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Thousands of people gathered and over 70 were arrested at a pro-Palestinian rally in central London Saturday, on the eve of the start of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.The majority were detained on suspicion of breaching the authorised perimeter for the protest near key government buildings in central London.The ceasefire, which comes into effect Sunday morning, involves the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas of Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid deliveries to the war-ravaged region. “We desperately want to be optimistic” about the truce, Sophie Mason told AFP.”And so we need to be out on the streets in order to make sure the ceasefire holds,” said the 50-year-old, who is a regular at the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the British capital.The 70 arrests at the demonstration were the largest number since the rallies began in London in October 2023, according to the Metropolitan police.The demonstration was set to be a static rally in Whitehall, site of the main British government offices, after police rejected the route initially proposed by organisers — which the Met police said would have been in the vicinity of a synagogue.However, police said there was a “coordinated effort” by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC) to breach the conditions, after some protesters moved away from Whitehall and towards Trafalgar Square.”This is the highest number of arrests we have seen, in response to the most significant escalation in criminality,” police commander Adam Slonecki said in a statement.”Investigations are now underway and we will make every effort to bring prosecutions against those we identify.”The PSC has previously called the policing restrictions “repressive”.- ‘Too late’ -At the protest, participants held up placards bearing slogans including “Stop arming Israel” or “Gaza, stop the massacre” amid regular chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.”Obviously, we’re delighted there’s a cease fire”, said Linda Plant, a retiree from London, however, pointing out that Israeli strikes on Gaza have continued since the ceasefire deal was announced Wednesday.”We need to make pressure to make that ceasefire hold” and for international aid to reach Gaza, said Ben, 36, a workers union member who only shared his first name.For Anisah Qausher, a student, the ceasefire is “too late, I think it’s too little”. While she hopes it will bring “temporary relief”, she believes that “we’re gonna need to do a lot more”, citing the challenge of rebuilding Gaza.According to the Met, 65 protesters were arrested on suspicion of breaching protest conditions, while others were arrested suspected of offenses including assault, support of a proscribed group and obstructing police.A counter-demonstration with around 100 protesters waving Israeli flags also gathered nearby.Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war and resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,899 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv to demand freedom for hostages held in Gaza, anxious the ceasefire deal would collapse, with many dwelling on the fate of Kfir Bibas, the youngest captive whose second birthday fell on Saturday.”Today, I tried to write a birthday message for Kfir for the second time,” his aunt Ofri Bibas Levy said. “A message for a child who cannot celebrate… A child trapped in hell. A child who might not even be alive. But no words come out, only tears.”Taken alongside his now four-year-old brother Ariel and his mother and father, Shiri and Yarden, he has become a symbol of the suffering of the hostages.”I have two orange ballons on my car,” said Sigal Kirsch in Tel Aviv’s “Hostage Square”. The colour has become symbolic of the Bibas boys, both of whom are red-heads.”I don’t have the words,” she said, visibly overcome with emotion.Hamas said in November 2023 that the two boys and their mother were killed in an Israeli air strike, but the Israeli military has not confirmed their deaths.Coming together to protest barely 12 hours before the first three hostages are due to be released, many couldn’t bring themselves to believe after so much false hope that the ordeal of the hostages might finally be over.”Once they cross the (Gaza) border and they will be rejoined with their families then maybe we can breathe again,” said Shahar Mor Zahiro, the nephew of slain hostage Avraham Munder.- ‘Hell’ -Anxiety was the overwhelming mood.”This past week was hell,” said Kirsch, who had been every week to the gatherings at Hostage Square, across the road from Israeli military headquarters.”On Tuesday we were sure that the deal would be signed… and it took until last night. So we’re very, very anxious,” she said.The deal agreed between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, via mediators, is broken into three phases.But, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under pressure from far-right elements of his government opposed to a ceasefire, protesters and families of the hostages expressed fears that the deal would collapse.”In one sense (the mood) is a little more hopeful, and in another sense, it’s very sad. Because for the people who aren’t in the first phase, I can’t imagine how their hearts bleed at this point,” said Neil Trubowiz, 75, from Tel Aviv, in Hostage Square.Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who opposed the deal, said he would remain in the government but that the prime minister had promised him the war would continue.Mor Zahiro demanded that what he called “extremist elements” in the cabinet be prevented from collapsing the deal.”Tell them to shut up!” he said. “Let the people come back to their loved ones.”He denounced the idea that the war could start again. “Stop the fighting. Stop the war. Stop everything. Don’t shoot another bullet, let us heal. This is really crucial, otherwise there will be hell here for the next 50 years.”- ‘Dim light’ -On Saturday night, Netanyahu gave protesters and hostage families further cause for anxiety, saying the ceasefire deal could not go ahead until Hamas handed over a list of hostages to be released.He also said in a televised address that Israel “reserved the right to return to war”.Palestinian militants took 251 people hostage during Hamas’s surprise October 7 attack, 94 of whom remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.The lengthy ceasefire process, with the first 33 hostages released in small groups over 42 days, followed by a second and third phase that are still to be negotiated, leaves multiple opportunities for the process to collapse.”We’re anticipating some good news tomorrow, but on the other hand, we’re very wary of what could happen in the meantime,” said Guy Perry, 58, also from Tel Aviv.He described the possibility of a final end to the war and the return of all hostages as a “very, very dim light” at the end of the tunnel.Despite their fears the deal could collapse at any moment, many couldn’t help but hope.”I cannot wait to see my uncle, I really hope he managed to survive,” said Efrat Machikawa, whose uncle Gadi Moses turned 80 while held hostage in Gaza.”I have to trust my hope. This has to happen, they have to come back.” 

Thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters gathered in central London Saturday, on the eve of the start of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, hoping to put “pressure” to ensure the ceasefire holds.”We desperately want to be optimistic” about the truce, Sophie Mason told AFP.”And so we need to be out on the streets in order to make sure the ceasefire holds,” said the 50-year-old, who is a regular at the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the British capital.The ceasefire, which comes into effect Sunday morning (0630 GMT), involves the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas of Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid deliveries to the war-ravaged region. The London rally took place in Whitehall, site of the main British government offices, after police rejected the route initially proposed by organisers — which the Met police said would have been in the vicinity of a synagogue.Participants held up placards bearing slogans including “Stop arming Israel” or “Gaza, stop the massacre” amid regular chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.- Some arrests -“Obviously, we’re delighted there’s a cease fire”, said Linda Plant, a retiree from London, however, pointing out that Israeli strikes on Gaza have continued since the ceasefire deal was announced Wednesday.”We need to make pressure to make that ceasefire hold” and for international aid to reach Gaza, said Ben, 36, a workers union member who only shared his first name.For Anisah Qausher, a student, the ceasefire is “too late, I think it’s too little”. While she hopes it will bring “temporary relief”, she believes that “we’re gonna need to do a lot more”, citing the challenge of rebuilding Gaza.Around 20-30 protesters were “being arrested” for breaching the authorised perimeter for the protest, and at least seven other protesters had already been arrested for various offences, the Metropolitan police said on X.A counter-demonstration with around 100 protesters waving Israeli flags also gathered nearby.Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war and resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,899 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

Israeli police said that an assailant stabbed and seriously wounded a person in the centre of commercial hub Tel Aviv on Saturday, before being shot and “neutralised” by a civilian.The attack came hours before a ceasefire is set to take effect in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been fighting Palestinian militant group Hamas for more than 15 months.The police had initially spoken of a shooting with several wounded but clarified in a later statement that the “terrorist” was armed only with a knife. Israeli police use the term “terrorist” to refer to Palestinians who carry out attacks for political motives.”Initial investigations reveal that a terrorist armed with a knife arrived at the restaurant area on Levontin Street and stabbed a civilian,” the later statement said.”An armed civilian nearby shot and neutralised” the attacker.Police said the stabbing victim was taken to hospital with serious wounds.Emergency service provider Magen David Adom said its staff were providing medical treatment to a 30-year-old male “injured from stabbing” in the 4:30 pm (1430 GMT) attack.It said he was taken to hospital in a conscious state.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said Saturday a “more hopeful” future awaits Lebanon after meeting its new leaders in a two-day visit ahead of a deadline for implementing a fragile Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire.His visit comes amid fresh optimism for crisis-hit Lebanon after a devastating war, as Joseph Aoun was elected president on January 9 and named Nawaf Salam as prime minister-designate following a two-year vacuum.”Throughout my time here, I have sensed an atmosphere of opportunity,” Guterres told reporters in Beirut after meeting Aoun, Salam and Hezbollah ally parliament speaker Nabih Berri.”After one of the most difficult years in generations, Lebanon is on the cusp of a more hopeful future.”On Friday, the UN secretary-general met in Beirut with French President Emmanuel Macron, who said Paris would soon host an aid conference to help rebuild Lebanon.The United Nations “will intensify our support for recovery and reconstruction across Lebanon”, Guterres said.”The cessation of hostilities is fragile, but it is holding.”- ‘Testing our patience’ -Under the November 27 ceasefire deal, which ended two months of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese army has 60 days to deploy alongside peacekeepers from the UNIFIL mission in south Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws.At the same time, Hezbollah is required to pull its forces north of the Litani River, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure it has in the south.Aoun said Israel must withdraw from his country’s south by the January 26 “deadline set by the agreement reached on November 27″ to fully implement the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire.”Israel’s continued violations on land and in the air… blowing up homes and destroying border villages, completely contradicts what was stated in the ceasefire agreement,” a statement from his office said.His remarks follow a speech by Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem who accused Israel of hundreds of ceasefire violations, warning it against testing “our patience” and calling on the Lebanese state to be “firm” in its response.Earlier on Saturday, Qassem had called “on the Lebanese state to be firm in confronting violations, now numbering more than hundreds. This cannot continue”.”We have been patient with the violations to give a chance to the Lebanese state responsible for this agreement, along with the international sponsors, but I call on you not to test our patience,” he said in a televised speech.- ‘Occupation’ -Aoun, Lebanon’s former army chief, has vowed to ensure the state will have “a monopoly” on bearing weapons.Analysts say Hezbollah’s weakening in the war with Israel allowed Lebanon’s deeply divided political class to elect Aoun and to back him in appointing Salam, who was presiding judge at the International Criminal Court, as prime minister.But Qassem insisted Hezbollah and ally Amal’s backing “is what led to the election of the president by consensus”, after around two years of deadlock.”No one can exploit the results of the aggression in domestic politics,” he warned. “No one can exclude us from effective and influential political participation in the country.”On Friday, Guterres had called for Israel to end its military operations and “occupation” in the south.He also said UN peacekeepers had found more than 100 weapons caches belonging “to Hezbollah or other armed groups”.Also on Friday, Macron said there must be “accelerated” implementation of the ceasefire.

When Donald Trump presented his 2020 plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it included the Israeli annexation of swathes of the occupied West Bank, a controversial aspiration that has been revived by his reelection.In his previous stint as prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu pushed for partial annexation of the West Bank, but he relented in 2020 under international pressure and following a deal to normalise relations with the United Arab Emirates.With Trump returning to the White House, pro-annexation Israelis are hoping to rekindle the idea.Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler in the Palestinian territory, said recently that 2025 would be “the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria”, referring to the biblical name that Israel uses for the West Bank.The territory was part of the British colony of Mandatory Palestine, from which Israel was carved during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, with Jordanian forces taking control of the West Bank during the same conflict.Israel conquered the territory from Amman in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and has occupied it ever since.Today, many Jews in Israel consider the West Bank part of their historical homeland and reject the idea of a Palestinian state in the territory, with hundreds of thousands having settled in the territory.Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem and its 200,000 Jewish residents, the West Bank is home to around 490,000 Israelis in settlements considered illegal under international law.Around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank.- ‘Make a decision’ -Israel Ganz, head of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organisation for the municipal councils of West Bank settlements, insisted the status quo could not continue.”The State of Israel must make a decision,” he said.Without sovereignty, he added, “no one is responsible for infrastructure, roads, water and electricity.””We will do everything in our power to apply Israeli sovereignty, at least over Area C,” he said, referring to territory under sole Israeli administration that covers 60 percent of the West Bank, including the vast majority of Israeli settlements.Even before taking office, Trump and his incoming administration have made a number of moves that have raised the hopes of pro-annexation Israelis.The president-elect nominated the pro-settlement Baptist minister Mike Huckabee to be his ambassador to Israel. His nominee for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said this would be “the most pro-Israel administration in American history” and that it would lift US sanctions on settlers.Eugene Kontorovich of the conservative think thank Misgav Institute pointed out that the Middle East was a very different place to what it was during Trump’s first term.The war against Hamas in Gaza, Israel’s hammering of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the fall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, all allies of Israel’s arch-foe Iran, have transformed the region.”October 7 showed the entire world the danger of leaving these (Palestinian) territories’ status in limbo,” Kontorovich said, referring to Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel 15 months ago that sparked the Gaza war.He said “the war has really turned a large part of the Israeli population away from a two-state solution”.The two-state solution, which would create an independent Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, has been the basis of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations going back decades.- ‘Nightmare scenario’ -Even before Trump won November’s US presidential election, NGOs were denouncing what they called a de facto annexation, pointing to a spike in land grabs and an overhaul of the bureaucratic and administrative structures Israel uses to manage the West Bank.An outright, de jure annexation would be another matter, however.Israel cannot expropriate private West Bank land at the moment, but “once annexed, Israeli law would allow it. That’s a major change”, said Aviv Tatarsky, from the Israeli anti-settlement organisation Ir Amim. He said that in the event that Israel annexes Area C, Palestinians there would likely not be granted residence permits and the accompanying rights. The permits, which Palestinians in east Jerusalem received, allow people freedom of movement within Israel and the right to use Israeli courts. West Bank Palestinians can resort to the supreme court, but not lower ones.  Tatarsky said that for Palestinians across the West Bank, annexation would constitute “a nightmare scenario”.Over 90 percent of them live in areas A and B, under full or partial control of the Palestinian Authority.But, Tatarsky pointed out, “their daily needs and routine are indissociable from Area C,” the only contiguous portion of the West Bank, where most agricultural lands are and which breaks up areas A and B into hundreds of territorial islets.