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US envoy Jared Kushner met Hamas’s new leader in Egypt yesterday, sources with knowledge of the talks told AFP, in a push to revive a Gaza peace plan rejected by Israel.Two weeks after Hamas endorsed the latest stage of Trump’s Gaza plan by saying it would hand over weapons to a new governing committee, Kushner pressed for verifiable disarmament.Kushner called for “concrete, verifiable steps” and relayed a message that “Gaza can never again be a source of terror for Israel”, said one source who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya took part in the discussions in the Egyptian Mediterranean city of El-Alamein, making his first trip since assuming leadership of the group in July.In the talks with Kushner, Hamas again voiced its commitment to the agreement, another source with knowledge of the talks said. Source link
Palestinians walk past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the war, in Gaza City, August 15, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Donald Trump’s envoys met with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators in Cairo yesterday, a diplomatic source said, in a bid to advance the US president’s Gaza peace plan, even as Israel pressed on with airstrikes in the enclave.Hamas officials were present at some of the meetings between mediators and with Trump’s envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Nickolay Mladenov, Trump’s Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, the diplomat said.A senior Israeli official said Kushner and Mladenov were scheduled to meet on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on August 9 said Trump’s latest roadmap for Gaza peace was ‘unacceptable’.The official said that Israel was concerned about Washington’s demand to end targeted assassinations of Hamas militants in Gaza as the group rebuilds its forces.Trump’s peace plan calls for the immediate cessation of military operations in Gaza. It foresees Hamas disarming as Israeli troops withdraw from the enclave and Gaza is rebuilt under a new civilian Palestinian administration.After scaling back its attacks in the enclave earlier this month, Israel’s airstrikes have resumed in the past few days.The Israeli military said on Sunday that its aircraft struck two fighters in Khan Younis and Nuseirat. At least five Palestinians were injured in the strike which hit a tent encampment, medics in the enclave said.One of the injured in the strike on Khan Younis in southern Gaza died from their wounds, medics at Nasser hospital said later.A separate airstrike, which the Israeli military said targeted another fighter, hit an apartment in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, wounding several people, medics said.Earlier, Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya met with Egypt’s intelligence chief Hassan Rashad in Cairo. Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, Hazem Qassem, said al-Hayya would brief mediators on what he said were Israel’s ceasefire violations.Kushner had earlier met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Sisi’s office said.Trump announced last month that there had been a breakthrough in his plan to end the war, to which both Israel and Hamas had agreed.Hamas said it had agreed to the plan to avoid a resumption of the war, but added that implementation of the deal would depend on Israel first meeting its own commitments, including withdrawing its forces and halting attacks.An October ceasefire halted major fighting in a devastating two-year war in Gaza.Israeli fire has killed more than 1,250 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians, since October. It is unclear how many of those killed were fighters, as Hamas does not usually disclose information about dead fighters.Four Israeli soldiers were killed by fighters in Gaza over the same period, according to Israeli figures. …
A general view of Qusra village as Israeli military forces gather on it’s outskirts, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 15, 2026. REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman Families on the outskirts of Qusra, the West Bank village where Palestinian homes have been under siege for nearly a week, said they have faced sometimes deadly attacks by militant settlers for months.The US wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly condemn militant settlers who have besieged Palestinians in their homes in the occupied West Bank, US and Israeli officials said on Friday.In Qusra, rights groups say militant settlers are mounting a concerted effort to seize more land, further eating into territory where Palestinians aim to establish a state.The Israeli police and military did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday. The Israeli military has said soldiers have deployed in Qusra since Thursday to protect residents and maintain security.Marmar Ouda said he has been forced to erect metal fences around his home and bars on his windows to protect his family from attacks by militant settlers. Next to his home, the words ‘death to Arabs’ have been spray-painted in Hebrew on a wall.Five months ago, Ouda said his nephew was shot and killed by a settler in an incident during which his brother was also injured. Marmar…
Iran has decided to shift its policy from defensive to “fully offensive” due to the deadlock in efforts to agree a permanent end to its war with the United States, a senior Iranian official told Reuters yesterday. Progress towards peace talks and a resumption of oil tanker traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz has ground to a halt, with no sign that the warring parties are moving towards ending the conflict that the US and Israel launched on February 28.”Iranian entities must be prepared to escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and wider region, as Iran will be ready to make decisions and take action on difficult decisions,” the Iranian official said, adding that Tehran would conduct a “timely and precise” military attack to break the US naval blockade if diplomacy failed.There was no immediate response to those comments from Washington, but US President Donald Trump said in a phone interview with Fox News yesterday that Iran “should put up the white flag of surrender”.Throughout the conflict, Trump has alternated between threats of escalation and assertions that a peace deal is imminent. Yesterday marked the day by which Iran and the United States were expected to reach a final deal under a memorandum of understanding agreed in June and aimed at ending the war.Signed on June 17, the MoU set out a 60-day timeframe, extendable by mutual consent, by which Washington and Tehran should reach a broader agreement on issues including limiting Tehran’s nuclear programme and lifting US sanctions.That interim deal, which declared the “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts”, quickly unravelled, however, due to a dispute over control of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the war.Tehran said point 5 of the MoU gave it the right to manage the strait, which it shares with Oman, while Washington rejected that interpretation. Hostilities resumed as Tehran began firing on vessels it said were trying to sail through the waterway on an unapproved route.Trump said on July 7 that the pact was “over”. Tehran has repeatedly accused Washington of consistently violating its commitments.”Within the short period of a few weeks set by Iran, all the agreement’s provisions must be implemented by the US. This is a precondition for further negotiations with the US,” the Iranian official told Reuters, adding that mediators would share Tehran’s deadline with Washington and regional states.Tehran has separately been negotiating an agreement with Oman over management of the strait, seen as a key component of a wider deal, and says they are close to agreement, although progress has been slow.”If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb them,” Trump told Fox.There was no immediate comment from Oman. Source link
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US envoy Jared Kushner discussed putting an American general in charge of verifying Hamas’s disarmament on Monday, an Israeli official said, as the premier insisted there would be no pullout from Gaza until then.Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, flew to the region after Netanyahu, facing a tough re-election fight, publicly rejected the latest part of a US plan aimed at ending the devastating Gaza war.Kushner, who has long family ties to Netanyahu, met with him in Jerusalem a day after holding rare direct talks in Egypt with Hamas, which has publicly committed itself to the plan and to disarmament, winning praise from Trump but prompting deep scepticism in Israel.The two sides “agreed that no redeployment or reconstruction would take place in the Gaza Strip before Hamas is disarmed throughout Gaza”, a senior Israeli official told AFP.”It was also agreed that the first step toward the demilitarisation of the Strip would be to require Hamas to hand over its weapons for decommissioning under the supervision of an American general,” the official said.Kushner was joined in the talks by other members of Trump’s so-called Board of Peace on Gaza, including former British prime minister Tony Blair.The group did not immediately comment on the meeting.The Trump administration has already given a role to the US military and friendly foreign forces in supervising an October ceasefire in Gaza that has reduced, but not ended, Israeli strikes in the ravaged Palestinian territory.The call for a US general’s involvement came after Netanyahu publicly rejected an earlier text by the Board of Peace in which it said Hamas would hand over its weapons to a nascent Palestinian governing committee.Kushner in the talks in Egypt had demanded that Hamas verify it is giving up its weapons and that the group renounce any future role in governing the Palestinian territory, the sources said.A Hamas official said the group, represented by its new leader Khalil al-Hayya, told Kushner it was committed to the Gaza plan and wanted pressure on Netanyahu.Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister whose job is on the line in October 27 elections, has increasingly been willing to defy Trump, whose support he once highlighted in his campaign.The prime minister has also made clear his unhappiness with Trump’s decision to halt the US-Israeli war on Iran launched in late February and instead pursue a settlement with Tehran’s clerical leaders.After initially voicing muted criticism of the Gaza plan, Netanyahu last week told his cabinet that he rejected it.The stance came even though Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace high representative for Gaza, had assured him that Israel would not need to withdraw until a full disarmament by Hamas, backtracking on the Board’s earlier calls for Israel to start a phased withdrawal.In an interview, Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right national security minister in Netanyahu’s cabinet, called for mass killings in Gaza.”I think targeted eliminations should be carried out in Gaza every night. Take out 30 or 40,” Ben Gvir said on a podcast with a former Gaza hostage.”Not only those who endanger you right now. These are people who shouldn’t be alive,” he said. “I’m paying them a compliment by calling them humans.”On Sunday, eight Muslim-majority countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates — whose relationship with Israel is considered by Netanyahu to be a key achievement — condemned Israel’s rejection of the Gaza plan in a joint statement. Source link
A boy carries a rifle, as Houthi supporters rally against the Saudi-led coalition’s restrictions on Houthi-controlled areas, which the group describes as a blockade, in Sanaa,…
A photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of Qabrikha shows destruction in the village of Bani Hayyan during Israeli military operations against Iran-backed Hezbollah movement…
Omani authorities announced today that they are continuing their salvage and containment efforts for the oil spill from the vessel “CAROLINE BEZENGI”, which is stranded on a rocky outcrop near Al Qibliyah Island in the Al Hallaniyat Islands archipelago in Dhofar Governorate. These efforts are being carried out amid extremely challenging weather conditions, with wind speeds at times reaching around 40 knots and sea waves rising to approximately four metres, making it extremely difficult and complex to approach the vessel by sea or air, said Oman’s Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information TechnologyThe Ministry said in a statement that it has, from the outset, intensified its efforts to mitigate the potential environmental impacts resulting from the vessel’s grounding.The Ministry emphasized that the challenges extend beyond the ship’s surroundings to its own technical condition. It is aground on rocky terrain and tilted at approximately 17 degrees, resulting in significant flooding on one side and making movement and operations on board extremely difficult.The statement further noted that the ship’s deck being exposed to oil and seawater, along with strong waves and winds, has rendered some work areas slippery and unsafe. Moreover, the ship lacks a reliable power source to operate the equipment necessary for rescue operations. (QNA) Related Story Source link
The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) announced that the total issuance of Government Treasury Bills amounted to OMR 48 million.In a statement on Monday, the bank said that the value of the allotted Treasury bills amounted to OMR 22 million, for a maturity period of 91 days, while the average accepted price reached OMR 99.050 for every OMR 100, and the minimum accepted price arrived at OMR 99.050 per OMR 100.The average discount rate and the average yield reached 3.80953 percent and 3.84606 percent, respectively, the bank added.Meanwhile, the value of the allotted Treasury bills amounted to OMR 26 million, for a maturity period of 182 days. The average accepted price reached OMR 98.069 for every OMR 100, and the minimum accepted price arrived at OMR 98.065 per OMR 100. The average discount rate and the average yield reached 3.87195 percent and 3.94818 percent, respectively.The statement indicated that the interest rate on the Repo operations with CBO is 4.25 percent while the discount rate on the Treasury Bills Discounting Facility with CBO is 4.75 percent. Related Story Source link
President of UAE, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Sultan Haitham bin Tariq of Oman on Monday discussed and exchanged views on a host regional and international issues of joint interest.According to UAE’s new agency (WAM), the two sides discussed the serious developments in the Middle East and ongoing efforts to strengthen regional security, stability.They also discussed means to strengthen cooperation in the economic and development fields. Related Story Source link