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MIDDLE EAST

Israel halts Palestinian prisoner release after Gaza celebrations

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted to the euphoria in Gaza over the release of Israeli hostages. Shortly after Netanyahu’s statement, it was claimed that the release process of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for Israeli hostages was halted. According to news from Channel 12, Palestinian prisoners who were put on buses to be released were taken off the buses following this decision.

According to a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu said he watched the footage of the release of 2 Israeli prisoners in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip with ‘great seriousness’. ‘I ask the mediators to ensure that such unbearable scenes will not be repeated and to guarantee the safety of our hostages,’ Netanyahu said.

In the third round of the prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel, International Red Cross teams received 3 Israeli prisoners – including female soldier Agam Berger, Arbel Yehud, and Gadi Moses – along with 5 Thai citizens in Gaza.

Especially the dense crowd in the area where the house of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, was located in Khan Yunis attracted attention. There was great enthusiasm during the release of the prisoners, and they had difficulty walking through the crowd as they were handed over.

Citing these images as an excuse, it was claimed that Israel stopped the release process of 110 Palestinian prisoners who were to be released in return for 3 Israeli hostages.

It was known that Israel was uncomfortable with Hamas’ demonstrations during the prisoner swap process.

In the first two rounds of the prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel, 7 Israeli prisoners in Gaza and 290 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons were released.

MIDDLE EAST

Torkham border between Afghanistan and Pakistan remained closed for third days

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The most crowded border between Afghanistan and Pakistan (Torkham gate) remained closed for the third consecutive day. The closure has severely impacted traders, transporters and hundreds of laborers who rely on daily work on both sides of the gate. Besides halt on trade activities, the closure leaves passengers and daily wage workers in a very stressful situation.

The Chamber of Commerce and Investment of Afghanistan announced that the closure of the Torkham crossing has harmed the trade of both sides and the transit of goods from Karachi to Afghanistan is suspended.

Pakistan is considered one of Afghanistan’s important trading partners, and part of food and transit goods are imported to Afghanistan from Pakistan.

Pakistani officials have said that this crossing has been blocked due to the construction of new Taliban facilities near the border.

The border commissioner of the Taliban in Torkham confirmed that Pakistan had taken action following the construction activities of the Taliban near the border. However, hundreds of passengers and lorries of commercial goods are stuck at the Torkham crossing.

On the other hand, Pakistan’s foreign minister said that Islamabad wants to interact with the Taliban, but according to the ministry, the Taliban should not give Afghanistan’s territory to extremist groups.

An official said that hundreds of travelers, who are stuck at the Torkham crossing, are about to enter Afghanistan, but the border is closed by Pakistani security forces.

The Taliban border commissioner said, along with hundreds of passengers, patients and trucks carrying commercial goods, they are waiting for the reopening of the Torkham crossing. But the Pakistani authorities have said that the construction of facilities is illegal and creates tension, asking the Taliban to stop it.

Islamabad has confirmed that its relations with the Taliban are facing challenges

In more than three years since their government, the Taliban have clashed with the Pakistani military many times, sometimes because of border challenges, sometimes because of issues related to terrorism. Besides this, Pakistan has every now and then carried out military operations on the territory of Afghanistan, like the deadly airstrike by Pakistani fighters on Barmal district of Paktika that killed a large number of people.

Pakistan foreign ministry time and again said that Afghan soil should not be used to plan or carry out terrorist activities against Pakistan.

The Pakistan Foreign Ministry said that the US withdrawal from Afghanistan was a sovereign decision for the United States, but the important thing is that they should not have left their weapons in Afghanistan.

These weapons are now in the hands of terrorist groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other extremist groups, Pakistan FM said in a statement.

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MIDDLE EAST

Arab leaders fail to agree on Gaza’s future ahead of key Cairo summit

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Arab leaders, who oppose Trump’s plan to take over Gaza and expel Palestinians, failed to reach a consensus on the management and reconstruction of Gaza at a meeting in Riyadh on Friday. The final decision on this issue is expected to be taken at the Arab summit to be held in Cairo on 4 March.

Limited information was shared with the public about the summit led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In the only image released to the press from the summit, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, President of the United Arab Emirates Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Prince Sheikh Al Sabah of Kuwait, and Bahrain Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa took part.

According to the Saudi Arabian news agency, the content of the talks was kept secret. The reason for this is not to influence the course of the Arab summit to be held in Cairo on 4 March. Final decisions are expected to be taken at this summit.

Arab diplomats attending the summit told Haaretz that the leaders took a common position against Trump’s plan to take over Gaza and agreed to present an alternative for the reconstruction of Gaza based on the Egyptian plan.

The Egyptian plan is based on the recovery and reconstruction of Gaza without expelling Palestinians from their land. However, the crucial question of how Gaza would be governed without Hamas or the Palestinian Authority remained unanswered at the summit.

It remains to be seen whether the Arab summit in Cairo on 4 March will approve a framework for handing over the administration of Gaza to Arab and possibly international actors.

A Palestinian source in contact with senior officials in Arab countries, not directly connected to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, told Haaretz that the main problem is to find a solution acceptable to Israel.

“A Hamas-controlled Gaza is a red line for Israel and some Arab countries,” the source said, adding that Arab countries are also demanding a comprehensive reform of the Palestinian Authority up to the highest levels. However, the source said that the Arab countries cannot take a decision that would further undermine the PA’s already weakened position in the West Bank.

The Arab countries are also taking into account Hamas’ possible objection to being left out of plans for the future of Gaza. Hamas demands a broad Palestinian consensus on any decisions. Moreover, Hamas has made it clear that it would consider any foreign force stationed in Gaza as an occupier and would resist it.

As a result, while the Riyadh summit failed to reach a final decision on the governance of Gaza, the Arab summit in Cairo is expected to be a critical turning point on this issue. However, Israel’s stance, Hamas’ demands, and the weak position of the Palestinian Authority stand out as the biggest obstacles to the process.

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MIDDLE EAST

Israel suspends Palestinian prisoner release amid US backing for military actions

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The US backed Israel’s violation of the ceasefire agreement by not releasing Palestinian prisoners. Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East, also announced that he would be traveling to the region in the coming days to extend the first phase of the ceasefire. These developments were interpreted as “a green light from the US to Israel, which wants to continue its attacks on Gaza instead of moving to the second phase of the ceasefire agreement.”

White House National Security Council Spokesperson Brian Hughes made a statement regarding Israel’s suspension of the release of Palestinian prisoners. Describing Israel’s decision as “appropriate,” Hughes said that President Donald Trump is ready to support Tel Aviv “in whatever action it chooses to take regarding Hamas.”

On the other hand, Mahmoud Merdawi, one of the Hamas leaders, stated on his social media account that Hamas will not hold any talks with Israel through mediators (Egypt, Qatar) at any stage before the release of the Palestinians who were agreed to be released in exchange for six Israeli prisoners. The Hamas official stated that the mediators should “force Israel to honor the agreement.”

Hamas Political Bureau member Izzat al-Rishq said that Israel’s decision to delay the release of Palestinian prisoners was “an indication of its policy of avoiding its promises and stalling the process.” Rishq stated that Israel’s justification that “the handover ceremony is humiliating” does not reflect the truth.

Although Hamas released six Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip as part of the seventh round of prisoner swaps, Israel announced that it had suspended the release of Palestinian prisoners. In a statement issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, it was reported that the release of Palestinian prisoners was suspended on the grounds that they were “used for ceremonies and propaganda purposes that humiliate Israeli prisoners.”

In the statement, it was announced that “602 Palestinian prisoners” will not be released until it is guaranteed that other Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip will be handed over and the handover will take place without ceremony.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said yesterday that he would visit the region in the coming days to extend the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which expires on 1 March.

“We have to extend the first phase, so I will probably go to the region on Wednesday and negotiate that,” Witkoff said in an interview with CBS following his statement to CNN, adding that he would visit Qatar, Egypt, Israel, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.

While the Netanyahu government avoided negotiations, let alone the second phase, with this statement, the Trump administration publicized for the first time its goal of extending the first phase. Although Witkoff spoke of his desire to implement the second phase of the agreement, he and other US officials have become more vocal about Israel’s right to continue the war.

Witkoff said, “We hope to have enough time to begin the second phase and to complete it so that more hostages can be released. We will reach the second phase… I think this will happen,” Witkoff said.

The second phase envisions Hamas releasing all surviving hostages in exchange for several thousand Palestinian prisoners, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and a permanent end to the war.

The agreement allows for an extension of the first phase on the condition that the parties continue negotiations on the terms of the second phase. However, Israel has postponed the start of these negotiations. This is because Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners are threatening to overthrow the government if the war does not continue.

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