City Cairo Financial News

DUBAI—The U.S., Egypt and Qatar are pushing Israel and Hamas to join a phased diplomatic process that would start with a release of hostages and, eventually, lead to a withdrawal of Israeli forces and an end to the war in Gaza, diplomats involved in mediating the talks said. Neither side in the conflict has agreed to the terms of the new proposal—which includes steps at odds with the stated positions of Israel and Hamas. Taher Al-Nono, a media adviser to Hamas, said there was no real progress, and Israeli officials didn’t respond to a request for comment.

China's top diplomat warned Sunday that any steps towards Taiwan's independence would be «harshly punished», after the self-ruled island defied Beijing's warnings and chose pro-sovereignty candidate Lai Ching-te as president. Voters on the island spurned Beijing's repeated calls not to vote for Lai, delivering a comfortable victory for a man China's ruling Communist Party sees as a dangerous separatist.

Israel-Hamas war, Egypt has put forward a proposal that include a ceasefire, a phased hostage release and the creation of a Palestinian government of experts who would administer the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank, said a report by AP citing a senior Egyptian official and a European diplomat. The proposal has been presented to Israel, Hamas, the United States, and the European governments, said the report. According to the report, the proposal calls for an initial ceasefire of up to two weeks during which Palestinian militants would free 40 to 50 hostages, among them women, the sick and the elderly, in return for the release of 120-150 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.

By Ahmed Mohamed Hassan and Nidal al-Mughrabi

By Farah Saafan and Suleiman Al-Khalidi

Lubna Nazir Shaboo, an Indian national from Jammu & Kashmir living in Gaza, and her daughter Karima, crossed the Rafah border (between Gaza and Egypt) on Monday evening, with the help of Indian diplomatic missions in the region and reached the Egyptian capital the next day, the report said. “I safely crossed over from Gaza at the Rafah border and am now awaiting my return to Kashmir," PTI quoted Shabooas saying from Cairo. The return journey plan was in the works, she added.

are in al-Arish (a city in Egypt). Tomorrow morning (Tuesday), they will move to Cairo," Lubna's husband Nedal Toman said in a text message sent to PTI from Gaza. The Rafah crossing near Egypt remains the only exit route from the war-hit Gaza as Israeli troops continue to surround the city.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday urged all to respect Egypt's sovereignty and position in the region following incidents on Friday where drones fell on two Egyptian Red Sea towns. Egyptians should feel safe and the army is able to protect the country, Sisi said at a manufacturing expo in Cairo.

fires. Civilians have been evacuated and soldiers in helmets guard the junctions. Every hour or so, Hizbullah missiles explode inside the border, and Israel launches a counter-barrage aimed at the Iran-backed militia.

By Mohi Narayan

Oil prices eased on Monday as aid convoys started to arrive in the Gaza Strip over the weekend amid diplomatic efforts to contain a conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas from spreading to the wider oil-rich region. Brent crude futures fell 60 cents to $91.56 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures lost 61 cent to trade at $87.47 a barrel at 0038 GMT. For the past week, contracts rose more than 1% for a second consecutive weekly jump, on fear of potential supply disruption if the Israel-Hamas war grows into a wider confrontation in the Middle East, the world's biggest oil-supplying region. «Israel agreed to hold off its attack on Hamas following pressure from the U.S.,» ANZ Research said in a client note.

Reuters, called for the protection of civilians including those who are trying to get to safety, notes that states must comply with international law when responding to "terrorist attacks", and urges the "continuous, sufficient and unhindered" delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported. However, it was not immediately clear if or when the United States planned to put the draft resolution to a vote.

Israel-Hamas War: ‘We’re here for you', Justin Trudeau assures support to Palestinian, Arab, Black Muslims 3. Qatar, which was key to the release of two US citizens abducted by Hamas, is optimistic that talks with the group will “very soon" result in the release of all civilian hostages 4. As many as 100,000 people marched through central London to demand a cease-fire in Israel’s war with Hamas and in support of the Palestinian cause.

By Aidan Lewis

Israel-Hamas war becoming a wider conflict. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said he'd agreed with US President Joe Biden that the Rafah crossing should be open “sustainably.” The Israeli Defense Force said it was responding with live fire on Saturday to a number of launches made toward Israel by Lebanon. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported earlier that Israel's military struck a village near the countries' border. Switzerland's top prosecutor announced the start of a criminal investigation into alleged payments made to Hamas weeks before the attacks on Israel, the Swiss public broadcaster reported on Saturday. Attorney General Stefan Blaettler said the accusation centers on financial support to a terrorist organization, while declining to say who the proceedings are directed against. Egypt opened its crisis summit in Cairo with the leaders of Italy, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and South Africa among those on hand, as well as senior officials from the EU, Turkey, Russia and China.

The Times of Israel reported. Citing senior diplomatic sources, The Times of Israel reported that both governments acknowledge a high probability of a ground invasion by Israel.

NDTV reported. "It is quite possible that Hezbollah which is much more militarily capable and supported by Iran could get directly involved in the fighting," he told NDTV. Also Read: Israel-Hamas War LIVE Updates Bremmer said that the ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza is at risk of further deterioration as additional fronts open up.

Also Read: Israel-Hamas War LIVE Updates During the talks Sunak stressed the imperative of avoiding a wider regional conflict and preventing any further unnecessary loss of civilian life, his office said. "We've also made good progress on tangible areas like ensuring access for humanitarian aid to those who need it," Sunak told broadcasters in Cairo, as reported by Reuters. “Meeting with President Abbas today I expressed my condolences for the loss of civilian lives in Gaza, including at the Al Ahli hospital.

Gaza Strip was worsening, with only four or five days of stocks left in the shops. WFP said stocks were getting low in warehouses inside the Palestinian enclave, but at the shop level, the situation was even more acute. «The situation in Gaza is getting worse by the minute: the humanitarian situation but also of course the food security situation,» WFP's Middle East spokeswoman Abeer Etefa, told reporters at the UN in Geneva via video-link from Cairo. «The current stocks of essential food commodities are sufficient for only two weeks — and that's at the wholesalers' level,» she said, with the warehouses located in Gaza City in the north of the territory and shops having difficulties replenishing supplies. «Inside the shops, the stocks are getting close to less than a few days, maybe four or five days of food stocks left.» Gaza-based Hamas fighters broke through Israel's heavily fortified border on October 7, killing more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians. Israel has responded with withering air strikes on Hamas-controlled Gaza and by deploying tens of thousands of troops to the border in preparation for a full-scale ground offensive. Israel has demanded that residents of north Gaza leave for the south, hoping to clear the area of civilians in preparation for a perilous urban ground assault. Etefa said that out of five flour mills in the Gaza Strip, only one was operating due to security concerns and the unavailability of fuel. «So the bread supply is running low and people are lining up for hours to get bread,» she said. Only five bakeries out of 23 in Gaza contracted by WFP were still in operation, she added.

State Antony Blinken said Sunday the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt «will be open» for aid into the blockaded strip, he said while departing from Cairo. «We're putting in place with the United Nations, with Egypt, with Israel, with others, the mechanism by which to get the assistance and to get it to people who need it,» he told reporters. Blinken also said that the United States had appointed an envoy, veteran former diplomat David Satterfield, to work on aid to Gaza.