Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
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 […]
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 […]
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories, Feb 14, 2024 (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas pressed the militant group Hamas on Wednesday to agree a Gaza deal quickly to avoid “dire consequences”, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. “We call on the Hamas movement to quickly complete a prisoner deal, to spare our Palestinian people from the calamity of another catastrophic event with dire consequences, no less dangerous than the Nakba of 1948,” Abbas said. The president […]
By Adel Zaanoun, with Sharon Aronowicz in Tel Aviv GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Feb 2, 2024 (AFP) – Fighting in Gaza raged on Friday with scores reported killed overnight, after mediator Qatar said Hamas had given its “initial” support to a hostage-prisoner exchange deal that would pause its war with Israel. The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said 112 people had been killed over the previous 24 hours, while the Hamas press office reported […]
By Adel Zaanoun with Blaise Gauquelin in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Dec 21, 2023 (AFP) – Israel has ordered more evacuations in southern Gaza’s main city as diplomats pressed on with efforts to secure a pause in the war that Hamas says has claimed 20,000 lives. The United Nations said Israel had issued evacuation orders on Wednesday for large areas of Khan Yunis, where more than 140,000 displaced people were sheltering. Israel told civilians […]
DUBAI, Dec 1, 2023 (AFP) – The United States remains “intensely focused” on freeing hostages held in Gaza despite the resumption of the Israel-Hamas war after a week-long truce, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday. “We remained intensely focused on getting everyone home, getting hostages back, something that I also worked on today,” he said, after meeting Arab foreign ministers in Dubai. Blinken met with the top diplomats of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, […]
TEL AVIV, Dec 1, 2023 (AFP) – The families of hostages still being held in Gaza on Friday said the end of a truce that saw 80 kidnapped Israelis freed was a “very hard blow” to bear. Under an agreement between Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel, the hostages were being released at a rate of 10 each day, forcing the families to endure an agonising waiting game. But as the pause in the conflict […]
GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Dec 1, 2023 (AFP) – Fighting resumed in Gaza on Friday immediately after the expiry of a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas, with the first fatalities reported minutes later, according to health officials in the Palestinian territory. An AFPTV livecam showed a heavy cloud of grey smoke rolling over northern Gaza, and apparent sounds of automatic weapons fire and explosions within the first 90 minutes after the truce expired at […]
PARIS, Dec 1, 2023 (AFP) – Eight Israeli hostages, including six women aged between 21 and 41, were released by Hamas on Thursday, according to accounts given by their relatives to AFP, information from the Israeli press and the Hostage Families Forum. The truce agreement between Israel and Hamas stipulates that a minimum of 10 Israeli hostages should be released alive each day. The release of two Russian-Israeli women in addition to 10 others a […]
By Adel Zaanoun with Leon Bruneau in Tel Aviv GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – Hamas is willing to further extend a truce for hostage and prisoner exchanges, a source close to the militant group said Thursday, and the United States urged Israel to set up safe zones for Gaza civilians as a pause in their deadly war neared expiry. International pressure has risen for a lasting halt to the war, sparked […]
JERUSALEM, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – The Israeli government said it received a new list of women and children hostages in the Gaza Strip to be released by Hamas on Thursday in exchange for a one-day extension of the truce. “A short time ago, Israel was given a list of women and children in accordance with the terms of the agreement, and therefore the truce will continue,” said the statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s […]
By Adel Zaanoun with Didier Lauras in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – A truce between Israel and Hamas will continue, both sides said Thursday, moments before the deal was due to expire, though details of any official agreement remained unclear. Minutes before the halt in fighting was due to expire at 0500GMT, Israel’s military said the “operational pause” would be extended, without specifying for how long. “In light of the […]
