Hamas Delegation Heads to Cairo for ‘Exploratory’ Meetings

Protesters wave the Palestinian flag during clashes with Israeli security forces near the border fence east of Gaza City on December 15, 2017. (AFP)
Protesters wave the Palestinian flag during clashes with Israeli security forces near the border fence east of Gaza City on December 15, 2017. (AFP)
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Hamas Delegation Heads to Cairo for ‘Exploratory’ Meetings

Protesters wave the Palestinian flag during clashes with Israeli security forces near the border fence east of Gaza City on December 15, 2017. (AFP)
Protesters wave the Palestinian flag during clashes with Israeli security forces near the border fence east of Gaza City on December 15, 2017. (AFP)

A Hamas delegation is scheduled to arrive in Cairo mid-September to meet with Egyptian officials for further talks on pending issues, an official from the Palestinian movement official said on Sunday.

Hamas politburo member Maher Obeid said that the meetings will tackle various Palestinian files, especially reconciliation and a ceasefire with Israel.

Delegations from the Popular and Democratic fronts are expected to arrive for periodic meetings with Egyptian officials after efforts, especially peace negotiations, failed. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been accused of hindering the efforts.

Hamas has escalated its actions against Israel prior to the arrival of its delegation to Egypt and plans to revive popular rallies along the Gaza-Israel border, including the possibility of relaunching incendiary kites.

These acts aim at shedding light on the deteriorating situation in Gaza and serve as a strong protest message following the end of truce talks.

“Hamas believes that mediators will once again take action if Israel comes under pressure,” Asharq Al-Awsat had earlier quoted the movement as saying.

Obeid stressed that "if the masses of our people stepped up the march of return and put new pressure on the occupation, then truce will be achieved and Israel will pay for its actions."

“The fate of the peaceful return marches, especially after freezing the truce talks, depends on the movement of the Palestinian masses,” Obeid told the local Palestinian al-Istiqlal newspaper.

“Truce efforts have not completely stopped, but they are witnessing a state of laxity and change in the priorities of the parties, so that their priority will be to start reconciliation and then to address to other matters, led by the PA,” he added.

“However, it seems that our people will head towards escalation ... in order to achieve the desired goals,” Obeid stressed.

Egypt-sponsored truce talks between Palestinian factions and Israel last month were halted after Abbas's threats that he would not allow a truce in the Gaza Strip since it will help separate the enclave from the West Bank and lead the way for the adoption of the so-called “Deal of the Century”.



Israeli Settler Kills 16-Year-Old Palestinian in West Bank, Mayor Says

Friends and family gather around the body of Ammar Yasser Sabbah, 16, ahead of his funeral at a morgue in Bethlehem on December 16, 2025, after he was killed by Israeli forces in the town of Tuqu’, east of Bethlehem during a military raid the day before. (AFP)
Friends and family gather around the body of Ammar Yasser Sabbah, 16, ahead of his funeral at a morgue in Bethlehem on December 16, 2025, after he was killed by Israeli forces in the town of Tuqu’, east of Bethlehem during a military raid the day before. (AFP)
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Israeli Settler Kills 16-Year-Old Palestinian in West Bank, Mayor Says

Friends and family gather around the body of Ammar Yasser Sabbah, 16, ahead of his funeral at a morgue in Bethlehem on December 16, 2025, after he was killed by Israeli forces in the town of Tuqu’, east of Bethlehem during a military raid the day before. (AFP)
Friends and family gather around the body of Ammar Yasser Sabbah, 16, ahead of his funeral at a morgue in Bethlehem on December 16, 2025, after he was killed by Israeli forces in the town of Tuqu’, east of Bethlehem during a military raid the day before. (AFP)

An Israeli settler shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian in Tuqu' on Tuesday after the funeral of another teenager, the town's mayor said.

Violence has escalated in the West Bank since the beginning of the war in Gaza in October 2023. Attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank have increased sharply, with the UN reporting the highest number of attacks on record in October.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Muheeb Jibril's death on Tuesday.

"Today, after the funeral of 16-year-old Ammar Sabah, who was killed yesterday by the Israeli army in the town center, a number of youths were gathered by the main street when a settler shot 16-year-old Muheeb Jibril in the head," Tuqu' Mayor Mohammed al-Badan told Reuters by telephone.

Israeli forces killed Sabah on Monday during a military raid on the town, the Palestinian health ministry said. The military said the incident was under review. It said rocks were thrown at soldiers who used riot dispersal means and later responded with fire.

The West Bank is home to 2.7 million Palestinians who have limited self-rule under Israeli military occupation. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have settled there.

Most world powers deem Israel's settlements, on land it captured in a 1967 war, illegal, and numerous UN Security Council resolutions have called on Israel to halt all settlement activity.

Israel denies the illegality of the settlements, citing biblical and historical connections to the land.


Family of Bondi Hero in Syria Says His Home Country Is Proud of Him

 Uncle and cousin of Ahmed al-Ahmed, both named Mohammed al-Ahmed, look at the footage of Ahmed al-Ahmed, the bystander who disarmed a gunman during a shooting at a Hanukkah event at Sydney's Bondi Beach, in the town of Nayrab in the northwestern province of Idlib, Syria, December 16, 2025. (Reuters)
Uncle and cousin of Ahmed al-Ahmed, both named Mohammed al-Ahmed, look at the footage of Ahmed al-Ahmed, the bystander who disarmed a gunman during a shooting at a Hanukkah event at Sydney's Bondi Beach, in the town of Nayrab in the northwestern province of Idlib, Syria, December 16, 2025. (Reuters)
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Family of Bondi Hero in Syria Says His Home Country Is Proud of Him

 Uncle and cousin of Ahmed al-Ahmed, both named Mohammed al-Ahmed, look at the footage of Ahmed al-Ahmed, the bystander who disarmed a gunman during a shooting at a Hanukkah event at Sydney's Bondi Beach, in the town of Nayrab in the northwestern province of Idlib, Syria, December 16, 2025. (Reuters)
Uncle and cousin of Ahmed al-Ahmed, both named Mohammed al-Ahmed, look at the footage of Ahmed al-Ahmed, the bystander who disarmed a gunman during a shooting at a Hanukkah event at Sydney's Bondi Beach, in the town of Nayrab in the northwestern province of Idlib, Syria, December 16, 2025. (Reuters)

As Australia's worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years unfolded, a Sydney shop owner was captured on camera charging at one of the gunmen and disarming him. Halfway around the world in Syria, a group of men watching the footage recognized a familiar face.

Ahmed al-Ahmed, 43, left his hometown in Syria's northwest province of Idlib nearly 20 years ago to seek work in Australia. On Sunday, he was wounded after wrestling a rifle away from a man attacking a Jewish holiday event at Sydney's Bondi Beach, in which 15 people were killed.

SYRIA IS 'PROUD OF HIM'

His uncle, Mohammed al-Ahmed, recognized him from footage circulating online.

"We learned through social media. I called his father and he told me that it was Ahmed. Ahmed is a hero, we're proud of him. Syria in general is proud of him," the uncle told Reuters.

The family hails from the town of Nayrab, which was bombed heavily during Syria's nearly 14-year war, which ended when longtime leader Bashar al-Assad was ousted in an opposition offensive launched from Idlib last year.

Ahmed said his nephew left Syria in 2006 after completing a degree at Aleppo University. He hasn't been back since.

"Since he was young, he was gallant and a hero," his uncle said, describing him as a happy and passionate person.

"He acted impulsively without thinking who the people were that were being killed - without knowing their religion, if they were Muslim or Christian or Jewish. That's what made him jump up and carry out this heroic act."

'PEACEMAKERS, NOT WARMONGERERS'

Ahmed, who now holds Australian citizenship and has two daughters, remains in a Sydney hospital with gunshot wounds. He has been hailed as a hero around the world, including by US President Donald Trump.

A GoFundMe campaign set up for him has raised more than A$2.2 million ($1.5 million).

Back at home, the Ahmed family home remains in ruins. Piles of smashed cinderblocks ring the concrete carcass of the two-storey house, whose walls are punctured by shelling.

"This is Ahmed's father's home. It got destroyed during the war. Bombing, bombing from planes, missiles - every type of weapon," Ahmed's cousin, who is also named Mohammad al-Ahmed, told Reuters.

He said his cousin "was the reason that many innocent people who did nothing wrong were saved."

"He will prove to the world that Muslims are peacemakers, not warmongers," said Ahmed.


Barrack Presses Netanyahu to Accept a Turkish Role in Gaza

Photo of the meeting between the US Special Envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday (Israeli Government). 
Photo of the meeting between the US Special Envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday (Israeli Government). 
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Barrack Presses Netanyahu to Accept a Turkish Role in Gaza

Photo of the meeting between the US Special Envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday (Israeli Government). 
Photo of the meeting between the US Special Envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday (Israeli Government). 

Hebrew-language media reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Monday in Jerusalem with US envoy Tom Barrack, amid what were described as unusually blunt private messages from the administration of President Donald Trump ahead of a planned US–Israel summit later this month in Florida.

According to the reports, the talks focused on three files: Gaza, Syria and Netanyahu’s expected meeting with Trump.

On Gaza, Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth said Barrack sought to allay Netanyahu’s concerns about a Turkish role in any international force deployed to the enclave during a prospective second phase of a fragile ceasefire that began in October. Barrack, the paper reported, argued that Türkiye has the greatest leverage over Hamas and is best placed to persuade the group to disarm.

The newspaper said Barrack reminded Netanyahu that Ankara had endorsed the Trump administration’s ceasefire framework for Gaza and had pledged, on Hamas’s behalf, to provisions related to weapons handover. He reportedly said that Turkish participation would also encourage other hesitant countries to join an international force.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Barrack warned that excluding Türkiye would cause those states to step back, adding that Trump would not allow the initiative to fail. Netanyahu’s public statements questioning whether Hamas would ever relinquish its weapons — and his assertion that only Israel could enforce that outcome — were described by Barrack as “unacceptable” and as jeopardizing the plan.

Israel’s Channel 12 also reported that the White House delivered a “private and sharp” message to Netanyahu, asserting that the killing of a senior Hamas military figure, Raed Saad, constituted a breach of the ceasefire brokered with Trump’s mediation.

The channel cited growing tension between the Trump administration and Netanyahu’s government over moving to the deal’s second phase and over Israel’s broader regional policies.

Two US officials were quoted as saying that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, were “deeply frustrated” with Netanyahu’s conduct.

One senior US official was quoted as telling Israeli media that the message to Netanyahu was explicit: if he chose to damage his own credibility, that was his decision, “but we will not allow you to damage President Trump’s reputation after he mediated the Gaza agreement.”

US officials were also cited as expressing rising concern over settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and what they termed Israeli “provocations” that undermine Washington’s efforts to expand the Abraham Accords. The United States, one official said, was not asking Israel to compromise its security, but to avoid steps perceived in the Arab world as inflammatory.

On Syria, Israeli assessments quoted in the press said Barrack outlined US “red lines,” stressing Trump’s desire to see stability there and warning that frequent Israeli operations could risk destabilizing the country. Reports added that Washington favors reaching a security understanding and wants to avoid actions it views as undermining the Syrian leadership.

Regarding Lebanon, Trump was said to support continued pressure on Hezbollah through limited operations, while opposing a broader escalation.

Despite recent criticism by Netanyahu of Barrack — including remarks questioning his impartiality — the envoy’s visit went ahead. Columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in Yedioth Ahronoth that US officials increasingly believe Netanyahu is not serious about advancing Trump’s peace plan and is intent on prolonging the war, language he said has sparked intense anger inside the White House.

Israeli analysts suggested Netanyahu is unlikely to reject all US requests outright, instead seeking partial accommodation to ensure a successful meeting with Trump on December 29. Yet, in a show of independence, Israeli forces reportedly carried out an airstrike in Syria shortly before Barrack arrived.

Netanyahu also announced a trilateral summit with Greece and Cyprus, a move widely interpreted in Israel as a political signal directed at Türkiye.

At the close of the meeting, Barrack was quoted as saying the talks were a “constructive dialogue aimed at achieving regional peace and stability.”