US President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Thursday allowing the US to impose more sanctions on Israeli settlers — and possibly government officials — involved in violence against Palestinians.

South Africa has beefed up its state security agency and placed it on high alert amid concerns over the possible fallout of the government’s decision to take legal action against Israel to try to bring a halt to its war with Hamas. 

More than 60 people who were attacked by Hamas in Israel in October, or are family members of those killed or taken hostage, sued Iran for at least $1-billion for aiding the organisation.

The US launched two separate strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen and intercepted a missile fired by the Iran-backed group as the fallout from the Israel-Hamas war continues to roil the region.

Gaza ceasefire talks advance as war grinds on

Negotiations were advancing for an agreement to pause the Israel-Hamas war and free civilian hostages captured by Hamas, people familiar with the matter said, in a deal that those involved believe could be a crucial step toward ending the four-month conflict.

The people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations, said conversations were still in the early stages and a breakthrough was not expected in the coming days. Even so, they said the proposal — which would amount to the longest pause and the biggest hostage release since the war began on 7 October — has a realistic chance of success and could lead to a longer-term ceasefire.

After spy chiefs and top officials from Qatar, Egypt, the US and Israel agreed on a framework in Paris over the weekend, Qatar presented Hamas with a proposal that would see a 45-day pause and the release of some Palestinian prisoners in exchange for all the women, children and elderly Israeli hostages, according to one official briefed on the talks. 

Parties in the talks were now waiting on Hamas to respond to the proposal, which lays out additional phases that could see the pause extended and the eventual release of Israeli soldiers held hostage, as well as the bodies of those who died in captivity, the official said. 

The US was “thoroughly involved” in efforts together with Egypt, Qatar and Israel to put together a proposal to forward to Hamas and kick off a deal to release the hostages including a humanitarian pause, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Barbara Leaf told reporters in a virtual briefing. 

The potential deal offers the best chance yet of ending nearly four months of violence in Gaza since war broke out following Hamas’s devastating incursion into Israel in October, when militants killed about 1,200 people, and took some 240 hostages back into Gaza. Since Israel retaliated with airstrikes and a later ground invasion, more than 26,000 people have died in Gaza, according to the health ministry run by Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group by the US and the European Union.

US officials have said they’re hopeful but downplayed the possibility of immediate success. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war Cabinet have been under increasing pressure to bring home the Israeli hostages as the war drags on, global outrage over Palestinian casualties rises, and debate grows about how Israel, the US and wealthy Arab states will govern and secure post-war Gaza amid rising calls for an independent Palestinian state. About 136 hostages are still being held in Gaza, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman said this week. 

Biden cracks down on Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians

US President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Thursday allowing the US to impose more sanctions on Israeli settlers — and possibly government officials — involved in violence against Palestinians.

The order marks one of the most stringent punishments the US has ever imposed on people deemed responsible for settler violence in the West Bank, which Palestinians claim as part of a future state. Reprisals on Palestinian civilians in the aftermath of Hamas’ 7 October massacre threaten to further destabilise the region. 

Biden signed the policy on the same day he travelled to Michigan, a battleground state that Arab and Muslim voters helped deliver for him in 2020 but where anger about his Israel policy threatens his chances of winning again in November. 

In the order, Biden said the “high levels of extremist settler violence” had reached “intolerable levels and constitutes a serious threat to the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, and the broader Middle East region”.

The order gives the federal government power to sanction foreign nationals involved in directing or participating in intimidation, terrorism, threats of violence against civilians, or the destruction or seizure of property, a senior administration official told reporters on Thursday.  

The sanctions freeze any US assets or property belonging to those people and ban Americans from doing business with or transferring money to them. The individuals are also barred from entering the US.  

The executive order applies to Israelis and Palestinians alike — whether they are civilians or politicians — who are found to be undermining stability, the official said. No government officials were being targeted by sanctions at this time, according to a person familiar with the matter. 

The UN’s humanitarian office found that Israeli settlers had carried out almost 500 attacks on Palestinians since the deadly invasion by Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the US and the European Union. Eight Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and 116 more wounded, the office reported Wednesday. 

South Africa beefs up security after dispute with Israel

South Africa has beefed up its state security agency and placed it on high alert amid concerns over the possible fallout of the government’s decision to take legal action against Israel to try to bring a halt to its war with Hamas. 

Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, the state security minister, reiterated concerns voiced by President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this week that “foreign intelligence agencies” were being used to retaliate against South Africa for filing its lawsuit in the International Court of Justice. Neither named the countries they suspected of being involved.

“There are international misinformation campaigns which are aimed at destabilising the country,”  Ntshavheni said. “ As the security cluster, we are very focused on that work, we are monitoring, and we are strengthening our capacity.”

The ICJ ruled last week that Israel — accused by South Africa of genocide amid its crackdown on Hamas — must act to prevent Palestinians from being killed or injured, but stopped short of demanding an immediate ceasefire. Israel denied that it was targeting civilians and reaffirmed its right to self-defence when it appeared before the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

Read More: Ramaphosa warns ANC of foreign meddling in vote

Ramaphosa said foreign agencies could attempt to interfere with this year’s general elections in the hopes of removing his government.

“We continue to support the Independent Electoral Commission to make sure that we do not have a threat of cyber interferences from foreign agencies,” Ntshavenhi said. “ We cannot allow for foreign agencies to destabilise our elections.”

On Tuesday, Naledi Pandor, the international relations minister who has been a vocal critic of Israel, said she had spoken to the police minister about whether she had sufficient protection. She also accused Israel of being in contravention of the ICJ ruling and urged the international community to keep applying pressure.

“Hundreds of people have been killed in the last three or four days,” she told reporters. “Clearly, Israel believes it has licence to do as it wishes.”

Families of Hamas-attack victims sue Iran for $1bn 

More than 60 people who were attacked by Hamas in Israel in October, or are family members of those killed or taken hostage, sued Iran for at least $1-billion for aiding the terrorist organisation. 

The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday night in federal court in Washington, includes vivid details and photographs of the violence that unfolded on 7 October.

The 131-page complaint filed by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan is one of the first in what is expected to be a wave of litigation responding to the Hamas attack. A separate case was brought by Judith Raanan, who was released by Hamas after two weeks in captivity, and the relatives of two murdered men, Itay Glisko and Daniel Levi Ludmir, was also filed on Wednesday.

In that case, the plaintiffs are suing Binance for allowing Hamas to trade on the crypto exchange along with Iran and Syria for allegedly providing financial support and weaponry to the group.

The Washington suit details Iran’s history of backing Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, including providing tens of millions of dollars each year along with rockets and weapons to them. In the lead-up to 7 October, this transformed into regular meetings between Iranian military forces, Hamas, PIJ and Hezbollah, in which Iran gave the “green light” to attack Israel, according to the complaint.

The 67 plaintiffs “bring this suit for compensation from Iran for the horrific injuries — death, dismemberment, burning, hostage-taking, and other forms of torture and physical trauma — inflicted upon them by the October 7 attack”, according to the complaint. 

Lawsuits targeting terrorist organisations and the nation-state sponsors behind them can drag on for years, and judgments have proved nearly impossible to enforce. It took 14 years for more than 1,000 victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack to secure a judgment against Iran, which was largely viewed as symbolic as the country never responded to the claims in court. 

US strikes Houthis and blames Iraq group for Jordan drone attack 

The US launched two separate strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen and intercepted a missile fired by the Iran-backed group, as the fallout from the Israel-Hamas war continues to roil the region.

US forces destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile they said was being prepared for launch at around 3.30pm Yemen time on Wednesday. Five hours later, the USS Carney, a destroyer, intercepted a Houthi anti-ship missile fired toward the Gulf of Aden and also shot down three drones in the area, according to US Central Command.

Later,  the US struck what it said was a drone-control station and 10 one-way drones in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

“They presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the US Navy ships in the region,” Centcom, which is in charge of US forces in the Middle East and parts of Asia, said of the later incident. 

The frantic few hours for the US military came as the White House prepared its response to a deadly drone attack on a US base in Jordan over the weekend, which killed three soldiers and wounded dozens.

UN says aid for Gaza is ‘completely dependent’ on UNRWA

The United Nations humanitarian chief warned of catastrophe if countries don’t resume funding for the main relief agency in the Gaza Strip, after assistance was paused over Israeli allegations that some of its employees took part in the 7 October attack by Hamas.

Aid for Gaza depends entirely on adequate funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Martin Griffiths, the head of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, told the Security Council on Wednesday. He said UNRWA’s “lifesaving services to over three-quarters of Gaza’s residents should not be jeopardised by the alleged actions of a few individuals.” 

The US, the European Union and at least 15 other countries suspended funding for UNRWA after Israel alleged 13 of its employees took part in the attacks that set off the war in Gaza. Multiple UNRWA employees have since been fired and the UN opened an investigation into the allegations.

Read more: UN agency’s alleged Hamas links create aid risk for Gaza 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a meeting with UN ambassadors on Wednesday that UNRWA has been “totally infiltrated” by Hamas and needed to be replaced by an “objective and constructive” agency.

UNRWA is the main agency responsible for the humanitarian response in Gaza amid Israel’s military offensive to wipe out Hamas, which has destroyed large portions of the strip and killed more than 26,000 people, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry.

Separately on Wednesday, the UN estimated that the war has displaced nearly 85% of Gaza’s population, halting economic activities, further worsening poverty and leading to an almost 25% decline in gross domestic product last year. Four in five Gaza workers are currently unemployed and nearly all residents now live in poverty, it said in a report.

UNRWA, which serves some two million people in the region, estimates it would be forced to suspend operations by the end of February if funding isn’t restored. DM

Read more in Daily Maverick: Israel-Palestine War