Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called on the United States to lift all sanctions on Venezuela and open a new phase in relations between the two countries.
Maduro said during a meeting devoted to economic affairs on Tuesday, “All of Venezuela agrees to demand the complete and final lifting of all economic sanctions, and the opening of a new phase and a new era of relations of respect and cooperation at the highest levels between the United States and Venezuela.”
Maduro stressed "the readiness of all Venezuelan political, religious, economic, cultural and social sectors to develop new respectful relations with the United States."
It is noteworthy that the United States tightened its sanctions on Venezuela in 2019 against the backdrop of a political crisis in the country and the then Speaker of Parliament, Juan Guaido, declaring himself “interim president” of Venezuela and Washington’s recognition of him.
The US sanctions affected senior Venezuelan officials, government agencies, the country's banking sector and the energy sector, including the state oil company Venezuela.
Recently, the United States eased the sanctions imposed on Venezuela against the backdrop of the resumption of contacts between the government and the opposition after a period of stagnation in the political dialogue between them.
American officials warn Israel: They have learned lessons from the battles in the northern Gaza Strip
The Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted American officials as saying that Israel must learn lessons from what happened in northern Gaza, and that Washington will not allow the displacement of the residents of the southern Gaza Strip.
This comes in the wake of talk about Israel's intention to resume fighting with "Al-Qassam" and Palestinian factions in the north and south of the Gaza Strip.
Senior White House officials explained, according to Yedioth Ahronoth, that Israel must “learn lessons” from the ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip, and not act in the south until it is able to secure protected areas for civilians so that “there is no military movement.”
The Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army regarding the “Al-Aqsa Flood”: We failed. There will be decisive, in-depth investigations and calculations
They said the Biden administration would not allow “the scale of displacement that occurred in the north to be repeated to the south.” US officials also indicated that some degree of displacement would be "inevitable," but stressed that no one would be forced to leave their home against their will.
Media sources said that the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William Burns, and Minister Abbas Kamel, head of Egyptian intelligence, arrived in Doha to discuss the possibility of reaching a long-term ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, "We are working to extend the truce. In any military operation carried out by Israel in the southern Gaza Strip, it must take into account the innocent people there."
US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that going down the path of war is tantamount to giving Hamas what it seeks. “We cannot do that.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the Americans did not want us to enter into a ground operation in Gaza or enter the Shifa Medical Complex, "but we did."
The White House: There is no evidence that Hamas is using the American hostages as a means of pressure
The White House said on Tuesday that US officials do not see any indications that Hamas militants are refusing to release American hostages in Gaza to use them as a means of pressure.
The United States believes that Hamas is holding between eight and nine Americans hostage after releasing a four-year-old girl.
Earlier, White House Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby stated that the United States supports extending the humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip after two additional days, stressing that this depends on the Hamas movement.
“Of course, we hope to extend the truce again, but this will depend on whether Hamas continues to release the hostages,” Kirby said.
According to the White House spokesman, US President Joe Biden and his team worked “day and night” to reach agreements on extending the humanitarian truce.
"Homeland Security Advisor Jake Sullivan updated him on the status of the negotiations to extend the pause. He and his entire national security team will continue to address this issue in the coming days as work on extending the original agreement and further extending the pause progresses," he said.
The White House said that the current US approach towards Israel does not include restrictions on military aid.
The truce between Hamas and the Israeli government continues for the fifth day in a row after it was extended for two days under the same conditions, as a new batch of hostages and prisoners were released.
Earlier, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the Hamas movement released 69 Israeli prisoners, while Israel released 150 Palestinian women and children, during the first four days of the truce agreement that the two parties reached with Qatari-Egyptian-American mediation, and which entered into force on Friday morning.