Page 4 - Israel-palestine

Israel renews ceasefire enforcement after strikes on Hamas sites in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed condolences to the families of two IDF soldiers, Major Yaniv Kula and Staff Sergeant Itay Ya'avetz, who were killed in the Rafah incident

Israel strikes Gaza, accuses Hamas of attacks in gravest test of truce

Israel's military said it struck multiple targets on Sunday in Gaza, using aircraft and artillery, after it said Hamas militants shot at Israeli soldiers who were inside the area still under Israeli control, the first major test of the ceasefire reached over a week ago. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held consultations with Israel's security heads and directed the military to take strong action against any ceasefire violations, but did not threaten to return to war. Hamas said that it was not connected to any clashes in Rafah in Southern Gaza. The strikes came as Israel identified the remains of two hostages released by Hamas overnight, and the Palestinian group said talks to launch the second phase of ceasefire negotiations have begun. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the bodies belonged to Ronen Engel, a father of three from Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Sonthaya Oakkharasri, a Thai agricultural worker killed at Kibbutz Be'eri. Both were believed to have been killed duri

Israel identifies body of hostage as major Gaza crossing remains closed

Israel identified the body of a deceased hostage Sunday morning, after Hamas handed over two bodies of what the militant group said are deceased hostages to the Red Cross late Saturday night. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the body was identified as Ronen Engel. The second body is still undergoing identification at Israel's National Institute of Forensic Medicine. Engel, 54, was killed during the Oct 7 attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz on the Gaza border. His wife, Karina, and two of his three children were kidnapped and released in a ceasefire in November 2023. The move comes as Israel threatened to keep the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt closed until further notice. The statement by Netanyahu's office said reopening Rafah would depend on how Hamas fulfills its ceasefire role of returning the remains of all 28 deceased hostages. Hamas has handed over the remains of 11 identified hostages. Israel has returned the bodies of 135 Palestinians to Gaza. The handover of rema

US warns Hamas planning attack on Palestinians in violation of ceasefire

The US State Department said on Saturday that it has "credible reports" that Hamas could violate the ceasefire with an attack on Palestinian civilians in Gaza. If the attack takes place, it "would constitute a direct and grave violation" of the agreement forged by President Donald Trump to end the two-year war between Israel and Hamas, the statement said. No further details were disclosed about the potential attack. "Should Hamas proceed with this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire," the State Department said. Trump previously warned on social media that "if Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them.

Rafah crossing to reopen Monday for returnees to Gaza: Palestinian embassy

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will reopen Monday for people returning to Gaza, the Palestinian embassy in Egypt said Saturday, but the territory's sole gateway to the outside world will remain closed to people trying to leave. The number of people registering to return to Gaza is very big, Naji al-Naji, cultural counselor at the embassy, told The Associated Press without saying how many. There was no immediate comment from Israel. The Rafah crossing is the only one not controlled by Israel before the war. It has been closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of the Gaza side. A fully reopened crossing would make it easier for Gazans to seek medical treatment, travel internationally or visit family in Egypt, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians. Meanwhile, Gaza's ruins were being scoured for the dead, over a week into a ceasefire. Newly recovered bodies brought the Palestinian toll above 68,000, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, part o

Daily struggles persist in Gaza even as ceasefire offers some respite

Bassil Naggar can finally sleep without getting jolted awake by the sounds of Israeli airstrikes. For Naggar and his displaced family, and for many in Gaza facing similar challenges, the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war has provided a much-needed respite from a two-year war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and left much of the territory in ruins. But many daily struggles, big and small, persist from how to put an actual roof over one's head and what to wear as winter approaches, to how to secure proper food, to worries over whether the fragile ceasefire will hold. The extent of some of the personal and communal losses has become clearer since the ceasefire went into effect on October 10, allowing many to return to their neighbourhoods and discover what remains of their homes. Life after the ceasefire is still anxious. Is the war really over? said Naggar, who has been displaced about a dozen times since the war began. Fuelling his fears are memories of the deadly

A herculean task: The Gaza peace plan will fail without US troops

Do the US, and its allies from the Arab world and Europe, have the required determination to buy that admission ticket and help implement the tenuous ceasefire?

Pro-Hamas hackers hit US and Canada airports with anti-Trump messages

Hackers disrupted public announcement systems in at least four airports in the US and Canada, broadcasting foreign-language messages and music. They accessed the system via third-party software

We'll have to go in if Hamas doesn't stop killings in Gaza, says Trump

Trump's remarks suggest the possibility of direct US military involvement in Gaza, marking a shift from earlier statements that the US would support renewed Israeli action if the ceasefire was broken

With Gaza ceasefire taking hold, Trump now looking to 'get Russia done'

With a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal holding, President Donald Trump says he's now turning his attention to bringing Russia's war on Ukraine to an end and is weighing providing Kyiv long-range weaponry as he looks to prod Moscow to the negotiating table. Ending the wars in Ukraine and Gaza was central to Trump's 2024 reelection pitch, in which he persistently pilloried President Joe Biden for his handling of the conflicts. Yet, like his predecessor, Trump also has been stymied by President Vladimir Putin as he's unsuccessfully pressed the Russian leader to hold direct talks with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy to end the war that is nearing its fourth year. But fresh off the Gaza ceasefire, Trump is showing new confidence that he can finally make headway on ending the Russian invasion. He's also signalling that he's ready to step up pressure on Putin if he doesn't come to the table soon. Interestingly we made progress today, because of what's happened in the Middle

Israel receives remains of 2 hostages; body mix-up strains fragile truce

Israel received the remains of two more hostages on Wednesday, hours after the Israeli military said that one of the bodies previously turned over was not that of a hostage. The confusion added to tensions over the fragile truce that has paused the two-year war. The remains were transferred by the Red Cross from Hamas. After the two coffins arrived in Israel, the military in a statement cautioned that the hostages' identities had yet to be verified. Meanwhile, the Gaza Health Ministry said it received 45 more bodies of Palestinians from Israel, another step in implementation of the ceasefire agreement. That brought to 90 the total number of bodies returned to Gaza for burial. The forensics team examining the remains said they showed signs of mistreatment. As part of the deal, four bodies of hostages were handed over by Hamas on Tuesday, following four on Monday that were returned hours after the last 20 living hostages were released from Gaza. In all, Israel has been awaiting the ..

India backs two-state solution at NAM meet on Palestine in Kampala

Minister of State for External Affairs highlighted India's ongoing development cooperation and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people

Aid trucks enter Gaza as dispute over hostage bodies is temporarily paused

Hamas returned four bodies confirmed as dead hostages on Monday and another four bodies late on Tuesday, though Israeli authorities said one of those bodies was not that of a hostage

1 of 4 bodies handed by Hamas is not that of a hostage: Israeli military

The Israeli military said Wednesday that one of the bodies handed over by Hamas the previous day as part of the ceasefire deal is not that of one of the hostages who was held in Gaza. Four bodies were handed over by Hamas on Tuesday to ease pressure on the fragile ceasefire, following the first four on Monday - when the last 20 living hostages were released. The military said that following the completion of examinations at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, the fourth body handed over to Israel by Hamas does not match any of the hostages.

If they don't disarm, we will disarm them: Trump issues warning to Hamas

The President's statement on Hamas' disarmament added further clarity to the terms of the US-brokered peace agreement

Israel receives remains of 4 more deceased hostages as Gaza aid cuts loom

Hamas hastened on Tuesday to ease the pressure on a fragile ceasefire in its war with Israel by returning the bodies of more dead hostages. The move came after an Israeli military agency said it would slash aid deliveries to Gaza by half over concerns that the militant group was handing remains over slower than agreed. The Israeli Prime Minister's office confirmed late on Tuesday that authorities received four deceased hostages that the Red Cross handed over to Israeli military authorities inside Gaza. The bodies will be taken to the National Centre for Forensic Medicine where they will be identified and the families notified. This latest transfer of remains comes a day after Israel received the bodies of four other dead hostages. Despite the development, it was unclear if the Israeli military agency known as COGAT will follow through with its decision to allow into Gaza only half of the 600 aid trucks called for under the deal. The United Nations' humanitarian office in ...

Israel to halve Gaza aid over slow return of dead hostages, tests truce

The fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war was tested Tuesday as the slower-than-hoped return of deceased hostages from Gaza prompted an Israeli military agency to declare a violation of the truce agreement that it would respond to by halving the number of trucks allowed to bring humanitarian aid into the devastated territory. The United Nations' humanitarian office in Gaza received word of the cuts from the Israeli military agency in charge of transferring aid to the territory, according to spokesperson Olga Cherevko. US officials and international aid groups were also notified, according to three AP sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. The Israeli government did not immediately comment. A day earlier, Israelis celebrated the return of the last 20 living hostages in Gaza and Palestinians rejoiced at Israel's release of some 2,000 prisoners and detainees as part of the ceasefire's first phase. But now attention in Israel has turned to when Hamas

Trump's peace plan faces toughest test in deweaponising Hamas in Gaza

Despite Trump's repeated, unqualified declarations that the war is over, backsliding on either side could threaten a renewal of fighting, analysts said

Amazon fires employee who protested company's ties to Israeli govt

Ahmed Shahrour, a 29-year-old Palestinian engineer, was fired on Monday for violations of company policy