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Israel to send team to Doha as Hamas pushes for phase two of Gaza truce

Israel on Sunday prepared to send a delegation to Doha for further talks on the Gaza truce, as Hamas called for an immediate start to negotiations on the ceasefire’s second phase, which it hopes will lead to a permanent end to the war.Representatives of the Palestinian militant group, which waged a deadly war with Israel before a truce took effect on January 19, met with mediators in Cairo over the weekend, stressing the urgent need for humanitarian aid to re-enter the besieged territory “without restrictions or conditions”, according to a Hamas statement.”Hamas stresses the urgency of forcing the occupation to immediately begin second-phase negotiations under the agreed parameters,” senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Mardawi told AFP, adding that this would pave the way for a permanent end to the war.Hamas’s key demands for the second phase include a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an end to the Israeli blockade, the reconstruction of the Palestinian territory and financial support, Mardawi said.Following talks with mediators, Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said indicators were so far “positive”.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it would send delegates to Doha on Monday, while the Israeli media reported that the government’s security cabinet would discuss the matter later on Sunday.Israel says that it wants an extension of the truce’s first phase until mid-April.That initial period ended on March 1 after six weeks of relative calm that included the exchange of 25 living hostages and eight bodies for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.The truce largely halted more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza, where virtually the entire population was displaced by Israel’s relentless military campaign in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.It also enabled the flow of vital food, shelter and medical assistance into Gaza. After Israel cut off that flow again, UN rights experts accused the government of “weaponising starvation”.Displaced Palestinian widow Haneen al-Dura told AFP she and her children spent weeks living on the street “among dogs and rats” before receiving a tent.”As the family’s provider, it was distressing and I couldn’t sleep at all during the night,” she said.- ‘Last warning’ -Last week, US President Donald Trump threatened further destruction of Gaza if all remaining hostages were not released, issuing what he called a “last warning” to Hamas leaders.He also warned of repercussions for all Gazans, telling them: “A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD!”Hamas said Trump’s threats would only encourage Israel to ignore the terms of their truce.The Trump administration has also confirmed the start of unprecedented direct talks with Hamas, which Washington had previously refused contact with since designating it a terrorist organisation in 1997.Of the 251 hostages taken by the Palestinian militants, 58 remain in Gaza, including five Americans. Four American captives have been confirmed dead, while one, Edan Alexander, is believed to be alive.The US president previously floated a widely condemned plan to expel Palestinians from Gaza, prompting Arab leaders to offer an alternative. Their proposal would see Gaza’s reconstruction financed through a trust fund, with the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority returning to govern the territory.”We need more discussion about it, but it’s a good-faith first step,” Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, told reporters in Washington in response to the plan.Witkoff will be returning to the region this week as he travels to Saudi Arabia for talks on the war in Ukraine.At their regular weekend rally in Tel Aviv, families of Israeli hostages demanded the government fully implement the ceasefire.”The war could resume in a week — they have even picked a name for the operation,” Einav Zangauker, the mother of Matan Zangauker, told the candle and poster-wielding crowd. “The war won’t bring the hostages back home, it will kill them.”Hamas’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,453 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures reliable.

Hamas pushes for phase two of Gaza truce talks

Hamas reiterated on Sunday its insistence on moving directly into negotiating a second phase of the Gaza truce, as Israel announced it would dispatch a delegation to Doha for further talks.Representatives of the Palestinian militant group met with mediators in Cairo at the weekend, emphasising the need for humanitarian aid to re-enter the besieged territory “without restrictions or conditions”, according to a Hamas press release.The high-level delegation also stressed the need for “moving directly to begin negotiations for the second phase” of the deal, which will aim to lay the groundwork for a permanent ceasefire.Hamas’s demands for the second phase include a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an end to the blockade, the reconstruction of the territory and financial support, an official told AFP.Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said indicators were so far “positive”.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office meanwhile said it would send delegates to Doha on Monday.Israel has maintained it wants an extension of the truce’s first phase until mid-April.That initial period ended on March 1 after six weeks of relative calm that included the exchange of 25 living hostages and eight bodies for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.The truce largely halted more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza, where virtually the entire population was displaced by Israel’s relentless military campaign in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.It also enabled the flow of vital food, shelter and medical assistance into Gaza. After Israel turned the pipeline off again, UN rights experts accused the government of “weaponising starvation”.Displaced Palestinian widow Haneen al-Dura told AFP she and her children spent a month and a half living on the street “among dogs and rats” before receiving a tent.”As the family’s provider, it was distressing and I couldn’t sleep at all during the night,” she said.- ‘Last warning’ -Last week, US President Donald Trump threatened further destruction of Gaza if all remaining hostages are not released, issuing what he called a “last warning” to Hamas leaders.He also warned of repercussions for all Gazans, telling them: “A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD!”Hamas said Trump’s threats would only encourage Israel to ignore the terms of their truce.The Trump administration has also confirmed the start of unprecedented direct talks with Hamas, which Washington had previously refused contact with since designating it a terrorist organisation in 1997.Of the 251 hostages taken by the Palestinian militants, 58 remain in Gaza, including five Americans. Four American captives have been confirmed dead, while one, Edan Alexander, is believed to be alive.The White House said Trump met with eight of the freed captives, who “expressed gratitude” for his efforts to bring them home.The US president previously floated a widely condemned plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, prompting Arab leaders to offer an alternative. Their proposal would see Gaza’s reconstruction financed through a trust fund, with the Palestinian Authority returning to govern the territory.”We need more discussion about it, but it’s a good-faith first step,” Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, told reporters in Washington in response to the plan.Witkoff will be returning to the region this week as he travels to Saudi Arabia for talks on the war in Ukraine.At their regular weekend rally in Tel Aviv, families of Israeli hostages demanded the government fully implement the ceasefire.”The war could resume in a week — they have even picked a name for the operation,” Einav Zangauker, the mother of Matan Zangauker, told the candle and poster-wielding crowd. “The war won’t bring the hostages back home, it will kill them.”Recently released hostages have also joined those beseeching Netanyahu to implement the ceasefire.Hamas’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,446 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures reliable.

New LIV CEO O’Neil predicts golf will ‘open up again’

The new CEO of LIV told AFP the world of golf will eventually “open up again” and the Saudi-bankrolled league has an important role in growing the game around the world.American sports executive Scott O’Neil, who has in the past run NBA and NHL teams, took the reins from Greg Norman in January.The period since has seen a flurry of meetings between the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and their Saudi backers, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), but still no deal reached to reunite the sport.”I think LIV has a place and an important place, and it’s very different from anybody else in golf,” O’Neil told AFP in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of this week’s LIV Hong Kong tournament.Only days ago leading PGA Tour player Rory McIlroy said that a deal to reunify golf did not feel any closer.O’Neil would not comment on the stop-start talks with the PGA Tour but pointed out that the once icy reception from golf’s majors to the breakaway series had thawed.”I feel like the narrative just generally is shifting in and around LIV and golf,” said O’Neil, who is the former CEO of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers. “That’s probably most highlighted by each of the four majors in inviting LIV players and providing a pathway for LIV players to play in the majors, which I think is a great, positive step in the right direction.”But as it stands LIV’s multiple major champions and greats of the game such as Jon Rahm, current US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson only go up against the cream of the PGA Tour four times a year.- ‘That day will come’ -There remains no free movement of players between the tours, and the only time LIV players can currently face the best of the PGA Tour is at those four majors.O’Neil, however, is optimistic.”Eventually, I believe that golf will open up again,” he told AFP. “We would like player movement. We’d like opportunities for our incredible stars to play around the world.”And I think that day will come. But in the meantime, let’s enjoy the majors.”Asked if there was a place for LIV in a future integrated golf calendar, along the lines of cricket’s money-spinning IPL, O’Neil said he saw LIV as the pinnacle of the sport.”We’re very much the Formula One of golf,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any other parallel that you can find.”LIV Golf, with its unique 54-hole, shotgun-start tournaments which have individual and team competitions with music blasting across the fairways, is in its fourth year and third full season.And O’Neil predicted it had a bright future.The league’s slogan has evolved this year from “Golf But Louder” to “Long LIV Golf” and O’Neil said that “is the essence of who we will become”.”It’s kind of our seal of approval, if you will, of our entry into the golf infrastructure around the world.”For now, the CEO is happy to wait for the day when golf’s conflicts are resolved, and said he was focused on moving forward with LIV.”I don’t spend too much time looking in the rearview mirror. I spend much more time looking through the windshield,” he said.”We take great pleasure, and we feel it’s a humbling honour, to be able to take these star players to the four corners of the earth.”Whether it be Riyadh, Adelaide, Hong Kong — we’re now off to Singapore, and pit-stopping in Miami, before Mexico City, and then Seoul, Korea.”Everywhere we go I kind of sit back and just smile. I think this is the way golf should be.”I think golf is growing all over the world, and I think we’ll play a role in that growth.”

Man with Palestinian flag arrested after scaling London’s Big Ben

A man who scaled London’s Big Ben, and spent the day perched on the historic clock tower with a Palestinian flag, was arrested shortly after he came down after midnight Sunday, police said.Pictures from the scene showed a cherry picker transporting him to waiting emergency crews on the ground.London’s Metropolitan Police force, which was first alerted to the climber around 0700 GMT Saturday, said the man was arrested after the “protracted incident”.The man spent the day perched barefoot on a ledge several metres up the landmark, even as emergency crews urged him to come down from the Elizabeth Tower in central London, more commonly known for its clock bell, Big Ben.Negotiators had boarded a fire truck lift and used a megaphone to speak with the man, but footage on social media showed the figure in a hoodie and baseball cap saying: “I will come down on my own terms.”In the footage, negotiators indicated concerns about an injury to his foot, saying there was “quite a lot of blood” and that his clothes were not warm enough as temperatures dropped after nightfall.AFP journalists at the scene earlier said the man appeared to be bleeding from his foot.Crowds gathered from behind a police cordon, with supporters chanting “Free Palestine” and “you are a hero”.Police had closed off the surrounding area, including Westminster Bridge, while the Houses of Parliament cancelled tours.Westminster police later said all roads in the area had been reopened.”Every day in Parliament I see dozens of armed police officers patrolling Portcullis House and the parliamentary estate. Where were they today?” Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty posted on X.”On Monday there needs to be a full explanation to MPs and staff as to how this protester was able to evade security so easily.”On Friday night, pro-Palestinian protesters sprayed “GAZA IS NOT 4 SALE” in huge white letters on the lawn of US President Donald Trump’s golf resort in Scotland.The Palestine Action group said it was a “direct response to the US administration’s stated intent to ethnically cleanse Gaza”.Police Scotland told AFP it was investigating after receiving a report of damage.