Russia Terror Attack: Putin Vows To Punish Attackers As He Points At Ukraine

Both teams arrived aboard a flight from Qatar on Saturday, they added.

Egypt's state-affiliated broadcaster al-Qahera News also reported the arrival of a Hamas delegation in Cairo and cited "significant progress" in negotiations to reach the deal.

The broadcaster, citing what it termed as a high-level source, said the Egyptian security team engaged in the negotiations had reached a "consensus formula" on several contentious issues. No specific details were given.

Israel, meanwhile, is reportedly not sending a team to Cairo. A delegation will only be sent to Egypt once Hamas has responded to the current proposed ceasefire agreement, Israel's Kan radio reported on Saturday, citing a government representative.

Israel plans to send a delegation to continue indirect negotiations with Hamas if the militant organization agrees to the draft deal presented, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted a high-ranking Israeli official as saying.

Israel has been bombarding the Gaza Strip from the ground and air since Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel in October that left about 1,200 people dead.

As part of the latest mediation efforts, Hamas, which abducted some 250 people from Israel on October 7, was presented with a proposal for a ceasefire in return for the release of remaining hostages. A response is still pending.

More than 100 hostages were released during a six-day truce in November. It is unclear how many of those remaining in captivity are still alive.

As of Friday, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry said the death toll in Gaza from Israeli attacks launched in response to the October 7 attacks stood at 34,622.

Months of mediation by Egypt, Qatar and the United States in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas have yet to result in a breakthrough. A diplomatic push to clinch a deal has picked momentum over the past few days.

Late Friday evening, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at an event in Arizona that it was challenging to understand Hamas' thought process.

"The leaders of Hamas that we're indirectly engaged with through the Qataris, through the Egyptians, are of course living outside of Gaza, living in Qatar or living in [Turkey], other places, and the ultimate decision-makers are the folks who are actually in Gaza itself with whom none of us have direct contact," he said.

Blinken said if Hamas was really concerned about the well-being of the Palestinians, then agreeing to the ceasefire deal that is on the table should be a "no-brainer."

On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it carried out an airstrike on a rocket launch site in the southern Gaza Strip.

Fighter jets hit the militant site near the city of Khan Younis after a rocket was fired from there toward the Ein HaShlosha kibbutz on Friday, the IDF said.

A mortar launching site in central Gaza was also destroyed, a statement said. The Israeli navy has also conducted strikes along Gaza's coast over the past day.

According to Palestinian security services, the Israeli army attacked a building in the village of Abasan in the east of Khan Younis and shelled refugee camps in the central part of the Palestinian territory.

It said at least one Palestinian was killed in the Israeli navy strikes.

(IANS/DPA)

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The BJP campaign has been targeting the main opposition party's bastions, especially those from where members of the SP's first family are contesting.

In almost all their rallies, BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, have raked up how five members of SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav's family are contesting the Lok Sabha election.

Also, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has held two rallies and a roadshow in Mainpuri, an SP citadel that the BJP has never won.

After Etawah, Prime Minister Modi will also address a rally in Sitapur on Sunday afternoon. Thereafter, he will go to Ayodhya to offer prayers at the Ram temple and then hold a roadshow in the holy city.

(IANS)

After Yash Dayal, Vyshak Vijaykumar and Mohammed Siraj picked two wickets each in a superb bowling performance to bowl out GT for a below-par 147, du Plessis and Virat Kohli gave RCB a blazing start with a 92-run opening stand coming in just 35 balls.

Du Plessis was more aggressive of the two, hitting 10 fours and three sixes in his 23-ball stay at the crease. After he fell, GT triggered a spectacular RCB batting implosion by picking up six wickets from overs 6-11.

It took Dinesh Karthik’s 21 not out and Swapnil Singh’s unbeaten 15 to get RCB over the line in 13.4 overs and help them jump to seventh place in the points table. RCB’s win also meant GT slid to ninth place, while Mumbai Indians became the new occupants of tenth position in the points table.

On a two-paced surface, Dayal, Vyshak and Siraj got their lengths and rhythm spot-on to bundle out GT for the lowest total at the venue in IPL 2024. They were also supported by Cameron Green and Karn Sharma taking a wicket apiece.

Shahrukh Khan, David Miller and Rahul Tewatia chipped in with sizeable 30s, but none of them converted it into a big knock to make it the third time GT have been bowled out this season.

Electing to bowl first, Siraj found late movement on a short and wide ball, which was good enough to find an outside edge of Wriddhiman Saha. It was also the fourth time Siraj took out Saha in the IPL.

Siraj found late movement again when he forced Shubman Gill to whip and ended up with deep point taking a catch off a leading edge. The consistent B. Sai Sudharsan was next to fall, pulling without footwork and top-edge caught by mid-off against Green, as GT ended their power-play at a paltry 23/3, the lowest total in this six-over phase of IPL 2024.

Post a horror Power-play, GT got some boundaries flowing, starting from Shahrukh glancing and cutting off Vyshak in the seventh over. He and Miller, dropped on 23 by Karn off Green, got some sublime timing on their shots to keep GT innings going as 38 runs came from overs 8-11.

Shahrukh brought up the 50-run stand for the fourth wicket in the 11th over by smashing Green high over long-on for a 94-metre six. But RCB launched a fight-back in successive overs - Miller holed out to long-on off Karn after hitting a six over extra cover, while Shahrukh was run out by a direct hit from Virat Kohli at non-striker’s end.

Tewatia took a liking to Karn by smashing three fours and a six to take 19 runs off the 16th over, followed by Rashid taking two boundaries off Siraj in the next over. But Dayal brought a halt to the 44-run stand by castling Rashid’s leg-stump with a yorker, before taking out Tewatia with a short ball, with the diving third man taking the catch off the top edge.

Vyshak came back to take out Manav Suthar and Vijay Shankar, while Mohit Sharma was run out in the final over as RCB got a team hat-trick to bowl out GT with three balls unused in their innings.

Kohli began RCB’s chase of 148 by lofting and whipping Mohit Sharma for a brace of sixes in the opening over. Du Plessis greeted Joshua Little with a pulled four, followed by taking two fours and a six in the 20-run second over.

He then took the attack to debutant spinner Manav Suthar, taking a six and four in the third over, followed by heaving Mohit over mid-wicket to bring up RCB’s fifty in just 19 balls. There was just no stopping du Plessis as he took three more fours off Mohit in an 18-run fourth over.

After a sublime Kohli dispatched Suthar for two sixes, du Plessis completed his fifty in 18 balls and went on to slam Little for two fours and a six in the last over of Power-play. But Little had the last laugh by cramping du Plessis for room and a short fine leg took the catch on top-edge, as RCB ended Power-play at 92/1.

The fast and furious-styled scoring from RCB in Power-play was brought to a halt afterwards by GT as Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell and Green perished quickly. When Kohli nicked behind off Noor Ahmad to fall for a 27-ball 42, the RCB supporting home crowd was left stunned over the batting meltdown resulting in the hosts’ being at 116/6 from 92/0.

Amidst incredible pressure, a calm Karthik came out to diffuse the tension in the run-chase by taking down Rashid Khan with three fours – a whip over mid-wicket was followed by pull over square leg and a firm carve over cover in a 16-run 12th over.

A brace of lovely sweeps from Swapnil Singh off Noor, followed by the batter slamming Rashid down the ground for a huge six ensured RCB got over the line with 38 balls to spare, which is a big win in the race to playoffs heating up in IPL 2024.

Brief scores:

Gujarat Titans 147 all out in 19.3 overs (Shahrukh Khan 37, Rahul Tewatia 35; Yash Dayal 2-21, Vyshak Vijaykumar 2-23) lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru 152/6 in 13.4 overs (Faf du Plessis 64, Virat Kohli 42; Joshua Little 4-45, Noor Ahmad 2-23) by four wickets.

(IANS)

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