US's Blinken lays out post-war Gaza plan; ceasefire deal ‘closer than ever’ - mediators

Negotiators met in Qatar on Tuesday hoping to hammer out final details of a ceasefire in Gaza, with mediators and the warring sides all describing a deal as closer than ever.

Nawaf Salam, who has been designated as the new prime minister of Lebanon, has resigned as a member of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), said the ICJ on Tuesday.

Blinken lays out post-war Gaza plan to be handed to Trump team

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday laid out plans for the post-war management of Gaza, saying the outgoing Biden administration would hand over the roadmap to president-elect Donald Trump’s team to pick up if a ceasefire deal was reached.

Speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington in his final days as the US top diplomat, Blinken said Washington envisioned a reformed Palestinian Authority leading Gaza and inviting international partners to help establish and run an interim administration for the enclave.

A security force would be formed from forces from partner nations and vetted Palestinian personnel, Blinken said during his speech, which was repeatedly interrupted by protesters who accused him of supporting genocide by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza, which Israel denies.

He was speaking as negotiators met in Qatar hoping to finalise a plan to end the war in Gaza after 15 months of conflict that has upended the Middle East.

“For many months, we’ve been working intensely with our partners to develop a detailed post-conflict plan that would allow Israel to fully withdraw from Gaza, prevent Hamas from filling back in, and provide for Gaza’s governance, security and reconstruction,” said Blinken.

Trump and his incoming team have not said whether they would implement the plan.

Blinken said a post-conflict plan and a “credible political horizon for Palestinians” were needed to ensure that Hamas does not re-emerge.

The US had repeatedly warned Israel that Hamas could not be defeated by a military campaign alone, he said. “We assess that Hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost. That is a recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war.”

Blinken’s remarks were interrupted three times by protesters, who echoed accusations that the Biden administration was complicit in crimes committed by Israel in the war.

Blinken has denied Israel’s actions amount to genocide and says he has pushed Israel to do more to protect civilians and to facilitate humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Israel launched its assault after Hamas-led fighters stormed across its borders on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s aerial and ground campaign has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, drawing accusations of genocide in a World Court case brought by South Africa and of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. Israel denies the allegations.

The assault has displaced nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million population and drawn the concern of the world’s main hunger monitor.

Gaza ceasefire ‘closer than ever’ as sides work on final details

Negotiators met in Qatar on Tuesday hoping to hammer out final details of a ceasefire in Gaza, with mediators and the warring sides all describing a deal as closer than ever.

More than six hours after talks began there was still no word on an outcome.

Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari told a news conference that talks on the final details were under way after both sides were presented with a text. US President Joe Biden, whose administration has been taking part alongside an envoy of Trump, said a deal was close.

Hamas said the talks had reached the final steps and that it hoped this round of negotiations would lead to a deal after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the US.

An Israeli official said talks had reached a critical phase although some details needed to be hammered out: “We are close, we are not there yet.”

The militant group Islamic Jihad, which is separate from Hamas and also holds hostages in Gaza, said it was sending a senior delegation that would arrive in Doha on Tuesday night to take part in final arrangements for a ceasefire deal.

“The deal ... would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started,” said Biden on Monday.

If successful, the phased ceasefire — capping over a year of start-and-stop talks — could halt fighting that decimated Gaza, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, made most of the enclave’s population homeless and is still killing dozens a day.

That in turn could ease tensions across the wider Middle East, where the war has fuelled conflict in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and raised fears of an all-out war between Israel and Iran.

Israel would recover around 100 remaining hostages and bodies from among those captured in the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas that precipitated the war. In return, it would free Palestinian detainees.

An Israeli official said the deal’s first stage would see the release of 33 hostages, including children, women including some female soldiers, men above 50, and the wounded and sick. Israel would gradually and partially withdraw some of its forces.

A Palestinian source said Israel would free 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in the first phase, which would last 60 days.

Families of hostages unlikely to be in the first group remained anxious. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu briefed relatives of some hostages, others protested outside his office.

“The prime minister should bring a deal that includes all the hostages, including my son,” said Ruby Chen, whose soldier son, Itay, was killed on 7 October 2023, his body since held in Gaza. “He saved many people, he doesn’t deserve to rot in Gaza.”

Fighting has meanwhile raged on, focused in recent months on Gaza’s northern edge where Israel says its forces are trying to prevent Hamas from regrouping and Palestinians say the Israelis are trying to permanently depopulate a buffer zone. Nightly Israeli strikes have continued across the enclave.

Gaza health officials said on Tuesday Israeli strikes killed at least 27 Palestinians in the past day, including one Gazan journalist. One of those attacks killed 10 people in a house in Khan Younis south of the enclave. Another killed nine people in a tent encampment in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.

Lebanon’s PM-designate resigns from International Court of Justice

Nawaf Salam, who has been designated as the new prime minister of Lebanon, has resigned as a member of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), said the ICJ on Tuesday.

Salam’s term as head of the ICJ had been due to end in early February 2027.

Earlier this week, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun summoned Salam to designate him prime minister after most legislators had nominated him, dealing a big blow to Hezbollah, which accused opponents of seeking to exclude it.

Salam said on Tuesday his hands were “extended to everyone”, in a gesture to Hezbollah.

Salam’s nomination has reflected a dramatic shift in the power balance in Lebanon, a result of the heavy blows dealt to Hezbollah in last year’s war with Israel, compounded by the ousting last month of its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad.

It follows last week’s election of Aoun, the former head of the Lebanese army who has US and Saudi support.

Speaking after the meeting, Salam said he was committed to rebuilding from last year’s war between Israel and Hezbollah, and that it was time for “a new chapter” in Lebanon “rooted in justice, security, progress and opportunities”.

Israeli minister Ben-Gvir threatens to quit Netanyahu Cabinet over Gaza deal

Israeli far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened on Tuesday to quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government if he agrees to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal being negotiated at talks in Qatar.

Ben-Gvir, whose departure would not bring down Netanyahu’s government, urged Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to join him in a last-ditch attempt to prevent a ceasefire deal, which he described as a dangerous capitulation to Hamas.

“This move is our only chance to prevent [the deal’s] execution, and prevent Israel’s surrender to Hamas, after more than a year of bloody war, in which more than 400 IDF [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers fell in the Gaza Strip, and to ensure that their deaths are not in vain,” said Ben-Gvir on X.

Smotrich said on Monday that he objected to the deal but did not threaten to bolt Netanyahu’s coalition. A majority of ministers are expected to back the phased ceasefire deal, which details a halt to fighting and the release of hostages.

Ben-Gvir echoed remarks by Smotrich, who said on Monday Israel should keep up its military campaign in Gaza until the complete surrender of  Hamas.

Iraq, UK agree on trade package worth up to £12.3bn, defence deal

Iraq and Britain have agreed on a trade package worth up to £12.3-billion and a bilateral defence deal, said the Iraqi and British prime ministers in a joint statement on Tuesday.

The deal, envisaging more than 10 times the total of bilateral trade in 2024, was announced after a meeting between Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and British counterpart Keir Starmer at the latter’s Downing Street offices.

It includes a £1.2-billion project in which British-made power transmission systems will be used for a grid interconnection project between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, as well as a £500-million plan to upgrade the Al-Qayyarah air base in northern Iraq.

A water infrastructure project by a UK-led consortium that will help provide clean water in arid southern and western Iraq is also part of the deal, said the statement. The project would be worth up to £5.3-billion in UK exports.

Sudani and Starmer also signed a defence deal that “establishes the basis for a new era in security cooperation”. DM

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