Explore Business Standard
Gaza
With the remains of one hostage still in Gaza, the first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas is nearly complete, after a two-month process plagued by delays and finger-pointing. Now, the key players including Israel, the Palestinian militant Hamas group, the United States and a diverse list of international parties are to move to a far more complicated second phase that could reshape the Middle East. US President Donald Trump's 20-point plan which was approved by the U.N. Security Council lays out an ambitious vision for ending Hamas' rule of Gaza. If successful, it would see the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza under international supervision, normalized relations between Israel and the Arab world and a possible pathway to Palestinian independence. But if the deal stalls, Gaza could be trapped in an unstable limbo for years to come, with Hamas remaining in control of parts of the territory, Israel's army enforcing an open-ended occupation an
For the past two Christmases, John Juka's family restaurant looked about the same as any business in Bethlehem: shuttered and eerily empty. But on Saturday evening, it bustled with families and was lit by strings of red lights, a hopeful change in the Palestinian city that's been reeling since war broke out in Gaza. Christmas celebrations are slowly returning to the traditional birthplace of Jesus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. While a shaky ceasefire holds in Gaza, Palestinians hope the festivities are a step toward a more peaceful future in a region shaken by tragedy. "It's not like it was before the war," 30-year-old Juka said. "But it's like life is coming back again." Muslim-majority city thrives on Christmas Tourism and religious pilgrims have long been a prime economic engine for Bethlehem. Around 80 per cent of the Muslim-majority city's residents live off it, according to the local government. Those earnings ripple out to communities across the West Bank, a territor
Qatar's prime minister on Saturday said the Gaza ceasefire has reached a critical moment as its first phase winds down, with the remains of just one Israeli hostage still held by militants in Gaza. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told an international conference in the Qatari capital that international mediators, led by the US, are working to force the way forward to the second phase to cement the deal. What we have just done is a pause, he told the Doha Forum. We cannot consider it yet a ceasefire. A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of Israeli forces, there is stability back in Gaza, people can go in and out, which is not the case today, he said. While the ceasefire halted the heavy fighting of the two-year war, Gaza health officials say that over 360 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the truce took effect in October. In new violence, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike northwest of Gaza City, Shifa Hospit
An international body tasked with governing the Gaza Strip under the next phase of the US-brokered ceasefire is expected to be announced by the end of the year, an Arab official and a Western diplomat said Friday. According to the ceasefire agreement, the authority known as the Board of Peace and chaired by US President Donald Trump is to oversee Gaza's reconstruction under a two-year, renewable UN mandate. It will include about a dozen other Middle Eastern and Western leaders, the Arab official and the Western diplomat told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter. Also to be announced is a committee of Palestinian technocrats who will run the day-to-day administration of post-war Gaza, they two said. The Western diplomat, who spoke to the AP over the phone from Cairo, said the announcement about this will likely happen when Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet later this month. The ...
Israel received remains of what could be one of the last hostages in Gaza on Wednesday and said it will begin allowing Palestinians to leave the war-torn territory through a border crossing with Egypt. The remains found by militants in northern Gaza have been returned to Israel, where they will be examined by forensics experts. Remains militants handed over on Tuesday did not match either of the last two hostages in Gaza. The return of all the hostages taken on the October 7, 2023, attack that started the war is a key element of the first phase of the ceasefire that began in October. In exchange, Israel has been releasing Palestinian prisoners. Under the terms of the ceasefire, the long-closed Rafah crossing is to be opened for medical evacuations and travel to and from Gaza. The World Health Organization says there are more than 16,500 sick and wounded people who need to leave Gaza for medical care. It was not immediately clear when the border crossing would be opened, however. E
Israeli forces on Tuesday shot and killed two suspected Palestinian assailants wanted in a pair of attacks that wounded three Israelis in the occupied West Bank. It was the latest burst of violence in the territory, where fighting has spiked in recent weeks. The Israeli military said that troops shot and killed a suspect who stabbed two soldiers as they were confronting him near Ateret, an Israeli settlement in the central West Bank. It said the incident was under review. Israel's Mada rescue service said two soldiers were lightly wounded. In the southern West Bank, the army said it shot and killed a Palestinian who had earlier carried out a car-ramming attack that wounded a female soldier. The army said the man attempted to flee as they tried to arrest him near the city of Hebron while endangering the soldiers and he was shot dead. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the suspect as a 17-year-old resident of Hebron. The Israeli army has stepped up its activities in the We
Israel's military on Saturday said it launched airstrikes against Hamas militants in Gaza in the latest test of the ceasefire that began on October 10. Health officials in Gaza reported at least 14 people killed and another 45 wounded, including children. Similar waves of strikes have occurred during the ceasefire after reported attacks against Israeli forces. One strike targeted a vehicle, killing seven and wounding 18 Palestinians in Gaza City's Rimal neighbourhood, said Rami Mhanna, managing director of Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken. The majority of those wounded were children, director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said. Another strike targeting a house near Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza killed at least three people and wounded 11 others, according to the hospital. It said a strike on a house in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza killed one child and wounded 16 others. And a strike targeting a house in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza killed three people, including a woman,
More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war so far, Gaza health officials said Saturday, as both sides completed the latest exchange of bodies under the terms of the tenuous ceasefire. The latest jump in deaths occurred as more bodies are recovered in the devastated Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began on October 10, and as other bodies are identified. The toll also includes Palestinians killed by strikes that Israel says target remaining militants. Israel on Saturday returned the remains of another 15 Palestinians to Gaza, according to hospital officials there, a day after militants returned the remains of a hostage to Israel. He was identified as Lior Rudaeff, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that Rudaeff was born in Argentina. The exchanges are the central part of the ceasefire's initial phase, which requires that Hamas return all hostage remains as quickly as possible. Families and .
Israel on Saturday returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza, hospital officials in the strip said, a day after militants returned the remains of a hostage to Israel under the terms of the tenuous ceasefire agreement in the two-year war. The exchange marked another step forward for the tenuous, US-brokered truce. As part of the deal, Israel has returned the remains of 15 Palestinians for each Israeli hostage. The Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis said the 15 bodies were brought there. The return came shortly after Israel confirmed the remains given back Friday night were of an Israeli man who died while fighting Hamas in the militants' Oct. 7, 2023, attack that started the war. The hostage's body was identified as that of Lior Rudaeff, according to a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Rudaeff was born in Argentina and moved to Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, a farming community in southern Israel, as a child. H
Israel said the Red Cross has received the remains of three hostages in Gaza and they will be handed over to Israel's military. A Hamas statement earlier said the remains were found Sunday in a tunnel in southern Gaza. Since the ceasefire in Gaza took effect on October 10, Palestinian militants had released the remains of 17 hostages, with 11 remaining in Gaza. Militants have released one or two bodies every few days. Israel has urged faster progress, and in certain cases it has said the remains aren't of any hostage. Hamas has said the work is complicated by widespread devastation. Israel's military said official identification of these remains would be provided to families first. Israel in turn has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians for the return of the remains of an Israeli hostage. Health officials in Gaza have struggled to identify bodies without access to DNA kits. Only 75 of the 225 Palestinian bodies returned since the ceasefire began have been identified, ...
Israel returned the bodies of 30 Palestinians to health authorities in Gaza on Friday, completing an exchange after militants turned over remains of two hostages, in a sign that the tense Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement is edging forward. The incremental progress came despite Israeli strikes on Gaza this week that killed more than 100 people following the killing of an Israeli soldier. The bodies were transferred with the Red Cross serving as intermediary. The return of the Palestinian remains was confirmed by a doctor at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, where medical workers were striving to identify them. Gaza and Israel grapple with latest exchange of bodies ----------------------------------------------------------- Photos showed the remains, in white body bags, arranged in rows inside the grounds of Nasser Hospital. Health officials have struggled to identify bodies without access to DNA kits. The handover brings the number of Palestinian bodies returned
Since Israel's war with Hamas began more than two years ago, Israel has erected nearly 1,000 barriers in cities and towns in the occupied West Bank, further stifling movement for Palestinians and hindering daily lives, a local government body says. While Israel's military has long imposed movement and access constraints after capturing the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, the number of new barriers is unprecedented, residents say. According to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, an official Palestinian governmental body, 916 gates, barriers and walls have been installed since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel. Israeli military raids throughout the West Bank have also increased, with Palestinians killed or detained. Israel says it is trying to root out militancy. Among the new barriers are metal gates stationed at many village and town entrances and between cities, blocking access in and out. Sometimes the Israeli military is stationed at them. Palestinia
Israeli authorities said they had killed three Palestinian militants early on Tuesday during an operation in the northern part of the occupied West Bank. Israeli police said the three men were shot as they came out of a cave near Jenin, a town in the northern West Bank known as a militant stronghold. A statement claimed the militants were planning an attack, but gave no further details. The statement said the Israeli military carried out an airstrike shortly afterward to destroy the cave. The army confirmed an airstrike in the area but gave no further details. Israel has stepped up its military activity in the occupied West Bank since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the war in Gaza. Israel says the operations have cracked down on militants in the West Bank. But Palestinians and human rights groups say scores of uninvolved civilians have also been among the dead, while tens of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes.