Earlier Saturday, #Hamas …rejected #Israel’s [#SteveWitkoff’s] framework for an extension….

And Hamas is unlikely to accept Israel’s offer without further negotiations, acc/to Aaron David Miller, a former #State Dept #MiddleEast analyst & negotiator who is now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The proposal, he said, “allows Israelis to get hostages back without making reciprocal commitments.”

#Netanyahu’s office said in a stmnt that he had decided that, “as of this morning, all entry of goods & supplies into the #Gaza Strip will cease” because of “#Hamas’s refusal to accept the Witkoff outline for continuing talks, to which #Israel agreed.”

The stmnt added: “Israel will not allow a cease-fire without the release of our hostages. If Hamas continues its refusal, there will be further consequences.”

Under #Israel’s proposal for an extension, which it attributed to #Trump’s #US envoy to the region, #SteveWitkoff, half of the remaining #hostages held in #Gaza would be released to Israel on the first day of the agreement. If, at the end of the temporary extension — stretching until the end of Passover on April 20 — a permanent truce had been reached, the rest of the hostages would then be returned.

#Palestinians in the #WestBank & #Gaza were eagerly awaiting the return of their loved ones. The detainees include 50 serving life sentences for involvement in deadly attacks against Israelis. But there will also be >400 people taken prisoner in #Gaza, who were generally held without formal charges.

The final swap in the 6-week truce is set to take place next weekend, when #Hamas is expected to return at least 4 bodies to #Israel.

#Israel & #Hamas are nearing the end of the first phase of the 6-week truce, which is set to expire in early March. Under the deal, Hamas committed in the first stage to freeing at least 25 living Israeli hostages & the remains of 8 more in exchange for >1,500 #Palestinians jailed by Israel. The handover of all 25 living hostages will be complete with Saturday’s release of the 6 hostages.

The 2 handover ceremonies were still highly orchestrated, w/masked gunmen escorting hostages onto stages where they displayed release certificates.

A 6th hostage, Hisham al-Sayed, who appeared to be in poor health in a video that #Hamas released in 2022, was turned over in #Gaza City & was not televised. al-Sayed & Mengistu were both captured by Hamas about 10 yrs ago, the rest were taken in the #Oct7 2023 attack.

The first 2 freed hostages, Avera Mengistu & Tal Shoham, were turned over to the Red Cross in Rafah. The Israeli military said the 2 men had crossed into #Israel & would receive medical assessments.

3 more were handed over in Nuseirat in central #Gaza & delivered to the Israeli military: Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert & Eliya Cohen. They were kidnapped while trying to flee a music festival near the border with Gaza.

The proposal is likely to be a nonstarter for #Israel, which has demanded that #Hamas disarm & leave #Gaza. “The occupation’s condition of removing Hamas from the strip is a ridiculous psychological war, & the exit of the resistance or disarmament from Gaza is unacceptable,” Qassem added.

The #Gaza ceasefire is now in its 5th week, & the 2 sides were supposed to begin talks on the deal’s second phase, which calls for further hostage releases.

#Hamas has offered to expedite the release of hostages by freeing 6 people rather than the prescribed 3 on Saturday, hoping to build pressure on #Israel to stick to the #ceasefire agreement until the second phase. #Netanyahu has said he remains ready to return to #war in the Gaza Strip.

"DOJ acknowledges making two significant errors during a court hearing last week on efforts to dismantle USAID.

1) It said only 500 employees had been placed on leave. Actual number was 2,140.

2) Said only future contracts were stopped. Existing contracts were also stopped."
-K Cheney

People are dyingaround the world because the Trump-Musk regime is holding back life-saving food, medicine, aid...

The unions had asked the court to block #Trump’s dismantlement of the #aid agency, calling it “#unconstitutional & #illegal” & saying it had “generated a global #HumanitarianCrisis” & threatened American strategic interests.

“Not a single one of defendants’ actions to dismantle #USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorization,” the lawsuit said. “And pursuant to federal #statute, #Congress is the only entity that may lawfully dismantle the agency.”

The Israeli PM’s office said #Israel “categorically rejects the absurd & false accusations & actions directed against it” by the court. “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not succumb to pressure, will not be intimidated, & will not retreat until all the war objectives set by Israel at the outset of this campaign are achieved,” it said in a statement.