Syria forms committee to draft transitional constitutional declaration

LONDON: Nearly 80,000 Palestinians performed the evening and Taraweeh prayers on the fourth night of the holy month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, despite Israeli restrictions.

The Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, which is responsible for administering the site, said that most of the 80,000 worshippers were residents of Jerusalem and Palestinian citizens of Israel living in the 1948 territory.

However, thousands of Palestinians from cities and towns in the occupied West Bank were barred entry to Jerusalem through Israeli military checkpoints, it added, as Israel had introduced new restrictive measures during Ramadan.

Israeli military police raided the compound on Monday and detained three individuals, according to the Palestine News Agency. Israel also deployed additional forces in the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem over the weekend at the start of Ramadan.

Muslims worldwide fast from dawn until sunset, participating in the nightly Taraweeh prayers during Ramadan.

JERUSALEM: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas on Monday of consequences it “cannot imagine” if the Palestinian movement does not release the hostages held in Gaza.
“I tell Hamas: If you do not release our hostages, there will be consequences that you cannot imagine,” Netanyahu said during a speech at the Israeli parliament, as negotiations for the Gaza ceasefire’s continuation have stalled.
Netanyahu’s comments came a day after Israel blocked aid flowing into Gaza, where a six-week truce had enabled a surge of vital food, shelter and medical assistance after more than 15 months of fighting.
The move came as talks on a truce extension appeared to hit an impasse, after the ceasefire’s 42-day first phase drew to a close over the weekend.
Under the first phase, Gaza militants handed over 25 living hostages and eight bodies in exchange for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Of the 251 captives taken during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Early on Sunday, Israel had announced its support for a truce extension until mid-April that it said US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had proposed.
But Hamas has repeatedly rejected an extension, instead favoring a transition to the truce deal’s second phase, which is expected to lay out a more permanent end to the war.
Israeli media on Monday reported that Netanyahu had a plan to exert “maximum pressure” on Hamas to accept an extension of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire under Israel’s terms.
Public broadcaster Kan reported that Netanyahu wanted to extend the first stage by at least one week, until the arrival of US envoy Witkoff in the region.
Referencing sources close to Netanyahu, Kan reported that the prime minister was waiting to see if mediators could persuade Hamas to extend the first phase, failing which he would consider resuming fighting.
Kan said Israel has drafted plans to ramp up pressure on Hamas this week, under a scheme dubbed the “Hell Plan.”
The plan includes following up the decision to block aid with displacing residents from the northern Gaza Strip to the south, halting the electricity supply, and a resumption of full-scale fighting, Kan reported.
Daily paper Israel Hayom said that Netanyahu, unlike his far-right allies in government, “wants to exhaust all possibilities of freeing hostages before returning to war.”