Pilgrims return to Makkah as Saudi eases virus restrictions
Riyadh: A very small, limited number of people donning the white terrycloth garment symbolic of the Muslim pilgrimage circled Islam's holiest site in Makkah on Sunday after Saudi Arabia lifted coronavirus restrictions that had been in place for months.
The kingdom had taken the rare step of suspending the smaller "umrah" pilgrimage that draws millions year-round from across the world in early March as the coronavirus morphed into a global pandemic and prompted countries to impose lockdowns and curfews to slow down transmission.
But as nations begin to ease those restrictions, the Saudi government on Sunday started allowing a maximum of 6,000 pilgrims a day to enter the sprawling Grand Mosque in Makkah.
Only Saudi citizens and residents will be permitted to enter the mosque during this first phase of reopening, and each person has up to three hours to complete the pilgrimage.
Before visitors can enter the mosque to pray or perform the umrah, they have to apply and reserve a specific time and date through an online application to avoid crowding and maintain social distancing. Visitors can also select via the app their means of transportation and meeting points.
State TV showed on Sunday what appeared to be fewer than 50 people circling the Kaaba at the same time and walking several metres (feet) apart. Typically, the mosque would be packed with worshippers from around the world crowded shoulder-to-shoulder at all times of the day and night.
The second phase for loosening restrictions at the Grand Mosque comes into effect on October 18, allowing a maximum of 15,000 pilgrims and 40,000 for prayer from among residents and citizens based on allocated times via the app.
Muslim travellers from outside Saudi Arabia could be allowed to perform the umrah pilgrimage as early as November 1, the Interior Ministry has said. Saudi Arabia recently began easing some restrictions on international flights for the first time since March.
The kingdom held a dramatically downsized, symbolic hajj pilgrimage in July due to concerns that it could easily have become a global super-spreader event for the virus. Pilgrims were selected after applying through an online portal and all were residents or citizens of Saudi Arabia.
Rather than the more than two million pilgrims the kingdom hosts for the annual event, as little as 1,000 took part after being tested for the virus and quarantined.
Despite taking early and sweeping measures to contain the virus, Saudi Arabia has recorded nearly 336,000 cases, including 4,850 deaths.
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Hamas has accepted draft agreement for Gaza ceasefire, release of hostages: Officials
Cairo, Jan 14: Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of dozens of hostages, two officials involved in the talks said on Tuesday.
Mediator Qatar said Israel and the Palestinian group were at the “closest point” yet to sealing a deal that would bring them a step closer to ending the war.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the proposed agreement, and an Egyptian official and a Hamas official confirmed its authenticity. An Israeli official said progress has been made, but the details are being finalized. The three-phase plan would need to be submitted to the Israeli Cabinet for final approval.
All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks.
The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent the past year trying to mediate an end the 15-month war and secure the release of dozens of hostages captured in Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack that triggered it. Some 100 people are still captive inside Gaza, and the military believes at least a third are dead.
Any deal is expected to pause the fighting and bring hopes for winding down the most deadly and destructive war they've ever fought, a conflict that has destabilized the Middle East and sparked worldwide protests.
It would bring relief to the hard-hit Gaza Strip, where Israel's offensive has reduced large areas to rubble and displaced around 90 per cent of Gaza's population of 2.3 million, many of them at risk of famine. Meanwhile, dozens of Israeli hostages would be reunited with loved ones.
Officials have have expressed optimism before, only for negotiations to stall. But they are now suggesting that they can conclude an agreement ahead of the January 20 inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, whose Mideast envoy has joined the negotiations.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a weekly briefing Tuesday that the negotiations were productive, without details.
“Today, we are at the closest point ever to having a deal,” he said.
Hamas said in a statement that negotiations had reached their “final stage".
In the October 7 attack, Hamas-led group killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted another 250. Around half those hostages were freed during a brief ceasefire in November 2023.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 46,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants.
Israeli strikes across Gaza overnight and into Tuesday killed at least 18 Palestinians, including two women and four children, according to local health officials, who said one woman was pregnant and the baby died as well.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel says it only targets Hamas members and accuses them of hiding among civilians.
A three-phase agreement
The three-phase agreement — based on a framework laid out by US President Joe Biden and endorsed by the UN Security Council — would begin with the release of 33 hostages over a six-week period, including women, children, older adults and wounded civilians in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian women and children imprisoned by Israel.
Among the 33 would be five female Israeli soldiers, each to be released in exchange for 50 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 Hamas members who are serving life sentences.
The Israeli official said Israel assumes most of the 33 are alive.
During this 42-day phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from population centres, Palestinians could start returning to what remains of their homes in northern Gaza and there would be a surge of humanitarian aid, with some 600 trucks entering each day.
Details of the second phase still must be negotiated during the first. Those details remain difficult to resolve — and the deal does not include written guarantees that the ceasefire will continue until a deal is reached. That means Israel could resume its military campaign after the first phase ends.
The Israeli official said “detailed negotiations” on the second phase will begin during the first. He said Israel will retain some “assets” throughout negotiations, referring to a military presence, and would not leave the Gaza Strip until all hostages are home.
The three mediators have given Hamas verbal guarantees that negotiations will continue as planned and that they will press for a deal to implement the second and third phases before the end of the first, the Egyptian official said.
The deal would allow Israel throughout the first phase to remain in control of the Philadelphi corridor, the band of territory along Gaza's border with Egypt, which Hamas had initially demanded Israel withdraw from. Israel would withdraw from the Netzarim corridor, a belt across central Gaza where it had sought a mechanism for searching Palestinians for arms when they return to the territory's north.
In the second phase, Hamas would release the remaining living captives, mainly male soldiers, in exchange for more prisoners and the “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza, according to the draft agreement.
Hamas has said it will not free the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a complete Israeli withdrawal, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed in the past to resume fighting until Hamas' military and governing capabilities are eliminated.
Unless an alternative government for Gaza is worked out in those talks, it could leave Hamas in charge of the territory.
In a third phase, the bodies of remaining hostages would be returned in exchange for a three- to five-year reconstruction plan for Gaza under international supervision.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make a last-minute case Tuesday for a plan for Gaza's postwar reconstruction and governance, according to a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the speech. The proposal outlines how Gaza would be run without Hamas in charge.
Growing pressure ahead of Trump's inauguration
Israel and Hamas have come under renewed pressure to halt the war before Trump's inauguration next week. His Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, recently joined US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators in the Gulf country's capital, Doha.
Trump said late Monday that a ceasefire was “very close”.
He told the American cable channel Newsmax that “I understand ... there's been a handshake and they are getting it finished — and maybe by the end of the week."
Hamas has blamed Israel for repeated setbacks in the negotiations, saying that on more than one occasion, it had accepted a proposal from mediators only to see Israel reject it or launch a new military operation. Israel and its close ally the United States have blamed setbacks on Hamas.
Dozens of protesters, including relatives of hostages, formed a human chain Tuesday outside Israel's parliament, demanding the deal be sealed.
“This is the chance, we can't let it go until they are all here with us,” said Shay Dickmann, whose cousin in Gaza has been declared dead by the military.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, families of Palestinian prisoners gathered as well. “I tell the mothers of the prisoners to put their trust in the almighty and that relief is near, God willing,” said the mother of one prisoner, Intisar Bayoud.
