Page 29 - Gaza Conflict

Mediators hold ceasefire talks as Palestinian death toll nears 40K

International mediators were set to hold a new round of talks Thursday aimed at halting the Israel-Hamas war and securing the release of scores of hostages, with a potential deal seen as the best hope of heading off an even larger regional conflict. The United States, Qatar and Egypt were to meet with an Israeli delegation in Qatar as the Palestinian death toll from the 10-month-old war nears 40,000. Hamas has not said whether it will participate, accusing Israel of adding new demands to an evolving proposal that had US and international support. A cease-fire in Gaza would likely calm tensions across the region and may persuade Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah to refrain from retaliatory strikes on Israel after the killing of a top Hezbollah commander in an Israeli airstrike and of Hamas' top political leader in an explosion in Iran's capital. The mediators have spent months trying to hammer out a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release scores of hostages captured in the October 7

Turkiye's Prez meets Palestinian leader Abbas ahead of speech to parliament

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for talks that focused on the conflict in Gaza, Erdogan's office said, ahead of a planned address to parliament Thursday. Erdogan's office said late Wednesday that the two discussed the massacres committed by Israel in Palestinian territories and the steps that need to be taken for a permanent cease-fire and peace at the presidential palace in Ankara. The statement, released on the social media platform X, said Erdogan pledged continued support to Palestine's just cause and to work to increase the pressure on Israel by the international community especially the Islamic world to deliver humanitarian aid and bring peace. Abbas arrived Wednesday for a visit that comes as the threat of Iranian retaliation against Israel over the assassination of Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh fueled concerns of the war spreading across the Middle East. Erdogan, a prominent supporter of Hamas and the wider Palestinian cause, .

Losing faith in US as mediator in ceasefire talks, says top Hamas official

A top Hamas official said the Palestinian militant group is losing faith in the United States' ability to mediate a cease-fire in Gaza ahead of a new round of talks scheduled for this week amid mounting pressure to bring an end to the 10-month-old war with Israel. Osama Hamdan told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that Hamas will only participate if the talks focus on implementing a proposal detailed by US President Joe Biden in May and endorsed internationally. The US referred to it as an Israeli proposal and Hamas agreed to it in principle, but Israel said that Biden's speech was not entirely consistent with the proposal itself. Both sides later proposed changes, leading each to accuse the other of obstructing a deal. Hamas is especially resistant to Israel's demand that it maintain a lasting military presence in two strategic areas of Gaza after any cease-fire, conditions that were only made public in recent weeks. We have informed the mediators that...any meeting ..

A new round of Gaza cease-fire talks is starting. Why is a deal so elusive?

International mediators are hoping to kickstart stalled cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas with a new round of talks meant to finally clinch a deal between the sides. But the chances of a breakthrough appear slim. The new talks are set to begin Thursday, but Israel and Hamas have been mulling an internationally-backed proposal for more than two months that would wind down the 10-month-long war and free the roughly 110 hostages still held in Gaza. The indirect talks have not advanced substantively during that time and sticking points remain. New terms put forward have complicated progress. And Hamas has yet to say outright whether it will participate in the new round. Meanwhile, the fighting in Gaza rages on, the hostages continue to languish in captivity, and fears of an all-out regional war involving Iran and one of its regional proxies, Hezbollah, have surged. The killing of Hamas' top leader in Tehran in an apparent Israeli attack further plunged the talks into ...

Israeli strikes on Gaza leave children orphaned, parents childless

Reem Abu Hayyah, just three months old, was the only member of her family to survive an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip late Monday. A few miles (kilometres) to the north, Mohamed Abuel-Qomasan lost his wife and their twin babies -- just four days old -- in another strike. More than 10 months into its war with Hamas, Israel's relentless bombardment of the isolated territory has wiped out extended families. It has left parents without children and children without parents or siblings. And some of the sole survivors are so young they will have no memory of those they lost. The Israeli strike late Monday destroyed a home near the southern city of Khan Younis, killing 10 people. The dead included Abu Hayyah's parents and five siblings, ranging in age from 5 to 12, as well as the parents of three other children. All four children were wounded in the strike. There is no one left except this baby, said her aunt, Soad Abu Hayyah. Since this morning, we have been trying to feed her ...

10 months & counting: How long will Israel-Hamas war last? Fitch has answer

Gaza war: The leaders of France, Germany, and Britain have jointly endorsed the latest efforts by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt to broker an agreement to end the 10-month Israel-Hamas war

US beefs up naval, air forces in West Asia ahead of Gaza truce talks

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group, equipped with F-35C fighters, to speed up its arrival in the region

Israeli airstrike on a Gaza school kills over 80 people, say officials

An Israeli airstrike hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City early Saturday, killing more than 60 people, Palestinian health authorities said, in one of the deadliest strikes in the 10-month-old war between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli military acknowledged the strike, claiming it hit a Hamas command centre within the school. Hamas denied using the school as a command centre. The strike on the Tabeen school in central Gaza City also wounded 47 people, the Health Ministry's Ambulance and Emergency service said. The facility, like almost all of Gaza's schools, has been used as a shelter for people who have been forced to flee their homes by the war. The strike hit without warning in the early morning before sunrise as people were praying at a mosque inside the school, according to Abu Anas, a witness who worked to rescue people. There were people praying, there were people washing and there were people upstairs sleeping, including children, women and old people," he said. The missi

Oil prices bounce back from multi-month lows on West Asia tensions

Both oil benchmarks broke a three-session declining streak on Tuesday, and tensions in the Middle East continued to stoke supply concerns in Wednesday's trading session

Putin, US on same page: Iran's Israel attack may not be as severe as feared

Blaming Israel for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh's assassination in Tehran, Iran had vowed it would respond 'severely', raising fears of a broader regional conflict

UN fires 9 staffers after probe suspects their involvement in Oct 7 attack

The UN says it has fired nine staff members from its agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, after an internal investigation found they may have been involved in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack against Israel. The UN secretary-general's office announced the move in a brief statement to journalists Monday. It did not elaborate on the UNRWA staffers' likely role in the attack. It said the nine included seven staffers who were fired previously over the claims. The UN's internal watchdog has been investigating the agency since Israel in January accused 12 UNRWA staffers of being involved in the October 7 attack on Israel in which militants killed 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others. Israel's allegations initially led top donor countries to suspend their funding for UNRWA, the main agency providing aid to Palestinians in Gaza amid the 10-month old war there. That caused a cash crunch of about USD 450 million dollars. Since then, all donor countries except for the US have decid

Hamas chief assassination: Iran pledges to punish Israel, but softens tone

Tehran, which had already vowed revenge for the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, said it aimed to deter Israel from repeating similar moves

Israel war may enter 'new phase' today if Iran-Hezbollah strike: Explained

Iran and its allies Hamas and Hezbollah have vowed 'severe revenge' in response to top Hamas leader Ismail Haniye's killing on July 31

US, allies to defend Israel as Netanyahu says already in war with Iran

Israel is already in a "multi-front war" with Iran and its proxies, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting Sunday, as the United States and allies prepared to defend Israel from an expected counterstrike and prevent an even more destructive regional conflict. Tensions have soared following nearly 10 months of war in Gaza and the killing last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas' top political leader in Iran. Iran and its allies have blamed Israel and threatened retaliation. Hamas says it has begun discussions on choosing a new leader. Netanyahu said Israel was ready for any scenario. Jordan's foreign minister was making a rare trip to Iran as part of diplomatic efforts "We want the escalation to end," Ayman Safadi said while the Pentagon has moved significant assets to the region. "We are doing everything possible to make sure that this situation does not boil over," White House deputy national security adviser Jon Finer told ABC. In

Strikes on Gaza kill 18, stabbing in Israel kills 2 as tensions escalate

Israeli strikes early Sunday killed 12 people in Gaza, including four who were sheltering in a tent camp for displaced people inside a hospital complex, while a stabbing attack carried out by a Palestinian killed two people in a Tel Aviv suburb. Tensions have soared following nearly 10 months of war in Gaza and the killing of two senior militants in separate strikes in Lebanon and Iran last week. Those killings brought threats of revenge from Iran and its allies and raised fears of an even more destructive regional war. A woman in her 70s and an 80-year-old man were killed in the stabbing attack, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service and a nearby hospital, and two other men were wounded. The police said the attack was carried out by a Palestinian militant, who was neutralised, and that a search was underway for other suspects. The rescuers said the wounded were found in three different locations, each about 500 metres apart, adding to concerns that more than one ...

Iran says short-range projectile killed Hamas' Haniyeh, vows retaliation

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said a short-range projectile was behind the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh and accused the United States of supporting the attack which it blamed on Israel, state TV reported. The televised statement, which reiterated a call for retaliation, said a rocket with a seven-kg warhead was used to target the residence of Hamas' political leader in the capital Tehran on Wednesday, adding it caused heavy devastation. It didn't share details of the residence's location. Haniyeh was in Iran to attend the inauguration of newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. The action was designed and carried out by the Zionist regime and supported by the US, said the Guard's statement. It added that the warmongering and terrorist Zionist regime will receive harsh punishment in the suitable time, place, and capacity. Israel has not confirmed or denied its role in the killing of Haniyeh, but Israel earlier pledged to kill him and other Hamas leaders ove

Joe Biden tells Netanyahu to accept cease-fire in 'very direct' call

Iran and Hezbollah have vowed revenge against Israel, with Tehran ordering its security forces to assess options for attacking the Jewish state

Air India suspends Tel Aviv flights until Aug 8 amid Middle East tensions

Air India said that it is continuously monitoring the situation and extending support to passengers with confirmed bookings

Israel admits killing Al Jazeera journalist, says he was Hamas militant

Israel Defence Force (IDF) further said that the journalist, Ismail al-Ghoul, instructed other operatives on how to record operations

Israel confirms Hamas military head Muhammad Deif killed last month in Gaza

Israel Defense Forces confirm death of Hamas military wing commander Muhammad Deif a day after Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran in alleged Israeli operation