Israel-palestine

Israel to cut ties with several UN agencies citing bias and hostility

In a post on X on Tuesday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the decision was made after a review of organisations named in the US announcement and of Israel's own experience

Israeli strikes kill 13 in Gaza as Trump likely to announce Board of Peace

Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 13 people, according to health officials, as US President Donald Trump was expected to announce the Board of Peace to oversee the fragile ceasefire. Health officials and family members said at least one child was among the dead in northern Gaza following several strikes there as well as east of Gaza City. Israel's army said Friday it struck Hamas infrastructure and fighters in southern and northern Gaza in response to a failed projectile launched by militants from the Gaza City area. The phased ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remains in its initial stage as efforts continue to recover the remains of the final hostage in Gaza. Officials say next week Trump is expected to announce the Board of Peace, which he has said he will head, marking an important step forward for his Mideast peace plan. The process has moved slowly since a ceasefire in October ended more than two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas. The US official and anot

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 carries out strikes across Lebanon ahead of key disarmament meeting

Israel's air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in the country's third-largest city. A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanon's army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming militant group Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel. An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the area was in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and the building was uninhabited. At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching the site for others, but there were no immediate reports of deaths. On Monday, the Israeli army hit several sites in southern and eastern Lebanon saying they held infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas. Those strikes took place nearly two hours after Israel's military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adra

Israeli strike hits Gaza tent, kills 5-year-old girl and her uncle

An Israeli strike in Gaza on Monday hit a tent housing displaced people, killing a 5-year-old girl and her uncle and wounding two other children, hospital officials said. The strike took place in the Muwasi area northwest of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, officials at Nasser Hospital said. The Associated Press couldn't independently very those details. Family members wept over the bodies as they were brought to the hospital. The dead are among the more than 400 people killed in Gaza since an October ceasefire began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The Israeli military said on social media it struck a Hamas militant who planned an imminent attack on Israeli troops in the southern Gaza Strip. It said the strike complied with the ceasefire agreement, and was done in a targeted way to mitigate civilian harm. It was not immediately clear if the statement referred to the fatal tent strike. The military also said that, because of continued ceasefire violations, it had begu

Aid groups scramble as Israel bans over three dozen organisations in Gaza

Israel's decision to revoke the licenses of more than three dozen humanitarian organisations this week has aid groups scrambling to grapple with what this means for their operations in Gaza and their ability to help tens of thousands of struggling Palestinians. The 37 groups represent some of the most prominent of the more than 100 independent nongovernmental organisations working in Gaza, alongside United Nations agencies. Those banned include Doctors Without Borders, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam and Medical Aid for Palestinians. The groups do everything from providing tents and water to supporting clinics and medical facilities. The overall impact, however, remains unclear. The most immediate impact of the license revocation is that Israel will no longer allow the groups to bring supplies into the Gaza Strip or send international staffers into the territory. Israel says all suspended groups have to halt their operations by March 1. Some groups have already been barred fro

Gulf, Asian nations urge Israel to allow aid into Gaza amid harsh winter

Despite its obligations under international law to meet the basic needs of Palestinians in Gaza, Israel has continued to impose strict limits on humanitarian assistance

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

Winter rain floods Gaza camps as Netanyahu heads for meeting with Trump

Winter rain lashed the Gaza Strip over the weekend, flooding camps with ankle-deep puddles as Palestinians displaced by two years of war attempted to stay dry in tents frayed by months of use. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled for an expected meeting on Monday with US President Donald Trump in Florida about the second phase of the ceasefire. The first phase that took effect on October 10 was meant to bring a surge in humanitarian aid for Gaza, including shelter. Netanyahu made no public statement as he departed. Nowhere to escape In the southern city of Khan Younis, blankets were soaked and clay ovens meant for cooking were swamped. Children wearing flip-flops waded through puddles. Some people used shovels or tin cans to remove water from tents. Others clawed at the ground to pry collapsed shelters from the mud. "Puddles formed, and there was a bad smell," said Majdoleen Tarabein, displaced from Rafah in southern Gaza. "The tent flew away. We do not know what to

Palestinian attacker kills 2 in car-ramming, stabbing in northern Israel

A Palestinian attacker rammed his car into a man and then stabbed a young woman in northern Israel on Friday afternoon, killing both, police said. The Israeli military swiftly launched an operation in the assailant's hometown in the occupied West Bank. The attack started in the northern city of Beit Shean when the Palestinian man rammed his vehicle into people, killing one man and injuring a teenage boy. He then drove off onto a highway, where he fatally stabbed the woman, and injured another person near the entrance to the city of Afula. Authorities say the attacker was shot and injured in Afula. He was then taken to hospital; his condition was not immediately known. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu identified the victims as Aviv Maor, a teenager, and Shimshon Mordechai, 68. Paramedics pronounced both dead at the scene. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that he was shocked by the "horrific killing spree". He said that Israel was "committed to reinforcing and strengtheni

Israel becomes 1st country to recognise Somaliland as independent state

Netanyahu said Israel now plans to expand cooperation with Somaliland across multiple sectors

Christmas returns to Bethlehem as Pope Leo XIV leads first Midnight Mass

Thousands of people flocked to Bethlehem's Manger Square on Christmas Eve as families there and at other sites across the Holy Land heralded a much-needed boost of holiday spirit, after two years of subdued celebrations because of the war in Gaza. At the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV presided over his first Midnight Mass in St Peter's Basilica. In his homily, he marvelled at the "wisdom" of the Christmas story an infant Jesus born to save mankind. "In the face of the suffering of the poor, (God) sends one who is defenceless to be the strength to rise again," the first US pope told a packed basilica. Bethlehem, where Christians believe Jesus was born, had cancelled Christmas celebrations during the war. But on Wednesday, the giant Christmas tree returned to Manger Square, temporarily replacing the wartime nativity scene of baby Jesus surrounded by rubble and barbed wire in a homage to Gaza's suffering. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the top Catholic leader in the Holy Land, kicked off t

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

World@2025: Trump torrent and global tides drive an unpredictable year

The year unfolded unpredictably: Trade relations were upended, Trump's tariffs unsettled markets, GenZ took to the streets, Japan saw its first woman Prime Minister, and a museum was left poorer

Global politics in 2025: Protests, peace deals and shifting alliances

Nepal's Gen-Z protests, a fragile Gaza ceasefire and Donald Trump's return reshaped global politics in 2025, as nations grappled with unrest, wars and shifting alliances

How wars, peace efforts and big diplomatic meets defined the world in 2025

Wars, peace deals and diplomatic summits shaped the world in 2025, as nations struggled to manage rising conflicts while pushing for dialogue and long-term solutions across regions

IDF kills senior Hezbollah leader, 2 others in strike in southern Lebanon

In a separate post, the IDF stated that in the Yater area, it killed a Hezbollah operative who was involved in attempts to re-establish the group's terrorist infrastructure

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

International body to govern Gaza to be announced by end of year: Officials

An international body tasked with governing the Gaza Strip under the next phase of the US-brokered ceasefire is expected to be announced by the end of the year, an Arab official and a Western diplomat said Friday. According to the ceasefire agreement, the authority known as the Board of Peace and chaired by US President Donald Trump is to oversee Gaza's reconstruction under a two-year, renewable UN mandate. It will include about a dozen other Middle Eastern and Western leaders, the Arab official and the Western diplomat told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter. Also to be announced is a committee of Palestinian technocrats who will run the day-to-day administration of post-war Gaza, they two said. The Western diplomat, who spoke to the AP over the phone from Cairo, said the announcement about this will likely happen when Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet later this month. The ...

Israel receives remains of possible hostage, plans to reopen Gaza crossing

Israel received remains of what could be one of the last hostages in Gaza on Wednesday and said it will begin allowing Palestinians to leave the war-torn territory through a border crossing with Egypt. The remains found by militants in northern Gaza have been returned to Israel, where they will be examined by forensics experts. Remains militants handed over on Tuesday did not match either of the last two hostages in Gaza. The return of all the hostages taken on the October 7, 2023, attack that started the war is a key element of the first phase of the ceasefire that began in October. In exchange, Israel has been releasing Palestinian prisoners. Under the terms of the ceasefire, the long-closed Rafah crossing is to be opened for medical evacuations and travel to and from Gaza. The World Health Organization says there are more than 16,500 sick and wounded people who need to leave Gaza for medical care. It was not immediately clear when the border crossing would be opened, however. E