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Israel insists on keeping troops in Gaza, complicating truce talks with Hamas

Israel insists on keeping troops in Gaza, complicating truce talks with Hamas
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Israeli soldiers operate in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 9, 2025. (Reuters)
Israel insists on keeping troops in Gaza, complicating truce talks with Hamas
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Israeli army vehicles transport a group of soldiers and journalists along the Morag corridor in southern Gaza on June 8, 2025. The Israeli military invited reporters for a tour in the European Hospital in Khan Younis. (AP)
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Updated 10 July 2025

Israel insists on keeping troops in Gaza, complicating truce talks with Hamas

Israel insists on keeping troops in Gaza, complicating truce talks with Hamas
  • Keeping a foothold in the Morag corridor is a key element in Israel’s plan to drive hundreds of thousands of Palestinians south toward a narrow swath of land along the border with Egypt

JERUSALEM: As Israel and Hamas move closer to a ceasefire agreement, Israel says it wants to maintain troops in a southern corridor of the Gaza Strip — a condition that could derail the talks.
An Israeli official said an outstanding issue in the negotiations was Israel’s desire to keep forces in the territory during a 60-day truce, including in the east-west axis that Israel calls the Morag corridor. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk with the media about the negotiations.
Keeping a foothold in the Morag corridor is a key element in Israel’s plan to drive hundreds of thousands of Palestinians south toward a narrow swath of land along the border with Egypt, into what it has termed a “humanitarian city.”
Critics fear the move is a precursor to the coerced relocation of much of Gaza’s population of some 2 million people, and part of the Israeli government’s plans to maintain lasting control over the territory.
Hamas, which still holds dozens of hostages and refuses calls by Israel to surrender, wants Israel to withdraw all of its troops as part of any permanent truce. It is adamantly opposed to any lasting Israeli presence inside Gaza.
As part of the proposed truce, Israel and Hamas would hold fire for 60 days, during which time some hostages would be freed and more aid would enter Gaza.
Previous demands by Israel to maintain troops in a separate corridor stalled progress on a ceasefire deal for months.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to comment on how the Morag corridor was playing into ceasefire talks. Netanyahu was in Washington this week to discuss the ceasefire and other matters with US President Donald Trump, who has pushed both sides to bring an end to the war in Gaza.
Israel’s desire to keep troops in Gaza was among the ceasefire sticking points discussed Tuesday by senior officials from the US, Israel and Qatar, according to a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
“We want to have peace. We want to get the hostages back. And I think we’re close to doing it,” Trump said Wednesday in response to a question about the officials’ meeting.
Hamas said in a statement late Wednesday that Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza was one of several remaining sticking points in the talks, without mentioning Morag specifically.
Morag corridor is one of three that carve up Gaza
During their 21-month campaign in Gaza, Israeli forces have seized wide swaths of land, including three east-west corridors that have carved up the Palestinian enclave.
In April, Israel seized the Morag corridor — named after a Jewish settlement that existed in Gaza before Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005.
The corridor, located between Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah and its second-largest city Khan Younis, stretches about 12 kilometers (7 miles) from Israel to the Mediterranean coast and is about 1 kilometer (half a mile) wide.
At the time, Netanyahu said it was part of a strategy of “increasing the pressure step by step” on Hamas.
Netanyahu called Morag a “second Philadelphi,” referring to another corridor that runs along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Israel has repeatedly insisted it must maintain control of Philadelphi to prevent cross-border arms smuggling. Egypt denies arms are moved through its territory.
Since the collapse of the last ceasefire in March, Israel has also reasserted control of the Netzarim corridor, which cuts off Gaza’s northern third from the rest of the territory and which it used to prevent Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza before the last truce.
It was not immediately clear how Israeli troops in the Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors factor into the ceasefire negotiations.
Morag allows Israel to set its population movement plan into motion
The foothold in Morag has effectively cut the Rafah area off from the rest of Gaza.
Rafah, once a city of tens of thousands of people, is currently all but flattened and emptied of its population following Israeli evacuation orders.
With those conditions in place, Israel says it seeks to turn the Rafah area into a “sterile zone” free of Hamas militants where it wants to move hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into a “humanitarian city.”
Most of Gaza’s population has already been displaced multiple times throughout the war and squeezed into ever smaller pieces of land. Rights groups see the planned new push to get them to head south as forcible displacement.
Israel’s idea is to use Morag as a screening zone for Palestinians being moved south, to prevent Hamas from infiltrating the area, according to Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at two think tanks, the Institute for National Security Studies and Misgav. That would allow Israeli troops to operate further north without Palestinian civilians getting caught in the crossfire, he said.
A no-go for Hamas
Michael said the move might allow Israel to ramp up the pressure on — and possibly defeat — Hamas in northern Gaza, where guerilla-style fighting continues to dog Israeli troops. And that, he added, could lay the groundwork for an end to the war, which Israel has vowed to continue until Hamas is destroyed.
But critics say the plan to move Palestinians south paves the way for the expulsion of Palestinians from the territory and for Israel to assert control over it, a priority for Netanyahu’s powerful far-right governing partners.
Netanyahu has said that any departures would be “voluntary.” But Palestinians and human rights groups fear that concentrating the population in an area hard-hit by the war with little infrastructure would create catastrophic conditions that leave Palestinians no choice but to leave.
Michael Milshtein, an Israeli expert on Palestinian affairs and former military intelligence officer, called the plan to move Palestinians south through the Morag corridor a “crazy fantasy.” He said the current negotiations could crumble over the Israeli demand because it signaled to Hamas that Israel does not intend to withdraw forces after the ceasefire expires, something Hamas will not accept.
“For Hamas, it’s a no-go,” he said. “If those are the terms, I can’t see Hamas agreeing.”


Anger at fate of Istanbul’s legendary train station

Anger at fate of Istanbul’s legendary train station
Updated 7 sec ago

Anger at fate of Istanbul’s legendary train station

Anger at fate of Istanbul’s legendary train station
Today the tracks lie silent at what was Turkiye’s busiest station, the great eastern hub of the Berlin to Baghdad railway
The picturesque railway station perched right on the water was inaugurated in 1908 at the end of the Ottoman Empire as Europe’s gateway to the East

ISTANBUL: When Senay Kartal worked at Turkiye’s most beautiful railway station, her days were filled with the rumble of locomotives and the bustle of passengers at Haydarpasa on the banks of the Bosphorus.
But gone are the days when passengers from Anatolia would walk its marble halls, suitcases in hand, marvelling at the grandiose landmark on Istanbul’s Asian waterfront.
Today the tracks lie silent at what was Turkiye’s busiest station, the great eastern hub of the Berlin to Baghdad railway.
Once immortalized in old Turkish films and portrayed in numerous novels, the station has been taken over by the Turkish culture ministry which wants to transform it into an art center.
Yet for the 61-year-old retiree, who still hears the echo of whistles and the cries of simit sellers hawking their sesame-coated bread rings, the iconic building should remain a railway station.
“People would step off the train and we had waiting halls where they could stay the night — there was no need for a hotel,” recalled Kartal.
“It was such a beautiful place, there was so much movement and energy, people were full of excitement and joy. That beauty no longer exists today,” she told AFP.
“I gave 38 years of my life to Haydarpasa, and yet even to me, its doors are closed.”

-’Personal memories’-

The picturesque railway station perched right on the water was inaugurated in 1908 at the end of the Ottoman Empire as Europe’s gateway to the East.
It has witnessed some of the most turbulent and tragic moments in Turkiye’s history, surviving the collapse of empire, World War I, the deportation of the Armenians, military coups, earthquakes and a devastating fire.
“Haydarpasa has witnessed many historic events throughout its history including the influx of migrants from rural Turkiye to Istanbul,” said Ayca Yuksel, a researcher, sociologist and author of books about Haydarpasa.
“That’s why it holds a special place in the memories of people who experienced this migration. We see reflections of this in literature, art and cinema,” she told AFP.
But today it lacks the very thing that gave it life: trains.
Since 2013, Hadarpasa has been closed — initially for restoration, then by an archaeological excavation that unearthed artifacts dating back to the fifth century BC, which is still ongoing.

-’Exploiting beauty for profit’ -

Last year the station was handed over to the culture ministry, with the first phase of the new arts center to be finished next year.
That involves emptying out the entire building, even though part of the complex is still used as housing for railway staff, who have been told they must leave.
“This isn’t just a building, it’s everything to us,” said train driver Hasan Bektas, a union member who belongs to the Haydarpasa Platform — a group of academics, urban planners and railway staff who are protesting against the government’s plans.
For Bektas, it’s clear the lucrative waterside location has whetted the appetite of investors.
“Their aim has always been the same: to turn every beautiful place into profit — to strip it of value and cash in. The public’s interests were never part of the equation. That’s what we’re against,” he told AFP.
In October 2024, Culture and Tourism Minister Nuri Ersoy pledged it would continue functioning as a station.
“There will be trains... a cultural and arts center, and a public garden. But there will never be a shopping mall or hotel here,” he said.

- ‘A world-renowned icon’ -

Back in the early 2000s, there were bold plans floated for the site — it would house seven skyscrapers, a new World Trade Center, an Olympic Stadium; some even spoke of a Venice-style makeover.
“But the building itself is already a world-renowned icon. No one ever fought to keep it exactly as it was, in its original form,” said Bektas, clearly furious.
Every Sunday, protesters gather near the station shouting: “Haydarpasa is a train station and must stay that way.”
Although Nehir Guner was just a child when the station closed, the 22-year-old student would gaze at it every time she caught a ferry to university and wonder about its future, eventually joining the protests.
“Railways are so important for a city, we want this to remain a train station,” she said.
“It’s painfully clear the art center project is all for show — designed to impress, not serve any real purpose.”
Architect Gul Koksal said Haydarpasa, with its lodgings, repair workshops and nearby port, was much more than just a station and had a unique place in Turkish cultural memory.
“It’s like a jewel — but it has meaning only if it’s preserved and kept alive with everything that makes it.”

Turkiye bans French singer’s concert after protest calls over his pro-Israeli stance

Turkiye bans French singer’s concert after protest calls over his pro-Israeli stance
Updated 24 min 1 sec ago

Turkiye bans French singer’s concert after protest calls over his pro-Israeli stance

Turkiye bans French singer’s concert after protest calls over his pro-Israeli stance
  • Macias’ performance has been banned “after intense calls for protests against the concert”
  • Any protests around the concert venue in Istanbul’s Sisli district on Friday were also banned

ANKARA: Turkish authorities have banned a concert of Enrico Macias, a French singer of Algerian-Jewish origin, after calls for protest over his pro-Israeli stance.
The Istanbul governor’s office late on Wednesday said that Macias’ performance scheduled for Friday evening in the city has been banned “after intense calls for protests against the concert.”
Such protests would place protesters “in an unjust position legally, and cause grievances,” the office said in a statement.
Any protests around the concert venue in Istanbul’s Sisli district on Friday were also banned by the governor.
NATO member Turkiye has fiercely criticized Israel over its actions in Gaza and says it is committing genocide there. It has halted all trade with Israel, called for international measures against it, and has repeatedly urged world powers to stop supporting Israel.
Israel has strongly denied that its actions in Gaza, where its offensive has killed more than 63,000, amount to genocide.


Syrian authorities arrest Assad-era war-crimes suspect

Syrian authorities arrest Assad-era war-crimes suspect
Updated 52 min 34 sec ago

Syrian authorities arrest Assad-era war-crimes suspect

Syrian authorities arrest Assad-era war-crimes suspect
  • Hussein Kalla Shukr was captured after a citizen reported his location in the Mediterranean region of Latakia
  • Investigations revealed his participation in mutilating the bodies of Syrians while serving in militias linked to the Assad regime

LONDON: Authorities in the Syrian Arab Republic arrested a suspect from the Assad era for war crimes against civilians committed during the country's civil strife after 2011.

The Internal Security Command announced on Thursday that it had arrested Hussein Kalla Shukr — a former regime member accused of involvement in war crimes — in the Mediterranean region of Latakia.

The ministry said that Shukr was captured after a citizen reported his location, and he has been referred to the Counterterrorism Directorate for further investigation pending trial.

Investigations uncovered his alleged participation in the mutilation of the bodies of Syrians while serving in militias linked to the Assad regime. After the regime collapsed in December 2024, Shukr reportedly formed a gang that was involved in drug trafficking and theft of public property, according to the ministry.


Pope Leo raises ‘tragic situation in Gaza’ in meeting with Israeli president

Pope Leo raises ‘tragic situation in Gaza’ in meeting with Israeli president
Updated 04 September 2025

Pope Leo raises ‘tragic situation in Gaza’ in meeting with Israeli president

Pope Leo raises ‘tragic situation in Gaza’ in meeting with Israeli president
  • The pontiff also called for the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, the statement said
  • Leo has in the past taken a more cautious tone than Francis when speaking about Israel’s military campaign in Gaza

VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo discussed the “tragic situation in Gaza” during a meeting on Thursday with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and called for a permanent ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave, the Vatican said.
The pontiff also called for the release of the remaining hostages held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the statement said, and reiterated the Vatican’s support for a two-state solution to the decades-long Israel-Palestinian conflict.
“A prompt resumption of negotiations was hoped for ... to secure the release of all hostages, urgently achieve a permanent ceasefire, facilitate the safe entry of humanitarian aid into the most affected areas, and ensure full respect for humanitarian law,” said the statement.
Herzog had earlier thanked Leo for the meeting on Thursday in a post on X, and said he had received a “warm welcome” at the Vatican.
“Religious leaders and all who choose the path of peace must stand together in calling for the immediate release of the hostages as a first and essential step toward a better future for the entire region,” said the president.
The Vatican did not immediately release further details about the meeting and did not say how long Leo and Herzog had spent together.
The Vatican released photos of the leaders greeting each other in the Vatican’s apostolic palace. In one image, the two stand posing side-by-side, neither smiling.
Leo, elected by the world’s cardinals in May to replace the late Pope Francis, has in the past taken a more cautious tone than Francis when speaking about Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Francis, who had led the Church for 12 years, had become a frequent critic of Israel. He suggested a study into whether Israel was committing genocide against the Palestinian people, which sparked sharp criticism from Israeli officials.
Leo has recently stepped up his calls for a halt to the war in Gaza. Last week, he issued what he called a “strong appeal” for an end during his weekly public audience.
Thursday’s release from the Vatican was notably longer than usual for statements about the pope’s meeting with foreign leaders, which typically only offer only a few lines of information and do not give specific details about the topics discussed by the pope.


Seven dead after migrant boat stranded in Med: NGO

Seven dead after migrant boat stranded in Med: NGO
Updated 04 September 2025

Seven dead after migrant boat stranded in Med: NGO

Seven dead after migrant boat stranded in Med: NGO
  • The survivors, the majority of them Sudanese, had been at sea for six days
  • The boat left Libya on August 27 but became stranded in international waters between Tunisia and Malta.

ROME: Seven people were lost at sea and 41 others were brought to Italy’s Lampedusa island after a migrant boat got into difficulty in the Mediterranean, German NGO Sea-Watch said Wednesday.
The survivors, the majority of them Sudanese, had been at sea for six days before landing on Lampedusa late Tuesday. They were rescued by Sea-Watch’s ship Aurora after refusing help from the Tunisian authorities, the NGO said.
According to the testimony of those on board, the boat left Libya on August 27 but became stranded in international waters between Tunisia and Malta.
Seven people were lost in the water.


Tunisian authorities ordered a supply ship operating in the Miskar gas fields to rescue the 41 survivors, and the Tunisian navy turned up days later — but the migrants refused to go with them, a Sea-Watch spokesman told AFP.
“Some of these people would rather die than be forced to Tunisia,” he said.
Sea-Watch, which monitored events with its observation aircraft, said that Malta refused its requests to help but it finally received permission from Tunisian authorities to collect the migrants.
The Aurora took them to Lampedusa, located just 90 miles (145 kilometers) off the Tunisian coast.
Tunisia is a key transit country for thousands of African migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea each year.
In 2023, Tunisia signed a 255-million-euro ($290-million) deal with the European Union, nearly half of which was earmarked for tackling irregular migration.
The deal aimed to bolster Tunisia’s capacity to stop boats leaving its shore, but campaigners say migrants face discrimination, racism and violence in the country.
Italy’s hard-right government backed the Tunisia deal as part of its efforts to stop the boats, which also included restricting the activities of NGO ships.