Page 11 - Gaza Conflict

Israel moves Gaza detainees to new camps, but abuses persist, say prisoners

Under pressure from Israel's top court to improve conditions at a facility notorious for mistreating Palestinians seized in Gaza, the military transferred hundreds of detainees to newly opened camps. But abuses at these camps were just as bad, according to Israeli human rights organizations that interviewed dozens of current and former detainees and are now asking the same court to force the military to fix the problem once and for all. What the detainees' testimonies show, rights groups say, is that instead of correcting alleged abuses against Palestinians held without charge or trial including beatings, excessive handcuffing, and poor diet and health care -- Israel's military just shifted where they take place. What we've seen is the erosion of the basic standards for humane detention, said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked, one of the rights groups petitioning the Israeli government. Asked for a response, the military said it complies with international law and completel

Israeli settlers in West Bank attack Oscar-winning Palestinian co-director

Filmmaker Hamdan Ballal, who co-directed the Oscar-winning documentary film "No Other Land", was later detained by the Israeli military

Over 65 killed in Gaza strike as Egypt offers new ceasefire proposal

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed more than 65 Palestinians over the past day, including women and children, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Monday. In less than a week of air and ground operations since Israel broke the ceasefire with Hamas, its forces have killed hundreds of people in Gaza -- sending the death toll from 17 months of war soaring above 50,000. Meanwhile, officials said Egypt has introduced a new proposal to try and get the ceasefire back on track. Hamas would release five living hostages, including an American-Israeli, in return for Israel allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza and a weekslong pause in the fighting, an Egyptian official said. Israel would also release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. A Hamas official said the group had responded positively to the proposal, without elaborating. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media on the closed-door talks. Meanwhile, Israel has said it fired on a

UN says will reduce footprint in Gaza, blames Israel for staffer's death

The United Nations has said it will reduce its footprint in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli tank strike hit one of its compounds last week, killing one staffer and wounding five others. Israel has denied it was behind the March 19 explosion at the UN guesthouse in central Gaza. In a statement Monday, UN Secretary-General spokesman Stphane Dujarric said that based on the information currently available, the strikes on the site were caused by an Israeli tank. He said the UN has made taken the difficult decision to reduce the Organisation's footprint in Gaza, even as humanitarian needs soar. He said the UN is not leaving Gaza but did not give details on the impact of the decision.

Israel strikes largest hospital in south Gaza; 2 dead, several injured

Israel's military struck the largest hospital in southern Gaza on Sunday night, killing one person, wounding others and causing a large fire, the territory's Health Ministry said. The strike hit the surgical building of Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis, the ministry said, days after the facility was overwhelmed with dead and wounded when Israel resumed the war in Gaza last week with a surprise wave of airstrikes. Israel's military confirmed the strike on the hospital, saying it hit a Hamas militant operating there. Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas. Like other medical facilities around Gaza, Nasser Hospital has been damaged by Israeli raids and strikes throughout the war. More than 50,000 Palestinians have now been killed in the war, the Health Ministry said earlier Sunday. The military claimed to have eliminated dozens of militants since Israel ended a ceasefire Tuesday with strikes that killed hundreds of people on on

Israel vows to maintain 'permanent presence' in Gaza unless hostages freed

The wobbly ceasefire collapsed on Tuesday when Israel bombarded Gaza, shattering two months of calm that also saw dozens of hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners

Israel vows severe response to rocket attack from Lebanon amid Gaza ops

Israel said it would respond severely to an attack from Lebanon after rockets were fired into northern Israel Saturday morning, a day after it vowed to increase the intensity of its operations in Gaza. Israel's army said the intercepted rockets were targeting the Israeli town of Metula. This is the second time rockets have been fired from Lebanon into Israel since December, sparking concern about whether the fragile ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah would hold. Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. The Israel-Hezbollah conflict boiled over into an all-out war in September as Israel carried out massive waves of airstrikes and killed most of the militant group's senior leaders. The fighting killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced about 60,000 Israelis. Under the ceasefire reached in November, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all ..

A world much like the 1930s: Echoes of war, tariffs, and autocracy

But three key differences make today even more alarming

Where was UN, Red Cross, world, asks Israeli hostage freed after 491 days

Freed Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi, who was beaten, chained and starved while held for 491 days by Hamas, expressed his anger during an appearance at the UN Security Council on Thursday for having to suffer for so long and worry every day about being killed. Where was the United Nations? Where was the Red Cross? Where was the world? Sharabi asked. He challenged the UN's most powerful body: If you stand for humanity prove it" by bringing home the 59 hostages still in Gaza, many of whom are believed to be dead. The fate of the remaining hostages became more uncertain after Israel on Tuesday ended a six-week break in the fighting that had allowed for the return of some hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Sharabi said the council talked about the need to get humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, but he saw Hamas militants eating stolen food from dozens of boxes marked with UN emblems while the hostages starved. They were given maybe a piece of pita and a sip of tea a day

58 people killed by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza: Palestinian officials

Israeli strikes overnight and into Thursday killed at least 40 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, according to three hospitals. The strikes hit homes in the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah in southern Gaza and the northern town of Beit Lahiya, they said. Israel resumed heavy strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, shattering a ceasefire that had halted the war and facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages. Israel blamed the renewed fighting on Hamas because the militant group rejected an Israeli-backed proposal that departed from their signed agreement. More than 400 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday alone, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. There have been no reports of Hamas firing rockets or carrying out other attacks. On Wednesday, Israeli ground troops advanced in Gaza for the first time since the ceasefire took hold in January, seizing part of a corridor separating the northern third of the territory from the south. Israel, which has als

Fragile ceasefire shattered: Why did Israel resume its war in Gaza?

Israel has resumed its military operations in Gaza after ceasefire talks stalled, with Israel and the US pushing to revise the original deal with Hamas

Israel launches ground op to retake part of key corridor in northern Gaza

Israel said Wednesday it launched a limited ground operation in northern Gaza to retake part of a corridor that bisects the territory, and the country's defence minister warned that the army plans to step up the attacks that shattered a two-month ceasefire "with an intensity that you have not seen. The military said it had retaken part of the Netzarim corridor, which bisects northern Gaza from the south and from where it had withdrawn as part of the ceasefire with Hamas that began in January. Defence Minister Israel Katz warned Palestinians in Gaza that the army would again order evacuations from combat zones soon, and that its attacks against Hamas would become more fierce if dozens of hostages held for more than 17 months weren't freed. As Israel continued its airstrikes on Gaza Wednesday, the United Nations said an international United Nations staffer was killed and five others were wounded in a strike Wednesday on a UN guesthouse in Gaza. Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the UN

'Cold-blooded murder': Priyanka Gandhi slams Israel for killing 400 Gazans

Gandhi criticised the Western countries for their collusion in Israel's act of genocide against the Palestinians

Israeli strikes kill nearly 413 in Gaza, risk fully reigniting Hamas war

Israel carried out airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, southern Lebanon and southern Syria on Monday, killing at least 10 people, including a child, according to local authorities. The Israeli military said it was targeting militants plotting attacks. The airstrikes were the latest in what have been frequent and often deadly attacks by Israeli forces during the fragile ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon. Israel has blocked all food, medicine, fuel and other supplies from entering Gaza the past two weeks, demanding Hamas accept changes in the two sides' ceasefire deal. In Syria, Israel seized a zone in the south after the fall of longtime autocrat Bashar Assad in December. Israel says it is a preemptive security measure against the former Islamist insurgents who now run Syria, though their transitional government has not expressed threats against Israel. The strikes hit a residential area in the southern Syrian city of Daraa, killing three people and wounding 19 others, including four children

Will only release American-Israeli hostage if truce deal implemented: Hamas

Hamas said Saturday it would only release an American-Israeli and the bodies of four other hostages if Israel implements the existing ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, calling it an exceptional deal aimed at getting the truce back on track. A senior Hamas official said long-delayed talks over the ceasefire's second phase would need to begin the day of the release and last no longer than 50 days. Israel would also need to stop barring the entry of humanitarian aid and withdraw from a strategic corridor along Gaza's border with Egypt. Hamas would also demand the release of more Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks. Edan Alexander, 21, who grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, was abducted from his military base during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war, and is the last living American citizen held in Gaza. Israel has cast doubt on Hamas' offer There was no immediate commen

US offers 'bridge' proposal to extend Gaza ceasefire, seek permanent peace

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Council official Eric Tager presented the proposal in Qatar, according to a statement from their offices

Activists vandalise Trump golf resort over his remark on emptying out Gaza

Pro-Palestinian activists said Saturday they have vandalised one of US President Donald Trump's golf resorts in Scotland in response to his proposal to empty the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian population. Activists targeted Trump's Turnberry golf course and hotel in southwest Scotland overnight, painting Gaza Is Not For Sale in giant letters on the lawn and using red spray paint on the club house's exterior wall. The group Palestine Action said it rejects Donald Trump's treatment of Gaza as though it were his property to dispose of as he likes. To make that clear, we have shown him that his own property is not safe from acts of resistance," it said in a statement. Police Scotland said it received a report of damage to the golf course in the early hours of Saturday, and that inquiries are ongoing. The future of Gaza is uncertain as the first phase of a ceasefire that paused the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas ended with no clarity on what would come next because the agreement'

Israel's delegation to visit Qatar for 'advancing' ceasefire negotiations

Israel said that it would send a delegation to Qatar on Monday in an effort to advance the negotiations around the ceasefire in Gaza, while Hamas reported positive signals in talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators on starting negotiations on the truce's delayed second phase. The statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office gave no details except to say it had accepted the invitation of US-backed mediators. Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua also gave no details. Talks on the second phase should have started a month ago. There was no immediate comment from the White House, which on Wednesday made the surprise confirmation of direct US talks with Hamas. Over the past week, Israel has pressed Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for an extension of the first phase, which ended last weekend, and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others. Israel last weekend cut off all

Gaza aid imperiled as millions in promised USAID funds remain undelivered

The Trump administration's cuts to USAID have frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in contractual payments to aid groups, leaving them paying out of pocket to preserve a fragile ceasefire, according to officials from the U.S. humanitarian agency. The cutbacks threaten to halt the small gains aid workers have made combatting Gaza's humanitarian crisis during the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. They also could endanger the tenuous truce, which the Trump administration helped cement. USAID was supposed to fund much of the aid to Gaza as the ceasefire progressed, and the Trump administration approved over $383 million on January 31 to that end, according to three USAID officials. But since then, there have been no confirmed payments to any partners in the Middle East, they said. The officials, who have survived multiple rounds of furloughs, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. Two senior officials at aid organizations confirmed they have not received any of the promised .

Egypt's proposal to rebuild Gaza fails to meet requirements, says US

Egyptian plan, which was endorsed this week by the Arab League, includes temporary housing inside Gaza for 1.5 million displaced Palestinians during reconstruction, estimated to cost about $50 bn