US Affirms Lebanon-Israel Maritime Border Demarcation Deal Is ‘Within Reach’https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3919036/us-affirms-lebanon-israel-maritime-border-demarcation-deal-%E2%80%98within-reach%E2%80%99
US Affirms Lebanon-Israel Maritime Border Demarcation Deal Is ‘Within Reach’
A picture from last May of a drilling ship near the Karish field (Reuters)
The US is working to resolve disputes stalling the agreement for demarcating maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel, according to a message the US Department of State sent to Asharq Al-Awsat.
Although US mediator Amos Hochstein has presented a drafted agreement that meets Lebanon's demands in principle, complications arose and halted the conclusion of a deal that would pave the way for offshore energy exploration.
In a message to Asharq Al-Awsat, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price affirmed that Hochstein is contacting both sides and working to settle differences as negotiations enter their final stage.
Price confirmed that the US is still committed to arriving at a solution.
The US believes that "a lasting agreement is possible and within reach," added Price.
Hanin Ghaddar, a researcher at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, affirmed that a deal between the two enemy states is close, despite the delays and rising obstacles.
Both sides want a deal one way or another, and they will likely find a compromise, explained Ghaddar.
She warned that the Lebanon-based Hezbollah would try to present the deal as a victory to legitimize its weapons.
Hezbollah might also succeed in using the agreement to influence upcoming presidential elections and government formation, she told Asharq Al-Awsat.
It depends on timing, whether a deal is concluded before or after President Michel Aoun leaves office, clarified Ghaddar.
In Lebanon, everyone believes their country has given Israel significant concessions, a position which doesn't bode well for Hezbollah. According to the deal, Lebanon would need to provide Israel with compensation for the disputed Qana prospect indirectly.
Many in Lebanon criticize the lack of transparency surrounding the deal, said Ghaddar, adding that this also fuels feelings of mistrust.
On the international community's role in urging the Lebanese political class to reform and confront its corruption, Ghaddar said: "Two things are clear. The political class is not ready for reforms, and the international community is not mobilizing enough."
"Europe can start imposing sanctions on corrupt political figures, and the United States can do more with the Magnitsky Act," said Ghaddar.
The researcher concluded that no side seems ready to escalate at this point, possibly due to changes in international priorities.
Israeli Army Takes Journalists into a Tunnel in a Gaza City It Seized and Largely Flattenedhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5217718-israeli-army-takes-journalists-tunnel-gaza-city-it-seized-and-largely-flattened
Mattresses and a plastic chair lie on the floor inside a tunnel in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP)
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Israeli Army Takes Journalists into a Tunnel in a Gaza City It Seized and Largely Flattened
Mattresses and a plastic chair lie on the floor inside a tunnel in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP)
One by one, the soldiers squeezed through a narrow entrance to a tunnel in southern Gaza. Inside a dark hallway, some bowed their heads to avoid hitting the low ceiling, while watching their step as they walked over or around jagged concrete, crushed plastic bottles and tattered mattresses.
On Monday, Israel's military took journalists into Rafah — the city at Gaza's southernmost point that troops seized last year and largely flattened — as the two-month-old Israel-Hamas ceasefire reaches a critical point. Israel has banned international journalists from entering Gaza since the war began more than two years ago, except for rare, brief visits supervised by the military, such as this one.
Soldiers escorted journalists inside a tunnel, which they said was one of Hamas' most significant and complex underground routes, connecting cities in the embattled territory and used by top Hamas commanders. Israel said Hamas had kept the body of a hostage in the underground passage: Hadar Goldin, a 23-year-old soldier who was killed in Gaza more than a decade ago and whose remains had been held there.
Hamas returned Goldin's body last month as part of a US-brokered ceasefire in the war triggered by the fighters' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and hundreds taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says roughly half the dead have been women and children.
Israel and Hamas are on the cusp of finishing the first phase of the truce, which mandated the return of all hostages, living and dead, in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel. The body of just one more hostage remains to be returned.
Mediators warn the second phase will be far more challenging since it includes thornier issues, such as disarming Hamas and Israel’s withdrawal from the strip. Israel currently controls more than half of Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to travel to Washington this month to discuss those next steps with US President Donald Trump.
Buildings lie in ruins amidst the rubble in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 8, 2025. (Reuters)
Piles of rubble line Rafah's roads
Last year, Israel launched a major operation in Rafah, where many Palestinians had sought refuge from offensives elsewhere. Heavy fighting left much of the city in ruins and displaced nearly one million Palestinians. This year, when the military largely had control of the city, it systematically demolished most of the buildings that remained standing, according to satellite photos.
Troops also took control of and shut the vital Rafah crossing, Gaza’s only gateway to the outside world that was not controlled by Israel.
Israel said Rafah was Hamas’ last major stronghold and key to dismantling the group’s military capabilities, a major war aim.
On the drive around Rafah on Monday, towers of mangled concrete, wires and twisted metal lined the roads, with few buildings still standing and none unscathed. Remnants of people's lives were scattered the ground: a foam mattress, towels and a book explaining the Quran.
Last week, Israel said it was ready to reopen the Rafah crossing but only for people to leave the strip. Egypt and many Palestinians fear that once people leave, they won't be allowed to return. They say Israel is obligated to open the crossing in both directions.
Israel has said that entry into Gaza would not be permitted until Israel receives all hostages remaining in the strip.
Israeli soldiers gather next to the entrance of a tunnel where the army says the body of soldier Hadar Goldin was held in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP)
Inside the tunnel
The tunnel that journalists were escorted through runs beneath what was once a densely populated residential neighborhood, under a United Nations compound and mosques. Today, Rafah is a ghost town. Underground, journalists picked their way around dangling cables and uneven concrete slabs covered in sand.
The army says the tunnel is more than 7 kilometers (4 miles) long and up to 25 meters (82 feet) deep and was used for storing weapons as well as long-term stays. It said top Hamas commanders were there during the war, including Mohammed Sinwar, who was believed to have run Hamas’ armed wing and was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who helped mastermind the Oct. 7 attack. Israel has said it has killed both of them.
“What we see right here is a perfect example of what Hamas did with all the money and the equipment that was brought into Gaza throughout the years," said Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani. "Hamas took it and built an incredible city underground for the purposes of terror and holding bodies of hostages.”
Israel has long accused Hamas of siphoning off money for military purposes. While Hamas says the Palestinians are an occupied people and have a right to resist, the group also has a civilian arm and ran a government that provided services such as health care, a police force and education.
The army hasn’t decided what to do with the tunnel. It could seal it with concrete, explode it or hold it for intelligence purposes among other options.
Since the ceasefire began, three soldiers have been killed in clashes with about 200 Hamas fighters that Israeli and Egyptian officials say remain underground in Israeli-held territory.
Hamas has said communication with its remaining units in Rafah has been cut off for months and that it was not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas.
Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of repeated violations of the deal during the first phase. Israel has accused Hamas of dragging out the hostage returns, while Palestinian health officials say over 370 Palestinians have been killed in continued Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect.
ICC Sentences Darfur Janjaweed Militia Leader to 20 yearshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5217646-icc-sentences-darfur-janjaweed-militia-leader-20-years
Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman, a Sudanese national, waits to hear the verdict of the International Criminal Court, ICC, in The Hague, Netherlands, Dec. 9, 2025. Peter Dejong/Pool via REUTERS
ICC Sentences Darfur Janjaweed Militia Leader to 20 years
Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman, a Sudanese national, waits to hear the verdict of the International Criminal Court, ICC, in The Hague, Netherlands, Dec. 9, 2025. Peter Dejong/Pool via REUTERS
Judges at the International Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced a Janjaweed militia leader to 20 years in prison for atrocities committed in Sudan’s Darfur region, including beating detainees to death with an axe.
Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, was convicted in October on 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, and orchestrating rape and other atrocities carried out by Janjaweed militias more than 20 years ago.
In their sentencing, judges rejected defense arguments that Abd-Al-Rahman had limited authority and expressed empathy for the victims, Reuters reported.
"Abd-Al-Rahman not only gave the orders which led directly to the crimes, but in Mukjar and Deleig also personally perpetrated some of them, using the axe he carried to beat prisoners," presiding judge Joanna Korner said.
The trial chamber imposed a joint sentence of 20 years, a term that likely means the 76-year-old will die in prison.
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, describing Abd-Al-Rahman as an axe murderer for killing two detainees held in a police station and as an enthusiastic, energetic and effective perpetrator of the abuses.
His defense argued he was a victim of mistaken identity and said that any sentence beyond seven years would amount to a de facto life term, given his age.
Both prosecution and defense can appeal the conviction and the sentence but both parties said they would study the rulings before making that decision.
The ruling closes the ICC's first trial addressing the Darfur conflict, accusing it of marginalizing the remote western region.
In response, Sudan's then-government mobilized Arab militias known as the Janjaweed to crush the revolt, unleashing violence that the US and human rights groups said amounted to genocide.
The United Nations Security Council referred the case to the ICC in 2005. The Hague-based court was established to prosecute the gravest crimes when local courts fail.
Fresh clashes broke out in Darfur and across Sudan in 2023 between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, widely seen as successors to the Janjaweed.
Fighting in Darfur, particularly its city of al-Fashir, has unleashed waves of ethnically driven killings and caused mass displacement.
Israel to Reopen Jordan Border Crossing for Passage of Aid and Goodshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5217624-israel-reopen-jordan-border-crossing-passage-aid-and-goods
Israel to Reopen Jordan Border Crossing for Passage of Aid and Goods
Allenby Bridge Crossing between West Bank and Jordan is closed, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 24, 2025. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Israel is set to reopen the Allenby Crossing with Jordan to the passage of goods and aid on Wednesday, an Israeli security official said on Tuesday.
The border crossing has been closed to aid and goods since September, when a driver bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza opened fire and killed two Israeli military personnel before being killed by security forces, Reuters reported.
The security official said the crossing would have tightened screening for Jordanian drivers and truck cargo, and that a dedicated security force had been assigned to the crossing.
The Allenby Bridge is a key route for trade between Jordan and Israel and the only gateway for more than 3 million Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to reach Jordan and the wider world.
The crossing reopened to passenger traffic shortly after the attack, but had remained closed to aid trucks. The UN says the crossing is a major route for bringing food, tents and other goods into Gaza.
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