Page 30 - Gaza Conflict

Netanyahu meets Trump at Mar-a-Lago, offering optimism on Gaza cease-fire

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked to mend ties with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday and offered measured optimism about progress toward a cease-fire deal for Gaza as he neared the end of a contentious US visit that put on display the growing American divisions over support for the Israeli-Hamas war. At Trump's Florida Mar-a-Lago estate, where the two men met face-to-face for the first time in nearly four years, Netanyahu told journalists he wanted to see US-mediated talks succeed for a cease-fire and release of hostages. "I hope so," Netanyahu said, when reporters asked if his U.S. trip had made progress. While Netanyahu at home is increasingly accused of resisting a deal to end the 9-month-old war to stave off the potential collapse of his far-right government when it ends, he said Friday he was "certainly eager to have one. And we're working on it." As president, Trump went well beyond his predecessors in fulfilling Netanyahu's top wishes fr

VP Harris asks Netanyahu to get hostage deal done and end Gaza war

Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday said she urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a cease-fire deal soon with Hamas so that dozens of hostages held by the militants in Gaza since Oct. 7 can return home. Harris said she had a frank and constructive conversation with Netanyahu in which she affirmed Israel's right to defend itself but also expressed deep concern about the high death toll in Gaza over nine months of war and the dire humanitarian situation there. With all eyes on the likely Democratic nominee, Harris largely reiterated Biden's longstanding message that it's time find an endgame to the brutal war in Gaza, where more than 39,000 Palestinians have died. Yet she offered a more forceful tone about the urgency of the moment just one day after Netanyahu gave a fiery speech to Congress in which he defended the war, vowed total victory against Hamas and made relatively scant mention of cease-fire negotiations. There has been hopeful movement in the talks

2nd India-Japan consultations on Middle East discuss developments in region

The second India-Japan consultation on the Middle East was held in the national capital on Thursday, and both sides discussed the challenges and political developments happening in the Middle East and West Asia region.The delegation was led by Suresh Kumar, Joint Secretary, West Asia & North Africa (WANA) Division, and the Japanese delegation was led by Ando Toshihide, Director General, Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau."The consultations covered a wide range of topics, including political developments, economic opportunities and challenges in the Middle East/West Asia region," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.Moreover, participants engaged in constructive discussions, sharing their perspectives and insights on the situation in the Middle East, including Gaza.Both sides agreed to remain in touch and continue their consultation on issues concerning the Middle East region.MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal posted on X, stating that the discussions were ...

PM Netanyahu meets Biden, Harris at crucial moment for US, Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House Thursday to discuss the war in Gaza with President Joe Biden and likely Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at an important moment for all three politicians. Netanyahu's first White House visit since 2020, when former President Donald Trump was in office, comes at a time of growing pressure to find an endgame to the nine-month war that's left more than 39,000 dead in Gaza. Dozens of Israeli hostages are still languishing in Hamas captivity. Biden greeted Netanyahu in the Oval Office, where the Israeli leader thanked the president for his service. The conservative Likud Party leader Netanyahu and centrist Democrat Biden have had ups-and-downs over the years. Netanyahu, in what could be his last White House meeting with Biden, reflected on the roughly 40 years they've known each other. From a proud Jewish Zionist to a proud Irish American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 ye

Netanyahu eyes bolstering US support during visit, but faces protests

Protesters against the Gaza war staged a sit-in at a congressional office building Tuesday ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress, with Capitol Police making multiple arrests. Netanyahu arrived in Washington Monday for a several-day visit that includes meetings with President Joe Biden and a Wednesday speech before a joint session of Congress. Dozens of protesters rallied outside his hotel Monday evening, and on Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of demonstrators took over the rotunda of the Cannon Building, which houses offices of House of Representatives members. Organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, protesters wearing identical red T-shirts that read Not In Our Name took over the Rotunda of the Cannon Building, chanting Let Gaza Live! After about a half-hour of clapping and chanting, officers from the U.S. Capitol Police issued several warnings, then began arresting protesters binding their hands with zip ties and leading them away one by one. I am the

Harris to pitch for 'end of war' in her White House meet with Netanyahu

: US Vice President Kamala Harris will meet the visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week but would not be able to preside over a joint session of the US Congress which would be addressed by him, according to her aide. The vice president is meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu this week at the White House. This meeting is separate from President Biden's planned meeting. The vice president is travelling to Indianapolis on July 24 for a previously scheduled event and will be unable to preside over Prime Minister Netanyahu's planned address to a joint session of Congress, an aide to Vice President Harris told PTI. We anticipate the vice president will convey her view that it is time for the war to end in a way where Israel is secure, all hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can enjoy their right to dignity, freedom, and self-determination. And they will discuss efforts to reach ...

Palestinian factions agree for unity government after talks in China

Currently Hamas runs Gaza and Fatah forms the backbone of the Palestinian Authority, which has limited control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank

Israel tanks advance deeper in southern Gaza as hope of ceasefire talks up

Gaza health officials said Israeli military strikes since Monday killed at least 80 Palestinians in the Khan Younis area - adding to a death toll of more than 39,000 in nearly 10 months of warfare

Oil price continues to drop amidst growing ceasefire hope, demand concerns

War in Gaza has lent support to oil prices as investors priced in the risk of potential disruptions to global crude supply in the key producing region of the Middle East, but peace now seems close

Israel quietly sends millions to unauthorized West Bank settler outposts

The Israeli government has budgeted millions of dollars to protect small, unauthorized Jewish farms in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, underwriting tiny outposts meant to grow into full-fledged settlements, according to an anti-settlement monitoring group. Documents uncovered by Peace Now illustrate how Israel's pro-settler government has quietly poured money into the unauthorized outposts, which are separate from its more than 100 officially recognized settlements. Some of those outposts have been linked to settler violence against Palestinians and are sanctioned by the US. Palestinians and the international community say all settlements are illegal or illegitimate and undermine hopes for a two-state solution. The Ministry of Settlements and National Mission, which is headed by a far-right settler leader, confirmed it budgeted 75 million Shekels (USD 20.5 million) last year for security equipment for young settlements the term it uses for unauthorized Jewish farms and outposts in

Israel orders evacuation of part of Gaza humanitarian zone as war's toll up

The Israeli military on Monday ordered the evacuation of part of an area in the Gaza Strip it has designated a humanitarian zone. The military said it is planning to begin an operation against Hamas militants who have embedded themselves in the area and used it to launch rockets toward Israel. The area includes the eastern part of the Muwasi humanitarian zone, which is located in the southern Gaza Strip. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israeli's punishing air and ground campaign. Earlier this month, Israel said it estimates at least 1.8 million Palestinians are now in the humanitarian zone it declared covering a stretch of about 14 kilometers (8.6 miles) along the Mediterranean. Much of that area is now blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, U.N. and humanitarian groups say. Families live in the midst of mountains of trash and streams contaminated by sewage. The announcemen

14k Hamas terrorists killed or apprehended, half of leaders eliminated: IDF

With the majority of Hamas's military council killed in airstrikes, the terror group has begun appointing new leaders and making succession plans to replace other figures viewed as at risk

India at UN calls for ceasefire in Gaza strip, urges release of hostages

India's Deputy Representative to the UN, R Ravindra, also underlined that India's developmental assistance to Palestine

As Gaza's doctors struggle to save lives, many lose their own in airstrikes

Dr Hassan Hamdan was one of the few trained plastic surgeons in Gaza, a specialist in wound reconstruction. His skills were vitally needed as Israel's military onslaught filled hospitals with patients torn by blasts and shrapnel, so the 65-year-old came out of retirement to help. Earlier this month, an Israeli airstrike killed him along with his wife, son, two daughters, a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law, six grandchildren and one other person, as his family sheltered in their home in an Israeli-declared safe zone. Israel's 9-month-old war with Hamas in Gaza has decimated the territory's medical system. It has not only wreaked physical destruction on hospitals and health facilities, it has devastated Gaza's medical personnel. More than 500 health care workers have been killed since October, according to the U.N. Among them were many specialists like Hamdan. Dr. Ahmed al-Maqadma, also a reconstructive surgeon and a former fellow at U.K. Royal College, was found shot to death alongside

Rights group finds Hamas militants committed war crimes during Oct attack

Hamas-led armed groups committed numerous war crimes during the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that precipitated the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, according to a global human rights group report released Wednesday. Human Rights Watch said the acts of the Palestinian fighters, who killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 250 during the attack, met the international legal definition for crimes against humanity and war crimes. The group's report found that five different Palestinian armed groups, led by Hamas' Qassam Brigades, engaged in war crimes and violated international law by killing, torturing, taking hostages, looting and committing crimes involving sexual and gender-based violence. The New York-based rights group said its researchers were unable to independently verify claims of sexual violence and rape but that they relied on a separate report by a special U.N. envoy who found reasonable grounds to believe Hamas fighters committed sexual violence during the ...

Hamas says it has not withdrawn from ceasefire talks after Israel attacks

Saturday's strike in the Khan Younis area of Gaza, in which at least 90 Palestinians were killed according to local health authorities, has put the ceasefire talks in doubt

Israeli strike targets Hamas' military commander, kills 90 in southern Gaza

Israel said it targeted Hamas' shadowy military commander in a massive strike Saturday in the crowded southern Gaza Strip that killed at least 90 people including children, according to local health officials. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there still isn't absolute certainty that Mohammed Deif and a second Hamas commander, Rafa Salama, were killed. Hamas rejected the claim that Dief was in the area, saying these false claims are merely a cover-up for the scale of the horrific massacre. The strike took place in an area Israel's military had designated as safe for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Deif and Hamas' top official in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, are believed by Israel to be the chief architects of the October 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and triggered the Israel-Hamas war. Not seen in public for years, Deif has long topped Israel's most-wanted list and is believed to have escaped multiple Israeli assassination attempts. On October

Emergency workers uncover dozens of bodies in Gaza after Israeli assault

Civil defence workers on Friday dug bodies out of collapsed buildings and pulled them off rubble-covered streets, as they collected dozens of Palestinians killed this week by an Israeli assault in a district of Gaza City. The discovery of the bodies came after Israeli troops reportedly pulled out of parts of the Tal al-Hawa and Sanaa neighbourhoods following days of bombardment and fighting there. The Israeli military launched an incursion into the districts earlier this week to fight what it said were Hamas militants who had regrouped. The grisly scenes of the dead underscored the horrifying cycle nine months into the Gaza war. After invading nearly every urban area across the tiny territory since October, Israeli forces are now repeatedly re-invading parts as Hamas shifts and maintains capabilities. Palestinians are forced to flee over and over to escape the changing offensives or to remain in place and face death. Cease-fire negotiations push ahead, nearing but never reaching a

Israel-Gaza war should end now, Israel must not occupy Gaza: Prez Biden

Biden in late May detailed a proposal of three phases aimed at achieving a ceasefire

Palestinians return to rubble in Gaza City after Israeli withdrawal

Palestinians returned to breathtaking scenes of destruction in the Gaza City district of Shijaiyah after Israeli troops withdrew, ending a two-week offensive there. Civil defense workers said Thursday that so far, they had found the bodies of 60 people in the rubble. Families who fled the assault ventured back into Shijaiyah to see the condition of their homes or salvage whatever they could. Nearly every building was flattened to rubble for block after block, leaving giant piles of concrete and twisted rebar. Here and there, grey gutted concrete frames still stood a few stories high. The ever-present buzzing sound of Israeli military drones hung in the hot summer air as people on bicycles or horse-drawn carts made their way over dirt paths where the streets had apparently been bulldozed away. Sharif Abu Shanab found his family's four-story building collapsed. I can't enter it. I can't take anything out of it, not even a can of tuna. We have nothing, no food or drink, he said. Since