Tag: Israel

Food piles up at Gaza crossing as aid agencies say unable to work

By Jack Moore JERUSALEM, June 22, 2024 (AFP) – Days after Israel announced a daily pause in fighting on a key route to allow more aid into Gaza, chaos in the besieged Palestinian territory has left vital supplies piled up and undistributed in the searing summer heat. More than eight months of war, sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, have led to dire humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip and repeated UN […]

Israel announces daily Gaza ‘pause’ for aid deliveries

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 […]

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 […]

Suspected explosive found outside Israeli firm in Sweden: police

STOCKHOLM, June 4, 2024 (AFP) – Swedish police said Tuesday that a suspected explosive had been found outside an Israeli military technology firm in Gothenburg and was likely intended to target the company. A “suspected explosive object” was found outside the offices of Elbit Systems, known for its unmanned aerial systems, in Sweden’s second-largest city in the early morning hours of Monday, police said. Police cordoned off the area for a few hours while the […]

Israel confirms more hostages dead as doubts grow over Gaza truce plan

RAFAH, Palestinian Territories, June 3, 2024 (AFP) – Israel on Monday announced the deaths of four captives held in Gaza amid growing doubts and international pressure over a plan for a ceasefire and hostage release deal outlined by US President Joe Biden. Biden on Friday presented what he labelled an Israeli three-phase plan that would end the bloody conflict, free all hostages and lead to the reconstruction of the devastated Palestinian territory without Hamas in […]

Forest fires blaze in north Israel after rockets launched from Lebanon

KIRYAT SHMONA, Israel, June 4, 2024 (AFP) – Israeli authorities were battling intense forest fires Tuesday in the north of the country that broke out shortly after rocket and drone strikes from neighbouring Lebanon, forcing the partial evacuation of one town. “Firefighting units, assisted by various entities, are working to extinguish the fires,” Israeli police said in a statement, adding that several homes in Kiryat Shmona had been evacuated. An AFP photographer in the northeastern […]

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 […]

‘Time for this war to end’: Biden pushes Israeli plan for Gaza truce

By Danny KEMP WASHINGTON, June 1, 2024 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden said Friday that Israel had offered a new roadmap towards a permanent peace in Gaza, urging Hamas to accept the surprise deal as it was “time for this war to end.” In his first major address outlining a solution to the conflict, Biden said the three-phase proposal starts with a six-week complete ceasefire that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all populated […]

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 […]