Hamas

Board of Peace envoy meets Netanyahu to discuss Gaza disarmament deal

The Board of Peace official overseeing Gaza's postwar transition met Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a statement, in part to discuss a new disarmament deal the board reached with Hamas. Nikolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza, held "constructive and detailed" talks with the prime minister and his team, the Board of Peace said in a statement. "The goal is clear and is not in question: the complete decommissioning of weapons in the Strip and the transition away from rule by the gun to civilian governance," it said. According to two people familiar with the meeting, Mladenov also pressed Netanyahu to halt Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip. Mladenov and his team, including senior adviser Aryeh Lightstone, are pressuring Israel to stop striking Gaza as they push ahead with the agreement to decommission the weapons held by Hamas. President Donald Trump announced the agreement, which is part of a broader ceasefire deal reached last year, late

Hamas agrees to disarm under Gaza deal if Israel withdraws troops

Hamas has reportedly agreed to a phased disarmament roadmap on the condition that Israel ends military operations, withdraws troops from Gaza and implements the next phase of the ceasefire

Board of Peace reached deal with Hamas for Gaza disarmament: Trump

In a post on Truth ‌Social, Trump cast it ​as a 'major milestone in the ​implementation of the Trump 20-Point Plan' to end ​Israel's war in Gaza

Trump announces deal for Hamas to disarm in Gaza but hurdles remain

President Donald Trump said that a deal has been reached for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza, but many hurdles, conditions and long timelines remained to wind down the war in the Palestinian territory. Neither Hamas nor Israel gave immediate indication that they had agreed. The White House announcement on Thursday comes nine months after a US-brokered ceasefire was signed. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas had largely deadlocked over the implementation of its second phase, including the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza. "The agreement will be carried out in carefully structured phases," Trump said on social media. "As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbours." Trump's 20-point ceasefire plan calls on the Iran-backed militant group to surrender its weapo

'IDF to take 70% of Gaza': Netanyahu directs military to expand control

Netanyahu's remarks come as earlier reports indicated that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) had already issued maps to aid agencies showing control over approximately 64 per cent of Gaza

India, Israel trade pact to unlock vast potential: PM in Israeli parliament

Congress and Left parties say Modi's visit amounts to betrayal of the Palestinian cause

Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill at least 12, intensifying regional tensions

At least 12 people were killed and 24 wounded - including three children - in Israeli strikes in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley Friday, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported. Another two people were killed by an Israeli strike on a Palestinian refugee camp earlier in the day. Israel said it had hit "command centers" of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in Bekaa Valley. There was no immediate statement from Hezbollah. Local television footage from the scene of one of the strikes in the Bekaa showed the targeted site appeared to be an apartment building, and emergency crews were fighting a fire and searching in the rubble for survivors. Earlier Friday, another Israeli strike had hit a Palestinian refugee camp in the port city of Sidon, killing two people. The Israeli military said it hit a "Hamas command center" in the Ein el-Hilweh camp. Hamas acknowledged that two of its members had been killed in the strike but called the claim that a command center was struck a "flimsy pretex

Gaza's Rafah crossing reopens for limited traffic as ceasefire advances

Palestinians in Gaza watched with hope and impatience Sunday as workers laid the groundwork to reopen the territory's Rafah border crossing with Egypt, its lifeline to the world. Israel says the crossing is scheduled to resume Monday as its ceasefire with Hamas moves ahead. "Opening the crossing is a good step, but they set a limit on the number of people allowed to cross, and this is a problem," said Ghalia Abu Mustafa, a woman from Khan Younis. Israel said the crossing had opened in a test, and the Israeli military agency that controls aid to Gaza said residents could begin crossing Monday. But only a small number of people can cross at first. "We want a large number of people to leave, for it to be open so that sick people can go and return," said Suhaila Al-Astal, a woman displaced from the city of Rafah who said her sick daughter needed help abroad. "We want the crossing to be open permanently." Israel's announcement came a day after Israeli strikes killed at least 30 ...

Israel returns 15 Palestinian bodies in final exchange under Gaza ceasefire

Israel turned over the bodies of 15 Palestinians on Thursday, just days after recovering the remains of the last Israeli hostage, a Gaza Health Ministry official said. This marks the last hostage-detainee exchange between Israel and Hamas carried out as part of the first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire reached in October. The Red Cross said it helped facilitate the return of the bodies. They were taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said Zaher al-Wahidi, a spokesperson at the health ministry. The return of all remaining hostages, living or dead, had been a key part of the first phase in the ceasefire that paused the war. Israel agreed to return 15 Palestinian bodies for each hostage recovered, according to the ceasefire terms. It's unclear if the bodies released Thursday were of Palestinian detainees who died in Israeli custody or bodies taken from Gaza by Israeli troops during the war. Israel has released roughly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners under the ceasefire deal, many who

Vikram Misri links Hamas Oct 7 attack on Israel to cross-border terrorism

At the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Misri said India has its own share of experience as a victim of cross-border terrorism, in a veiled reference to April 2025 Pahalgam terrorist attack

A Short History of the Gaza Strip: Anne Irfan's book traces roots of crisis

Gaza, the city, is as old as the Old Testament in which it finds a mention. Gaza, the modern-day strip, was born in 1948, its fate entwined with the establishment and expansion of Israel

Datanomics: Gaza trapped in poverty as Donald Trump opens peace panel

India has been invited to join the proposed Gaza Peace Board as the Israel-Palestine conflict devastates Gaza and the West Bank, with collapsing incomes, rising poverty and record unemployment

Gaza Board of Peace takes shape as Israel raises objections to plan

Argentine President Javier Milei and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney are set to become founding members, they announced on Saturday

Trump invites India to join proposed Gaza Board of Peace: Reports

The Gaza Board of Peace is Trump's plan to build on the fragile ceasefire in the region

Trump announces 'Board of Peace' for phase two of plan to end Gaza war

According to Trump's post, with the support of Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar, the next phase will aim to secure a comprehensive demilitarisation agreement with Hamas

Israeli soldier sentenced to 20 days in jail for posting Gaza firing video

The soldier, from the Golani Brigade, posted the video himself on social media, showing him firing shots toward Gaza, which he said was done 'in honour of the new year'

Israel strikes Hezbollah, Hamas sites in Lebanon ahead of disarmament meet

Israel's air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, saying they are home to infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas. The strikes came a few days before Lebanon's army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel. The strikes took place nearly two hours after Israel's military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would strike targets for Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas groups in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024. The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas clos

Israel aids Italy in arrest of Hamas leader, 6 others in Europe crackdown

A joint task force transferred information and evidence to law enforcement authorities in Italy, through accepted and agreed channels, as part of an investigation targeting Hamas infra in Italy

Hamas violating Trump's peace plan, warns Netanyahu as Israel vows response

Israel vowed on Wednesday to respond to an incident in southern Gaza's Rafah in which a bomb exploded against an Israeli armored personnel carrier, lightly injuring an IDF officer

Ceasefire enters tougher phase as Trump plan aims to reshape Gaza's future

With the remains of one hostage still in Gaza, the first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas is nearly complete, after a two-month process plagued by delays and finger-pointing. Now, the key players including Israel, the Palestinian militant Hamas group, the United States and a diverse list of international parties are to move to a far more complicated second phase that could reshape the Middle East. US President Donald Trump's 20-point plan which was approved by the U.N. Security Council lays out an ambitious vision for ending Hamas' rule of Gaza. If successful, it would see the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza under international supervision, normalized relations between Israel and the Arab world and a possible pathway to Palestinian independence. But if the deal stalls, Gaza could be trapped in an unstable limbo for years to come, with Hamas remaining in control of parts of the territory, Israel's army enforcing an open-ended occupation an