Red Cross team arrives at second hostage handover site in Gaza
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Red Cross team arrives at second hostage handover site in Gaza.
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Red Cross team arrives at second hostage handover site in Gaza.
Demonstrators at the proposed site included Hongkongers who fear it could be used to illegally detain dissenters
Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that a new Palestinian state could be established in Saudi Arabia, triggering outrage among Arab leaders.
CAIRO (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia affirmed its categorical rejection of remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about displacing Palestinians from their land, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday. Israeli officials have suggested the establishment of a Palestinian state on Saudi territory. Netanyahu appeared to be joking on Thursday when he responded to an interviewer on pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 who mistakenly said "Saudi state" instead of "Palestinian state", before correcting himself.
CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -An Israel delegation arrived in Qatar on Sunday for more Gazatruce talks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesperson said, as its military withdrew from an important crossing point in the enclave, as agreed under the truce with Hamas. Indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on the next stage of the ceasefire are set to start this week following Netanyahu's visit to the United States last week. However, a source in Netanyahu's office said the Israeli delegation at this point will only discuss technical issues, rather than the bigger matters which are supposed to be hammered out, including the administration of post-war Gaza.
Nearly 15 years after Ridley Scott’s war classic, Netflix speaks to those who experienced both sides of the historic conflict
Three male Israeli hostages and 183 Palestinian prisoners were freed in the fifth round of exchanges between Israel and Hamas Saturday, but the gaunt, frail appearance of the released captives was condemned as “shocking” by Israel.
Kurds in Syria were marginalized during five decades of Assad family rule, with many denied citizenship and wrongly described as Arabs. The Kurdish language is taught in schools. The Kurds, one of the world’s largest populations without a state of their own, have been feeling some control over their lives and want to make that permanent with a new government in power.
New details and growing shock over emaciated hostages renewed pressure Sunday on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend a fragile Gaza ceasefire beyond the first phase, even as U.S. President Donald Trump repeated his pledge that the U.S. would take control of the Palestinian enclave. Talks on the second phase, meant to see more hostages released and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, were due to start Feb. 3.
A total of 73 hostages, taken captive after the 7 October attacks, still remain unaccounted for.
Ukraine's claim came just days after South Korea's intelligence service stated that North Korean troops had been pulled back from the front lines.View on euronews
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, was among thousands of people who demonstrated against the plans on Saturday.
The three hostages are now back in Israel, whilst dozens of Palestinians who had been held in Israeli prisons have now returned to the West Bank.View on euronews
Israel's "lack of commitment" is putting the Gaza ceasefire in danger of collapse, a senior Hamas official told AFP on Saturday with talks yet to start on its second phase.Basem Naim: What we see from delay and lack of commitment in implementing the first phase and the attempt to create a political, international, diplomatic, and media environment to pressure the Palestinian negotiators upon entering the second phase, certainly exposes this agreement to danger and thus it might stop and collapse
Weakened state of three freed Israelis shocks country, while several released Palestinians also need hospitalisation
Hamas militants handed over three Israeli hostages on Saturday as part of the fifth exchange under a fragile Gaza ceasefire, with 183 prisoners held by Israel due to be released later in the day.- Talks in Doha - Palestinian militants, led by Hamas, have so far freed 18 hostages in exchange for around 600 mostly Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.
STORY: Palestinian militant group Hamas released three Israeli hostages on Saturday, as Israel freed dozens of Palestinian prisoners.It's the latest in a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the 15-month war in Gaza.Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi were both taken hostage from Kibbutz Be'eri during the cross-border Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.Or Levy was abducted that same day from the Nova music festival.The three men all appeared thin, weak and pale, and in worse condition than the previously freed hostages.Family and friends cheered and cried as they watched their release live on television.Though relatives spoke of their pain of seeing them in that condition."He doesn’t look like himself. He looks like he’s suffered a lot for such a long time not being at home. It was very difficult for me to see him like that. Very, very hard."Dozens of Hamas militants were deployed in central Gaza as it handed hostages over to the International Committee of the Red Cross.The hostages were then driven in ICRC cars to Israeli forces and into Israel, where they were reunited with family members.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the sight of the frail hostages was shocking and would be addressed.In exchange for the hostages' release, Israel said it was freeing 183 Palestinian prisoners, as well as 111 detained in Gaza during the war.Cheering crowds greeted the buses as they arrived in Gaza.Six people released in the West Bank were in poor health and taken to hospitals, according to Palestinian medics.The first phase of the ceasefire has largely held since it took effect on January 19.However, fears have grown that the deal might collapse before all 76 remaining hostages held by Hamas are freed. Concerns intensified after U.S. President Donald Trump's surprise call to develop Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East."Arab states and Palestinian groups have rejected Trump's proposal, while Netanyahu welcomed Trump's intervention.Negotiations on a second phase began this week aimed at returning the remaining hostages and agreeing a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in preparation for a final end to the war.
An uneasy calm held Sunday on the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern front after regional powers dreading a wider war urged Congolese and pro-Rwandan forces to agree to a ceasefire.After intense fighting on Saturday 60 kilometres (35 miles) from Bukavu, the front line was calmed Sunday, local and security sources said.
The clashes took place in Chhattisgarh state, which has seen a long-running insurgency by Maoists.
The BBC was forced to make an on-air correction after referring to Palestinian convicts as “hostages”.
Donald Trump has doubled down on his plan to take control of Gaza, saying he is committed to buying and owning the war-ravaged land but could allow sections of it to be rebuilt by other states in the Middle East. Mr Trump claimed Arab nations would agree to take in Palestinians after speaking with him and insisted Palestinians would leave Gaza if they had a choice.