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Egypt, Spain reject US plan to displace Gazans

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday rejected a controversial proposal by US President Donald Trump to displace Palestinians from the war-devastated Gaza Strip. The Arab League is scheduled to hold an extraordinary meeting in Cairo on March 4 in response to Trump’s plan to take over Gaza and permanently move its Palestinian inhabitants elsewhere, including to Egypt and Jordan, and then redevelop the coastal territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.Speaking in Madrid ahead of the gathering, Sisi called for the “international community’s support and adoption of a plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip without displacing the Palestinian people — I repeat, without displacing the Palestinian people — from their land, which they cling to, and their homeland, which they do not agree to relinquish”.Sanchez, one of the staunchest defenders of the Palestinian cause within the European Union, agreed, saying “Gaza belongs to the Palestinians and is part of the future Palestinian state”.”Their expulsion would not only be immoral and contrary to international law and United Nations resolutions, but would also have a destabilising effect,” the Socialist premier added.The two leaders also signed a declaration upgrading Egypt-Spain relations to a “strategic partnership”, as well as several memorandums of understanding in various fields including illegal migration and defence.Trump’s plan sparked an outcry from Arab governments as well as from world leaders, and the United Nations warned against “ethnic cleansing” in the Palestinian territory.

Anguish over Bibas family in Israel as Hamas says to release bodies

The haunting image of Shiri Bibas clutching her sons on October 7 was once again splashed across the front pages of Israeli newspapers Wednesday, as a collective sense of anguish set in after Hamas said it would return their bodies.Footage of their abduction, filmed and broadcast by Hamas militants during their unprecedented 2023 attack on Israel, showed the 34-year-old mother and her sons Ariel, then four, and Kfir, just nine months old, being seized from their home near the Gaza border. The images, and those of Kfir and Ariel in particular, quickly became national symbols of the hostage ordeal, encapsulating the terror and despair that gripped the nation.On Tuesday, Hamas declared it would hand over the bodies of four hostages, including the three Bibas family members, as part of the ongoing first phase of a ceasefire deal in Gaza.While their deaths are largely accepted as fact abroad after Hamas said they were killed in an Israeli air strike early in the war, Israel has never confirmed the claim and many remain unconvinced — including the Bibas family.”In the past few hours, we have been in turmoil following (the) Hamas spokesperson’s announcement about the planned return of our Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir this Thursday,” the Bibas family said in a statement on Tuesday.”Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over.”Yarden Bibas, the boys’ father and Shiri’s husband, was abducted separately on October 7, and was released from Gaza in a previous hostage-prisoner exchange on February 1.- ‘Not giving up’ -Since the attack, his sister, Ofri Bibas, has waged a relentless campaign for their freedom.”I ask that no one eulogise my family just yet. We have held onto hope for 16 months, and we are not giving up now,” she wrote on Facebook Tuesday night following Hamas’s announcement.Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned Thursday, though they have not officially identified them.The national forensic institute in Tel Aviv has mobilised 10 doctors to expedite the identification process, public broadcaster Kan reported Wednesday.Families will be informed once the identification is complete, followed by a public announcement in accordance with Israeli protocol for hostage and soldier deaths.Despite the agonising wait, many Israelis still believe the two red-haired boys and their mother could be alive.Some commentators have argued that Hamas has falsely declared hostages dead in the past, only for them to later reappear, describing it a form of psychological warfare against Israel.The Israeli military also issued a statement urging the public not to take notice of what it called “unverified rumours” about the hostages, without elaborating.While Israel clings to the hope that the three could still be alive, some world leaders have already begun mourning their deaths.French President Emmanuel Macron posted a photo of Shiri Bibas holding her children, describing them as “the faces of an eternal humanity that Hamas’s barbarity will never erase”.US Congressman Ritchie Torres was more direct, saying “Hamas has murdered the Bibas family”.”The cold-blooded murder of an infant is as barbaric a crime against humanity as one can commit,” he wrote on X.Kfir Bibas is the youngest of the 251 hostages who were taken to Gaza by Hamas on October 7. 

Trump bashes Zelensky, ‘confident’ on Ukraine deal

US President Donald Trump has effectively blamed Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for Russia’s invasion, as French President Emmanuel Macron prepares for another round of talks with EU and non-European partners on Wednesday.Zelensky previously criticised the US-Russia talks for excluding Kyiv, saying efforts to end the war must be “fair and involve European countries.The Ukrainian leader’s comments appeared to incense Trump, who launched a series of verbal attacks on Zelensky.”I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Tuesday. “Today I heard, ‘oh, well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years… You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”Trump also suggested he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month in Saudi Arabia as he overhauls Washington’s stance towards Moscow — a shift that has alarmed European leaders.Earlier Tuesday, Russia and the United States had agreed to establish teams to negotiate a path to ending the war in Ukraine after talks that drew a strong rebuke from Kyiv, with Zelensky postponing his own trip to Saudi Arabia.France’s Macron announced another meeting in Paris on Ukraine after the US-Russia talks, adding that Trump “can restart a useful dialogue” with Putin.Trump also increased pressure on Zelensky to hold elections — echoing one of Moscow’s key demands.- Trump wants Ukraine election -Asked whether the United States would support demands that Russia wanted to force Zelensky to hold new elections as part of any deal, Trump began by criticising what he said were the Ukrainian’s approval ratings. “They want a seat at the table, but you could say… wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since we’ve had an election,” said Trump.”That’s not a Russian thing, that’s something coming from me, from other countries.”Zelensky was elected in 2019 for a five-year term, but has remained in office as Ukraine is still under martial law.Trump’s latest remarks are unlikely to allay fears among some European leaders, already worried that Washington will make serious concessions to Moscow and re-write the continent’s security arrangement in a Cold War-style deal.Washington noted European nations would have to have a seat at the negotiating table “at some point”.The US-Russia talks — the first high-level official talks between the two countries since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine — drew a fiery response from Kyiv.”This will only be feeding Putin’s appetite,” a Ukrainian senior official requesting anonymity told AFP, referring to the launch of talks without Ukraine.Trump for his part said he was “much more confident” of a deal after the Riyadh talks, telling reporters Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago estate: “I think I have the power to end this war.”- ‘Heard each other’ -US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to “appoint respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible”, the State Department said.Washington added that the sides had also agreed to “establish a consultation mechanism” to address “irritants” to the US-Russia relationship, noting the sides would lay the groundwork for future cooperation.Riyadh marks a diplomatic coup for Moscow, which had been isolated for three years under the previous US administration of Joe Biden.Moscow’s economic negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, said Western attempts to isolate Russia had “obviously failed”.”We did not just listen but heard each other, and I have reason to believe the American side has better understood our position,” Lavrov told reporters.The veteran diplomat noted that Russia opposed any deployment of NATO-nation troops to Ukraine as part of an eventual ceasefire.European allies publicly diverged this week over whether they would be open to sending truce peacekeepers to Ukraine.Macron, in an interview with French regional newspapers, appeared open to the idea of sending troops to Ukraine but only in the most limited fashion and away from conflict zones.He said new talks would take place “with several European and non-European states”, after an emergency meeting on Monday in Paris which brought together a small number of key European countries.Moscow has long called for the withdrawal of NATO forces from eastern Europe, viewing the alliance as an existential threat on its flank.The Kremlin on Tuesday said Ukraine had the right to join the European Union, but not the NATO military alliance.It also said Putin was “ready” to negotiate with Zelensky “if necessary”.