28/04/2026

TUESDAY | APR 28, 2026 9 Former PMs unite to challenge Netanyahu TEL AVIV: Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett and opposition leader Yair Lapid announced on Sunday they will run on a joint list in this year’s elections, in a move aimed at unseating incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu. “I am pleased to announce that tonight, together with my friend Yair Lapid, I am taking the most Zionist and patriotic step we have ever taken for our country,” Bennett said in a joint televised statement with Lapid. “Tonight, we are uniting and founding the Beyahad (Together) party under my leadership, a party that will lead to a great victory and open a new era for our beautiful country.” During the televised statement, Lapid said: “Bennett is a right-wing politician, but an honest one, and there is trust between us.” Earlier on Sunday, Lapid, himself a former prime minister, had said he would join forces with Bennett. “The move brings about the unification of the Repair Bloc, enabling all efforts to be focused on leading Israel toward the necessary repair,” he wrote on X. Bennett said that if elected, he would establish a national commission of inquiry into the failures leading up to the Oct 7, 2023 attack, something the Netanyahu government has rejected. Bennett and Lapid have been outspoken critics of Netanyahu’s handling of the country’s wars since that attack, with Lapid going so far as to label the recent two-week ceasefire agreed with Iran a “political disaster”. Right-winger Bennett, a longtime supporter of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and Lapid previously formed a coalition government in June 2021. It was replaced at the end of 2022 by the current administration led by Netanyahu, after Bennett said in June of that year that his coalition was no longer tenable and Lapid served a brief stint as caretaker prime minister. Opinion polls suggest Bennett is the candidate best placed to defeat Netanyahu in the October vote. – AFP ROME: Activists from several countries set sail from Sicily to the Gaza Strip on Sunday on dozens of ships carrying civilian aid. After a weather-related delay, 56 ships departed from a port near Syracuse, the Global Sumud Flotilla said, describing its aid campaign as the largest flotilla ever to have attempted to reach the Gaza Strip. The activists are again seeking to breach the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip that has been in place since 2007 to bring aid supplies to the densely populated area levelled by two years of intense bombardment. The declared aim of the flotilla is also to advance the establishment of a permanent humanitarian corridor. Israel has consistently blocked attempts by activists to breach the naval blockade off the sealed-off coastal strip. The ships that have set off plan to rendezvous at sea with several more boats from other countries and then continue east. – Bernama GAROWE: Suspected pirates have boarded a St Kitts and Nevis-flagged cargo vessel off Somalia’s waters and were sailing it towards the Somali coastline, maritime security groups Vanguard and Ambrey said. Pirates caused havoc in the waters off the Horn of Africa nation’s long coastline between 2008 and 2018. After a lull, pirate activity started to pick up again in late 2023. Vanguard said in a note late on Sunday it was aware of reports that armed pirates had hijacked the vessel, Sward , in the vicinity of Godobjiran, Somalia. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said the incident occurred 11km northeast of Garacad, describing it as a hijack. The ship’s 15-person crew comprises two Indian nationals and 13 Syrians. Ambrey said the vessel had been sailing to Mombasa, Kenya from Suez – Reuters GAZA AID FLOTILLA SETS SAIL FROM SICILY SUSPECTED PIRATES STEER CARGO VESSEL TO SOMALIA

Iran FM blames US for failure of peace talks

o Ceasefire holds

SAINT PETERSBURG: Iran’s top diplomat blamed Washington yesterday for the failure of talks after landing in Russia as part of a whirlwind diplomatic tour, with direct negotiations between the warring parties seemingly at an impasse. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made the remarks in Saint Petersburg, where he is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, having sandwiched a trip to Oman in between visits to main mediator Pakistan over the past few days. Islamabad played host to the first and only round of unsuccessful talks between Washington and Tehran, and Araghchi’s visit had fanned hopes for fresh negotiations over the weekend, until US President Donald Trump scrapped a planned trip by his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. “The US approaches caused the previous round of negotiations, despite progress, to fail and reach its goals because of the excessive demands,” Araghchi said yesterday. After calling off his emissaries’ trip, Trump told Fox News that if Iran wanted talks, “they can come to us, or they can call us”, though he has said the cancellation does not signal a return to hostilities. In a sign that backchannel efforts were ongoing, the Fars news agency said Iran had passed “written messages” to the Americans via Pakistan spelling out red lines, including nuclear issues and the Strait of Hormuz. Fars said the messages were not part of formal negotiations. US media outlet Axios – citing a US official and two other sources with knowledge of the matter – reported on Sunday that Iran had sent a new proposal to end the war centred on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending a US naval blockade, with nuclear negotiations postponed for a later stage. Iranian state news agency IRNA cited the report without denying it. The ceasefire in the US-Israeli war with Iran has so far held. The subject of the strait was on the agenda during Araghchi’s trip to Oman, which lies on the other side of the waterway from Iran. “The safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz is an important issue. Naturally, as the two coastal countries of this strait, we must speak with each other so that our common interests are secured,” Araghchi said in Saint Petersburg.

Displaced Lebanese in Sidon fleeing in vehicles yesterday from their homes following Israeli evacuation orders. – REUTERSPIC

whom were connected to the movement. Hamas did not take part in the elections. Palestinian city and village councils are responsible for essential services such as water, sanitation and local infrastructure, but they do not have legislative authority. With no presidential or legislative elections held since 2006, voting for local councils has become one of the last remaining democratic mechanisms under the PA. Many voters said municipal governance is increasingly tied to larger political realities, particularly settlement expansion. They pointed to worsening access to water, roads and basic services as illegal settlements spread across the West Bank. In 2025, the Israeli military installed 1,000 gates at the entrances of towns and villages which, when closed, cut off residents from access to services they rely on in nearby larger municipalities. – AFP strikes on the country’s south on Sunday killed 14 people. AFP correspondents reported heavy traffic heading north as people fled following the warning and intensified raids. Israel also reported a soldier killed in combat in south Lebanon. The country maintains that under the terms of the truce, it can act against “planned, imminent or ongoing attacks”. “This means freedom of action not only to respond to attacks ... but also to pre-empt immediate threats and even emerging threats,” Netanyahu said. – AFP

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they have no intention of lifting their market-shaking blockade, saying control of the Hormuz “and maintaining the shadow of its deterrent effects over America ... is the definitive strategy” of Tehran. Violence has continued on the war’s Lebanese front, in spite of a recently extended ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The two sides traded blame over violations on Sunday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying the military was “vigorously” targeting the group. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Israeli

BR I E F S

Fatah leading in West Bank elections RAMALLAH: President Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement was on track to lead municipal councils in several major West Bank cities, official election results showed on Sunday, with about 95% of ballots counted. In several important cities such as Ramallah, the seat of Palestinian Authority (PA), and Nablus in the north, no vote was held. In both cases, only a single list was registered, either affiliated with or dominated by Fatah, making elections unnecessary.

On Saturday, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah area voted for municipal councils in the first elections since the Gaza war began. Fatah’s electoral list, dubbed “Steadfastness & Giving”, was ahead in Hebron, the West Bank’s largest city, as well as in Tulkarem and Salfit, according to the Palestinian Central Elections Commission. Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa described the vote as “an expression of the national will of the Palestinian people”. He also welcomed the inclusion of Deir el Balah in the local elections, calling it“a first step toward a more inclusive national framework ... until we reach unity in all of Palestine”.

In Jenin, a northern West Bank city long associated with armed resistance to Israeli occupation, Fatah won six of 15 seats, tying with an independent list also named “Jenin”. In the city of Qalqilyah, no list was registered, leaving the PA in charge of appointing a municipal council. Across the West Bank, voter participation reached 53.4%, with elections held in 183 municipalities. But in Deir el-Balah the voter turnout was significantly lower, with 22.7% of the 70,000 registered voters casting ballots. Most West Bank candidates ran on Fatah aligned lists or as independents, some of