Bright lights detected by NASA telescopes lead to a dancing pair of supermassive black holes
Two telescopes have spotted the closest pair of supermassive black holes to date. The duo, only about 300 light-years apart, were observed in different wavelengths of light using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope.
While black holes are invisible against the dark void of space, these two blaze brightly as the gas and dust they feed on is accelerated and heated to high temperatures. Both celestial objects, which circle around one another, are known as active galactic nuclei.
Active galactic nuclei are supermassive black holes that release bright jets of material and high winds that can shape the very galaxies where they are found.
The black hole duo is the closest pair found through visible and X-ray light. While other black hole pairs have been observed before, they are usually much farther apart. Astronomers discovered these black holes dancing around one another at the center of a pair of colliding galaxies called MCG-03-34-64, which is 800 million light-years away.
Astronomers serendipitously found the black holes when Hubble’s observations revealed three spikes of bright light within the glowing gas of a galaxy. They published their discovery Monday in The Astrophysical Journal.
“We were not expecting to see something like this,” said lead study author Anna Trindade Falcão, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a statement. “This view is not a common occurrence in the nearby universe, and told us there’s something else going on inside the galaxy.”
Zooming in on bright cosmic lights
The team was intrigued when Hubble picked up on three optical diffraction spikes in a concentrated region of the MCG-03-34-64 galaxy. Diffraction spikes appear when light from a small cosmic region bends around the mirror inside telescopes.
Hubble’s observations were made in optical light, which is visible to the human eye, but the astronomers weren’t sure what they were seeing. Falcão’s team took another look at the galactic region with Chandra in X-ray light.
When the scientists observed the galaxy using Chandra, they were able to pinpoint two powerful sources of X-ray light that matched the optical light sources spotted by Hubble, Falcão said. “We put these pieces together and concluded that we were likely looking at two closely spaced supermassive black holes.”
The team also consulted archival observation radio wave data collected by the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array of radio telescopes near Socorro, New Mexico. The black hole duo was also found to release energetic radio waves.
“When you see bright light in optical, X-rays, and radio wavelengths, a lot of things can be ruled out, leaving the conclusion these can only be explained as close black holes. When you put all the pieces together it gives you the picture of the (active galactic nuclei) duo,” Falcão said.
Meanwhile, the third diffraction spike observed by Hubble has an unknown origin, and the team requires more data to understand what it could be. The source of light might be from gas that was shocked by an energetic release of material from one of the black holes.
“We wouldn’t be able to see all of these intricacies without Hubble’s amazing resolution,” Falcão said.
Astronomers have observed pairs of black holes that are closer together than these two through radio telescopes, but those duos haven’t been observed in other wavelengths of light.
Both supermassive black holes once served as the centers of their respective galaxies, but a galactic merger brought the two objects much closer together. Eventually, their close spiral will result in a merger in about 100 million years, according to NASA, causing an energetic release of gravitational waves, or ripples in the fabric of space and time.
Such gravitational waves created by the collisions of supermassive black holes could be detected in the future by LISA, the European Space Agency-led Laser Interferometer Space Antenna mission that’s expected to launch in the mid-2030s.
#universe #news
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Venezuela Launches Criminal Probe Into Publishers of Election Tally Website
Supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro attend a march amid the disputed presidential election, in Caracas, Venezuela, August 3, 2024. REUTERS/Fausto Torrealba/File Photo
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's top prosecutor Tarek Saab said on Wednesday he would open a criminal investigation into the publishers of a website showing election tallies collected by the country's opposition, which contests the July 28 election.
"It was decided to launch a criminal investigation against those responsible for the publication and maintenance of the website," Saab said in a statement, citing forgery of public documents, computer crimes and conspiracy.
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Typer.me App Now Available on the Play Store!
Typer.me is now on the Play Store! Download the app today and start connecting with others in a whole new way. Whether you’re sharing ideas, organizing content, or exploring trending topics, Typer.me gives you the tools to stay engaged. Install now and join our growing community! Read More...
Maduro warns he’ll call for a ‘new revolution’ if forced by ‘North American imperialism’
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro warned Wednesday that he will not hesitate to call on the population for a “new revolution” if forced by what he calls “North American imperialism and fascist criminals.”
Maduro’s comments come amid deadly protests across the country following its disputed presidential election victory, which the US and several other countries have refused to recognize.
“I would not like to go to other ways of making revolution, I say it solemnly from political power, we want to continue the path that [Hugo] Chavez outlined,” Maduro said in Caracas during a press conference with international media.
“But if North American imperialism and fascist criminals force us, my pulse will not tremble to call the people to a new revolution with other characteristics,” he added.
The president’s comments come just hours after US National Security spokesman John Kirby called on Maduro to “come clean” on Sunday’s election.
“Our patience, and that of the international community, is running out on waiting for the Venezuelan electoral authorities to come clean and release the full, detailed data on this election so everyone can see the results,” Kirby told reporters during Wednesday’s White House press briefing.
Kirby said the US and other nations share “serious concerns of the reports of casualties, violence and arrests, including the arrests warrants that Maduro and his representatives issued today (Wednesday) for opposition leaders.”
“Alongside the international community, we are watching, and we are going to respond accordingly,” Kirby said.
20 ‘credible reports’ of deaths
The Venezuelan leader’s comments came as Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it had received 20 “credible reports” of deaths connected to the nationwide protests over the election results.
“We are working to document and corroborate each case,” Juanita Goebertus, HRW Director for the Americas, wrote on X.
Foro Penal, a local NGO, reported on Tuesday that a total of 11 people have died during the protests.
Of those killed, five died in Caracas, two in Zulia and Yaracuy, and one in Aragua and Tachira, the head of Foro Penal, Alfredo Romero, told reporters on Tuesday.
CNN has reached out to Venezuela’s Public Prosecutor for comment.
So far, the Venezuelan government has not published any information regarding the death of civilians.
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Patients turned away as doctors hold mass strike in India over rape and murder of trainee medic
Sexual violence against women is a widespread problem in India - many crimes are believed to go unreported due to stigma and a lack of faith in police.
Patients are being turned away from hospitals and clinics across India as more than a million doctors are set to join a strike in protest at the rape and murder of a trainee medic.
The 24-hour strike began at 6am local time (1.30am UK time) with non-emergency treatment such as outpatient appointments and elective procedures cancelled, said the Indian Medical Association (IMA).
The mass walkout paralysed hospitals as staff from medical colleges were drafted in to help with emergency cases.
The strike was triggered by the killing of a 31-year-old trainee doctor, whose body was found on 9 August at the college where she worked in Kolkata.
A police volunteer was arrested but the victim's family believe it was a gang rape and that more people were involved.
The case has drawn comparisons with the notorious rape and murder of a student on a bus in New Delhi in 2012.
People demonstrated near parliament in the capital on Friday - as well as cities including Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai - calling for tougher sentences and guarantees of safety for doctors.
The facility where the doctor was killed, the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, was attacked on Wednesday.
"Doctors, especially women are vulnerable to violence because of the nature of the profession," said the IMA in a statement on X.
"It is for the authorities to provide for the safety of doctors inside hospitals and campuses."
Sexual violence against women and girls is a widespread problem in India with 31,516 reports of rape in 2022 - a 20% increase on 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.
Many are believed to go unreported due to a stigma over sexual assault and a lack of faith in the police.
The medical college case is being handled by India's central bureau of investigation after state government officers were accused of mishandling the case.
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How Trump is laying the groundwork for rejecting the election result if he loses
Mr Trump has repeatedly told his supporters to make sure the Democrats don't cheat in this year's election - just one example of how he is trying to undermine confidence in the legitimacy of the very democratic process in which he is competing.
Next week's Democratic National Convention in Chicago will be characterised by a mood of relief among delegates.
The switch of candidate from the aged Joe Biden to his vice president Kamala Harris has put the party back in contention in this year's general election, when it seemed set to be flattened by Donald Trump's re-election bid for the presidency.
It still looks like a close race. And even if Ms Harris wins the vote she may not become president.
Much may also hang on how strongly Democratic candidates lower down the ticket perform. It may fall to the US Congress to uphold the constitution.
If Mr Trump "loses" to Ms Harris there are still arguably legitimate ways in which he could end up back in the White House.
Trump loyalists are already preparing for this fight - egged on with carefully unspecific rhetorical encouragement in rambling comments of the man himself.
Whether Mr Trump's protests against his defeat in 2020 amounted to a "Big Lie" or evidence of a "Big Steal", as a majority of Republicans now claim, he is preparing to do it again, if he loses.
At the very least America would be plunged into political and legal chaos, again, for months after the approaching election on 5 November.
It could be much worse. This month President Biden told CBS he is "not confident at all" that there will be a peaceful transition if Ms Harris is elected president.
"Now if I don't get elected it's gonna be a bloodbath," Mr Trump told an audience in March, leaving it ambiguous whether he was only talking about the prospects for the car industry there in Dayton, Ohio.
Lesser politicians are clumsier.
Republican Ohio state senator George Lang apologised after declaring: "I'm afraid if we lose, it's going to take a civil war to save this country."
He did not withdraw his praise for "Bikers for Trump" or the slogan "Fight! Fight! Fight!", also mouthed by Mr Trump, fist aloft, after the assassination attempt on his life.
How Trump could win with the least votes - again
To win the presidency the successful candidate does not necessarily have to get the most votes from the people.
The victor needs the support of a majority of the electoral college - at least 270 out of 538.
Technically the election votes decide the make-up of the college, state by state. Membership does not directly reflect the views of the overall US population.
Republican nominees defeated in the popular vote, including Mr Trump and George W Bush, have become US president in three of the last seven elections.
In 2000, the dispute over Florida went to the US Supreme Court, which ruled in Mr Bush's favour. Since then Mr Trump has made three appointments which have tilted the court in his favour. The justices are likely to back him if there are any legal disputes.
Former president trying to sow seeds of chaos
Mr Trump repeatedly tells his rallies that they have to do two things - they have to vote and they have to make sure that the Democrats don't cheat.
This is just one example of how he is trying to undermine confidence in the legitimacy of the very democratic process in which he is competing. He is laying the ground in advance to challenge the results if they do not go in his favour.
The strategy is a familiar one in modern US campaigns, first formulated by the Republican strategist Roger Stone as "Stop the Steal" back in 2016, in case things did not go Mr Trump's way.
They did and at the end of his presidency, Mr Trump commuted Stone's prison sentence for lying to Congress. As shown in the recent TV documentary, A Storm Foretold, Stone was bitterly disappointed that he did not get a full pardon but he has endorsed Mr Trump again in this campaign.
If Mr Trump loses the vote he may still have successfully spread chaos and confusion which calls the results into question.
There are then potential legal routes at state level and subsequently in Congress, which could even overturn the result in his favour.
This year, election officials have until 11 December to certify the results in their state.
#news #USElections
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No survivors from plane that crashed in Brazil with 61 people on board, officials say
The Voepass aircraft crashed into a residential area, although there were no reports of casualties on the ground
A passenger plane with 61 people on board has crashed in a fiery wreck in Brazil’s São Paulo state, killing all passengers and crew.
The airline Voepass initially reported 62 people had been on the plane but later revised the figure to 61, confirming the deaths of all 57 passengers and four crew members on board.
“At this time, Voepass is prioritizing provision of unrestricted assistance to the victims’ families and effectively collaborating with authorities to determine the causes of the accident,” the company said in a statement
“There are no survivors,” Col Emerson Massera of the Brazilian military police told reporters at the crash site in the city of Vinhedo late on Thursday.
Massera said the fire had been brought under control, but about 50 firefighters were still working to cool down the area. “It’s a very sad scene; our work now is focused on clearing the area so that the investigation and identification of the bodies can proceed,” he said.
The ATR-72 turboprop plane was en route from Cascavel, in the state of Paraná, to Guarulhos, in São Paulo, when it crashed in a residential neighbourhood about 76km away from the state capital.
No casualties were reported on the ground, according to Col Cassio Araújo de Freitas, the general commander of the military police, who said: “We have no reports of any other victims besides those on the aircraft.”
According to the Flight Radar website, the plane was traveling at 17,000ft before plunging 4,000ft in two minutes, and then its signal was lost.
Video shared on social media showed the plane spiraling out of control as it plunged down into a cluster of trees, followed by a large plume of black smoke.
Another clip showed flames and smoke coming from the plane fuselage where it had apparently plowed into the side of a house. Burning debris and at least one body could be seen strewn across the gardens of a residential area, while emergency vehicles arrived.
Ana Lúcia de Lima, who lives nearby, told the UOL news website that the noise was so loud it “sounded like it was falling into my house … The first blast was strong, there was already dark smoke coming out, and then there were several more explosions.”
Another resident, Daniel de Lima, said he heard a loud noise before looking outside and seeing the plane in a horizontal spiral.
“It was rotating, but it wasn’t moving forward,” he told Reuters. “Soon after, it fell out of the sky and exploded.”
The Brazilian air force and the federal police sent teams of investigators to the site.
The head of the air force’s Aeronautical Accident Investigation and Prevention Centre, Brigadier Marcelo Moreno, said that there was no timeline for the investigation to be completed. He said: “It is still very premature to say anything.”
But he said it was already clear that “there was no communication from the aircraft to the control authorities indicating an emergency”.
Voepass stated that the aircraft had taken off “without any flight restrictions, with all its systems functioning properly for the operation”.
Speaking at an event in southern Brazil on Friday afternoon, just minutes after the accident, the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, called for a minute of silence for those lost in the crash.
#news #brazil
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A black X is appearing on the doors of Maduro opponents in Venezuela
In a poor Caracas neighborhood, the letter “X” is appearing on people’s homes – crude chest-high slashes of paint that residents say amount to a threat.
Residents living in 23 de Enero, once the stronghold of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, believe pro-regime paramilitary groups are behind the spray paint. The groups, known as colectivos, are marking people who had protested the outcome of July’s presidential election, residents told CNN.
“There are some fifty homes in my street, and thirty-two have been marked,” said one resident, who asked to use the alias “Pablo”, due to fear of retaliation for speaking out.
The Xs appeared in Pablo’s neighborhood days after Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro claimed victory at the polls on July 28 – a result disputed by the opposition and questioned by foreign observers.
Members of a Venezuelan paramilitary unit took photos of his neighbors as they stood outside their homes and called for Maduro to step down by banging pots. The next morning, “we woke up and all the houses were marked with a cross,” Pablo said.
Pablo told CNN he could hear the painting on his own door in the middle of the night, the rattle and spray waking him up from his sleep.
“The following days, they would ride around the street saying this mark is for cowards and that they would come back with guns if anyone protested,” he said.
Paramilitary groups have historically been used by the Maduro regime to intimidate or attack opposition supporters. In many of Caracas’ poorest neighborhoods, they are the only law.
CNN is attempting to contact Valentin Santana, the leader of one of the most notorious colectivo, La Piedrita, for comment.
Another resident of the same neighborhood said her home was not grafittied, but that she is now too intimidated to join planned anti-government protests on Saturday. She is fearful of a crackdown by the government, which has already detained hundreds of opposition supporters for protesting against Maduro or casting doubt about his disputed victory.
She says that paramilitary groups have installed surveillance cameras in her area, and she does not know who to trust. The Venezuelan government recently repurposed an app originally intended to report public administration malfunctions to allow anonymous charges against opposition supporters.
“This is the app to snitch on the fascists,” Maduro himself told a recent rally, presenting the new service. It has since been blocked on Apple’s App store but is still available on Google Play.
She believes that about 80% of the area she lives in would be in favor of Venezuela’s political opposition – but are too intimidated to make their voices heard.
“A couple days after the election, two young protesters were taken away, there’s no trust among neigbhbors also because of the app,” Valentina said.
A pattern of repression
Venezuelans have felt this fear before. In 2019, when opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself to be the interim president of Venezuela, with widespread popular support, motorcycle riding colectivo members terrorized anti-government rallies with gunfire and prevented opposition lawmakers and journalists from entering the National Assembly.
That pattern of repression appears to be ramping up today.
Pablo accuses colectivo members of making threats, such as being taken to prison, blacklisting for vital government benefits for cheap gasoline and food handouts. There have also been threats of overt violence in the past few days, though he maintains he will keep protesting.
“Going to jail, that is scary, because at my age that almost certainly means dying in jail. But I don’t want to stop, people are angry… I am very angry, furious,” Pablo, who is in his seventies, told CNN.
Such accounts echo the warnings of opposition leader María Corina Machado, who told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday that Maduro is “exercising violence on innocent people” in the aftermath of the disputed vote.
“Young people are [taken] out of their houses, houses are marked with a cross at their doors. Journalists have been detained, four of them have been accused of terrorism. This is happening as we speak,” she said.
Since the contested election, Maduro has been at the forefront of the government crackdown, ordering the opening of two new prisons to accommodate detained protesters and openly calling for everyone in the streets to be imprisoned.
Maduro has also endorsed what is informally referred to as “Operation Knock-Knock,” that has seen security services knocking at opposition members’ doors.
“Knock Knock! Don’t be a crybaby… You’re going to Tocorón (a jail)” Maduro shouted at a rally last week.
Even after Venezuela’s electoral and judicial authorities announced the victory of Maduro, they have not shown detailed results and electoral records to support it, prompting anger and concern across the country and abroad.
Meanwhile, the team of opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia has released independently collected polling station data that, although partial, appears to suggest that Maduro lost.
Numerous countries say they will not recognize the official election result until the vote tallies are published in full.
In a report shared Tuesday, a panel of experts from the United Nations said the presidential election lacked “basic transparency and integrity.” They also strongly criticized the National Electoral Council (CNE) for announcing the winner without revealing the tabulated results from each of the country’s polling stations, saying it had “no precedent in contemporary democratic elections.”
“The note … from the UN is giving us a lot of hope. The world must know that we have a neo-Nazi for president,” Pablo said.
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High-stakes Gaza ceasefire talks have ended. Here’s what to know
The death toll in Gaza since Israel started its war against Hamas passed 40,000 this week, just as mediators arrived in Doha to discuss a ceasefire. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa/picture alliance/AP/File
Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.
CNN
—
Mediators in talks for a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel made a last-ditch effort this week to revive stalled negotiations, with high-stakes discussions wrapping up Friday against a backdrop of tension and desperation in the region.
The meeting in Doha started on Thursday and has now ended, a diplomat familiar with the discussions told CNN. A breakthrough wasn’t expected but efforts will continue. Technical teams will meet again in the coming days, starting Saturday, until the main figures meet again in Cairo next week, the diplomat said.
It took place as the Middle East braces for a possible Iranian attack on Israel, and after the death toll since October in Gaza reached 40,000 people, a bleak figure that underscores 10 months of suffering, malnutrition and despair in the enclave.
The fear of an Iranian attack poses a serious threat to any hopes of a ceasefire that have already appeared tenuous in recent weeks, after Israeli strikes took out Hamas’ former political leader and senior figures in Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
But the talks went ahead, despite some initial fears they would be scrapped. Participants on Thursday included CIA director Bill Burns, Mossad chief David Barnea, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Jassim Al Thani and Egyptian intelligence head Abbas Kamel, a diplomatic source close to negotiations told CNN.
In the meeting, Qatar, Egypt and the United States were expected to present a plan to implement a deal that could bring about a ceasefire in the war in Gaza and free the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas. The deal was proposed by US President Joe Biden in May – but unresolved differences have left the path forward unclear.
Here’s what we know about the status of the talks.
People protest in Tel Aviv ahead of the latest round of talks, calling for a deal that would secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
People protest in Tel Aviv ahead of the latest round of talks, calling for a deal that would secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Florion Goga/Reuters
What happened in the talks?
Mediators presented a bridging proposal to Israel and Hamas to close the remaining gaps of disagreement between both sides, a joint statement between the US, Qatar and Egypt said on Friday after talks wrapped up for the week.
The statement, published by the Egyptian presidency and Qatari foreign ministry, said the proposal presented to both sides “builds on the areas of agreement over the past week,” and “bridges remaining gaps in a manner that allows for a swift implementation of the deal.”
The talks were “serious and constructive,” the statement said.
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But the statement did not elaborate on what points of agreement were achieved over the past week.
Hamas had said it would not participate in talks but engaged separately with Qatari and Egyptian mediators, a source told CNN, adding that the mediators are still working to bridge the gap on the remaining key differences.
“Our position was clear… we will not go for new negotiation rounds. We will only go to implement what has been agreed on,” Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, told CNN on Tuesday.
On Thursday, the militant group reiterated that there will be no hostage deal or ceasefire agreement without a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
What is Biden’s proposal?
In May, Biden laid out a three-phase proposal the administration said was submitted by Israel that would pair a release of hostages from Gaza with a “full and complete ceasefire” and a release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
The first phase would last six weeks and include the “withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza” and the “release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, the wounded in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners” and the implementation of a temporary truce.
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More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in 10 months of war in Gaza, health ministry says
Phase 2 would allow for the “exchange for the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers” and a permanent end to the fighting.
In Phase 3, a “major reconstruction plan for Gaza would commence and any final remains of hostages who’ve been killed will be returned to their families,” the US president said.
Israel launched its war against Hamas after the group’s cross-border October 7 attacks, in which more than 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. More than 100 of those hostages remain in Gaza, their families back home pleading for a breakthrough to secure their safe return. It is unclear how many of the original hostages set for release are still alive.
Hamas and Israel have been engaged in tedious negotiations for months. Officials from Qatar and Egypt act as intermediaries, delivering messages to Israeli and Hamas representatives in shuttle-style diplomacy since representatives from the warring parties are not present at the same location. Technical teams have flown in and out of Doha and Cairo to iron out details for a potential agreement.
What are the key remaining sticking points?
Despite an initial positive reaction from Hamas and Israel, both sides failed to agree on the implementation of the finer details of the proposal including the sequencing of the hostage-prisoner exchange, the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released and how far back Israeli forces should withdraw in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused of undermining the deal as far-right members of his ruling coalition threaten to collapse the government despite pressure from the US and families of hostages.
Throughout the war, the prime minister has been caught between two potent political forces: the far-right members of his governing coalition who have been opposed to any suggestion that Israeli troops should leave Gaza, and the relatives of hostages held by Hamas, who have formed a powerful pressure group and have implored Netanyahu to reach a deal.
Last month, the prime minister reversed on a key Israeli concession in ceasefire negotiations, demanding that armed men be barred from returning to northern Gaza during an eventual ceasefire, an Israeli source familiar with the talks told CNN. Israel had previously agreed to allow Palestinians unrestricted access to northern Gaza.
Netanyahu’s office on Tuesday rejected claims that the prime minister had changed positions, saying his most recent stance “does not introduce extra conditions and certainly does not contradict or undermine” the May proposal. Netanyahu’s office instead accused Hamas of adding unrealistic demands to its position.
A regional diplomat familiar with the negotiations told CNN that the remaining sticking points for Hamas are Israel’s restrictions on the movement of people from southern Gaza to the north, its demand for a veto over which Palestinian prisoners would be released, as well as its continued presence at the Philadelphi corridor and the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
What is Hamas’ position?
US officials had said that talks had reached an advanced stage until Hamas’ political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran in late July in an assassination Iran blamed on Israel. Israel hasn’t confirmed or denied responsibility, but Iran has vowed vengeance.
There were concerns that the assassination would throw a wrench in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas. The militant group replaced Haniyeh with Yahya Sinwar, the hardline Hamas leader in Gaza who is one of Israel’s most wanted men. While Haniyeh, a relative moderate, lived in Qatar and was susceptible to pressure from his host country, Sinwar is believed to be deep underground in a tunnel in Gaza and is hard to reach.
Hamas on Thursday denied it was having difficulty communicating with its leader Sinwar, after one of its top officials Osama Hamdan reportedly acknowledged in an interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday that there are “some difficulties” and delays in communicating with him.
Hamas hasn’t ruled out an agreement with Israel, but said that it won’t engage in further negotiations. It instead asked mediators for a plan to implement a ceasefire proposal put forward by Biden.
A Hamas source told CNN on Wednesday that the group has adopted a position of “intentional ambiguity” over whether it will attend ceasefire talks, adding that its position on a potential ceasefire is firm whether not it attends the talks.
Asked why Hamas has been unclear about whether it will attend the ceasefire talks, the source said: “This ambiguity is the movement’s position, which was announced in its latest statement, is intentional and did not come by chance. It comes as a result of Netanyahu’s behavior.”
Why is this round of talks so important?
This latest round of ceasefire talks were the result of a major diplomatic effort by mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US to push for a last-ditch effort to end the war and free the hostages as Iran prepares to attack Israel.
The urgency of the talks was highlighted by the three mediators, who issued a rare joint statement last week calling on the warring parties to return to negotiations and offered what they called a “final bridge proposal” to overcome the remaining sticking points. The details of that proposal have not been made public.
In parallel, US and Middle East diplomats have been mobilizing to dissuade Iran from launching an attack on Israel that could lead to a wider regional war. Both Iran and the US have said that that lines of communication between them are open through intermediaries.
There have been some indications that Iran may abandon plans to attack Israel if a ceasefire deal is reached. But the country’s mission to the United Nations said on Saturday that Tehran’s retaliation is “totally unrelated to the Gaza ceasefire.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, US officials didn’t believe that Iran has decided on a course of retaliatory action against Israel, according to two US administration officials. Furious diplomatic backchannel efforts are ongoing to try to deter a wide-scale attack and de-escalate the volatile situation, one of those officials said.
The second official added that the Biden administration does believe that the US’s public warnings in recent days have affected Iran’s calculus.
The conversation between Al Thani and Kani was “positive,” a diplomat familiar with the call said.
Biden acknowledged the challenges facing a ceasefire deal Tuesday, telling reporters traveling with him to New Orleans he’s “concerned” about negotiations between the two parties amid the looming threat of an attack on Israel from Iran.
The president rebuffed questions on what he’s doing to pressure Israel and Hamas to come to the bargaining table for proposed ceasefire deal talks Thursday, telling reporters, “If I told you what pressure that I’m putting on it, it wouldn’t be very much pressure would it?”
The regional diplomat who spoke to CNN said there is concern that Iran may not hold back on striking Israel, as the diplomat believes the Biden administration is not applying enough pressure on Netanyahu to reach an agreement.
The lack of clarity on whether the Israeli prime minister will adhere to Biden’s May proposal, the source added, suggests time is running out to strike a deal before an Iranian attack. Qatar and Egypt, the source said, may not have enough influence to push Hamas to compromise.
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Israel will say it had no choice, but its airstrikes in Lebanon risks igniting a regional war
Israel carried out "pre-emptive" strikes against Hezbollah overnight, while the militant group says it has completed the "first phase" of an attack on 11 Israeli military sites.
This appears to have been a high-stakes Israeli military operation that risked igniting a regional war.
Israel will say it had no choice: One of the pillars of Israeli military doctrine has long been the principle that offence is the best form of defence.
It is not the first time it has used its air force hoping to defang an imminent threat. Israel insists it sent an armada of warplanes to the skies over Lebanon, more than a hundred strong, to stop an 'extensive planned attack involving thousands of rocket launches' about to be let loose by Hezbollah.
Just as Israel launched audacious air attacks obliterating Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser's air force in 1967 and Saddam Hussein's atomic programme in 1981, Israel says it despatched jets overnight to neutralise Hezbollah.
It is not clear how many enemy drones and missiles were already in the air. Hezbollah claims all 11 of its targets in Israel were hit and it launched 320 Katyusha rockets.
The primary strike it says was aimed at "a qualitative Israeli military target that will be announced later" as well as "enemy sites and barracks and Iron Dome [missile defence] platforms".
Israeli intelligence sources had claimed the airbase used in the strike on Shukr and the headquarters of Unit 8200, the Israeli military intelligence agency, north of Tel Aviv, were on Hezbollah's target list.
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Hezbollah meanwhile says Israel's operation failed to pre-empt its long-awaited retaliation and insists it succeeded in striking targets deep within Israel.
Two questions for now: Hezbollah's next move and what this does to efforts to end the war in Gaza.
Will Hezbollah draw a line under the Shukr/Haniyeh affair? The organisation says today's action is over but is more planned in the coming days? All eyes are on its commander Hassan Nasrallah who will address his faithful by video link tonight.
He has not been seen in public since Hezbollah's war with Israel in 2006 for fear of being assassinated by Israeli jets himself.
Hezbollah attacked Israel in the wake of Hamas atrocities on 7 October and has been locked in an almost daily artillery duel with Israel over their border ever since.
Israeli intelligence claims Hezbollah has amassed an arsenal of 150,000 missiles secreted in the hills of southern Lebanon since 2006, 10 times the amount it possessed back then.
It has so far refrained from unleashing that firepower: Analysts believe its paymasters and patrons in Tehran prefer to keep that armoury in reserve as an insurance policy for the day Israel may attack Iran itself, as well as its alleged nuclear programme.
But Israel has been testing that theory for months now, responding with force to Hezbollah's attacks in the north. Each exchange of fire has the potential to escalate the region into a wider war through miscalculation and unintended mass civilian casualties.
So far, events overnight do not seem to have upended the fragile efforts towards a ceasefire in Gaza. Delegations are still on their way to Cairo for the next round of talks. If anything the escalation reemphasises the urgency behind the diplomacy.
But it could also offer the Israelis a distraction, should they want one, from huge pressure from the US to make the concessions required to reach a deal.
Most Israeli observers believe Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want a ceasefire on the terms currently being negotiated for fear it could lead to his coalition government falling apart.
But US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators insist the truce terms are the best and possibly last chance of bringing home Israel's hostages and ending the war.
They also believe a ceasefire in Gaza is the best way of reducing tensions in the north - which have exploded overnight so spectacularly.
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Echoes of a massacre: Tales from Israel's attack on al-Tabin
Al-Tabin School was not the first school in Gaza that Israel has targeted. But medics, journalists and survivors told Al Jazeera that Israel’s August 10 attack on it was the most gruesome massacre since Israel launched its assault on the besieged enclave in October last year.
Israel killed more than 100 displaced Palestinians, leaving victims dismembered, charred and often unidentifiable by their loved ones.
Some 2,400 displaced Palestinians, many exhausted by having been displaced several times, were sheltering in the school in eastern Gaza's Daraj neighbourhood when it was struck by two guided missiles.
The missiles blazed through the upper level, a space that women and children slept and prayed in, to reach the men's prayer area on the ground floor.
Most of the men and boys had woken up to perform the Fajr - or dawn - prayers and were gathered in that space. It was timed for maximum casualties, medics who were there said.
The nearby al-Ahli Arab Hospital - which came under attack months ago and is only partially operational with no burn ward - was overwhelmed as injuries and bodies of slain Palestinians began pouring in.
Throughout the war, Israeli forces have largely kept Gaza’s vital crossings sealed shut, blocking the entry of much-needed fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid to the enclave, where famine is looming.
Al Jazeera spoke to some of the displaced people who survived the attack but lost loved ones, as well as rescue workers and medics who worked in mute horror to save as many people as they could.
Sumaya Abu Ajwa had woken up for the Fajr prayer with her two foster daughters, 16-year-old Nuseiba and 14-year-old Retaj, and their mother.
She and the girls' mother were off to one side when the missiles struck, one of them passing between the two girls, Abu Ajwa told Al Jazeera.
"Suddenly, dust and fire spread everywhere, like it was Judgement Day. I started looking frantically for the girls," she says tearfully, sitting on a bed because she has difficulty walking.
"I found the younger girl [Retaj] and held her in my arms. Her blood was pouring onto my clothes, but I could sense that she was still breathing," Abu Ajwa said, adding that she screamed for help, for anyone to come and save Retaj, but the scene was so chaotic nobody was able to help.
Soon after, Retaj succumbed to her wounds.
The search for Retaj's big sister Nuseiba took longer.
"I went back into the flaming prayer room over and over, looking for her, I couldn't see her anywhere. Then someone told me that she was under the rubble so I went to look where they said.
"When I reached her," Abu Ajwa breaks down, "I found her and her body had been torn in two."
Weeping bitterly, she said she and the girls' mother had done everything they could, through several displacements, to keep the four of them together.
Abu Ajwa had discussed leaving al-Tabin with the girls, but Nuseiba had been reluctant to leave, she said, because she was attending Quran classes there and was proud of her progress in memorising the holy book.
"She told us that if we wanted to leave that was fine, she would stay behind in the school. I told her that I had stayed with them throughout the war and wouldn't leave them now, we'd either make it together or die together, but now they've gone on ahead and left us. They died before us."
The girls only had one wish, she added - for the war to end because they "have been scared so many times, displaced so many times, they were so exhausted and had gone hungry so many times".
The girls have a 14-year-old brother, Abu Ajwa said, who had been taken from them when the Israeli army raided al-Shifa Hospital where they were sheltering at the time.
"The Israelis sent him north on his own. We were very sad then but, who knows, this may have saved him, he's the only hope we have left.
"Who will call me Mama Sumaya now? I crave those words so much," Abu Ajwa sobs.
Suzan al-Basyouni heard the impact first then realised that the school had been targeted, with the mosque hit hardest, and ran to look for her husband who had gone to perform the Fajr prayer.
"The moments of the massacre are etched into my eyes... imagine looking for your husband amid piles of human body parts, to try to identify him and not be able to," al-Basyouni told Al Jazeera.
"Inside the mosque were piles of bodies, dismembered limbs flung around. Those very few who survived were running out of the mosque screaming, in flames.
"I was struggling to get through, stepping on bodies with my own two feet. I stepped on a woman as I was trying to find my husband. I know her, she's a friend of mine and I didn't realise that I was stepping on her. She was at the mosque's entrance."
The dark made it hard for al-Basyouni and her family to find her husband and it was only when the sun rose and rescue efforts advanced a bit that they found him under a pile of bodies.
"His legs had been blown off and his abdomen torn open. He had been martyred alongside his father.
"My solace, my only hope now is that we will find ease in heaven. There is no life left to live in Gaza, we had no idea how horrific life could be and now we know that it's all over.
"There will be no earthly justice, how could there be when we live in Gaza and nobody has moved to help us? Justice will be served by God alone."
Vascular surgery consultant Tayseer al-Tanna stood in shock in the hospital corridor, recounting what he saw after the attack in a voice he was trying to control.
"I deal in science," he said. "So, I try to use my head more than my heart when it comes to treating people.
"But that day, what I saw and what I had to do, I was working with a vice gripping my heart. Yet I kept working, I couldn't stop."
The severity and sheer number of injuries he encountered have left a lasting impression on al-Tanna.
"The burns were unlike anything I’ve seen before, covering 50...70... up to 90 percent of the victims' bodies. Many lost limbs, and so many died in surgery because their injuries were so severe," he said.
Al-Tanna used to work at al-Shifa Hospital and is now the only vascular surgeon remaining in northern Gaza, working out of al-Ahli Arab Hospital where he receives cases from all over the north.
Al Jazeera Arabic’s Anas al-Sharif was among the first journalists who reported on the direct aftermath of the attack.
"I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. The number of martyrs was beyond anything I could have imagined," al-Sharif said.
"There were bodies and limbs outside the school, but nothing could prepare me for the scenes inside. I documented what was happening outside the school and kept going.
"But when I got to the mosque that had been targeted, I was so shocked that I had no words left any more," he recalled.
"I was walking over the bodies of martyrs without realising it. A very painful scene unfolded in front of me, a girl saying goodbye to her father as he died from his burns," he said.
"It’s difficult to move past something like this. Those images, I see them everywhere... in my dreams, when I’m awake."
Asked whether this shock could make him give up journalism, al-Sharif said seeing such a crime being perpetrated against the people of Gaza only makes him more determined to carry on documenting what is happening.
"There are still families who haven't found their loved ones," he said. "The victims are nothing more than body parts.
"I went to the school after the attack and saw some families trying to clean it up, they were collecting kilos and kilos of just body parts, they don't know who they are."
Momen Silmi, a civil defence worker who was among the first to reach the school, said the scenes at al-Tabin were "terrifying", with people standing outside the school, afraid to enter.
When he and his team entered, they found the scene of the strike in flames, upstairs and down.
"Some of the victims were engulfed in flames, but they couldn't extinguish the fire because their limbs had been blown off.
"No human should have to witness such a sight," Silmi said. "But we've seen so much, we were able to go in there and try to help. I would grab anything I could find and try to put out the fires that were burning some of the injured people.
"We went upstairs and the sight I saw there was appalling. Most people were burned, dismembered, disembowelled, and they were all women and children. There were no men, not even teenagers up there.
"I saw an injured mother holding her daughter of about 18 or 19 who was badly injured... her intestines were spilling out and her hands had been blown off. She had her eyes closed and was screaming out for help: 'Baba! Don't leave me please!' she was crying, holding on to me because she thought I was her father.
"I was trying to help her while my colleague was trying to calm her mother down because she was bleeding profusely as well.
"We were all deeply branded by this experience, yes we've seen a lot and helped a lot of people in terrible conditions, but working on a disembowelled injured person while their seriously injured parent or child looked on wailing, that was horrific and will stay with us forever."
"I had just woken up really, we were about to pray Fajr at the civil defence centre," rescue worker Noah al-Sharnoubi said.
"As I walked through the carnage, I felt like I was in a dream. There were tens of bodies piled up, and dismembered body parts were strewn everywhere.
"We've seen schools targeted before, we knew to expect a dozen casualties maybe, but this time the number of bodies and injured screaming for help...
"People were screaming out to me to save their mothers, brothers, and fathers, grabbing me in desperation. Sometimes I would go to them and find that their loved ones were taking their last breaths, and I would have to leave to help someone else."
Al-Sharnoubi kept working alongside his team until all the injured people on the ground floor had been taken to hospital, then he headed upstairs to help out there too.
"As I was going up the stairs, I saw a human head on the steps with a fire blazing nearby. It was a head with part of the shoulders still attached.
"I tried to move it with my hands, but they started trembling … I lost control of myself and couldn’t lift bodies or help the injured," he said.
All the rescue workers on the site cried at some point, he added, because of the severity of the attack.
"I haven't slept for three days since the massacre. The images keep replaying in my mind. This wasn't just a massacre - it was a genocide against displaced people who sought refuge in a school.
"Believers were killed while they prayed; they were children, women and the elderly."
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