Deal for release of hostages held by Hamas may be taking shape

SINGAPORE/CAPE TOWN/LONDON — The re-routing of a growing number of ships around Africa to avoid potential attacks in the Red Sea is altering refueling patterns and boosting demand for bunker fuel at far-flung ports, from the Mauritius to South Africa to the Canary Islands.

Ships are also expected to top up more at Singapore and Rotterdam, the two busiest bunkering ports and where fuel is competitively priced, as they try to hedge against uncertainty over route changes, traders and analysts said.

The attacks by the Iran-allied Houthis, which they say are in support of Palestinians, target a route that accounts for about 15% of the world’s shipping traffic and acts as a vital conduit between Europe and Asia. Hundreds of large vessels have rerouted around the southern tip of Africa, adding 10-14 days of travel, to avoid drone and missile attacks by the Houthis.

“Ships are diverting away from the Red Sea and re-routing around the coast of South and West Africa — this increased traffic has created huge congestion in bunkering ports around Africa and placed significant pressure on port infrastructure,” John A. Bassadone, founder and CEO of independent bunker supplier Peninsula, told Reuters.

Bunker fuel demand has risen at ports including Mauritius’ Port Louis, Gibraltar and ports in the Canary Islands and South Africa, said traders and industry sources, with sales jumping in Cape Town and Durban.

\Weather-related disruption at ports in northern Europe and the diversion of vessels away from the Red Sea are causing congestion at container terminals, A.P. Moller-Maersk said in an update to customers today.

Maersk and other shipping groups have diverted vessels away from the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden following attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, sending them on a long journey around Africa rather than through the Suez Canal shortcut.

Liz Hirsh Naftali, the great-aunt of 4-year-old Abigail Mor Edan, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prolonging the war with Hamas to keep himself in office, thwarting potential deals to release the more than 100 hostages who remain in Gaza.

Naftali made the remarks during a news conference today on Capitol Hill, where hostages' loved ones spoke alongside U.S. senators. She cited the November hostage exchange deal that secured Abigail's release as evidence that negotiations work and noted that hostage families are frustrated at the lack of movement toward a new agreement.

"What I want to take a moment to talk about is that this hold-up is really not with the U.S. or with the Qataris," Naftali said. "This holdup is with the Netanyahu government."

She accused Netanyahu of being unwilling to agree to the terms that would make more hostage releases possible, saying that the war is "too long" and that "too many lives are at stake."

"He wants to keep this war going to remain in office," she said. "And we need Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to stop making this priority himself but to make this priority the return of the hostages through a deal."

The image of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief Wael Al Dahdouh has been replicated in a mural in Dublin by an artist known for depicting pro-Palestinian causes.

Emmalene Blake, a Dublin-based artist, posted the portrait of Dahdouh to Instagram and thanked the journalist for "relentlessly showing the world" what is happening in Gaza.

Since the war began on Oct. 7, Dahdouh has lost his wife, two sons, a 7-year-old daughter and a grandson in Israeli airstrikes, but he continues his work as a journalist. He was also injured in a blast that killed his colleague and was recently flown to Qatar to receive medical treatment.

"I cannot begin to imagine the pain, trauma and grief this man is going through," Blake wrote. "And after each blow he has taken, he got straight back in front of the camera, stood strong and informed us about the atrocities Israel is committing. The strength is incomprehensible, and is a strength no human should have to possess.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the U.S. and U.K. governments are violating international law by attacking Houthi targets in Yemen.

During his annual news conference, Lavrov insisted that the United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Houthi attacks in the Red Sea did not "grant any right to bomb Yemen." He also criticized Secretary of State Antony Blinken for remarking that countries in the Middle East desire a U.S. presence.

"We know of at least one country that doesn’t want it — it’s Iraq, which already a couple years ago said that it wants U.S. forces to leave, but Washington did not make any moves," Lavrov said. "So a diplomatic dialogue is essential to solve problems."

Lavrov also told reporters that the two countries must stop their aggression in Yemen as “the more the Americans and the British bomb, the less willing the Houthis are to talk,” according to Agence France Presse.

Israel became one of the leading countries imprisoning journalists following the outbreak of violence on Oct. 7, as the number of jailed members of the media globally approached an all-time high, the Committee to Protect Journalists found.

Israel ranked sixth in a tie with Iran, after China, Myanmar, Belarus, Russia and Vietnam, the New York-based nonprofit organization said.

“Israel’s standing in CPJ’s 2023 prison census is evidence that a fundamental democratic norm — press freedom — is fraying as Israel exploits draconian methods to silence Palestinian journalists,” CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement. “This practice must stop.”

About 320 journalists were in prison on Dec. 1, 2023 — a decrease from 360 in 2022 — reaching the second-highest number on record since the group began the census in 1992, CPJ said.

Over 65% of the journalists behind bars face “anti-state charges such as false news and terrorism in retaliation for their critical coverage,” the group added.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats aggressively pushed back Thursday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has informed the U.S. that he opposes the creation of a Palestinian state at the conclusion of the war in Gaza.

A key lawmaker, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., warned that Netanyahu’s remarks could complicate delicate bipartisan negotiations in the Senate on a supplemental package that calls for military aid for Israel coupled with immigration measures and aid for Ukraine.

“I think when Netanyahu says things like that, it does not help win votes from people who are skeptical about the future of a Palestinian state,” Murphy, the Democrats’ top negotiator on the package, told reporters. “That statement is not helpful and, yes, we’re going to need to get … a lot of Democratic votes to pass this.”

Progressives in the Senate, who’ve already been critical of Israel’s military assault in Gaza that has killed thousands of civilians, openly questioned whether the U.S. should continue to send aid to Israel. The close U.S. ally launched its military campaign after Hamas carried out a brazen terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7 that killed more than 1,000 people.

Read here for full story.

DAVOS, Switzerland — Saudi Arabia is working with the White House and the United Nations to "reach a roadmap for peace in Yemen" as it hopes to calm tensions in the Middle East, according to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud.

"We all need to work towards de-escalation," he told NBC News. "The region is already in turmoil. Our message to everyone, including to our neighbors in Iran, is that we need to work towards de-escalation."

The war in Yemen has been something of a proxy battle between the Saudi and Iranian governments, as Iran-backed Houthi rebels fought to overthrow the Yemeni government in 2014 and Saudi Arabia backed the established regime as a civil war broke out. Saudi Arabia sent a delegation to meet with Houthi officials last year in the hopes of establishing a permanent cease-fire.

The Houthis are now actively attacking vessels in the Red Sea it believes to be supporting Israel, assaults it has said will continue until Israel ends its siege on Gaza.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Iran today as "the head of the octopus," blaming the regime for the actions of both the Houthis and Hamas.

Yemen's Houthi rebels have no intention of standing down in the Red Sea, with leader Abdulmalik Badr El-Din al-Houthi saying today that "aggression will not change anything" regarding the group's position in support of Palestinians.

Al-Houthi said in a speech that it was an "honor" to fight against Israel, the U.S. and British forces, as the group continually attacks shipping vessels in the Red Sea that it believes support Israel. He also criticized the U.S. as being morally bankrupt and a sponsor of "Zionist crime."

"America is putting all its enormous and advanced capabilities and international influence into the aggression against the Palestinian people, to whom only simple weapons are available," he said.

The speech came just a day after another group leader, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, told NBC News that the Yemeni group would “still confront America and confront justice and tyranny anywhere.”