Arkansas

Gaza war talks not going well, Qatar says | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Published

2 years ago

February 18, 2024

Gaza war talks not going well, Qatar says | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Talks on a potential cease-fire deal in Gaza “have not been progressing as expected” in the past few days after good progress in recent weeks, key mediator Qatar said Saturday, as Israel’s prime minister accused the Hamas militant group of not changing its “delusional” demands.

Speaking during the Munich Security Conference, Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdurrahman Al Thani, noted difficulties in the “humanitarian part” of the negotiations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under pressure to bring home remaining hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, said he sent a delegation to cease-fire talks in Cairo earlier in the week at U.S. President Joe Biden’s request but doesn’t see the point in sending them again.

Hamas wants a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and the release of Palestinians held by Israel.

Netanyahu also pushed back against international concern about a planned Israeli ground offensive in Rafah, a city on southern Gaza’s border with Egypt. He said “total victory” against Hamas requires the offensive, once people living there evacuate to safe areas. Where they will go in largely devastated Gaza is not clear.

New airstrikes in central Gaza on Saturday killed more than 40 people, including children, and wounded at least 50, according to Associated Press journalists and hospital officials. Israel’s military said it carried out strikes there against Hamas.

Five people were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house outside Khan Younis in the south, according to health officials, and another five people, including three children, were killed in an airstrike on a building north of Rafah. Dr. Marwan al-Hams, director of Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital, said other bodies were being pulled from the rubble.

Israel’s air and ground offensive was triggered by the Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in Israel and took 250 others hostage.

The Gaza Health Ministry on Saturday raised the overall death toll in Gaza to 28,858, saying the bodies of 83 people killed in Israeli bombardments were brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours. The count does not differentiate between combatants and civilians, but the ministry says two-thirds of those killed are women and children.

The war also has caused widespread destruction, displaced some 80% of Gaza’s population and sparked a humanitarian crisis in the Hamas-run enclave.

EGYPT WORRIED

More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are packed into Rafah, which Israel portrays as the last significant stronghold of Hamas fighters.

Biden has urged Israel not to carry out an operation there without a “credible” plan to protect civilians and to instead focus on a cease-fire. Egypt has said an operation could threaten diplomatic relations.

Israel has said it has no plans to force Palestinians into Egypt. New satellite photos, however, indicate that Egypt is preparing for that scenario. The images show Egypt building a wall and leveling land near its border with Gaza.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who also spoke at the Munich Security Conference, said “it is not our intention to provide any safe areas or facilities, but … we will provide the support to the innocent civilians, if that was to take place.”

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi affirmed during a call with France’s leader that Egypt categorically rejected “the displacement of Palestinians to Egypt in any way, shape or form,” according to el-Sisi’s office.

Two senior Egyptian officials said Egypt is building additional defensive lines in an existing buffer zone that extends 3 miles from the border. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details with the media.

The buffer zone, built as part of Egypt’s battle against an Islamic State group insurgency, was meant to prevent weapons smuggling to and from Gaza.

AID CHALLENGE

Israel has not presented specific evidence for its claim that Hamas is diverting U.N. aid, and its targeted killings of Gaza police commanders guarding truck convoys have made it “virtually impossible” to distribute the goods safely, a top U.S. envoy said in rare public criticism of Israel.

David Satterfield, the Biden administration’s special Middle East envoy for humanitarian issues, said criminal gangs are increasingly targeting the convoys when police escorts leave after Israeli strikes.

“We are working with the Israeli government, the Israeli military in seeing what solutions can be found here because everyone wants to see the assistance continue,” Satterfield told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Friday. A solution “is going to require some form of security escorts to return.”

Satterfield said Israeli officials have not presented “specific evidence of diversion or theft” of U.N. assistance, but that the militants have their own interests in using “other channels of assistance … to shape where and to whom assistance goes.”

Israel has alleged repeatedly that Hamas is diverting aid, including fuel, after it enters Gaza, a claim denied by U.N. aid agencies. Last week, an Israeli airstrike on a car killed three senior police commanders in Rafah. Two officers were killed in another strike.

Satterfield also addressed challenges for the main U.N. agency aiding Palestinians in Gaza, whose director accused Israel in remarks published Saturday of trying to “destroy” the organization and warned that its operations will halt in April without more support.

HOSPITAL RAIDED

In recent weeks, Israel’s military has focused on Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city and a Hamas stronghold.

The army said Saturday that it had arrested 100 suspected Hamas militants at the city’s Nasser Hospital. Israel’s defense minister has said at least 20 of those detained were involved in the Oct. 7 attack.

The Health Ministry said troops turned the hospital into “military barracks” and detained a large number of medical staff. Israel says it does not target patients or doctors, but staff say the facility is struggling under heavy fire.

Nour Abou Jameh was among the thousands sheltering at Nasser Hospital who were forced to leave in the past week. “Shooting and shelling was coming from all directions,” Jameh said. “When we left at night, bodies were in the streets, and even tanks moved on them and crushed them.”

People protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza during a protest rally in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Demonstrators protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and call for new elections in the latest weekly protest against his handling of the Israel-Hamas war, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.(AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Palestinians pray for the relatives killed in the Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip at Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are brought to a hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

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Arkansas

DeGray Lake Resort State Park offers a week’s worth of summer fun in Arkansas

Published

4 hours ago

June 26, 2026

Press Room

DeGray Lake Resort State Park offers a week’s worth of summer fun in Arkansas

Bismarck, Ark. (KATV) — If your idea of a perfect summer getaway includes a clear lake, plenty of elbow room and enough activities to keep the whole family busy for days, DeGray Lake might be calling your name.

In the run-up to America’s 250th birthday, DeGray Lake is being highlighted as Arkansas’ only resort state park — a place designed to be a one-stop vacation spot where guests can settle in and stay put.

“We are Arkansas’s only resort state park, and with that, we have enough to keep a guest and their family busy for really a whole week,” a park representative said.

The park’s setup is meant to keep everything in one place, from the lodge and pool to the restaurant and swim beach. Visitors can also find trails, four stables, golf, disc golf, fling golf and interpretive programs held every day during the summertime.

“So really, the whole package is designed so that people, they would never leave, never need to leave the park while they’re here on vacation, they can be here all week,” the representative said. “We’ve got your food, we’ve got your lodging, we’ve got plenty to keep you busy and having a good time. That’s what makes us Arkansas’s only resort state park.”

Water sports are a big summertime draw, and the park also offers a range of ways to stay overnight — whether you want comfort, something in-between, or a more traditional camping experience.

“If you like getting in the outdoors, but you don’t like staying in the outdoors, you can come stay in our comfy lot,” the representative said, noting the lodge has 96 rooms. For a “step up from camping,” the park also has three yurts available, described as a more glamorous option with bunk beds, a sky dome and a door that locks. Campsites are also available, ranging from RV hookups to simple tent sites.

For anglers and lake lovers, the park representative said the fishing is great and the water is clear, with options that include line fishing, spear fishing and scuba diving.

“It’s a beautiful lake,” the representative said. “We’re nestled right here in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains.”

The park is described as a little off the beaten path — but that’s part of the charm.

“I tell people all the time it’s kind of like the best kept secret, because you look out there at that lake, not too busy,” the representative said.

For more information on planning a visit, click here.

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Arkansas

Arkansas Governor joins national A.I. workforce initiative

Published

14 hours ago

June 25, 2026

Press Room

Arkansas Governor joins national A.I. workforce initiative

LITTLE ROCK, AR (KATV) — Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has joined a new national artificial intelligence initiative that launched Thursday, June 25.

RAISE US, started by former Governor Eric Holcomb of Indiana and Gina Raimondo, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce is a nonpartisan national organization that will partner with governors, employers, workers and training organizations to help the workforce transition to an AI economy.

“As artificial intelligence transforms America’s economy, we have one clear message: technology should empower people, not replace them. By leveraging our Arkansas LAUNCH initiative, and with the resources and expertise provided by RAISE US, Arkansas will turn that mission into reality. We want the Natural State to be a leader on education, workforce training, and up-skilling, and this new partnership gives us the tools we need to build a model for the entire nation.”

The organization will design and pilot incentives to retrain workers, new approaches to support job transitions, and training models tied to employer demand.

RAISE US launches with more than two dozen American companies and philanthropies and initial state partnerships in Connecticut, Maryland and Utah.

“America has a technology strategy for leading the global AI competition. It does not yet have a people strategy — and we cannot lead without one,” Raimondo, who will serve as CEO of RAISE US, said.

“If we build the best AI systems in the world and leave millions of Americans behind, we won’t have won anything; we’ll have automated our own decline. I believe AI will create new jobs and industries over time, but the transition could be disruptive, and it’s already underway. We shouldn’t fearmonger, but we can’t pretend our training and worker support systems are ready either. It’s time for innovative and practical solutions. This moment demands ambition, urgency, and creativity. We’ve assembled the country’s top companies, best economists, and bipartisan governors at a scale rarely seen — all to advance new ideas and incentives, pilot them with governors and business, and scale what works.”

Governor Sanders is partnering with RAISE US to support Arkansas LAUNCH, an AI-powered career navigation platform that connects students and jobseekers to personalized learning and employer-linked career pathways.

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