Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
Hamas negotiators returned to Doha from Cairo on Sunday without any signs of a breakthrough on an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, with the main hurdle to finalising the deal lying in Israel's reluctance to commit to ending the war, sources told The National.
Hamas is insisting on a permanent ceasefire and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, demands Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again rejected on Sunday.
“The main point of contention in the deal remained Hamas’s demand for an Israeli pledge to stop the war, and Netanyahu insisting on rejecting this demand,” a Palestinian political source said.
“The Egyptian proposal worded this point in a vague way that allows the two parties to interpret it according to what they see.”
Both sides have appeared amenable to other points of the deal, which includes a multi-stage exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, and the safe return of Gazans displaced from their homes during nearly seven months of war.
In a statement released by his office, Mr Netanyahu said on Sunday that “Israel was and is still ready to conclude a truce in the fight to free our hostages, but Hamas still adheres to its extremist positions”.
“Israel will not agree to Hamas's demands that mean surrender. Surrendering to Hamas’s demands would be a huge defeat for our nation. We will continue fighting until all goals are achieved,” he said.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh responded by accusing Mr Netanyahu of seeking to sabotage the truce effort while Hamas remained keen to “reach a comprehensive, interconnected agreement that ends the aggression, guarantees withdrawal, and achieves a serious prisoner exchange deal”.
“What is the meaning of the agreement if a ceasefire is not its first outcome?” Mr Haniyeh said in a statement seen by The National.
He said Hamas had consulted mediators and other Palestinian factions and held “intensive internal meetings and consultations” before sending its delegation back to Cairo with “positive and flexible positions” aimed at stopping the war.
In another move likely to have a bearing on the talks, Mr Netanyhu's government on Sunday shut down the Al Jazeera news network's operations in Israel, accusing it of incitement.
The broadcaster based in Qatar, one of three countries mediating the peace talks, was one of the few international media outlets reporting from Gaza on the devastation caused by Israel's war.
Adding to the difficulties faced by the mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar to iron out a deal, Mr Netanyahu decided to keep his negotiators at home, with the Israeli media saying he would allow them to go only if Hamas agrees to a deal. They were scheduled to arrive in Egypt on Sunday.
Contacts with Israeli negotiators have been made through secure phone lines, according to the sources.
Reflecting the distrust between the two sides, Hamas's response to Mr Netanyahu's decision was to go back on promises it would free up to 30 hostages during the first phase of the proposed deal, said the sources. It is now saying it would free only 12-to-18 hostages.
Hamas is now also insisting that a permanent ceasefire must be declared at the end of the first phase of the deal, not the third and final stage as the US mediators are proposing, the sources said.
“Hamas realises that the main concern of the Americans and the Israelis is to secure the release of the hostages,” said one of the sources. “So, Hamas will stagger their release for as long as it could to ensure its demands are met.”
Hamas is believed to be holding about 130 hostages, including the remains of about 30 who had died since they were taken during the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 that triggered the war. It released about 100 of them during a week-long truce in late November.
It wants to exchange the remaining hostages for hundreds of Palestinians detained in Israel on security-related charges.
Israel responded to the October attack with a bombing campaign and ground operations that have killed more than 34,600 Palestinians and injured twice as many.
It has also displaced about 80 per cent of the territory’s 2.3 million residents and created a humanitarian crisis, including widespread hunger.
The sources said Israel was willing to move its forces away from the enclave's two main roads that run the length of the strip to allow the return of displaced and the flow of humanitarian aid. It refuses to pull out from parts of Gaza city in the north until the later stages of the deal, said the sources.
CIA director William Burns, who arrived in Cairo on Friday for the latest talks, a day before a Qatari delegation and Hamas officials, also left for Doha on Sunday.
"CIA director Bill Burns is on his way to Doha to meet with Qatar's prime minister for discussions on mediation between Israel and Hamas," a source told The National.
Hamas sources said the US is offering “limited guarantees” that the war would end.
“It's not enough,” a Hamas official said, adding that the group wants other nations to guarantee the deal. However, mediators have already rejected the militants' demand for Russia, China and Turkey to be the guarantors of a ceasefire agreement.
Also stalling the negotiations are Mr Netanyahu's repeated threats to press ahead with plans to attack Rafah city in southern Gaza, on border with Egypt, where hundreds of thousands have taken refuge, saying it was necessary to achieve Israel's goal of destroying Hamas.
Hamas on Sunday claimed a rocket attack on Israeli forces near the Kerem Shalom crossing used for aid deliveries, with Israeli media reporting that at least seven people had been injured.
The Israeli military said it struck on the launch site, which it said was near the Rafah crossing, also in southern Gaza, and halted the entry of aid lorries through Kerem Shalom.
The closure of the crossing came soon after the head of the World Food Programme said there was “full-blown famine” in northern Gaza that was slowly spreading south. Although Israel has increased the amount of food it is allowing into Gaza, aid agencies say it is not nearly enough.
The UAE said on Sunday that it had delivered 400 tonnes of aid, enough to feed about 120,000 people in northern Gaza, in partnership with American Near East Refugee Aid, an NGO.
Rally in Tel Aviv
Despite the hurdles in the truce talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said “the current atmosphere has raised the possibility of reaching a ceasefire deal in Gaza”.
“The talks and efforts worldwide and across the region, and also the pressures exerted by the general public on the Israeli regime in international and regional arenas, have opened up such a possibility,” he said on the sidelines of the Organisation of the Islamic Co-operation summit in Banjul, Gambia.
As Hamas officials were meeting Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo, relatives and supporters of the more than 130 Israeli hostages still in captivity rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening, calling for Mr Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
“I'm here today to support a deal now, yesterday,” Natalie Eldor told Reuters. “We need to bring them back. We need to bring all the hostages back, the live ones, the dead ones. We got to bring them back. We have to switch this government. This has got to end.”
Israeli media reported that The Tikvah forum, a right-leaning organisation that represents some hostages' families, wrote a letter to Mr Netanyahu calling on him to resign if he “can't stand the pressure”.
WHAT FANS WILL LOVE ABOUT RUSSIA
FANS WILL LOVE
Uber is ridiculously cheap and, as Diego Saez discovered, mush safer. A 45-minute taxi from Pulova airport to Saint Petersburg’s Nevsky Prospect can cost as little as 500 roubles (Dh30).
FANS WILL LOATHE
Uber policy in Russia is that they can start the fare as soon as they arrive at the pick-up point — and oftentimes they start it even before arriving, or worse never arrive yet charge you anyway.
FANS WILL LOVE
It’s amazing how active Russians are on social media and your accounts will surge should you post while in the country. Throw in a few Cyrillic hashtags and watch your account numbers rocket.
FANS WILL LOATHE
With cold soups, bland dumplings and dried fish, Russian cuisine is not to everybody’s tastebuds. Fortunately, there are plenty Georgian restaurants to choose from, which are both excellent and economical.
FANS WILL LOVE
The World Cup will take place during St Petersburg's White Nights Festival, which means perpetual daylight in a city that genuinely never sleeps. (Think toddlers walking the streets with their grandmothers at 4am.)
FANS WILL LOATHE
The walk from Krestovsky Ostrov metro station to Saint Petersburg Arena on a rainy day makes you wonder why some of the $1.7 billion was not spent on a weather-protected walkway.
The five types of long-term residential visas
Obed Suhail of ServiceMarket, an online home services marketplace, outlines the five types of long-term residential visas:
Investors:
A 10-year residency visa can be obtained by investors who invest Dh10 million, out of which 60 per cent should not be in real estate. It can be a public investment through a deposit or in a business. Those who invest Dh5 million or more in property are eligible for a five-year residency visa. The invested amount should be completely owned by the investors, not loaned, and retained for at least three years.
Entrepreneurs:
A five-year multiple entry visa is available to entrepreneurs with a previous project worth Dh0.5m or those with the approval of an accredited business incubator in the UAE.
Specialists
Expats with specialised talents, including doctors, specialists, scientists, inventors, and creative individuals working in the field of culture and art are eligible for a 10-year visa, given that they have a valid employment contract in one of these fields in the country.
Outstanding students:
A five-year visa will be granted to outstanding students who have a grade of 95 per cent or higher in a secondary school, or those who graduate with a GPA of 3.75 from a university.
Retirees:
Expats who are at least 55 years old can obtain a five-year retirement visa if they invest Dh2m in property, have savings of Dh1m or more, or have a monthly income of at least Dh20,000.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESmartCrowd%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiddiq%20Farid%20and%20Musfique%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%20%2F%20PropTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24650%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2035%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%20institutional%20investors%20and%20notable%20angel%20investors%20(500%20MENA%2C%20Shurooq%2C%20Mada%2C%20Seedstar%2C%20Tricap)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
MATCH INFO
Chelsea 0
Liverpool 2 (Mane 50', 54')
Red card: Andreas Christensen (Chelsea)
Man of the match: Sadio Mane (Liverpool)
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
India squads
T20: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shivam Dube, Shardul Thakur
Test: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant
Normcore explained
Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.
European arms
Known EU weapons transfers to Ukraine since the war began: Germany 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles. Luxembourg 100 NLAW anti-tank weapons, jeeps and 15 military tents as well as air transport capacity. Belgium 2,000 machine guns, 3,800 tons of fuel. Netherlands 200 Stinger missiles. Poland 100 mortars, 8 drones, Javelin anti-tank weapons, Grot assault rifles, munitions. Slovakia 12,000 pieces of artillery ammunition, 10 million litres of fuel, 2.4 million litres of aviation fuel and 2 Bozena de-mining systems. Estonia Javelin anti-tank weapons. Latvia Stinger surface to air missiles. Czech Republic machine guns, assault rifles, other light weapons and ammunition worth $8.57 million.
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETwin-turbo%2C%20V8%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E8-speed%20automatic%20and%20manual%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E503%20bhp%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E513Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Efrom%20Dh646%2C800%20(%24176%2C095)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Enow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE SPECS
Engine: 3-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 424hp
Torque: 580 Nm
Price: From Dh399,000
On sale: Now
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Khalid%20Fahad%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Shaima%20Al%20Tayeb%2C%20Wafa%20Muhamad%2C%20Hamss%20Bandar%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The Way It Was: My Life with Frank Sinatra by Eliot Weisman and Jennifer Valoppi
Hachette Books
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
