The United Nations chief on Thursday urged world leaders and officials attending an upcoming UN conference on ending the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict to keep the two-state solution alive. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters that the international community must not only support a solution where independent states of Palestine and Israel live side-by-side in peace but materialize the conditions to make it happen. France and Saudi Arabia are co-chairing the conference, which the U.N. General Assembly is holding from June 17 to June 20 in New York. French President Emmanuel Macron will attend and other leaders are expected, but Israel will not be there. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the creation of a Palestinian state, a position that was overwhelmingly adopted by Israel's parliament in a vote last year. We won't be taking part in a conference that doesn't first urgently address the issue of condemning Hamas and returning all of the .
Israel said Saturday that it has launched a major operation in the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas to release remaining hostages, following days of strikes across the Palestinian territory that killed hundreds of people. Defence Minister Israel Katz said that Operation Gideon Chariots was being led with great force. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to escalate pressure with the aim of destroying the militant group that has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades. The military operation came a day after US President Donald Trump concluded his Middle East trip without a visit to Israel. There had been hope that Trump's trip could increase the chances of a ceasefire deal or the resumption of humanitarian aid to Gaza, which Israel has prevented for more than two months. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas have yet to achieve progress in Qatar's capital, Doha. Hamas, which released an Israeli-American hostage as a goodwill gesture before Trump's trip, insists on a deal that ends the
Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday killed at least 23 Palestinians in Gaza, including three children and their parents whose tent was bombed in Gaza City, health officials said. The bombardment continued as international warnings grow over Israeli plans to control aid distribution in Gaza as Israel's blockade on the territory of over 2 million people is in its third month. The UN and aid groups have rejected Israel's aid distribution moves, including a plan from a group of American security contractors, ex-military officers and humanitarian aid officials calling itself the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Among the 23 bodies brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours were those of the family of five whose tent was struck in Gaza City's Sabra district, Gaza's Health Ministry said. Another Israeli strike late Friday hit a warehouse belonging to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, in the northern area of Jabaliya. Four people were killed, according to the Indonesi
Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 59 people, including women and children, hospital officials said Wednesday, as Israel prepares to ramp up its campaign against Hamas in a devastating war now entering its 20th month. The strikes included one attack on Tuesday night on a school sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians, which killed 27 people, officials from the Al-Aqsa Hospital said, including nine women and three children. It was the fifth time since the war began that the school in central Gaza has been struck. An early morning strike on another school turned shelter in Gaza City killed 16 people, according to officials at Al-Ahli Hospital, while strikes on targets in other areas killed at least 16 others. A large column of smoke rose and fires pierced the dark skies above the school shelter in Bureij, a built-up urban refugee camp. Paramedics and rescuers rushed to pull people out from the blaze. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes. Israel
The plan is part of Israel's attempt to put more pressure on Hamas to release hostages and agree to a ceasefire under Israel's conditions
More than 90 people have been killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes in the last 48 hours, Gaza's Health Ministry said on Saturday. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The dead include at least 15 people killed overnight, among them women and children, some of who were sheltering in a designated humanitarian zone, according to hospital staff. Israel is ramping up attacks across Gaza as it tries to pressure Hamas to release its hostages and disarm. Israel has said it plans to occupy large security zones inside Gaza.
Israel's military said Friday it will fire air force reservists who signed a letter condemning the war in Gaza and accusing it of only serving political interests and not bringing the hostages home. In a statement to The Associated Press, an army official said there was no room for any body or individual, including reservists in active duty, to exploit their military status while simultaneously participating in the fighting, calling it a breach of trust between commanders and subordinates. The army said it decided that any active reservist who signed the letter will not be able to continue serving. It did not specify how many people that included or if the firings had begun. Nearly 1,000 Israeli Air Force reservists and retirees signed a letter, published in Israeli media Thursday, demanding the immediate return of the hostages, even at the cost of ending the fighting. The letter comes as Israel ramps up its offensive in Gaza, trying to pressure Hamas to agree to free hostages, 59
Israeli aircraft struck a residential block in war-ravaged northern Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 23 people, health officials said, as the renewed fighting in the devastated Palestinian enclave showed no signs of letting up. The Al-Ahly hospital said at least 23 people were killed in the strike, including eight women and eight children, figures confirmed by the territory's Health Ministry. The strike hit a four-story building in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City and rescue teams were searching for victims under the rubble, according to the Health Ministry's emergency service. The civil defense, a rescue group which operates under the Hamas-run government, said other neighbouring buildings were damaged in the strike. The Israeli military said it struck a senior Hamas militant who it said was behind attacks emanating from Shijaiyah. It did not name him or provide further details. Israel blames the deaths of civilians on the militant group, because it embeds itself in dense
Netanyahu, who has spent the last few days visiting Hungary, departs for Washington on Sunday for an impromptu visit with Trump that is expected to take place on Monday
Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 15 people, including 10 women and children, overnight and into Sunday, according to local health officials. Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas and renewed its air and ground war last month. It has carried out out waves of strikes and seized territory in order to pressure the militants to accept a new deal for a truce and hostage release. It has also blocked the import of food, fuel and humanitarian aid. The latest strikes hit a tent and a house in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing five men, five women and five children, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Fifty-nine hostages are still being held in Gaza 24 of whom are believed to be alive after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel's offensive has killed at least 50,695 Palestinians, according to
An Israeli airstrike on Thursday killed at least 27 Palestinians sheltering at a school in northern Gaza and wounded 70 more, said Health Ministry spokesman Zaher al-Wahidi, as Israeli forces have expanded their strikes and evacuation orders across the war-torn territory in recent days. The bodies of 14 children and five women were recovered from the school in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City, and the death toll could still rise because some of the wounded had critical injuries, al-Wahidi said. The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas command and control centre in the Gaza City area, and said it took steps to lessen harm to civilians. It was not immediately clear if the military statement was referring to the strike on the school. Israel gave the same reason -- striking Hamas militants in a command and control centre -- for attacking a United Nations building used as a shelter on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people.
Israeli strikes across the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 26 Palestinians overnight into Sunday, including a Hamas political leader and several women and children. Residents said tanks had advanced into an area of the southern city of Rafah as the military ordered it evacuated. Gaza's Health Ministry said the total number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war has now passed 50,000 after Israel ended the ceasefire last week with a wave of strikes that killed hundreds. Israel has continued striking what it says are militant targets and has launched ground incursions in northern Gaza. Late Saturday, Israel's Cabinet approved a proposal to set up a new directorate tasked with advancing the voluntary departure" of Palestinians in line with US President Donald Trump's proposal to depopulate Gaza and rebuild it for others. Palestinians say they do not want to leave their homeland, and rights groups have said the plan could amount to expulsion in ...
Gandhi criticised the Western countries for their collusion in Israel's act of genocide against the Palestinians
The U.N. official said that since March 2, Israeli authorities had cut off the entry of all lifesaving supplies
Israel says it is cutting off its electricity supply to Gaza. The full effects of that are not immediately clear, but the territory's desalination plants receive power for producing drinking water. Sunday's announcement comes a week after Israel cut off all supplies of goods to the territory to over 2 million people. It has sought to press Hamas to accept an extension of the first phase of their ceasefire. That phase ended last weekend. Hamas has pressed to start negotiations on the ceasefire's more difficult second phase instead. Gaza has been largely devastated by the war, and generators and solar panels are used for some of the power supply.
Arab leaders meeting in Cairo on Tuesday are set to endorse a counterproposal to US President Donald Trump's call for the Gaza Strip to be depopulated and transformed into a beach destination, even as the continuation of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire is uncertain. The summit hosted by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is expected to include the leaders of regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, whose support is crucial for any postwar plan. Israel has meanwhile embraced what it says is an alternative US proposal for the ceasefire itself and the release of hostages taken in Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. It has blocked the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza to try to get Hamas to accept the new proposal and has warned of additional consequences, raising fears of a return to war. The suspension of aid drew widespread criticism, with human rights groups saying it violated Israel's obligations as an occupying po
Trump meanwhile wants Saudi Arabia, which has vast influence in other Arab and Muslim countries, to normalise ties with Israel
Trump's Gaza plans are expected to be among the topics when Jordan's King Abdullah II holds a scheduled meeting with him in Washington on Tuesday
Famine has been mostly averted in Gaza as a surge of aid enters the territory during a fragile ceasefire, the United Nations humanitarian chief said Sunday. But he warned the threat could return quickly if the truce collapses. Tom Fletcher spoke exclusively to The Associated Press after a two-day visit to Gaza, where hundreds of trucks carrying humanitarian aid have arrived each day since the ceasefire began on January 19. The threat of famine, I think, is largely averted, Fletcher said in Cairo. Those starvation levels are down from where they were before the ceasefire. He spoke as concerns grow over whether the ceasefire can be extended and talks are meant to begin on its more difficult second phase. The six-week first phase is halfway through. As part of the agreement, Israel said it would allow 600 aid trucks into Gaza each day, a major increase after months of aid officials expressing frustration about delays and insecurity hampering both the entry and distribution of food, ..
Amid the devastation, Gazans vowed to remain steadfast in their homeland, rejecting US President Donald Trump's controversial proposal to seize the enclave