التصنيف: أخبار

Israel’s war against Hamas could be paused for two months should US negotiators reach a deal where dozens of hostages captured in the 7 October attack would be released, according to two senior administration officials.

The American officials, who wished to remain anonymous, said the terms of the deal in progress would play out in two phases.

In the first phase women, the elderly and wounded captives would be released by Hamas as fighting would pause.

During this hiatus, Israel and Hamas would have to figure out the second phase in order for Israeli soldiers and civilian men to be freed.

In total, more than 100 captives are expected to be liberated in the agreement.

The emerging deal also calls for Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza – as residents describe “huge suffering” due to a lack of food and one working water pipeline between Israel and the besieged strip, according to the UN’s agency for Palestine.

More than 1.9 million Gazans have been displaced since 7 October and a tent “city” of almost two square miles has been set up in Rafah, south of the strip.

No food or medical supplies are allowed to enter the territory, including sanitary products.

Read more:
‘Our lives stopped on 7 October’
The Houthis and Iranians have laid a trap

While the proposed deal would not end the war, US officials are hopeful that such an agreement could offer a durable resolution to the conflict.

US President Joe Biden spoke to Qatar’s leader, and both “affirmed that a hostage deal [was] central to establishing a prolonged humanitarian pause in the fighting”, the White House said.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

Meanwhile, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is intent on destroying Hamas and vowed to continue military operations to achieve that goal.

In November, a week’s truce was established resulting in the exchange of some 100 hostages from both sides. Around 130 remain captive, but a number have since been confirmed dead.

Immediately after the truce expired, Israeli fighter jets were bombing Gaza, and Hamas fighters firing rockets into Israel.

Hamas has previously said it will free more captives only in exchange for an end to the war and the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners.

A person has died after two masked gunmen attacked a church in Istanbul during Sunday services.

Two “masked assailants” attacked the Santa Maria Church in the Sariyer district at around 11.40am, Istanbul officials have said.

Turkish broadcaster T24 confirmed reports that one person died after being shot in the head during the attack.

They also reported that the attackers escaped, and others in the church threw themselves on the ground to protect themselves. No other injuries have been confirmed.

It is unclear what the motive behind the attack was and whether it is linked to any group.

An investigation has been opened and authorities are working to capture the pair involved, Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has announced.

He said on X: “A large-scale investigation into the issue and efforts to catch the attackers have been initiated. We strongly condemn this vile attack.”

Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul, also said: “We will never allow those who try to destroy our unity and peace by attacking the religious places of our city.”

The shooting comes nearly four months after a suicide bombing in front of a government building in the Turkish capital Ankara.

Six people died in an explosion on Istiklal Caddesi, one of Istanbul’s most popular streets and a tourist hotspot, in November 2022.

Turkey also suffered a string of deadly bombings between 2015 and 2017 by Islamic State and outlawed Kurdish groups.

Protesters have thrown red soup at the Mona Lisa painting in the Louvre in Paris.

Footage shows two women crossing a security boundary to get closer to the painting, with both throwing soup towards the Leonardo da Vinci artwork.

Both are wearing a shirt with Riposte Alimentaire – which translates as food response – written on the front, referring to a climate activist group.

The incident came as French farmers protest for days against low wages, rising costs and regulations.

“What’s the most important thing?” the women shouted. “Art, or right to healthy and sustainable food?”

“Our farming system is sick, our farmers are dying at work,” they added.

Museum staff then rushed to the painting with black screens in a bid to block the public’s view and asked visitors to evacuate the room immediately.

Two people were arrested following the incident, Paris police said.

A glass window protects the Mona Lisa, meaning the soup would not have covered the painting itself.

Riposte Alimentaire claims two people – aged 24 and 63 – involved with their “new campaign” were behind the incident to “demand the establishment of sustainable food social security”.

Angry French farmers have been using their tractors for days to set up blockades and slow traffic across the country as they protest for better pay for their produce.

Read more:
Protesting French farmers determined to make their voices heard

Also seeking less red tape and protection against cheap imports, the farmers said a series of measures announced by the government on Friday does not fully address their demands.

As a result, some farmers threaten to converge on Paris, starting on Monday, to block the main roads leading to the capital.

The world’s most famous artwork has been targeted before.

In May 2022, cake was smeared on the covering, with bystanders claiming a “man dressed as an old lady” jumped out of a wheelchair before trying to smash the protective glass.

The gallery explained the culprit had managed to get close to the portrait by “simulating a disability”, allowing them to take advantage of a policy designed to help people with mobility problems see the major works in its collection clearly.

One man was seen saying “think of the planet” after the incident.

Activists from Just Stop Oil have targeted artwork elsewhere recently, with other attempts including throwing soup at Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at London’s National Gallery in October 2022.

In the following month, campaigners glued themselves to Goya paintings in Madrid’s Prado museum.

واس – عمّان – الوكالات:

أعلنت الحكومة الأردنية أمس أن الهجوم الإرهابي الذي استهدف موقعاً متقدماً على الحدود مع سوريا، أدى إلى مقتل ثلاثة جنود أمريكيين وجرح آخرين من القوات الأمريكية التي تتعاون مع الأردن في مواجهة خطر الإرهاب وتأمين الحدود. وأوضح وزير الإعلام الناطق الرسمي باسم الحكومة الأردنية الدكتور مهند المبيضين، أن الهجوم الإرهابي لم يؤد إلى أي إصابات في صفوف القوات المسلحة الأردنية، مؤكداً أن بلاده ستستمر في مواجهة خطر الإرهاب، وستتصدى بكل حزم واقتدار لكل من يحاول الاعتداء على أمن الأردن. وكانت الأردن أعلنت سابقاً أنها تتعاون مع شركائها لتأمين الحدود، وطلبت من الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية ودول صديقة أخرى تزويدها بأنظمة عسكرية والمعدات اللازمة لزيادة القدرات على تأمين الحدود ومواجهة الأخطار عبرها.

من جانبه قال الرئيس الأمريكي جو بايدن إن مقتل 3 جنود أمريكيين تم بهجوم مسيّرة على قوات أمريكية في شمال شرقي الأردن قرب حدود سوريا ، وأضاف أن الهجمات على القاعدة الأمريكية في الأردن تمت من ميليشيات مدعومة من إيران تعمل في سوريا والعراق. وأكد بايدن أن ما حدث في الأردن تصعيد كبير متوعداً بمهاجمة كل المسؤولين عن مهاجمة قوات بلاده بالقاعدة الأمريكية داخل الأردن، وقال: «لا يساوركم شك في أننا سنحاسب جميع المسؤولين في الوقت والطريقة اللذين نختارهما. وأورد بايدن على حسابه في منصة «إكس»: «سنحاسب المسؤولين عن الهجوم على قواتنا وسنرد بالطريقة التي نختارها».

Lily Ebert, one of the last remaining survivors from Auschwitz-Birkenau, told Sky News that she believes the Holocaust could happen again.

The 100-year-old was 20 years old when she was deported from her hometown in Hungary to the concentration camp.

Her mother, and younger sister and brother, were killed by Nazis in gas chambers.

Speaking to Sky News’ Trevor Phillips along with her great-grandson Dov Forman, Ms Ebert was asked whether she fears that the Holocaust could happen again 78 years later.

“That is a very difficult question to answer for me,” she said. “But we see it can, because it happened.

“It’s happened to me the second time as well. Luckily they did not kill me, only nearly.

“They behaved to me not to human beings you should talk to, they talk to somebody who is not a normal human being.

“Why should anybody speak like that to me? When I have done nothing wrong for the whole world.”

Mr Forman then added that antisemitism “is still ever present in today’s world,” saying: “That’s why it’s important to remember, because we need ordinary people like you and I who stood idly by during the time of the Holocaust to realise that if we leave hatred to go unchecked, that leads to place like the gas chambers.

“Auschwitz-Birkenau did not fall from the sky. The Holocaust was not something that was created overnight. This was indoctrination over years of an ideology of hatred.”

Ms Ebert, when describing her time in Auschwitz, also told Mr Phillips: “When I survived the worst thing in life, being in Auschwitz, you could say that was in life for anybody, the worst thing.

“To survive that – I don’t think a lot of people can survive that. I survived that, and that was terrible.”

Saturday saw the UK and the world mark Holocaust Memorial Day, commemorating 79 years since the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp was liberated.

Read more from Sky News:
There is ‘nowhere safe to be Jewish’, says Dame Maureen Lipman
Use Horizon law to protect litigation funding, trade body urges

In a statement marking the Holocaust on Wednesday, Rishi Sunak said: “I want to address very directly the despicable resurgence of antisemitism. Because it is not enough to come together today and faithfully remember the Holocaust.

“We must also act on what that memory teaches us. It is sickening that Jewish people are once again facing the most abhorrent antisemitism in this country.”

It comes as Sky News learned antisemitic incidents referencing the Holocaust have increased by 104% across the UK in 2023.

The Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that protects British Jews from antisemitism, last year received 955 reports of Holocaust-related antisemitism, defined as incidents containing some kind of reference to the Holocaust, Nazis, Hitler or swastikas.

That number is more than double the 469 incidents reported in 2022.