Israeli strikes pound Gaza, killing 60, ahead of US talks on ceasefire
In Israel, Netanyahu's security cabinet was expected to convene to discuss the next steps in Gaza.
On Friday Israel's military chief said the present ground operation was close to having achieved its goals, and on Sunday Netanyahu said new opportunities had opened up for recovering the hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
Palestinian and Egyptian sources with knowledge of the latest ceasefire efforts said mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up their contacts with the two warring sides, but no date has been set yet for a new round of truce talks.
A Hamas official said progress depends on Israel changing its position and agreeing to end the war and withdraw from Gaza. Israel said it can end the war only when Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said Israel has agreed to a US-proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage deal, and put the onus on Hamas.
He told reporters: "Israel is serious in its will to reach a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza."
Austrian foreign minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, speaking in Jerusalem alongside her Israeli counterpart, said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was 'unbearable'.
'The suffering of civilians is increasingly burdening Israel's relations with Europe. A ceasefire must be agreed on,' she said, calling for the unconditional release of hostages by Hamas and for Israel to allow the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Israel said it continues to allow aid into Gaza and accused Hamas of stealing it. The group denied the accusation and said Israel uses hunger as a weapon against the Gaza population.
The US has proposed a 60-day ceasefire and the release of half the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and the remains of other Palestinians. Hamas would release the remaining hostages as part of a deal that guarantees ending the war.
The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7 2023, killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 251 hostages to Gaza in a surprise attack that led to Israel's single deadliest day.
Israel's subsequent military assault has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry, displaced almost the entire 2.3-million population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
More than 80% of the territory is an Israeli militarised zone or under displacement orders, according to the UN.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
IOL News
2 hours ago
- IOL News
Can Angola overcome corruption to attract Western investment?
Angola hosted the US-Africa Business Summit in Luanda, hoping to showcase investment opportunities and strengthen ties with American and other Western businesses. Image: Supplied ANGOLA'S government has been working hard to court Western investors, but a fundamental problem continues to hold the country back: rampant corruption. In late June, Angola hosted the US-Africa Business Summit in Luanda, hoping to showcase investment opportunities and strengthen ties with American and other Western businesses. The event brought together heads of state, ministers, and executives from both continents. It was meant to signal that Angola is open for business beyond its traditional oil sector. However, behind the optimistic speeches and networking, a deep scepticism lingers among Western investors, who have seen promising talks before but remain wary of putting their money into a system widely seen as opaque and corrupt. Analysts and experts argue that Angola must 'get its house in order' internally if it wants to regain the trust of Western investors. 'Our business environment has discouraged foreign investors from investing in Angola,' according to Osvaldo Mboco, an Angolan analyst in international relations. Mboco points out that despite Angola's eagerness to attract capital, endemic corruption and legal insecurity continue to undermine investor confidence. In practical terms, contracts are hard to enforce, and the rules of the game can change without warning, a major red flag for any serious international investor. According to Mboco, Angola will only fully benefit from high-profile events like the US-Africa summit if it can ensure solid legal guarantees for investments and demonstrate that contracts and property rights will be respected. In other words, Angola needs to clean up governance, enforce the rule of law, and stamp out graft — essentially, make a convincing break with the practices that have scared investors away. Another expert, Crispin Senga, reinforces this assessment bluntly. 'The Angolan economy is not in a position to attract foreign investment mainly due to corruption, which still reigns in the country,' Senga observes, also citing insecurity and poor communication channels as contributing factors. Despite a change in leadership and repeated promises of reform in recent years, corruption still permeates many levels of business and government in Angola. This creates uncertainty for Western companies, which worry that deals might be derailed by bribery, favouritism, or sudden policy shifts. Senga warns that Angola has been too focused on polishing its external image, for example, hosting summits, making international pledges, while neglecting the internal reforms needed at home. As he puts it, as long as Angola continues to prioritise projecting a good image abroad but lets its domestic reputation slide, 'it will be difficult to achieve great results.' Essentially, no amount of international public relations can substitute for real changes on the ground that investors can see and feel. Indeed, Angola's international image will ultimately only improve if its internal conditions do. Senga insists that the consolidation of Angola's reputation globally 'must be done internally first.' The country needs to demonstrate that it has a friendly and stable business environment where foreign investors are welcome and protected. That means clear regulations, transparency in public deals, and visible punishment of corruption when it occurs. Western investors, unlike some others, tend to have shareholders and compliance rules that prevent them from operating in highly corrupt environments — they face legal and moral pressure to avoid paying bribes or getting entangled in scandal. Many Western companies recall Angola's past notoriety for corruption and want proof that those days are ending. President João Lourenço, who took office in 2017, launched an anti-corruption drive and even went after some high-profile figures from the previous regime. Those moves initially raised hopes. However, progress has been mixed and slow, with critics saying much more needs to be done to reform the judiciary and ensure transparency. In global rankings like Transparency International's index, Angola still scores near the bottom, almost at the very end, though not literally the last, reinforcing the perception that graft remains a way of life. This lingering reputation means that even when Angolan officials invite Western investors with attractive offers, many stay on the sidelines waiting for concrete signs of change. The contrast with non-Western investors is telling. Angola has long managed to draw investments and loans from countries like China, which often attach fewer governance conditions. Chinese-financed projects, roads, railways, and housing developments exchanged for oil have proliferated over the past two decades, even as Western private investment (outside the oil industry) largely stagnated. But Western nations and institutions demand certain standards. As Crispin Senga notes, the United States and its allies have their own criteria in dealing with African partners, emphasising values such as democracy, human rights, good governance, free markets, and combating corruption. In practice, this means US or European funding is more likely to flow to Angola if the Angolan government can demonstrate accountability and clean governance. It's a different approach from the one Angola was used to during its years of easy oil-backed loans. Now, if Angola wants diversified investment in manufacturing, infrastructure, technology, and agriculture from Western companies, it must convince them that their money won't vanish into shadowy patronage networks or be stymied by bureaucracy and graft. A clear example of the gap between announcements and reality is the much-touted Lobito Corridor project. This major infrastructure initiative, a railway linking Angola's Atlantic port of Lobito to the mineral-rich regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo and beyond, has been hailed as a flagship of US-Angola cooperation in Africa. Western leaders often cite the Lobito Corridor as a model project that can boost regional trade and showcase high-standard investment. During the summit in Luanda, the corridor was highlighted as a cornerstone for economic integration, and it had been the subject of high-level attention even before that. In late 2024, then US President Joe Biden visited the region and drew attention to the Lobito Corridor as a symbol of America's commitment to African infrastructure. In April this year, a delegation of ambassadors from the US and Europe, led by American diplomat James Story, toured the corridor, underscoring international support. On paper, the project has backing from the Group of 7 nations, the European Union, and the US. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the U.S. Export-Import Bank. It has been praised by visiting diplomats as a model of international cooperation and seemingly represents exactly the kind of big-ticket investment Angola desires from the West. Yet, for all the fanfare, the dollars have been slow to arrive. The US DFC announced around $250 million in financing for the Lobito Corridor back in February 2024, and additional investments totalling $553m were earmarked to modernise the railway line and expand the port facilities. As of mid-2025, however, not a single dollar of that promised funding has been disbursed. The Lobito Corridor project, while still moving forward, has had to rely on the resources of its concession consortium, known as LAR, and other interim financing. Despite Angolan participation in the project, the consortium itself is made up exclusively of European firms, which, for now, are effectively carrying the costs themselves. They publicly downplay the delay in funding, expressing confidence that the pledged money will eventually come, but the holdup is noticeable. Each month that passes without the US development funds is a reminder that Western financing often comes with strings and scrutiny. Before releasing money, agencies like the DFC typically conduct extensive due diligence, ensuring that procurement is clean and funds won't be misused. The slow trickle of funds for Lobito may simply be bureaucratic, but it also symbolises Western caution: grand announcements will not automatically translate into cash until Angola proves it can meet the standards expected. The Lobito Corridor case illustrates a broader pattern. Even when Western governments and companies see potential in Angola — whether due to its strategic location, natural resources, or market size — they proceed carefully and often conditionally. Angola's officials have promoted the country's potential in forums from Washington to Brussels, touting reforms and new investment laws. But many in the international business community remain unconvinced that the climate on the ground has truly changed. Decades of entrenched corruption and closed-door deals cannot be reversed overnight, and Angola's reforms to date, while notable, have yet to transform how business is done in a way that the average investor can tangibly experience. Meanwhile, Angolan authorities sometimes express frustration that Western investors are not seizing opportunities quickly enough, especially as competitors from China, the Middle East, or elsewhere show up more readily. The difference often comes down to trust: Western investors need to trust that their capital will be safe and their ventures treated fairly. Right now, that trust is in short supply. For Angola, the stakes are high. The country is emerging from a difficult period of low oil prices and a pandemic-induced economic slump, trying to diversify an economy that has long been heavily dependent on oil exports. Western investment could bring in not just money but also expertise, technology, and jobs in sectors like manufacturing, agriculture, and renewables, helping Angola reduce its reliance on oil and create broader prosperity. The government in Luanda clearly recognises these benefits; that's why it has been actively engaging with Western partners and hosting events like the US–Africa Business Summit. Yet, as analysts have pointed out, good intentions and high-profile events will mean little unless Angola demonstrates real change. Corruption is not just a moral issue; it has a direct economic cost. Each instance of graft or nepotism can scare away a potential investor or derail a project that might have created jobs for Angolans. Conversely, every concrete anti-corruption reform — such as enforcing transparent public tenders, empowering an independent judiciary, or protecting whistleblowers — sends a positive signal to investors that Angola is serious about doing business the right way. In the end, Western investors will return to Angola only when they see evidence that their mistrust is no longer warranted. That means more than just promises; it means visible action and consistent enforcement of rules. Angola will need to continue and deepen the anti-corruption campaign started under Lourenço, ensuring it's not just targeting political rivals but truly improving governance at all levels.
The South African
3 hours ago
- The South African
Can Trump get Netanyahu to stop Gaza genocide?
WASHIsrael Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump shake hands during a joint news conference at the East Room of the White House 15 February 2017 in Washington DC. Image: Win McNamee/AFP INGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 15: U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) shake hands during a joint news conference at the East Room of the White House February 15, 2017 in Washington, DC. President Trump hosted Prime Minister Netanyahu for talks for the first time since Trump took office on January 20./AFP (Photo by WIN MCNAMEE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP) US President Donald Trump vowed Tuesday to be 'very firm' in his stance on ending the genocide in Gaza when he meets next week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. ADVERTISEMENT The remarks by the president, made during a tour of a migrant detention center in Florida, came after he said earlier that he was hoping for a truce in the nearly 21-month conflict by 'sometime next week'. The Republican leader is set to host Netanyahu at the White House on 7 July and the swift resolution of Israel's 12-day war with Iran has revived hopes for a halt to the Gaza fighting. Almost relentless combat in the Palestinian territory since Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel has created dire humanitarian conditions for the population of more than two million. Trump was asked Tuesday by reporters if a ceasefire could be in place before Netanyahu's visit. ADVERTISEMENT 'We hope it's going to happen, and we're looking for it to happen sometime next week,' he said before departing for Florida. Trump has previously urged Israel to 'make the deal in Gaza,' but on the ground, Israel has continued to pursue its offensive across the Palestinian territory. The end of Israel's 12-day war with Iran – which followed a US bombing mission on Tehran's nuclear sites – has provided a window of opportunity for a deal, with Trump keen to add another peace agreement to a series of recent deals he has brokered. Asked at the detention centre how firm he will be with Netanyahu on ending the genocide, Trump replied: 'Very firm.' 'But he wants it too…. He wants to end it too,' Trump added. Netanyahu's third visit to the US in 2025 The visit next Monday will be Netanyahu's third since Trump returned to power in January, and comes on the heels of the US president making a rare intervention into domestic Israeli politics. Trump appeared over the weekend to threaten US aid to Israel as he called in a social media post for prosecutors to drop long-running corruption charges against Netanyahu. Netanyahu became the first foreign leader to visit Trump in his second term in February, when the US president surprised him by suddenly announcing a plan for the United States to 'take over' Gaza. The Israeli premier visited again in April. Do you think Trump will get Israeli prime minister to cease the attacks on Gaza? Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news. © Agence France-Presse
IOL News
5 hours ago
- IOL News
South Africa prepares for US trade framework amidst Trump's tariff uncertainties
The Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau, said South Africa welcomed this indication and expressed a preparedness to engage with the said template once finalised. Image: Independent Media Archives Banele Ginidza The ongoing evolution of trade relationships between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa has entered a critical phase as the USA moves towards establishing a new trade-matters template. This template will guide its future engagements with African nations, a development revealed by Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Zuko Godlimpi, following discussions last week with the US Assistant Trade Representative for Africa, Connie Hamilton. On the heels of South Africa's submission for a proposed Framework Deal aimed at bolstering trade and investment relations with the US, the government has urged local businesses to brace themselves for potential changes poised to emerge from this new framework. Godlimpi's dialogue with Hamilton occurred during the recent US-Africa Summit in Luanda, Angola, where pertinent issues surrounding reciprocal tariffs were also addressed. While the proposed Framework Deal, submitted on 20 May 2025, underscores measures designed to resolve trade deficits and promote bilateral investment, its future may hinge on the forthcoming US internal approval process. The expiry of a 90-day tariff freeze, initially set for 9 July 2025, has raised concerns within the South African government about the adequacy of this timeline. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ As such, African countries are collectively advocating for a deadline extension to allow adequate preparation for aligning their proposed deals to the forthcoming US template. The Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau, said South Africa welcomed this indication and expressed a preparedness to engage with the said template once finalised. 'In this regard, we are of the view that South Africa may need to re-submit its Framework Deal in accordance with the new template. It is thus expected that the deadline may be shifted,' Tau said. The government is keen to ensure that the new requirements do not unduly disadvantage local enterprises, hence the appeal for strategic patience from the South African industry. Prospectively, South Africa's Framework Deal aims to tackle a range of US concerns, including non-tariff barriers and longstanding market access issues. It seeks specific exemptions from Sections 232 duties for key export products such as automobiles, auto parts, steel, and aluminium, ensuring these critical sectors can remain competitive in the US market. South Africa is also seeking the maximum tariff application of 10%, as a worst-case situation. The Framework also seeks exemption for Small and Medium Enterprises, counter-seasonal products and products that the US does not have productive capacity for. 'We urge the South African industry to exercise strategic patience and not take decisions in haste and that the government will continue to use every avenue to engage the US government to find an amicable solution to safeguard South African interests in the US market,' Tau said. As South Africa navigates these complexities, international sentiment has shifted towards urgency. The New York Times recently reported that governments around the globe were racing to negotiate trade deals with the US in order to forestall President Donald Trump's punishing tariffs. Trump announced what he referred to as 'reciprocal tariffs' on April 8, saying they were in response to other countries' unfair trading practices. However, he agreed to pause those levies for 90 days to give countries time to reach trade deals with the US. The coercive nature of previous tariffs has spurred conversations across the globe about fair trade practices, with Trump signalling readiness to impose tariffs on countries perceived as uncooperative—compounding existing anxieties surrounding the impending July deadline.
