Palestinians in the Gaza Strip had little to celebrate on Sunday as they began marking a normally festive Muslim holiday with rapidly dwindling food supplies and no end in sight to the Israel-Hamas war. Many held prayers outside demolished mosques on the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. It's supposed to be a joyous occasion, when families gather for feasts and purchase new clothes for children but most of Gaza's 2 million Palestinians are just trying to survive. It's the Eid of Sadness, Adel al-Shaer said after attending outdoor prayers in the central town of Deir al-Balah. We lost our loved ones, our children, our lives, and our futures. We lost our students, our schools, and our institutions. We lost everything. Twenty members of his extended family have been killed in Israeli strikes, including four young nephews just a few days ago, he said as he broke into tears. Israel ended the ceasefire with Hamas and resumed the war earlier this month w
The patients departed from Ramon airport in Israel via Karam Abu Salam crossing to receive medical treatment in the country's hospitals
Gaza's bakeries will run out of flour for bread within a week, the UN says. Agencies have cut food distributions to families in half. Markets are empty of most vegetables. Many aid workers cannot move around because of Israeli bombardment. For four weeks, Israel has shut off all sources of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies for the Gaza Strip's population of more than 2 million Palestinians. It's the longest blockade yet of Israel's 17-month-old campaign against Hamas, with no sign of it ending. Aid workers are stretching out the supplies they have but warn of a catastrophic surge in severe hunger and malnutrition. Eventually, food will run out completely if the flow of aid is not restored, because the war has destroyed almost all local food production in Gaza. We depend entirely on this aid box, said Shorouq Shamlakh, a mother of three collecting her family's monthly box of food from a UN distribution center in Jabaliya in northern Gaza. She and her children reduce their meals
The Hamas militant group said Saturday it has accepted a new Gaza ceasefire proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar, but Israel said it has made a counter-proposal in full coordination with the third mediator, the United States. Egypt early in the week made a proposal to get the troubled ceasefire back on track, following Israel's surprise resumption of fighting. It was not immediately clear whether the proposal changed before Khalil al-Hayyah, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, announced it had been accepted. Early in the week, an Egyptian official described the proposal to The Associated Press, saying Hamas would release five living hostages, including an American-Israeli, from Gaza in return for Israel allowing aid into the territory and a weekslong pause in fighting. Israel would release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media on the closed-door talks. On Saturday, the office of Israeli Prime ...
Civil rights groups staged protests outside the White House for the exclusion of American Muslim leaders, claiming only foreign dignitaries were invited
Israeli strikes overnight and into Thursday killed a family of six and a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip. A strike hit the tent where Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua was staying in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza, killing him, according to Basem Naim, another Hamas official. Another strike near Gaza City killed four children and their parents, according to the emergency service of Gaza's Health Ministry. Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas last week, launching a surprise wave of strikes that killed hundreds of Palestinians. It has vowed to escalate the offensive if Hamas does not release hostages, disarm and leave the territory. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 59 hostages 24 of whom are believed to be alive in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.
The demonstrations against Hamas have been largely peaceful, with the militant group's police and security forces rarely appearing in public
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
According to media reports, the protesters took to streets of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza and demanded that Hamas step down from power
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
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'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
An Israeli strike killed a senior Hamas political leader in the Gaza Strip overnight, the militant group said early Sunday. Iran-backed rebels in Yemen who are allied with Hamas meanwhile launched another missile at Israel, setting off air raid sirens. The Israeli military said the projectile was intercepted, and there were no reports of casualties or damage. Hamas said Salah Bardawil, a member of its political bureau and of the Palestinian parliament, was killed in a strike near the southern city of Khan Younis that also killed his wife. Bardawil was a well-known member of the group's political wing who gave media interviews over the years. Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas last week when it launched a surprise wave of airstrikes that killed hundreds of Palestinians across the territory. The Houthis resumed their attacks on Israel, portraying them as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians.
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 Katz's comments on Friday came days after renewed Israeli airstrikes on Gaza - as well as the country moving more troops into the Palestinian territory
Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, was arrested earlier this week. His detention has sparked concerns among academics about threats to freedom of speech and research
The decision to remove Bar comes amid renewed military action in Gaza after two months of a ceasefire deal with Hamas. His sacking is also likely to invite widespread criticism
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened to step up the assault, warning Palestinians in Gaza that Israel would again order evacuations from combat zones soon
Tuesday's attacks across Gaza marked Israel's most intense offensive since the ceasefire began on January 19
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Gazans to stay out of harm's way and move to safer areas, blaming every civilian casualty on Hamas