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‘Steadfast’ Gazans begin second Ramadan amongst rubble

A red-covered table stretching several hundred metres carved a path through mounds of rubble in southern Gaza on Saturday, as families gathered to break their fast during the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.As the sun set over a neighbourhood in Rafah, where fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants has left barely a handful of buildings standing, hundreds of Gazans of all ages dug into their Iftar meal marking the end of the day’s fast.”People are deeply saddened, and everything around us feels heartbreaking,” said Malak Fadda, who had organised the communal meal.”So, we decided to bring joy back to this street, just as it was before the war”. As the crowd sat down to eat, uncertainty loomed over the next stages of the Gaza ceasefire, the first phase of which was drawing to a close on Saturday after largely bringing an end to more than 15 months of fighting.A second stage is supposed to pave the way for a more permanent end to the war, but negotiations have so far been inconclusive.Music wafted from loudspeakers through the crowd in Rafah, who sat on a long row of plastic chairs under bunting, Palestinian flags and lights strung between the broken concrete. The war sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel has left over 69 percent of Gaza’s buildings damaged or destroyed.Israeli bombardment or fighting has displaced almost the entire population and triggered widespread hunger, according to the United Nations.The truce that took effect on January 19 has enabled greater aid flows into the devastated Palestinian territory, but hundreds of thousands continue to live in tents, with many camped out in the rubble of their former homes. “On the first day of Ramadan, we had hoped to return to our houses to break our fast with our families and be together at our homes,” Rafah resident Umm al-Baraa Habib told AFP.”But this is God’s will, and we remain steadfast,” she added.- ‘Sit among destruction’ -In the northern city of Beit Lahia, dozens defiantly joined together in the fading evening light to break the fast amongst the remnants of half-collapsed buildings.”We are here in the midst of destruction and rubble and we are steadfast despite the pain and our wounds,” said Mohammed Abu Al-Jidyan.”Here we are eating Iftar on our land and we will not leave this place,” he added.United States President Donald Trump has floated an idea for a US takeover of Gaza under which its Palestinian population would be relocated — a proposal met with global condemnation.Before the break of dawn in the southern city of Khan Yunis, fluorescent pink, yellow and blue lights illuminated a largely war-destroyed neighbourhood where a small crowd had gathered for the Suhur meal, eaten ahead of fasting.A mural reading “Ramadan brings us together” with a crescent moon was painted onto one of the walls left standing.The day before young people had hung colourful Ramadan lanterns, flags and decorations between the rubble, while vendors displayed balloons and toys for children. But the usual joy of the Muslim holy month has brought little hope to many of Gaza’s war displaced.”My children sometimes ask me for clothes and food, but I can’t provide for them because I have been out of work for a year and a half,” said Omar al-Madhoun, a resident of the hard-hit Jabalia camp in north Gaza.”We sit among the destruction, not knowing how to manage our lives. We also fear that the war will return, bringing even more destruction,” he told AFP on Friday, the day the start of Ramadan was announced.Hamas’s attack on Israel that began the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.Israel’s retaliation has killed 48,388 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory whose figures the UN has deemed reliable.The first phase of the truce has seen Hamas free 25 living hostages and return the bodies of eight others to Israel in exchange for more than 1,700 Palestinian prisoners. 

PKK declares ceasefire with Turkey after 40 years of armed struggle

Outlawed Kurdish militants on Saturday declared a ceasefire with Turkey following a landmark call by jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan asking the group to disband and end more than four decades of armed struggle. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who backed the peace process initiated by a close nationalist ally, warned Turkey would pursue anti-PKK fight unless the group kept their pledge to disband.”In order to pave the way for the implementation of (Ocalan’s) call for peace and democratic society, we are declaring a ceasefire effective from today,” the PKK executive committee said, quoted by the pro-PKK ANF news agency.It was the first reaction from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) after Ocalan this week called for the dissolution of the group and asked it to lay down its arms.”We agree with the content of the call as it is and we say that we will follow and implement it,” said the committee, which is based in northern Iraq. “None of our forces will take armed action unless attacked,” it added.The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, has waged an insurgency since 1984.Its original aim was to carve out a homeland for Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of Turkey’s 85 million people.More recently however, the group has called for more autonomy, and cultural and linguistic rights, rather than independence. Since Ocalan was jailed in 1999 there have been various attempts to end the bloodshed, which has cost more than 40,000 lives. – ‘Iron fist ready’ -After several meetings with Ocalan at his island prison, the pro-Kurdish DEM party on Thursday relayed his appeal for PKK to lay down its weapons and convene a congress to announce the organisation’s dissolution. The PKK said on Saturday it was ready to convene a congress but “for this to happen, a suitable secure environment must be created” and Ocalan “must personally direct and lead it for the success of the congress”.The group also said Ocalan’s prison conditions must be eased.He “must be able to live and work in physical freedom and be able to establish unhindered relationships with anyone he wants”, said the group.Hours after the PKK declared a ceasefire, Erdogan warned: “If the promises given are not kept … we will continue our ongoing operations.” He was speaking from Istanbul at a meal to break the Ramadan fast.There was nothing, he said, “that would disturb the sacred spirits of our martyrs” killed by the PKK.Turkey would be the winner, he insisted.”We always keep our iron fist ready in case the hand we extend is left hanging in the air or bitten,” he added, in what appeared to be a warning to the PKK.Erdogan on Friday described Ocalan’s appeal as “a historic opportunity”. -‘More stable Syria’-Analysts say establishing a truce with the PKK would help both Turkey and Syria, where strongman Bashar al-Assad was ousted late last year. “A peace deal with the PKK is likely to make it easier to reunify and establish a more stable Syria,” Anthony Skinner, director of research at Marlow Global, told AFP.”This is a key objective for the Turkish government which has had to contend with the ongoing threat of cross-border mass migration and terrorism.” Turkey’s army, which has troops deployed in northern Syria, regularly attacks areas controlled by Syrian Kurdish forces it considers “terrorists” linked to the PKK.Analyst Bayram Balci, of Sciences Po Paris university, said the PKK was well aware that the regional context had changed.Syria’s Kurdish fighters “no longer have the support of Assad, they may no longer have the strong support of the Americans,” he said. “The threat of Daesh still exists, but it is not as strong as before. And then there is also a kind of fatigue,” he added, referring to the IS group. – ‘Positive and important’ -Iraq has welcomed Ocalan’s call as “a positive and important step towards achieving stability in the region”.The PKK’s presence in Iraq has been a recurrent source of tension between Baghdad and Ankara.The group holds positions in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, where Turkey also maintains military bases and often carries out ground and air operations against Kurdish militants.After the last round of peace talks collapsed in 2015, no further contact was made with the PKK until October when hardline nationalist MHP leader Devlet Bahceli offered a surprise peace gesture if Ocalan rejected violence.burs-fo/jj

UN chief warns against return to war as Gaza truce first stage due to end

The head of the United Nations made a fresh appeal for the Gaza ceasefire to be extended, warning against a “catastrophic” return to war as the first phase of the Israel-Hamas truce was to expire on Saturday.Negotiations on the next stage have so far been inconclusive, leaving uncertainty over the fate of hostages still held in Gaza, and the lives of more than two million Palestinians who have been spared deadly bombardment for the past six weeks.Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that a “permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages are essential to preventing escalation and averting more devastating consequences for civilians.”The ceasefire took effect on January 19 after more than 15 months of war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.Over the initial six-week phase, Gaza militants freed 25 living hostages and returned the bodies of eight others to Israel, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.A second phase is supposed to secure the release of dozens of hostages still in Gaza and pave the way for a more permanent end to the war.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a delegation to Cairo, and mediator Egypt said on Thursday that “intensive talks” on the second phase had begun with the presence of delegations from Israel as well as fellow mediators Qatar and the United States.But by early Saturday there was no sign of consensus as Muslims in Gaza marked the first day of Ramadan with coloured lights brightening war-damaged neighbourhoods. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the group rejected “the extension of the first phase in the formulation proposed by the occupation (Israel)”.He called on mediators “to oblige the occupation to abide by the agreement in its various stages”.Max Rodenbeck, of the International Crisis Group think tank, said the second phase cannot be expected to start immediately but he did not think the ceasefire will collapse.- Hamas hostage video -Hamas’s armed wing released footage showing what appeared to be a group of Israeli hostages in Gaza, accompanied with the message: “Only a ceasefire agreement brings them back alive”. AFP was unable to immediately verify the video, the latest that militants have released of Gaza captives. Netanyahu’s office called it “cruel propaganda” but Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the Horn family, two of whose members appear in the video, had given permission for the footage of them to be published.Israeli-Argentinian Yair Horn was released on February 15 but his brother Eitan remains in captivity in Gaza.”We demand from the decision-makers: Look Eitan in the eyes. Don’t stop the agreement that has already brought dozens of hostages back to us,” the family said.The hostages forum held a new rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening in a bid to keep the focus on the remaining captives.The preferred Israeli scenario is to free more hostages under an extension of the first phase, Defence Minister Israel Katz said.A Palestinian source close to the talks told AFP that Israel had proposed to extend the first phase in successive one-week intervals with a view to conducting hostage-prisoner swaps each week, adding that Hamas had rejected the plan.- Netanyahu’s coalition worries -Domestic political considerations are a factor in Netanyahu’s reluctance to begin the planned second stage.Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the remaining far-right faction in his governing coalition, has threatened to quit if the war is not resumed.”The Israeli government could fall if we enter phase two,” said Michael Horowitz, head of intelligence for risk management consultancy Le Beck International.Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s attack, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Hamas, for its part, has pushed hard for phase two to begin as planned.”We affirm our keenness to complete the remaining stages of the ceasefire agreement,” which would require a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces, the group said in a letter to Arab heads of state due to meet in Cairo on Tuesday. Israel has said it needs to retain troops in a strip of Gaza along the Egyptian border to stop arms smuggling by Hamas. The truce has enabled greater aid flows into the Gaza Strip, where more than 69 percent of buildings were damaged or destroyed, almost the entire population was displaced, and widespread hunger occurred because of the war, according to the United Nations.Hamas’s attack that began the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, while the Israeli retaliation has killed 48,388 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, figures from both sides show.

Uncertainty looms as first phase of Gaza truce due to expire

The first phase of the Israel-Hamas truce is drawing to a close on Saturday, but negotiations on the next stage, which should secure a permanent ceasefire, have so far been inconclusive.The ceasefire took effect on January 19 after more than 15 months of war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the deadliest in the country’s history.Over the initial six-week phase, Gaza militants freed 25 living hostages and returned the bodies of eight others to Israel, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.A second phase of the fragile truce was supposed to secure the release of dozens of hostages still in Gaza and pave the way for a more permanent end to the war.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sent a delegation to Cairo, and mediator Egypt said “intensive talks” on the second phase had begun with the presence of delegations from Israel as well as fellow mediators Qatar and the United States.But by early Saturday, there was no sign of consensus, and Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the group rejected “the extension of the first phase in the formulation proposed by the occupation (Israel)”.He called on mediators “to oblige the occupation to abide by the agreement in its various stages”.Max Rodenbeck, of the International Crisis Group think tank, said the second phase cannot be expected to start immediately.”But I think the ceasefire probably won’t collapse also,” he said.- Netanyahu’s coalition worries -Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum planned a new rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening to keep the focus on the remaining captives.Hamas’s armed wing released footage showing what appeared to be a group of Israeli hostages in Gaza, accompanied with the message: “Only a ceasefire agreement brings them back alive”. AFP was unable to immediately verify the video. The preferred Israeli scenario is to free more hostages under an extension of the first phase, rather than a second phase, Defence Minister Israel Katz said.A Palestinian source close to the talks told AFP that Israel had proposed to extend the first phase in successive one-week intervals with a view to conducting hostage-prisoner swaps each week, adding that Hamas had rejected the plan.Domestic political considerations are a factor in Netanyahu’s reluctance to begin the planned second stage.Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the remaining far-right faction in his governing coalition, has threatened to quit if the war is not resumed after the end of the first stage.”The Israeli government could fall if we enter phase two,” said Michael Horowitz, head of intelligence for risk management consultancy firm Le Beck.Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s attack, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.- Ceasefire ‘must hold’ -Hamas, for its part, has pushed hard for phase two to begin as planned.”We affirm our keenness to complete the remaining stages of the ceasefire agreement,” the group said in a letter to Arab heads of state due to meet in Cairo on Tuesday. “We categorically reject… the presence of any foreign forces on the territory of the Gaza Strip,” it added.Israel has said it needs to retain troops in a strip of Gaza along the Egyptian border to stop arms smuggling by Hamas. UN chief Antonio Guterres said on Friday that the Israel-Hamas ceasefire “must hold”.”The coming days are critical. The parties must spare no effort to avoid a breakdown of this deal,” Guterres said in New York.The truce has enabled greater aid flows into the Gaza Strip, where more than 69 percent of buildings were damaged or destroyed, almost the entire population was displaced, and widespread hunger occurred because of the war, according to the United Nations.The Gaza war began with Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.The Israeli retaliation has killed 48,388 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the UN has deemed reliable.The United States on Friday announced the approval of the sale of more than $3 billion in munitions, bulldozers and related equipment to ally Israel.It comes amid a major military operation launched by Israel in the occupied West Bank on February 21, two days after the Gaza ceasefire began.According to the United Nations, at least 55 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have died in the operation, which has displaced more than 40,000 Palestinians.