Rival Militias Violate Tripoli Ceasefire

Heavy security in a Tripoli street. Reuters file photo
Heavy security in a Tripoli street. Reuters file photo
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Rival Militias Violate Tripoli Ceasefire

Heavy security in a Tripoli street. Reuters file photo
Heavy security in a Tripoli street. Reuters file photo

Warring factions in the Libyan capital Tripoli have agreed to halt armed clashes and pave way for reconciliation attempts following a violation of a ceasefire deal, a semi-official committee announced on Thursday.

Ramadan Zarmouh, the head of the committee tasked with implementing security measures adopted by the Government of National Accord and the UN mission in Libya, said that the bickering militias resumed fighting in Tripoli on Wednesday. But they agreed to a ceasefire a day later.

The latest flareup of violence was the latest violation of a ceasefire that the GNA of Fayez al-Sarraj is seeking to impose in Tripoli since the heavy clashes it witnessed in September.

Following the announced ceasefire on Thursday, there was relative calm in the capital. Businesses and schools opened as usual and state institutions functioned normally.

“Schools are open to welcome their students while the city’s banks are trying to regulate their work,” the GNA-loyal news agency quoted Sarraj as saying.

Meanwhile, Libyan National Army spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari said that the LNA has received intelligence reports that extremists would be moved from Syria to Libya via Sudan.

During a press conference he held in the eastern city of Benghazi, Mismari warned of a possible infiltration of terrorists.

There are more than 18,000 terrorists, including Libyans, in the northern Syrian province of Idlib, the spokesman said. “If the Syrian army continues to tighten the noose around them, they will be taken out of (the war-torn country) to Sudan and from there to Libya and other African states.”

He also told reporters that for the first time several extremists have been taken to trial at a military court.



Hamas Seeks Ceasefire Guarantees as Scores More Are Killed in Gaza

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in the west of Gaza City, 03 July 2025, amid Israel's ongoing campaign in the Gaza Strip. (EPA)
Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in the west of Gaza City, 03 July 2025, amid Israel's ongoing campaign in the Gaza Strip. (EPA)
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Hamas Seeks Ceasefire Guarantees as Scores More Are Killed in Gaza

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in the west of Gaza City, 03 July 2025, amid Israel's ongoing campaign in the Gaza Strip. (EPA)
Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in the west of Gaza City, 03 July 2025, amid Israel's ongoing campaign in the Gaza Strip. (EPA)

Hamas is seeking guarantees that a new US-backed ceasefire proposal for Gaza would lead to the war's end, a source close to the group said on Thursday, as medics said Israeli strikes across the territory had killed scores more people.

Israeli officials said prospects for reaching a ceasefire and hostage deal appeared high, nearly 21 months since the war between Israel and Hamas began.

Efforts for a Gaza truce gathered steam after the US secured a ceasefire to end a 12-day aerial conflict between Israel and Iran, but on the ground in Gaza intensified Israeli strikes continued unabated, killing at least 59 people on Thursday, according to health authorities in the territory.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said that Israel had accepted the conditions needed to finalize a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas, during which the parties will work to end the war.

Hamas is seeking clear guarantees that the ceasefire will eventually lead to the war's end, the source close to the group said. Two Israeli officials said those details were still being worked out.

In a statement early on Friday, Hamas said it was discussing the ceasefire proposal with other Palestinian factions and would submit its response to mediators once those talks conclude.

Egyptian and Qatari mediators have been working to secure US and international guarantees that talks on ending the war would continue as a way of convincing Hamas to accept a two-month truce proposal, Egyptian security sources said.

A senior Israeli official close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said preparations were in place to approve a ceasefire deal. A separate source familiar with the matter said that Israel was expecting Hamas' response by Friday and that if it was positive, an Israeli delegation would join indirect talks to cement the deal.

The proposal includes the staggered release of 10 living Israeli hostages and the return of the bodies of 18 more in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, an official familiar with the negotiations said on Thursday. Of the 50 remaining hostages in Gaza, 20 are believed to still be alive.

Aid would enter Gaza immediately, and the Israeli military would carry out a phased withdrawal from parts of the enclave, according to the proposal. Negotiations would immediately start on a permanent ceasefire.

"We sure hope it's a done deal, but I think it's all going to be what Hamas is willing to accept," US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Israel's Channel 12 on Thursday. "One thing is clear: The president wants it to be over. The prime minister wants it to be over. The American people, the Israeli people, want it to be over."

Huckabee added that he would be taking part in talks next week at the White House, when Netanyahu is due to meet with Trump.

'WHAT CAN WE DO?'

In Gaza, there was no sign of immediate relief on Thursday. According to medics at Nasser Hospital, at least 20 people were killed by Israeli fire en route to an aid distribution site.

Further north, at least 17 people were killed in an Israeli strike at a school in Gaza City, according to medics. The Israeli military said it targeted a key Hamas gunman operating there and that it took precautions to reduce risk to civilians.

"Suddenly, we found the tent collapsing over us and a fire burning. We don’t know what happened," one witness, Wafaa Al-Arqan, who was among the people sheltering there, told Reuters. "What can we do? Is it fair that all these children burned?"

The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent military assault has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, while displacing most of the population of more than 2 million, triggering widespread hunger and leaving much of the territory in ruins.

Israel says it won't end the war while Hamas is still armed and ruling Gaza. Hamas, severely weakened, says it won't lay down its weapons but is willing to release all the hostages still in Gaza if Israel ends the war.