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 […]
Tag: Israel
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 […]
Israeli soldiers hurt, knifeman killed at bus station: police
JERUSALEM, March 31, 2024 (AFP) – Israeli police said a man was shot dead Sunday after stabbing an Israeli soldier at bus station in the southern city of Beersheva. Another soldier was wounded in the attack, police said, and the Israeli army said one of its troops then “neutralised the terrorist”. The Israeli military said an “IDF officer was lightly injured as a result of a stabbing attack” as police said the attacker was killed […]
Deadly chaos at Gaza aid distribution as WHO renews hospital warning
By Adel Zaanoun with Fiachra Gibbons in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, March 30, 2024 (AFP) – An aid delivery in Gaza descended into chaos on Saturday with shots fired and a Red Crescent paramedic reporting five dead, as almost six months of Israeli bombardment has left hundreds of thousands in desperate need. Israel’s siege, sparked by a deadly militant attack on October 7, brings nightly air strikes and in recent days major operations around […]
Israel’s Netanyahu approves new Gaza ceasefire talks
By Adel Zaanoun with Joshua Melvin in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, March 29, 2024 (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved Friday new talks on a Gaza ceasefire, a day after the world’s top court ordered Israel to ensure urgent humanitarian aid reaches people in the Palestinian territory. But despite a binding United Nations Security Council resolution this week demanding an “immediate ceasefire”, fighting continued Friday, including around hospitals. Regional fallout from the […]
UPDATE: Russia, China veto US Security Council bid on Gaza ‘ceasefire’
UNITED NATIONS, United States, March 22, 2024 (AFP) – Russia and China on Friday vetoed a US-led draft resolution at the Security Council on a ceasefire in Gaza, with Moscow accusing Washington of a “hypocritical spectacle” that does not pressure Israel. The United States, Israel’s main ally which has vetoed previous ceasefire calls, put forward the resolution which for the first time would have supported “the imperative of an immediate and sustained ceasefire” and condemned […]
Blinken embarks on Israel visit urging ‘prompt’ ceasefire in Gaza conflict
By Adel Zaanoun with Leon Bruneau in Cairo GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, March 22, 2024 (AFP) – Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Israel Friday to press for a truce in Gaza, ahead of a key UN Security Council vote on a US draft resolution calling for an “immediate” ceasefire. Israel’s main backer the United States announced it would submit for a vote on Friday a draft to the Security Council on the need […]
US unveils draft UN resolution seeking immediate Gaza ceasefire
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, March 21, 2024 (AFP) – The United States has circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire linked to the release of hostages” in the Gaza Strip, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. The diplomat made his announcement whilst on a tour of the Middle East that will include a stop in Israel. Key Israel backer the United States has vetoed previous UN Security Council votes on the […]
Biden tells Netanyahu Rafah operation would be ‘mistake’
By Danny KEMP WASHINGTON, March 18, 2024 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday that a major ground offensive in Gaza’s Rafah would be a “mistake,” as the two leaders spoke for the first time in a month amid growing tensions. Netanyahu had also agreed to Biden’s request to send a delegation of senior Israeli officials to Washington to discuss Israel’s Rafah plans and a possible “alternative approach,” the […]
Israeli PM says civilians can leave crowded Rafah before invasion
By Adel Zaanoun with Robbie Corey-Boulet in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, March 17, 2024 (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday that civilians crammed into the southern Gaza Strip would be able to leave before troops enter in pursuit of Hamas militants. His comments, alongside visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, follow international fears over the fate of the roughly 1.5 million people sheltering in Rafah, most of them displaced by Gaza’s war. […]
Israel denies Hamas claim troops killed 20 Gazans seeking aid
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Friday that Israeli fire killed 20 people and wounded 155 waiting to receive desperately needed aid in the besieged territory, but Israel said the reports were “erroneous”. With the United Nations warning of a looming famine in Gaza, besieged by Israel after the October 7 attack by Hamas militants, a Spanish aid ship sailed closer to the Gaza coast opening a maritime corridor from Cyprus. Efforts to get food […]





