Page 26 - Israel-palestine

US and Israel look to Africa for resettling Palestinians uprooted from Gaza

The US and Israel have reached out to officials of three East African governments to discuss using their territories as potential destinations for resettling Palestinians uprooted from the Gaza Strip under President Donald Trump's proposed postwar plan, American and Israeli officials say. The contacts with Sudan, Somalia and the breakaway region of Somalia known as Somaliland reflect the determination by the US and Israel to press ahead with a plan that has been widely condemned and raised serious legal and moral issues. Because all three places are poor, and in some cases wracked by violence, the proposal also casts doubt on Trump's stated goal of resettling Gaza's Palestinians in a beautiful area. Officials from Sudan said they have rejected overtures from the US, while officials from Somalia and Somaliland told The Associated Press that they were not aware of any contacts. Under Trump's plan, Gaza's more than 2 million people would be permanently sent elsewhere. He has proposed t

UN accuses Israel of sexual violence, Netanyahu alleges anti-Israel bias

United Nations-backed human rights experts on Thursday accused Israel of "the systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence" in its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The allegations came in one of the most extensive reports of its kind on the issue since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel ignited the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the Human Rights Council, a UN-backed body that commissioned the team of independent experts, as an "anti-Israel circus" that "has long been exposed as an antisemitic, rotten, terrorist-supporting, and irrelevant body". His statement did not address the findings themselves. The findings by the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which seeks to document in minute detail the allegations and evidence of crimes to bolster accountability for perpetrators, could be used by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court or in other jurisdictions to try to bring justice

Jewish protesters flood Trump Tower to demand Mahmoud Khalil's release

Demonstrators from a Jewish group filled the lobby of Trump Tower on Thursday to denounce the immigration arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist who helped lead protests against Israel at Columbia University. The demonstrators from Jewish Voice for Peace wore red shirts reading "Jews say stop arming Israel" and held up banners as they chanted "Bring Mahmoud home now!" on the lower level of the Fifth Avenue building's public atrium. After warning the protesters to leave, police said they arrested 98 people who stayed on various charges, including trespassing, obstruction and resisting arrest. Khalil, a 30-year-old permanent US resident who is married to an American citizen and who has not been charged with breaking any laws, was arrested outside his New York City apartment on Saturday and faces deportation. He is being held at an immigration detention centre in Louisiana. President Donald Trump has said Khalil's arrest was the first "of many to come" and vowed on socia

'No one is expelling anyone', says Trump as he presses Gaza takeover plan

US President Donald Trump's comments follow his administration's proposal to relocate Gazans and allow the US to take control of the strip for reconstruction

Israel faces backlash for cutting power to Gaza ahead of ceasefire talks

Gaza ceasefire negotiations are expected to continue in Qatar with Hamas pushing for Phase II, while Israel wants to extend Phase 1

Arrest of Palestinian activist at Columbia will be 'first of many': Trump

President Donald Trump warned Monday that the arrest and possible deportation of a Palestinian activist who helped lead protests at Columbia University will be the first of many to come as his administration cracks down on campus demonstrations against Israel and the war in Gaza. Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful U.S. resident who was a graduate student at Columbia until December, was detained Saturday by federal immigration agents in New York and flown to an immigration jail in Louisiana. We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, Trump wrote in a social media post. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country never to return again. But a federal judge in New York City ordered Monday that Khalil not be deported while the court considered a legal challenge brought by his lawyers. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. Khalil's detention dre

Israel cuts electricity supply to Gaza to push Hamas on ceasefire, hostages

The move follows Israel's decision last week to block all aid to the war-torn enclave, a step similar of its earlier measures at the onset of the conflict, when it declared a 'siege' on Gaza

Palestinian activist student detained by officials at Columbia University

ICE had orders from the State Department to revoke Mahmoud Khalil's student visa

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.

Activists vandalise Trump golf resort over his remark on emptying out Gaza

Pro-Palestinian activists said Saturday they have vandalised one of US President Donald Trump's golf resorts in Scotland in response to his proposal to empty the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian population. Activists targeted Trump's Turnberry golf course and hotel in southwest Scotland overnight, painting Gaza Is Not For Sale in giant letters on the lawn and using red spray paint on the club house's exterior wall. The group Palestine Action said it rejects Donald Trump's treatment of Gaza as though it were his property to dispose of as he likes. To make that clear, we have shown him that his own property is not safe from acts of resistance," it said in a statement. Police Scotland said it received a report of damage to the golf course in the early hours of Saturday, and that inquiries are ongoing. The future of Gaza is uncertain as the first phase of a ceasefire that paused the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas ended with no clarity on what would come next because the agreement'

Israel's delegation to visit Qatar for 'advancing' ceasefire negotiations

Israel said that it would send a delegation to Qatar on Monday in an effort to advance the negotiations around the ceasefire in Gaza, while Hamas reported positive signals in talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators on starting negotiations on the truce's delayed second phase. The statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office gave no details except to say it had accepted the invitation of US-backed mediators. Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua also gave no details. Talks on the second phase should have started a month ago. There was no immediate comment from the White House, which on Wednesday made the surprise confirmation of direct US talks with Hamas. Over the past week, Israel has pressed Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for an extension of the first phase, which ended last weekend, and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others. Israel last weekend cut off all

Gaza aid imperiled as millions in promised USAID funds remain undelivered

The Trump administration's cuts to USAID have frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in contractual payments to aid groups, leaving them paying out of pocket to preserve a fragile ceasefire, according to officials from the U.S. humanitarian agency. The cutbacks threaten to halt the small gains aid workers have made combatting Gaza's humanitarian crisis during the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. They also could endanger the tenuous truce, which the Trump administration helped cement. USAID was supposed to fund much of the aid to Gaza as the ceasefire progressed, and the Trump administration approved over $383 million on January 31 to that end, according to three USAID officials. But since then, there have been no confirmed payments to any partners in the Middle East, they said. The officials, who have survived multiple rounds of furloughs, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. Two senior officials at aid organizations confirmed they have not received any of the promised .

Egypt's proposal to rebuild Gaza fails to meet requirements, says US

Egyptian plan, which was endorsed this week by the Arab League, includes temporary housing inside Gaza for 1.5 million displaced Palestinians during reconstruction, estimated to cost about $50 bn

Trump admin rejects Gaza reconstruction plan proposed by Arab leaders

Trump administration has said that US President Donald Trump stands by his vision, which includes expelling the Palestinian residents of the territory

'If you hold hostages, you are dead': Trump issues 'last warning' to Hamas

Donald Trump's statement comes after the White House confirmed that a US envoy was dispatched to Qatar for direct talks with Hamas

US holds secret talks with Hamas for release of US hostages in Gaza

US special envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler has been holding the direct talks with Hamas in recent weeks in Doha

Arab leaders back counteroffer to Trump's Gaza plan as ceasefire falters

Arab leaders meeting in Cairo on Tuesday are set to endorse a counterproposal to US President Donald Trump's call for the Gaza Strip to be depopulated and transformed into a beach destination, even as the continuation of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire is uncertain. The summit hosted by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is expected to include the leaders of regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, whose support is crucial for any postwar plan. Israel has meanwhile embraced what it says is an alternative US proposal for the ceasefire itself and the release of hostages taken in Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. It has blocked the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza to try to get Hamas to accept the new proposal and has warned of additional consequences, raising fears of a return to war. The suspension of aid drew widespread criticism, with human rights groups saying it violated Israel's obligations as an occupying po

One killed, four injured in Israel stabbing attack; suspect shot dead

The attack in Israel happened amid heightened regional tensions over the ceasefire situation in Gaza

Creators of 'No Other Land' urge to end Gaza's ethnic cleansing at Oscars

The documentary 'No Other Land' won the Oscar for Best Documentary on Sunday. It tells the story of Palestinian activists trying to stop the Israeli military from demolishing their communities