Category Archives: Gaza

EU criticised for pausing sanctions on Israel in response to Trump Gaza efforts

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Pause on move to freeze preferential trade pact comes amid scramble to shore up fragile ceasefire

The EU has been criticised for pausing sanctions against Israel’s government in response to Donald Trump’s peacemaking efforts in the Middle East, as the fragile ceasefire came under threat.

After meeting EU foreign ministers on Monday, the European foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, announced a pause on efforts to suspend preferential trade with Israel and sanctions against people responsible for fuelling the conflict on both sides.

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Israel has violated ceasefire 47 times and killed 38 Palestinians, says Gaza media office

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Authorities urge UN to intervene ‘to protect unarmed civilian populations’ after attack on bus that killed 11

Gaza’s media office has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire with Hamas 47 times since the truce came into effect in early October, killing 38 Palestinians and wounding another 143.

“These violations have included crimes of direct gunfire against civilians, deliberate shelling and targeting, and the arrest of a number of civilians, reflecting the occupation’s continued policy of aggression despite the declared end of the war,” reads the statement.

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Rafah border crossing to stay closed ‘until further notice’, says Israel

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Officials say reopening of gateway between Gaza and Egypt would depend on Hamas returning remains of dead hostages

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will stay closed “until further notice”, Israel has said, after the Palestinian embassy in Cairo said the territory’s sole gateway to the outside world would reopen on Monday.

The statement by Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said reopening Rafah would depend on how Hamas fulfils its ceasefire role of returning the remains of all 28 dead hostages. Israel’s foreign ministry earlier said the crossing would probably reopen on Sunday.

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Egypt expected to lead global stabilisation force in Gaza, say diplomats

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Decommissioning Hamas weapons seen as major stumbling block, with British diplomats advising on process

A European and US-backed UN security council motion to give a planned international stabilisation force robust powers to control security inside Gaza is being prepared, with the strong expectation that Egypt will lead it, diplomats have said.

The US is pressing for the force to have a UN mandate without being a fully fledged UN peacekeeping force and will operate with the kind of powers given to international troops operating in Haiti to combat armed gangs.

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Infectious diseases in Gaza ‘spiralling out of control’, says WHO – as it happened

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UN official says: ‘Whether meningitis … diarrhoea, respiratory illnesses, we’re talking about a mammoth amount of work’. This live blog is closed

We’ve got a bit more from the UN’s World Food Programme on the situation in Gaza.

WFP spokeswoman Abeer Etefa told a media briefing in Geneva that, from Saturday until Wednesday, around 230 trucks with 2,800 tonnes of food supplies crossed into Gaza.

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Gaza aid still critically scarce, say agencies, as Israel delays convoys

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UN urges opening of all crossings with aid deliveries at less than half of agreed frequency, as WHO issues disease alert

Aid remains critically scarce in Gaza one week into the ceasefire, humanitarian agencies have warned, as Israel delays the entry of food convoys into the territory. The Israeli government and Hamas continue to trade blame over violations of the truce.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday that it had brought about 560 tonnes of food a day on average into Gaza since the ceasefire began, but it was still below what was needed.

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Hamas’s aim to retain authority in Gaza involves keeping the guns

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With no law, order or any alternative administration under the ceasefire, the group is using violence to deter rivals

Throughout Israel’s two-year war in Gaza, aid officials working in the territory avoided naming Hamas in conversations they suspected might be intercepted, instead referring to the militant Islamist group as the “de facto authority”.

This careful euphemism for Hamas, which violently seized power in 2007, captured an important truth. Though the group was a less obvious presence in the last months of the conflict, in the absence of any alternative, it remained the closest the increasingly devastated territory had to a ruler.

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Warner Bros Discovery says Israeli film boycott ‘violates our policies’

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In response to pledge, company has claimed in a statement that its policies ‘prohibit discrimination of any kind’

Warner Bros Discovery has rebuked a pledge signed by more than 4,000 film industry figures to not work with Israeli film institutions “implicated in the genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people”, saying that such a pledge would likely violate its internal policies.

In a statement to Variety, a spokesperson said the company “is committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful environment for its employees, collaborators, and other stakeholders”.

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Hamas says all reachable hostage bodies recovered amid Israel threat to resume Gaza fighting

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Hamas says it needs specialist equipment to recover remaining bodies as Israel’s defence minister threatens to resume fighting

Israel has threatened to resume fighting in Gaza after Hamas announced that it could not return any further remains of deceased Israeli hostages without specialist recovery equipment that is needed to retrieve the rest from the ruins of the devastated territory.

The threat from Israel Katz, the defence minister, came after Hamas handed over the remains of two further bodies late on Wednesday, bringing the total of known deceased hostages returned by Hamas to nine – along with a tenth body that Israel said was not that of a former hostage.

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Challenges remain for aid distribution in Gaza City despite ceasefire with Israel

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Destruction or ongoing control by Israeli forces means roads to areas worst hit by hunger are virtually impassable

Even if the Rafah crossing from Egypt to Gaza opens on Thursday, NGOs face big challenges distributing supplies to Gaza City and its surroundings in the north, the areas worst hit by hunger, experts say.

Key roads are virtually impassable due to the massive destruction across the devastated territory – or are still controlled by Israeli forces. Any truck that breaks down is likely to be instantly looted.

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Trump says Hamas will be forced to disarm or ‘we will disarm them’

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US president says it should take place in a ‘reasonable period of time’ amid questions over group’s status

Donald Trump has said that Hamas will be forced to disarm after questions swirled around the group’s status following the signing of a peace deal meant to bring an end to the war in Gaza.

Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Trump said: “If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them and it will happen quickly and perhaps violently.

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Starmer says he expects debate about ‘full horror’ of what happened in Gaza when media allowed in – UK politics live

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PM hails Trump’s part in Middle East peace deal but says what matters now is implementation

Europe’s most senior human rights official has called on Shabana Mahmood to review UK protest laws after mass arrests over the ban on Palestine Action, Rajeev Syal reports.

The Commons authorities have confirmed that there will be two statements in the chamber after 12.30pm: first, Keir Starmer on the Middle East peace summit, and then Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, on the Northern Ireland Troubles bill being published today.

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Trump sets sights on peace with Iran as he hails ‘end of Gaza war’

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In speech to Israeli Knesset hours after hostages released, US president spoke of ‘historic dawn of new Middle East’

Donald Trump has vowed to use the power of his presidency to ensure that Israel recognises it has achieved “all that it can by force of arms”, and begin an age of cooperation in the Middle East that may ultimately extend as far as peace with Iran.

In a speech to the Israeli Knesset, made hours after the last remaining Israeli hostages were released from Gaza, Trump hailed the “historic dawn of a new Middle East” and an end to the “long and painful nightmare” of the Gaza war.

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Gaza ceasefire live: Israeli hostages due to be released as Trump says ‘war is over’ and flies to Middle East

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US president is due to arrive in Israel shortly after the expected release of 20 living Israeli hostages by Hamas. Follow the latest developments

The mediating countries for the ceasefire deal in Gaza are to sign a document guaranteeing the agreement at Monday’s summit in Egypt, a diplomatic source has told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

“The signatories will be the guarantors – [the] US, Egypt, Qatar and likely Turkey,” the diplomat briefed on the signing ceremony said on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive arrangements.

While favoring diplomatic engagement, neither President Pezeshkian nor I can engage with counterparts who have attacked the Iranian People and continue to threaten and sanction us.

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Trump says ‘war is over’ in Gaza as Israel awaits release of hostages

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US president says Middle East will ‘normalize’ before he boarded flight to Israel for world leaders’ peace summit

The war in Gaza has ended and the Middle East is going to “normalize”, Donald Trump said on Sunday as he flew to Israel, which was waiting for Hamas to release Israeli hostages as world leaders were gathering to discuss the next steps toward peace.

“The war is over, you understand that,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One as he began a flight from Washington DC to Israel.

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Tony Blair wins nod from Palestinian Authority for role in postwar Gaza

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Senior PA leader confirms readiness to work with former UK PM on post-ceasefire recovery

The former UK prime minister Tony Blair appears to have won the endorsement of the Palestinian Authority to be involved in the reconstruction of Gaza, after an exploratory meeting in Jordan.

Blair met Hussein al-Sheikh, the deputy president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation executive committee, in Amman, Jordan, on Sunday. It was the first such meeting since Donald Trump announced Blair’s role in his 20-point plan.

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Australian Madeleine Habib released from Israeli jail after aid flotilla intercepted en route to Gaza

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It’s not yet known if Habib signed waiver as demanded by Israel before being taken to Jordan border on Sunday

Australian woman Madeleine Habib has been released from an Israeli prison, four days after a ship she captained as part of another Gaza-bound aid flotilla was intercepted by the Israeli military in international waters.

A source close to Habib said she was released on Sunday morning Israel time, along with other activists from the freedom flotilla, and taken to the Jordan border.

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Agencies prepare to bring aid to starving people in Gaza as ceasefire appears to hold

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Unicef says ‘humanitarian crisis continues’ and expects to scale up aid deliveries on Sunday

Aid agencies are preparing to bring large amounts of vital aid to starving people in Gaza this weekend, as a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas appeared to be holding.

“We have received signals that tomorrow will be the day that the scale-up [in aid deliveries] begins in earnest under the ceasefire,” said Tess Ingram, a spokesperson for the UN agency for children, Unicef.

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Hamas will be disarmed, Netanyahu vows after ceasefire begins

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In combative speech, Israeli prime minister says Gaza will be demilitarised ‘the easy way or the hard way’

Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his pledge to force Hamas to disarm in a defiant and combative speech on Friday just an hour after a ceasefire began in Gaza.

In a televised address, Israel’s prime minister said he had resisted intense domestic and international pressure to achieve his aim of ensuring “the security of Israel”, and he lambasted his critics and reiterated a threat to return to war if necessary.

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Gaza ceasefire plan live: Israel says it is preparing to pull back troops; living hostages could be released within days

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US president Donald Trump says Israel and Hamas have agreed to ‘first phase’ of plan to pause fighting and release some hostages and prisoners

Families of Israelis held hostage in Gaza gathered in what has come to be known as Hostages Square in Tel Aviv after the announcement.

“President Trump, thank you very much. We thank him, our children will not have returned home without him,” said Hatan Angrest, whose son Matan is among the hostages.

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