Page 113 - Israel

Palestinian death toll reaches 20,424 amid Israel war: Hamas-run Gaza govt

Israel says it has achieved almost complete operational control over northern Gaza and is preparing to expand a ground offensive against Hamas militants to other areas

Pentagon says Iranian drone struck chemical tanker in Indian Ocean: Report

The incident comes as the latest illustration of the growing regional tensions after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel

Israel strikes 2 homes, more than 90 Palestinians killed, hundreds detained

More than 90 Palestinians, including dozens from an extended family, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on two homes, rescuers and hospital officials said Saturday, a day after the UN chief warned again that nowhere is safe in Gaza and that Israel's offensive is creating massive obstacles to distribution of humanitarian aid. Also Saturday, the Israeli military said troops arrested hundreds of alleged militants in Gaza over the past week and transferred more than 200 of them to Israel for further interrogation, providing rare details on a controversial policy of mass roundups of Palestinian men. The army said more than 700 people with alleged ties to the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have so far been sent to Israeli lockups. Israel declared war after Hamas gunmen stormed across the border on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking some 240 hostages. More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's war to destroy Hamas and more than 53,000 have been wounded, .

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136 of our colleagues in Gaza killed in 75 days, says UN Chief Guterres

Guterres said that no one has ever seen such number of casualties of the UN staff in the history of the world organisation

Gaza death toll exceeds 20,000 as Israel expands ground war against Hamas

Israel's war to destroy Hamas has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, health officials in Gaza said on Friday, as Israel expanded its offensive and ordered tens of thousands more people to leave their homes. The deaths amount to nearly 1 per cent of the territory's prewar population the latest indication of the 11-week-old conflict's staggering human toll. Israel's aerial and ground offensive has been one of the most devastating military campaigns in modern history, displacing nearly 85 per cent of Gaza's 2.3 million people and leveling wide swaths of the tiny coastal enclave. More than half a million people in Gaza a quarter of the population are starving, according to a report Thursday from the United Nations and other agencies. Israel declared war after Hamas's October 7 attack, in which militants from Gaza stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking some 240 hostages. Israel has vowed to keep up the fight until Hamas is destroyed and removed from powe

Gaza death toll crosses 20,000 as Israel expands ground offensive

The Palestinian death toll in Gaza surpassed 20,000, health officials said Friday, the latest indication of the staggering cost of the war as Israel expanded its ground offensive and ordered tens of thousands more people to leave their homes. The deaths, amounting to nearly 1 per cent of the territory's pre-war population, are just one measure of the devastation wrought by the conflict that over 11 weeks has displaced nearly 85 per cent of Gaza's people and levelled wide swaths of the tiny coastal enclave. More than half a million people in Gaza a quarter of the population are starving, according to a report Thursday from the United Nations and other agencies describing the crisis caused by Israel's bombardment and siege on the territory in response to Hamas' October 7 attack. Despite the emergency, a UN Security Council vote on aid deliveries and terms for a cease-fire was delayed again late Thursday, after days of high-level negotiations. The United States, which has veto power

UNSC adopts resolution demanding unhindered aid access throughout Gaza

The UN Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution demanding the immediate and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid throughout the Gaza Strip and to create conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities in the Israel-Hamas conflict. The 15-nation Council voted on Friday, after days of delays, on a draft resolution proposed by the United Arab Emirates. The resolution was adopted after 13 members voted in favour of the resolution, none against while the US and Russia abstained. The resolution demanded that parties to the conflict allow, facilitate and enable the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip, and in this regard calls for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities. The resolution also demanded that the parties to the conflict allow and ...

Israel established full 'operational control' over Gaza's Shejaiya: IDF

According to the IDF, dozens of tuneel shafts found in homes, schools, health clinics and weapons were destroyed

US expects Israel to shift to targeted operations in Gaza: Secy Blinken

Hostage deal uncertain after Egypt's talks end without results

UNSC again delays vote on Gaza aid resolution amid talks to avoid US veto

The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday again delayed a vote on a new resolution about desperately needed aid to Gaza until the following day as the Biden administration struggles to change key wording in high-level negotiations seeking to avoid a U.S. veto. The United States seeks to change the text's references to a cessation of hostilities in the Israel-Hamas war, and the part about putting the United Nations in charge of inspecting trucks to ensure they are actually carrying humanitarian goods, which Israel opposes. Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh of the United Arab Emirates, which sponsored the Arab-backed resolution, said very high-level discussions are taking place to try to reach agreement on a text that can be adopted. Everyone wants to see a resolution that has impact and that is implementable on the ground, she told reporters after the 15 council members held closed consultations. We believe today, giving a little bit of space for additional diplomacy, could yield positive ...

Top leader has arrived in Cairo for talks on the war in Gaza, says Hamas

Hamas says its top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, has arrived in Cairo for talks on the war in Gaza. Egypt, along with Qatar where Haniyeh is believed to be based have both played a key role as mediators between the militant group and Israel since the war that began with Hamas' October 7 attack. Hamas said Haniyeh would discuss the war with Egyptian officials after having arrived Wednesday in Cairo, but did not provide details. Negotiations were underway on another cease-fire and the release of more hostages held by the militant group, but the two sides were believed to be far from an agreement.

Israel to recruit thousands of Indian construction workers to fill shortage

A team of "selectors" from Israel visited India last week and another senior delegation will leave for India next week to start the process of recruiting thousands of workers to be brought to the country to fill in the acute shortage faced by its construction industry, a senior executive at the Israel Builders Association said on Wednesday. "We will start the process in Delhi and Chennai next week on December 27. At the moment we are looking to bring in 10,000 as per government approvals and this will scale up to 30,000 in the near future depending on how it goes. It is an ongoing exercise and will take months," Deputy Director General and Spokesperson for the Israel Builders Association (IBA), Shay Pauzner, told PTI. "The selection starting next week will last 10-15 days," Pauzner said. A delegation led by Izchak Gurvitz, who heads the IBA's division dealing with workers' issues and the selection team, was in India last week and would be joining CEO Igal Slovik again next week with

Israeli airstrikes kill dozens more Palestinians across the Gaza Strip

The Israeli army has raided and detained staff at two of the last functioning hospitals in Gaza's north, where the defense minister said on Tuesday that troops were working to completely clear out Hamas militants. Israel bombarded towns across southern Gaza on Tuesday with airstrikes, killing at least 45 Palestinians and pressing ahead with its offensive with renewed backing from the United States, despite rising international alarm. The Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, warned the campaign in Gaza's south will persist for months. In a hospital in the southern town of Rafah, Mahmoud Zoarab bid farewell to his two children a 2-year-old boy, and a girl born two weeks ago killed in a predawn strike on their home. Wounded in the strike, he winced as he peeled back the shrouds to look at their faces as his wife and mother stood by his bed. Just two weeks old. Her name hadn't even been registered, said the children's grandmother, Suzan Zoarab. Addressing Israeli Prime Minister .

Meta's decision to remove videos of Israel-Hamas war reversed by board

A quasi-independent review board has ruled that Facebook parent company Meta should overturn two decisions it made this fall to remove posts informing the world about human suffering on both sides of the Israel-Hamas war. In both cases, Meta ended up reinstating the posts one showing Palestinian casualties and the other, an Israeli hostage on its own, although it added warning screens to both due to violent content. This means the company isn't obligated to do anything about the board's decision. That said, the board also said it disagrees with Meta's decision to bar the posts in question from being recommended by Facebook and Instagram, even in cases where it had determined posts intended to raise awareness. And it said Meta's use of automated tools to remove potentially harmful content increased the likelihood of taking down valuable posts that not only raise awareness about the conflict but may contain evidence of human rights violations. It urged the company to preserve such ..

UNSC vote on Gaza humanitarian resolution delayed again to avoid US veto

UN Security Council members were in intense negotiations on Tuesday on an Arab-sponsored resolution to spur desperately needed humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza during some kind of a halt in the fighting, trying to avoid another veto by the United States. A vote on the resolution, first postponed from Monday, was pushed back again until Wednesday. We're still working through the modalities of the resolution, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Tuesday afternoon when the vote was still set for 5 p.m. "It's important for us that the rest of the world understand what's at stake here and what Hamas did on the 7th of October and how Israel has a right to defend itself against those threats. The vote was later cancelled as the United States asked for more time. Talks were continuing in an effort to get the Biden administration to abstain or vote in favour of the resolution. The draft resolution on the table Monday morning called for an urgent and sustainable .

US envoys work for new hostage release deal, scale-down of Israel-Hamas war

The head of the CIA jetted to Europe for talks with Israeli and Qatari officials Monday, sounding out the potential for a deal on a new cease-fire and the release of hostages in Gaza as the United States defense secretary spoke to Israeli military leaders about scaling back major combat operations against Hamas. Still, there was no sign that a shift in the war was imminent after more than two months of devastating bombardment and fighting. Fierce battles raged in northern Gaza, where residents said rescue workers were searching for the dead and the living under buildings flattened by Israeli strikes. Pressure is growing as France, the United Kingdom and Germany some of Israel's closest allies joined global calls for a cease-fire over the weekend. Israeli protesters have demanded the government relaunch talks with Hamas on releasing more hostages after three were mistakenly killed by Israeli troops while waving a white flag. U.S. officials have repeatedly expressed concern about th

Israel finds tunnel by Gaza border, raises questions about prewar intel

The Israeli military said on Sunday it has discovered a large tunnel shaft in Gaza close to what was once a busy crossing into Israel, raising new questions about how Israeli surveillance missed such conspicuous preparations by Hamas for the militants' deadly October 7 assault. The entryway to the tunnel is just a few hundred metres from the heavily fortified Erez crossing and a nearby Israeli military base. The military said that it stretches for more than four kilometers (2 miles), links up with a sprawling tunnel network across Gaza and is wide enough for cars to pass through. The army said on Sunday that the tunnel facilitated the transit of vehicles, militants and supplies in preparation for the October 7 attack. That day, militants used a rocket-propelled grenade to break past the portion of wall close to the Erez crossing and stormed the base, killing at least three soldiers and kidnapping some back to Gaza, the army said. It was one of several places along the border wall ..

Over four km long tunnel discovered adjacent to Gaza border, claims Israel

The Israeli military said on Sunday it has discovered a large tunnel shaft in Gaza close to what was once a busy crossing into Israel, raising new questions about how Israeli surveillance missed such conspicuous preparations by Hamas for the militants' deadly October 7 assault. The entryway to the tunnel is just a few hundred metres from the heavily fortified Erez crossing and a nearby Israeli military base. The military said it stretches for over 4 kilometres, links up with a sprawling tunnel network across Gaza and is wide enough for cars to pass through. The army said on Sunday that the tunnel facilitated the transit of vehicles, militants, and supplies in preparation for the October 7 attack. That day, militants used a rocket-propelled grenade to break past the portion of wall close to the Erez crossing and stormed the base, killing at least three soldiers and kidnapping some back to Gaza, the army said. It was one of several places along the border wall where militants easily

Israel presses ahead in Gaza as errant killing of captives adds to concern

Israel pressed ahead with its Gaza offensive on Sunday after a series of shootings, including of three hostages who were shirtless and waving a white flag, raised questions about its conduct in a 10-week-old war that has brought unprecedented death and destruction to the coastal enclave. Gaza remained under a communications blackout for a fourth straight day the longest of several outages over the course of the war, which aid groups say complicate rescue efforts after bombings and make it even more difficult to monitor the war's toll on civilians. Israel could come under further pressure to scale back major combat operations when U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visits this week. Washington has expressed growing unease with civilian casualties and the mass displacement of 1.9 million Palestinians nearly 85% of Gaza's population even as it has provided vital military and diplomatic support to its close ally. The air and ground war has flattened vast swathes of northern Gaza and