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US envoy says Gaza hostage deal possible ‘within weeks’

US Envoy for Hostages Adam Boehler speaks during a US hostage and wrongful detainee flag raising ceremony at the State Department in Washington, DC, on March 6, 2025. (AFP)
US Envoy for Hostages Adam Boehler speaks during a US hostage and wrongful detainee flag raising ceremony at the State Department in Washington, DC, on March 6, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 09 March 2025

US envoy says Gaza hostage deal possible ‘within weeks’

US Envoy for Hostages Adam Boehler speaks during a US hostage and wrongful detainee flag raising ceremony at State Department.
  • “I think something could come together within weeks... I think there is a deal where they can get all of the prisoners out, not just the Americans,” Boehler said

WASHINGTON: The US hostage envoy who held unprecedented direct talks with Hamas said Sunday he was confident a deal could be reached “within weeks” to free all civilians still held by the Palestinian militants.
Speaking to CNN, Adam Boehler — a Jewish American — acknowledged it had been “odd” sitting face-to-face with leaders of a group that the United States has listed as a “terrorist” organization since 1997. The talks took place in recent weeks.
Boehler said he understood Israel’s “consternation” that the US had held talks at all with the group, but said he had been seeking to jump-start the “fragile” negotiations.
“In the end, I think it was a very helpful meeting,” he said, adding: “I think something could come together within weeks... I think there is a deal where they can get all of the prisoners out, not just the Americans.”
Boehler suggested there was a chance of further talks with the militants, telling CNN: “You never know. You know sometimes you’re in the area and you drop by.”
Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, taking 251 hostages — including a number of Americans. An estimated 58 hostages remain in Gaza.
Israel invaded Gaza in response, waging a relentless war for more than 15 months and displacing much of the population.
The first phase of a truce revolving around the release of some hostages ended earlier this month, and both sides are disputing when to move into the second phase, which aims at a more permanent peace.
Last week, US President Donald Trump threatened further destruction of Gaza if all remaining hostages were not released, issuing what he called a “last warning” to Hamas leaders.
“I understand the consternation and the concern” on Israel’s part at the talks, Boehler said, adding: “We’re the United States. We’re not an agent of Israel.”
He described his feelings on sitting across from the militants.
“I think when you walk and you sit in front of somebody, and you know what they’ve done, it’s hard not to think of it,” he said.
He said it was important to identify with their humanity, but admitted, “It definitely feels a little odd knowing what they really are.”
Hamas’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,458 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures reliable.


Shooting attack in east Jerusalem, injuries reported: Israel emergency service

Shooting attack in east Jerusalem, injuries reported: Israel emergency service
Updated 14 sec ago

Shooting attack in east Jerusalem, injuries reported: Israel emergency service

Shooting attack in east Jerusalem, injuries reported: Israel emergency service
JERUSALEM: Israel’s emergency service said it received reports of more than a dozen people injured by gunfire Monday at a road junction in east Jerusalem, with police saying the assailants had been “neutralized.”
“At 10:13 am (0713 GMT), reports were received... about approximately 15 injured, apparently from gunfire, at the Ramot Junction on Yigal Yadin Street in Jerusalem,” a statement by Magen David Adom said.
It later said paramedics and ambulance crews were providing medical treatment and evacuating five “seriously wounded people” who had been sent to hospitals in Jerusalem.
“Several other victims, with varying degrees of injury, are also being treated at the scene,” it added.
Police said preliminary reports indicated “several people were injured as a result of the shooting, and the terrorists were neutralized.”
Speaking on Israel’s Channel 12, a police spokesperson said there were two assailants involved in the attack.
Israeli media reported that the attack had targeted a bus, among other targets.

Two Turkish police officers killed in police station attack, NTV says

Two Turkish police officers killed in police station attack, NTV says
Updated 51 min 10 sec ago

Two Turkish police officers killed in police station attack, NTV says

Two Turkish police officers killed in police station attack, NTV says
  • The attacker, reported to be 16 years old, opened fire on the Salih Isgoren police station

ANKARA: Two police officers were killed and another was wounded in an armed attack on a police station in the western Turkish city of Izmir, broadcaster NTV reported on Monday.
The attacker, reported to be 16 years old, opened fire on the Salih Isgoren police station in the Balcova district, it said. No further details were immediately available.


Israel defense minister warns Hamas to surrender or be ‘annihilated’

Israel defense minister warns Hamas to surrender or be ‘annihilated’
Updated 08 September 2025

Israel defense minister warns Hamas to surrender or be ‘annihilated’

Israel defense minister warns Hamas to surrender or be ‘annihilated’
  • Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Hamas on Monday to lay down its arms or face the destruction of Gaza and its own annihilation

JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Hamas on Monday to lay down its arms or face the destruction of Gaza and its own annihilation.
“This is a final warning to the Hamas murderers and rapists in Gaza and in luxury hotels abroad: Release the hostages and put down your weapons — or Gaza will be destroyed and you will be annihilated,” Katz said on X shortly after US President Donald Trump issued what he described as a “last warning” to Hamas to release the hostages still held in Gaza.


Israel’s Supreme Court says government is not giving Palestinian prisoners enough food

Israel’s Supreme Court says government is not giving Palestinian prisoners enough food
Updated 08 September 2025

Israel’s Supreme Court says government is not giving Palestinian prisoners enough food

Israel’s Supreme Court says government is not giving Palestinian prisoners enough food
  • In March, a 17-year-old Palestinian boy died at an Israeli prison and doctors said starvation was likely the main cause of death
  • In Sunday’s ruling, the panel of three justices ruled unanimously that the state is legally obligated to provide prisoners with enough food to ensure “a basic level of existence”

TEL AVIV, Israel: Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday ruled that the government has failed to provide Palestinian security prisoners with adequate food for basic subsistence and ordered authorities to improve their nutrition.
The decision was a rare case in which the country’s highest court ruled against the government’s conduct during the nearly two-year war.
Since the war began, Israel has seized thousands of people in Gaza that it suspects of links to Hamas. Thousands have also been released without charge, often after months of detention.
Rights groups have documented widespread abuse in prisons and detention facilities, including insufficient food and health care, as well as poor sanitary conditions and beatings. In March, a 17-year-old Palestinian boy died at an Israeli prison and doctors said starvation was likely the main cause of death.

This undated photo from Winter 2023 provided by Breaking The Silence shows blindfolded Palestinian prisoners captured in the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces at a detention facility on the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel. (AP)

Sunday’s ruling came in response to a petition brought last year by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the Israeli rights group Gisha. The groups alleged that a change in the food policy enacted after the war in Gaza began has caused prisoners to suffer malnutrition and starvation.
Last year, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the prison system, boasted that he had reduced the conditions of security prisoners to what he described as the bare minimum required by Israeli law.
In Sunday’s ruling, the panel of three justices ruled unanimously that the state is legally obligated to provide prisoners with enough food to ensure “a basic level of existence.”
In the 2-1 ruling, the justices said they found “indications that the current food supply to prisoners does not sufficiently guarantee compliance with the legal standard.” They said they had found “real doubts” that prisoners were eating properly, and ordered the prison service to “take steps to ensure the supply of food that allows for basic subsistence conditions in accordance with the law.”
Ben-Gvir, who leads a small far-right ultranationalist party, lashed out at the ruling, saying that while Israeli hostages in Gaza have no one to help them, Israel’s Supreme Court “to our disgrace” is defending Hamas militants. He said the policy of providing prisoners with “the most minimal conditions stipulated by the law” would continue unchanged.
ACRI called for the verdict to be implemented immediately. In a post on X, it said the prison service has “turned Israeli prisons into torture camps.”
“A state does not starve people,” it said. “People do not starve people — no matter what they have done.”

 


Turkiye’s main opposition calls for rallies after police barricade Istanbul office

Turkiye’s main opposition calls for rallies after police barricade Istanbul office
Updated 08 September 2025

Turkiye’s main opposition calls for rallies after police barricade Istanbul office

Turkiye’s main opposition calls for rallies after police barricade Istanbul office
  • The latest moves against the CHP began on Tuesday when a court ordered the removal of the party’s Istanbul provincial head over alleged irregularities in a 2023 congress

ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s main opposition CHP called on citizens and residents of Istanbul to gather on Sunday, after police set up barricades in areas around its Istanbul headquarters in what the party leader called a “siege.”
The Republican People’s Party (CHP) has been the target of a months-long legal crackdown, which has swept up hundreds of its members — including Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival — whose March arrest set off Turkiye’s largest street protests in a decade.
The CHP has denied all accusations against it and said the legal measures are politicized attempts at eliminating electoral threats against Erdogan and weakening the opposition.
The latest moves against the CHP began on Tuesday when a court ordered the removal of the party’s Istanbul provincial head over alleged irregularities in a 2023 congress.
Speaking at a CHP event in Istanbul, party chairman Ozgur Ozel called on Turks to gather and demonstrate against the court decision and the crackdown against his party, as well as the police measures to set up barricades around the headquarters and restrict public access to it.
“From here, I invite all democrats and CHP members whom my words and voice reach to, to protect the home of Ataturk in Istanbul,” he said, referring to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, modern Turkiye’s founder.
The CHP’s youth wing also called on all Istanbul residents to gather at the party’s provincial headquarters at 2000 GMT. The party will also organize another demonstration on Monday at 0700 GMT, it said.