GAZA, Oct 3 (The African Portal) – The Islamist militant group Hamas said on Friday that it accepted some elements of the Gaza peace plan proposed by US President Donald Trump and that it was prepared to release all Israeli hostages, dead or alive.
The group also said it was prepared to enter into immediate negotiations to clarify the precise details.
After unveiling his 20-point peace plan alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week, President Trump took to social media earlier on Friday to demand that “an agreement must be reached with Hamas by Sunday evening” and threatened to eliminate Hamas if the group did not agree to the proposal.
Hamas is still believed to be holding 48 Israelis hostage in the Gaza Strip, around 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Trump’s Gaza plan ‘reminiscent of colonial practices,’ UN experts say
Dozens of UN experts have criticized key elements of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan.
“Imposing an immediate peace at any price, regardless of or brazenly against law and justice, is a recipe for further injustice, future violence and instability,”35 independent experts said in a statement released on Friday.
The experts, who are mandated by the UN Human Rights Council but who do not speak on behalf of the United Nations, said they “welcome part of the peace plan” — including the demand for a permanent ceasefire, the rapid release of unlawfully detained people, and an influx of aid into the devastated enclave.
They voiced serious concerns over other aspects of the plan that they said were “deeply inconsistent with fundamental rules of international law” and risked furthering the oppression of Palestinians.
They slammed in particular the plan’s call for a transitional “Board of Peace” in Gaza that would be chaired by Trump himself, saying it was “regrettably reminiscent of colonial practices and must be rejected.”
They also decried that “de-radicalization is imposed on Gaza only,” despite the fact that “anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab sentiments, radicalization and public incitement to genocide have been hallmarks of dominant rhetoric in Israel over the past two years.”
“The future of Palestine must be in the hands of the Palestinian people,” the experts said. “Not imposed by outsiders under extreme conditions of duress in yet another scheme to control their destiny.”
Italy: Mass strikes in solidarity with Gaza flotilla
Hundreds of thousands of people in Italy went on strike on Friday, taking to the streets of Rome, Milan, Florence, Turin, Bologna and other cities to protest against the interception of an international flotilla carrying aid to the Gaza Strip and the continuing Israeli offensive in the Palestinian territory.
The strike caused major disruption across the country, with public transport affected in Rome and Milan and access to the ports of Naples and Genoa blocked.
According to the General Confederation of Labor (CGIL), Italy’s biggest trade union and one of those that called for the spontaneous general strike, more than 2 million people took part in about 100 protests, including at least 80,000 demonstrators in Rome alone.
CGIL leader Maurizio Landini said the nationwide actions showed the “humanity and determination of decent people who want to stop a genocide and do what governments and states turn a blind eye to or are even complicit in.”
According to the Italian Foreign Ministry, 40 Italians, including four parliamentarians, were among the 400 people taken into custody by Israeli authorities after naval forces intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla earlier this week.
The CGIL has accused the Italian government of “abandoning Italian workers in open international waters.”
Credit: DW
