World
Israel’s Netanyahu travels to US to discuss second phase of Gaza ceasefire
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way to the United States to discuss the second phase of the ceasefire agreed with Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza, his office says.
Negotiations for the second stage of the ceasefire are due to begin in Washington, DC on Monday, Netanyahu’s office said on Sunday as the Israeli leader departed for the US.
US President Donald Trump, who has claimed credit for the ceasefire deal signed on January 19, is expected to host Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday – Trump’s first meeting with a foreign leader since his inauguration for a second term.
Netanyahu’s US trip comes two weeks into the first phase of the ceasefire that is set to free 33 Israeli captives in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The second phase is expected to cover the release of the remaining captives and to include discussions on a more permanent end to the war.
The Gaza ceasefire paused 15 months of an Israeli genocide in the enclave that killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities.
Speaking at Tel Aviv airport before his departure, Netanyahu said he and Trump would discuss “victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian terror axis” in the Middle East.
Netanyahu called it “telling” that he would be the first foreign leader to meet Trump since his inauguration. “I think it’s a testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance,” he said.
It is also Netanyahu’s first US trip since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against him in November for alleged war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip.
The US, which has previously praised the ICC decision to issue a warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin in relation to the Ukraine war, is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the court.
Senior US politicians are trying to sanction the international court over the arrest warrants of Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and have threatened to blacklist its top prosecutors and their families.
Fragile ceasefire
How committed Trump and Netanyahu are to advancing the ceasefire remains to be seen. Netanyahu is under immense pressure from his far-right government partners to abandon the deal after the first phase and restart the attacks on Gaza.
Trump, for his part, has given mixed signals on the prospect of a permanent end to the war. Asked on January 20, shortly after being sworn in, if he was confident the truce in Gaza would hold, he said: “I’m not confident.”
“It’s not our war, it’s their war,” he added.
More recently, Trump has also proposed to ethnically “clean out” Gaza, insisting Arab states Egypt and Jordan should take in displaced Palestinians from the enclave, a prospect they roundly rejected.
Scott Lucas, professor of international politics at University College Dublin, told Al Jazeera the second phase of the Gaza deal faces pressure from multiple sides. He said Israeli captives still held in Gaza and Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons would only be released if elements of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire could remain in place.
“Here, you’re talking about four sides of pressure around Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump,” he said.
There is pressure from the hard right in Israel, especially from Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from inside the cabinet and former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, he said.
“They don’t want a phase two. They want a military government in Gaza, they want displacement of Palestinians, and they’re actually talking about returning to war already.”
Then there is pressure from elements in Israel who think their priority should be the return of all captives.
On the other hand, Lucas said, Hamas will continue to resist Israeli efforts to eliminate the group from Gaza, and Palestinians are rejecting military occupation.
“Fourth is Donald Trump, who wants to be a peacemaker, but who is also staunchly pro-Israel to the extent that his solution to bring peace is to send all the Gaza residents to Egypt and Jordan. So there’s no way to square those four sides to get a phase two at this point.”
Occupied West Bank settlements
Also on the agenda during Netanyahu’s visit could be Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Smotrich, who opposes the ceasefire and is a vocal settlement advocate, urged Netanyahu to raise the issue.
“We must strengthen our grip and sovereignty over the homeland in Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said in a message directed at Netanyahu, referring to the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu’s early meeting with Trump marks a clear departure from his ties with the previous US administration, which, despite being Israel’s largest arms supplier, had criticised its war conduct and paused some military shipments.
Trump has declared himself the most pro-Israel president in US history and appointed senior diplomats who openly support far-right Israeli factions, including their push to annex the occupied West Bank.
Iranians mourning the country’s supreme leader condemned U.S. strikes that Washington called retaliation for Iran’s attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. At a tightly controlled state funeral in Mashhad — one of Iran’s most conservative cities, where opponents of the government were unlikely to be found in the crowd — mourners voiced defiance and called for revenge.
World
Beloved musicians among victims in deadly Bahamas plane crash; aviation authority grounds flights
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A devastating double-aviation crisis in the Bahamas, including a deadly North Andros plane crash and a separate aircraft fire on Friday, prompted the government to suspend flight operations for a local airline and launch a federal safety probe.
Shortly after 1 p.m. local time Friday, a Cessna 402 aircraft with Bahamian registration departed Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau bound for San Andros Airport.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Authority (AAIA) said the plane “encountered difficulties” and crashed into bushes prior to landing.
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Authorities said 10 people were killed in a Bahamas plane crash on Friday. (Our News Bahamas via AP)
First responders, including the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Airport Authority and emergency medical personnel, rushed to the dense brush where the aircraft went down.
The Bahamas Musicians and Entertainers Union confirmed in a statement Saturday that 10 people died in the crash, including prominent members of the “The Pond Band” and a local DJ, whose artistry the union said “touched so many lives and helped to enrich the cultural fabric of The Bahamas.”
Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis said a sole survivor was pulled from the wreckage.
“Ann and I are praying for the families who are now facing unbearable grief,” Davis wrote in a statement on X. “We are also praying for the survivor, whose recovery and care will remain in our thoughts.”
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The identities of those killed in the crash have not yet been released.
While the AAIA’s preliminary reports initially indicated seven people were on board, officials are still establishing the facts of the flight manifest.
Just hours before the fatal crash in North Andros, a Flamingo Air flight en route to Mayaguana was forced to turn back to Nassau after the pilot reported a concern, according to the Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Aviation (MoET).
After the aircraft landed and passengers safely deplaned, the plane caught fire on the runway.
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FILE – The Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas temporarily suspended Flamingo Air’s Air Operator Certificate following two aircraft incidents Friday. (iStock)
Following the two back-to-back safety incidents, the Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas (CAAB) temporarily suspended Flamingo Air’s Air Operator Certificate, according to MoET officials.
“The suspension is a precautionary safety measure and should not be treated as an adverse compliance action against Flamingo Air,” the agency wrote in a statement.
FILE – The plane crashed in North Andros on Friday after taking off from Lynden Pindling International Airport. (Melissa Alcena/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Investigators from the AAIA and inspectors from the CAAB remain at the scene in North Andros as they work to determine what caused the Cessna 402 tragedy.
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Flamingo Air did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Published on •Updated
Moldova’s pro-European President Maia Sandu nominated businessman Vasile Tofan on Saturday as the country’s next prime minister to replace Alexandru Munteanu, who resigned earlier this month over differences with the ruling majority.
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In a video posted to social media, Sandu said Tofan’s primary responsibility, after his candidacy is approved by the country’s parliament, would be to move the country further towards its path of “integration” into the European Union.
He should also “strengthen the resilience of state institutions and society”, and “revive the economy”, added Sandu.
The Moldovan businessman now has two weeks to secure parliamentary backing, a prospect he hopes to achieve after submitting his government programme and his ministerial cabinet nominations.
Tofan had been mentioned as a possible prime minister last year even before the appointment of Munteanu.
Igor Grosu, who heads Sandu’s Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) which won the last parliamentary elections in September, announced on Friday that he had selected him as his candidate to replace the outgoing premier.
He said Tofan shared “the same objectives” as him and PAS, specifying that “EU accession in the years to come, institutional reform and economic growth”, were among the biggest points of agreement.
The nominee for prime minister, who graduated Harvard Business School and turns 44 on Sunday, has a degree in public management from the Netherlands and is a managing partner at Horizon Capital, a private equity firm with assets primarily in Ukraine and Moldova.
He has also chaired the board of directors of Moldova’s Purcari winery, considered the crown jewel of the country’s winemaking sector.
Munteanu, another businessman who like Sandu previously worked at the World Bank, had been chosen to boost the economy and bring it closer to the EU, but turbulence with PAS saw him vacate his post less than a year into holding office.
He resigned on 3 July after less than eight months, stating that he could no longer carry out his mandate “according to (his) principles and (his) convictions”.
The EU last month officially launched a first round of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. Both countries became official EU candidate countries on 23 June 2022.
Additional sources • AFP
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