GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – A top Hamas official announced new conditions Wednesday for delivering medicines to hostages held by the group in Gaza, insisting trucks carrying the drugs must not be inspected by Israel. Under a deal thrashed out by mediators Qatar and France on Tuesday, medicines along with humanitarian aid are to be supplied to civilians in Gaza in exchange for delivering drugs needed by hostages held there. Forty-five […]
Tag: Gaza
Israel army warns Gaza war will continue throughout 2024
By Adel Zaanoun with Rosie Scammell in Jerusalem Unrelenting Israeli bombardment rocked Gaza on Monday, while an army spokesman warned the war on the besieged territory’s Hamas rulers will continue throughout 2024. Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant met troops inside Gaza on Monday, and vowed in a statement that “life will return to its course” for residents of border communities hit in Hamas’s October 7 attacks that triggered the war. In the southern Gaza Strip, […]
Israel bombs Gaza as oldest woman held hostage confirmed dead
By Adel Zaanoun with Anuj Chopra in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Dec 28, 2023 (AFP) – Israeli forces on Thursday battled Hamas in Gaza where air strikes and urban combat rocked the southern city of Khan Yunis, near where many hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge. UN World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for “urgent steps to alleviate the grave peril” facing besieged Gaza’s people, including “terrible injuries, acute […]
UN Security Council demands ‘urgent’ aid for Gaza
By Mai Yaghi with Laurie Churchman in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Dec 23, 2023 (AFP) – The UN Security Council on Friday demanded aid be rushed to Gaza “at scale” as the head of the World Health Organization warned of a looming famine in the besieged Palestinian territory. As Israeli bombs rained down on targets across Gaza, members of the UN’s top peacemaking council demanded “immediate, safe and unhindered” deliveries of life-saving aid. At […]
UN Security Council due to vote on delayed Gaza resolution
By Gregory WALTON, Amelie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS UNITED NATIONS, United States, Dec 20, 2023 (AFP) – The United Nations Security Council was due to vote Wednesday on a much-delayed resolution calling for a pause to the Israel-Hamas war after members wrangled over wording while aid efforts in the Gaza Strip neared collapse. The humanitarian situation in Gaza was rapidly deteriorating, with a senior UN official saying Israel’s steps to allow in aid were “far short” of mounting […]
Israel army says biggest Hamas tunnel found
By Adel Zaanoun with Laurie Churchman in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Dec 17, 2023 (AFP) – Israel’s army said Sunday it had found a vast Hamas tunnel as it pressed its offensive in Gaza despite growing international calls for a ceasefire and pleas from relatives to bring home the remaining hostages. The bloodiest ever Gaza war began with unprecedented Hamas attacks on southern Israel on October 7 and has devastated much of the Palestinian […]
Netanyahu vows to keep up military pressure on Hamas despite hostage deaths
By Stuart White with Adel Zaanoun in Gaza Strip JERUSALEM, Dec 16, 2023 (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Saturday to keep up the military pressure on Hamas, despite anguished appeals from relatives of hostages held in Gaza for a return to negotiations after friendly fire killed three captives. The Israeli army revealed earlier that the three hostages were carrying a white flag and cried for help in Hebrew, when they were mistakenly […]
Israel presses Gaza offensive in war it says will last ‘months’
By Adel Zaanoun with Shatha Yaish in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Dec 15, 2023 (AFP) – Israel pressed its offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday after telling key backer the United States that the war to crush Hamas will last “more than several months”. The war began after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 that Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Vowing to destroy Hamas and […]
Israeli army recovers body of French-Israeli hostage
JERUSALEM, Dec 15, 2023 (AFP) – The Israeli army said Friday it had recovered and returned to Israel the body of French-Israeli hostage Elya Toledano, who was kidnapped and taken to Gaza by militants during Hamas’s October 7 attacks. Toledano, 28, was among an estimated 240 people taken hostage during the Hamas attacks on Israel, which were the deadliest in the country’s history. He was attending a desert rave party called the Supernova festival along […]
Israel bombs Gaza as rift with US grows
By Mai Yaghi with Rosie Scammell in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Dec 14, 2023 (AFP) – Israel bombed Gaza on Thursday as a top White House advisor was due to arrive in Jerusalem with a rift growing over US calls for its ally to exercise restraint. The war, now in its third month, began after the October 7 attacks on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas that Israeli officials say killed 1,200 people, mostly […]
Israeli forces push into southern Gaza
By Adel Zaanoun with Jonah Mandel in Jerusalem GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, Dec 10, 2023 (AFP) – Israeli forces pushed Sunday into southern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled in search of shelter from bombardments and intense fighting with Hamas militants. Aid groups have sounded the alarm on the “apocalyptic” humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, warning it is on the brink of being overwhelmed by disease and starvation. Hamas, which runs […]
Israel battles Hamas in south Gaza city
By Adel Zaanoun with Stuart White in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Dec 7, 2023 (AFP) – Israeli troops battled Hamas militants Thursday in the heart of southern Gaza’s main city where a suspected mastermind of the October 7 attacks is believed to be hiding, while pressing their offensive across the besieged territory. Breaking through Hamas’s defences of Gaza’s second largest city, Israeli troops, tanks, armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers rolled into Khan Yunis, forcing […]





