Author: GANUX

 

 

 

Hamas handed over the first seven of 20 surviving Israeli hostages to Red Cross representatives in Gaza on Monday, sparking cheers of joy in Tel Aviv, where a huge crowd was gathered to support hostage families.

 

Under a ceasefire agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump after two years of war, Hamas is due to release all surviving hostages on Monday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

 

The releases came as Trump headed to the region for a peace summit, having declared the war “over”.

 

“According to information provided by the Red Cross, seven hostages have been transferred into their custody, and are on their way to IDF and ISA forces in the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli military and security service said.

 

“The IDF is prepared to receive additional hostages who are expected to be transferred to the Red Cross later on.”

 

In Tel Aviv, hundreds of people gathered on Hostages Square and erupted in joy as news broke of the first releases.

 

Among them, Noga shared her pain and joy with AFP.

 

“I’m torn between emotion and sadness for those who won’t be coming back,” she said.

 

On October 7, 2023, militants seized 251 hostages during Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel, which led to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians.

 

All but 47 of the hostages were freed in earlier truces, with the families of those that have remained in captivity leading lives of constant pain and worry for their loved ones.

 

In Gaza, too, the ceasefire has brought relief, but with much of the territory flattened by war, the road to recovery remains long.

 

“I returned to Sheikh Radwan with my heart trembling,” 38-year-old Fatima Salem told AFP after she returned to her neighbourhood in Gaza City.

 

“My eyes kept searching for landmarks I had lost — nothing looked the same, even the neighbours’ houses were gone.

 

“Despite the exhaustion and fear, I felt like I was coming back to my safe place. I missed the smell of my home, even if it’s now just rubble. We will pitch a tent next to it and wait for reconstruction.”

– ‘War is over. Okay?’ –

 

Trump’s lightning visit to Israel and Egypt aims to celebrate his role in brokering last week’s ceasefire and hostage release deal — but comes at a precarious time as Israel and Hamas negotiate what comes next.

 

Under the US president’s proposed roadmap, once the Palestinian militants have handed over the surviving hostages, Israel will begin releasing around 2,000 detainees in exchange.

 

Israel expects all 20 living hostages to be released to the Red Cross “early Monday morning”, according to a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

 

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One at the start of the “very special” visit, Trump brushed off concerns about whether the ceasefire would endure.

 

“I think it’s going to hold. I think people are tired of it. It’s been centuries,” he said of the fighting.

 

“The war is over. Okay? You understand that?” the US president added.

In Israel, Trump is due to meet the families of hostages before addressing the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem.

 

– Final details –

 

His trip is partly a victory lap over the Gaza deal he helped broker with a 20-point peace plan announced in late September.

 

“Everybody’s very excited about this moment in time,” Trump said earlier as he prepared to board the plane at Joint Base Andrews near Washington.

 

Negotiators were still wrangling late Sunday over the final arrangements for the exchanges, with two Hamas sources telling AFP the group was insisting that Israel include seven senior Palestinian leaders on the list of those to be released.

 

Israel has previously rejected at least one of those names.

 

The sources said the group and its allies had nevertheless “completed all preparations” for handing over to Israel all the living hostages.

Israel does not expect all of the dead hostages to be returned on Monday.

 

Under the plan, Hamas is to hand over the remaining 47 hostages, as well as the remains of a soldier killed in 2014 during a previous Gaza war.

 

Among the prisoners to be released, 250 are security detainees, including many convicted of killing Israelis, while about 1,700 were detained by the Israeli army in Gaza during the war.

 

– Peace summit –

 

After visiting Israel, Trump will head to Egypt where he and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will co-host a summit of more than 20 world leaders to back his plan to end the Gaza war and promote Middle East peace.

 

Trump will be looking to resolve some of the huge uncertainty around the next phases of the peace plan — including Hamas’s refusal to disarm and Israel’s failure to pledge a full withdrawal from the devastated territory.

 

Trump insisted he had “guarantees” from both sides and other key regional players about the initial phase of the deal, and the future stages.

 

Trump also said he would be “proud” to visit Gaza itself, but did not say when such a difficult security challenge would be possible.

 

A new governing body for devastated Gaza — which Trump himself would head under his own plan — would be established “very quickly,” he added.

 

Under the plan, as Israel conducts a partial withdrawal from Gaza, it will be replaced by a multi-national force coordinated by a US-led command centre in Israel.

 

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,806 people, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers credible.

 

The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.

 

AFP

 

 

 

Voting began Sunday as Cameroon holds presidential elections, which 92-year-old Paul Biya, the world’s oldest serving head of state, is expected to win, extending his already 43-year grip on power.

 

Biya faces 11 opponents, including former employment minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary, 79, who has generated unexpected enthusiasm among voters in the central African nation, where half the population is under 20.

 

Polling stations opened at 8:00 am and will close at 6:00 pm (0700 to 1700 GMT).

 

The eight million Cameroonians who are eligible to vote in the one-round election have, for the most part, only known one ruler in their lifetime.

Biya has been in power since 1982 and has won every election in the past 20 years by more than 70 percent of the ballot.

 

“We shouldn’t be naive. We know full well the ruling system has ample means at its disposal to get results in its favour,” Cameroonian political scientist Stephane Akoa told AFP.

 

But he said that the campaign in recent days had been “much livelier” than was usually the case at that stage.

 

“This poll is therefore more likely to throw up surprises,” he said.

 

Biya has kept his customary low profile during the campaign, appearing in public on Tuesday for the first time since May, looking visibly fit.

 

He held a rally in Maroua in the strategic Far North region, which has 1.2 million eligible voters and makes up the second largest voting bloc in the country.

 

For years, it was considered a Biya stronghold, but several former allies from the area are now running against him.

 

Youth vote

 

The 11 rival candidates have made numerous public appearances in recent weeks, each promising a new dawn for Cameroon in place of Biya’s entrenched hold on public life.

 

The president’s main rival, Bakary, also campaigned in the regional capital, Maroua, this week.

In stark contrast to Biya, whose appearance attracted a sparse crowd of just a few hundred people, Bakary was welcomed in the streets of his home region by thousands of supporters waving placards that hailed “Tchiroma the Saviour”.

 

Bakary—who resigned from the government in June to join the opposition after 20 years at Biya’s side—is the leading challenger after top opponent Maurice Kamto was barred from the race.

Kamto came second in the 2018 presidential election but was banned from standing this year by the Constitutional Council, a move that rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, said undermined the credibility of the electoral process.

 

Biya is only the second president Cameroon has had since its independence from France in 1960.

 

It is Central Africa’s most diversified economy, with an abundance of natural and agricultural resources.

 

However, around 40 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line, according to World Bank figures for 2024, and unemployment stands at 35 per cent in the major cities.

 

Young people hunger for change, Akoa said, but not yet to the point where they will take the risk of protesting en masse as in other countries in Africa and Asia.

 

‘Sign of change’

 

Cameroonians complain about the high cost of living, a lack of clean drinking water, healthcare and quality education.

 

But their frustrations remain confined to social media for the time being.

 

“Many young people intend to vote,” Akoa said.

 

“There is a positive sign of change, but perhaps not strong enough to bring young people out onto the streets, as we saw in Madagascar, Tunisia, and elsewhere.”

 

The government has authorised 55,000 local and international observers to monitor the vote, including representatives of the African Union.

 

The Constitutional Council has until October 26 to announce the final results.

But several internet platforms say they will compile the results independently, drawing criticism from the government, which says they are attempting to manipulate public opinion.

 

The vote takes place in the shadow of a conflict between separatist forces and the government that has plagued the English-speaking regions since 2016.

 

Turnout was particularly low in these areas in 2018.

 

AFP