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Gaza ceasefire announced after 15 months of war

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Gaza ceasefire announced after 15 months of war

Israel and Hamas have agreed a ceasefire to halt the 15-month war in Gaza and free the remaining hostages, mediators said, raising hopes of an end to a devastating conflict that has shaken the Middle East and the world beyond.

But, despite celebrations erupting across the region, the office of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that some details still had to be finalised as of Wednesday night.

The multiphase agreement, due to take effect on Sunday, a day before Donald Trump returns to office as US president, was announced by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin al-Thani. However, he noted that the parties still had to give final approval.

The agreement offers hope of a halt — and potentially an end — to a brutal war that has become the deadliest chapter in the decades-long history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, leaving Gaza in ruins, consuming Israeli society, and pushing the Middle East to the brink of a full-blown war.

The fighting was triggered by Hamas’s brutal October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, during which fighters from the Palestinian militant group killed 1,200 people, and took 250 hostage, in the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

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Israel responded with a ferocious offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 46,000 people and fuelled a humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave.

Previous attempts to broker a deal to end the conflict and secure the release of the 98 mainly Israeli hostages still in Gaza — not all of whom are alive — had repeatedly foundered when Israel and Hamas refused to make the necessary concessions.

Supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the October 7 2023 attack by Hamas © Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

But the re-election of Trump — who threatened that there would be “all hell to pay” if the hostages were not released before his inauguration — injected renewed momentum into the long-stalled talks.

Trump was among the first leaders to hail the deal on Wednesday, writing on his Truth Social platform ahead of the formal announcement: “WE HAVE A DEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THEY WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY.”

He added his national security team would “continue to work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven”.

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In comments of his own hailing the deal, US President Joe Biden described the Doha-based talks as “one of the toughest negotiations I have ever experienced”.

He added that the agreement would “halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much needed-humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity”.

But Netanyahu’s office said shortly after Trump’s announcement that there were “still several sections left open in the proposal and we hope that the details will be finalised tonight”.

A person close to the talks said a deal had been done after the Qatari prime minister had met Hamas and Israeli negotiators separately in a final push for an agreement.

But the person added that, while Hamas had agreed to the deal, conceding on one of its final demands, Israel had since “raised a new outstanding issue”. They said: “Mediators are working to resolve it.”

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An Israeli official said that the final details which Netanyahu’s office said still needed to be finalised related to the identity of those Palestinian prisoners set to be released in exchange for hostages.

Israel’s government is due to vote on the deal, which is based on a three-phase proposal first outlined by Biden last year. Far-right ministers, including national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have expressed opposition, but are not expected to be able to block the deal.

The first phase will involve a 42-day truce, during which 33 Israeli hostages — including children, all female prisoners, the sick and elderly — will be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails and a dramatic increase in humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza.

The two parties would begin negotiating the second phase no later than day 16 of the truce. During this period the remaining hostages, including male soldiers, are meant to be released in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners.

If fully implemented, the second phase will also lead to a permanent ceasefire and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. 

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The final phase would involve the return of all the bodies of hostages who died, and the reconstruction of Gaza, under the supervision of Egypt, Qatar and the UN.

The talks over a deal intensified in mid-December after a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah in Lebanon.

A senior Biden administration official said one issue impeding the completion of the talks was Hamas’s refusal to acknowledge how many hostages it was holding and which ones would come out in the first phase of a deal.

The Palestinian group agreed at the end of December to a list of some 33 hostages, accelerating the end of the talks.

Biden’s top Middle East adviser Brett McGurk was joined in the last days of the talks by Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. A senior Biden administration official called it “a historic and crucial partnership” to finalise the arrangements. 

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The talks ran into the early hours of Wednesday, with McGurk, Witkoff and Egyptian and Qatari officials upstairs with the Israeli negotiators, and Hamas downstairs, nailing down dozens of final details.

Abu Shukri, a community organiser sheltering in the Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza, said people in the neighbourhood had lined the streets and balconies in anticipation of the announcement of the ceasefire deal. As news reached them, people shouted and shot in the air in celebration. 

“We just thank God,” Abu Shukri said of the news. “But we’ve given our children, we gave our parents.” 

Additional reporting by Malaika Tapper in Beirut and Neri Zilber in Tel Aviv

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

Donald Trump has terminated the remaining members of the independent, federal commission that assists election administration officials nationwide just a few months before the midterm elections, multiple outlets reported Thursday.

The remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan commission ⁠were forced out on Thursday in different ways. The one Republican appointee resigned and the other ⁠two, Democratic appointees were notified of their terminations via email from ​the White House presidential personnel office.

“On ‌behalf of President ‌Donald J Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position ‌as Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the email, seen by Reuters, said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Election Assistance Commission serves as a “national clearinghouse of information on election ‌administration”, accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, and maintains the national mail-voter registration form developed by the National ​Voter Registration Act of 1993, according to the commission’s website. The terminations follow Trump and top administration officials’ advocacy to change vote-by-mail requirements and investigations into the 2020 election outcome, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

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“It is ⁠irresponsible and dangerous that this Administration remains dead set on ​causing chaos for ​our election officials across this ​country,” Arizona secretary of state Adrian Fontes said in a ​Thursday statement. “This ‌move undermines the integrity ​of nonpartisan ​election administration.”

The 2002 law that established the commission, the Help America Vote Act, states the president can appoint replacements to the commission.

It is unclear how Trump will move ahead with the commission.

Reuters contributed reporting

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

Former U.S. Olympian David Hearn (left) walks with his attorney Norman Eisen to speak to reporters and protesters gathered after his arraignment at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

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Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty to damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in D.C. Superior Court Thursday morning.

Federal prosecutors charged Hearn with a single count of destruction of property causing more than $1,000 in damage to the pool.

Hearn has previously claimed, which his attorneys repeated during a short press conference outside the court, that he simply touched the water in the pool out of curiosity.

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The Trump administration had just completed a $14 million renovation of the pool.

But shortly after the work finished, peeling paint and algae gathered in the water. The remodel has been largely criticized as a massive failure and waste of taxpayer dollars.

Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean released Hearn on his own recognizance. His next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 5.

Norm Eisen, one of Hearn’s attorneys, spoke to reporters outside of court following the hearing. He said the administration is using Hearn as a “scapegoat … for their own failures.”

“It is not a crime to touch the reflecting pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” he said.

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Prosecutors say there is a host of evidence against Hearn.

This is a developing story.

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

Three more people have been criminally charged with destruction of property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Officers say they detained Cameron Thiers, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Justin Carreno one Saturday afternoon in June and described in court documents witnessing them peeling and removing pieces of blue paint from the Reflecting Pool.

One officer “witnessed Carreno reach down into the reflecting pool and pull up a piece of the blue paint,” according to the court documents.

The officer who detained Dennison-Gibby “found 1 additional piece of the reflecting pool liner” in her purse, the documents said.

All three incidents were recorded on the officers’ body worn cameras, they said in the court documents.

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Several “partnering law enforcement agencies assigned to the Reflecting Pool” working with US Park Police were involved in detaining the two men and one woman — including officers from Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and California.

One of the officers said in court documents that Thiers “admitted to removing a piece of blue sealant from the Reflecting Pool and still had it in his hand when I made contact with him.”

The three defendants were arraigned in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges of destruction of property with a value less than $1,000. The judge ordered them to stay away from the Reflecting Pool.

Lawyers for Thiers and Dennison-Gibby declined to comment. CNN has reached out to Carreno’s attorney.

If found guilty of destruction of property, the defendants could be fined up to $1,000 and face a maximum of 180 days behind bars.

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The New York Times first reported that three additional people had been charged with damaging the Reflecting Pool.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that vandals caused major damage to the pool by gashing the lining after his administration spent more than $14 million on renovations, though he has not provided evidence to support that claim. The officers who charged Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby did not accuse them of gashing the lining.

Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC, last week for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn — unlike Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby – was charged with destruction of property with a value of more than $1,000 which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted. He is set to be arraigned in court Thursday.

Crews began draining the Reflecting Pool over the weekend to make repairs, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.

The move comes after weeks of problems – algae blooms, green-hued water, a chipping bottom and the administration’s allegations of vandalism – that have plagued the iconic landmark, making its woes the subject of national interest.

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