Page 131 - Latest Updates on West Asia Conflict

Israel strikes Rafah, orders evacuations as Gaza death toll tops 50,000

Israeli strikes across the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 26 Palestinians overnight into Sunday, including a Hamas political leader and several women and children. Residents said tanks had advanced into an area of the southern city of Rafah as the military ordered it evacuated. Gaza's Health Ministry said the total number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war has now passed 50,000 after Israel ended the ceasefire last week with a wave of strikes that killed hundreds. Israel has continued striking what it says are militant targets and has launched ground incursions in northern Gaza. Late Saturday, Israel's Cabinet approved a proposal to set up a new directorate tasked with advancing the voluntary departure" of Palestinians in line with US President Donald Trump's proposal to depopulate Gaza and rebuild it for others. Palestinians say they do not want to leave their homeland, and rights groups have said the plan could amount to expulsion in ...

Where was UN, Red Cross, world, asks Israeli hostage freed after 491 days

Freed Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi, who was beaten, chained and starved while held for 491 days by Hamas, expressed his anger during an appearance at the UN Security Council on Thursday for having to suffer for so long and worry every day about being killed. Where was the United Nations? Where was the Red Cross? Where was the world? Sharabi asked. He challenged the UN's most powerful body: If you stand for humanity prove it" by bringing home the 59 hostages still in Gaza, many of whom are believed to be dead. The fate of the remaining hostages became more uncertain after Israel on Tuesday ended a six-week break in the fighting that had allowed for the return of some hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Sharabi said the council talked about the need to get humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, but he saw Hamas militants eating stolen food from dozens of boxes marked with UN emblems while the hostages starved. They were given maybe a piece of pita and a sip of tea a day

58 people killed by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza: Palestinian officials

Israeli strikes overnight and into Thursday killed at least 40 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, according to three hospitals. The strikes hit homes in the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah in southern Gaza and the northern town of Beit Lahiya, they said. Israel resumed heavy strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, shattering a ceasefire that had halted the war and facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages. Israel blamed the renewed fighting on Hamas because the militant group rejected an Israeli-backed proposal that departed from their signed agreement. More than 400 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday alone, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. There have been no reports of Hamas firing rockets or carrying out other attacks. On Wednesday, Israeli ground troops advanced in Gaza for the first time since the ceasefire took hold in January, seizing part of a corridor separating the northern third of the territory from the south. Israel, which has als

Trump administration detains Indian student over Hamas support in crackdown

Badar Khan Suri, an Indian student at Washington's Georgetown University, was arrested by federal agents outside his home in Rosslyn, Virginia, for alleged ties with the militant group Hamas

Gaza hostilities must end, emergency aid needs access: UN coordinator

The U.N. official said that since March 2, Israeli authorities had cut off the entry of all lifesaving supplies

Israeli strikes kill nearly 413 in Gaza, risk fully reigniting Hamas war

Israel carried out airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, southern Lebanon and southern Syria on Monday, killing at least 10 people, including a child, according to local authorities. The Israeli military said it was targeting militants plotting attacks. The airstrikes were the latest in what have been frequent and often deadly attacks by Israeli forces during the fragile ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon. Israel has blocked all food, medicine, fuel and other supplies from entering Gaza the past two weeks, demanding Hamas accept changes in the two sides' ceasefire deal. In Syria, Israel seized a zone in the south after the fall of longtime autocrat Bashar Assad in December. Israel says it is a preemptive security measure against the former Islamist insurgents who now run Syria, though their transitional government has not expressed threats against Israel. The strikes hit a residential area in the southern Syrian city of Daraa, killing three people and wounding 19 others, including four children

Will only release American-Israeli hostage if truce deal implemented: Hamas

Hamas said Saturday it would only release an American-Israeli and the bodies of four other hostages if Israel implements the existing ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, calling it an exceptional deal aimed at getting the truce back on track. A senior Hamas official said long-delayed talks over the ceasefire's second phase would need to begin the day of the release and last no longer than 50 days. Israel would also need to stop barring the entry of humanitarian aid and withdraw from a strategic corridor along Gaza's border with Egypt. Hamas would also demand the release of more Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks. Edan Alexander, 21, who grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, was abducted from his military base during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war, and is the last living American citizen held in Gaza. Israel has cast doubt on Hamas' offer There was no immediate commen

US offers 'bridge' proposal to extend Gaza ceasefire, seek permanent peace

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Council official Eric Tager presented the proposal in Qatar, according to a statement from their offices

Hamas agrees to free US-Israeli hostage, bodies of 4 other dual nationals

Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza on March 2 as a standoff over the truce escalated, with Hamas calling on Egyptian and Qatari mediators to intervene

Iran asks Trump to end threats, pressure tactics if it wants nuclear talks

Iran is among the most sanctioned countries in the world and the vast majority of the penalties are enforced by the US government and directly target crucial oil exports

US Envoy claims Gaza ceasefire, hostage deal possible in coming weeks

Such a deal, he said, could allow Israel to repatriate all 59 remaining Gaza hostages, and "not just the Americans," he added, referring to a handful of US dual nationals

Israel cuts electricity supply to Gaza amid ongoing ceasefire tensions

Israel says it is cutting off its electricity supply to Gaza. The full effects of that are not immediately clear, but the territory's desalination plants receive power for producing drinking water. Sunday's announcement comes a week after Israel cut off all supplies of goods to the territory to over 2 million people. It has sought to press Hamas to accept an extension of the first phase of their ceasefire. That phase ended last weekend. Hamas has pressed to start negotiations on the ceasefire's more difficult second phase instead. Gaza has been largely devastated by the war, and generators and solar panels are used for some of the power supply.

World Bank estimates $11 bn needed to rebuild Lebanon after Israel war

The cost of reconstruction and recovery for Lebanon following the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war is estimated at $11 billion, the World Bank said in a report on Friday. The report by the World Bank's Lebanon Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment covered damage and losses in 10 sectors nationwide between October 8, 2023, and Dec. 20, 2024. It estimates that of the $11 billion in reconstruction and recovery needs, $3 billion to $5 billion will need to be publicly financed, including for infrastructure sectors. Private financing is required for about $6 billion to $8 billion of the costs, mostly in the housing, commerce, industry and tourism sectors. Hezbollah began firing rockets across the border on October 8, 2023, one day after a deadly Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. Israel responded with shelling and airstrikes in Lebanon, and the two sides became locked in an escalating conflict that became a full-blown war in late September. A US-brokered ...

US mulls plan to halt Iranian oil tankers at sea to disrupt exports

That would delay delivery of crude to refiners. It could also expose parties involved in facilitating the trade to reputational damage and sanctions, the sources said

Hamas rejects Trump's threat, insists on truce before freeing hostages

The Hamas militant group on Thursday brushed off President Donald Trump's latest threat and reiterated that it will only free the remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Hamas accused Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to back out of the ceasefire agreement they reached in January. The agreement calls for negotiations over a second phase in which the hostages would be released in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a permanent ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said the best path to free the remaining Israeli hostages is through negotiations on that phase, which were supposed to begin in early February. Only limited preparatory talks have been held so far. On Wednesday, Trump issued what he said was a last warning to Hamas after meeting with eight former hostages. The White House, meanwhile, confirmed it had held unprecedented direct talks with the militant ...

Russia's senior missile experts flew to Iran amid clashes with Israel

The seven weapons experts were booked to travel from Moscow to Tehran aboard two flights on April 24 and September 17 last year

Rubio announces $4 bn military aid to Israel, reversing Biden's arms hold

The Trump Administration has pledged to continue using all available tools to support Israel's security, including countering security threats

Israel halts aid to Gaza, pressures Hamas to accept a ceasefire deal

Israel stopped the entry of all goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip on Sunday and warned of additional consequences if Hamas doesn't accept a new proposal to extend a fragile ceasefire. Hamas accused Israel of trying to derail the existing ceasefire agreement and said its decision to cut off aid was cheap extortion, a war crime and a blatant attack" on the truce, which took hold in January after more than a year of negotiations. Both sides stopped short of saying the ceasefire had ended. The first phase of the ceasefire, which included a surge in humanitarian assistance, expired on Saturday. The two sides have yet to negotiate the second phase, in which Hamas was to release dozens of remaining hostages in return for an Israeli pullout and a lasting ceasefire. An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the decision to suspend aid was made in coordination with the Trump administration. There was no immediate comment from the United Stat

Israel ups offense in West Bank, says troops to stay for a yr in few areas

Israel's defence minister said Sunday troops would remain for the coming year in parts of the occupied West Bank where they have launched a weekslong offensive and would prevent tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians from returning, as Israel deepens its crackdown on the Palestinian territory. Israel launched a broad offensive on the northern West Bank on January 21 two days after the ceasefire that paused the war in Gaza took hold and then expanded it to include other nearby areas. Israel says it is determined to stamp out militancy amid a rise in attacks. Palestinians view such raids as part of an effort to cement Israeli control over the territory, where 3 million Palestinians live under military rule. The raids have been deadly, caused destruction to urban areas and displaced tens of thousands. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had instructed the military to prepare to remain in some of the West Bank's urban refugee camps, from where he said some 40,000 ...

Israel PM Netanyahu deploys army in West Bank after terror attack on buses

The bus blasts came just hours after Palestinian militant group Hamas returned four bodies purported to be hostages held in Gaza since its October 7, 2023 attack