Middle East crisis live: Trump claims Gaza deal reached; Iran targets US bases in Kuwait
From1h agoOpening summary: Trump claims Gaza deal reached – but hurdles remainDonald Trump claims a deal has been reached for Hamas to disarm andIsraelto withdraw its forces from Gaza, but many hurdles and. . .
From1h agoOpening summary: Trump claims Gaza deal reached – but hurdles remainDonald Trump claims a deal has been reached for Hamas to disarm andIsraelto withdraw its forces from Gaza, but many hurdles and conditions remainedin the Palestinian territory. “The agreement will be carried out in carefully structured phases,” the US president said on social media. “As disarmament is completed,Israeliforces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility forGazabeing safe for its residents and its neighbors. ”SeniorHamasofficials have reportedly agreed to the plan, but the question of whether the group disarms before or after Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza has already emerged as a point of contention. “We will not take any action regarding disarmament prior to Israel’s withdrawal from the Strip,” Ghazi Hamad, a member of the Hamas negotiating team, told Al Jazeera. Earlier an Israeli official told the Reuters news agency that the proposed terms were not satisfactory. “Israel demands the complete disarmament ofHamas, including the removal of weapons from Gaza and the complete demilitarisation of the Strip as a precondition for any process,” the official said, adding that the plan under discussion did not “provide a satisfactory response to these demands and Israel conveyed its objections”. You canread more about that news here. The announcement comes nine months after a US-brokered ceasefire was signed. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas had largely deadlocked over the implementation of its second phase, including the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza. In theUS-Israeli war on Iran, which is showing signs of escalating across the region, Iran’s army on Friday launched drone strikes at US military facilities at theAhmad Al Jaber airbase in Kuwait. The strikes were in response to recent US attacks onIranincluding a strike on a home in Qeshm, Iran’s state media reported. AndSaudi Arabiais preparing for amajor military offensive against the Houthisby sea and possibly by land in centralYemen, Yemeni sources believe, in a move to break the chokehold on its oil exports through the southern Red Sea. Members of the Saudi special forces before a military parade in Mecca in a file shot. Photograph: Amr Nabil/APIn other developments:Twenty-five commodities vessels passed through the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Thursday, whiletraffic through the strait of Hormuz remained lowwith only two tankers transiting, according to Kpler shipping data. Analysts are expectingmajor oil companies to report large profitswhile fighting between Iran and the US impeded petroleum shipments. Six of Europe’s largest oil companies have posted first-quarter profits of $22bn altogether, a total 43% higher than the same time last year, according to Global Witness. Saudi Arabia on Thursday said it had set up amaritime defence alliance of 14 regional countries to secure navigation around the Bab al-Mandab strait. AnIranian strike hit a Chinese firm’s building in Kuwait on Thursday, severely damaging the structure and killing a worker, Kuwait’s military said, hours after Jordan’s air defences shot down five missiles launched from Iran. Egypt’s government said on Thursday authorities were analysing drone fragments from an unprecedented strike on one of its ports, afterPresident Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned of regional escalation. His government had earlier confirmed that a fire on two gas vessels in the Damietta port – one of which was US-owned – was a result of a drone strike, the first to target the country since the outbreak of the Middle East war. Key events1h agoOpening summary: Trump claims Gaza deal reached – but hurdles remainMore now on Iran’s military saying it launched drone strikes targeting US military facilities in Kuwaiton Friday, as fighting between Washington and Tehran resumed after a nearly week-long lull. The army said it targeted “fighter aircraft shelters, satellite communications systems and equipment storage facilities atAhmad al-Jaber air baseinKuwait”. There was no immediate comment from the US military’sCentral Command. The Iranian army said in a statement the strikes came in response to US military’s recent aggression and “brutal attack” on a residential home onQeshm Island, Agence France-Presse reports. Local media reported on Thursday that three members of a family were killed in US strikes on the island in thestrait of Hormuz. The US military earlier said it had carried out a“heavy wave of strikes”against Iran. Qeshm Island is a storage site for Iranian attack craft, drones, sea mines and other materials used to disrupt shipping through the Hormuz strait and has come under frequent American attack. Opening summary: Trump claims Gaza deal reached – but hurdles remainDonald Trump claims a deal has been reached for Hamas to disarm andIsraelto withdraw its forces from Gaza, but many hurdles and conditions remainedin the Palestinian territory. “The agreement will be carried out in carefully structured phases,” the US president said on social media. “As disarmament is completed,Israeliforces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility forGazabeing safe for its residents and its neighbors. ”SeniorHamasofficials have reportedly agreed to the plan, but the question of whether the group disarms before or after Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza has already emerged as a point of contention. “We will not take any action regarding disarmament prior to Israel’s withdrawal from the Strip,” Ghazi Hamad, a member of the Hamas negotiating team, told Al Jazeera. Earlier an Israeli official told the Reuters news agency that the proposed terms were not satisfactory. “Israel demands the complete disarmament ofHamas, including the removal of weapons from Gaza and the complete demilitarisation of the Strip as a precondition for any process,” the official said, adding that the plan under discussion did not “provide a satisfactory response to these demands and Israel conveyed its objections”. You canread more about that news here. The announcement comes nine months after a US-brokered ceasefire was signed. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas had largely deadlocked over the implementation of its second phase, including the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza. In theUS-Israeli war on Iran, which is showing signs of escalating across the region, Iran’s army on Friday launched drone strikes at US military facilities at theAhmad Al Jaber airbase in Kuwait. The strikes were in response to recent US attacks onIranincluding a strike on a home in Qeshm, Iran’s state media reported. AndSaudi Arabiais preparing for amajor military offensive against the Houthisby sea and possibly by land in centralYemen, Yemeni sources believe, in a move to break the chokehold on its oil exports through the southern Red Sea. Members of the Saudi special forces before a military parade in Mecca in a file shot. Photograph: Amr Nabil/APIn other developments:Twenty-five commodities vessels passed through the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Thursday, whiletraffic through the strait of Hormuz remained lowwith only two tankers transiting, according to Kpler shipping data. Analysts are expectingmajor oil companies to report large profitswhile fighting between Iran and the US impeded petroleum shipments. Six of Europe’s largest oil companies have posted first-quarter profits of $22bn altogether, a total 43% higher than the same time last year, according to Global Witness. Saudi Arabia on Thursday said it had set up amaritime defence alliance of 14 regional countries to secure navigation around the Bab al-Mandab strait. AnIranian strike hit a Chinese firm’s building in Kuwait on Thursday, severely damaging the structure and killing a worker, Kuwait’s military said, hours after Jordan’s air defences shot down five missiles launched from Iran. Egypt’s government said on Thursday authorities were analysing drone fragments from an unprecedented strike on one of its ports, afterPresident Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned of regional escalation. His government had earlier confirmed that a fire on two gas vessels in the Damietta port – one of which was US-owned – was a result of a drone strike, the first to target the country since the outbreak of the Middle East war.