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Gaza ceasefire talks hung in the balance as Hamas and Israel on Saturday accused the other of blocking attempts to strike a deal, nearly a week into an attempt to halt 21 months of bitter fighting in the Palestinian territory.A Palestinian source with knowledge of the indirect talks in Qatar told AFP that Israel’s proposals to keep its troops in the war-torn territory were holding up a deal for a 60-day pause.But on the Israeli side, a senior political official, also speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivities of the talks, accused the militants of inflexibility and deliberately trying to scuttle an accord.On the ground, Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least 38 people were killed across the territory on Saturday, including in an overnight air strike on an area sheltering the displaced.”While we were sleeping, there was an explosion… where two boys, a girl and their mother were staying,” Bassam Hamdan told AFP after the attack in an area of Gaza City.”We found them torn to pieces, their remains scattered,” he added.In southern Gaza, bodies covered in white plastic sheets were brought to the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis while wounded in Rafah were taken for treatment by donkey cart, on stretchers or carried.In Tel Aviv, thousands took to the streets urging the government to seal a hostage release deal. “The window of opportunity… is open now and it won’t be for long,” said Eli Sharabi, who was freed in February.Both Hamas and Israel have said that 10 hostages held since the militants’ October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war would be released — if an agreement is reached.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was prepared then to enter talks for a more permanent end to hostilities.- Enclave plans? – But one Palestinian source said Israel’s refusal to accept Hamas’s demand for a complete withdrawal of troops from Gaza was holding back progress in the talks.A second source said mediators had asked both sides to postpone discussions until US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, arrives in the Qatari capital.The first source said Israel was proposing to maintain its military in more than 40 percent of the Palestinian territory, forcing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians into a small area near the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt.”Hamas’s delegation will not accept the Israeli maps… as they essentially legitimise the reoccupation of approximately half of the Gaza Strip and turn Gaza into isolated zones with no crossings or freedom of movement,” they said.Israeli media reported that new maps would be presented on Sunday, quoting an unnamed foreign official with knowledge of the details.A senior Israeli political official countered later that it was Hamas that rejected what was on the table, accusing the group of “creating obstacles” and “refusing to compromise” with the aim of “sabotaging the negotiations”.”Israel has demonstrated a willingness to show flexibility in the negotiations, while Hamas remains intransigent, clinging to positions that prevent the mediators from advancing an agreement,” the official added in a statement sent to AFP.The Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023 resulted in the deaths of at least 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.Of the 251 hostages seized, 49 are still being held, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. At least 57,882 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, have been killed since the start of the war, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.- Military operations – The Israeli military said on Saturday it had attacked “approximately 250 terrorist targets throughout the Gaza Strip” in the previous 48 hours. It said fighter jets hit “over 35 Hamas terror targets” around Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.Two previous ceasefires — a week-long truce beginning in late November 2023 and a two-month one from mid-January this year — saw 105 hostages released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.The second Palestinian source said “some progress” had been made in the latest talks on plans for releasing Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and getting more aid to Gaza.Netanyahu, who is under domestic and international pressure to end the war, said this week that neutralising Hamas as a security threat was a prerequisite for any long-term ceasefire talks.That included disarmament, he said, warning that failure to do so would mean Israel would have to do so by force.bur-az-dsm-phz/ysm

Police in London arrested dozens of protesters on a second successive Saturday for supporting Palestine Action, a week after the UK government banned the activist group under anti-terror laws.”Officers have made 41 arrests for showing support for a proscribed organisation,” the Metropolitan Police said on X, noting another person had been arrested for common assault. “The area was cleared within the last hour,” it added in a mid-afternoon update.Footage showed police moving in on a small group of protesters displaying signs supporting Palestine Action who had gathered at lunchtime at the steps of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament Square.Campaign group Defend Our Juries, which had announced it would hold rallies Saturday in several UK cities “to defy” the ban, criticised the response.”The Metropolitan Police were out in force again today, arresting more than 40 people in Parliament Square for holding signs opposed to genocide and supporting Palestine Action,” a spokesperson told AFP. “Who do the police think they are serving in this?” the spokesperson added, calling the ban “Orwellian”.It comes a week after the arrest of 29 people, including a priest and a number of health professionals, for offences under anti-terrorism laws.- Support now a crime -Police have warned since the Palestine Action ban kicked in on July 5 that expressing support for it was now a crime. “It is a criminal offence to invite or express support for a proscribed organisation,” the Met said on X ahead of Saturday’s planned protests. “As we saw last week, those who do breach the law will face action.”Palestine Action’s proscription cleared parliament in the first days of July, and a last-ditch High Court challenge failed to stop it becoming law.The government announced plans for the ban under the Terrorism Act 2000 days after the group’s activists claimed to be behind a break-in at an air force base in southern England.Two aircraft there were sprayed with red paint, causing an estimated £7 million ($9.55 million) in damage.Four people charged in relation to the incident remain in custody.Palestine Action has condemned the proscription — which makes it a criminal offence to belong to or support the group, punishable by up to 14 years in prison — as an attack on free speech.

Iran said Saturday its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency “will take on a new form”, expressing a desire for a diplomatic solution to resolve concerns over its nuclear programme.Iran’s 12-day war with Israel last month, sparked by an Israeli bombing campaign that hit military and nuclear sites as well as residential areas, rattled its already shaky relationship with the UN nuclear watchdog.The attacks began days before a planned meeting between Tehran and Washington aimed at reviving nuclear negotiations, which have since stalled.Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA “has not stopped, but will take on a new form”, after the Islamic republic formally ended cooperation with the UN watchdog in early July.Iran has blamed the IAEA in part for the June attacks on its nuclear facilities, which Israel says it launched to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon — an ambition Tehran has repeatedly denied.The United States, which had been in talks with Iran since April 12, joined Israel in carrying out its own strikes on June 22, targeting Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.Araghchi said requests to monitor nuclear sites “will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis… taking into account safety and security issues”, and be managed by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.- ‘Assurances’-In early July, a team of IAEA inspectors left Iran to return to the organisation’s headquarters in Vienna after Tehran suspended cooperation.The talks were aimed at regulating Iran’s nuclear activites in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.Before agreeing to any new meeting, “we are examining its timing, its location, its form, its ingredients, the assurances it requires”, said Araghchi, who also serves as Iran’s lead negotiator.He said that any talks would focus only on Iran’s nuclear activities, not its military capabilities.”If negotiations are held… the subject of the negotiations will be only nuclear and creating confidence in Iran’s nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions,” he told diplomats in Tehran. “No other issues will be subject to negotiation.”Araghchi also warned that reimposing UN sanctions could eliminate Europe’s role in the process.- Enrichment -“Such measures would signify the end of Europe’s role in the Iranian nuclear dossier,” Araghchi said.A clause in the 2015 nuclear agreement, which US President Donald Trump withdrew from during his first term, allows for UN sanctions to be reimposed if Iran is found to be in breach of the deal.Araghchi stressed that any new nuclear deal must uphold Iran’s right under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.”I would like to emphasise that in any negotiated solution, the rights of the Iranian people on the nuclear issue, including the right to enrichment, must be respected,” he said. “We will not have any agreement in which enrichment is not included.”Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the BRICS summit in Rio on Monday that Moscow would remain a committed ally of Iran and support its nuclear programme.”Russia has technological solutions for uranium depletion and is ready to work with Iran in this field,” Lavrov said, as reported by Russian state news outlet TASS.

Indirect talks between Hamas and Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza are being held up by Israel’s proposals to keep troops in the territory, two Palestinian sources with knowledge of the discussions told AFP on Saturday.Delegations from both sides began discussions in Qatar last Sunday to try to agree on a temporary halt to the 21-month conflict sparked by Hamas’s deadly October 2023 attack on Israel.Israel has meanwhile kept up its strikes on Gaza and the territory’s civil defence agency said more than 20 people were killed on Saturday, including in an air strike on an area sheltering the displaced.”We all generally came here because we were told it was a safe area,” Bassam Hamdan told AFP after the overnight attack in an area of Gaza City.”While we were sleeping, there was an explosion… where two boys, a girl and their mother were staying. We found them torn to pieces, their remains scattered,” he added.In southern Gaza, bodies covered in white plastic sheets were brought to the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis while wounded in Rafah were taken for treatment by donkey cart, on stretchers or carried, AFP photographs showed.If an agreement for a 60-day ceasefire were reached, both Hamas and Israel have said 10 hostages taken in 2023 who remain alive in captivity would be released.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was prepared then to enter talks for a more permanent end to hostilities.But one Palestinian source, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the talks, said Israel’s refusal to accept Hamas’s demand to withdraw all of its troops from Gaza was holding back progress.A second source said mediators had asked both sides to postpone the talks until the arrival of US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in the Qatari capital.”The negotiations in Doha are facing a setback and complex difficulties due to Israel’s insistence, as of Friday, on presenting a map of withdrawal, which is actually a map of redeployment and repositioning of the Israeli army rather than a genuine withdrawal,” the first source said.- Enclave plans? – They added that Israel was proposing to maintain military forces in more than 40 percent of the Palestinian territory, forcing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians into a small area near the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt.”Hamas’s delegation will not accept the Israeli maps… as they essentially legitimise the reoccupation of approximately half of the Gaza Strip and turn Gaza into isolated zones with no crossings or freedom of movement,” they said.There was no immediate comment from the Israeli government.The second Palestinian source accused the Israeli delegation of having no authority, and “stalling and obstructing the agreement in order to continue the war of extermination”.The Gaza war began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of at least 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.Of the 251 hostages seized, 49 are still being held, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. At least 57,882 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, have been killed since the start of the war, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.Seven UN agencies warned in a joint statement on Saturday that if fuel runs out in Gaza, it would be “an unbearable new burden on a population teetering on the edge of starvation”.- Military operations – The Israeli military said on Saturday it had attacked “approximately 250 terrorist targets throughout the Gaza Strip” in the previous 48 hours. Targets included “terrorists, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels and additional terrorist infrastructure sites”, it added.Two previous ceasefires — a week-long truce beginning in late November 2023 and a two-month one from mid-January this year — led to the release of 105 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.The second Palestinian source said “some progress” had been made in the latest talks on plans for releasing Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and getting more aid to Gaza.Netanyahu, who is under domestic and international pressure to end the war, said this week that neutralising Hamas as a security threat was a prerequisite for any long-term ceasefire talks.That included the group giving up weapons, he said, warning that failure to do so would mean Israel would have to do so by force.burs-az/phz/kir