GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, June 16, 2024 (AFP) – Israel’s military said Sunday it would “pause” fighting around a south Gaza route daily to facilitate aid deliveries, following months of warnings of famine in the besieged Palestinian territory. The announcement of a “local, tactical pause of military activity” during daylight hours in an area of Rafah came a day after eight Israeli soldiers were killed in a blast near the far-southern city and three more […]
Tag: Hamas
Gantz quits Israel war cabinet as Gaza conflict rages
By Jay Deshmukh and Mark Anderson JERUSALEM, June 9, 2024 (AFP) – Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Sunday, heaping domestic pressure on the Israeli leader as the war in Gaza rages. The former general and defence minister announced his resignation from the emergency body after failing to get a post-war plan for Gaza approved by Netanyahu, which he demanded in May. The centrist politician’s departure is not […]
Israel army says rescued 4 hostages in ‘complex’ Gaza operation
JERUSALEM, June 8, 2024 (AFP) – Four Israeli hostages rescued Saturday from a central Gaza refugee camp were freed by troops “from the heart of a civilian neighbourhood” in two simultaneous raids, the military said. The army named the rescued captives as Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41. It said they were rescued after a “complex daytime operation” which authorities in Hamas-run Gaza said left dozens […]
Israel rescues four Gaza hostages seized at music festival
Palestinian Territories, June 8, 2024 (AFP) – Israel said its forces rescued four hostages alive from a Gaza refugee camp on Saturday, after an operation that militant group Hamas said left dozens of Palestinians dead and wounded. The four had been kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova music festival during the Islamists’ October 7 attacks that sparked war with Israel, the army said. Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi […]
Israel govt spokesman says PM views Biden Gaza plan as ‘partial’
JERUSALEM, June 3, 2024 (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu views a plan outlined by US President Joe Biden for a truce in Gaza and hostage release deal as “partial”, a government spokesman said Monday. Biden on Friday presented what he labelled an Israeli three-phase plan that would eventually end the fighting, free all hostages held by Palestinian militants and lead to the reconstruction of the devastated Gaza Strip without Hamas in power. “The […]
Hamas armed wing says fired ‘large rocket barrage’ at Tel Aviv
GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, May 26, 2024 (AFP) – The armed wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas said Sunday it had fired a “large rocket barrage” at Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv, with the military reporting it had intercepted several. The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a post on Telegram that they had targeted Tel Aviv “with a large rocket barrage in response to the Zionist (Israeli) massacres against civilians”. Israel’s army said at […]
Hamas official says group will not accept truce that does not end Gaza war
GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, May 4, 2024 (AFP) – A senior Hamas official on Saturday said the group would not accept a truce that did not completely end the Gaza war, accusing Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu of “personally hindering” a deal. Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators met a Hamas delegation in Cairo on Saturday in the latest bid to halt the devastating almost seven-month-old war that has triggered worldwide protests. They were to hear the […]
Pro-Palestinian US campus protests grow as police crack down
By Romain FONSEGRIVES with Moises Avila in Austin LOS ANGELES, April 26, 2024 (AFP) – Pro-Palestinian protests spread to more college campuses in the United States on Thursday as authorities appeared to be running out of patience and police began to push back forcefully. Riot officers used chemical irritants and tasers at one university as administrators at some of the country’s most prestigious institutions battled to prevent occupations taking hold. Staging sit-ins and mounting boisterous […]
Leaders of 18 nations call on Hamas to release hostages
WASHINGTON, April 25, 2024 (AFP) – The leaders of the United States, Britain, France and more than a dozen other countries called in a joint statement Thursday for Hamas to release the scores of hostages it is holding. Hamas seized the hostages during a shock October 7 attack that sparked the deadliest ever war between it and Israel, which has vowed to eleminate the Palestinian militant group. “We call for the immediate release of all […]
Israeli withdrawal from southern Gaza likely just troop ‘refit’: W.House
WASHINGTON, April 7, 2024 (AFP) – Israel’s partial withdrawal from the southern Gaza Strip is likely so its troops can “rest and refit,” rather than a move towards a new operation, the White House said on Sunday. “They’ve been on the ground for four months, the word we’re getting is they’re tired, they need to be refit,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told ABC’s “This Week,” though he stressed that it was “hard to […]
Israel pulls troops out of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza: army, media
JERUSALEM, April 7, 2024 (AFP) – Israel on Sunday pulled all its troops out of southern Gaza, including from the city of Khan Yunis, the military and Israeli media said, after months of fierce fighting with Hamas militants left the area devastated. But the military said a “significant force” will continue to operate in the rest of the besieged Gaza Strip. “The 98th commando division has concluded its mission in Khan Yunis,” the army said […]
Israeli army says body of hostage recovered from Gaza
JERUSALEM, April 6, 2024 (AFP) – Israel’s army said on Saturday its troops recovered the body of a hostage abducted by Palestinian militants during the October 7 attack and later murdered in captivity in the Gaza Strip. The recovery of Elad Katzir’s body brings to 12 the number of bodies of hostages which the army says it has brought home from Gaza during the war. But it gave no comfort to his sister, who blamed […]





