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Israel’s military on Thursday acknowledged its “complete failure” to prevent Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, the deadliest in the nation’s history, in a scathing internal probe published weeks into a fragile truce.The ceasefire, whose first phase is set to expire on Saturday, has largely halted the fighting that began when Hamas militants broke through Gaza’s security barrier in an attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.Israel’s retaliation has killed more than 48,000 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the UN has deemed reliable.The truce agreement should be entering into its second phase, which would bring a lasting end to the war.Its terms have yet to be agreed, but mediator Egypt on Thursday said Israeli, Qatari and US delegations were in Cairo for “intensive” talks on the next phases of the ceasefire.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent negotiators to Cairo on Thursday, after Hamas handed over the remains of four hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners under the truce.- ‘Too many civilians died’ -An internal Israeli army probe into the October 7 attack, released on Thursday, acknowledged the military’s “complete failure” to prevent it, said a military official briefing reporters about the report’s contents, on condition of anonymity.”Too many civilians died that day asking themselves in their hearts or out loud, where was the IDF?” the official said, referring to the military.A senior military official said at the same briefing that the military acknowledges it was “overconfident” and had misconceptions about Hamas’s military capabilities before the attack.Following the probe’s release, Israel’s military chief General Herzi Halevi said: “The responsiblity is mine.”Halevi had already resigned last month citing the October 7 “failure”.During their attack, militants seized dozens of hostages, whose return was a key objective of the war.Netanyahu vowed to destroy Hamas and to bring home all the hostages, but has faced criticism and protests at home over his handling of the war and the hostage crisis.- ‘Murdered’ -The hostage-prisoner swap early Thursday was the final one under the initial stage of the truce that took effect on January 19.Over the past several weeks, Hamas freed in stages 25 living Israeli and dual-national hostages and returned the bodies of eight others. It also released five Thai hostages outside the deal’s terms.Israel, in return, was expected to free around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners. Israel’s Prison Service said that “643 terrorists were transferred from several prisons across the country” and released on Thursday under the terms of the truce after Hamas returned four hostages’ bodies.Hours after the handover on Thursday, an Israeli campaign group confirmed “with profound sorrow” the identities of the four bodies.Ohad Yahalomi, Tsachi Idan, Itzik Elgarat and Shlomo Mansour “have been laid to eternal rest in Israel”, said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.Netanyahu’s office said based on “all of the information at our disposal”, Yahalomi, Idan and Elgarat “were murdered while held hostage in Gaza”.Mansour, it added, was “murdered” on October 7, 2023.Israel Berman, a businessman and former member of the Nahal Oz kibbutz community where Idan was abducted, said that “until the very last moment, we were hoping that Tsachi would return to us alive”. “This morning brought us the harsh news,” he added. “It’s a very tough day.”- ‘We were in hell’ -Among those freed in exchange was the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail, Nael Barghouti, who spent more than four decades behind bars. He was first arrested in 1978 and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of an Israeli officer and attacks on Israeli sites.”We were in hell and we came out of hell. Today is my real day of birth,” said one prisoner, Yahya Shraideh.AFP images showed some freed prisoners awaiting treatment or being assessed at the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, after their release.Several freed Palestinian prisoners were hospitalised following earlier swaps, and the emaciated state of some released Israeli hostages sparked outrage in Israel and beyond.After the swap, Hamas called on Israel to return to delayed talks on the truce’s next phase.”We have cut off the path before the enemy’s false justifications, and it has no choice but to start negotiations for the second phase,” Hamas said.Later on Thursday, Netanyahu’s office said he instructed Israeli negotiators to head to Cairo for the Gaza talks.Egypt’s State Information Service said Thursday talks on the next phase had begun.”The relevant parties have begun intensive talks to discuss the next phases of the truce agreement, amid ongoing efforts to ensure the implementation of the previously agreed understandings,” it said in a statement.Negotiators are also discussing ways to “enhance the delivery of humanitarian aid” to Gaza, it added.The truce agreement was only reached after months of gruelling negotiations, and some members of Netanyahu’s coalition are eager to resume the war.Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s attack, 58 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Relations between France and Algeria have hit a new low with Algiers blaming the rise of the French far right for a more combative approach from Paris towards its former colony.Algeria has “clearly become the battleground for internal French political disputes, where no blow is too low,” the foreign ministry said in a sharply worded statement.It pointed to the French far right as the “instigator” of the deepening rift and accused it of “taking French-Algerian relations hostage”.Relations between the two governments had already been strained last July when France recognised Moroccan sovereignty over disputed Western Sahara in a major tilt towards Algeria’s north African rival.Algeria, which has long backed the claims to the territory of the pro-independence Polisario Front, recalled its ambassador from Paris in protest.Relations soured further in November when Algeria arrested French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal on national security charges after he told a French far-right media outlet that Morocco’s territory was truncated in favour of Algeria during French colonial rule.A series of expulsion orders issued against Algerians in France have deepened the diplomatic chill, with Algiers refusing to grant entry to those expelled. Last week, Algeria refused to allow in an Algerian France had ordered deported after a deadly knife attack in the eastern city of Mulhouse.France then threatened to cancel a longstanding agreement with Algeria on free movement — days after it announced travel restrictions on Algerian officials.In response, Algeria said Thursday it “categorically rejects ultimatums and threats”, leaving “the French side alone to bear full responsibility”.It said “it will apply strict and immediate reciprocity to all restrictions on mobility between Algeria and France”.French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has accused Algeria of trying to “humiliate” its former colonial ruler.France began its occupation of Algeria in 1830 and the North African country only gained independence in 1962.- On ‘the wrong track’ -Despite demands from Algeria, France refuses to “apologise or repent” for the 132 years of often brutal rule that ended in 1962 after a devastating eight-year war.Today, Paris is on “the wrong track,” said political analyst Hasni Abidi, deeming French pressure counterproductive.”The sanctions brandished by France are neither likely to restore calm nor exert real pressure on Algerian authorities,” he said.”President Macron’s laissez-faire attitude has given wings to the conservative right and the far right,” he added, whereas Algeria had so far shown “restraint”.If tensions keep on rising, Algeria could apply the “principle of reciprocity,” Abidi warned, adding that “economic exchanges and security cooperation could suffer”.While it maintains strong economic ties with other European countries, including Italy, Spain and Germany, Algeria remains a key gas supplier to France and hosts around 450 French companies.Last month, the head of France’s foreign intelligence agency DGSE landed in Algiers in what French media said was an effort to revive counterterrorism cooperation against jihadist groups in the Sahel.”A standoff doesn’t work with a state like Algeria, which has a strong national identity,” French former foreign minister Dominique de Villepin said recently.The two countries have “never known such a serious crisis”, said French historian and Algeria expert Benjamin Stora, who urged Macron to “talk” and “find the right words”.

From tariffs to counter “unfair trade” to duties over illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling, President Donald Trump has unleashed a volley of threats since taking office, sparking fears of widening trade tensions.Since January, Trump has unveiled and suspended levies on Canada and Mexico, and imposed additional tariffs on China that he plans to ramp up …

Trump tariffs: What’s been done and what is to come? Read More »

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he would impose an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports while moving ahead with levies on Canada and Mexico next week, citing “unacceptable” drug smuggling.Trump had announced — then halted — sweeping 25 percent levies on Canadian and Mexican imports this month over illegal immigration and deadly fentanyl, …

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An internal Israeli army investigation into Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack released on Thursday acknowledged the military’s “complete failure” to prevent the deadly assault, saying that for years it had underestimated the group’s capabilities.The attack, which left hundreds of Israelis dead, sparked a devastating war in Gaza, which killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.”October 7 was a complete failure, the IDF (military) failed in fulfilling its mission to protect Israeli civilians,” a senior Israeli military official said as he briefed reporters about the inquiry’s findings.”Too many civilians died that day asking themselves in their hearts or out loud, where was the IDF,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with military protocols. In a summary of the report shared with journalists, the military said: “The Israel Defense Forces failed to protect Israeli citizens. The Gaza Division was overrun in the early hours of the war, as terrorists took control and carried out massacres in the communities and roads in the area.”The military official explained that the army was “overconfident” and had miscalculated Hamas’s military capabilities ahead of the attack.The inquiry, which includes 77 separate investigations into what transpired in communities, army bases and multiple confrontation points around the Gaza periphery, is in the process of being presented to those directly affected.This is still only a “slither of the whole process”, the official said. Additional inquiries, including one into what happened at a music festival in the desert, are still to come. – Among army’s ‘greatest failures’ -The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures, which include hostages killed in captivity. Out of 251 people taken hostage that day, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed at least 48,365 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.”This was one of the most horrific events ever to take place in Israel,” the army official said. “It was one of the IDF’s greatest failures.”The official said the inquiry was carried out over 15 months and focuses on four key areas: military perceptions ahead of October 7; intelligence failures; events the night prior to the attack; and the army’s actions on the day along with its efforts to regain control in the days that followed.“We did not even imagine such a scenario,” the army official said, noting that Israel’s attention was on threats from Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah. The official said the army had not maintained “a comprehensive understanding of the enemy’s military capabilities” and that it was “overconfident in its knowledge”.“We were addicted to precise intel,” a second senior military official said, explaining that despite signs Hamas was preparing to attack, the army was too focused on what it believed was accurate information.- Three waves of attacks -The probe found that Hamas’s attack happened in three waves and saw more than 5,000 people enter Israel from Gaza at its height.”The first wave… included more than 1,000 Nukhba (Hamas’s elite force) terrorists, who infiltrated under the cover of heavy fire,” the summary of the report said.It said the second wave involved some 2,000 militants while the third saw hundreds more militants join the incursion, along with several thousand civilians. “In total, approximately 5,000 terrorists infiltrated Israeli territory during the attack,” the report said. Hamas has maintained that hundreds of its fighters had carried out the attack.The official said the first few hours of the attack were critical and saw the most killings and abductions.It was then that Hamas’s elite unit knocked out the military’s communications system and its command and control centres, creating chaos as the army struggled to regain control. Responding to the inquiry on Thursday, Israel’s armed forces chief said he took full responsibility for failing to prevent the Hamas attack.”The responsibility is mine. I was the commander of the army on October 7, and I also bear the full responsibility for all of you,” Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, who announced his resignation last month, said in a video statement.In addition to Halevi, the head of the army’s southern command Major General Yaron Finkelman, announced his resignation. Military intelligence chief Major General Aharon Haliva stepped down in August.

The longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails, Nael Barghouti who spent more than four decades behind bars, walked free on Thursday under the latest hostage-prisoner swap of a fragile Gaza truce.Barghouti spent 45 years behind bars, including 34 of them consecutively, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group.He arrived in Egypt on Thursday, after being expelled from the Palestinian territories upon his release.Barghouti was first arrested in 1978 and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of an Israeli officer and attacks on Israeli sites.At the time, he was a member of Fatah, the movement of current Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, a rival to the Islamist group Hamas.The hostage-prisoner swap which took place in the early hours of Thursday was the seventh and last in the first phase of the fragile truce between Israel and Hamas. The deal took effect on January 19 and its first phase expires on Saturday.Israel’s Prison Service on Thursday confirmed that “643 terrorists were transferred from several prisons across the country” and released under the terms of the truce deal, after Hamas handed over the bodies of four hostages.The ceasefire has largely halted more than 15 months of fighting that destroyed or damaged more than 69 percent of Gaza’s buildings, displaced almost the entire population, and triggered widespread hunger, according to the United Nations.Under the first phase, Hamas freed 25 living Israeli and dual-national hostages seized in its October 7, 2023 attack and returned the bodies of eight others. It also released five Thai prisoners outside the deal’s terms.Israel, in return, was expected to free around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners. Barghouti was freed once before, in 2011, as part of an exchange of Palestinian prisoners in return for an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas. He was then placed under house arrest in Kubar, in the occupied West Bank.He was arrested again in 2014, and defected from Fatah to join Hamas in prison.