Category World News

As part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, Hamas will release six Israeli prisoners and give four of their bodies, according to the enclave leader of the group.

Six living Israeli prisoners will be released on Saturday, according to Khalil al-Hayya, the leader of the Palestinian group in Gaza, on Thursday.

“Hamas has proven, along with the resistance, its seriousness in implementing the agreement with full responsibility”, he said on Tuesday. We emphasize the necessity of requiring the occupation to adhere to all agreement terms without putting off implementation.

In the first phase of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed that discussions in Egypt led to the release of six Israeli captives who were living there on Saturday.

According to the statement, Israel will also receive the bodies of four dead prisoners on Thursday, before delivering four more bodies later that week.

The first phase of the Gaza truce, which was brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, is due to expire on March 1. Negotiations on the next stages, including a permanent end to the war, have not yet begun.

Reporting from Amman, Jordan, Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said the releases could be a major development regarding negotiations on phase two of the ceasefire.

Hamas claimed that they are carrying out this because they want the second phase to occur. She said that the Israelis have been pressing for this request for about a week because they want some captives’ bodies to be released sooner than phase one is complete.

On Thursday, according to Al-Hayya, the bodies of members of the Bibas family will be among those that will be delivered. Hamas made the news that the family had been killed in an Israeli airstrike in November 2023.

As part of Phase One of the ceasefire agreement, Husband and father Yarden Bibas was recently made public.

Israel did not respond right away to inquire about the identities of the dead captives.

The Israeli military had stated that they were concerned about the mother’s and her two children’s fate, but they had not confirmed whether they had been killed. Hamas now confirms they will be releasing the bodies, “Al Jazeera’s Salhut said.

Alon Liel, the former head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, claimed that Hamas’ policy of giving the bodies of Israeli prisoners to the Red Cross “may have a devastating impact on the Israeli public.”

He claimed that Israel would experience a day of mourning that would shock the populace.

It’s still preferable to receive nothing from Hamas, though. As soon as possible, “Liel said, we would like to have all the living hostages and the bodies back in Israel.”

Israel seeks ‘ maximum flexibility ‘ in talks

After more than 460 days of a conflict that has destroyed the Palestinian territory, Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement in Gaza on January 19.

However, Israel has violated the ceasefire in Gaza 266 times, killing at least 132 people, Palestinian security sources told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

Israeli leaders have also discussed the possibility of a return to fighting in Gaza since the ceasefire was established, with far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s cabinet calling for a military occupation, and US President Donald Trump calling for the forced expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza.

In advance of potential discussions over the second phase of the truce agreement with Hamas, Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera.

On the one hand, there are rumors that at least some Israeli officials want to enter the second phase of the ceasefire, and US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy said he is confident there will be the second phase. All of that seems to be positive, “Elmasry said.

Israel and the US are, on the other hand, “talking from both sides of the mouth” because they continue to discuss Trump’s forced expulsion and Gaza’s ethnic cleansing plan.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced on Tuesday that Israel would begin discussions regarding the second phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza this week.

A security cabinet met yesterday night. In the second phase, we made the decision to start the negotiations. According to Saar, it will take place this week during the initial discussions, which were supposed to begin on February 3.

European leaders are concerned about the administration’s new approach to transatlantic relations and President Trump’s plan to cut a deal with Vladimir Putin over Ukraine.

Russian delegation led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday for a meeting that aimed to end Ukraine’s war.

Trump and Putin met last week and agreed to hold peace talks to end the three-year conflict without his allies in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh. Trump also mentioned a potential meeting with Putin in Saudi Arabia.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine, and European leaders concerned about this, who have warned Kyiv would reject any agreement made without its support.

At the Munich Security Conference this weekend, Zelenskyy said, “No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine are made. Europe must have a seat at the table when decisions about Europe are being made.”

So what’s the Trump administration’s new approach, and how will Europe respond to the new reality?

What’s on the agenda at US-Russia talks in Riyadh?

Rubio and the Lavrov-led Russian delegation have sat down for talks with special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and national security adviser Mike Waltz.

The Riyadh discussions could also serve as a prelude to a possible meeting between Trump and Putin in addition to attempting to repair the tense relations between Washington and Moscow. The talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, would be “primarily devoted to restoring the whole complex of Russian-American relations”.

“The world is holding its breath as the meeting between these high-ranking officials in Riyadh has started”, Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova said, adding that no breakthrough is expected.

“The settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, as well as improving Russia-US bilateral relations – which have hit rock bottom – are on the agenda”, she said, reporting from Moscow.

Why are Europe and Ukraine concerned about not being invited to the summit in Riyadh?

Zelenskyy, who traveled to the United Arab Emirates on Monday, reiterated that he would not accept any decisions regarding Ukraine between the US and Russia.

Leaders in Europe have also expressed their concern about the inclusion of Europe and Ukraine in the discussions and their desire to participate in the discussions.

After Trump made a unilateral remark to Putin on Wednesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said over the weekend that “a dictated peace will never find our support.”

Trump later told reporters that Zelenskyy will be involved in the negotiations, without giving further explanation. Keith Kellogg, the US envoy for Ukraine, also tried to reassure that no deal would be imposed on Ukraine.

Kellogg is heading to Kyiv on a three-day visit.

A resolution that addresses Kyiv’s legitimate security concerns would be welcomed by the country, which has lost nearly 20% of its territory and lost thousands of lives.

“We seek a strong and lasting peace in Ukraine. Russia must end its aggression in order to do this, and it must be supported by credible security guarantees for Ukrainians, according to France’s President Emmanuel Macron, who was meeting with European leaders in Paris the day before.

Because neither Ukraine nor Europe are represented, European leaders are concerned. According to Timothy Ash, an associate fellow in Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia program, “they believe Trump will sell Ukraine down the river.”

“They fear a similar outcome as per Trump’s messaging on Gaza – he simply does not care”, Ash said, referring to Trump’s proposal to “take over” Gaza after displacing Palestinians, which would amount to ethnic cleansing and a war crime.

How are European leaders reacting to Trump’s change in their views on transatlantic ties and the Ukraine?

Following the new Trump administration’s three-year suspension of US policy in Ukraine and the release of proposals that will alter the transatlantic alliance’s dynamics since 1949, European leaders have been frantically looking for solutions.

On Sunday, Kellogg, Trump’s envoy for Ukraine, announced that Europe would not be at the table for Ukraine peace negotiations. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated last week that Ukraine’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was “unrealistic.”

Hegseth stated that Europe should increase its financial and military responsibilities in Ukraine in line with Trump’s claim that Europe should increase its spending on NATO. After any agreement is reached with Russia, he also ruled out sending US troops to Ukraine. Brussels should “step up in a big way to provide for its own defense,” according to US Vice President JD Vance.

European leaders gathered in Paris on Monday to discuss their next steps, stifled by the messaging and tone of Trump’s top advisers. Macron was joined by leaders from Germany, Denmark, Poland, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, alongside officials from NATO and the European Union.

“Ready and willing”, NATO chief Mark Rutte posted on X on Monday.

In recent years, Europe has increased its aid to Kyiv, spending nearly $ 140 billion more than the US, which has spent about $ 120 billion since the war broke out in February 2022.

As a result of Trump’s approach to Putin being viewed by some as a betrayal by a key ally, Ash from the Chatham House explained that Europe is “realizing the US is an unreliable partner”.

Europe’s main fear is Russian aggression beyond Ukraine, as Washington has been Europe’s security guarantor for decades through the NATO alliance. However, Trump has argued that Europe should assume greater security risk. The US wants to withdraw some of its troops from Europe, according to reports in the media.

In 2014, NATO member states pledged to contribute at least two percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) to defence, but more than 10 years later, only 23 of the 32 members have honoured their commitment. Trump wants defense spending to be 5% of GDP.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, stated in a post on X on Monday that “we need a surge in defense in Europe.”

Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on Europe, calling the economic relationship with the European Union “an atrocity.” This is in response to the transatlantic rift.

If Trump starts a trade war, European leaders have declared they will retaliate. Trump has already slapped steep tariffs on several countries, including China.

Can Europe offer Ukraine security guarantees?

According to European sources, Washington distributed a questionnaire to European leaders asking what the nations could offer in terms of security guarantees for Ukraine. Al Jazeera, however, has not seen the questionnaire.

Given that the US has other priorities, such as border security, the Trump administration wants Europe to take the lead in upholding security in Kyiv.

Only Washington and Moscow can resolve these issues, according to Anatol Lieven, director of the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

“That includes, obviously, NATO membership because it is for NATO, led by the US, to invite new members”.

However, Lieven asserted that Ukrainians and Europeans will have to make their own decisions regarding the reconstruction of Ukraine and its membership in the European Union.

Following a peace deal, European leaders at the Paris meeting did not reach an agreement on whether to send troops to Ukraine.

“Nothing has emerged from the public statements from the Paris meeting that shows Europe is any closer to proposing, let alone implementing, anything”, Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, told Al Jazeera.

British troops might be sent to Sweden and Ukraine, according to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. However, German Chancellor Scholz described the deployment of troops as “completely premature.”

Giles continued, “Europe’s military heavyweights are either too hesitant like Germany or they understand this places their own security in jeopardy, like Finland.”

This raises questions about the creation of such a force and how.

Who: Real Madrid vs Manchester City

What: UEFA Champions League
Where: Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain
When: Wednesday, February 19 at 9pm local time (20:00 GMT)
Follow Al Jazeera Sport’s live text and photo commentary stream of the match.

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti says his Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola was deliberately underestimating the English side’s hopes of reaching the Champions League last 16.

European champions Madrid hold a 3-2 lead on City, who have struggled this season and are fourth in the Premier League, in advance of the playoff round second leg on Wednesday at the Santiago Bernabeu.

After thrashing Newcastle 4-0 on Saturday, Guardiola said English champions City have only a 1-percent chance of knocking out the record 15-time European Cup winners.

“He does not truly think that, I’ll ask him before the game – do you really think you’ve got a 1-percent chance”? Ancelotti told a news conference on Tuesday.

“He really thinks they’ve got more chance than that … we don’t think we have 99-percent chance.

” We think we have a small advantage that we have to take advantage of, and try to play the same game we set up in the first leg, which went well. “

What else has Guardiola had to say before the Real clash?

Guardiola won three LaLiga titles and two Champions League crowns in his time with Real’s archrivals in Spain, Barcelona.

This campaign has marked the greatest, and perhaps first, true struggle of his managerial career.

” This season the reality is we have been miles, miles away, “he said”. The results have been poor. “

What do the stats say for Real Madrid and Man City?

Guardiola has never failed in 16 seasons of coaching — four at Barcelona, three at Bayern and nine in Manchester — to take his team to the last 16. The 2012-13 season was the last time City did not play at that stage.

Madrid got the better of City in the quarterfinals last year, and with a 3-1 win in extra time in the semifinals in 2022. Each time Ancelotti’s team went on to win the title, extending the club’s record to 15 Champions League trophies.

What is the latest on Real Madrid vs Spanish referees?

Ancelotti also reiterated his frustration with Spanish refereeing, following some controversial decisions which went against his side in recent LaLiga matches.

Ancelotti said he was more comfortable with refereeing in the Champions League.

” Statistics speak for themselves, in Europe, there’s less controversy in this sense, there are less VAR interventions, “said Ancelotti.

” The VAR only intervenes when it’s necessary, and usually, the Champions League features the best referees from each country, so the quality is very high in this sense. “

Is Bellingham available after red card against Osasuna?

England international Jude Bellingham was sent off for dissent during Madrid’s 1-1 draw at Osasuna on Saturday in LaLiga, but the resulting suspension is not applicable in the Champions League.

Bellingham’s teammate Federico Valverde said he did not want the midfielder to change his ways.

” What I want is players who leave their soul out on the pitch, in this case with Jude in the last game, I always want him to be like that, “Valverde told reporters.

” Jude is a player who shows character, who always wants to win, who always wants to fight.

“This time he got a red card, but I like that he’s giving everything, his spikiness … we have to stay united as a team”.

Real Madrid team news

Ancelotti confirmed in his news conference before the game that defender Antonio Rudiger was fit to start for the holders after injury, but Lucas Vazquez would only be ready for the bench.

news from the Manchester City team

Despite suffering a significant blow in the victory over Newcastle, Erling Haaland will now face Real.

After suffering a knock during the game, the striker was temporarily suspended in pain, but Guardiola claims he had hoped the striker would recover.

Head-to-head

The teams have faced each other 16 times, with Real emerging as winners on six occasions.

City have not been there to make up the numbers, however, as they have claimed victory in five of the encounters.

When the teams were pitted together in this competition during City’s Champions League winning campaign two seasons ago, Guardiola’s side did win on away goals even though they haven’t defeated Real in their previous three games.

Donald Trump designated the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as a “foreign terrorist organization” on his first day as president of the United States of America. Mexican drug cartels and the largely Salvadoran Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) were also named in the order.

As per Trump’s decree, the “campaigns of violence and terror” perpetrated by Tren de Aragua and MS-13 “in the United States and internationally are extraordinarily violent, vicious, and … threaten the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere”. Never mind the US itself, which has a long history of supporting right-wing dictators and death squads and inflicting military and economic destruction on Latin America. It also has a strong history of perpetrating violent and vicious acts in the hemisphere and elsewhere.

While MS-13 has long been a pet nemesis of Trump’s, Tren de Aragua is the new preferred dial-a-bogeyman. The gang allegedly brought its “campaign of violence and terror” into the US by forming in the Venezuelan state of Aragua in the form of a gang in Tocoron prison before spreading to various South American countries. The Joe Biden administration paved the way for a Trumpian warpath by labeling Tren de Aragua a “transnational criminal organization” under the pressure of then-Senator Marco Rubio, now Trump’s secretary of state, who had co-sounded the alarm that Tren de Aragua was “unleashed an unprecedented reign of terror.”

Of course, the usual suspects in the US media have taken the hype and run with it, churning out sensational reports on the “bloodthirsty” gang that, according to Trump’s personal hallucinations, has managed to take over entire US cities. The problem, however, is that no one has really been able to produce much evidence of the “terror” that Tren de Aragua is said to be unleashing, the New York City Police Department (NYPD), for example, has declared the gang to be largely focused on snatching mobile phones and robbing department stores.

A 19-year-old Venezuelan resident of a migrant shelter was charged with non-fatally shooting two NYPD officers in June. According to CBS News, he “told detectives he’s a member of a Venezuelan gang and that guns are smuggled into shelters through food delivery packages to avoid metal detectors.” Additionally, other media outlets jumped at the chance to depict refugee camps as Tren de Aragua hotbeds, effectively promoting a blanket criminalization of refugees.

The manufactured image of a growing army of terrorist gangbangers helps draw attention away from more troubling instances of violence, like the ongoing epidemic of school shootings, and serves as a useful justification for Trump’s current deportation frenziedness. Guantanamo Bay, where everyone’s favorite illegal US prison-and-torture center is located on occupied Cuban territory, has already deported a number of suspected Tren de Aragua members, who are fittingly representative of the US’s unilateral right to invade other people’s borders at will while manically fortifying its own.

Yet, according to a recent Washington Post investigation, some of Guantanamo’s newest visitors’ families believe their loved ones were targeted because they were born in the state of Aragua, Venezuela. In many cases, it appears an individual’s tattoos may have played a role in his detention – despite the fact that Tren de Aragua “does not even use tattoos to signal membership”, as the Post notes.

It would be obvious that this is not the first time the US has unlawfully imprisoned people. However, the purpose of Trump’s mass deportations and the existential hype surrounding Tren de Aragua is not ultimately to punish criminals for their crimes; rather, it is to maintain a terror spectacle and keep Americans ignorant of the possibility that their own government may just be their worst enemy.

If Trump accepts Nayib Bukele’s suggestion that the US “outsource part of its prison system” by sending over convicted criminals for internment in the Salvadoran mega-prison known as the Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT), allegedly in exchange for a fee, alleged Tren de Aragua operatives could soon find themselves in prison in El Salvador.

Of course, this Bukele is the same person who, through his policy of mass incarceration, has sent countless Salvadorans without any prior criminal history to an indefinitely detained prison system known for their hateful human rights abuses.

According to Bukele, he saved El Salvador from the evil of MS-13 and other gangs, which incidentally owe their existence to US-only. Many Salvadorans fled north in the country that was causing the worst of the violence: the US, a major supporter of the right-wing Salvadoran military and allied paramilitary groups and death squads, during the Salvadoran civil war of 1979-1992, which resulted in more than 75, 000 deaths. In the El Mozote massacre, the US-trained Atlacatl Battalion massacred roughly 1, 000 Salvadoran civilians in December 1981.

Sounds kind of “extraordinarily violent” and “vicious”.

Following the end of World War II, the US began deporting members of gangs that had begun in Los Angeles and its environs as a form of collective self-defense. However, Bukele has already solved the entire gang problem by incarcerating a sizable portion of the population, and he may also solve Trump’s Tren de Aragua issue.

For all of Trump’s chatter about Tren de Aragua’s violent savagery, it bears underscoring that US policy vis-a-vis Venezuela has been nothing less than totally savage. According to an infographic released by the Venezuelanalysis website, which draws on statistics from the US Government Accountability Office and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Venezuelanalysis had as of 2020 resulted in more than 100 000 deaths.

Naturally, the economic hardship generated by sanctions is also a driving force behind US-bound migration from Venezuela. However, one of the best things the US does is to cause “invasions” everywhere and then retaliate against them.

The New York Times in September warned Tren de Aragua members that they were alleged to have “similar identifying marks,” such as tattoos with clocks or crowns, and that they were “proud to wear Michael Jordan brand clothing and Chicago Bulls clothing.” A lot of Venezuelan refugee men have been made acquaintances with them in the Darien Gap, Mexico, and elsewhere, so I can safely say that a disproportionate preference for such clothing exists among young Venezuelan men. This means that the dress code warning issued by The New York Times is a sure recipe for US officials’ arbitrary profiling and the ensuing infringement of civil liberties.

The US has undoubtedly never let a strong bogeyman go unpunished. The Western Hemisphere appears to be very vicious indeed as the Trump administration, which is obsessed with racial equality and terrorizes undocumented people.

Dear Mr Trump,

I was born and raised in Gaza, a city of love and resilience, and I am writing to you as a Palestinian who has survived the genocide.

I have read your statements about Gaza and frankly, I am confused.

You claim to be a “peacemaker”, but encourage Israel to continue its genocide, calling for “all hell” to break loose if your demands are not fulfilled.

Mr Trump, we have already been through hell. We lost 60, 000 martyrs in it.

Your government, one of its guarantors, refuses to put pressure on Israel to fulfill all of its obligations under the ceasefire agreement, even though you claim credit for it.

You call Gaza a “demolition site” but conveniently fail to name the criminal responsible—while simultaneously supplying it with more bombs, funding, and diplomatic cover.

You talk about Palestinians being “safe” and “happy”, yet you refer to us as if we are a burden to be offloaded onto Jordan, Egypt, or any country willing to take us.

You claim that we “only want to be in the Gaza Strip because]we] don’t know anything else”.

You utterly misunderstand who we are and what Gaza means to us, Mr. Trump, in my opinion.

You may think of us as a mere obstacle to your vision of luxury resorts, but we are a people with deep roots, long history, and unalienable rights. Our land belongs to us as the legitimate owners.

Gaza is not your business venture, and it is not for sale.

Gaza is our home, our land, our inheritance.

No, it is not accurate to say that we want to stay because “we know nothing else.” Some of us have still managed to travel for work, education, or medical care despite the 17-year Israeli siege’s enormous hardships. Because Gaza is where these people once lived, they still come back.

An inspiring figure named Dr. Refaat Alareer, who was killed and targeted by the Israeli occupation in 2023, is a powerful example. He completed his PhD at Universiti Putra Malaysia after earning his master’s degree in the UK.

He chose to go back to Gaza where he taught creative writing and literature at the Islamic University despite having the option to stay abroad. Additionally, he co-founded We Are Not Numbers, a program that paired emerging Palestinian authors with accomplished authors to promote author engagement and combat occupation through storytelling. My voice is one of these.

Last spring, I, too, had the opportunity to leave, but I decided against it. In the midst of a genocidal war, I was unable to leave Gaza, my family, and friends. I intend to travel to finish my education, like many others, and then come back to support and rebuild my country.

This is the Palestinian way – we seek knowledge and opportunities, not to abandon our homeland, but to build and strengthen it.

In terms of building, you mention your plans to “create the Riviera of the Middle East” in Gaza. The truth is that Gaza was once known as the Middle East’s Riviera. Its ancestors transformed it into a bustling port city, cultural center, and trade hub. It was “magnificent” – to use your words – until Israel was created and it started destroying it.

And yet, after every brutal Israeli assault on Gaza, Palestinians would rebuild. Despite all the Israeli violence, restrictions and thievery, Palestinians still made sure Gaza was a safe place with a cosy rhythm of life, where its youth were doing their best to pursue decent livelihoods, where families were happy and together, and where homes thrived.

We are no longer able to live in Gaza because Israel has now attempted to reduce it to rubble and death. You have successfully supported our ethnic cleansing while maintaining a humanitarian bias.

No, Mr Trump, we will not be “happy” and “safe” elsewhere.

But I agree with you on something else you said: “You’ve got to learn from history”. Indeed, history teaches us that settler-colonialism in modern times is unsustainable. In this sense, your plans and Israel’s plans are doomed to fail.

We, the people of Gaza – like any Indigenous people – refuse to be uprooted. We refuse to be dispossessed. To allow the highest bidder to receive our land, we oppose being forced into exile. We have the right to live in our country in dignity and freedom, not as a problem to be solved.

No amount of bombs, blockades, or tanks will make us forget that. We will not be relocated, resettled, or replaced.

The fate of Gaza will not depend on wealth or power. The people who write history do so because they are against the will of the people, not by thieves. No matter the pressure, our connection to this land will never be severed. There is no substitute for surrender or abandonment. By nourishing this land with love, care, and memory, we will honor our martyrs without sacrificing our lives.

Wishing you the best of luck with your futile endeavors.

Hassan Abuqamar

Gaza, Palestine

After receiving asylum from the US, thousands of white South Africans have been making fun of their privilege. Trump says they are victims of anti-white discrimination. A look is taken by Soraya Lennie.