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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to seek US President Donald Trump's backing for new conditions he wants to table in coming negotiations with Hamas, sources briefed on Mr Netanyahu's plans told The National on Monday.
The Israeli leader wants to secure Mr Trump's support when the pair meet at the White House on Tuesday, the sources said, in the first face-to-face meeting between a foreign leader and the US President since the latter's return to office last month for a second term.
The conditions include making Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire conditional on the removal of Hamas from governing Gaza and being left out of the reconstruction effort, said the sources.
Those conditions, they explained, were rooted in the Israeli leader's often repeated assertion that the Gaza war will not end until Hamas is vanquished, and stripped of its governing and military capabilities.
Mr Netanyahu will also seek to gain the US President's support for Israel to maintain a military presence inside a narrow strip of land running the entire length of the Egypt-Gaza border on the Palestinian side, called the Salah Al Din (or Philadelphi Corridor), they said.
He also wants Israel to be directly involved in the running of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza – the enclave's only gateway not controlled by Israel – to foil any attempt to smuggle arms and dual-use material to Hamas.
News of Mr Netanyahu's plans follow Mr Trump's repeated calls on US allies Jordan and Egypt to take more Palestinians from Gaza. Both Arab nations have publicly rejected the suggestion, which caused an uproar in the Arab world. They countered by urging the US President to use his influence to pursue a two-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a long-time Arab demand.
"Trump and Netanyahu are trying to achieve what Israel has failed to do during its aggression on Gaza," Bassam Khalaf, a member of Hamas's political leadership, told The National. "Their main objective is to move the strip's population out and turn it into a place unfit for habitation."
However, he continued, the emergence of Hamas fighters during the ceremonies marking the handover of hostages to the International Red Cross in Gaza "constituted a message to Netanyahu that the killings and destruction of homes amounted to the failure of eradicating Hamas".
Under the ceasefire agreement, Monday is the designated day for the start of negotiations between Hamas and Israel on the second and critical phase of the deal, but the sources said the process was not expected to start until after the meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu takes place.
The ceasefire deal that went into force on January 19 capped more than a year of indirect, on-and-off negotiations between Hamas and Israel mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt. Both Mr Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden claimed credit for the January 15 agreement.
Under the ceasefire's first, 42-day phase, Hamas is to release a total of 33 hostages, eight of whom it says are dead, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian held in Israeli prisons. Israeli forces have pulled back from most areas and allowed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to devastated northern Gaza while aid flows in.
The second phase of the deal should in theory involve the release of the remainder of hostages still held by Hamas – believed to number about 60 – Israel's full withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire that signals the end of the war.
Hamas, which has reasserted control over Gaza since the ceasefire began last month, has said it will not release hostages in the second phase without an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal.
Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani, Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, said there was no clear plan for when the talks would begin. Qatar was engaging with Israel and Hamas to prepare for the talks, he said on Sunday.
The war on Gaza, triggered by a deadly attack on southern Israel by Hamas and allied groups, has killed more than 47,400 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The conflict has also displaced the majority of Gaza's 2.3 million residents, destroyed or damaged more than 80 per cent of the enclave's homes and obliterated its infrastructure.
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The Specs
Price, base Dh379,000
Engine 2.9-litre, twin-turbo V6
Gearbox eight-speed automatic
Power 503bhp
Torque 443Nm
On sale now
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
RACE CARD
6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Dirt) 1,200m
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,900m
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (D) 2,000m
8.15pm: Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (D) 1,600m
8.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday Celta Vigo v Villarreal (midnight kick-off UAE)
Saturday Sevilla v Real Sociedad (4pm), Atletico Madrid v Athletic Bilbao (7.15pm), Granada v Barcelona (9.30pm), Osasuna v Real Madrid (midnight)
Sunday Levante v Eibar (4pm), Cadiz v Alaves (7.15pm), Elche v Getafe (9.30pm), Real Valladolid v Valencia (midnight)
Monday Huesca v Real Betis (midnight)
About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The Settlers
Director: Louis Theroux
Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz
Rating: 5/5
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
