more fuel and humanitarian aid into Gaza, but did not provide details. Now that Israel and Hamas have reached a deal on a cease-fire and hostages, FRANCE 24's Nadia Massih is joined by Dr. Joseph Bahout, Professor and Director of Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at American University of Beirut.
Spain’s Pedro Sánchez was reelected as prime minister by the nation’s parliament on Thursday, when he leveraged a controversial amnesty deal to get the critical support from Catalan separatists to stay in power. Sánchez, Spain's Socialist leader since 2018, was backed by 179 lawmakers in the 350-seat lower house of parliament to form a new minority leftist coalition government. Only right-wing opposition deputies voted against him. The vote came after nearly two days of debate among party leaders that centered almost entirely on an amnesty deal for Catalonia’s separatists that Sánchez agreed to in return for vital support to unlock another four-year term. Sánchez won the vote after clinching the support of six smaller parties — including two Catalan separatist parties that command 14 seats— in recent weeks, allowing his Socialists to once again team up with the left-wing Sumar (Joining Forces) party in government. It remains to be seen if Sánchez can maintain enough support to exhaust his mandate that can run until 2027 given that some of his backers are parties that want to break Catalonia, or the Basque Country, away from Spain. Spain’s inconclusive national elections on July 23 left a highly fractured parliament. The center-right Popular Party received the most votes in the elections but failed to get enough support to form a government because of its alliances with the far-right Vox party, which finished third. The amnesty deal would clean the slate for hundreds of Catalan separatists in legal trouble following the northeast region’s illegal 2017 secession bid that sparked Spain’s biggest crisis in decades. That includes benefiting former Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont, who is a fugitive from Spanish law and considered public enemy No. 1 by many Spaniards. Despite lingering disagreements, the two Catalan parties as well as two Basque ones said they would back Sánchez on Thursday but let him know that he must fulfill the economic and political deals reached with each of them. For more on the Spanish prime minister's reelection, despite controversy over amnesty for Catalan separatists, FRANCE 24's François Picard is joined by Dr Andrew Dowling, Contemporary Historian and Senior Lecturer in the Hispanic Studies Department within the School of Modern Languages at Cardiff University.
It's not often that an EU member state decides to hold a national election just as it takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union. But that's exactly what the Spanish government did on July 23, just three weeks after starting its six-month stint at the helm of the EU. In this second part of the show, we focus on Spain's scientific research and the importance of EU funds to the country.
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