An Israeli strike on a five-story building where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 34 people early Tuesday, more than half of them women and children, Gaza's Health Ministry said. The ministry's emergency service said another 20 people were wounded in the strike in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, near the Israeli border. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has been waging a large-scale operation in northern Gaza for more than three weeks, targeting what it says are pockets of Hamas militants who have regrouped there. The dead included a mother and her five children, some of them adults, and a second mother with her six children, according to an initial casualty list provided by the emergency service. Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital, said it was overwhelmed by the wave of wounded people from the strike. Israeli forces raided the medical facility over the weekend, ...
Israel's parliament has passed two laws that could prevent the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, a main provider of aid to Gaza, from being able to continue its work. The laws ban the agency, UNRWA, from operating in Israel, designate it a terror organisation, and cut all ties between the agency and the Israeli government. It's the culmination of a long-running campaign against the agency, which Israel contends has been infiltrated by Hamas. But supporters say Israel's real aim is to sideline the issue of Palestinian refugees. The agency is the major distributor of aid in Gaza and provides education, health and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The head of the agency, Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini, called the move unprecedented on X following the vote and said the bills will only deepen the suffering Palestinians, especially in Gaza where people have been going through more than a year
Last week, India sent its first tranche of assistance for the people of Palestine through UNRWA
The South African legal team delivered a nearly 5,000-page document to the United Nations' top court on Monday, the latest step in a case the country brought accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The document, which the International Court of Justice will not make public until a later stage in the proceedings, puts forth the main case that Israel has a special intent to commit genocide, according to a statement from South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa. Israel has fiercely denied the allegations. The government called the case blood libel when South Africa launched the complaint in Dec. 2023. On Monday a court official at the ICJ confirmed that they had received the document. The filing takes place as the Israeli military has called on Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza, where it has been waging a large offensive for more than three weeks. The U.N. said earlier this month at least 400,000 people are still in northern Gaza and hunger is rampant
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This proposal, which includes an additional 10 days of negotiations following the release of the hostages
Israel's latest strike against Iran may actually de-escalate regional tensions - for now, at least
The Ministry noted that Iran has launched hundreds of missiles directly toward Israel during two attacks in April and October and funds and directs terrorist activity through its proxies
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A report said that the university cancelled the seminars without offering a detailed reason. Insiders indicate concerns over potential campus protests influenced the decision
Those killed included cameraman Ghassan Najjar and engineer Mohamed Reda who worked for pro-Iranian news outlet Al-Mayadeen and one cameraman who worked for Hezbollah's Al-Manar
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US reportedly investigating last week's leak of its highly classified intelligence about Israeli plans for retaliation against Iran's October 1 missile barrage
Israeli strikes targeted the central Damascus neighbourhood of Kafr Sousa and a military site in the Homs countryside, killing one soldier and injuring 7 other people, the ministry said in a statement
France on Thursday hosts an international conference for Lebanon to rally military and humanitarian aid for the country where war between Hezbollah militants and Israel has displaced a million people, killed over 2,500 and deepened an economic crisis. Paris also seeks to help restore Lebanon's sovereignty and strengthen its institutions. The country, where Hezbollah effectively operates as a state within a state, has been without a president for two years while political factions fail to agree on a new one. But the international conference comes as critics say French President Emmanuel Macron's diplomatic approach in the Middle East has been blurred by his apparent evolving approach and sometimes chaotic communication. Still, France's historic links with Lebanon, a former colony, and its influential diplomacy give Paris momentum to coordinate a proper response to the massive challenge that the war in Lebanon now poses, said Middle East expert Rym Montaz, editor in chief of Carnegie
The Israeli army on Wednesday accused six Al Jazeera journalists covering the war in Gaza of also being current or former paid fighters for Palestinian militant groups. Al Jazeera rejected the claims. Israel cited documents it purportedly found in Gaza, and other intelligence it gathered, in making the accusations against the journalists, all of whom are Palestinian men. It said four are or have been affiliated with Hamas, and two with Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Al Jazeera said the accusations were fabricated and part of a wider pattern of hostility toward the pan-Arab network. It said the claims were a blatant attempt to silence the few remaining journalists in the region, thereby obscuring the harsh realities of the war from audiences worldwide. The AP has been unable to independently verify the authenticity of the documents Israel posted online to support its claims. Al Jazeera is based in the energy-rich nation of Qatar, where many senior Hamas officials are based. The Gulf Ara
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Blinken said new formulations were being examined in an effort to win freedom for hostages held in Gaza and bring an end to the war
Air raid sirens echoed across Tel Aviv on Wednesday as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to end a visit. Smoke, apparently from an intercepted projectile, could be seen in the sky above the hotel where Blinken was staying. Blinken said Israel needs to pursue an enduring strategic success after its recent tactical victories against Hamas, urging it to seek a deal to end the war and bring back dozens of hostages before leaving for Saudi Arabia, as part of his 11th visit to the region since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. But both sides appear to be dug in. Netanyahu has pledged to annihilate Hamas and recover dozens of hostages held by the group. Hamas says it will only release the captives in return for a lasting cease-fire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel's security fence and stormed in, killing some 1,200 people - mostly civilians - and abducting another 250. ...
UN agencies have long warned that it could take decades to rebuild Gaza after Israel's offensive against Hamas, one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns since World War II. Now, more than a year into the war, a new report speaks in terms of centuries. The UN Conference on Trade and Development said in a report released on Monday that if the war ends tomorrow and Gaza returns to the status quo before Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, it could take 350 years for its battered economy to return to its precarious prewar level. Before the war, Gaza was under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade imposed after Hamas seized power in 2007. Four previous wars and divisions between Hamas and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank also took a toll on Gaza's economy. The current war has caused staggering destruction across the territory, with entire neighbourhoods obliterated and roads and critical infrastructure in ruins. Mountains of rubble laced with