Hamas Grants Israel Two Months to Implement Understanding

Khalil al-Haya, a member of Hamas' political bureau in Cairo, Egypt on Nov. 22, 2017. AFP Photo/Mohamed El-Shahed
Khalil al-Haya, a member of Hamas' political bureau in Cairo, Egypt on Nov. 22, 2017. AFP Photo/Mohamed El-Shahed
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Hamas Grants Israel Two Months to Implement Understanding

Khalil al-Haya, a member of Hamas' political bureau in Cairo, Egypt on Nov. 22, 2017. AFP Photo/Mohamed El-Shahed
Khalil al-Haya, a member of Hamas' political bureau in Cairo, Egypt on Nov. 22, 2017. AFP Photo/Mohamed El-Shahed

Hamas said Israel has two months to implement the recent Qatar-brokered agreements in Gaza before it launches a new round of escalation.

Member of Hamas' political bureau Khalil al-Haya warned that Israel had "two months to implement the agreements between the parties, otherwise the escalation of violence will resume."

He said the negotiations took so much time due to uncertainty regarding the duration to be granted to the occupation to implement the deal.

Israel lifted the latest sanctions that were imposed on Gaza Strip, reopened the crossing borders, provided the Strip with fuel and allowed fishermen to return to the sea within a truce deal- brokered by Qatar.

In return, the truce deal stipulates that Hamas halts all forms of escalation.

Qatar's ambassador to Gaza Mohammed al-Emadi, who mediated the ceasefire between the Palestinians and Israel, said that talks are ongoing regarding a hospital in Rafah.

“I met with the head of the Israeli energy company, Delek, and discussed with him supplying gas to the Gaza power plant. It is better than operating electricity line 161,” he said.

Emadi also revealed that Israel agreed to issue 7,000 work permits for Palestinian workers.

Haya said that over $30 million in Qatari aid will enter Gaza this month, and the amount that was added to the aid will be allotted to 100,000 households by distributing $100 for each family and those who were impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.

According to Haya, the agreement is not new but it's a confirmation of previous understandings.



US-led Forces Kill Senior ISIS Leader in Syria

 US forces vehicles and structures are seen on the outskirts of the northern Syrian town of Manbij on December 26, 2018. (AFP)
US forces vehicles and structures are seen on the outskirts of the northern Syrian town of Manbij on December 26, 2018. (AFP)
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US-led Forces Kill Senior ISIS Leader in Syria

 US forces vehicles and structures are seen on the outskirts of the northern Syrian town of Manbij on December 26, 2018. (AFP)
US forces vehicles and structures are seen on the outskirts of the northern Syrian town of Manbij on December 26, 2018. (AFP)

A raid by US-led forces in northwestern Syria on Friday killed a senior leader in the ISIS group, the US military said Friday.

The US Central Command said in a statement that it had killed ISIS leader Dhiya Zawba Muslih al-Hardan and his two adult sons, who were also affiliated with the group, early Friday in a raid in the town of al-Bab, in Syria’s Aleppo province.

It said the men “posed a threat to US and Coalition Forces, as well as the new Syrian Government,” adding that three women and three children at the site were not harmed.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said the raid was carried out through an airdrop of forces, the first of its kind to be carried out by the US-led coalition against ISIS this year, and that ground forces from both the Syrian government’s General Security forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces participated.

The observatory said the operation was “preceded by a tight security cordon around the targeted site, a heavy deployment of forces on the ground, and the presence of coalition helicopters in the airspace of the area.”

There was no statement from either the government in Damascus or the SDF about the operation.

Washington has developed increasingly close ties with the new Syrian government in Damascus since the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad in a lightning opposition offensive last year, and has been pushing for a merger of forces between the new Syrian army and the Kurdish-led SDF, which controls much of the country’s northeast.

However, progress between the two sides in agreeing on the details of the merger has been slow and could be further complicated by the recent outbreak of sectarian violence in the southern province of Sweida, in which government forces joined Bedouin clans in fighting against armed factions from the Druze religious minority.