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Arab World

Hamas Keen to Reach Deal, Begin Prisoner Exchange 'Immediately'

Palestinian prisoners are greeted after being released from Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday, February 27. © Nasser Nasser, AP
Palestinian prisoners are greeted after being released from Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday, February 27. © Nasser Nasser, AP
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Hamas Keen to Reach Deal, Begin Prisoner Exchange 'Immediately'

Palestinian prisoners are greeted after being released from Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday, February 27. © Nasser Nasser, AP
Palestinian prisoners are greeted after being released from Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday, February 27. © Nasser Nasser, AP

A senior Hamas official on Sunday said the Palestinian militant group is eager to reach an agreement to end the war and implement a prisoner swap with Israel, as negotiators converge in Egypt for talks.

Israeli and Hamas negotiators are set to iron out details during talks in Egypt in a bid to end nearly two years of war in Gaza, after Hamas approved a peace plan proposed by US President Donald Trump.

Hamas negotiators travelling from Doha are expected to arrive in Cairo on Sunday before heading to Sharm el-Sheikh to participate in indirect negotiations with the Israeli delegation, the official said on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to speak on the matter, according to AFP.

"Hamas is very keen to reach an agreement to end the war and immediately begin the prisoner exchange process in accordance with the field conditions," he said.

"The occupation must not obstruct the implementation of President Trump's plan. If the occupation has genuine intentions to reach an agreement, Hamas is ready."

A Palestinian source close to Hamas told AFP that the two delegations would be in the same building but away from media coverage.

"The negotiations aim to discuss the timeline for preparing field conditions for the transfer of captives held in Gaza, as a prelude to launching the prisoner exchange process," he added.

"During communications with mediators, Hamas insisted that it is essential for Israel to halt military operations across all areas of the Gaza Strip, cease all air, reconnaissance, and drone activity, and withdraw from inside Gaza City," the source said.

"In parallel with the cessation of Israeli military activity, Hamas and the resistance factions will also halt their military operations and actions," he added.

The talks are also expected to include discussions of maps to be provided by Israel showing withdrawal routes and timelines, which will coincide with the prisoner exchange process, the source said.

The Hamas delegation will also present lists of Palestinian prisoners who must be released by Israel in return for the Israeli captives, he said.

According to Trump's plan, Israel is expected to release 250 Palestinian prisoners with life sentences and more than 1,700 detainees from the Gaza Strip who were arrested after October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, triggering the ongoing war.

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Arab World

European Nations Decry ‘Increasing Settler Terror’ in West Bank

Israeli soldiers take position as Israeli settlers barricade themselves in Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, March 17, 2026. (EPA)
Israeli soldiers take position as Israeli settlers barricade themselves in Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, March 17, 2026. (EPA)
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European Nations Decry ‘Increasing Settler Terror’ in West Bank

Israeli soldiers take position as Israeli settlers barricade themselves in Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, March 17, 2026. (EPA)
Israeli soldiers take position as Israeli settlers barricade themselves in Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, March 17, 2026. (EPA)

Diplomats from 13 European countries and Canada on Saturday slammed growing "terror" by settlers against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, after a surge in deadly attacks.

Since the start of March, six Palestinians have been shot dead in settler attacks in the West Bank, according to a tally of data from the Ramallah-based health ministry.

"We strongly condemn increasing settler terror and violence by the Israeli security forces inflicted upon Palestinian communities," said a joint statement from the diplomatic missions of countries including France, Spain and Britain.

"We are especially appalled by the killings of Palestinians over these past weeks. This violence by settler militias, aimed at taking over land and creating a coercive environment, forcing Palestinians to leave their homes, must end."

The statement called on the Israeli authorities to "prevent and prosecute the lethal violence, raids and attacks".

Israel's military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir on Wednesday criticized the increase in settler attacks in the West Bank, calling it "morally and ethically unacceptable".

Alongside roughly three million Palestinians, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law.

While most Israeli settlers do not engage in violence, a small but militant fringe has been linked to attacks on Palestinians.

More broadly, violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has risen sharply since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.

It has continued despite the ceasefire and spiked since the start of the war against Iran.

According to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,050 Palestinians -- many of them gunmen, but also scores of civilians -- in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war.

Israeli troops last week shot dead two children and their parents in a car, Palestinian authorities said. The Israeli military and police said soldiers opened fire on a vehicle over a perceived safety threat, killing four people inside.

Official Israeli figures say 45 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have also been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations.

Arab World

Jordan Says 240 Missiles, Drones Fired at Kingdom Since Start of Middle East War

Streaks of fire and light cross the night sky as an Israeli interceptor strikes an Iranian missile amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, over Tel Aviv, Israel, March 18, 2026. (Reuters)
Streaks of fire and light cross the night sky as an Israeli interceptor strikes an Iranian missile amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, over Tel Aviv, Israel, March 18, 2026. (Reuters)
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Jordan Says 240 Missiles, Drones Fired at Kingdom Since Start of Middle East War

Streaks of fire and light cross the night sky as an Israeli interceptor strikes an Iranian missile amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, over Tel Aviv, Israel, March 18, 2026. (Reuters)
Streaks of fire and light cross the night sky as an Israeli interceptor strikes an Iranian missile amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, over Tel Aviv, Israel, March 18, 2026. (Reuters)

The Jordanian army said on Saturday that 240 missiles and drones had targeted the kingdom since the Middle East war began last month, most of which were intercepted.

"The total number of missiles and drones fired towards the kingdom since the start of the war has reached 240," the army said in a statement.

"The Royal Air Force successfully intercepted and destroyed 222 missiles and drones, while 18 missiles and drones were not intercepted by the air defenses," it added.

The military's media office, meanwhile, said 36 missiles and drones had targeted the kingdom over the past week.

"Fourteen missiles and 21 drones were intercepted and destroyed, while defenses were unable to thwart one attack," it added.

Since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, the Islamic republic has struck countries across the region, including Jordan.

Iran has targeted US interests in the region, but attacks have also hit civilian infrastructure.

Jordan has recorded no deaths since the start of the war, with health authorities previously reporting 29 injured, all of whom have since been discharged from hospital.

Arab World

From Gaza to Lebanon, Doctor Races Against Time to Treat War-Wounded Children

British-Palestinian plastic and reconstructive surgeon Ghassan Abou-Sittah poses during a photo session in the Lebanese capital Beirut on March 19, 2026. (AFP)
British-Palestinian plastic and reconstructive surgeon Ghassan Abou-Sittah poses during a photo session in the Lebanese capital Beirut on March 19, 2026. (AFP)
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From Gaza to Lebanon, Doctor Races Against Time to Treat War-Wounded Children

British-Palestinian plastic and reconstructive surgeon Ghassan Abou-Sittah poses during a photo session in the Lebanese capital Beirut on March 19, 2026. (AFP)
British-Palestinian plastic and reconstructive surgeon Ghassan Abou-Sittah poses during a photo session in the Lebanese capital Beirut on March 19, 2026. (AFP)

During almost three weeks of war in Lebanon, British-Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu-Sittah has had no respite, telling AFP he has been working "against the clock" to save children wounded in Israeli bombardment.

At the American University of Beirut Medical Center, one of the capital's main hospitals, his pediatric intensive care unit has been receiving critical cases from across the country and desperate parents praying for their children's survival.

This week, Israeli strikes hit densely populated central Beirut areas not far from the hospital, with three badly wounded children pulled from the rubble.

Among them was an 11-year-old girl who had "metal shrapnel in her abdomen, and partial amputation of the foot", said Abu-Sittah, a plastic surgeon specializing in conflict injuries.

"She's now in a stable condition," added the doctor, who lives near the hospital and rushes there for emergencies.

Israeli strikes have pummeled Lebanon since Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Israeli-US attacks.

Lebanese authorities say that 118 children have been killed and 370 others wounded.

Abu-Sittah said he had seen "partial limb amputations, brain injuries, shrapnel in the face, shrapnel in the eye, penetrating abdominal shrapnel, a lot of fractures, a lot of broken bones, a lot of soft tissue damage... and all of this in one child."

Such wounds mean "lots of surgeries", he added, dark rings under his eyes.

- War an 'endemic disease' -

He recalled three sisters who were brought to the hospital around a fortnight ago.

"Their injuries are so bad, I have to take them to the operating room every 48 hours... to get rid of more of the dead tissue and clean the wounds so that at some stage, they're ready for the reconstructive surgery," he said.

Born in Kuwait to a Palestinian refugee father from Gaza and a Lebanese mother, Abu-Sittah has dedicated his life to treating wounded civilians in the region.

War is the "endemic disease" of the Middle East, said Abu-Sittah.

But "you never get used to" children suffering, he said.

"A child should never become faceless, they never become numbers."

His first experience of conflict was as a medical student in 1991 after the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait during the first Gulf War, and treating the wounded would soon become his mission.

He graduated in the United Kingdom and over the decades has worked repeatedly in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as in Iraq and Yemen.

After Palestinian group Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel sparked war in Gaza, Abu-Sittah spent more than a month in the Palestinian territory.

Lebanon this time is "a kind of small version of Gaza", Abu-Sittah said.

While the death toll in Lebanon is far lower, health facilities and workers in the country have paid a heavy price, with the health ministry saying 40 health workers have been killed and 119 wounded.

- Ongoing care -

Abu-Sittah said four hospitals in Beirut's southern suburbs had been forced to evacuate, "one of which has a big intensive care unit for children", amid persistent Israeli bombardment of the area.

He said some badly wounded children have died because they were not transferred in time from parts of the country where health facilities are less equipped than those in Beirut.

"The Israelis are targeting the ambulances, and so moving kids from one hospital in Nabatieh or in the Bekaa is very dangerous," he said, referring to a city in south Lebanon and to east Lebanon's Bekaa valley area.

"It can only happen during the day, and it takes a long time," he added.

The Israeli military has accused Hezbollah of using ambulances "for military purposes", an accusation Lebanon's health ministry has described as "a justification" for crimes "against humanity".

In 2024, the doctor created the Ghassan Abu-Sittah Children's Fund, which aims to provide medical care in Gaza and Lebanon and ongoing support to wounded children after they leave hospital.

Abu-Sittah said his youngest patient in Lebanon now was a four-year-old boy whose parents and three siblings were killed, and who will need major long-term physical and psychological support after suffering a head wound and an amputated foot.

"Who's going to look after them when they go home?" Abu-Sittah said.

Many wounded children "come from poor backgrounds who don't have the means to manage all of this", he added.

"It's not just the body that's destroyed, it's the family unit that's destroyed."