Israeli official says Hamas agreed to release five captives for 50-day truce
The official said the bodies of deceased captives would also be returned during the truce but did not specify a number.
Israel is expected to submit a counter-offer, making it unlikely that a deal will be finalised before Eid, which begins Sunday or Monday, the official added.
The report follows earlier reports by Egyptian officials to a Qatari outlet that Hamas had agreed to the proposal.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gulf Today
2 hours ago
- Gulf Today
Tunisian president shows Trump adviser images of starving Gaza children
Tunisian President Kais Saied presented US counterpart Donald Trump's senior Africa adviser with photographs of starving children in Gaza, official video of their meeting posted late on Tuesday showed. Saied told US envoy Massad Boulos, who is also the father-in-law of Trump's daughter Tiffany, that "it is time for all of humanity to wake up and put an end to these crimes against the Palestinian people." "I believe you know these images well," Saied was seen telling the envoy as he showed a photograph of what he described as "a child crying, eating sand in occupied Palestine." Saied showed Boulos several more images, saying that Palestinians in Gaza were subjected to crimes against humanity. Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where more than two million people have endured 21 months of devastating conflict. "It is absolutely unacceptable," Saied was heard saying as Boulos stood silently, occasionally nodding. "It is a crime against all of humanity." More than 100 aid organisations warned on Wednesday that "mass starvation" was spreading across the Gaza Strip and that their own colleagues were suffering acutely from the shortages. The head of Gaza's largest hospital said on Tuesday that 21 children had died from malnutrition and starvation in the Palestinian territory in the previous three days. Israel says humanitarian aid is being allowed into Gaza and accuses Hamas of exploiting civilian suffering, including by stealing food handouts to sell at inflated prices or shooting at those awaiting aid. Following his visit to Tunisia, Boulos flew on to the Libyan capital Tripoli on Wednesday, Tunisian media reported. Agence France-Presse
The National
2 hours ago
- The National
Hamas-bound crypto funds worth $2 million seized by US
About $2 million in cryptocurrency assets intended for Hamas has been seized by the US government, recently unsealed court forfeiture documents from the US Department of Justice have shown. According to court filings, the digital currency was held in Tether and Binance accounts connected through BuyCash, a 'Gaza-based money transfer business' allegedly involved in helping to finance Hamas. 'Terrorist organisations like Hamas and their affiliates rely on shadowy financial networks to fund their deadly operations,' US Attorney General Pam Bondi said. 'By seizing millions in cryptocurrency, the Justice Department is aggressively dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and refusing to allow our digital currency platforms to become safe havens for terrorist financing.' The court filings said a man named Ahmed Alaqad, a partial owner of the BuyCash operation, is also suspected of supporting groups including ISIS and Al Qaeda. Unsealed court documents accuse him of 'materially supporting Hamas' after the group's attack on Israel in October 2023. According to the Department of Justice, the specific method of transferring funds through digital assets is likely to have resulted in Hamas receiving as much as $4 million previously. 'These types of money transfers are a classic money laundering technique, as they intend to disguise the nature, location, ownership and control of the funds being transferred,' the court filings said. Despite growing enthusiasm for crypto, there is still plenty of scepticism. Unlike fiat currencies, crypto mostly lacks an overall regulatory apparatus and is largely decentralised, making it appealing to groups with nefarious intentions. In May, a man in the US was sentenced to more than 30 years in prison after he was found guilty of converting $185,000 to cryptocurrency and transferring it to ISIS. In March, an investigation originating from the FBI's field office in New Mexico led to the seizure of $201,400 in cryptocurrency assets that was intended to finance Hamas.
Middle East Eye
5 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Israel kills Palestinian journalist and family in Gaza strike
An Israeli air strike killed Palestinian journalist Walaa al-Jabari along with her entire family in Gaza City on Wednesday, raising the number of media workers killed during Israel's war on Gaza to at least 231. Jabari, who was pregnant at the time, was killed when her home in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood in southwest Gaza City was bombed. The strike also killed her husband, Amjad al-Shaer, and four of their children. Local reports said the force of the blast was so intense it ejected her unborn child from her womb. Images circulating on social media show a fetus wrapped in a shroud, though Middle East Eye could not independently verify their authenticity. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Jabari worked as a newspaper editor for several local media outlets and is one of many Palestinian journalists killed in what rights groups and press advocates have called targeted Israeli attacks on the media. Her death brings the total number of journalists killed by Israeli forces since October 2023 to at least 231, according to Gaza's Government Media Office. Earlier this week, Israeli forces shot and killed photojournalist Tamer al-Zaanin during a raid near a Red Cross facility in Rafah. During the same operation, an undercover Israeli unit detained Dr Marwan al-Hams, the director of field hospitals in the Gaza Strip. 'Systemic crimes against journalists' The Government Media Office called on international organisations and the broader international community to condemn what it described as 'systematic crimes against Palestinian journalists and media professionals'. AFP warns Gaza journalists risk starving to death amid ongoing Israeli siege Read More » "We also call on them to exert serious and effective pressure to stop the crime of genocide, protect journalists and media professionals in the Gaza Strip, and stop the murder and assassination of them," the office said. "We ask God Almighty to grant all our martyred colleagues and journalists mercy, acceptance, and Paradise, and to grant their families and the Palestinian press family patience and solace. We also wish a speedy recovery to all the wounded journalists." Israel's war on Gaza has been described as the "worst ever conflict" for journalists, according to a report published in April by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. The report, titled News Graveyards: How Dangers to War Reporters Endanger the World, said the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip since October 2023 had "killed more journalists than the US Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War (including the conflicts in Cambodia and Laos), the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and 2000s, and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan, combined".
