International
Negotiations for the truce in Gaza will resume in Doha
Negotiations for the truce in Gaza are scheduled to resume tomorrow, Sunday, in Doha and there will be an Israeli delegation to respond to Hamas’ updated proposal, Egyptian intelligence sources told EFE today.
The source, who asked for anonymity due to the sensitivity of this issue, assured that the new round of talks will take place in Doha and not in Cairo, home of the last consultations, and in them there will be Egyptian, Qatari leaders and a delegation of the Israeli Mossad, without the participation of the Islamist group Hamas.
So far, the Qatari government has not officially confirmed that talks will resume tomorrow in its country.
The Egyptian source close to the negotiations assured that the meeting in Doha will discuss the points of disagreement between the Palestinian and Israeli parties, but it will not be to discuss all the points included in the agreement, since some have been agreed in principle.
He stressed, always according to this source, that the Israeli objections are mainly based on his desire for Hamas to reveal the names of the hostages and the figures of the dead captives.
On the other hand, a Palestinian source in Cairo also aware of the talks pointed out to EFE that the updated draft of Hamas contemplates three phases, instead of two as pointed out the day before.
The first phase provides for an exchange in different stages and a temporary ceasefire that lasts 42 days that later, in the second phase, will become a permanent ceasefire.
In the first phase, the movement conditioned the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Al Rashid Street and from Salah al Din to allow the return of the displaced and the passage of aid to the north of the Gaza Strip, as well as guarantee freedom of movement.
Hamas also offered, according to this source since the Palestinian group has not officially confirmed this information, to release 50 Palestinian prisoners for each living Israeli female soldier, although the informant did not offer more details of the rest of the hostages.
With the start of the second phase, Hamas demands a permanent ceasefire before any exchange of soldiers.
Finally, in the third phase, the proposal includes the implementation of a comprehensive reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and the end of the siege.
The mediators will try to press for both parties to reach a ceasefire, which was expected to be achieved before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on March 11.
At least 80 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed by Israeli airstrikes in the last hours in Gaza, medical and local sources told the Palestinian agency Wafa, while the Israeli Army claimed to have killed about thirty Hamas militiamen in the strip.
Waiting for the Gaza Ministry of Health to confirm the total number of fatalities this morning, about 36 people died last night in attacks on two houses in the Nuseirat camp, in the center of the Gaza Strip, sources on the ground told the Palestinian agency.
For its part, the army said it had killed 15 alleged militiamen in Nuseirat “hidden in a sie in Hamas” during an air attack, explains a military statement, which says that the attack was led by the 215º artillery regiment “based on intelligence information.”
The same regiment, the army says, conducted a second airstrike “killing a commander of a squadron of snipers from Hamas” and another militiaman.
The rest of the civilian deaths, mostly women and children, perished in the bombing of a seven-storey residential building “that housed displaced people,” according to Wafa, near the Al Shifa hospital, in Gaza City, and in another air attack on a house on Al Jalaa Street in the same city.
In addition, five other civilians died and dozens more were injured in an airstrike against a house in the Al Tuffah neighborhood, and a similar bombing caused an undetermined number of deaths and injuries in the Al Nasr neighborhood, both in Gaza City.
In turn, Wafa reported “intense air strikes” on the city of Beit Hanoun, in the north of the Strip, with bombings that also took place against an inhabited house in Rafah, south of the enclave and where more than 1.4 million displaced people take refuge.
In the center of Gaza, Israeli soldiers of the Nahal Brigade, according to the statement, killed “about 10 armed men” on the last day; and in Jan Yunis fighter planes destroyed “a weapons depot” and attacked alleged militiamen.
After more than five months of war, 85% of the Gaza population has been displaced, and 60% of the infrastructure of the Strip, according to UN estimates, is damaged or destroyed, with malnourished babies and little medical assistance due to Israeli attacks.
A Palestinian armed with a rifle was killed this Saturday by Israeli soldiers shot in a cemetery near a Jewish settlement, within the occupied Palestinian city of Hebron, according to a military statement and a video of the event.
An attacker “opened fire on a Jewish community (colony) in the city of Hebron. The terrorist has been neutralized,” said the army, which reported that soldiers comb the area in search of other possible suspects.
The total number of fatalities increased in recent hours to 31,553 and 73,546 injured since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, reported the Ministry of Health controlled by Hamas, after a day of intense attacks in the central area of the enclave.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry insisted on Saturday that Israel must open all the remaining steps that are not yet operational to introduce aid to the Gaza Strip and prevent the humanitarian situation from worsening.
“Egypt continues to do everything possible to improve the access of urgent aid to Gaza through the Rafah border crossing and through aerial launches,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in a statement.
And he asked Israel to “remove the obstacles and restrictions it imposes on the entry of aid through land border crossings, and to put the remaining steps into operation so that more aid is entered and thus prevent the humanitarian situation in Gaza from worsening.”
International
Trump orders immediate U.S. nuclear testing, ending 30-year moratorium
U.S. President Donald Trump’s order to begin “immediate” testing of the country’s nuclear arsenal could, if carried out, end the nuclear testing moratorium that the United States has maintained for over 30 years.
The announcement follows Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear maneuvers on October 22 from the Kremlin, which involved land, sea, and air exercises and the launch of a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of up to 12,000 kilometers.
In 1992, the U.S. Senate approved a temporary suspension of nuclear tests in August, followed by the House of Representatives in September, initially for nine months, with the goal of ending all U.S. atomic testing by September 1996.
Although then-President George H.W. Bush, a Republican, and his successor Bill Clinton, a Democrat, threatened to veto the measure, the moratorium has remained in place ever since.
The decision came after the fall of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, and a political climate in which many U.S. leaders and a significant portion of public opinion believed that the country should lead global denuclearization efforts. Technological advances have also allowed the United States to verify the reliability of its nuclear arsenal without conducting atomic explosions.
From World War II until 1992, the United States conducted over a thousand nuclear tests. Until 1963, these tests were atmospheric, after which only underground tests were performed.
Although the U.S. has not conducted nuclear detonations since September 1992, it has carried out several dozen subcritical experiments. These do not trigger chain nuclear reactions or produce atomic yield but are designed to verify the safety and effectiveness of the nuclear arsenal and remain within the limits established by the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
International
Brazilian president defends coordinated anti-drug operations after deadly Rio raid
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defended on Wednesday the integration of the country’s various police forces into an anti-drug strategy that avoids civilian casualties, commenting on Tuesday’s police operation in Rio de Janeiro that left 121 dead—the deadliest in Brazil’s history.
“We need coordinated efforts that strike at the backbone of drug trafficking without putting police, children, and innocent families at risk,” the progressive leader wrote on social media.
Lula, along with several of his ministers, emphasized that organized crime is not defeated through violent confrontations in the favelas, but by measures that decapitalize these groups and reduce their financial power.
“That was exactly what we did in August during the largest operation against organized crime in the country’s history, targeting the financial core of a major organization involved in drug trafficking, fuel adulteration, and money laundering,” he stated, referring to a recent operation against the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), a major national criminal group.
Lula stressed that Brazil cannot allow organized crime to continue destroying families, oppressing citizens, and spreading drugs and violence across cities.
He added that, in a federal country like Brazil, where public security is the responsibility of regional governments, it is necessary to unify the country’s police forces.
The head of state affirmed that integrating regional and national police forces to combat organized crime will be possible with the approval of a public security bill that the government has submitted to Congress.
International
US Deputy Secretary criticizes Mexico’s call to end Cuba trade embargo at UN
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau reacted on Wednesday against Mexico’s request at the United Nations to lift the trade embargo on Cuba.
Landau expressed on X that he felt “sad” as a “friend of Mexico” after Mexico’s ambassador to the UN, Héctor Vasconcelos, reiterated solidarity with Cuba and stressed the “urgent need to end the trade embargo.”
“Let’s base ourselves on reality and not fantasies. There is no trade embargo on Cuba (…) Cuba freely receives goods and visitors from many countries,” Landau wrote.
The reaction from the State Department official came after the Mexican delegation urgently requested the removal of sanctions against Cuba at the United Nations headquarters in New York, where a majority of 165 countries voted in favor of ending the embargo imposed on the island since 1960.
Seven countries voted against the proposal, and twelve abstained. The United States, Israel, Argentina, Hungary, Paraguay, and Ukraine were among those opposing the measure, but the overwhelming support left the U.S. and its allies in the minority.
Trump orders immediate U.S. nuclear testing, ending 30-year moratorium
Brazilian president defends coordinated anti-drug operations after deadly Rio raid
US Deputy Secretary criticizes Mexico’s call to end Cuba trade embargo at UN
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