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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there would be no ceasefire in exchange for Hamas’s release of a US-Israeli hostage, who a source close to the group said could be freed Monday.Hamas on Sunday said it would release Edan Alexander, a US-Israeli soldier held in Gaza, ahead of a visit by US President Donald Trump to the region, and as the group revealed it was engaged in direct talks with Washington towards a ceasefire. No date was given, but a source close to Hamas told AFP 21-year-old Alexander would “most likely” be released on Monday or Tuesday.”Most likely, Edan will be released today or tomorrow, Tuesday, but this requires securing field conditions,” the source said.Hamas had demanded that American envoys ensure a “halt to all Israeli military operations… to create a safe corridor” for his transfer to the Red Cross, the source added.The source said the Palestinian militant group had decided not to hold a public ceremony for the handover.Netanyahu meanwhile said that “Israel has not committed to a ceasefire of any kind or the release of terrorists but only to a safe corridor that will allow for the release of Edan”.Negotiations for a possible deal to secure the release of all hostages would continue “under fire, during preparations for an intensification of the fighting”, Netanyahu added.Hamas had said Alexander would be released “as part of efforts towards a ceasefire” and the reopening of aid crossings.- Post-war administration -Trump, who is due in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, hailed the “monumental news” in a post on social media, describing it as a “good faith gesture”. “Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict,” he added.Egypt and Qatar, who along with the US have mediated talks between Hamas and Israel, also welcomed the development, describing it in a joint statement as a “a gesture of goodwill and an encouraging step toward a return to the negotiating table”.Earlier, two Hamas officials told AFP that talks were ongoing in Doha with the United States and reported “progress”.Israeli strikes meanwhile continued, with Gaza’s civil defence agency reporting that at least 10 people were killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike on a school housing displaced people.Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel ended a two-month ceasefire on March 18, launching a major offensive in Gaza and ramping up its bombardment of the territory.It has also cut off all aid to Gaza, saying it would pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages.Washington had for decades publicly refused to engage directly with Hamas, which it labels a terrorist organisation, before first doing so in March.- Aid plan -Hamas has continued to insist on a deal that ends the war and on April 18 rejected an Israeli proposal for a 45-day truce and hostage-prisoner exchange.In its statement on Sunday, the group said it was willing to “immediately begin intensive negotiations” that could lead to an agreement to end the war and would see Gaza under a technocratic and independent administration.Earlier this month, the Israeli government approved plans to expand its offensive in the Gaza Strip, with officials talking of retaining a long-term presence there.While ceasefire negotiations have yet to produce a breakthrough, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, on Sunday “fully” endorsed a US plan to restore aid to Gaza, under a complete blockade since March 2.The plan has drawn hefty international criticism for sidelining the United Nations and existing aid organisations, with the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, saying it was “impossible” to replace it in Gaza.Hamas’s 2023 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Sunday that at least 2,720 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,829.burs-jj/giv/fec/jsa

Business is booming at Japanese discount chain Don Quijote, which sells everything from nostril-hair wax to compact gadgets and colourful party costumes, thanks to its cult status among tourists but also inflation at home.At a large Don Quijote store in Tokyo’s bustling Shibuya district, hundreds of tourists rush to fill their baskets with snacks and …

‘Treasure hunt’: tourists boost sales at Japan’s Don Quijote stores Read More »

Israeli President Issac Herzog will visit Germany on Monday to mark 60 years of relations with the country that perpetrated the Holocaust, at a time when ties are complicated by the Gaza war.His German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier will then visit Israel with Herzog, to emphasise Germany’s historic responsibility as one of its staunchest supporters. Together with their wives, they will tour Israel for two days to highlight a friendship that a grateful Berlin often labels “a miracle” and meet young people, politicians and kibbutz residents.But while Berlin, now led by conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, says support for Israel remains a core principle, relations have come under strain in recent years.Israel’s devastating war in Gaza prompted by the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas has sparked charges from many countries and rights groups that its response has been disproportionate.The International Criminal Court last year issued warrants for alleged war crimes for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others including Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif. Germany meanwhile has seen the surge of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, whose leading figures have questioned the country’s “remembrance culture” to atone for Nazi crimes.Bjoern Hoecke, a key figure of the party that won a record 20 percent in February elections, has labelled Berlin’s Holocaust remembrance site for six million murdered Jews a “memorial of shame”.Germany has also voiced deep concern about a rise in anti-Semitism, be it from the far right, the far left or immigrants from Arab and Muslim countries.In this broad context, “the usual platitudes… no longer convince”, former Israeli ambassador Shimon Stein argued in an article for German news weekly Die Zeit co-written with Hebrew University professor Moshe Zimmermann.”Sixty years of German-Israeli relations –- we are entering a completely new chapter.”Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor, speaking to AFP, said that Germany remained “Israel’s most important ally in Europe” and that the two countries are now bound by “a true friendship”.”Even if things sometimes get tough, it always remains a fair and friendly relationship.”- Dampened joy -As the Gaza war has drawn much international condemnation, Germany has been at pains to carefully calibrate its response.Last Tuesday, the day he took power, Merz said “Israel has the right to defend itself against the brutal attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and everything that followed”.”But Israel must also remain a country that lives up to its humanitarian obligations, especially as this terrible war is raging in the Gaza Strip, where this confrontation with Hamas terrorists is necessarily taking place,” he said.Germany’s new top diplomat Johann Wadephul, who visited Israel on Sunday, called for “serious discussions for a ceasefire” in Gaza, where the humanitarian situation “is now unbearable”.The 60th anniversary falls at a time “in which a mood of joy and celebration isn’t exactly apparent,” one of Steinmeier’s advisors told AFP.”How could it be?… We view the suffering of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip with the greatest concern.”Since World War II, Germany has paid reparations to Israel and the two countries have built close defence ties, with Israel buying German submarines and Berlin purchasing Israeli air defence systems.But Stein and Zimmermann argued that nurturing close ties had increasingly become an “elite project” in Germany.News weekly Der Spiegel said a Bertelsmann Foundation survey found that only 36 percent of Germans surveyed said they had a “very or fairly good opinion” of Israel, a slide of 10 points from 2021. During his Israel visit, Steinmeier is also expected to meet with Netanyahu.Merz, before his inauguration, suggested he was open to a Netanyahu visit to Germany, despite the ICC arrest warrant.This would present Germany with a dilemma, a former president of Germany’s Constitutional Court, Andreas Vosskuhle, told the Handelsblatt daily. “Normally, he would have to be arrested,” Vosskuhle said, adding that “it should be obvious that the Germans, given their own history, are reluctant to arrest the Israeli prime minister”. “I therefore hope that Netanyahu will be wise enough not to come here and spare himself and us this situation.”