Israel

Israel's Netanyahu dials PM Modi, discusses developments in West Asia

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday received a telephone call from his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and they exchanged views on the recent developments in West Asia. The two leaders also reviewed sustained progress in India-Israel Special Strategic Partnership and reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening the bilateral cooperation across various sectors for the mutual benefit of the two countries, a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office said. "PM Netanyahu and PM Modi exchanged views on the recent developments in West Asia. The two leaders agreed to remain in touch," the statement said. The conflict in West Asia is continuing for over five months now without any permanent solution. Iran on Thursday said it is in the final stage of drafting an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz waterway with Oman, while two Israeli soldiers have been killed in Lebanon. The Strait is crucial to global shipping and energy supplies. Before the war, which began with U

Two Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon amid rising tensions despite truce

The Israeli military said Thursday that two of its soldiers were killed in combat in southern Lebanon in the first Israeli deaths since the implementation of a shaky truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in June. Four other soldiers were wounded, the military said. The deaths had been reported by Israeli media a day earlier. The Israeli army launched strikes Wednesday in southern Lebanon in response to what it described as Hezbollah's violation of the ceasefire and issued a call for residents of the village of Mansouri to flee - the first such warning Israel has issued in Lebanon for weeks. There was no immediate statement from Hezbollah. The escalation came as Lebanese and Israeli negotiators met in Rome to discuss implementation of a June 26 deal under which Israeli forces are supposed to withdraw from areas they occupy in southern Lebanon and allow the Lebanese army to take control, in exchange for Hezbollah's disarmament. The latest ...

No Israeli withdrawal from Gaza until complete Hamas disarmament: Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel will not withdraw from its current lines in Gaza until Hamas has completely disarmed and pushed back on a recent deal announced by US President Donald Trump. Netanyahu's remarks cast more doubt on the deal to disarm Hamas, which was seen as a potential breakthrough for ending the war. It also marked a rare public display of friction with the Trump administration. The agreement called for Hamas to begin disarming and for Israel to halt its strikes and begin withdrawing from the roughly 60 per cent of Gaza it currently controls. It was based on an October ceasefire agreement that ended major military operations and brought about the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza but has stalled on other fronts. Netanyahu, who faces a tough battle for reelection in October, reiterated his stance that disarmament should come first. He said Israeli forces would continue to "do whatever is necessary to protect themselves, our .

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

Trump's Board of Peace reaches agreement to disarm Hamas: What's the deal?

According to Trump, the agreement will be implemented in carefully structured phases, with the disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups taking place first

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

Netanyahu accuses Mamdani of fomenting hate, calls ICC charges bogus

Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is "fomenting hate" by calling the prime minister a war criminal who should be arrested over the war in Gaza if he visits the city for the United Nations General Assembly. Netanyahu said he intends to be in New York in September to address the annual UN gathering of world leaders, despite the mayor's suggestion that he is not welcome. Mamdani said last week that while New York City does not have legal authority to execute an arrest warrant issued by the world's top war-crimes court, he encouraged the federal government to do so. "He's supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers - Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone," Netanyahu said on Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning Futures" with Maria Bartiromo. "But he's trying to turn one group against the other." The prime minister has become an increasingly polarizing figure over Israel's war in Gaza, which was ignited by the Oct. 7, 2023, deadly attack on southern ..

Israel expects Indian tourist arrivals to reach pre-war levels by 2027

Israel expects tourist arrivals from India to return to pre-war levels by 2027, driven by stronger marketing, better air connectivity, streamlined visa process, and closer bilateral ties, a senior tourism official has said. Israel had witnessed one of its strongest tourism recoveries following the COVID-19 pandemic before the conflict interrupted its growth trajectory, Amruta Bangera, Director of Marketing, Israel Ministry of Tourism, told PTI in Panaji on Saturday. "Around 69,100 Indian visitors travelled to Israel in 2019, while nearly 44,000 visited between January and September 2023, before the (Israel-Gaza) war," she said. "Our recovery following the pandemic was among the strongest across our key source markets, and we were on track to match, or even surpass, pre-pandemic arrival levels," she noted. Had the conflict not interrupted this momentum, we believe Israel would have been well on its way to welcoming over 100,000 Indian visitors annually, Bangera commented. Israel, s

More than half of House Democrats vote to cut Israel aid in growing split

More than half the House Democrats have voted to strip USD 3.3 billion in US aid from Israel, the most substantial signal yet that once rock-solid bipartisan support for the country is disintegrating in the aftermath of its war in Gaza that has killed thousands of Palestinians. Wednesday's vote tally, 104-314, was not enough to attach the amendment to a broader national security spending bill, but stands as a stark accounting of the shifting attitudes that are dividing the Democratic Party and the nation over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war strategy, now approaching its third year. The House's Democratic leadership split over the issue in what was largely seen as a test vote ahead of the US midterm elections that will determine control of Congress. More than 100 Democrats voted for the amendment to strip the foreign military aid money, and almost as many voted against. Most Republicans voted to preserve the Israel aid. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who ...

Ex-army chief who lost son in Gaza war emerges as Netanyahu's main rival

Polls indicate that Eisenkot's new party Yashar - Hebrew for straightforward or honest - will get slightly more seats than Netanyahu's Likud in the Oct. 27 vote

US-Iran tensions flare up again: Is peace slipping away?

Just weeks after the US and Iran signed a ceasefire, fresh military strikes have pushed the agreement to the brink. The biggest flashpoint is the Strait of Hormuz,

Inside Israel's secret operation to cultivate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

The yearslong effort to groom the former Iranian prez as an intelligence asset culminated in a dramatic effort to take him to an Israeli safe house in early days of the war. But the plan fell apart

Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna briefly detained by Israeli settlers

Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna, a 2028 US Presidential aspirant, on Saturday said he was detained by gun-wielding Israeli settlers while on a visit to Palestine. Khanna, a Democrat from California, was visiting on Wednesday the ruins of Khirbet Zanuta, a Bedouin village in the southern West Bank that was abandoned after attacks from Israeli settlers when the incident took place. "Israeli settlers, brandishing American-made M4S, detained me and other Americans on my trip to Palestine. When the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) arrived, they sided with the settlers and continued our detention. They made a huge mistake," Khanna said in a post on X. Khanna's experience was reported by a photographer of The New York Times, who was accompanying the Congressman. "I felt powerless in that situation, which is not an easy thing, as I have a lot of privilege in life," the New York Times quoted Khanna as saying. The report said Khanna was eventually allowed to continue his journey after cal

Israel shares intel on alleged new Iranian plot to kill Trump: Report

The Israeli warning reportedly concerned a new and specific plot, as the US assesses fresh intelligence amid heightened tensions with Tehran

US-Iran conflict: Why have attacks resumed despite peace talk efforts?

A fresh exchange of strikes between the US and Iran has fuelled fears of a wider conflict and disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Here's what led to the latest escalation

Have support from India: Netanyahu counters Vance's 'only ally' claim

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday cited support from India, countering American Vice President J D Vance's remarks that the US was its sole powerful ally "anywhere left in the entire world." Netanyahu told the 'Fox News Sunday Briefing' that Israel has the support of many other countries, including "a small country called India." "We have some other friends, like a small country called India, you know, it has 1.4 billion people and, boy, do we have tremendous support there," Netanyahu said. Last month, Vance told a briefing at the White House that Israel should respect the US-Iran peace talks. Asked about reports that Israeli leaders were unhappy with the US-Iran agreement and were criticising President Trump, Vance said, "If I was in the Cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world." Netanyahu said he was getting a lot of support from India on Facebook. "You know, I have this ..

'Fake news': Israel rejects report on alleged threat to Iranian negotiators

According to the NYT, cited by the Times of Israel, US officials allegedly warned Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Bagher Ghalibaf of possible Israeli assassination attempts

Hezbollah rejects US-brokered Israel-Lebanon security deal as 'surrender'

In the latest example of ongoing hostilities despite repeated ceasefires and agreements, Israel launched a drone strike in Lebanon's south on Saturday