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Trump says China to face added 10% tariff starting in March

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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Israel army says failed on Oct 7, underestimated Hamas

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.

After 45 years, Palestinian prisoner freed from Israeli jail in latest swap

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.

Israel sends negotiators after Hamas hands over hostage bodies

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dispatched negotiators to Cairo on Thursday after Hamas handed over the remains of four hostages in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.The overnight swap was the final stage of an initial deal under the fragile truce that took effect on January 19, largely halting more than 15 months of war in Gaza.Under the first phase which expires Saturday, 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. Hamas officials told AFP that Israel had freed about 1,700 so far.Israel’s Prison Service 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.AFP journalists saw hundreds of prisoners being released early Thursday in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News said 97, marked for deportation by Israel, had arrived at Gaza’s Rafah crossing.After the swap Hamas called on Israel to return to delayed talks on a second phase of the deal, intended to lead to a permanent end to the war.”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.The prisoners freed Thursday were meant to be released last weekend but Israel delayed the process after Hamas staged elaborate handover ceremonies.Hamas said Thursday’s handover would take place in private “to prevent the occupation from finding any pretext for delay”.In Ramallah, several freed Palestinians were lifted onto shoulders. A group of women wept around one released prisoner, and a child held aloft flashed victory signs with both hands.”We were in hell and we came out of hell. Today is my real day of birth,” said one prisoner, Yahya Shraideh. – ‘Very tough day’ -Hours after the handover, an Israeli campaign group confirmed “with profound sorrow” the identities of the four bodies Hamas returned on Thursday.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 in the 7 October 2023 massacre” which triggered the war.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.”Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s attack, 58 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Ziva Hershkowitz, an administrator at a local university, said that “as Israelis, we’re still waiting for, you know, a light in the dark”.Calling for the ceasefire deal to be extended, she added: “People have to come back, really.”- ‘Our hearts ache’ -In Washington, US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy said Israeli representatives were en route to talks on the next phase of the ceasefire.”We’re making a lot of progress. Israel is sending a team right now as we speak,” Steve Witkoff said.The prospects for the second phase are far from certain, however. The current truce agreement was only arrived at after months of gruelling negotiations, and some members of Netanyahu’s coalition are eager to resume the war and destroy Hamas once and for all.Netanyahu pledged on Thursday to work “relentlessly” to bring back all the hostages.Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after the attack, the deadliest in the country’s history, and it has made bringing home all the hostages taken that day a central war aim.President Isaac Herzog said Thursday that Israel had a “moral obligation” to secure the hostages’ return.”Our hearts ache upon receiving the bitter news of the identification of” the four bodies, he said.French President Emmanuel Macron called on Hamas to stop its “barbarism”, after confirmation that French-Israeli hostage Yahalomi was among the latest bodies returned.The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliation in Gaza has killed at least 48,365 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures that the United Nations considers credible.

Israel dispatches negotiators after Hamas hands over hostage bodies

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dispatched negotiators to Cairo on Thursday after Hamas handed over the remains of four hostages in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.The overnight swap was the final stage of an initial deal under the fragile truce that took effect on January 19, largely halting the Gaza war.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. Hamas officials told AFP that Israel had freed about 1,700 so far.The Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group said Israel freed 596 prisoners Thursday after the bodies were handed over.It said 46 more prisoners were yet to be released in order to complete the swap — “all women and minors from Gaza” who were arrested after the war began.AFP journalists saw hundreds of prisoners being released early Thursday in Gaza and the West Bank. Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News said 97, marked for deportation by Israel, had arrived at Gaza’s Rafah crossing.After the swap Hamas called on Israel to return to the negotiating table for delayed talks on a second phase of the deal, intended to lead to a permanent end to the war.”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.The prisoners freed Thursday were meant to be released at the weekend, but Israel delayed the process after Hamas staged elaborate handover ceremonies.Hamas said Thursday’s handover would take place in private “to prevent the occupation from finding any pretext for delay”.In Ramallah, several freed Palestinians were lifted onto shoulders. A group of women wept around one released prisoner, and a child held aloft flashed victory signs with both hands.”We were in hell and we came out of hell. Today is my real day of birth,” said one prisoner, Yahya Shraideh. – ‘Very tough day’ -Hours after the handover, an Israeli pro-hostage group confirmed “with profound sorrow” the identities of the four bodies Hamas returned on Thursday.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 in the 7 October 2023 massacre”.Israel Berman, a businessman and former member of the Nahal Oz kibbutz 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.”Ziva Hershkowitz, an administrator at a local university, said that “as Israelis, we’re still waiting for, you know, a light in the dark”.Calling for the ceasefire deal to be extended, she added: “People have to come back, really.”- ‘Negotiations will begin’ -In Washington, US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy said Israeli representatives were en route to talks on the next phase of the ceasefire.”We’re making a lot of progress. Israel is sending a team right now as we speak,” Steve Witkoff said.The prospects for the second phase are far from certain, however. The current truce agreement was only arrived at after months of gruelling negotiations, and some members of Netanyahu’s coalition are eager to resume the war and destroy Hamas once and for all.Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, 58 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Netanyahu pledged on Thursday to work “relentlessly” to bring back all the hostages.Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after the attack, the deadliest in the country’s history, and it has made bringing home all the hostages taken that day a central war aim.President Isaac Herzog said Thursday that Israel had a “moral obligation” to secure the hostages’ return.”Our hearts ache upon receiving the bitter news of the identification of” the four bodies, he said.French President Emmanuel Macron called on Hamas to stop its “barbarism”, after confirmation that French-Israeli hostage Yahalomi was among four bodies returned.The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliation in Gaza has killed at least 48,365 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures that the United Nations considers credible.