Page 25 - Israel-palestine

Netanyahu-Trump meeting reveals unexpected gaps on Iran, Gaza, tariffs

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Washington for a hastily organised White House visit bringing a long list of concerns: Iran's nuclear program, President Donald Trump's tariffs, the surging influence of rival Turkey in Syria, and the 18-month war in Gaza. Netanyahu appeared to leave Monday's meeting largely empty-handed a stark contrast with his triumphant visit two months ago. During an hourlong Oval Office appearance, Trump appeared to slap down, contradict or complicate each of Netanyahu's policy prerogatives. On Tuesday, Netanyahu declared the meeting a success, calling it a very good visit and claiming successes on all fronts. But privately, the Israeli delegation felt it was a tough meeting, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Netanyahu didn't hear exactly what he wanted to hear, so he returns back home with very little, said Nadav Eyal, a commentator with the Yediot Ahronot daily, w

Israeli strikes kill 25 in Gaza as Supreme Court hears Shin Bet cases

Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight and into Tuesday killed at least 25 people, including eight children and five women, according to Palestinian medics. Meanwhile, Israel's Supreme Court is hearing a group of eight cases challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial move to dismiss the head of the country's internal security agency. Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas in March and has cut off all food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza a tactic that rights groups say is a war crime while issuing new displacement orders that have forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee Israeli bombardments and ground operations. Israel's war in Gaza, now in its 18th month, has killed over 50,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Israel has vowed to escalate the war until Hamas returns dozens of remaining hostages, disarms and leaves the territory. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October

Why are protesters in Bangladesh vandalising Bata, KFC and Pizza Hut?

Outlets of Bata, KFC, and Pizza Hut vandalised across Bangladesh as protests erupt over Israeli strikes in Gaza and calls grow for a boycott of Israeli-linked brands

Nearly 400K Palestinians displaced following collapse of Gaza ceasefire: UN

Survivors across Gaza are being displaced repeatedly and forced into an ever-shrinking space where their basic needs just cannot be met, said UN spokesperson

Israel strikes tents near hospitals in Gaza, killing, wounding reporters

Israel struck tents outside two major hospitals in the Gaza Strip overnight, killing at least two people, including a local reporter, and wounding another nine, including six reporters, medics said Monday. Fifteen others were killed in separate strikes across the territory, according to hospitals. A strike on a media tent outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis at around 2 a.m. set the tent ablaze, killing Yousef al-Faqawi, a reporter for the Palestine Today TV station, and another man, according to the hospital. The six reporters were wounded in that strike. The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas militant, without providing further information. The military says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because it is deeply embedded in residential areas. Israel also struck tents on the edge of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah, wounding three people, according to the hospital. Nasser Hospital said it received another 13

Israel controls half of Gaza as Palestinians pushed into smaller zones

Israel has dramatically expanded its footprint in the Gaza Strip since relaunching its war against Hamas last month. It now controls more than 50 per cent of the territory and is squeezing Palestinians into shrinking wedges of land. The largest contiguous area the army controls is around the Gaza border, where the military has razed Palestinian homes, farmland and infrastructure to the point of uninhabitability, according to Israeli soldiers and rights groups. This military buffer zone has doubled in size in recent weeks. Israel has depicted its tightening grip as a temporary necessity to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages taken during the October 7, 2023, attack that started the war. But the land Israel holds, which includes a corridor that divides the territory's north from south, could be used for wielding long-term control, human rights groups and Gaza experts say. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that even after Hamas is defeated, Israel will

Netanyahu to urge Trump for tariff relief during meeting in Washington

Netanyahu, who has spent the last few days visiting Hungary, departs for Washington on Sunday for an impromptu visit with Trump that is expected to take place on Monday

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza kill 32 civilians; mostly women, children

Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 15 people, including 10 women and children, overnight and into Sunday, according to local health officials. Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas and renewed its air and ground war last month. It has carried out out waves of strikes and seized territory in order to pressure the militants to accept a new deal for a truce and hostage release. It has also blocked the import of food, fuel and humanitarian aid. The latest strikes hit a tent and a house in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing five men, five women and five children, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Fifty-nine hostages are still being held in Gaza 24 of whom are believed to be alive after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel's offensive has killed at least 50,695 Palestinians, according to

UK foreign secretary calls Israeli detention of two MPs 'unacceptable'

Lammy further emphasised the UK government's commitment to supporting the MPs and reiterated its focus on achieving a ceasefire

Microsoft employees protest at 50th anniversary party over Israel contract

A pro-Palestinian protest by Microsoft employees interrupted the company's 50th anniversary celebration Friday, the latest backlash over the tech industry's work to supply artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli military. The protest began as Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman was presenting product updates and a long-term vision for the company's AI assistant product, Copilot, to an audience that included Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former CEO Steve Ballmer. Mustafa, shame on you, shouted Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad as she walked toward the stage and Suleyman paused his speech. You claim that you care about using AI for good but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military. Fifty-thousand people have died and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region. Thank you for your protest, I hear you, Suleyman said. Aboussad continued, shouting that Suleyman and all of Microsoft had blood on their hands. She also threw onto the stage a keffiyeh scarf, which h

Israeli strikes kill nine in Syria as tensions rise over Turkish influence

Israeli strikes in Syria reportedly killed at least nine people in the southwest of the country on Thursday, as Israel accused Turkey of trying to build a protectorate in Syria. Syrian state news agency SANA said that those who died in the strikes were civilians, without giving details. Britain-based war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that they were armed residents from the Daraa province. Israel had also struck five cities in Syria late Wednesday, including more than a dozen strikes near a strategic air base in the city of Hama, where Turkey, a key ally of interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, reportedly has interests in having a military presence. Syria's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the strikes had resulted in the near-total destruction of the Hama military airport and the injury of dozens of civilians and military personnel. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar accused Turkey of playing a negative role in Syria. They are doing their utmost to h

Israeli strike on school in Gaza kills at least 27: Palestinian officials

An Israeli airstrike on Thursday killed at least 27 Palestinians sheltering at a school in northern Gaza and wounded 70 more, said Health Ministry spokesman Zaher al-Wahidi, as Israeli forces have expanded their strikes and evacuation orders across the war-torn territory in recent days. The bodies of 14 children and five women were recovered from the school in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City, and the death toll could still rise because some of the wounded had critical injuries, al-Wahidi said. The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas command and control centre in the Gaza City area, and said it took steps to lessen harm to civilians. It was not immediately clear if the military statement was referring to the strike on the school. Israel gave the same reason -- striking Hamas militants in a command and control centre -- for attacking a United Nations building used as a shelter on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people.

Hungary plans to withdraw from ICC as Netanyahu arrives despite warrant

Hungary said Thursday it will begin the procedure of withdrawing from the world's only permanent global tribunal for war crimes and genocide. Hungary will withdraw from the International Criminal Court, Gergely Gulys, who is Prime Minister Viktor Orbn chief of staff wrote in a brief statement. The government will initiate the withdrawal procedure on Thursday, in accordance with the constitutional and international legal framework. The announcement came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, despite an international arrest warrant against him over his conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip. Hungary's government, led by right-wing populist Orbn, extended the invitation to Netanyahu in November after the ICC, based in the Hague, Netherlands, issued the warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity. Orbn, a close Netanyahu ally, has called the arrest warrant outrageously impudent and cynical. Member countries of the ICC, such as Hungary

More than 50 Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes on Gaza

Overnight strikes by Israel killed at least 55 people across the Gaza Strip, hospital officials said Thursday, a day after senior government officials said Israel would seize large areas of Gaza and establish a new security corridor across the Palestinian territory. Israel has vowed to escalate the nearly 18-month war with Hamas until the militant group returns dozens of remaining hostages, disarms and leaves the territory. Israel has imposed a month-long halt on all imports of food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle. Officials in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the strip, said the bodies of 14 people had been taken to Nasser Hospital nine of them from the same family. The dead included five children and four women. The bodies of another 19 people, including five children aged between 1 and 7 years and a pregnant woman, were taken to the European hospital near Khan Younis, hospital officials said. In Gaza City, 21 bodie

Israel to create new Gaza security corridor to pressure Hamas: Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel is establishing a new security corridor across the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas, suggesting it would cut off the southern city of Rafah, which Israel has ordered evacuated, from the rest of the Palestinian territory. The announcement came after Netanyahu's defence minister said that Israel would seize large areas of Gaza and add them to its so-called security zones. A wave of Israeli strikes, meanwhile, killed more than 40 Palestinians, including several women and children, according to Palestinian health officials. Israel has vowed to escalate the nearly 18-month war with Hamas until the militant group returns dozens of remaining hostages, disarms and leaves the territory. Israel ended a ceasefire in March and has imposed a monthlong halt on all imports of food, fuel and humanitarian aid. Netanyahu described the new axis as the Morag corridor, using the name of a Jewish settlement that once stood between Rafah and Khan ..

Israel announces plan to seize parts of Gaza as military operation expands

Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip is expanding to seize large areas of the Gaza Strip, the defence minister said Wednesday. Israel's offensive in the Palestinian territory was expanding to crush and clean the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and capture large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel," Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a written statement. The defence minister called on Gaza residents to expel Hamas and return all hostages. The militant group still holds 59 captives, of whom 24 are believed to still be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Israel's offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, including hundreds killed in strikes since a ceasefire ended about two weeks ago, according to Gaza's Health Ministr

Fifteen aid workers found buried in Gaza, UN demands answers and justice

The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged last Friday that it had fired on ambulances and fire engines, saying they had identified them as "suspicious vehicles"

Israeli troops killed 15 Palestinian medics, buried them in mass grave: UN

Palestinians held funerals Monday for 15 medics and emergency responders killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza, after their bodies and mangled ambulances were found buried in an impromptu mass grave, apparently ploughed over by Israeli military bulldozers. The Palestinian Red Crescent says the workers and their vehicles were clearly marked as medical and humanitarian personnel and accused Israeli troops of killing them in cold blood. The Israeli military says its troops opened fire on vehicles that approached them suspiciously without identification. The dead included eight Red Crescent workers, six members of Gaza's Civil Defense emergency unit and a staffer from UNRWA, the UN's agency for Palestinians. The International Red Cross/Red Crescent said it was the deadliest attack on its personnel in eight years. Since the war in Gaza began 18 months ago, Israel has killed more than 100 Civil Defense workers and more than 1,000 health workers, according to the UN. The emergency tea

Israeli military orders mass evacuation of Gaza's southern city of Rafah

The Israeli military on Monday issued sweeping evacuation orders covering most of Rafah, indicating it could soon launch another major ground operation in the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip. Israel ended its ceasefire with the Hamas militant group and renewed its air and ground war earlier this month. At the beginning of March it cut off all supplies of food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid to the territory's roughly 2 million Palestinians to pressure Hamas to accept changes to the truce agreement. The evacuation orders appeared to cover nearly all of the city and nearby areas. The military ordered Palestinians to head to Muwasi, a sprawl of squalid tent camps along the coast. The orders came during Eid al-Fitr, a normally festive Muslim holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Israel launched a major operation in Rafah, on the border with Egypt, last May, leaving large parts of it in ruins. The military seized a strategic corridor along the border as well a

Palestinians in Gaza mark Eid-ul-Fitr with dwindling food, no end to war

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip had little to celebrate on Sunday as they began marking a normally festive Muslim holiday with rapidly dwindling food supplies and no end in sight to the Israel-Hamas war. Many held prayers outside demolished mosques on the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. It's supposed to be a joyous occasion, when families gather for feasts and purchase new clothes for children but most of Gaza's 2 million Palestinians are just trying to survive. It's the Eid of Sadness, Adel al-Shaer said after attending outdoor prayers in the central town of Deir al-Balah. We lost our loved ones, our children, our lives, and our futures. We lost our students, our schools, and our institutions. We lost everything. Twenty members of his extended family have been killed in Israeli strikes, including four young nephews just a few days ago, he said as he broke into tears. Israel ended the ceasefire with Hamas and resumed the war earlier this month w