International
Netanyahu tells Blinken that he remains “firm” in his demands on Hamas for a truce
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on Monday to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he will remain “firm” in the negotiations of a ceasefire with the Islamist group Hamas so as not to give in to the “security needs of Israel.”
Netanyahu spoke for about three hours with Blinken in Jerusalem, in a meeting that “was positive and conducted in a good spirit,” according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
The Israeli president “reiterated Israel’s commitment to the latest US proposal (ceasefire agreement) on the release of the kidnapped, which takes into account Israel’s security needs, in which he stands firm,” the statement added without giving further details.
Blinken arrived in Israel on Sunday for a ninth visit since the outbreak of the war on October 7, with the aim of promoting a ceasefire agreement that includes the release of the 111 Israeli hostages that Hamas keeps kidnapped in Gaza (of which at least 39 have died), as well as the massive entry of humanitarian aid into the devastated Strip.
Netanyahu – whom many in his own country accuse of torpedoing the negotiations with new demands and putting his political interests first – made it clear on Sunday that Israel is “negotiating, not giving in” to Hamas.
The Israeli leader urged the mediating countries – the United States, Qatar and Egypt – to put pressure on Hamas and not Israel, and reiterated his firmness on two central points: not to cease the military offensive until the Islamist group is dismantled and not to withdraw its troops from the strategic Philadelphia Corridor, which covers the entire border line between Gaza and Egypt.
Israel’s negotiating team met over the weekend with the mediators in Doha, an appointment that Hamas did not attend, demanding that, instead of new negotiations, what had already been agreed in previous months be applied based on a proposal by US President Joe Biden.
“The new proposal” that emerged after the meeting in Doha “responds to the conditions imposed by Netanyahu and is consistent with them,” Hamas lamented on Sunday, rejecting what was agreed in Qatar.
The Islamist group criticizes that the new proposal does not include a definitive ceasefire or the integral withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, and that it agrees to Netanyahu’s “insistence” that the Israeli Army continue to control the Netzarim crossing (which connects the north with the south of the Strip), the border crossing of the Gaza city of Rafah (with Egypt) and the Philadelphia Corridor.
Hamas claims to have accepted on July 2 what President Biden proposed, while Israel claims to have done the same without adding new demands, but “clarifications.”
While Washington estimates that the agreement could be reached as soon as next week, Netanyahu would have told his ministers that “the chances are not high,” according to public radio Kan.
The war broke out on October 7 of last year with a Hamas attack on Israel that left about 1,200 dead and 251 kidnapped.
Blinken, for his part, said that the latest proposed agreement for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas may be “the last chance” to rescue the hundred Israeli hostages who still remain in the Gaza Strip.
“It is a decisive moment, probably the best and perhaps the last opportunity to return the kidnapped home, to achieve a ceasefire,” the American said at the beginning of a meeting in Tel Aviv with the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog.
The head of US diplomacy made it clear that his country wants a pact as soon as possible, and highlighted the deployment of US forces in the region to try to dissuade Iran and the Lebanese group Hizbulah from attacking Israel, which could put the negotiations at risk.
The Israeli president, for his part, thanked the United States for their support and the other mediating countries, Egypt and Qatar, for their efforts to achieve a ceasefire agreement that will allow the hostages to be released.
“There is no greater humanitarian objective, nor greater humanitarian cause than bringing back the hostages,” Herzog said.
Iran assured that it supports the negotiations between Israel and its ally Hamas to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, despite its differences with the United States and considers that Tel Aviv does not want a truce.
Despite the negotiating momentum, the Israeli offensive in Gaza continues, and this Sunday the troops extended their operations to parts of Jan Yunis (south) and, for the first time, the town of Deir al Balah (center), where thousands of Gazans have taken refuge since the offensive against Rafah, the southernmost town in Gaza, began.
The Israeli Army continued to attack a devastated Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, where after ten months of offensive 40,139 people have already died, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health of the enclave, controlled by the Islamist group Hamas.
Meanwhile, at least two people were killed on Monday by the bombing of an Israeli drone against the Houla area, in southern Lebanon, amid an increase in selective attacks by the Jewish State and renewed fears of an open war in Lebanese territory.
A 45-year-old Israeli soldier, identified by military sources as Mahmud Amaria, died on Monday morning in a drone attack in the region of western Galilee, northern Israel, perpetrated by the Lebanese Shiite militia Hizbulah.
In addition, the Israeli authorities confirmed that an explosion recorded last night in Tel Aviv, which claimed the life of the suspect who was carrying the device and injured another person, was part of a failed attempt at a terrorist attack.
The armed wing of the Islamist group Hamas claimed the act, according to a message on Telegram, which it said it had perpetrated in collaboration with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links
A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”
The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
International
Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?
This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.
The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.
While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.
Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.
Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.
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