Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

UK must act more promptly over latest Iran detentions, says Richard Ratcliffe

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Husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe expresses concern for Craig and Lindsay Foreman who were held in January

The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has called on ministers to act “more promptly” than they did to help free his wife, after Iran detained a British couple on a motorcycle trip.

Richard Ratcliffe, whose wife was freed in 2022 after five years in a Tehran prison, expressed fears that the couple would now face the “brutal theatre” of court process to “get the government’s attention”.

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Netanyahu says Israel working closely with US on Trump’s plan for Gaza

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Israeli PM and US secretary of state express joint support for ‘bold vision’ that would force 2 million people to leave

Benjamin Netanyahu has said his government is working closely with the US to implement Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza, which involves US ownership of the coastal strip, the removal of more than 2 million Palestinians and the redevelopment of the occupied territory as a resort.

The Israeli prime minister was speaking after a meeting in Jerusalem with the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who defended the Trump plan as bold and visionary. Rubio and Netanyahu blamed Iran for the violence in the Middle East and insisted Tehran would be stopped from developing nuclear weapons.

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Rubio expected to push Trump plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza on trip to Israel

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US secretary of state is making his first trip to region and is expected to advocate Trump’s plan to create ‘Riviera of the Middle East’

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will discuss the Gaza ceasefire with Israel’s prime minister in Jerusalem, launching a Middle East tour a day after the latest hostage-prisoner exchange.

On his first visit to the region as Washington’s top diplomat, Rubio is expected to push the US president Donald Trump’s widely condemned proposal to take control of the Gaza Strip and relocate its more than 2 million residents – which experts say would amount to ethnic cleansing.

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British couple held in Iran on ‘security’ grounds named

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Relatives of Craig and Lindsay Foreman say they are engaging with UK government about situation

A British couple who have been detained in Iran have been named by their family as Craig and Lindsay Foreman.

The couple, in their early 50s, had only planned on being in Iran for five days as part of a motorbike trip across the world.

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Middle East crisis live: more Israeli hostages released in Gaza after week of fears over ceasefire

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Iair Horn, Alexander Sasha Troufanov and Sagui Dekel Chen handed to the Red Cross in Gaza

Several media are quoting a statement released by Hamas this morning, in which it says Israel will only be able to repatriate the remaining hostages if it implements in full all terms of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement.

Hamas added that the release of hostages is being carried out after it received guarantees from mediating countries that Israel will uphold the agreements, Haaretz reported.

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Three Israeli hostages released in Gaza after week of ceasefire tensions

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Release comes after Hamas and Israel had traded accusations over ceasefire violations

•​ Middle East crisis – live updates

Gaza militants have released three Israeli hostages in exchange for 369 Palestinians in Israeli custody, the sixth swap in a truce that came close to collapsing this week.

Israel and Hamas have traded accusations of violating the 19 January ceasefire, with the Palestinian group saying it would pause releases and Israel threatening the resumption of war in the Gaza Strip.

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Latest Israeli hostages to be freed named amid uncertainty over truce

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Iair Horn, Sasha Troufanov and Sagui Dekel-Chen due to be exchanged for 369 Palestinian prisoners

Palestinian militant groups have named the three hostages they plan to free on Saturday in return for the release of 369 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, raising hopes that the January ceasefire agreement will survive its latest crisis.

However, the longer-term prospects of the truce remain in doubt and the uncertainty has been deepened by the US president, Donald Trump, who made surprise territorial claims over Gaza.

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‘Time is running out’: frailty of freed hostages raises pressure on Netanyahu

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Relatives and supporters anxious for return of remaining hostages urge Israeli PM to maintain ceasefire deal

Still frail less than a week after his release from Hamas captivity, and processing the news that his wife, Eynav, was killed during the militants’ attack on 7 October 2023, Or Levy told a crowd in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square that he had insisted his family and doctors allow him to come.

Israelis had been shocked and angered by the gaunt appearances of Levy, 34, Eli Sharabi, 52, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56, last Saturday as they were trooped on to a stage in Gaza City and forced to read out statements before being handed to the Red Cross. After nearly 500 days in captivity, all three appeared to struggle to see in the daylight, and were so weak that armed fighters had to help them walk.

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Trump’s Gaza plan unites jihadist and far-right circles, experts warn

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Trump’s threat to take over Gaza is galvanizing two of the most dangerous and organized extremist movements

As Donald Trump continues to threaten to take control over the Gaza Strip, an unlikely consensus has emerged across hardcore jihadist and far-right circles: both strongly oppose any new US military actions in the territory.

Now experts are warning that Trump’s plan is galvanizing two of the most dangerous and organized extremist movements with track records of domestic terrorist attacks.

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Palestinian booksellers decry detention by Israeli police over ‘public disorder’

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Mahmoud and Ahmed Muna remain under house arrest until Sunday, despite lack of evidence against them

Two Jerusalem booksellers detained this week on charges their books were causing “public disorder” have said the experience reflected an intensifying campaign by the Israeli government against Palestinian culture and free speech.

Mahmoud Muna and his nephew Ahmed, whose family has owned the Educational Bookshop for more than 40 years, spent two days in detention and will remain under house arrest until Sunday, despite the absence of evidence to support the vague accusations against them.

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Israel says it will stick to agreed hostage demands after Trump causes confusion

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Government says it will follow ceasefire agreement as long as Hamas releases three hostages on Saturday

The Israeli government has signalled it intends to stick to the hostage release schedule agreed in the ceasefire deal with Hamas, but warned that if the anticipated three surviving hostages were not released on Saturday, it would go back to war in Gaza.

The statement from the prime minister’s office ends nearly three days of confusion after Donald Trump’s declaration that Israel should demand Hamas release all the remaining hostages, more than 70 people, by Saturday or failing that, end the ceasefire.

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Sudan says plan for first Russian naval base in Africa will go ahead

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Two countries’ foreign ministers meet in Moscow and agree there are no obstacles to long-delayed plan

A plan for Russia to establish its first naval base in Africa will go ahead, Sudan’s foreign minister has confirmed, after years of delays over the Red Sea military port.

If the agreement is implemented, Russia would join the US and China in the region; they have bases to the south in Djibouti.

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Two British nationals arrested in Iran on ‘security’ allegations, say state media

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Photo appears to show UK ambassador to Iran meeting pair, whose detention comes after tit-for-tat releases with Germany and Italy

Two British nationals have been arrested in Iran and given access to the UK ambassador, Hugo Shorter, according to reports.

State media published photographs purportedly showing Shorter meeting two British “national security” suspects at the general and revolutionary prosecutor’s office in Kerman province, about 500 miles south-east of Tehran.

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‘No to ethnic cleansing’: over 350 rabbis sign US ad assailing Trump’s Gaza plan

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Jewish creatives and activists also sign New York Times ad after US president’s proposal to ‘take over Gaza’

More than 350 rabbis, alongside additional signatories including Jewish creatives and activists, have signed an ad in the New York Times in which they condemn Donald Trump’s proposal for the effective ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.

The ad, which was signed by rabbis including Sharon Brous, Roly Matalon and Alissa Wise, as well as Jewish creatives and activists including Tony Kushner, Ilana Glazer, Naomi Klein and Joaquin Phoenix, says: “Trump has called for the removal of all Palestinians from Gaza. Jewish people say no to ethnic cleansing!”

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Hopes raised for saving Gaza ceasefire as hostage releases reportedly agreed – Middle East crisis live

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Three hostages will reportedly be freed on Saturday after threats that Israel would resume war if they were not released

Hamas said on Thursday it did not want the Gaza ceasefire agreement to collapse, reports Reuters.

Mediators are exerting pressure for the deal to be fully implemented, ensure Israel abides by a humanitarian protocol and resume exchanges of Israeli hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel on Saturday, Hamas said in a statement.

A key component of the current ceasefire agreement is the delivery of humanitarian aid, including shelter materials such as tents and mobile houses that will accommodate thousands of displaced families who right now live on the remnants of their shattered houses.

This has been a key demand by Hamas, which has accused Israel of deliberately hindering the delivery of temporary shelters and the entry of heavy machinery.

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USAid cuts sow feeling of betrayal among Yazidis, 10 years after IS genocide

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Figures who backed rights of religious minorities in Trump’s first term fall silent as vital work halted on the ground

During the first Trump administration, Mike Pence, the vice-president, pledged hundreds of millions of dollars, mostly through USAid and the state department, to help Christians and other religious minorities who were persecuted by Islamic State and – in the case of the Yazidis – suffered a genocide.

But under the second Trump administration, the same figures who championed the rights of religious minorities have fallen silent or actively participated in the destruction of USAid, cutting crucial aid to support the same communities they once helped – who now feel abandoned by the US.

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Arab mediators scramble to save Gaza ceasefire as Israel bolsters troop numbers

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Both sides accuse other of violating terms of truce, but Hamas says there are ‘positive signals’ hostage exchange will go ahead

Arab mediators are scrambling to save the Gaza ceasefire as the Israeli military bolsters troop and tank deployments to the strip’s periphery in advance of the possibility the truce breaks down this weekend.

A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Wednesday to “discuss ways to end the current crisis”, the Palestinian militant group said. Meanwhile, Egyptian and Qatari mediators were working “intensively” to compel Israel to address Hamas’s new demands before Saturday’s scheduled release of three Israeli hostages, Egypt’s state-run al-Qahera television reported.

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Hamas faces hard choice over next hostage release as ceasefire falters

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Delay will probably mean return to fighting, but releasing more hostages could force talks on next stage of ceasefire

Hamas is facing hard choices as the Israeli military bolsters troop numbers in and around the Gaza Strip and the three-week-old ceasefire falters.

The Palestinian militant group unexpectedly announced on Monday that it was postponing the next planned release of three Israeli hostages over the weekend, citing alleged Israeli violations of the truce: delaying the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza, blocking the arrival of aid and attacking civilians. It stressed, however, that it wants the ceasefire to continue, emphasising that mediators had five days before the handover to ensure Israel “complies and compensates for the past weeks”.

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Amid the ceasefire wrangling, how popular is Hamas in Gaza now?

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The group still projects a powerful presence but, after all the damage, it will need to divert blame if the truce collapses

Of the many factors that will determine the fate of the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, one of the most difficult to quantify and predict is the level of popular support for Hamas.

On Monday, Hamas threatened to delay the release of further Israeli hostages, accusing Israel of breaches of the ceasefire deal. The uncertainty, just over halfway into the ceasefire’s six-week first phase, complicates talks on the far more difficult second phase. It also jeopardises the pause in the devastating fighting and the increase in humanitarian aid for Gaza that the truce has made possible.

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Hamas suspends release of Israeli hostages over ‘violations’ of ceasefire

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Israeli military on alert as mediators fear a breakdown in three-week-old truce as Hamas says ‘door remains open’

Hamas has said it is delaying the release of Israeli hostages indefinitely over “violations” of the ceasefire deal, prompting Israel’s defence minister to put the country’s military on alert with orders to prepare for “any scenario in Gaza”.

Mediators fear a breakdown of the three-week-old ceasefire, Egyptian security sources told Reuters, and have postponed talks until they receive a clear indication of Washington’s intent to continue with the phased deal.

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