Page 18 - Gaza Conflict

Pope Francis calls for ceasefire on all fronts in prayer ahead of Christmas

Pope Francis called for a ceasefire on all war fronts in his Sunday Angelus prayer ahead of Christmas, condemning the cruelty of bombing schools and hospitals in Ukraine and Gaza. Let the weapons fall silent and let the Christmas carols ring out! Francis said, delivering his Sunday blessing from indoors due to a cold and as a precaution ahead of a busy Christmas period. Let us pray that at Christmas there will be a ceasefire on all war fronts, in Ukraine, in the Holy Land, throughout the Middle East and throughout the world, the pope said. Francis recalled, as he often does, the battered Ukraine that continues to be hit by attacks on cities, which sometimes damage schools, hospitals and churches. He also expressed his pain thinking of Gaza, of such cruelty, to the machine-gunning of children, to the bombing of schools and hospitals ... How much cruelty! Francis on Saturday also criticised Israel's actions in Gaza and said that his envoy had been unable to enter the territory becau

Fresh Israeli strikes across Gaza kill 22 as Vatican envoy visits region

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Sunday killed at least 20 people, including five children, Palestinian medical officials said. Israeli authorities meanwhile allowed Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the leader of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, to enter Gaza and celebrate a pre-Christmas Mass with members of the territory's small Christian community. A strike on a school housing displaced people in Gaza City killed at least eight people, including three children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The Civil Defense, first responders affiliated with the Hamas-run government, had earlier said four children were among those killed. The Israeli military said it carried out a precise strike on Hamas militants sheltering there. A strike on a home in the central city of Deir al-Balah late Saturday killed at least eight people, including three women and two children, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies. A man and his wife were .

Over 2 million people remain trapped in Gaza's dire conditions: UNRWA

UNRWA reported that worsening weather conditions in recent days are expected to continue

Sweden's funding cut to UNRWA deepens Gaza's suffering, says UNRWA

Sweden had been a long-term and reliable partner to UNRWA, providing both political and financial support for decades

Families of hostages face uncertainty despite hopes for Gaza ceasefire

Ilana Gritzewsky is fighting a battle against time to save her boyfriend from Hamas captivity. While there appears to be progress toward a deal to free the remaining captives in phases, Matan Zangauker would likely not be released in the first stage since he is a young man. Gritzewsky is terrified a deal could break down or he could die in captivity before he's freed. Gritzewsky knows first-hand the perils facing her boyfriend, who turned 25 on Wednesday. She was kidnapped and held hostage for 55 days before being released during the only previous ceasefire deal a year ago. All the hostages need to get out, said Gritzewsky. If we don't release all of the hostages all the hostages in captivity they will be dead. Many relatives of people held in Gaza find no reprieve in reports that negotiations toward a deal are progressing. The renewed ceasefire talks are just the latest twist in what's been more than 14 months of anguish, despair and uncertainty about their loved ones' fates. ..

Israel likely very close to finalising the hostage deal with Hamas

Trump has threatened those holding hostages in the Middle East with 'unprecedented American firepower' if they are not released by the time he enters office on January 20

Palestinian security forces launch crackdown on militants in West Bank

Palestinian security forces have launched a rare crackdown against local militant groups in the northern West Bank, sending in armoured cars and engaging in fierce gunbattles that have killed at least two people in the volatile area. The raid marks an unusual step for the Palestinian Authority, the governing body for semi-autonomous pockets in the occupied West Bank that is internationally recognised but has largely lost control of militant strongholds such as Jenin, where forces operated through the weekend and into Monday. Israeli troops have stepped into the vacuum in recent years, particularly since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas militant attack that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. Palestinian health officials say 811 Palestinians have been killed since then in the West Bank, most by Israeli raids into Palestinian cities and towns. Israel says most of the dead have been militants. On Saturday, Palestinian security forces said they had begun the operation in the Jenin refugee camp, a

Israel-Hamas war: Death toll in Gaza Strip exceeds 45,000 in 14 months

Health officials in the Gaza Strip say the death toll from the 14-month war between Israel and Hamas militants has topped 45,000 people. The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children. The Israeli military says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The Health Ministry said 45,028 people have been killed and 106,962 have been wounded since the start of the war in October 2023. It has said the real toll is higher because thousands of bodies are still buried under rubble or in areas that medics cannot access. The latest war has been by far the deadliest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas, with the death toll now amounting to roughly 2 per cent of Gaza's entire prewar population of about 2.3 million. Israel claims Hamas is responsible for the civilian death toll because it operates from within civilian areas in the densely ...

Palestinian authority, security forces crack down on Jenin terror groups

The operation, which began yesterday morning, has prompted a general strike across the area, with businesses, schools, and UNRWA offices closing in protest

Israel attacks hospital in northern Gaza, wounding 3 medical staff

Israeli attacks in and around a hospital in northern Gaza wounded three medical staff overnight into Friday and caused damage to the isolated medical facility, according to its director. Dr Hossam Abu Safiya said Israeli quadcopter drones carrying explosives deliberately targeted the emergency and reception area of Kamal Adwan Hospital, where one doctor was wounded for a third time. Abu Safiya said relentless drone and artillery strikes throughout the night exploded alarmingly close to the hospital, heavily damaging nearby buildings and destroying most of the water tanks on the hospital's roof and blowing out doors and windows. Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahiya has been hit multiple times over the past two months since Israel launched a fierce military operation against Hamas in northern Gaza. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes. We demand international protection for the hospital and its staff, Abu Safiya said in

US Secy of State Blinken to visit West Asia amid fresh trouble in region

The State Department said Blinken would meet Jordanian officials, including King Abdullah II, in the port city of Aqaba on Thursday before flying to Ankara for meetings with Turkish officials Friday

Israeli airstrikes disrupt Hamas plot to hijack humanitarian convoys

IDF stressed that no delivery trucks were struck and that the humanitarian corridor remains open for aid deliveries

Israeli strike in Gaza kills 25 people as US makes new push for ceasefire

An Israeli airstrike has hit the central Gaza Strip, killing at least 25 Palestinians and wounding dozens more, Palestinian medics said, just hours after President Joe Biden's national security adviser raised hopes about a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza. Officials at two hospitals in the Gaza Strip, al-Awda Hospital in the north and al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, reported they received a combined total of 25 bodies from an Israeli strike on a multi-storey residential building in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp on Thursday. Palestinian medics also reported that over 40 people, most of them children, were receiving treatment at the two hospitals. The al-Aqsa Hospital said that the Israeli attack also damaged several nearby houses in Nuseirat. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the deadly strike. Israel is trying to eliminate Hamas, which led the attack on southern Israel in October 2023 that sparked the war in Gaza. The Israeli military says Hamas ..

Attacks on vessels in Red sea impact our trade: Centre tells Parliament

India remains "concerned" at the evolving situation in West Asia and attacks against commercial vessels in and around the Red Sea threaten freedom of navigation and "impact our trade", the government informed the Parliament on Thursday. Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh in a written response to a query also said the government has "raised the issue" with the countries in the region and the Indian Missions are "closely monitoring" the situation to mitigate its impact. He was asked about the details of special measures that are being taken by the government to safeguard India's energy security in view of the possible disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea due to the Israel-Iran conflict and the diplomatic efforts being made by the government to mitigate the impact of this conflict on India's trade routes, especially the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. "India remains concerned at the evolving situation in West Asia. Attacks against commercial vessels i

India votes in favour of UN resolution for immediate ceasefire in Gaza

India voted in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution that demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and reiterated the demand for immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. The UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly approved resolutions demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and backing the UN agency for Palestinian refugees that Israel has moved to ban. The 193-member General Assembly voted Wednesday at the 10th emergency special session to adopt the draft resolution Demand for ceasefire in Gaza', introduced by Indonesia. India was among the 158 nations that voted in favour of the resolution while nine member states, including Israel and the US, voted against it. Among the 13 nations that abstained were Albania and Ukraine. The resolution demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire, to be respected by all parties, and further reiterates its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. It demanded

Israel, Palestine explore Gaza truce with US envoy on Mideast mission

Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz told his US counterpart Lloyd Austin in a phone call on Wednesday there was now a chance for a new deal

Hamas finds itself with few options for the day after the Gaza war

Israel's recent ceasefire agreement in Lebanon has further damaged Hamas' prospects by curbing Hezbollah's direct support in Gaza and by extension that of Iran

'You'll end up like Assad': How Israel backed its warning to Syrian rebels

Israel Defence Forces have carried out over 350 strikes in Syria, reportedly eliminating up to 80 per cent of the ousted Assad regime's strategic military capabilities under operation 'Bashan Arrow'

Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 6 as UNSC plans to meet over Syria issue

Palestinian medical officials said Monday that Israeli strikes in the central Gaza Strip overnight killed at least six people, including one woman. The strikes came as ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad fled to Moscow on Sunday and received asylum from his longtime ally, according to Russian media, hours after rebels seized control of Damascus. The UN Security Council plans to hold emergency closed consultations on Syria later Monday at Russia's request. Among the dead in the overnight Israeli strikes were Raed Ghabaien, who was released from Israeli detention in 2014, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the casualties were taken. He was killed along with his wife when an Israeli strike hit their tent in the central town of Zuweida, the hospital records showed. Two other people were killed in a strike that hit their house late Sunday in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp. Another two were killed in a strike in the Wadi Gaza area early Monday. An Associated Press journa

Israeli strikes continue in Gaza; neighbours close their borders with Syria

Palestinian officials say at least 29 people were killed, including four medical staff, when Israeli strikes pummeled the area around one of the last remaining hospitals in northern Gaza. Elsewhere in the region, Lebanon said it is closing all its land border crossings with Syria except for a main one that links Beirut with the Syrian capital, Damascus. Jordan also closed a border crossing with Syria because of the security situation on the Syrian side. Syrian insurgents have entered the central towns of Rastan and Talbiseh, just north of the central city of Homs, bringing them closer to Syria's third largest city. A day earlier, jihadi-led opposition fighters captured the central city of Hama, Syria's fourth largest. Israel's war against Hamas has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced 90 per cent of the population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilian