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More Israeli hostages expected to be freed after Gaza truce extended

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More Israeli hostages expected to be freed after Gaza truce extended

Cairo/Jerusalem (Reuters) – An Israel-Hamas truce in the Gaza Strip stretched into a fifth day on Tuesday as the two sides completed the release of Israeli hostages and detained Palestinians and looked poised to free more as the pause in fighting was extended by two days.

Hamas took about 240 hostages during an Oct. 7 incursion into southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures, prompting Israel to retaliate by bombing the coastal enclave and launching a ground offensive in its north.

Israel said 11 Israelis had returned to the country from the Gaza Strip on Monday, bringing to 69 the total of Israeli and foreign hostages the Palestinian group has freed since Friday under the truce.

The White House and Qatari negotiators said on Monday the original four day pause in fighting, due to expire at 0500 GMT on Tuesday, had been extended for two more days.

Israel has not commented on any agreement to extend the truce but, in what may be an implicit confirmation, the Israeli prime minister’s office said the government approved the addition of 50 female prisoners to its list of Palestinians for potential release if additional Israeli hostages are freed.

Hamas said it had sought to revise terms under which it would free hostages beyond the women and children it has already released.

“We hope the Occupation (Israel) abides (by the agreement) in the next two days because we are seeking a new agreement, besides women and children, whereby other categories that we have that we can swap,” Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya told Al Jazeera late on Monday.

That, he said, would entail “going towards an additional time period to continue swapping people at this stage”.

Among hostages Hamas still holds are fathers and husbands of those it has freed in recent days.

Israel previously said it would extend the truce by one day for every 10 more hostages released, providing some respite from the war.

Israel’s government has received a list of hostages who are expected to be released on Tuesday, Israel’s Army Radio reported, citing the Israeli prime minister’s office.

The Axios news website reported the list contained 10 hostages. There was no immediate comment from the prime minister’s office.

Clashes Outside Prison

The Israel Prison Service said 33 Palestinian prisoners were released on Monday from Israel’s Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank and from a detention centre in Jerusalem, bringing the total number of Palestinians it has freed since Friday to 150.

Israeli forces clashed with some of the dozens of Palestinians who gathered outside Ofer prison to await the prisoner release, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Some of the protesters waved the flags of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian militant group.

The ministry said a Palestinian was killed in the area, and that it was unclear if he had participated in the clashes. Palestinian media reported he was shot dead. Israel had no immediate comment on the incident.

In response to the Oct. 7 attack, Israel has bombarded the Gaza Strip and mounted a ground offensive in the north. More than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza’s Hamas-run government says, and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Each day since the truce began on Friday, Hamas has released some hostages while Israel has freed some Palestinians it holds. Of the 69 hostages freed by Hamas were 51 Israelis and 18 foreigners.

Ido Dan, a relative of Israelis Sahar Calderon, 16, and Erez Calderon, 12, spoke of the joy at their release on Monday mixed with anxiety about their father, Ofer, who is still being held.

“It is difficult to go from a state of endless anxiety about their fate to a state of relief and joy,” Dan said. “This is an exciting and heart-filling moment but … it is the beginning of a difficult rehabilitation process for Sahar and Erez, who are still young and have been through an unbearable experience.”

The U.S. State Department said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken would visit Israel, the West Bank and the United Arab Emirates this week to discuss sustaining aid flows to Gaza and freeing all hostages as well as U.S. principles for the future of Gaza and the need for an independent Palestinian state.

The original truce agreement allowed more aid trucks into Gaza, where the civilian population faces shortages of food, fuel, drinking water and medicine. An estimated 1.8 million of the territory’s 2.3 million population are internally displaced, according to the United Nations.

While describing the extension as “a glimpse of hope and humanity,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said two more days was not enough time to meet Gaza’s aid needs.

Iraq sees risk of regional conflict if Gaza war resumes

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Baghdad (Reuters) – Iraq sees a risk of regional conflict if the current truce in Gaza is not turned into a permanent ceasefire, the Iraqi prime minister’s foreign affairs adviser said, as mediators sought an extension of the temporary four-day Israel-Hamas truce.

Israel’s devastating bombardment of Gaza in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel has drawn in Iran-aligned armed groups in the region including Lebanese Hezbollah and several Iraqi factions, who have mounted near-daily attacks on Israeli and U.S. forces.

But there have been no reports of attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq or Syria since Israel and Hamas began a four-day truce last week that was set to expire on Monday, compared to over 70 in the weeks prior.

Some of the main Iraqi armed factions behind the recent attacks, including Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada and Kataeb Hezbollah, have announced they will abide by the Gaza ceasefire but indicated they would resume attacks if it ends.

They have also said in statements that they still seek the eventual ouster of U.S. forces in Iraq. There are around 2,500 U.S. troops on a mission the U.S. says is to advise and assist Iraqi forces battling remnants of Islamic State.

“The entire region is on the verge of a devastating conflict that may include everyone, and the extent of its expansion or how to control and stop it is not known,” said Farhad Alaadin, foreign affairs adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

“For this reason, we see any ceasefire in the conflict as beneficial and important at this stage for the people of Palestine and Gaza first and for all countries in the region, including Iraq,” he told Reuters.

European Union Ambassador to Iraq Thomas Seiler said in a social media post that he hopes Iraqi factions “continue with their cessation of attacks.”

Two sets of U.S. strikes in Iraq last week killed 10 members of Kataeb Hezbollah, according to posts by the group on social media, a move condemned by the Iraqi government as escalatory and a violation of sovereignty.

Kataeb Hezbollah is part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a group of mostly Shi’ite Muslim armed groups formed to fight Islamic State in 2014 that became an official security agency under the command of the prime minister.

While technically part of the state, some of the PMF’s most powerful Iran-backed factions often act outside the chain of command. Sudani has said attacks by armed groups on foreign forces in Iraq were unlawful and went against the country’s national interest.

Blinken to visit Israel, West Bank, UAE this week to continue Gaza diplomacy

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Blinken to visit Israel, West Bank, UAE this week to continue Gaza diplomacy

Brussels (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel, the West Bank and the United Arab Emirates this week, the U.S. State Department said on Monday, as Washington aims to press for more humanitarian aid for Gaza and help secure the release of all hostages kidnapped by Hamas.

Blinken will travel to Belgium, North Macedonia, Israel, the West Bank, and the UAE from Monday to Saturday, the department said in a statement.

“In Israel and the West Bank, Secretary Blinken will discuss Israel’s right to defend itself consistent with international humanitarian law, as well as continued efforts to secure the release of remaining hostages, protect civilian life during Israel’s operations in Gaza, and accelerate humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza,” the department added.

Blinken will discuss what Washington wants to see in Gaza if Israel is able to eliminate Hamas, a State Department official said earlier. Blinken will also discuss the need for an independent Palestinian state as well as attend the UN COP28 climate summit in Dubai, according to the State Department.

It will be his third trip to the region since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killed more than 1,200 people and took 240 hostages.

In response, Israel has bombarded the Gaza Strip, a densely populated coastal enclave that is home to 2.3 million people, and mounted a ground offensive in the north, killing more than 15,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Some hostages have been freed in recent days in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel in a deal mediated by Qatar and Egypt and agreed by Israel, Hamas and the United States.

Since the shocking attack that started one of the bloodiest chapters in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Blinken has conducted high-stakes diplomacy with Israeli and Arab leaders to help ensure the conflict does not broaden, hostages are freed and aid is delivered into the Gaza Strip, where a humanitarian disaster has been unfolding.

This week, he will speak about the future of Gaza and the need for a permanent political solution to the long-standing conflict, after he spelled out Washington’s red lines on a visit to Japan earlier this month for how the strip could be governed if Hamas is defeated.

Blinken ruled out Israeli occupation of Gaza, permanent displacement of its people and reduction in its territory, although a clear plan has yet to emerge in talks with Arab states, Israel and Palestinian leaders.

The top U.S. diplomat “will also discuss the principles he outlined in Tokyo on November 8, (and) tangible steps to further the creation of a future Palestinian state,” the State Department said.

Blinken landed on Monday evening in Brussels, where he will attend the NATO foreign ministers summit on Tuesday. He will be attending a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that is scheduled to take place on Wednesday in Skopje.

Drones show how Israeli bombs turned Gaza into moonscape

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Drones show how Israeli bombs turned Gaza into moonscape

(Reuters) – Drone footage shot by Reuters over Gaza before and after the start of Israel’s assault on the Palestinian enclave show a busy urban area, with children playing and people going about their chores – then an eerie moonscape of crumpled buildings and mounds of rubble stretching for block after block.

The pictures filmed before Oct. 7 show schools, mosques and churches, and the 14th century Barquq Islamic fortress.

People are walking in the streets or driving along a tree-lined boulevard. One scene shows children going to school on a donkey cart. Another shows people having fun at a water park.

Gaza, which lies along the Mediterranean coast, has long been under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade that has restricted Palestinians’ movement.

Ruled by the Hamas Islamist movement, it is one of the most densely populated places on earth and has suffered years of economic deprivation. Yet life went on.

Some of the footage showed the Beach refugee camp, an area of squat, tightly packed cinder block houses, with washing hanging outside. It is home to the families and descendants of refugees from the 1948 war around the creation of the state of Israel.

In another refugee camp, Nusseirat, children enjoy break-dancing in the street.

Drone footage of Nusseirat filmed after the start of the Israeli bombardments shows widespread destruction, with smoking craters and flattened buildings.

Israel attacked Gaza in retaliation for a raid by Hamas militants on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which they killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, including children. About 240 people were taken back to Gaza as hostages.

Weeks of Israeli bombing from land, sea and air and a ground invasion in north Gaza have killed nearly 15,000 people in the enclave and created a humanitarian crisis as people fled their homes to find shelter elsewhere in the crammed enclave.

Hospitals struggle to cope with the dead and wounded, and supplies of food, water and fuel are running out.

The drone footage filmed after Oct. 7 shows street after street of destroyed buildings. Smoke rises from piles of rubble. Large residential apartment blocks tilt precariously to one side or have just folded in on themselves.

People can be seen wandering among the ruins or picking through rubble but there appears to be very little normal activity. Few cars are on the street.

Several shots showed people filing past wrecked buildings, apparently evacuating their home areas to find refuge elsewhere.

Footage shot after a brief truce started last Friday shows more people venturing out onto the streets. But from Khan Younis in the south to central Zahra City and Gaza City in the north, there are just piles of debris, bricks and concrete dust where homes used to be.

UN chief says extended Gaza truce not enough to meet aid needs

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UN chief says extended Gaza truce not enough to meet aid needs

United Nations (Reuters) – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described an extended truce between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas on Monday as “a glimpse of hope and humanity,” but warned it was not enough time to meet the aid needs of the Gaza Strip.

Mediator Qatar said on Monday that the initial four day truce had been extended by two days, continuing a pause in seven weeks of warfare that has killed thousands and laid waste to the Palestinian enclave.

“I strongly hope that this will enable us to increase even more the humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza that (are) suffering so much – knowing that even with that additional amount of time, it will be impossible to satisfy all the dramatic needs of the population,” Guterres told reporters.

The United Nations has been delivering some humanitarian aid to Gaza via the Rafah border crossing from Egypt. The United Nations also wants to be able to use the Kerem Shalom border crossing, controlled by Israel.

“I am sincerely hopeful that it will be possible to have other crossings because they will facilitate the distribution and it will also facilitate the control by the Israeli side. So I’m very hopeful that this will happen,” Guterres said.

Earlier on Monday, Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said negotiations must continue with the aim of turning the temporary truce in Gaza into a full humanitarian ceasefire.

“The United Nations will continue to support these efforts in every possible way,” Dujarric said in a statement.

Guterres again called for the hostages held by Hamas to be released immediately and unconditionally, Dujarric said.

The United Nations has scaled up the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza over the past four days during the truce and sent aid to some northern areas that had been largely cut off for weeks, Dujarric said.

“But this aid barely registers against the huge needs of 1.7 million displaced people. The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is getting worse by the day,” he said.

Italy, Saudi and South Korea compete to host 2030 world fair

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Italy, Saudi and South Korea compete to host 2030 world fair

Paris (Reuters) – Italy, Saudi Arabia and South Korea are battling it out in Paris on Tuesday for the right to host the Expo 2030 world fair, a five-yearly event that attracts millions of visitors and billions of dollars in investment.

The three countries’ delegations have been in horse-trading overdrive over the past few months to win votes from the 182 member states of the Bureau International des Expositions, holding splashy lobbying events in the French capital.

South Korea’s southeastern city of Busan is competing against Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and Italy’s Rome.

Rome has placed a heavy emphasis on human rights and democracy in its bid to host the Expo, painting itself as a more ethical option than Riyadh, which is widely seen as the frontrunner.

“Rome is the most credible city for an expo which has as an objective sustainable development, an expo which respects human rights, diversity, dialogue, inclusion, women, the LGBTQ+ community, unions,” City Mayor Roberto Gualtieri told a conference last week.

“Certainly we have less economic capital to spend than others have done in asking for a direct vote … (but) if money that comes from the sale of fossil fuels is worth more than anything else, then we tell the world, ‘watch out how these events will turn out’,” he added.

Horse – Trading

A win for Saudi Arabia would be the icing on the cake for de-facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s ambitious Vision 2030 program, which aims to wean the country off its oil dependency.

Critics say Prince Mohammed is using the event to improve his country’s image after the 2018 murder of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which Western leaders believe was ordered by the crown prince.

Riyadh won French support for the first round of voting, with Macron advisers saying it was in return for some Saudi help on other issues at the heart of French diplomatic priorities.

A European official said it had to do with Lebanon, without specifying. But the Macron adviser has said the commitment is limited to the first round of voting. More than one vote will be necessary if no country gets a majority at the first ballot.

Meanwhile, campaigning has been in full swing in Paris.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol made a final push during a trip to Paris, saying the Expo would be a chance for South Korea to give back to the world after benefiting from international aid in the aftermath of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni personally got involved in trying to persuade international leaders to back the Rome bid, giving it her full political backing. However, she is not scheduled to travel to Paris on Tuesday – a sign for some that she believes it is likely to be a lost cause.

Rome is looking to use the Expo as a way of attracting investment, much as Milan did when it successfully hosted the 2015 Expo. That was the last Expo to be staged in Europe and Rome says it is only fair the continent get it back in 2030, given Dubai staged it in 2020 and Osaka, Japan will in 2025.

Israel-Hamas truce in Gaza extended two days; 11 more hostages freed

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Israel-Hamas truce in Gaza extended two days; 11 more hostages freed

Gaza/Jerusalem (Reuters) – A truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that was on the verge of expiring was extended by two days, mediator Qatar said on Monday, raising the prospect the Palestinian group will free hostages beyond the 69 released since Friday.

The truce will prolong a pause in the seven-week war between Israel and the Islamist Palestinian group, which triggered the latest conflict with an Oct. 7 incursion into southern Israel in which it killed about 1,200 people and took roughly 240 hostage.

Each day since the four-day truce began on Friday, Hamas has released some of the hostages while Israel has freed some of the Palestinians it holds.

Israel previously said it would extend the truce by one day for every 10 more hostages released, providing some respite to Palestinians in the Mediterranean seaside strip from the war, which has killed thousands and laid waste to the enclave.

“An agreement has been reached to extend the humanitarian pause for an additional two days in the Gaza Strip,” a Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson said in a post on social media platform X. Hamas also said it had agreed a two-day extension.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, but a White House official confirmed agreement had been reached.

U.S. President Joe Biden thanked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Qatar and Egypt – who have facilitated indirect talks between the two sides – for a pact that would free more hostages and allow more aid into Gaza.

On Monday, the Israeli military said 11 Israeli hostages – the latest to be freed under the terms of the original truce that was due to end on Monday – had arrived in Israel.

Qatar said the newly released hostages, all dual citizens, included three with French nationality, two with German nationality and six Argentine citizens.

Hamas said earlier it had received a list of 33 Palestinians to be released from Israeli jails in return. It said these included three female prisoners and 30 minors.

With the latest releases, Hamas has freed a total of 69 people since Friday, including both Israelis and non-Israelis.

Under the terms of existing four-day truce agreement, Hamas was due to release in total 50 Israeli women and children held hostage in Gaza. There was no limit in the deal on the number of foreigners it could release.

Prior to the latest releases, an Israeli spokesperson said the total number of hostages still held in Gaza on Monday was 184, including 14 foreigners and 80 Israelis with dual nationality.

U.S. national security spokesperson John Kirby said on CNN the White House did not believe any Americans would be among the latest group to be freed from Gaza, where Washington says seven to nine U.S. citizens are being held.

A senior U.S. official said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken would visit Israel, the West Bank and the United Arab Emirates this week to discuss sustaining aid flows to Gaza and freeing all hostages as well as U.S. principles for the future of Gaza and the need for an independent Palestinian state.

Humanitarian Crisis

None of the announcements specified how many hostages would be released under the extended agreement, but earlier the head of Egypt’s State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, said the deal being negotiated would include the release of 20 Israeli hostages and 60 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

The truce agreed last week was the first halt in fighting in the seven weeks since Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages back into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

In response to that attack, Israel has bombarded the enclave and mounted a ground offensive in the north. More than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza’s Hamas-run government says, and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Wide areas of the enclave have been flattened by Israeli airstrikes and artillery bombardments, and a humanitarian crisis has unfolded as supplies of food, fuel, drinking water and medicine run out.

Netanyahu said at the weekend that once the truce ended, “We will return with full force to achieve our goals: the elimination of Hamas; ensuring that Gaza does not return to what it was; and of course the release of all our hostages.”

Brief Respite

The truce agreement also allowed for aid trucks to enter Gaza.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the extension of the truce as “a glimpse of hope and humanity,” but said two days was not enough time to meet Gaza’s aid needs.

“I strongly hope that this will enable us to increase even more the humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza that (are) suffering so much – knowing that even with that additional amount of time, it will be impossible to satisfy all the dramatic needs of the population,” Guterres told reporters.

Palestinians in Gaza had earlier said they were praying for an extension of the truce. Some were visiting homes reduced to rubble by weeks of intensive Israeli bombardment, while others queued for flour and other essential aid being delivered by the United Nations relief agency UNRWA.

Displaced Palestinian woman Um Mohammed said life was hard for people still living in the north of the enclave, which has borne the brunt of Israel’s ground invasion so far.

“People up there are searching for food. People want to live, to secure themselves for the coming days, because they are afraid, so they’re securing what they can,” she said. “And if you ask if they are restful or at peace, they are not.”

Indian Prime Minister Modi to attend COP28 in Dubai

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Indian Prime Minister Modi to attend COP28 in Dubai

New Delhi (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit UAE to attend the U.N. climate conference (COP28) in Dubai starting this week, underlying the country’s commitment to the issue of climate change, the government said in a statement.

Modi will be in UAE for two days from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1.

“Climate change has been an important priority area of India’s G20 Presidency… COP-28 will provide an opportunity to take forward these successes,” the statement said on Sunday.

During India’s recently concluded presidency of the G20, leaders agreed to pursue tripling renewable energy capacity globally by 2030 and accepted the need to phase-down unabated coal power, but stopped short of setting major climate goals.

Last week Reuters reported, France, backed by the United States, plans to seek a halt to private financing for coal-based power plants during the U.N. climate conference.

India is unlikely to favour such a plan and the proposal could further divide the group as major emerging nations like India still depend on coal to fuel its fast economic growth.

About 73% of electricity consumed in India is produced using coal, even though the country has increased its non-fossil capacity to 44% of its total installed power generation capacity.

Vermont man charged with attempted murder in shooting of students of Palestinian descent

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Vermont man charged with attempted murder in shooting of students of Palestinian descent

(Reuters) – The man accused of shooting and wounding three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont, over the weekend pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges on Monday and was ordered by a judge to remain held without bond.

Jason J. Eaton, 48, was arraigned in Chittenden County Criminal Court in Burlington, appearing via a video feed from the county jail where he has been detained since his arrest on Sunday, the day after the attack.

Police have said investigators were treating Saturday evening’s gun violence in the heart of Vermont’s largest city as a suspected hate-motivated crime.

Two of the three men who were shot recounted they were wearing black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, and one said they were conversing in a mix of English and Arabic when the gunman confronted them, according to charging documents filed in court.

The three friends – identified in court documents as Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid, all aged 20 – remained under medical care on Monday with gunshot wounds to the spine, chest and buttocks, respectively, authorities said.

The victims told police they were shot while strolling near the University of Vermont, about a block from the house of Awartani’s grandmother, following an afternoon at a bowling alley, according to a police affidavit filed in support of the charges.

All three men are undergraduate students at colleges in other cities but were staying with Awartani and his relatives in Burlington for the Thanksgiving holiday.

According to police, Easton approached the three men right outside his apartment, drew his pistol and wordlessly opened fire from a few steps away, then vanished from the scene. Investigators said he fired four shots in all.

‘I’Ve Been Waiting For You’

The shooting sparked an intense manhunt by local, state and federal law enforcement, including the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Eaton was taken into custody the following day after an ATF agent knocked on his door while canvassing the neighborhood and was greeted by the suspect, who held his hands out with palms upturned and said to the officer, “I’ve been waiting for you,” according to the police affidavit.

A search of the apartment later turned up a handgun, ammunition matching the rounds found at the crime scene, a .22-caliber rifle and two shotguns, police said.

He was charged with three counts of attempted second-degree murder, a felony punishable by a prison sentence of 20 years to life if convicted.

“Although we do not yet have evidence to support a hate crime enhancement, I do want to be clear that there is no question that this was a hateful act,” said Sarah Fair George, state’s attorney for Chittenden County, during a briefing on Monday.

The shooting came amid a surge in anti-Islamic, anti-Arab and antisemitic incidents and threats reported around the United States since a bloody conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas erupted on Oct. 7.

“In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime,” Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said in a statement on Sunday.

Dressed in an orange jumpsuit at his three-minute arraignment, Eaton responded “yes, sir” when asked by the judge if he understood the charges against him.

Police said the suspect had legally acquired the gun used in the shooting a few months ago.

The U.S. Department of Justice is assisting local authorities in the investigation, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Monday.

“No person and no community in this country should have to live in fear of lethal violence,” Garland said ahead of a separate meeting at the department’s Southern District of New York office.

The White House said President Joe Biden was horrified by the shooting. “There is absolutely, absolutely no place for violence or hate in America,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a news briefing.

According to the victims’ families, Awartani is a student at Brown University in Rhode Island, Abdalhamid is enrolled at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and Aliahmad attends Trinity College in Connecticut.

Police said all three are of Palestinian descent – two of them U.S. citizens and the third a legal U.S. resident.

They are graduates of the Ramallah Friends School, a private Quaker secondary school in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the families said.

Backing Israel, Elon Musk sees need to stop murderous propaganda

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Backing Israel, Elon Musk sees need to stop murderous propaganda

Jerusalem (Reuters) – Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk lent support on Monday to Israel’s campaign against Hamas, saying one challenge was stopping propaganda of a sort that led to the Palestinian faction’s killing spree that triggered the Gaza war.

The owner of the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Musk was on an unusual visit to Israel, during a four-day pause to the fighting, and held a live online discussion with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hearing Netanyahu describe the destruction of Hamas, which Israel has set as a war goal, as necessary for any prospective peace with the Palestinians, Musk sounded his general agreement for such objectives during an X Spaces discussion.

“There’s no choice,” said Musk, who also owns Tesla and SpaceX, adding: “I’d like to help as well.”

“Those that are intent on murder must be neutralised,” Musk said. “The propaganda must stop that is training people to be murderers in the future. And then, making Gaza prosperous. And if that happens, I think it will be a good future.”

Netanyahu replied: “I hope you will be involved. And the fact that you came here, I think, speaks volumes to your commitment to try to secure a better future.”

Musk has himself been accused of incitement after agreeing on Nov. 15 with a post that falsely claimed Jews were stoking hatred against white people.

Netanyahu showed Musk some footage of the Oct. 7 attack assembled from Hamas bodycams, CCTV and other sources.

When they last met, in California on Sept. 18, Netanyahu urged Musk to strike a balance between protecting free expression and fighting hate speech after weeks of controversy over antisemitism on X.

Musk said previously that he opposed anything that “promotes hate and conflict,” including any X content. In a possible reference to his solidarity visit to Israel, Musk posted on X earlier on Monday: “Actions speak louder than words.”

He was also due to meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog and families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Herzog’s office said he and Musk would discuss “the need to act to combat rising antisemitism online”.

Last month, as the war raged, Musk proposed using Starlink to support communication links in the blackout-hit Gaza enclave with “internationally recognised aid organizations”.

At the time, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi objected, saying “Hamas will use it (Starlink) for terrorist activities”.

But in a new tack on Monday, Karhi said Israel and Musk had reached an agreement in principle whereby “Starlink satellite units can only be operated in Israel with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Communications, including the Gaza Strip”.

In an X post addressed to Musk, Karhi said he hoped the visit to Israel “will serve as a springboard for future endeavours, as well as enhance your relationship with the Jewish people and values we share with the entire world”.

In his Nov. 15 comment on X, Musk added the view that the user who referenced the false “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory was speaking “the actual truth”.

The theory holds that Jewish people and leftists are engineering the ethnic and cultural replacement of white populations with non-white immigrants that will lead to a “white genocide.”

Responding to that comment, the White House condemned what it called an “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate” that “runs against our core values as Americans”.

Major U.S. companies including Walt Disney (DIS.N), Warner Bros Discovery (WBD.O) and NBCUniversal parent Comcast (CMCSA.O) paused their advertisements on his social media site.

Following the outbreak of the Gaza war, antisemitic incidents in the United States rose by nearly 400% from the year-earlier period, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit organisation that fights antisemitism.

Antisemitism and Islamophobia have risen worldwide, including during the Gaza war.

Musk has said X should be a platform for people to post diverse viewpoints, but the company will limit the distribution of certain posts that may violate its policies, calling the approach “freedom of speech, not reach”.

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