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Trump hosts Netanyahu, hopes for Israel-Hamas deal ‘this week’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Monday US President Donald Trump, who expressed hope for a “deal this week” between Israel and Hamas that sees hostages released from the Gaza Strip.Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas began on Sunday evening in Doha, aiming to broker a ceasefire and reach an agreement on the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.Trump said Sunday there was a “good chance” of reaching an agreement.”We’ve gotten a lot of the hostages out, but pertaining to the remaining hostages, quite a few of them will be coming out,” he told journalists.Netanyahu, speaking before boarding his flight to Washington on Sunday, said his meeting with Trump could “definitely help advance this” deal.The US president is pushing for a truce in the Gaza Strip, plunged into a humanitarian crisis after nearly two years of war.Netanyahu said he dispatched the team to Doha with “clear instructions” to reach an agreement “under the conditions that we have agreed to.”He previously said Hamas’s response to a draft US-backed ceasefire proposal, conveyed through Qatari and Egyptian mediators, contained “unacceptable” demands.- ‘Important mission’ -Two Palestinian sources close to the discussions told AFP the proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.However, they said, the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel’s withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system.Netanyahu has an “important mission” in Washington, “advancing a deal to bring all our hostages home,” said Israeli President Isaac Herzog after meeting him Sunday.Trump is not scheduled to meet the Israeli premier until 6:30 pm (2230 GMT) Monday, the White House said, without the usual presence of journalists.Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.Since Hamas’s October 2023 attack sparked the massive Israeli offensive in Gaza, mediators have brokered two temporary halts in the fighting. They have seen hostages freed in exchange for some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.Recent efforts to broker a new truce have repeatedly failed, with the primary point of contention being Israel’s rejection of Hamas’s demand for a lasting ceasefire.- ‘Enough blood’ -In Gaza, the territory’s civil defense agency reported 26 people killed by Israeli forces on Sunday, 10 of them in a strike in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.”We are losing young people, families and children every day, and this must stop now,” Sheikh Radwan resident Osama al-Hanawi told AFP. “Enough blood has been shed.”Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency.Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it could not comment on specific strikes without precise coordinates.- Hundreds killed seeking aid -The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip.A US- and Israel-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), took the lead in food distribution in the territory in late May, when Israel partially lifted a more than two-month blockade on aid deliveries.But its operations have had a chaotic rollout, with repeated reports of aid seekers killed near its facilities while awaiting rations. UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.The UN human rights office said last week that more than 500 people have been killed waiting to access food from GHF distribution points.The Gaza health ministry on Sunday placed that toll even higher, at 751 killed.Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,418 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.burs/smw/tc/rsc

Egyptian conservators give King Tut’s treasures new glow

As a teenager, Eid Mertah would pore over books about King Tutankhamun, tracing hieroglyphs and dreaming of holding the boy pharaoh’s golden mask in his hands.Years later, the Egyptian conservator found himself gently brushing centuries-old dust off one of Tut’s gilded ceremonial shrines — a piece he had only seen in textbooks.”I studied archaeology because of Tut,” Mertah, 36, told AFP. “It was my dream to work on his treasures — and that dream came true.”Mertah is one of more than 150 conservators and 100 archaeologists who have laboured quietly for over a decade to restore thousands of artefacts ahead of the long-awaited opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) — a $1 billion project on the edge of the Giza Plateau.Originally slated for July 3, the launch has once again been postponed — now expected in the final months of the year — due to regional security concerns.The museum’s opening has faced delays over the years for various reasons, ranging from political upheaval to the Covid-19 pandemic.But when it finally opens, the GEM will be the world’s largest archaeological museum devoted to a single civilisation.It will house more than 100,000 artefacts, with over half on public display, and will include a unique feature: a live conservation lab.From behind glass walls, visitors will be able to watch in real time as experts work over the next three years to restore a 4,500-year-old boat buried near the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu and intended to ferry his soul across the sky with the sun god Ra.But the star of the museum remains King Tut’s collection of more than 5,000 objects — many to be displayed together for the first time.Among them are his golden funeral mask, gilded coffins, golden amulets, beaded collars, ceremonial chariots and two mummified foetuses believed to be his stillborn daughters.- ‘Puzzle of gold’ -Many of these treasures have not undergone restoration since British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered them in 1922.The conservation methods used by Carter’s team were intended to protect the objects, but over a century later, they have posed challenges for their modern-day successors.Coating gold surfaces in wax, for instance, “preserved the objects at the time”, said conservator Hind Bayoumi, “but it then hid the very details we want the world to see”.For months, Bayoumi, 39, and her colleagues painstakingly removed the wax applied by British chemist Alfred Lucas, which had over decades trapped dirt and dulled the shine of the gold.Restoration has been a joint effort between Egypt and Japan, which contributed $800 million in loans and provided technical support.Egyptian conservators — many trained by Japanese experts — have led cutting-edge work across 19 laboratories covering wood, metal, papyrus, textiles and more.Tut’s gilded coffin — brought from his tomb in Luxor — proved one of the most intricate jobs.At the GEM’s wood lab, conservator Fatma Magdy, 34, used magnifying lenses and archival photos to reassemble its delicate gold sheets.”It was like solving a giant puzzle,” she said. “The shape of the break, the flow of the hieroglyphs — every detail mattered.”- Touching history -Before restoration, the Tutankhamun collection was retrieved from several museums and storage sites, including the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, the Luxor Museum and the tomb itself.Some items were given light restoration before their relocation to ensure they could be safely moved.Teams first conducted photographic documentation, X-ray analysis and material testing to understand each item’s condition before touching it.”We had to understand the condition of each piece — the gold layers, the adhesives, wood structure — everything,” said Mertah, who worked on King Tut’s ceremonial shrines at the Egyptian Museum.Fragile pieces were stabilised with Japanese tissue paper — thin but strong — and adhesives like Paraloid B-72 and Klucel G, both reversible and minimally invasive.The team’s guiding philosophy throughout has been one of restraint.”The goal is always to do the least amount necessary — and to respect the object’s history,” said Mohamed Moustafa, 36, another senior restorer.Beyond the restoration work, the process has been an emotional journey for many of those involved.”I think we’re more excited to see the museum than tourists are,” Moustafa said.”When visitors walk through the museum, they’ll see the beauty of these artefacts. But for us, every piece is a reminder of the endless working hours, the debates, the trainings.” “Every piece tells a story.”