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US envoy says Hamas response to ceasefire proposal ‘unacceptable’

Hamas announced on Saturday that it had replied to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal, but Washington’s main negotiator criticised the response as “totally unacceptable”.The Palestinian militant group said its response was positive while emphasising the need for a permanent ceasefire — long a sticking point for Israel.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed US envoy Steve Witkoff’s assessment that the response was “unacceptable”, accusing Hamas of clinging “to its rejectionism”.Israel on Friday warned Hamas to either accept the deal and free the hostages held in Gaza “or be annihilated”.In a statement on Saturday, Hamas said it had “submitted its response… to the mediating parties”.”As part of this agreement, 10 living prisoners of the occupation held by the resistance will be released, in addition to the return of 18 bodies, in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners,” it added.A source within the group’s political bureau said it had offered “a positive response to Witkoff, but with emphasis on guaranteeing a permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal” from the Gaza Strip.Witkoff said Hamas’s response was “totally unacceptable and only takes us backward”, urging the group to “accept the framework proposal we put forward”.”That is the only way we can close a 60-day ceasefire deal in the coming days in which half of the living hostages and half of those who are deceased will come home to their families and in which we can have… substantive negotiations in good-faith to try to reach a permanent ceasefire,” he added in a post on X.- Hamas alleges negotiation ‘bias’ -A member of Hamas’s political bureau, Bassem Naim, later told AFP the group “responded positively and responsibly” to Witkoff’s proposal.He alleged there was a “complete bias” in the negotiating process in favour of Israel, accusing it of disagreeing with “provisions we had agreed upon” earlier with the US envoy.Hamas has long maintained that any deal should lay out a pathway to a permanent end to the war.Israel has balked at that prospect, insisting on the need to destroy the group to prevent a repeat of the October 2023 attack that sparked the war.It recently stepped up its campaign in Gaza in a bid to defeat Hamas.”While Israel has agreed to the updated Witkoff framework for the release of our hostages, Hamas continues to cling to its rejectionism,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, adding the group’s reply was “unacceptable and sets the process back”.”Israel will continue its efforts to bring our hostages home and to defeat Hamas.”A breakthrough in negotiations has been elusive ever since a previous ceasefire fell apart on March 18 with the resumption of Israeli operations.US President Donald Trump had said on Friday that the parties were “very close to an agreement”.Two sources close to the negotiations said Witkoff’s proposal involved a 60-day truce, potentially extendable to 70 days.It would include the release of five living hostages and nine bodies in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners during the first week, followed by a second exchange the following week, the sources said.- Gaza ‘hungriest place on Earth’ -Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.”After 603 days of war, we wish to remind everyone that war is a means, not an end in itself,” the main group representing the hostages’ families said in a statement. Israeli society was “united around one consensus”, bringing home all the remaining hostages “even at the cost of ending the war”, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum added.Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations warned in May that the entire population was at risk of famine.A spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency has called the territory “the hungriest place on Earth”.Aid is only trickling into Gaza after the partial lifting by Israel of a more than two-month total blockade, and the UN has recently reported looting of its trucks and warehouses.The World Food Programme has called on Israel “to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster”, saying desperation was “contributing to rising insecurity”.The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 4,117 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 54,381, mostly civilians. Hamas’s attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Ecuador apologizes to farm workers deemed to live like slaves

Ecuador’s government apologized Saturday to some 300 people who worked as farmers for a Japanese textile firm in conditions which a court likened to modern-day slavery.These people worked on plantations that produced abaca, a fiber used in textiles and the auto industry.As of 2021, Furukawa’s plantations for abaca covered almost 23,000 hectares spread over three …

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Arab ministers condemn Israel ‘ban’ on planned West Bank visit

The foreign ministers of several Arab countries, who had planned to visit the occupied West Bank this weekend, condemned on Saturday Israel’s decision to block their trip.The ministers condemned “Israel’s decision to ban the delegation’s visit to Ramallah (on Sunday) to meet with the president of the State of Palestine, Mahmud Abbas”, the Jordanian foreign ministry said.Ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain had been expected to take part alongside the secretary-general of the Arab League, according to the statement.Israel had announced late Friday that it would not cooperate, effectively blocking the visit as it controls the territory’s borders and airspace.Abbas “intended to host in Ramallah a provocative meeting of foreign ministers from Arab countries to discuss the promotion of the establishment of a Palestinian state”, an Israeli official said.”Such a state would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the Land of Israel. Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security.”The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry expressed “grave concern” and called Israel’s decision a “blatant violation of its obligations under international law as an occupying power”.Had the visit gone ahead, the delegation’s head, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, would have become the first Saudi foreign minister to visit the West Bank.- ‘Diplomatic confrontation’ -Israel this week announced the creation of 22 new Jewish settlements in the West Bank, considered illegal under international law and one of the main obstacles to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.During a visit to one of the new settlement sites on Friday, Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed to build a “Jewish Israeli state” in the Palestinian territory.Taking aim at foreign countries that would “recognise a Palestinian state on paper”, he added: “The paper will be thrown into the trash bin of history, and the State of Israel will flourish and prosper.”In June, Saudi Arabia and France are to co-chair an international conference at UN headquarters meant to resurrect the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Saudi Arabia was said to have been close to recognising Israel before the start of the Gaza war, and US President Donald Trump, during a recent visit to Riyadh, called normalisation between the countries “my fervent hope and wish”.But de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has repeatedly said Saudi Arabia will not recognise Israel without an independent Palestinian state.Firas Maksad, managing director for the Middle East and North Africa at Eurasia Group, said Israel’s rejection of the visit indicated “how far Saudi and Israel have moved from normalisation to diplomatic confrontation”.He added that the planned visit “underscores just how much the Saudi position has shifted away from creating a credible pathway towards a Palestinian state through conditional normalisation with Israel, to one that aims to create such a path via an international coalition in support of Palestinian aspirations”.

Iran boosts highly enriched uranium production: IAEA

Iran has ramped up production of highly enriched uranium, according to a confidential UN watchdog report, as Tehran said Saturday that it had received US proposals to settle its long-running nuclear dispute with the West.Iran rejected the report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the latest move in years-long efforts to restrict its nuclear activities over fears that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.The IAEA report, seen by AFP, said Iran had sharply increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent, close to the roughly 90 percent level needed for atomic weapons.Iran rejected the report, which came amid high tensions in the Middle East over Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, with Tehran’s foreign ministry calling it a “political” manoeuvre.The ministry accused Israel of providing “unreliable and misleading information” to the IAEA for the report, “contrary to the IAEA’s principles of professional verification”.Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier Saturday that he had received “elements” of a US proposal for a potential nuclear deal following five rounds of talks mediated by Oman.Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi “paid a short visit to Tehran today to present elements of a US proposal which will be appropriately responded to in line with the principles, national interests and rights of the people of Iran,” Araghchi said on X.The IAEA report said Iran had an estimated 408.6 kilogrammes of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent as of May 17, up by 133.8 kilogrammes since the last report in February.Iran’s total amount of enriched uranium now exceeds 45 times the limit authorised by the 2015 agreement with world powers, and is estimated at 9,247.6 kilogrammes. “The significantly increased production and accumulation of highly enriched uranium by Iran, the only non-nuclear weapon State to produce such nuclear material, is of serious concern,” the IAEA said.In a separate in-depth report, the IAEA criticised “less than satisfactory” cooperation from Tehran over its scrutiny of its nuclear programme, specifically noting Iran’s lack of progress in explaining nuclear material found at undeclared sites.- Iran says nuclear arms ‘unacceptable’ -Western governments have long suspected Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capability to counter the widely suspected but undeclared arsenal of its arch-foe Israel.Iran has denied seeking nuclear arms and says it needs the uranium for civilian power production.Following the IAEA report, Israel on Saturday accused Iran of being “totally determined” to acquire nuclear weapons.”Such a level of enrichment exists only in countries actively pursuing nuclear weapons and has no civilian justification whatsoever,” a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. In response, Araghchi reaffirmed the country’s longstanding position, saying Tehran rejected nuclear weapons.”If the issue is nuclear weapons, yes, we too consider this type of weapon unacceptable,” Araghchi, Iran’s lead negotiator in the talks, said in a televised speech. “We agree with them on this issue.”Araghchi’s remarks came a day after US President Donald Trump said Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon”, while expressing hope of striking a deal soon.On Thursday, Araghchi hit out at what he called “media speculation” that the two sides were close to an agreement, saying he was “not sure if” a deal was “imminent”.Iran has held five rounds of talks with the United States on a new agreement with major powers after Trump abandoned the process during his first term as president in 2018.No date or venue has yet been announced for the next round but Araghchi said Wednesday that he expected an announcement from mediator Oman in the “next few days”.Washington has said Iran’s uranium programme must cease but Tehran insists it has a right to pursue it under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.- ‘Very good talks’ -Israel has repeatedly threatened military action, after pummelling Iranian air defences during two exchanges of fire last year.Trump said Wednesday that the United States was having “very good talks with Iran”, adding that he had warned Netanyahu against striking its nuclear facilities as it would not be “appropriate right now”.Trump has not ruled out military action but said he wants space to make a deal first, and has also said that Israel, and not the United States, would take the lead in any such strikes.Trump adopted a “maximum pressure” policy against Tehran after abandoning the 2015 agreement and reimposed sweeping sanctions which the deal had lifted in return for UN-monitored restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities.Iran continued to honour the agreement for a year, but then began rolling back its own compliance with its terms.Uranium enriched to up to 60 percent is far beyond the 3.67-percent limit set by the 2015 agreement.In recent days, Tehran has said that if a deal is reached, it may consider allowing US inspectors to join the IAEA monitoring teams.