Page 33 - Gaza

Israel-Gaza war: Hungarian PM Orban defies ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu

International Criminal Court issued warrants for the Israeli Prime Minister and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of crimes against humanity related to the 13-month war in Gaza

Gaza death toll from Israel-Hamas war crosses 44,000: Palestine officials

The death toll in the Gaza Strip from the 13-month-old war between Israel and Hamas has surpassed 44,000, local health officials said Thursday. The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The Health Ministry said 44,056 people have been killed and 104,268 wounded since the start of the war. It has said the real toll is higher because thousands of bodies are buried under rubble or in areas that medics cannot access. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Most of the rest were released during a cease-fire last year.

Senate rejects effort from Sanders to block weapons for Israel over deaths

The Senate on Wednesday rejected an attempt by Sen. Bernie Sanders Wednesday to block sales of offensive weapons to Israel for its war in Gaza over mounting civilian deaths there. The Vermont lawmaker and a small group of Democrats sought to put legislation up for a Senate vote that would block the sale of some tank and mortar rounds and smart-bomb kits to Israel. The first attempt to block the sales was rejected overwhelmingly, and two more were expected to go down to defeat. Sanders, in making the case for stopping the sales, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has not simply waged war against Hamas. It has waged an all-out war against the Palestinian people. Known as joint resolutions of disapproval, the measures would have had to pass both houses of Congress and withstand any presidential veto to become binding. Congress has never succeeded in blocking any arms sales with the joint resolutions. But the vote served as a test of broader frustration among ..

US vetoes UN Security Council resolution demanding cease-fire in Gaza

The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the war in Gaza because it was not linked to an immediate release of hostages taken captive by Hamas militants in Israel in October 2023. The council voted overwhelmingly in favour of the resolution 14 of its 15 members voted yes including US allies Britain and France but it was doomed by the veto. US deputy ambassador Robert Wood said the United States worked for weeks to avoid a veto of the resolution sponsored by the council's 10 elected members, and expressed regret that compromise language was not accepted. We made clear throughout negotiations we could not support an unconditional cease-fire that failed to release the hostages, he said. Hamas would have seen it as a vindication of its cynical strategy to hope and pray the international community forgets about the fate of more than 100 hostages from more than 20 member states who have been held for 410 days. The ...

Israel-Hezbollah truce 'within grasp' as Gaza food crisis worsens: US envoy

A US envoy said an agreement to end the Israel-Hezbollah war is "within our grasp" after talks in Lebanon on Tuesday. However, there was no such optimism in the Gaza Strip, where the looting of nearly 100 aid trucks by armed men worsened an already severe food crisis. Amos Hochstein, the Biden administration's pointsman on Israel and Lebanon, arrived as Hezbollah's allies in the Lebanese government said the militant group had responded positively to the proposal, which would entail both its fighters and Israeli ground forces withdrawing from a UN buffer zone in southern Lebanon. The buffer zone would be policed by thousands of additional UN peacekeepers and Lebanese troops. Israel has called for a stronger enforcement mechanism, potentially including the ability to conduct military operations against any Hezbollah threats, something Lebanon is likely to oppose. An Israeli airstrike on Tuesday hit a Lebanese army base in the southern town of Sarafand, killing three soldiers, the arm

G20 summit calls for more aid to Gaza and end to Russia-Ukraine war

Leaders of the world's 20 major economies called for a global pact to combat hunger, more aid for war-torn Gaza and an end to hostilities in the Mideast and Ukraine, issuing a joint declaration Monday that was heavy on generalities but short of details on how to accomplish those goals. The joint statement was endorsed by group members but fell short of complete unanimity. It also called for a future global tax on billionaires and for reforms allowing the eventual expansion of the United Nation Security Council (UNSC) beyond its five current permanent members. At the start of the three-day meeting which formally ends Wednesday, experts doubted Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva could convince the assembled leaders to hammer out any agreement at all in a gathering rife with uncertainty over the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, and heightened global tensions over wars in the Mideast and Ukraine. Argentina challenged some of the language in initial

Trump fancies himself a skilled dealmaker, Mideast peace may be beyond him

Trump will have much difficulty balancing his ardent support of Israel and his other ambitions in the region

Israeli strike in Beirut kills Hezbollah spokesman, strike in Gaza kills 30

A rare Israeli airstrike on central Beirut killed Hezbollah's chief spokesman on Sunday, an official with the militant group said. Earlier, officials said Israeli strikes killed at least 12 people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been at war with the Palestinian Hamas for over a year. The latest in targeted killings of senior Hezbollah officials came as Lebanese officials considered a United States-led cease-fire proposal. Israel also bombed several buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has long been headquartered, after warning people to evacuate. Mohammed Afif, the head of media relations for Hezbollah, was killed in a strike on the Arab socialist Baath party's office in central Beirut, according to a Hezbollah official who was not authorized to brief reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity. Afif had been especially visible after all-out war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah in September and the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israe

Family of Israeli-American hostage asks Biden, Trump for captives' return

Over the past two weeks, the political landscape around the negotiations for a cease-fire in Gaza have undergone a dramatic transformation. The American elections, the firing of Israel's popular defense minister, Qatar's decision to suspend its mediation, and the ongoing war in Lebanon all seem to have pushed the possibility for a cease-fire in Gaza further away than it has been in more than a year of conflict. Still, some families of the dozens of hostages who remain captive in Gaza are desperately hoping the changes will reignite momentum to bring their loved ones home though the impact of Donald Trump returning to the White House and a hard-line new defense minister in Israel remains unknown. I think maybe there is new hope, said Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, 20, a soldier kidnapped from his base on the Gaza border during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. Alexander's parents, Adi and Yael Alexander, who live in New Jersey, met

Israel's conduct in Gaza consistent with characteristics of genocide: UN

The UN Committee alleged Israel of intentionally causing death, starvation and serious injury

Israeli strikes kill 11 as Lebanon cease-fire efforts appear to gain steam

Israeli strikes killed at least 11 people across Lebanon on Friday including a mother, father and their three kids in a home as rescue workers called off their search for survivors a day after an Israeli strike on a civil defence centre killed 14 emergency workers and volunteers. The airstrikes come as Lebanon's prime minister apparently urged Iran to convince the Hezbollah militant group to agree to a cease-fire deal with Israel, which could require the group to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border. Since late September, Israel dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and end its barrages in Israel. More than 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli fire 80 per cent of them in the past month Lebanon's Health Ministry says. The Israel-Hamas war began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people mostly civilians and abducting 250 others. Lebanon's Hezbollah group began firing .

Children from Gaza brought to heal wounds now caught in Lebanon conflict

When Zarifa Nawfal's family arrived in Beirut for her wounded daughter's surgery, one of the first things she wanted to do was go to the sea. The Mediterranean had been a constant companion at their home in Gaza before the war. The moment I smelled the sea, I felt at peace inside as if I were in Gaza, she said. But soon their place of refuge reminded her of home in far more distressing ways. Nawfal's 7-year-old daughter, Halima Abou Yassine, is one of a dozen severely wounded Palestinian children brought to Lebanon this year for treatment through a program launched by a British-Palestinian surgeon, Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta. But months after their arrival, Lebanon is itself embroiled in a war some fear will end in Gaza-like destruction. In February, Nawfal was staying with her five children and her mother in an apartment in central Gaza. They had been displaced from their home in the north and Nawfal's husband was missing, likely dead. The children were filling water containers outs

Biden govt sidesteps its 30-day deadline for Israel to improve Gaza aid

Israel has done enough to assuage US concerns but needs to do more, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said in a briefing Tuesday in Washington

Israeli strikes kill at least 46 people in Gaza Strip, 33 in Lebanon

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 46 people in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, including 11 at a makeshift cafeteria in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone, medics said. In Lebanon, warplanes struck Beirut's southern suburbs and killed 33 people elsewhere in the country on Tuesday. The latest bombardment came as the United States said it would not reduce its military support for Israel after a deadline passed for allowing more humanitarian aid into Gaza. The State Department cited some progress, even as international aid groups said Israel had failed to meet the US demands. In Lebanon, large explosions shook Beirut's southern suburbs an area known as Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah has a significant presence soon after the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for 11 houses there. There was no immediate word on casualties. The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure, including command centers and weapons production sites, without providing evidence. Anot

EU High Representative condemns Israeli airstrike on Jabalia in Gaza

He stressed that the use of hunger as a weapon of war contradicts international humanitarian law

Israeli strike kills 3 people in central Gaza, say Palestinian officials

Palestinian medical officials say an Israeli strike hit a tent sheltering a displaced family in the central Gaza Strip, killing at least three people, including the parents of twins. The strike late Sunday in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp wounded the two children, aged 10, who were being treated for serious injuries at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah. The details of the casualties were listed in hospital records and an Associated Press reporter saw two of the bodies. The Israeli military says it only targets militants and accuses them of hiding among civilians. Palestinians reported heavy bombing late Sunday in the western areas of Nuseirat camp, which dates back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. At least 24 people were wounded and taken to the Awda hospital in Nuseirat, said Mohamed Muhareb, head of the hospital's ambulance service. The Israel-Hamas war began after militants stormed into Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 pe

Israeli strikes kill dozens in Lebanon, Gaza; Netanyahu, Trump speak

Israeli strikes killed dozens of people including children on Sunday in Lebanon and isolated northern Gaza, as the world watched for signs of how the US election might affect the war against Iranian-backed militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has spoken three times with Donald Trump since Tuesday's election and they see eye-to-eye regarding the Iranian threat and all of its components. Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, is scheduled to meet with US President Joe Biden on Tuesday. The Israeli airstrike in Lebanon killed at least 23 people including seven children in Aalmat village north of Beirut, far from the areas in the east and south where Hezbollah has a major presence. There was no Israeli evacuation warning. There was no immediate Israeli comment. Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into Israel after war broke out in Gaza, in solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Israel retaliated, and a series of escalati

Qatar suspends mediation efforts on Gaza, Hamas office may have to leave

Qatar has suspended its key mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel, it said Saturday, after growing frustration with the lack of progress on a cease-fire deal for Gaza. It wasn't immediately clear whether the remaining Hamas leadership hosted by Qatar must leave, or where it would go. Hamas has good relations with Iran and Turkiye, and some of its leaders are now in Lebanon. However, Qatar is highly likely to return to mediation efforts if both sides show serious political willingness to reach a deal, according to an official with Egypt, the other key mediator. Qatar told Israel and Hamas it can't continue to mediate as long as there is a refusal to negotiate a deal in good faith and "as a consequence, the Hamas political office no longer serves its purpose in Qatar, a diplomatic source briefed on the matter said. Qatar told Hamas it will have to leave if it isn't ready to engage in serious negotiations, the source said. In Washington, a US official said the Biden administratio

Two Israeli strikes in Gaza kill at least 13, say Palestinian officials

Two separate Israeli strikes killed at least 13 people, including women and children, in Gaza on Saturday, Palestinian medical officials said, as Israel announced the first delivery of aid in weeks to the war-battered northern Gaza. One of the strikes hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City's eastern Tufah neighbourhood, killing at least six people, Gaza's Health Ministry said. Two local journalists, a pregnant woman and a child were among the dead, the ministry said. The Israeli army said the strike targeted a militant belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, offering no evidence or further detail. Another seven people were killed when an Israeli strike hit a tent in the southern city of Khan Younis where displaced people were sheltering, according to Nasser Hospital. It said the dead included two women and a child. The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the blast. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid

Israel Defence Forces to open Kissufim crossing to facilitate aid in Gaza

Kissufim is a small border crossing into southern Gaza near Kibbutz Kissufim, one of the sites attacked by Hamas