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US negotiator and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner held a rare meeting with Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya on Sunday in a fresh diplomatic push to advance the stalled Gaza ceasefire. Kushner will meet Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- who is under pressure after rejecting the new 15-point, US-backed Gaza road map -- on Monday. The talks aim to salvage the plan for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw from Palestine territory. At stake are lives of some two million people in Gaza and reconstruction of the crowded enclave now largely controlled by Israel forces, more than 10 months since the ceasefire ended major military operations. A meeting between Kushner, fellow envoy Steve Witkoff and Hamas leaders in Egypt last year helped clinch the ceasefire, whose progress until now had been stalled over the key issue of Hamas' disarmament. The more than two-hour meeting in Egypt with Hamas' Khalil al-Hayya was confirmed by a regional official and a Hamas official
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel will not withdraw from its current lines in Gaza until Hamas has completely disarmed and pushed back on a recent deal announced by US President Donald Trump. Netanyahu's remarks cast more doubt on the deal to disarm Hamas, which was seen as a potential breakthrough for ending the war. It also marked a rare public display of friction with the Trump administration. The agreement called for Hamas to begin disarming and for Israel to halt its strikes and begin withdrawing from the roughly 60 per cent of Gaza it currently controls. It was based on an October ceasefire agreement that ended major military operations and brought about the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza but has stalled on other fronts. Netanyahu, who faces a tough battle for reelection in October, reiterated his stance that disarmament should come first. He said Israeli forces would continue to "do whatever is necessary to protect themselves, our .
The Board of Peace official overseeing Gaza's postwar transition met Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a statement, in part to discuss a new disarmament deal the board reached with Hamas. Nikolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza, held "constructive and detailed" talks with the prime minister and his team, the Board of Peace said in a statement. "The goal is clear and is not in question: the complete decommissioning of weapons in the Strip and the transition away from rule by the gun to civilian governance," it said. According to two people familiar with the meeting, Mladenov also pressed Netanyahu to halt Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip. Mladenov and his team, including senior adviser Aryeh Lightstone, are pressuring Israel to stop striking Gaza as they push ahead with the agreement to decommission the weapons held by Hamas. President Donald Trump announced the agreement, which is part of a broader ceasefire deal reached last year, late
President Donald Trump said that a deal has been reached for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza, but many hurdles, conditions and long timelines remained to wind down the war in the Palestinian territory. Neither Hamas nor Israel gave immediate indication that they had agreed. The White House announcement on Thursday comes nine months after a US-brokered ceasefire was signed. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas had largely deadlocked over the implementation of its second phase, including the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza. "The agreement will be carried out in carefully structured phases," Trump said on social media. "As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbours." Trump's 20-point ceasefire plan calls on the Iran-backed militant group to surrender its weapo
Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is "fomenting hate" by calling the prime minister a war criminal who should be arrested over the war in Gaza if he visits the city for the United Nations General Assembly. Netanyahu said he intends to be in New York in September to address the annual UN gathering of world leaders, despite the mayor's suggestion that he is not welcome. Mamdani said last week that while New York City does not have legal authority to execute an arrest warrant issued by the world's top war-crimes court, he encouraged the federal government to do so. "He's supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers - Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone," Netanyahu said on Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning Futures" with Maria Bartiromo. "But he's trying to turn one group against the other." The prime minister has become an increasingly polarizing figure over Israel's war in Gaza, which was ignited by the Oct. 7, 2023, deadly attack on southern ..
India has backed Palestine's bid for United Nations membership and reaffirmed its support for a two-state solution to the festering conflict between the Palestinian people and Israel. New Delhi's position on Palestine was apprised by Sripriya Ranganathan, a secretary at the external affairs ministry during a ministerial meeting of the Palestine Donor Group, held in Brussels on Monday. India has been backing a vision of a "two-state" solution with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security within recognised borders, consistent with international law. At the Palestine Donor Group meeting, Ranganathan emphasised that India has been a long standing partner of the Palestinian people, and reaffirmed India's continued support to a two-state solution as well as to Palestine's membership of the UN, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). She underlined India's ongoing developmental assistance, including capacity building programmes and humanitarian assistanc
Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna, a 2028 US Presidential aspirant, on Saturday said he was detained by gun-wielding Israeli settlers while on a visit to Palestine. Khanna, a Democrat from California, was visiting on Wednesday the ruins of Khirbet Zanuta, a Bedouin village in the southern West Bank that was abandoned after attacks from Israeli settlers when the incident took place. "Israeli settlers, brandishing American-made M4S, detained me and other Americans on my trip to Palestine. When the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) arrived, they sided with the settlers and continued our detention. They made a huge mistake," Khanna said in a post on X. Khanna's experience was reported by a photographer of The New York Times, who was accompanying the Congressman. "I felt powerless in that situation, which is not an easy thing, as I have a lot of privilege in life," the New York Times quoted Khanna as saying. The report said Khanna was eventually allowed to continue his journey after cal
In their bare-bones tent in southern Gaza, Mostafa Shaaban built his family's makeshift toilet behind a curtain in a corner. He dug a shallow pit in the sandy soil, poured a concrete slab around it, fixed a bottomless bucket over the hole, then topped it off with a battered, plastic toilet seat. It reeks with a foul odour and buzzes with flies and mosquitoes only a few feet from where they sleep and prepare meals. Every week, Shaaban has to dig the sewage sludge out of the pit. But at least it's more private than the fetid communal latrines used by hundreds of other people in their sprawling tent camp. "I did not want the kids and my wife to use any public toilet. It is humiliating," said the 38-year-old Shaaban, who was driven from his home city of Rafah by Israeli forces two years ago and eventually settled in a tent camp in Khan Younis. "The situation is revolting," he said of having the toilet inside the tent, "but at least it has more dignity." There is not a single proper toi
Israel and Lebanon have agreed to renew their fragile ceasefire and create a number of "pilot" security zones inside Lebanon from which Hezbollah militants would be banned. In a joint statement released after a fourth round of US-mediated talks at the State Department, the two sides said the ceasefire "is contingent on a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of all Hezbollah operatives" from areas south of the Litani River. It was not immediately clear how the security zones would be established but the agreement calls for the Lebanese army to take full control of those areas. "These steps will enable progress towards a comprehensive peace and security agreement," the statement said. "All countries reaffirmed that the future of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon must be decided by the two sovereign governments. They rejected any attempt, by any state or non-state actor, to hold Lebanon's future hostage." The latter is a reference to Iran, which supports
Israeli troops have captured a strategic mountain topped with a Crusader-built castle in southern Lebanon in their deepest incursion into the country in more than a quarter century, the military said Sunday. The capture of Beaufort castle near the city of Nabatiyeh came after days of intense fighting and airstrikes in nearby villages where Israeli troops fought Hezbollah members in the rugged area. It marks a major gain for Israel in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, which began in early March. Israel and Lebanon have been at war since Israel was created in 1948, and are currently holding direct talks in Washington. The Israeli push came despite a nominal ceasefire that has been in place since April 17 and just days before the next round of talks are set to be held at the State Department on June 2 and 3. The Israeli army's Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted a photograph on X showing Israeli troops walking outside the castle, and Defence Minister Israel Katz wrote on X that t
An annual United Nations report documenting sexual violence in conflicts worldwide has included Israeli forces for the first time since the review began more than 15 years ago for their treatment of Palestinian detainees. Israel denies the accusations. The 35-page report -- shared by the Israeli mission to the UN late on Thursday ahead of its expected release on Friday -- blacklists 77 government and non-government parties in a dozen countries suspected of committing or being responsible for sexual violence in conflicts around the world. It says the number of cases rose sharply in 2025 from 2024. Russian armed and security forces were also blacklisted for the first time this year for sexual violence against prisoners of war and civilians detained during the war in Ukraine. The list for 2025 includes Israel's armed and security forces as well as Hamas militants, who were previously blacklisted after their attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza. Both Israe