Hamas accepts cease-fire proposal for Gaza, but Israel's stance still uncertain
Jerusalem, May 6: Hamas announced Monday it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but there was no immediate word from Israel, leaving it uncertain whether a deal had been sealed to bring a halt to the seven-month-long war in Gaza.
It was the first glimmer of hope that a deal might avert further bloodshed. Hours earlier, Israel ordered some 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating the southern Gaza town of Rafah, signalling that an attack was imminent. The United States and other key allies of Israel oppose an offensive on Rafah, where around 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza's population, are sheltering.
An official familiar with Israeli thinking said Israeli officials were examining the proposal, but the plan approved by Hamas was not the framework Israel proposed.
An American official also said the US was still waiting to learn more about the Hamas position and whether it reflected an agreement to what had already been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators or something else. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as a stance was still being formulated.
Details of the proposal have not been released. Touring the region last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had pressed Hamas to take the deal, and Egyptian officials said it called for a cease-fire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and some Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal, they said.
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Goa police arrest man from Bengaluru for cyber bullying woman and extortion
Panaji (PTI): The Goa cyber crime police have arrested a man from Bengaluru on charges of cyber bullying a woman and extortion after posting a fake job advertisement online, an official said on Sunday.
Following a complaint by the Goa-based woman, the cyber crime team arrested the accused, Mohan Raj V (29), on Saturday after laying a trap, a police spokesperson said.
The victim in her complaint claimed the accused published a fake job advertisement for a vacancy at a foreign bank and contacted her through a chatting app, he said.
"The accused lured her into attending an online interview via video call, during which some persons, posing as representatives of the company, coerced her to undress, recorded the video and took screenshots," the spokesman said.
The accused then began to blackmail the woman, demanding sexual favours to delete the compromising material, he said.
The woman alleged that the accused harassed her for the past two months and demanded she meet him in Bengaluru or else he would make her videos and pictures public.
A team led by Superintendent of Police Rahul Gupta travelled to Bengaluru with the victim and laid a trap.
"After extensive efforts and a long chase, the accused was apprehended when he arrived to meet the victim," the spokesperson said.
Police said the accused has confessed to his crime.
"The chats and videos of the victim recorded on the phone of the accused were recovered. The phone will be sent for a cyber forensic examination," he said.
The investigation suggested the accused created fake accounts using VPN phone numbers and posted fraudulent job offers targeting female victims.
"They (the arrested person and others) randomly contacted women, induced them to participate in online interviews with promises of high salary packages, and then recorded their objectionable images and videos. These recordings were subsequently used to blackmail the victims for sexual gratification," he said.
After the woman's complaint, the police on April 30 registered a case against unidentified persons.
Following the arrest, the accused was booked under Indian Penal Code sections 354 A (sexual harassment), 384 (extortion) and provisions of the Information Technology Act, the police said.
