Israel-Hamas war live: talks over hostages to be released today ‘continuing’, Israel says | Israel-Hamas war

Lisa O’Carroll

Ayman al-Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister, has said Israel must realise that peace with its neighbours is not a concession for anyone.

“Nobody is doing anybody a favour by opting for peace. We want peace for both peoples. We want peace so that Palestinians and Israelis can live without the humiliation of occupation or the fear for security,” he told reporters in Barcelona.

He also called on leaders to dial down the rhetoric and stop accusing those urging peace as “anti-this or anti-that”.

“I think the horrific cost of this war dictates that we act in unison and we act clearly … to stop a catastrophe that’s threatening the security of the whole region, and which will have repercussions that will go beyond the region into our neighbourhood in Europe and elsewhere,” he said.

“If we all agree that the two state solution is the only path to it, what are we going to do if Israel refuses to engage just as Israel is now refusing to abide by international law?” he asked.

“Are we going to continue to offer lip service to the two state solution? Or are we going to come together united and say, ‘we have to stop this conflict?’

“And we’re going to do whatever it takes to end this conflict and anybody who’s standing in the way needs to be pressured into doing what’s right for the Palestinians, and for the Israelis.

“Because when we speak about peace, we’re not taking sides.”

Lisa O’Carroll

The Jordanian foreign minister has accused Israel of “acting as if it is above the law” while “killing 30 years of work” to try to find peace in the Middle East.

“That work is being rendered meaningless with the continuing of this war with more people losing faith in the viability of this process,” said Ayman al-Safadi.

“What is happening in Gaza is within the realm of the legal definition of genocide,” he told reporters after a meeting of Mediterranean countries in Barcelona.

He said the world had to acknowledge that Hamas’s attack on 7 October must be seen in the context of the treatment of Palestinian people by the Israeli government.

Israel’s government, he said, “has systematically worked to undermine the prospects for peace, to deny the Palestinian people … their culture, their history, their rights to exist”.

That was “terrorism too,” he said.

“Another point I want to make is the credibility of international law.

“International law was made so that everybody abides by it. It was made so all countries adhere to it. It was not made so that some countries are allowed to break it is breaking international law.

“Israel has been acting as if it’s above the law. And this has to stop,” said al-Safadi.

Chris Michael

A suspect was arrested on Sunday in relation to the shooting of three Palestinian students in Burlington, Vermont, the night before, police said, adding that contrary to media reports, the shooter did not speak before firing.

Jason J Eaton, 48, was arrested Sunday afternoon near where the men, all 20 years old, were shot, the Burlington police department announced. They said he lives in an apartment close to the scene, a search of which revealed evidence that gave investigators “probable cause to believe that Mr Eaton perpetrated the shooting”, police said.

The chief of police, Jon Murad, recommended caution when it came to identifying a motive in the attacks. “The fact is that we don’t yet know as much as we want to right now,” Murad said. “But I urge the public to avoid making conclusions based on statements from uninvolved parties who know even less.”

The mayor of the city, Miro Weinberger, said before the arrest that the investigation was focusing on whether the attack was a hate crime, while the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said on X: “We have reason to believe that the shooting was motivated by the three [victims] being Arab.”

Read more here: Suspect arrested in shooting of three Palestinian students in Vermont

Lisa O’Carroll

“Palestinian people cannot pay for the action of Hamas,” the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, has said after a meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean Regional Forum involving EU, north African and Middle East foreign ministers in Barcelona.

He used a press conference to reiterate his condemnation of the Hamas attack in October but said it was vital that the current truce in Gaza was extended to a permanent one with, he said, 15,000 dead already.

“We are in a ceasefire that has to be extended towards a final solution,” he said. Borrell also urged Israel to act within international and humanitarian law.

“It makes no sense to give food to somebody that will be killed the day after. We need to stop the bombardment, and we have to avoid more deaths. Humanitarian help is necessary, but it’s not enough.

“For 30 years we have been repeating that we need the two-state solution but we have done almost nothing to achieve it and today we have to realise that the deaths will continue if we don’t get to an end solution,” he told reporters at a press conference.

The Israeli prime minister’s office has just made the following announcement:

Negotiations on the list of those slated to be released under the framework of the hostages release outline are continuing.

We are aware of the tension in the families and will release additional information when possible. We request to refrain from disseminating rumors and unreliable information.

Earlier, government spokesperson Eylon Levy said:

Hamas is on notice – that option for an extension is open. We want to receive another additional 50 hostages beyond tonight, on our way to bringing everyone home. As soon as that framework expires, Israel will continue with full force.