Gaza's Health Ministry says the Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war has passed 46,000
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza's Health Ministry says the Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war has passed 46,000.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza's Health Ministry says the Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war has passed 46,000.
Of all the images to have streamed out of Gaza on Sunday, perhaps the most telling was, ironically, that of a camera itself.
Among the many striking images of the three Israeli hostages being released Sunday, the video of dozens of armed Hamas fighters in full combat gear at the handover location in Gaza City stands out.The men, who surrounded the women as they were turned over to the Red Cross, were sporting almost new-looking combat fatigues and matching black balaclavas, with green bandanas featuring the Hamas logo tied around their head. They also arrived in a convoy of several white vehicles that appeared clean a
Israel’s longest war has so far failed to destroy its main enemy, Hamas, which, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself – and a failure for Israel.
Lt General Herzi Halevi becomes highest-ranking official to step down over 7 October attack that sparked Gaza war
As insurgents raced across Syria in a surprise offensive launched in the country's northwest late last year, officials from several countries backing either the rebels or Syria’s government met in Qatar on what to do. According to people briefed on the Dec. 7 meeting, officials from Turkey, Russia, Iran and a handful of Arab countries agreed that the insurgents would stop their advance in Homs, the last major city north of Damascus, and that internationally mediated talks would take place with Syrian leader Bashar Assad on a political transition.
Lt Gen Herzi Halevi says "the terrible failure" to prevent the Hamas attack "accompanies me every day".
Yemen's Houthi rebels signaled Monday they now will limit their attacks in the Red Sea corridor to only Israeli-affiliated ships after a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip, but warned wider assaults could resume if needed. The Houthis' announcement, first made in an email sent to shippers and others late Sunday, likely won't be enough to encourage global firms to reenter the route that's crucial for cargo and energy shipments moving between Asia and Europe. “The ceasefire is considered fragile,” said Jakob P. Larsen, the head of maritime security for BIMCO, the largest international association representing shipowners.
A surrendering North Korean soldier risked his life by refusing to drop his sausage at gunpoint, according to the Ukrainian paratroopers who captured him.
Watch as the family of British-Israeli woman Emily Damari spoke out for the first time since she was freed by Hamas on Sunday (19 January) after more than 15 months in captivity. The 28-year-old was the last British hostage in Gaza. Ms Gonen’s mother Meirav Leshem Gonen, and Yamit Ashkenazi, Ms Steinbrecher's sister, are also due to speak today.
Israel's top general resigned Tuesday, taking responsibility for security failures tied to Hamas' surprise attack that triggered the war in Gaza and adding to pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has delayed any public inquiry that could potentially implicate his leadership. While a fragile new ceasefire in the Gaza Strip held, Israel launched a “significant and broad” military operation in the occupied West Bank, killing at least nine people and injuring 40, Palestinian officials said. Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi is the most senior Israeli figure to resign over the security and intelligence breakdown on Oct. 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led militants carried out a land, sea and air assault into southern Israel, rampaging through army bases and nearby communities.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 915 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Monday, the second day of a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas after 15 months of war. OCHA cited information from Israel and the ceasefire guarantors, the U.S., Qatar and Egypt. On Sunday, the U.N. said some 630 aid trucks entered the Palestinian enclave, with at least 300 of them going to the north, where experts have warned a famine looms.
Gaza's Civil Defence agency said it feared there were more than 10,000 bodies still buried under rubble.
Groups call for Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest and urge Australia to pressure Israel on Palestine just as South Africa was over apartheid
The Israel-Hamas ceasefire entered a third day Tuesday, while US President Donald Trump said he doubted the fragile deal would hold.Desperately needed humanitarian aid has begun to flow into war-battered Gaza after Israel and Hamas conducted the first exchange of hostages for prisoners agreed under the terms of the ceasefire. Gazans displaced by more than 15 months of war have been walking through an apocalyptic landscape to return to whatever remains of their homes, while rescuers trawl the rubble for bodies."Gaza is like a massive demolition site," Trump said as he signed a flurry of executive orders following his inauguration.Asked whether he believed the two sides would maintain the truce, Trump said: "That's not our war; it's their war. But I'm not confident." Trump had claimed credit for the three-phase ceasefire agreement announced ahead of his return to the White House by Qatar and the United States, following months of fruitless negotiations under his predecessor Joe Biden.Trump has made clear he would support Israel, and in one of his first acts as president, he revoked sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank imposed by the Biden administration over attacks against Palestinians.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas both congratulated Trump on his return."I look forward to working with you to return the remaining hostages, to destroy Hamas's military capabilities and end its political rule in Gaza, and to ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel," Netanyahu said.- 'We will rebuild' -Displaced Gazan Ghadeer Abdul Rabbo, 30, told AFP she hopes that "with or without Trump", the ceasefire will hold and world governments will help "maintain this calm, because we are afraid".If all goes to plan, during the initial, 42-day phase of the truce that began Sunday, a total of 33 hostages are to be returned from Gaza in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians.Over those six weeks, the parties are meant to negotiate a permanent ceasefire.In Rafah, in southern Gaza, Ismail Madi said that "we have endured immense hardships, but we will stay here. We will rebuild this place."Three Israeli hostages, all women, were reunited with their families on Sunday after more than 15 months in captivity. Hours later, 90 Palestinian prisoners were released from an Israeli jail.In Israel, there was elation as Emily Damari, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher returned home and appeared to be in good health."In Emily's own words, she is the happiest girl in the world; she has her life back," Damari's mother Mandy said on Monday, adding that her daughter was "doing much better than any of us could have expected" even after losing two fingers.The first group of Palestinians released under the deal left Ofer prison in the West Bank early Monday, with jubilant crowds celebrating their arrival in the nearby town of Beitunia.One freed detainee, Abdul Aziz Muhammad Atawneh, described prison as "hell, hell, hell".Another, Khalida Jarrar of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- proscribed as a "terrorist" group by Israel and some Western governments -- said prison conditions were harsh and that she had been kept "in solitary confinement for six months".The next hostage-prisoner swap should take place on Saturday, a senior Hamas official told AFP.The relatives of the three Israeli ex-hostages called for the release of the remaining 91 captives seized during Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, including 34 the military says are dead.Meirav Leshem Gonen, mother of Romi Gonen, said: "We got our Romi back, but all families deserve the same outcome, both the living and the dead."There was anxiety in Israel over the next phases of the truce, with columnist Sima Kadmon warning in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily that the coming hostage releases may be more painful than the first."Some of them will arrive on gurneys and wheelchairs. Others will arrive in coffins. Some will arrive wounded and injured, in dire emotional condition," she wrote.- 'Beautiful feeling' -In southern Gaza, Ammar Barbakh, 35, spent the truce's first night in a tent on the rubble of his home."This is the first time I sleep comfortably and I'm not afraid," he said."It's a beautiful feeling, and I hope the ceasefire continues."The war has devastated much of the Gaza Strip and displaced the vast majority of its population of 2.4 million.More than 900 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Monday, the United Nations said.The day the deal came into force, 630 trucks entered Gaza.Qatar, which played a key role in negotiating the truce, said that 12.5 million litres of fuel would enter Gaza over the first 10 days.Hamas's October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Sunday that the death toll in the war had reached 46,913, a majority civilians, figures the United Nations has said are reliable.burs-lb/ser
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Monday that he will declare a state of emergency over the guerrilla attacks in the northeast that have killed dozens of people and forced thousands to flee their homes. In a message on X, Petro said that he will “declare a state of internal commotion," a measure that enables the executive branch to pass certain kinds of legislation without congressional approval for three months. The measure will go into effect after a decree is signed by the president and his Cabinet, but it can also be invalidated by Colombia's constitutional court.
Israel's defence minister said on Wednesday forces were applying lessons learned in Gaza as a major operation continued in Jenin which the military said was aimed at countering Iranian-backed militant groups in the volatile West Bank city. A military spokesperson declined to give details but said the operation was "relatively similar" to but in a smaller area than one last August, in which hundreds of Israeli troops backed by drones and helicopters raided Jenin and other flashpoint cities in the occupied West Bank.
Hundreds of Palestinians made their way to the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Tuesday, after the Israel-Hamas ceasefire took effect two days earlier, to see what remains of their homes — if anything. While some were able to dig up miscellaneous items deep under the rubble, many were left feeling hopeless after dreaming about the possibility of returning to their homes and potentially repairing or rebuilding them.Adel Labad, an engineer, was among other displaced Palestinians on Tuesday, looking
Palestinian health ministry says at least eight killed in operation launched day after Donald Trump lifted sanctions on violent settlers
A Chinese man was killed as he traveled in northeastern Afghanistan while working for a mining company, Taliban officials said Wednesday. A militant resistance group took responsibility for the killing, alleging the man was working with Taliban intelligence. The killing of foreigners is rare in Afghanistan, especially since 2021 when foreign troops withdrew from the country and the Taliban returned to power.
Axel Rudakubana, then 17, unleashed an attack on 30 July during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class – in the chaotic hours following the incident, misinformation began spreading online