GAZA, Oct 9 (The African Portal) – Hamas said Wednesday that ‘optimism’ was prevailing in indirect peace talks with Israel after the Palestinian militant group submitted a list of prisoners it wants released in exchange for freeing hostages taken during the October 7, 2023 attacks. The latest talks are based on a 20-point peace proposal outlined by US President Donald Trump last month. Read our liveblog to see how the day’s events unfolded.
Trump says Gaza negotiations going ‘very well’, might go to Middle East at the end of the week
US President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that he may go to the Middle East at the end of this week, saying a peace deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is “very close”.
“I may go there sometime toward the end of the week, maybe on Sunday, actually,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “And we’ll see, but there is a very good chance. Negotiations are going along very well.”
Family of Nepali hostage in Gaza clings to hope as new video emerges
The sister of a Nepali man held hostage in Gaza said Wednesday she still hoped he was alive, as the family released a video showing him in captivity nearly two years ago.
The short clip of Bipin Joshi, recovered by the Israeli military, shows him introducing himself in English and is believed to have been filmed in November 2023.
It is the only sign of life received since October 7, 2023, when he was abducted from a kibbutz in southern Israel during the Hamas-led attack that triggered the Gaza war.
The video’s release comes as the Islamist movement and Israel hold indirect talks aimed at ending the conflict and securing the release of remaining hostages.
Joshi’s teenage sister Pushpa said the family first saw the footage about a year ago and hoped its publication now would “create a little bit of pressure on (the negotiators), that they will be able to understand our feelings, our pain”.
Spanish parliament approves Israel arms embargo
Spanish lawmakers have approved the enshrinement in law of an arms embargo on Israel that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez introduced to end what he called “the genocide in Gaza”.
Parliament backed by 178 votes to 169 the decree announced in September by Sanchez. The centre-left premier is one of the most strident critics among world leaders of Israel’s devastating two-year-old war in the Palestinian territory.
Credit: France24
