Middle East updates: Gaza ceasefire talks start in Egypt

Marking the two year anniversary of the "abhorrent" terror attacks on Israel that saw more than 1,250 people killed, United Nations Secretary-General Antonia Guterres called for an "end to the hostilities in Gaza, Israel and the region."

In a statement released Tuesday, Guterres also called for an unconditional and immediate release of hostages held by Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza. 

His message also included a call to "stop making civilians pay with their lives and their futures" without specifically addressing his appeal to either Israel or Hamas.

"End the suffering for all," Guterres said. 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has denounced Houthi rebels for arbitrarily detaining nine more UN workers in Yemen. 

"Most recently, the Houthi de facto authorities detained nine additional UN personnel, bringing the total number of arbitrarily detained UN staff to 53 since 2021," Guterres' spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. 

"These actions hinder the UN's ability to operate in Yemen and to deliver critical assistance," he said.

This comes after the UN last month had relocated its humanitarian coordinator in Yemen from the Houthi-held capital city of Sanaa to the government-held Aden. The country's government was driven out of Sanaa by rebels in 2014. 

In August, the UN said rebel forces had seized at least 11 of its employees, as part of a series of detentions in reaction to Israel's strike which killed the Houthis' prime minister. 

The first round of talks between between a Hamas delegation and Egyptian and Qatari mediators have ended in Egypt, an Egyptian media outlet reported early on Tuesday.

Al-Qahera News, which is owned by and closely linked to Egypt's state intelligence service, reported the talks will continue on Tuesday.

A delegation from Israel is also in Sharm El-Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula for the indirect talks aimed at reaching a final agreement on US President Donald Trump's peace plan to end the war in Gaza.

Al-Qahera reported that on the first day mediators worked with both sides to establish a mechanism for the release of all hostages held by Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Meanwhile, Trump told reporters at the White House he was "pretty sure" a peace deal was possible.

"I think Hamas has been agreeing to things that are very important... I think we're going to have a deal."

Pro-Palestinian activists from the Sumud Flotilla deported by Israel have arrived in Greece to a cheering crowd.

Greece's Foreign Ministry said 161 activists arrived on a flight to Athens on Monday.

They included 27 Greeks, as well as citizens of nearly 20 other countries.

Among them was Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg. 

Crowds of supporters chanted "Free free Palestine!" at Athens' Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport as activists disembarked.

Thunberg told waiting journalists that she could "talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment, trust me, but that is not the story."

Instead, she urged world leaders and ordinary people to end their "complicity" with what she called the "genocide" being carried out against Palestinians in Gaza.

The Global Sumud Flotilla was the latest attempt to reach Gaza, with dozens of vessels bringing aid supplies and draw attention to the situation in the Strip.

Israel has dismissed the flotilla as a publicity stunt benefiting Hamas.

No aid vessel has broken through Israel's blockade of Gaza since 2010.

Fourteen German nationals are in Israeli custody for taking part in a Gaza aid flotilla, the German Foreign Office has said, as Israel deported 171 activists to Europe, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.

Under Israeli law, the 14 detainees must appear before a judge within 96 hours. A Foreign Office spokesman said they are expected to be deported to Germany "very, very soon afterward."

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said 171 other activists were flown to Greece and Slovakia on Monday and released photos of Thunberg at an Israeli airport.

The Israeli Navy intercepted more than 40 boats carrying aid for Gaza in the Mediterranean last week, detaining more than 400 crew members from several countries in an operation that drew international attention.

For more news about Germany, take a look at our blog on all the latest news coming out of Europe's biggest economy.

Israel is continuing its offensive in Gaza City as Israeli and Hamas negotiators meet for indirect peace talks in Egypt. US President Donald Trump, whose peace proposal is currently under discussion, told Israel on Friday to stop bombing Gaza as talks were proceeding. 

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul was in Tel Aviv to meet with his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar, ahead of his surprise visit to Egypt, where talks are under way on US President Donald Trump's plan for peace in Gaza.

"This week is the decisive week for the first phase [of Trump's Gaza peace plan] to succeed, for the hostages to be released, for humanitarian aid to reach the Gaza Strip, and for a ceasefire to truly be agreed upon," Wadephul said.

"Every effort is worth it for this," he added.

"We must not abandon all diplomatic efforts, but I would like to focus now on taking this first decisive step together," Wadephul said.

Wadephul spoke with Saar about the indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas taking place in Egypt.

Earlier, the German foreign minister said he assumed that all parties involved would support the peace plan.

"These are good signs, but now craftsmanship must be done. I want to make my contributions to this," Wadephul said. 

In addition to the meeting with Saar, Wadephul was expected to meet relatives of hostages captured by Palestinian militant group Hamas, before flying on to Egypt. 

During the trip to the region, he also joined EU foreign ministers with the Gulf Cooperation Council in Kuwait.

Egyptian broadcaster Al-Qahera News, which is linked to state intelligence, reported that the mediated talks in the resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh have started. 

The broadcaster said the delegations "are discussing preparing ground conditions for the release of captives and detainees." 

"Egyptian and Qatari mediators are working with both sides to establish a mechanism" for a hostage deal, the broadcaster added. 

DW reporter Sofia Kleftaki said pro-Palestinian protesters took to the arrivals hall at Athens Airport, where activists from the Sumud flotilla are due to land after their deportation from Israel. 
 
Speaking to DW's TV news program, crowds holding the Palestinian flag could be seen behind Kelftaki and shouting in English and Greek: "Free Palestine." 

A special unit of Greek police was present, she said. 

Greta Thunberg is among dozens of activists who have sought to break Israel's siege on Gaza by boat. Israel intercepted their flotilla on Thursday and deported 171 of them on Monday to Greece and Slovakia. 

Among those gathered in Athens were relatives of 27 Greek activists and members of Greek leftist groups and parties.

"The atmosphere is very tense. But there's also this joy and relief that those people are not held in Israeli custody anymore," Kleftaki said. 

"People are waiting to see also in what conditions the detainees that are coming back are in," she added. "We had information about not only physical but mental trauma."

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump labeled the discussions between Hamas negotiators and mediating countries ahead of the indirect talks with Israelas "very positive."

Trump posted on Truth Social that the goal is to "release the hostages, end the war in Gaza, but, most importantly, finally have long sought PEACE in the Middle East."

According to Trump, the talks were "proceeding rapidly," with the deal's first phase — which includes the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other groups — "should be completed this week."

Speaking about the negotiations, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said both sides' partial agreement to President Trump's 20-point plan does not mean the war in Gaza is over yet. 

"We will know very quickly whether Hamas is serious or not by how these technical talks go in terms of the logistics," Rubio told NBC News on Sunday, adding that he wanted the Israeli hostages released as soon as possible.

"You can't release hostages in the middle of strikes, so the strikes will have to stop," Rubio said.

Regarding the Gaza Strip's post-war future, Rubio said it will take time to establish an alternative governance structure to Palestinian militant group Hamas, which currently controls Gaza.

"You can’t set up a governance structure in Gaza that's not Hamas in three days," Rubio said. 

 

Israel on Monday said it deported 171 more activists detained while taking part in the Sumud flotilla bound for Gaza, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.

In a post on its official X account, Israel's Foreign Ministry labeled the activists "provocateurs from the Hamas-Sumud flotilla," adding they were deported to Greece and Slovakia. 

According to the post, the deportees were citizens of several countries, including Greece, Italy, France and the US.

The flotilla embarked last month on a mission to break an Israeli naval blockade and deliver aid to Gaza, where the United Nations says famine has taken hold.

Israel started intercepting the flotilla vessels in international waters last week. Some 450 activists were arrested. 

 

Lennart Monterlos, aged 19, was acquitted by an Iranian court on Monday after being held since June.

"The Revolutionary Court, taking into account legal principles and doubts about the crime, has issued a verdict of acquittal of the accused, although according to the law, the prosecutor has the right to object to the verdict," the judicial news site Mizan reported.

Monterlos was arrested in the southern Iranian city of Bandar Abbas during last summer's brief war between Israel and Iran. He had been attempting a cycling journey across Iran.

DW correspondent Giulia Saudelli is traveling with the German foreign minister to the Middle East. She sent us her impressions from the trip so far:

Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Germany and other EU governments were ready to contribute to the negotiations to end the war in Gaza. But it appears clear that the European Union and Germany are not playing a central role.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the European Union had shown profound weaknesses, as it was not involved in the negotiations at all and had become irrelevant.

I asked Wadephul about this earlier. He said he didn't agree and thought that Netanyahu's remarks were coming from a place of anger after a number of EU countries recognized a Palestinian state. 

But Wadephul did acknowledge that it was the United States and Donald Trump's plan that are playing a decisive role in possibly bringing progress in the negotiations. 

It appears that the EU and Germany are sticking to the sidelines and listening in on what is happening with the governments that are directly involved in the negotiations: Qatar, Egypt, Israel and the US.

The European Union and Germany continue to offer their support if it is required, but are mostly staying out of direct negotiations or involvement, either because they believe it is better for the process, or because the other governments don't want them involved.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi hailed the role that US President Donald Trump has played in pushing for a truce in Gaza.

"I can only extend my praise and appreciation for US President Donald Trump for his initiative that seeks a ceasefire in Gaza after two years of war, genocide, killing and destruction," el-Sissi said as part of a longer speech commemorating the 1973 war between Israel and Egypt.

The conflict, also known as the Yom Kippur War, resulted in the Camp David Accords in 1978, making Egypt the first Arab country to establish official diplomatic relations with Israel.

El-Sissi added that "a ceasefire, the return of prisoners and detainees, the reconstruction of Gaza and the launch of a peaceful political process that leads to the establishment and recognition of the Palestinian state means we are on the right path to lasting peace and stability."

Alongside the United States, Egypt has been a key mediator in the Gaza talks between Israel and Hamas. The country has also warned that it will not tolerate the forced displacement of Palestinians into its territory.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz told public broadcaster ARD on Sunday that he would call for Germany to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) if Israel were banned.

"I think it's a scandal that this is even being discussed. Israel belongs there," he said.

The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) brings together musicians from across the continent, as well as from non-European countries such as Israel and Australia, to compete in a musical contest. Each country performs one song, and the winner is chosen by a panel of judges and fan votes.

Israel has won and then hosted the ESC three times, most recently in 2019.

Countries such as Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Iceland have said that they would not attend the event if Israel were to be represented. They have pointed to the ongoing bombardment of Gaza and the fact that Russia was banned for invading Ukraine.

Eurovision will hold a vote in November to decide whether Israel will be invited to participate in the 2026 competition.