Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
Dr Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to President Sheikh Mohamed, issued a renewed plea for an independent Palestinian state after a long-awaited Gaza ceasefire agreement came into effect on Sunday.
Dr Gargash said the six-week halt to fighting had brought an end to “months of death and devastation” in a message posted on social media platform X on Sunday evening.
He said it time to “pray for peace” as international aid efforts to address a humanitarian crisis exacerbated by the 15-month war with Israel gathered pace.
“Months of death and devastation in Gaza finally over. Let us pray for peace,” Dr Gargash wrote.
The senior diplomatic criticised some media coverage of the deadly conflict, in which the death toll in Gaza is approaching 47,000.
“Most infuriating was hearing, ‘according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians,’ as if war and bombings do. Time for an independent Palestinian state.”
President Sheikh Mohamed and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Thursday offered their support to the ceasefire plan during high-level talks in Abu Dhabi.
The two leaders underlined the importance of ensuring sufficient humanitarian aid reaches Gaza and reaffirmed the need for a two-state solution as a path to lasting peace.
Hostages released as ceasefire begins
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect on Sunday at 11.15am local time, after the Palestinian group released the names of the three Israeli hostages to be freed on the first day of the truce.
Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher are the three names on the initial list of 33 hostages to be released in the first phase of ceasefire. Israel confirmed it received the list and said the military is reviewing the names.
Under the ceasefire, Israel has agreed to release 737 Palestinian detainees in the first phase of the agreement and, in return, Hamas will release three female hostages on the first day of the ceasefire, four on the seventh day and then 26 over a five-week period.
The Palestinians are among more than 1,700 detainees Israel has agreed to release during the three-phase ceasefire in exchange for Hamas freeing 33 of the remaining 98 Israelis hostages.
Nearly 47,000 people have been killed, at least 110,450 injured and 11,000 have gone missing in the past 15 months, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Most of the population has been displaced, with widespread homelessness across the territory.
International aid effort
The UN's World Food Programme said on Sunday it was moving at full speed to get food to as many Gazans as possible after border crossings reopened as part of a ceasefire deal.
“We're trying to reach a million people within the shortest possible time,” the WFP's deputy executive director Carl Skau said, as the Rome-based UN agency's lorries began rolling into the strip.
“We're moving in with wheat flour, ready-to-eat meals, and we will be working all fronts trying to restock the bakeries,” Mr Skau said, adding the agency would try to provide nutritional supplements to the most malnourished.
“The agreement is for 600 trucks a day … All the crossings will be open.”
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Turkish Ladies
Various artists, Sony Music Turkey
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Silent Hill f
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
Dunki
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Scoreline
Chelsea 1
Azpilicueta (36')
West Ham United 1
Hernandez (73')
