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Israel has repeatedly blamed Hamas for hiding behind civilians in Gaza's hospitals and other medical facilities, accusations the militant group denies
The United States has welcomed the formation of a new Palestinian autonomy government, signalling it is accepting the revised Cabinet lineup as a step toward Palestinian political reform. The Biden administration has called for revitalising the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority in hopes that it can also administer the Gaza Strip once the Israel-Hamas war ends. The war erupted nearly six months ago, triggered by an October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel. In a statement late Friday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the United States looks forward to working with the new group of ministers to deliver on credible reforms. A revitalised PA is essential to delivering results for the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and Gaza and establishing the conditions for stability in the broader region, Miller said. The Palestinian Authority administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It is headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has not faced a
The US on Wednesday imposed sanctions on online media site Gaza Now and its founder Mustafa Ayash for allegedly supporting Hamas. US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control says that after the October 7 attack by Hamas against Israel the online entity began a fundraising effort in support of the militant organisation. Gaza Now's Arabic channel has more than 300,000 followers on social media channel X, formerly known as Twitter, and a large following on the encrypted chat platform Telegram. Included in the sanctions are firms Al-Qureshi Executives and Aakhirah Ltd., and their director Aozma Sultana, who are alleged to have partnered on multiple fundraising efforts alongside Gaza Now. The sanctions were imposed in collaboration with the UK's Office of Foreign Sanctions Implementation. Treasury Under Secretary Brian Nelson said in a statement that the US and its partners "will continue to leverage our tools to disrupt Hamas' ability to facilitate further attacks. A representati
Talks have restarted aimed at bringing top Israeli officials to Washington to discuss potential military operations in Gaza, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a planned visit this week because he was angry about the US vote on a UN cease-fire resolution, two US officials said on Wednesday. No date has been finalised for strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer and national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi to come to Washington, the officials said. The officials were not authorised to speak publicly about the sensitive discussions and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. An Israeli official said the White House had reached out with the goal of setting a new meeting. The official was not authorized to talk to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity. Netanyahu's office said the prime minister did not authorise the departure of the delegation to Washington. The prime minister cancelled the trip this week after the UN vote to demand a cease-fire in .
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Around 30 rockets were launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel on Wednesday morning, according to the Israeli military. Hezbollah took responsibility for the launches and said they were in response to an Israeli airstrike on a paramedic centre linked to a Lebanese Sunni Muslim group in south Lebanon that killed seven of its members overnight. Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group began launching rockets toward Israel one day after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7. There has been near-daily violence, mostly confined to the area along the Lebanon-Israel border, and international mediators are scrambling to prevent an all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that his government will not accept Hamas' delusional conditions for a cease-fire in Gaza. The militant group rejected the latest truce proposal because it says Israel is ignoring the group's core demands: an end to the war and Israel's full ...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday blasted a UN Security Council resolution calling for a Gaza cease-fire that his country's top ally, the US, chose not to block. He said the resolution had emboldened Hamas and he vowed to press ahead with the war. As the war grinds through a sixth month, both Israel and Hamas have rejected international cease-fire efforts, each insisting its version of victory is within reach. The passage of the UN resolution has also escalated tensions between the US and Israel over the conduct of the war. Netanyahu has said Israel can only achieve its aims of dismantling Hamas and returning scores of hostages if it expands its ground offensive to the southern city of Rafah, where over half of Gaza's population has sought refuge, many in crowded tent camps. The US has said a major assault on Rafah would be a mistake. Hamas says it will hold onto the hostages until Israel agrees to a more permanent cease-fire, withdraws its forces from Gaza and ..
Hamas has rejected the latest cease-fire proposal, accusing Israel of ignoring its core demands, which include an end to the war and a full withdrawal from Gaza. In a statement late Monday, the militant group said it had informed mediators that it was sticking to its original position, conveyed earlier in March. It said Israel had not responded to its core demands of a comprehensive cease-fire, an (Israeli) withdrawal from the Strip, the return of displaced people and a real prisoner exchange. The statement came shortly after the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire and the release of all hostages held in Gaza. The vote provoked a clash between Israel and the United States, which decided not to use its veto power Monday. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a high-level delegation's planned visit to Washington. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Hamas' demands, calling them delusion
Targets included tunnel shafts, terror infrastructure, and a launching area from where rockets were fired at the Israeli city of Sderot
Former US President Donald Trump said he would have responded the same way as Israel did after the October 7 attack by Hamas but urged the country to "finish up" its offensive in Gaza and "get this over with", warning about international support fading. "You have to finish up your war. You have to finish it up. You've got to get it done," he said in an interview with Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom. "We've got to get to peace. You can't have this going on, and I will say Israel has to be very careful because you are losing a lot of the world. You are losing a lot of support." Trump, who earlier this month became the Republican Party's presumptive nominee, brought up global criticism of Israel's offensive even as he has repeatedly attacked President Joe Biden's handling of the conflict. According to the newspaper's transcript of the interview, Trump said "Israel made a very big mistake" in releasing photos and videos of its offensive in Gaza, commenting the country's public image is "
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UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres stood near a long line of waiting trucks Saturday and declared it was time to truly flood Gaza with life-saving aid," calling the starvation inside the enclave a moral outrage. He called for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Guterres spoke on the Egyptian side of the border not far from the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where Israel plans to launch a ground assault despite widespread warnings of a potential disaster. More than half of Gaza's population has taken refuge there. Any further onslaught will make things even worse worse for Palestinian civilians, worse for hostages and worse for all people in the region," Guterres said. He spoke a day after the UN Security Council failed to reach consensus on the wording of a resolution supporting an immediate and sustained cease-fire. Guterres repeatedly noted the difficulties of getting aid into Gaza, for which international aid agencies have largely blamed Israel. Here from this ..
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday once again left the Middle East empty-handed as Israel's prime minister rejected American appeals to call off a promised ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which is overflowing with displaced civilians. The tough message from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sets the stage for potentially difficult talks next week in Washington between top U.S. officials and a high-level Israeli delegation. Netanyahu said Israel is ready to do it alone in Rafah if necessary. Despite their differences, the Biden administration has continued to provide crucial military aid and diplomatic support, even as Israel's war against Hamas has killed more than 32,000 people in Gaza and led to a worsening humanitarian crisis. Israel says Rafah is the last remaining stronghold of Hamas and says the militant group's forces there must be defeated for Israel to meet its war objectives. Israel vowed to destroy Hamas following the group's Oct. 7 attack
The United Nations Security Council is set to vote on a United States-sponsored resolution declaring that an immediate and sustained cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is imperative to protect civilians and enable humanitarian aid to be delivered to more than 2 million hungry Palestinians. US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said she was optimistic that the new, tougher draft resolution would be approved Friday by the 15-member council. The draft being put to a vote determines which is a council order the imperative of an immediate and sustained cease-fire, with no direct link to the release of hostages taken during Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel, which was in the previous draft. But it would unequivocally support diplomatic efforts to secure such a cease-fire in connection with the release of all remaining hostages. Russia's deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky said Moscow will not be satisfied with anything that doesn't call for an immediate cease-fire, saying it's
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday a major Israeli ground assault on the southern Gaza town of Rafah would be a mistake and unnecessary to defeating Hamas, underscoring the further souring of relations between the United States and Israel. Blinken, on his sixth urgent Mideast mission since the war began, spoke after huddling with top Arab diplomats in Cairo for discussions over efforts for a cease-fire and over ideas for Gaza's post-conflict future. He said an immediate, sustained ceasefire with the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas was urgently needed and that gaps were narrowing in indirect negotiations that US, Egypt and Qatar have spent weeks mediating. Blinken heads to Israel on Friday to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet. The growing disagreements between Netanyahu and President Joe Biden over the prosecution of the war will likely overshadow the talks particularly over Netanyahu's determination to launch a ground assault on ..
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was imperative that protecting civilians 'who are in harm's way' be treated as a priority
Latest news updates: Catch all the news updates from around the world here
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday agreed to send a team of Israeli officials to Washington to discuss with Biden administration officials a prospective Rafah operation, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. We've arrived at a point where each side has been making clear to the other its perspective, Sullivan said. The White House has been sceptical of Netanyahu's plan to carry out an operation in the southern city of Rafah, where about 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering, as Israel looks to eliminate Hamas following Hamas' deadly Oct 7 attack. The development comes as President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke, their first interaction in more than a month, as the divide has grown between allies over the food crisis in Gaza and Israel's conduct during the war, according to the White House. The call comes after Republicans in Washington and Israeli officials were quick to express outrage after Senate Majority Leader Chuck