Return with a response. Our security correspondent Frank Gardner has more, from jerusalem. Whats being debated is the permission by the Israeli Military for large numbers of palestinian displaced people, currently who are sheltering in the south of the gaza strip, in the city of rafah, to move back to their homes in the north. Thats something that israel has resisted in the past. Israel, reportedly, would also remove some of its forces from gaza. This would be during a a0 day truce. And there would of course be the exchange of hostages and prisoners. Probably hundreds, if not thousands, of Palestinian Prisoners coming out of israeli jails in return for a Rather Lowerfigure Than was originally demanded by israel an initialfigure of around 33 israeli hostages. Now, from the israeli side, there is dual pressure going on here. Pressure from the United States to do this deal, and pressure domestically from all the families and friends of the hostages whove been demonstrating and shouting lo
It happened near the disputed scarborough shoal, an area that has been a flashpoint between the two countries in recent years. Take a look at these pictures. The filipino authorities said its boats had been involved in a mission to deliver fuel and food to fishermen in the area. It Accused Beijing of once again installing a floating barrier across the entrance to ther shoal. Chinese state media reports its coastguard as saying it had expelled a Philippine Coast guard ship and other vessels from the area. Lets get more from our South East Asia correspondentjonathan head, who was on the filipino vessel. Im on board the philippines coastguard ship the Chinese Media are saying be expelled. We are being shadowed, you can see over there one chinese coastguard ship on that side, three orfour binders, so many chinese ships in this area. They dominate it, they kick to the Philippines Out of here 12 years ago. This is part of a mission to re establish the philippines presents. I would not say th
The Philippines condemns the latest "provocative action" by Chinese coastguard against Filipino fishermen, the spokesperson of the National Security Council said on Monday. Jonathan Malaya in a television interview was referring to a report by the Philippine coastguard at the weekend about a Jan 12 incident where it said Chinese coastguard instructed fishermen to return sea shells collected near the disputed Scarborough Shoal, then drove them away.
MANILA (Reuters) -Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, seeking ways to come up with ways to reduce tensions in the South China Sea and restore Filipino fishermen's access to fishing grounds. The Philippines and China need to continue to communicate, with the meeting a key part of the process to maintain peace, and keep open sea lanes and airways over the South China Sea, Marcos told reporters on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in San Francisco. "We tried to come up with mechanisms to lower the tensions in the South China Sea," Marcos said, without elaborating.