Page 3 - Gaza Conflict

We are gonna make everybody happy: Trump on uniting West Asia for peace

US President Trump departed for Israel on Sunday aboard Air Force One, marking the beginning of a high-stakes diplomatic visit focused on advancing peace in the Middle East

Trump sets off for West Asia to mark ceasefire, push for lasting Gaza peace

President Donald Trump set off for Israel and Egypt on Sunday to celebrate the US-brokered ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas and urge Middle East allies to seize the opportunity to build a durable peace in the volatile region. It's a fragile moment with Israel and Hamas only in the early stages of implementing the first phase of the Trump agreement, designed to bring a permanent end to the war sparked by the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas-led militants. Trump thinks there is a narrow window to reshape the Mideast and reset long-fraught relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours. It is a moment, the Republican president says, that has been helped along by his administration's support of Israel's decimation of Iranian proxies, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Very excited about this moment in time, Trump told reporters before Air Force One took off. He said many people in both Israel and Arab countries were cheering the agreement,

Israel launches Operation 'Returning Home' to get hostages back from Hamas

Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, said the operation marks a significant achievement for Israel following sustained military and diplomatic efforts

Israel expects hostages to be freed 'in few hours' as ceasefire holds

Israel said Sunday that it expected all living hostages held in Gaza to be released Monday in its breakthrough ceasefire deal with Hamas, as Palestinians awaited the release of hundreds of prisoners held in Israel and a surge of aid into the famine-stricken territory. In a few hours, we will all be reunited, Israel's military chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, said in a statement. US President Donald Trump planned to visit Israel and Egypt on Monday to celebrate the ceasefire announced last week in the two-year war. Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said all 20 living hostages were expected to be released at one time to the Red Cross, then driven to a military base to reunite with families or, if needed, immediately to a hospital. After the hostages are freed, Israel would release about 2,000 Palestinian detainees and receive the 28 hostages believed to be dead. An international task force will start working to locate deceased hostages who are not returne

Known unknowns in Gaza: Lack of clarity mars Trump's ambitious peace plan

Hamas rejects Trump-led peace plan as doubts linger over hostages, Israeli withdrawals, and post-war governance in Gaza, casting uncertainty over durable peace

Huge crowds gather at 'Hostages Square' in Tel Aviv, worried but hopeful

In the crowd, a group of youngsters, shy and reluctant at the beginning, but happy to talk after some encouragement, open up their hearts

Palestinians return, US expects hostages freed as Gaza ceasefire holds

The Gaza ceasefire held in its second day as tens of thousands of Palestinians returned to their neighbourhoods Saturday and Israelis cheered Monday's expected release of remaining hostages. Gaza is completely destroyed. I have no idea where we should live or where to go, said Mahmoud al-Shandoghli in Gaza City as bulldozers clawed through the wreckage of two years of war. A boy climbed debris to raise the Palestinian flag. Israelis applauded US President Donald Trump, and some booed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as US envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner addressed a weekly rally in Tel Aviv that many hoped would be the last. To the hostages themselves, our brothers and sisters, you are coming home," Witkoff told the crowd estimated in the hundreds of thousands. Kushner said they would celebrate on Monday, when Israel's military has said the 48 hostages still in Gaza would be freed. The government believes around 20 remain alive. Kushner also noted the ...

Fattah el-Sisi, Trump to chair Gaza peace summit in Egypt on Monday

The meeting will see the participation of leaders from more than 20 countries

Israel refuses to release top Palestinian leader Barghouti from prison

The most popular and potentially unifying Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti is not among the prisoners Israel intends to free in exchange for hostages held by Hamas under the new Gaza ceasefire deal. Israel has also rejected freeing other high-profile prisoners whose release Hamas has long sought, though it was not immediately clear if a list of around 250 prisoners issued Friday on the Israeli government's official website was final. Senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk told the Al Jazeera TV network that the group insists on the release of Barghouti and other high-profile figures and that it was in discussions with mediators. Israel views Barghouti as a terrorist leader. He is serving multiple life sentences after being convicted in 2004 in connection with attacks in Israel that killed five people. But some experts say Israel fears Barghouti for another reason: An advocate of a two-state solution even as he backed armed resistance to occupation, Barghouti could be a powerf

Several Palestinians return to Gaza as US-brokered ceasefire takes effect

Tens of thousands of Palestinians headed back to the heavily destroyed northern Gaza Strip on Friday as a US-brokered ceasefire came into effect in a deal that raised hopes for ending the Israel-Hamas war. All the remaining hostages were set to be released within days. Questions remain over who will govern Gaza as Israeli troops gradually pull back and whether Hamas will disarm, as called for in US President Donald Trump's ceasefire plan. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who unilaterally ended a ceasefire in March, hinted that Israel might renew its offensive if Hamas does not give up its weapons. The latest truce nevertheless marks a key step toward ending a ruinous two-year war that was triggered by Hamas' 2023 attack on Israel. The fighting has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and displaced around 90 per cent of the Gaza population of some 2 million, often multiple times. Many of them will find fields of rubble where their homes once stood. The military confirmed the ..

Israeli forces start pulling back from parts of Gaza under ceasefire deal

Israeli forces withdrew from the Mediterranean coastal road into Gaza City, allowing hundreds to return to the main urban centre after a month of Israeli assault

Paves way for just peace: Saudi Arabia welcomes Gaza ceasefire deal

'The Kingdom appreciates the active role of US President Donald Trump and the mediation efforts by the State of Qatar, the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the Republic of Turkiye to reach this agreement'

US to deploy 200 troops to Israel to support, monitor Gaza ceasefire deal

The United States is sending about 200 troops to Israel to help support and monitor the ceasefire deal in Gaza as part of a team that includes partner nations, nongovernmental organisations and private sector players, US officials said Thursday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not authorised for release, said US Central Command is going to establish a civil-military coordination centres in Israel that will help facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid as well as logistical and security assistance into the territory wracked by two years of war.

PM Modi calls Netanyahu to congratulate on progress on Gaza peace deal

During the conversation, PM Modi congratulated Israeli PM on the progress made under US President Donald Trump's Gaza Peace Plan

Israeli govt approves ceasefire, hostage release under Trump peace plan

The government has now approved the outline for the release of all the hostages - the living and the dead," the Israeli Prime Minister's office announced

None of it would have been possible without Trump: Rubio on Gaza peace plan

Rubio said the Gaza peace plan, once thought impossible, became feasible after Trump convened a "historic" meeting of Muslim-majority nations, including Indonesia and Pakistan, at UN on September 23

Modi, Trump discuss Gaza peace plan and trade progress over phone call

PM Modi congratulated US President Donald Trump on the success of the Gaza peace plan and discussed progress in India-US trade talks during a phone conversation

PM Modi's 'unqualified praise' for Israeli PM 'morally atrocious': Congress

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcoming the agreement on the first phase of US President Donald Trump's peace plan for West Asia, the Congress on Thursday termed as "shameful and morally atrocious" the prime minister's "unqualified praise" for Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and slammed his "silence" on the future of an independent and sovereign state of Palestine. Congress general secretary in-charge communications, Jairam Ramesh, also said that Modi said nothing on the continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. "The prime Minister has welcomed the new developments regarding Gaza and hailed President Trump. That eagerness to do so is not surprising. But what is shocking, shameful, and morally atrocious is Mr Modi's unqualified praise for the Israeli PM Mr Netanyahu - who has unleashed a genocide in Gaza over the past twenty months," Ramesh said. "Mr Modi has also maintained a total silence on the future of an independent, sovereign state of Palesti

Families of Israeli hostages erupt into joy as freedom nears for captives

For 24 months, it's been Israel's ground zero of anguish, uncertainty, torment and despair. But early Thursday, the central Tel Aviv area that's become known as Hostages Square was a burst of unfettered jubilation. A Champagne bottle was popped open to cheers from the crowd. Sweets were doled out. Tears of joy mixed with laughter and long embraces as the news sunk in: The struggle to free Israeli captives held in Gaza appears to finally be coming to a close. Matan is coming home! yelled Einav Zangauker, arguably the most prominent face of the 2-year-long campaign to free the hostages, referring to her captive son. Her arms raised to the sky, she shouted out Thank you! as a crowd of supporters, families of hostages, and former hostages freed earlier in the war filled the square. I want to smell his smell, she told reporters of her son. "If I have one dream, it is seeing Matan sleep in his own bed. After their loved ones were kidnapped in Hamas' Oct 7, 2023, attack that sparked the

Israel, Hamas agree to first phase of Gaza peace plan, says Trump

In a major breakthrough, Israel and Hamas agreed to the first stage of a US-mediated peace deal to halt Gaza fighting, release hostages, and begin Israeli troop withdrawal