India offers support prices Israel vows to ‘finish the job’
War Cabinet member threatens
MUMBAI - India has offered guaranteed support prices for pulses, corn and cotton in a bid to break a deadlock with protesting farmers, Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said after week-long clashes with security forces keeping the farmers out of the capital.
Tear gas and barricades were used to deter the farmers, who form an influential voting bloc, months ahead of a general election due by May, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a record third term.
Sunday’s comments followed marathon talks with farmers’ unions after the farmers, who are demanding a minimum price for their produce, were halted at a distance of about 200km from New Delhi.
Mr Goyal said the government had proposed five-year contracts between co-operative societies it promotes and farmers who diversify their crops to grow toor dal, urad dal, masoor dal and corn, for the purchase of such crops at a minimum support price.
“These organisations will buy the produce and there will be no limit on quantity,” Goyal told reporters in the northern city of Chandigarh, adding that a similar price guarantee would also be offered to farmers who diversify and produce cotton.
The farmers unions said they would decide on the proposal within a day or two, after conferring among themselves to reach a consensus.
Police have used tear gas and barricades to stop thousands of farmers from marching to New Delhi to press their demand that the government set a minimum price for all their produce to ensure their livelihoods.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday brushed off growing calls to halt the military offensive in Gaza, vowing to “finish the job” as a member of his War Cabinet threatened to invade the southern city of Rafah if remaining Israeli hostages are not freed by the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Israel’s government has not publicly discussed a timeline for a ground offensive on Rafah, where more than half the enclave’s 2.3 million Palestinians have sought refuge. Retired general Benny Gantz, part of Mr Netanyahu’s threemember War Cabinet, represents an influential voice but not the final word on what might lie ahead.
“If by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue to the Rafah area,” Mr Gantz told a conference of Jewish American leaders. Ramadan, expected to begin on March 10, is historically a tense time in the region.
As cease-fire negotiations struggle after signs of progress in recent weeks, Mr Netanyahu has called demands by Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group “delusional.”
The United States, Israel’s top ally, says it still hopes to broker a cease-fire and hostage-release agreement, and envisions a wider resolution of the war sparked by Hamas’ deadly October 7 attack in southern Israel.
The US also says it will veto another draft UN resolution calling for a ceasefire, with its UN ambassador warning against measures that could jeopardise “the opportunity for an enduring resolution of hostilities”.
But Mr Netanyahu opposes Palestinian statehood, which the US calls a key element in a broader vision for normalisation of relations between Israel and regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia.
His Cabinet adopted a declaration on Sunday saying Israel “categorically rejects international edicts on a permanent arrangement with the Palestinians” and opposes any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.