Gaza ceasefire may take more time, say Israeli officials
Gaza
ceasefire talks under way in Qatar between
Israel
and Palestinian militant group
Hamas
can be bridged but it may take more than a few days to reach a deal, Israeli officials said on Tuesday.
The new push by US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators to halt fighting in Gaza has gained pace since Sunday when the warring sides began indirect talks in Doha and Israeli prime minister
Binyamin Netanyahu
set out to Washington.
Mr Netanyahu met on Monday with US president
Donald Trump
, who said on the eve of their meeting that a ceasefire and hostage deal could be reached this week. The Israeli leader was scheduled to meet Vvce president JD Vance on Tuesday.
Mr Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, who played a major role in crafting the ceasefire proposal, will travel to Doha this week to join discussions there, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier on Monday.
READ MORE
The ceasefire proposal envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza and discussions on ending the war entirely.
Hamas has long demanded an end to the war before it would free remaining hostages; Israel has insisted it would not agree to end the fighting until all hostages are released and Hamas dismantled. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza are believed to still be alive.
Palestinian sources said on Monday that there were gaps between the sides on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Senior Israeli officials briefing journalists in Washington said it may take more than a few days to finalise agreements in Doha but they did not elaborate on the sticking points. Another Israeli official said progress had been made.
Israeli minister Zeev Elkin, who sits in Netanyahu's security cabinet, said that there was 'a substantial chance' a ceasefire will be agreed. 'Hamas wants to change a few central matters, it's not simple, but there is progress,' he told Israel's public broadcaster Kan on Tuesday.
The war began on October 7th 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza.
Israel's subsequent campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, displaced almost the entire population of more than two million people, sparked a humanitarian crisis in the enclave and left much of the territory in ruins.
In Gaza City, children walked through debris, where residents said an Israeli air strike had hit overnight, with children among the casualties. The Israeli military did not immediately provide details on the target of the strike.
'We hope that a ceasefire will be reached and that the massacres against the Palestinian people will stop,' said Mohammed Joundiya, standing in the rubble left in the aftermath of the attack.
At Israel's parliament in Jerusalem, former hostage Keith Siegel, who was released in February in a previous ceasefire, described the anguish of those held incommunicado for hundreds of days in Hamas captivity. 'We have a window of opportunity to save lives,' he said, 'every minute is critical.' – Reuters
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Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Letters to the Editor, July 9th: On Gaza suffering, anti-Semitism and women in the home
Sir, – As the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade this week continues its pre-legislative scrutiny of the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025, we must keep the reality of life for Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank to the fore. In the West Bank, illegal settlements, the separation wall, severe restrictions, forced displacement, and violence create a daily reality of profound suffering. Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The Israeli and US backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has replaced 400 UN aid distribution points with just four overcrowded militarised aid sites which have become deadly flashpoints. Armed groups, reportedly backed by Israeli authorities, routinely open fire on starving civilians, resulting in more than 500 desperate and hungry Palestinians being killed and nearly 4,000 injured while trying to access food in the last month alone. READ MORE The long-awaited and welcome draft Occupied Palestine Territory Bill proposes to ban the importation of goods from illegal Israeli settlements. However, it omits services, which make up around 70 per cent of Ireland's trade with Israel. This omission risks rendering the Bill toothless, leaving the bulk of Ireland's commercial ties with illegal settlements untouched. This is an issue close to home. For example, Airbnb, which operates its European headquarters in Dublin, continues to profit from illegal settlement activity and recording global revenues of $2.5 billion in 2024. If services are excluded, companies like Airbnb can legally continue facilitating and profiting from breaches of international law through their Irish operations. We urge Irish politicians to act with courage. Without a ban on services, Ireland risks this Bill being an empty gesture, when really our legal obligations to act against genocide demand much more of us. – Yours, etc, KAROL BALFE, Chief executive, ActionAid Ireland, Dublin 2. Anti-Semitism and Ireland Sir, – Fintan O'Toole is right to say there are many figures in Irish history who we can be proud to say stood up against the vile poison of anti-Semitism. However, reading his article (' Ireland has a proud history of opposing anti-Semitism ,'(July, 8th), an outsider would be forgiven for thinking that this island has no history of racism against the Jewish people. In 1904, the racist rantings of a priest in Limerick led many in the city to cruelly boycott the businesses of their Jewish neighbours, causing most to flee the city. During the Holocaust, while many Jews pleaded to be let into Ireland, the attitude of the State was that these people were not like us and their plight was none of our business. This callous indifference meant many of these Jews were instead condemned to die in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka and Sobibor. More recently, last year a man in a Dublin nightclub was asked, 'Are you Jewish?' and when he replied that he was, he was allegedly beaten up by a gang of anti-Semitic thugs. So yes, let's remember with pride the brave Irishmen and women who stood up against anti-Semitism. But we should not delude ourselves that this island of ours is uniquely free of anti-Semitism. – Yours, etc, JAMES WILSON, Dublin 8. Sir, – Fintan O'Toole assures us that Ireland has a 'history of solidarity' with the Jewish people. Indeed it does, but had he relied on history more recent than the 19th century he might have reached a different conclusion about the current state of anti-Semitism in Ireland. – Yours, etc TERESA TRAINOR, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16. Sir, – I would like to commend Fintan O'Toole. Even if Ireland's record in relation to anti-Semitism is not unblemished, this piece constitutes an excellent tutorial for the new US ambassador to Ireland on the indivisibility of human rights and human compassion. It would seem that this principle needs to be relearned not just in the US but in Europe, particularly in relation to the Middle East conflict. – Yours, etc, MARTIN HAWKES, Terenure, Dublin 6. Sir, – The widely regarded architect of the deaths of at least 57,0000 Palestinians in Gaza writes to the Nobel Peace Prize committee nominating the person who supplies him with the funds and weapons to achieve this result. The Nobel peace award is given to a person who contributes most to 'the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the holding and promotion of peace congresses'. This is surely a case of 'return to sender'. – Yours, etc, MARTIN Mc DONALD, Dublin Women in the home Sir, – Regarding the article ' Ireland should hold another referendum on women in the home , UN committee says', July 8th): May I suggest that official Ireland ignore this advice, resist the habit of seeking a do-over when a referendum result doesn't align with its preferred outcome, and instead start to read the room that a majority of the electorate are in. – Yours, etc, LIZ FITZPATRICK, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14. Sir, – Last year, Irish people voted against the proposal to delete the word 'mother' from our Constitution in favour of ambiguous, nebulous gender-neutral wording. Now, we learn that the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) wants our Government to have another crack at it! We are a highly educated, literate, informed society. We read and debated the proposed wording last year, and we clearly understood that, far from diminishing a mother's status in society, the word 'mother' in our Constitution is a recognition of the unique role that a mother plays within the family –whether she works outside the home, within the home, or both. We have already had our say – and resoundingly so. –Yours, etc LORAINE McSHERRY, Nenagh, Co Tipperary Sir,– Over 70 per cent of the people who voted in 2024 rejected the proposal to remove Article 41.2 from the Constitution, despite the relentless onslaught of messaging in favour of a Yes vote from the government and so-called civil society organisations. I can only guess that many of those people were women. It strikes me as somewhat hypocritical of a committee for the elimination of discrimination against women to decide that those women didn't know their own minds when they cast those votes. – Yours, etc, EMER BOLGER, Dublin 9. They think it's all over. .. Sir, – The qualification rounds for the 2025-26 UEFA competitions are under way. Yet, the 2024-25 season is effectively still in progress, as the FIFA Club World Cup hasn't concluded yet. There used to be a clear boundary between seasons, but it has been whittled away so much that the seasons are now overlapping. – Yours, etc BRIAN QUIGLEY, Drumcondra, Dublin 9. Public access and Ireland Sir, – Keep Ireland Open welcomes Wicklow County Council's announcement that public access to the splendid Magheramore Beach has been secured (' Magheramore Beach: The €613,000 Wicklow council paid to secure access was likely less than cost of court challenge ,' (July 5th) However, we are dismayed that it required a payment of €613,000 to a Chinese investor who had recently bought the site at auction. This was the cost of avoiding the risk of having the High Court adjudicate if a right of way that has been used by the public for decades, at least, is in fact a public right of way. Unfortunately, Magheramore is but one of many beaches and seashores that are rendered inaccessible to the public because Irish law permits paths that were traditionally used to access the sea, and the countryside generally, to be blocked with barriers and barbed wire. Contrast this with the situation in England where the default is to manage land for the benefit of people and nature – as recently described in your pages (' No denying that King Charles is a climate visionary ', (July 1st). The 2,700 miles long King Charles III England Coast Path will be the longest managed coastal path in the world. It is a scandal and a disservice to our citizens that traditional access routes continue to be lost to the public because neither legislation or the political will exists to protect them. A clause legally obliging local authorities to identify and preserve public rights of way which give access to seashore, mountain, lakeshore, riverbank, cemetery, monument or other places of natural beauty or recreational utility by marking them on maps and indicating their location on a list, was removed from the Planning and Development Act 2024. There is still an opportunity to have this clause reinstated as the legislation passes through Leinster House. Keep Ireland Open calls on politicians to implement legislation to protect the social, economic , health (mental and physical) and environmental benefits of outdoor recreation in the same way as they are respected and protected in English law. – Yours, etc, TONY McDERMOTT, Director, Keep Ireland Open, Dublin 6W. Buses and timetables Sir, – I can empathise with Gillian Lawless' experience regarding Dublin Bus delays en route (Letters, July 7th). As a regular bus user, I dread hearing the announcement 'there will be a short delay ...'. Firstly, how 'short' is short? I once experienced a delay for the best part of six or seven minutes. In that time, a number of buses overtook us, as we languished at a bus stop, counting down time. Secondly, any delay on the bus has consequences for me and no doubt many others ( in my case missing a connecting train, waiting up to 45 minutes for the next train, and being late home in the evening). Thirdly, there is no indication on the outside of any bus that it may be subject to a delay en route. Why not put an initial beside the bus number (to indicate the possibility of a scheduled delay), so that passengers can make an informed decision prior to embarking? Or better yet, get rid of this 'on schedule' requirement entirely. – Yours, etc, MARY FOGARTY, Balbriggan, Co Dublin. Sir, – Ms Lawless feels passengers who are already on board buses are penalised by buses being held at stops to get back on schedule. Surely the customers who would be penalised are those who turn up at their stop to find the bus has departed earlier than time-tabled? One of the basic aims of any transport provider is to stick to the published schedule where possible. Buses being held at stops to stay on schedule is common in many other countries. – Yours, etc, DAVID GORDON, Clondalkin, Dublin 22. Ireland's links with Japan Sir, – During my years in Japan I have noted with bemusement the surprising manifestations of Ireland's soft power: the presence of Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), famous in his adoptive country though forgotten in Ireland until a few decades ago; the Japanese fascination with Yeats (translated into Japanese in the 1890s), Wilde, Joyce, and Beckett; the visits of Irish writers (Heaney, Montague, Muldoon, Mahon, Kennelly, Welch, O'Toole) as guests of the Japanese branch of the International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures, flourishing since 1984; the children singing Beidh aonach amárach i gContae an Chláir at the St Patrick's Day parades in a dozen cities; the brilliant young performers of the harp and of Irish dancing; the diligent Japanese students of the Irish language. Now, with the opening of Ireland House, which dominates an attractive new piazza in the very centre of Tokyo, proudly displaying the Irish and European flags, and combining Japanese and Irish spaces in an architectural poem which provides a radiant new platform for Irish hospitality, it is clear that the affinity and interaction between the two nations is something wider and deeper than I had suspected. Ireland has made a weightier investment in the new embassy than in any other overseas project. And it is a sound investment, injecting new life and colour into the Tokyo landscape, confirming economic opportunities for both countries, and sealing an alliance in devotion to the values of democracy and peace. A threshold has been crossed, and the Irish-Japanese entente is no longer a matter of sentiment, but a significant factor in global civilisation today. – Yours, etc JOSEPH S. O'LEARY, Tokyo, Japan. Sir, – Your correspondent Denis Staunton contributed an interesting article regarding the life of Lafcadio Hearn (' Celebrating the Irish writer whose ghost stories still grip Japan, ' (July 4th). Should anyone want to further their knowledge of the writer's life and times they would be well advised to visit the beautiful Lafcadio Hearn gardens in Tramore , Co Waterford. They celebrate his peripatetic life with a section of the garden given over to Victorian, American, Greek and Japanese gardens. – Yours, etc, DARREN MAGUIRE, Co Meath. Guardian ad litems Sir, – The Association of Guardians Ad Litem (AGALI) was established last year and is mandated to represent the majority of guardians ad litem in Ireland. The guardians are independent, court-appointed professionals who are charged by the court in child care proceedings to represent the voice of the child and what is in the child's best interest. AGALI notes Harry McGee's article (' Unregulated court guardian service cost €21m last year ', June 27th) and welcomes the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2022 which provides, inter alia, for the setting up of the national guardian ad litem service, and has met the officials appointed to lead the service. AGALI is committed to collaborative engagement with the new service and will continue to seek appropriate resourcing, professional standards and effective legal representation for children. This is part of creating a nationally consistent, child-centred and trauma informed service; one that upholds the integrity and effectiveness of the crucial independent service that guardians provide to the 3,500 children who are the subject of current active child care proceedings. AGALI is concerned the plans as outlined for the new service will dilute the voices of children. The service is also to be a division within the Department of Children, Equality, Disability Integration and Youth, when the State continues to fail so many children in its care. Guardians work tirelessly in the discharge of their duties under close review of the court. The role of the guardian is one element of our childcare system that has, because of its independence, been able to continue to deliver a high quality service that responds to the individual needs of our most vulnerable children. – Yours, etc, Dermot Simms, Chairperson, AGALI, Dublin.
RTÉ News
3 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Trump, Netanyahu meet a second time as gaps narrow in ceasefire talks
US President Donald Trump met for a second time in two days with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Gaza as Mr Trump's Middle East envoy said Israel and Hamas were closing their differences on a ceasefire deal. The Israeli leader departed the White House after just over an hour's meeting with Mr Trump in the Oval Office, with no press access. The two men also met for several hours during a dinner at the White House on Monday during Mr Netanyahu's third US visit since the president began his second term. Mr Netanyahu earlier met with Vice President JD Vance and then visited the US Capitol, and is due back in Congress later today to meet with US Senate leaders. The Israeli leader told reporters after a meeting with the Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson that while he did not think Israel's campaign in the Palestinian enclave was done, negotiators are "certainly working" on a ceasefire. "We still have to finish the job in Gaza, release all our hostages, eliminate and destroy Hamas' military and government capabilities," Mr Netanyahu said. Shortly after Mr Netanyahu spoke, Mr Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said the issues keeping Israel and Hamas from agreeing had dropped to one from four and he hoped to reach a temporary ceasefire agreement this week. "We are hopeful that by the end of this week, we'll have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire. Ten live hostages will be released. Nine deceased will be released," Mr Witkoff told reporters at a meeting of Mr Trump's Cabinet. A delegation from Qatar, which has been hosting indirect talks between Israeli negotiators and the Hamas Palestinian militant group, met with senior White House officials for several hours before Mr Netanyahu's arrival, Axios reported, citing a source familiar with the details. The White House had no immediate comment on the report. The Gaza war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. 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 a million people are facing famine within months, according to United Nations estimates. Mr Trump had strongly supported Mr Netanyahu, even wading into domestic Israeli politics by criticising prosecutors over a corruption trial against the Israeli leader on bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust charges that Mr Netanyahu denies. In his remarks to reporters at the US Congress, Mr Netanyahu praised the Republican, saying there has never been closer coordination between the US and Israel in his country's history.
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
President Trump and the peace prize
Sir, – I turned on the radio this morning to hear a voice telling me that Israel's prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu had nominated US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. I wondered which comedian had come up with this line, but to my amazement, this was the news. I would have laughed, except that I was crying. – Yours, etc, DR TERESA GRAHAM, Tramore, READ MORE Co Waterford.
