Search Site

Maaden raises $1.25bn in sukuk offering

The Sukuk were offered in a five-year and a 10-year tranche.

DAE net profit up 36.2%

Revenues grew by 9 percent to $1.42bn from $1.31bn in 2023.

Borouge 2024 net profit $1.24bn

The company said it will maintain a $1.3bn dividend for 2025.

ADQ, Orion to establish JV

The partners commit to deploying $1.2bn in the next four years.

Alpha Dhabi acquires interest in NCTH

The deal increases NCTH's portfolio to 8 hotels with 1,500 keys.

Biden exhorts Egypt, Qatar to press Hamas on hostage deal

Biden has supported Israel since the October 7 attacks, sending billions of dollars in military aid. (AFP)
  • Biden has written letters to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar on the state of the talks
  • His call with Netanyahu included discussions on "getting a hostage deal done"

Washington, United States– US President Joe Biden on Friday asked Egyptian and Qatari leaders for help in getting Hamas to agree to a deal with Israel, an American official said, ahead of negotiations in Cairo.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have been engaged in weeks of behind-the-scenes talks in a bid to secure a temporary truce in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners being held Israeli jails.

The White House said earlier on Friday that negotiations would occur over the weekend in Cairo, but would not confirm US media reports that CIA Director Bill Burns would be attending along with Mossad chief David Barnea, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.

Biden, in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, “made clear that everything must be done to secure the release of hostages, including American citizens, now held by Hamas terrorists for nearly six months,” a senior Biden administration official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The official said that Biden on Friday “wrote letters to the President of Egypt and the Emir of Qatar on the state of the talks and he urged them to secure commitments from Hamas to agree to and abide by a deal.”

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby had earlier told reporters that Biden’s call with Netanyahu included discussions on “getting a hostage deal done, empowering his negotiators to come to (a) conclusion on this.”

“This basic fact remains true: There would be a ceasefire in Gaza today had Hamas simply agreed to release this vulnerable category of hostages — the sick, wounded, elderly, and young women,” the US official said Friday evening.

Hamas launched a shock attack on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of about 1,170 Israelis and foreigners, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Palestinian fighters also took around 250 hostages, about 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 whom the Israeli army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed over 33,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.