Page 26 - Gaza

Rubio begins Mideast trip as Arab leaders reel from Trump's Gaza plan

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is kicking of a Mideast tour in Israel on Sunday, as Arab leaders reel from President Donald Trump's proposal to transfer the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip to other countries and redevelop it under US ownership. On Rubio's first visit to the region as America's top diplomat he is likely to get a warm welcome from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has praised the plan, and pushback from Arab leaders, who have universally rejected it and are scrambling to come up with a counterproposal. The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas meanwhile remains intact after a major dispute threatened to unravel it last week. But the sides face a fast-approaching deadline in early March to negotiate the next phase, and the war may resume if they don't reach an agreement. Netanyahu has signalled readiness to resume the war after the current stage, even if that would leave dozens of hostages in captivity. At the same time, he has offered Hamas

Hamas to release 3 more hostages, paving way to resolve ceasefire dispute

Hamas said Thursday it would release three more Israeli hostages as planned, paving the way toward resolving a major dispute over the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The militant group had threatened to delay the next release of captives, accusing Israel of failing to meet its obligations to allow in tents and shelters, among other alleged violations of the truce. Israel, with the support of US President Donald Trump, says it will resume fighting Hamas if the hostages are not freed. The announcement from Hamas should allow the ceasefire to continue for now, even after Israel said Thursday that a rocket had been launched from Gaza though doubts remain about the long-term durability of the truce. Hamas said it held talks in Cairo with Egyptian officials and was in contact with Qatar's prime minister about bringing into Gaza more shelters, medical supplies, fuel and heavy equipment for clearing rubble its key demand in recent days. It said in a statement that the mediators had pledged

'Will relocate them to beautiful areas of Middle East': Trump on Gaza plan

Donald Trump had proposed US control over Gaza, pledging reconstruction and economic revival; Netanyahu calls it a 'historic shift' that could reshape the region's future

Trump threatens to cut aid to Jordan, Egypt if they refute Gaza relocation

US President Donald Trump doubled down on his redevelopment plan for Gaza, stating that Palestinians relocated would not be allowed to return

After ceasefire in Gaza, West Bank Palestinians face more Israeli barriers

Abdullah Fauzi, a banker from the northern West Bank city of Nablus, leaves home at 4 a.m. to reach his job by 8, and he's often late. His commute used to take an hour until Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, after which Israel launched its offensive in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military also ramped up raids against Palestinian militants in the northern West Bank, and diverted its residents through seven new checkpoints, doubling Fauzi's time on the road. Now it's gotten worse. Since the ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas took effect, Fauzi's drive to the West Bank's business and administrative hub, Ramallah, has become a convoluted, at least four-hour wiggle through steep lanes and farm roads as Israel further tightens the noose around Palestinian cities in measures it considers essential to guard against militant attacks. You can fly to Paris while we're not reaching our homes," the 42-year-old said from the Atara checkpoint outside Ramallah last week, as Isr

Pressure mounts on extending Gaza ceasefire as details on hostages emerge

New details and growing shock over emaciated hostages renewed pressure Sunday on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend a fragile Gaza ceasefire beyond the first phase ending in three weeks. Talks on the second phase, meant to see more hostages released and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, were due to start Feb. 3. But Israel and Hamas appear to have made little progress, even as Israeli forces withdrew Sunday from a Gaza corridor in the latest commitment to the truce. Netanyahu sent a delegation to Qatar, a key mediator, but it included low-level officials, sparking speculation that it won't lead to a breakthrough. Netanyahu, who returned after a U.S. visit to meet with President Donald Trump, is expected to convene security Cabinet ministers on Tuesday. Trump himself suggested he was losing patience with the deal after seeing the emaciated hostages released this week. I watched the hostages come back today and they looked like Holocaust survivors. They were i

Israel begins to withdraw from key Gaza corridor as part of truce

Israeli forces withdrew from a key corridor in Gaza on Sunday, Israeli officials and Hamas said, the latest commitment under a tenuous ceasefire that faces a major test over whether the sides can negotiate its planned extension. Israelis' shock at the sight of three emaciated hostages released Saturday has added pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the truce instead of returning to fighting when the ceasefire's first phase ends in early March. Israel and Hamas appear to have made little progress on negotiating the deal's second phase, which is also meant to see more hostages released. Talks had been due to start on February 3. Netanyahu was sending a delegation to Qatar, a key mediator, but it included low-level officials, sparking speculation that it won't lead to a breakthrough. Netanyahu, who returned to Israel on Sunday after a US visit to meet with President Donald Trump, is expected to convene key Cabinet ministers this week. The 4-mile (6-kilometre) Netzar

'Deprived of food': Freed Israeli hostages recall ordeal in Hamas captivity

Family members of hostages said some of the hostages had at least occasional access to radio or television and heard or saw their relatives campaigning for their release, which helped them survive

We are determined to stay here: Gaza residents on Trump's displacement plan

Amid the devastation, Gazans vowed to remain steadfast in their homeland, rejecting US President Donald Trump's controversial proposal to seize the enclave

Trump suggests US control of Gaza, calls it a 'most spectacular' project

Trump proposes US control of Gaza as the 'most spectacular' project, while Israel drafts plans for Palestinian departures amid divided global reactions

Trump's Gaza ownership plan shocks the world but finds support in Israel

President Donald Trump's plan to seek U.S. ownership of the Gaza Strip and move out its population infuriated the Arab world. It stunned American allies and other global powers and even flummoxed members of Trump's own party. The reaction in Israel was starkly different. The idea of removing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza once relegated to the fringes of political discourse in the country has found fertile ground in an Israeli public traumatized by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and grasping for ways to feel secure again after the deadliest assault in their country's history. Jewish Israeli politicians across the spectrum either embraced the idea wholeheartedly or expressed openness to it. Newspaper columns praised its audacity and TV commentators debated how the idea could practically be set in motion. The country's defense minister ordered the military to plan for its eventual implementation. Whether or not the plan becomes reality it is saddled with obstacles, n

Trump signs order imposing sanctions on ICC over investigations of Israel

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel, a close U.S. ally. Neither the U.S. nor Israel is a member of or recognizes the court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes over his military response in Gaza after the Hamas attack against Israel in October 2023. Tens of thousands of Palestinians, including children, have been killed during the Israeli military's response. The order Trump signed accuses the ICC of engaging in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel" and of abusing its power by issuing baseless arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant. The ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel, the order states, adding that the court had set a dangerous precedent with its actions against both countries. Trump's action came as .

Israeli defence min tells army to set plans for Palestinians to leave Gaza

Israel's defence minister says he has instructed the army to prepare plans for large numbers of Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip in line with President Donald Trump's proposal for the war-ravaged territory. Defence Minister Israel Katz on Thursday said the plan will include options for exit at land crossings as well as special arrangements for exit by sea and air. He said he welcomed Trump's bold plan, which could allow a large population in Gaza to leave for various places in the world. He did not say whether Palestinians would be able to one day return to Gaza, which has been rendered largely uninhabitable by Israel's 15-month military campaign against Hamas. Trump on Wednesday proposed that most of Gaza's population be permanently resettled elsewhere while the United States rebuilds the territory. US officials later said the relocation would only be temporary, but Palestinians fear Israel would never allow them to return, deepening and perpetuating a refugee crisis dating b

'Stop attack on democracy': Protesters rally against Trump, Musk across US

US protests: Protests erupted across the US as demonstrators voiced opposition to President Trump's policies, Elon Musk's influence, and Project 2025

With Gaza rehab, Trump goes from 'America First to America Everywhere'

President Donald Trump promised voters an administration that wouldn't waste precious American lives and taxpayer treasure on far-off wars and nation building. But just weeks into his second go-around in the White House, the Republican leader laid out plans to use American might to take over and reconstruct Gaza, threatened to reclaim US control of the Panama Canal and floated the idea that the US could buy Greenland from Denmark, which has shown no interest in parting with the island. The rhetorical shift from America First to America Everywhere is leaving even some of his allies slack-jawed and wondering if he's really serious. The pursuit for peace should be that of the Israelis and the Palestinians, a flummoxed Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican and Trump ally, posted Wednesday on social media. I thought we voted for America First. We have no business contemplating yet another occupation to doom our treasure and spill our soldiers' blood. The president's shocking declarat

Jairam Ramesh calls Trump's Gaza plan 'bizarre' and 'unacceptable'

President Trump's loud thinking on the future of Gaza is bizarre, dangerous, and totally unacceptable, said Ramesh

Trump wants to displace Palestinians from Gaza temporarily, say officials

President Donald Trump's top diplomat and his main spokesperson on Wednesday walked back the idea that he wants the permanent relocation of Palestinians from Gaza, after American allies and even Republican lawmakers rebuffed his suggestion that the U.S. take ownership of the territory. Trump on Tuesday had called for permanently resettling Palestinians from war-torn Gaza and left open the door to deploying American troops there as part of a massive rebuilding operation. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said he only sought to move the roughly 1.8 million Gazans temporarily to allow for reconstruction. Even that proposal has drawn criticism from Palestinians, who are worried they may never be allowed back in if they flee, and from the Arab nations that Trump has called on to take them in. Rubio, on his first foreign trip as secretary of state, described Trump's proposal as a very generous offer to help with debris removal and ...

Best of BS Opinion: How policy moves can trigger a cascading effect

Our editorials and columns look at the consequences of policy actions, and how they can have far-reaching impacts

Trump's Gaza plan exposes ignorance of law, morality, and diplomacy

This announcement disrupts the fragile ceasefire and hostage-release deal of January 19, partly negotiated by Mr Trump's own envoy before he took oath as President

Won't establish ties with Israel without Palestinian state: Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia refutes Donald Trump's claim that it hasn't insisted on a Palestinian state, reaffirming no Israel ties without it; Trump also proposed a US takeover and redevelopment of Gaza