The Times of Israel is liveblogging Monnday’s events as they unfold.
Report: Hamas flatly rejected a new US draft for a hostage-ceasefire deal; Israel expressed reservations
Determinedly seeking a hostage-ceasefire deal, Biden Administration officials in the past few days sent the draft text of a new proposal to Israel and, via Qatari and Egyptian mediators, to Hamas, Channel 12 news reported earlier tonight, citing an Israeli and an American source.
Israel expressed reservations, including over clauses relating to the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border and the Netzarim Corridor that runs between northern and southern Gaza, the report says.
Hamas, however, flatly rejected the draft text, and said it would not accept any deal that differs from the proposal presented by US President Joe Biden at the end of May.
Biden’s presentation was, in fact, based on an Israeli proposal, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly claimed that, in its response to that proposal, Hamas sought to make 29 changes. For his part, Netanyahu has in recent months repeatedly invoked a series of nonnegotiable conditions for a deal that are not specified in the May proposal.
Channel 12’s report suggests that Hamas’s firmly negative response to the latest US ideas may have something to do with White House National Security spokesman John Kirby’s comments earlier Sunday blaming Hamas for the stalling of talks on a deal.
Irish leader claims without evidence that Israel leaked his friendly letter to Iranian president
Irish President Michael Higgins accuses Israel of leaking the full text of a letter he sent to Iran’s new president as he was sworn in in July, an allegation rejected and denounced by the Israeli embassy.
The July 11 letter congratulating Masoud Pezeshkian — whose existence was made public on July 26 by Ireland’s Foreign Ministry but whose full text was then published online on July 29 — drew backlash for its friendly nature; its claim that Iran will play a “crucial role” in achieving Middle East stability, cooperation and “peaceful resolving of disputes”; and its omission of Tehran’s major role in malign activity and violence against its own people and across the region.
It was slammed by officials including Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and by Israel’s embassy in Dublin. Ambassador Dana Erlich was recalled in May as Jerusalem protested Ireland’s recognition of a Palestinian state.
During a visit to the UN headquarters in New York, Higgins is asked by reporters Sunday about the issue, defending the letter as “standard” and saying it stressed the need for peace and diplomacy.
He then claims that it was the Israeli embassy itself that leaked the letter, without providing evidence and while acknowledging he doesn’t know how the letter was allegedly obtained by the Jewish state.
“Why don’t you ask where it came from?… Where the criticism came from and how the letter was circulated and by whom and for what purpose?” Higgins is quoted as saying by The Independent, then adding: “It was circulated from the Israeli embassy.”
The embassy reacts by saying on X that since the war began with Hamas’s October 7 massacres, “Israel has been subjected to a high level of malicious statements and accusations that have often manifested as incitement to hatred.”
Regarding Higgins’ remarks, the mission says: “This baseless accusation is highly inflammatory and potentially slanderous and the embassy rejects it completely.
“The fact remains that the letter was written and therefore it is the burden of the author to defend its content, which did not mention the threat Iran poses in the region, that it calls for Israel’s destruction, that it arms and funds terrorist organisations like Hamas and Hezbollah, not to mention the violations of human rights against its own citizens.”
Read the full statement from the Embassy pic.twitter.com/HTGadp4oBN
— Israel in Ireland (@IsraelinIreland) September 22, 2024
IDF says it struck Hamas command center embedded in former school in central Gaza
The IDF says its helicopters struck Hamas terrorists operating from a command center in a former school in central Gaza a short while ago.
The military says it conducted the localized airstrike following intelligence that pointed to the compound of the Khalid ibn al-Walid school being used by the terror group to plan and carry out attacks against the IDF and the State of Israel.
The IDF says it took “many steps” to mitigate harm to civilians in the strike, including using precision munitions, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.
“The Hamas terror organization systematically violates international law, brutally exploiting civilian institutions and the population as a human shield for terror activity,” the military adds.
In recent months, dozens of airstrikes have been carried out against Hamas sites embedded within schools and other sites used as shelters for civilians, according to the IDF.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
High school strike ends as teachers’ union says it struck deal with government
The Secondary School Teachers Association is ending its strike action affecting high schools across the country and has signed an agreement with the Finance Ministry and the Education Ministry, according to Hebrew media reports citing a statement by the teachers’ union.
The deal hopefully ends years of bad blood between the union and the government, which caused a strike at the start of the current school year from September 1 to September 9, when the strike was suspended but localized strikes continued and grades were not submitted.
The union reportedly says that among the agreements is that teachers’ salaries won’t be harmed by participation in the recent strike, that their monthly wages will be increased by NIS 1,200 ($320) starting in September, that teachers will get a one-time grant of NIS 9,600 ($2,500) for 2023, and that a plan to shorten the procedure for firing a teacher will be scrapped.
And, notably, the treasury has agreed to back down from its demand for individual contracts for teachers. This had been the main sticking point, with the government say this would allow for more hiring flexibility and provide wages based on results or ability, instead of seniority.
The union has remained steadfast against this move, saying that individual agreements will make teachers into “contract workers” without the benefits or job security that teachers enjoy, allow for the hiring of unqualified teachers, and lead to lower wages, increased staff turnover and reduced quality of education.
Union chief Ran Erez is quoted as thanking the teachers for their “steadfastness” in the struggle for better conditions.
There is no immediate reaction by the education or finance ministries on what they have achieved in the apparent deal.
Gavriel Fiske contributed to this report.
Biden tells press he’s worried about rising Middle East tensions, ‘doing everything’ to prevent all-out war
US President Joe Biden tells querying journalists he is worried about rising tensions in the Middle East but that his administration is working to prevent them from boiling over.
“We’re going to do everything we can to keep a wider war from breaking out. And we’re still pushing hard,” he says.