Category Archives: Israel-Gaza war

Israel and Hamas closer to ceasefire deal amid warning over Gaza children

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Qatar says Hamas ‘received proposal positively’, while Unicef says 17,000 Gaza children left unaccompanied

Israel and Hamas appear to be inching closer towards a deal for a ceasefire and a release of some of the hostages still being held by the militant group in Gaza, while the UN children’s agency has warned that 17,000 children have been left without families or been separated from them by the conflict.

Qatar, which has been mediating between Israel and Hamas, indicated that the militant group had given its initial support for a deal after weeks of delicate and secretive negotiations.

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Middle East crisis: UN agency calls Rafah a ‘pressure cooker of despair’ as Israel says offensive will move into city – as it happened

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Defence minister Yoav Gallant’s announcement comes despite presence of more than 1 million civilians in city

Saudi Arabia would be willing to accept a political commitment from Israel to create a Palestinian state, rather than anything more binding, in a bid to get a defence pact with Washington approved before the US presidential election, three sources have told Reuters. The news agency reports:

Months of US-led diplomacy to get Saudi Arabia to normalise relations with Israel and recognise the country for the first time were shelved by Riyadh in October in the face of mounting Arab anger over the war in Gaza.

But Saudi Arabia is increasingly keen to shore up its security and ward off threats from rival Iran so the kingdom can forge ahead with its ambitious plan to transform its economy and attract huge foreign investment, two regional sources said.

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Pro-Palestine march in London will end near Downing Street, say police

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Met had previously refused to allow expected 300,000 demonstrators to hold rally on Whitehall on Saturday

The latest pro-Palestine march of hundreds of thousands of protesters through central London will end with a rally near Downing Street after a climbdown from the Metropolitan police.

Following a meeting late on Thursday afternoon, organisers of the march said they had been given permission for the end stage of Saturday’s demonstration to take place on Whitehall.

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NSW police say analysis shows pro-Palestine chant in viral Sydney Opera House video was ‘where’s the Jews?’

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Independent expert says with ‘overwhelming certainty’ the phrase was not ‘gas the Jews’, as was widely reported around the world

New South Wales police say an independent investigation has found no evidence pro-Palestine protestors used the offensive phrase “gas the Jews” during a march near Sydney’s Opera House two days after the 7 October attacks on Israel.

The investigation by an “eminent expert” from the National Centre of Biometric Science examined a compilation video containing a number of audio and visual files.

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UK could recognise a Palestinian state before a deal with Israel, says Cameron

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Foreign secretary suggests after a ceasefire, UK would not need to wait for end of what could be years of talks on a two-state solution

The UK could officially recognise a Palestinian state after a ceasefire in Gaza without waiting for the outcome of what could be years of talks between Israel and the Palestinians on a two-state solution, David Cameron has said.

Speaking during a visit Thursday to Lebanon intended to tamp down regional tensions, the British foreign secretary said no recognition could come while Hamas remained in Gaza, but that it could take place while Israeli negotiations with Palestinian leaders were continuing.

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Israeli ministers reportedly considering limiting aid entering Gaza

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Two ministers said to have suggested move as part of efforts to free hostages and weaken Hamas, which they claim hijacks supplies

Ministers in Israel’s war cabinet are reportedly considering limiting the amount of aid reaching Gaza, as rightwing protesters disrupt the entry of trucks carrying desperately needed humanitarian supplies to the besieged Palestinian territory.

Benny Gantz, a retired general who joined the emergency wartime government formed by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, after 7 October, and Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief of staff and war cabinet observer, suggested temporarily limiting aid to weaken Hamas, Israel’s Channel 12 reported late on Wednesday.

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Procter & Gamble staff held hostage in Turkish factory freed in police raid

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Gunman, who was detained unharmed, was protesting about war in Gaza and had trapped seven workers for nearly nine hours

Turkish police have released seven workers taken hostage by a pro-Palestinian gunman at a plant near Istanbul owned by US consumer goods company Procter & Gamble in protest at the war in Gaza.

Local officials said police staged a raid nearly nine hours into the standoff when the lone gunman took a bathroom break.

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Joe Biden issues executive order against Israeli settlers in West Bank

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Financial sanctions and visa bans imposed on four individuals as US frustration with Israel grows

Joe Biden has issued an executive order targeting Israeli settlers in the West Bank who have been attacking Palestinians, amid fast-growing frustration in Washington at Israel’s trajectory in the midst of its war in Gaza.

The order initially imposes financial sanctions and visa bans against four individuals, and US officials said they were evaluating whether to punish others involved in attacks that have intensified during the Israel-Hamas war.

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UK manufacturers hit by Red Sea disruption and rising shipping costs

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Supply chain difficulties have led to job losses and cuts in purchasing and stocks, S&P Global poll shows

Britain’s factories have been hit by disruption caused by Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea that led to shipping delays and contributed to rising costs, as the boss of Adidas warned about “exploding” global freight rates.

UK manufacturers have experienced growing supply chain difficulties, as the Red Sea crisis led to the rerouting of deliveries of raw materials, components and other goods away from the Suez Canal, a survey has shown.

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Wong signals Labor wants to resume UN agency funding to ensure ‘fewer children are starving’ in Gaza

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Australian foreign minister says UNRWA is only organisation that can provide substantive support to occupied Palestinian territories

The foreign minister, Penny Wong, has signalled that resuming Australia’s funding to a key UN agency delivering aid to Gaza is the only realistic route “if we are serious about trying to ensure that fewer children are starving”.

Wong has directed Australia’s humanitarian coordinator, Beth Delaney, to “lead urgent work coordinating with like-minded partners as well as UNRWA” to work out the next steps, after more than 10 countries suspended funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

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Hamas mulls ceasefire proposal amid intense fighting across Gaza

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Leader of Hamas heads to Cairo talks, with many families of Israeli hostages pressing for a negotiated release

Heavy bombardment of Gaza continued on Wednesday as the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was expected to arrive in Cairo to discuss a ceasefire proposal in the Israel-Gaza war that would reportedly involve the staged release of Israeli hostages.

A Hamas official said Haniyeh would be in the Egyptian capital for talks on Wednesday or Thursday, as intense fighting was reported in the south of the territory in Khan Younis and in the north in Gaza City.

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Diseases spread in overcrowded Rafah as Gaza’s population forced south

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Crisis in southern Gaza only set to worsen in coming days as Israeli forces push deeper into Khan Younis

Haneen Harara wakes up each morning in the southern Gazan city of Rafah thinking about the long queues and crowds that stand between her and the survival basics of food, water and medical care.

The film-maker and employee at a Dutch charity considers herself lucky that she and 15 members of her family reached the city on Gaza’s border with Egypt in time to find a house at which to stay. Many others have found shelter from the winter cold in tents that fill with water every time it rains.

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Pro-Palestinian protesters at Biden events cast shadow on his re-election effort

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President dogged by anti-Gaza war crowds everywhere he goes over support for Israel despite the heavy cost in civilian lives

Joe Biden had barely started speaking at a high-profile re-election campaign rally focusing on abortion rights in Virginia last week when the carefully choreographed made-for-TV spectacle exploded into a cacophony of angry yelling.

“Genocide Joe!”, a protester holding up a Palestinian flag cried from the back of the hall. “How many kids have you killed in Gaza? How many women have you killed in Gaza?”

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Australia and top allies in talks over UN aid funding in Gaza

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Albanese government is yet to publicly outline conditions to reinstate funding to UNRWA but it is unlikely to move before US or UK

The Australian government is in talks with close allies including the US and the UK to consider conditions to reinstate funding to a key United Nations agency delivering aid in Gaza.

The talks come after Australia and other donor countries met with the UN secretary general, António Guterres, in New York to discuss the investigations into UNRWA staffers over alleged involvement in the 7 October attacks on Israel.

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Netanyahu rules out ceasefire deal that would mean Gaza withdrawal

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Israeli PM also says he will not accept any truce that would require release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners

Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will not accept any ceasefire deal that requires the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners or the departure of Israeli troops from Gaza, as the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said he was willing to travel to Cairo to discuss the proposals.

Haniyeh said the group’s aim remained to end Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and secure a full pullout of Israeli forces from the territory.

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Israeli special forces disguised as doctors kill three militants at West Bank hospital

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Counter-terrorism officers enter Jenin’s Ibn Sina hospital wearing doctors’ scrubs and women’s clothes

Israeli forces dressed in doctors’ scrubs and women’s clothes have killed three Palestinian militants in an undercover operation in a hospital in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

A border police counter-terrorism unit and a unit from the internal security forces, known as the Shin Bet, entered Ibn Sina hospital on the outskirts of the city’s refugee camp early on Tuesday, CCTV footage of the aftermath of the operation showed.

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Israel denies its forces are storming al-Amal hospital in Gaza – as it happened

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Denial comes after Palestinian Red Crescent Society says hospital in Khan Younis is under attack; White House declines to give further details of response

The Wafa Palestinian news agency reports that “dozens of Palestinian civilians” have been killed today by Israeli airstrikes, including “intense and fierce airstrikes at the city of Rafah”, which is in the south of the Gaza Strip and is one of the areas Israel’s military has repeatedly told Palestinians to flee to for safety.

Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah for Al Jazeera, said the strike in Rafah caused “a great deal of panic and concern as people believe the military operation is expanding step by step”. He said a house was destroyed and a number of people were reported dead, as “the Israeli military continues bombing, killing and maiming Palestinians across Gaza”.

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UK will consider recognising Palestinian state, says David Cameron

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Foreign secretary says move would help to make two-state solution an ‘irreversible’ process

Britain will consider recognising a Palestinian state as part of concerted efforts to bring about an “irreversible” peace settlement, the foreign secretary, David Cameron, has said.

In what would mark a landmark diplomatic moment, he said the move would help to bring about a two-state solution – currently facing trenchant opposition from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

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How war destroyed Gaza’s neighbourhoods – visual investigation

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Satellite imagery and open-source evidence lay bare the destruction to civilian infrastructure by Israel in its war on Hamas

A Guardian investigation has detailed the mass destruction of buildings and land in three neighbourhoods in Gaza.

Using satellite imagery and open-source evidence, the investigation found damage to more than 250 residential buildings, 17 schools and universities, 16 mosques, three hospitals, three cemeteries and 150 agricultural greenhouses.

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Hamas regroups in northern Gaza to prepare new offensive

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Militant Palestinian group begins to rebuild system of governance in north after being driven out by Israeli forces

Hamas militants have returned to northern Gaza, where they are mobilising against Israeli forces and rebuilding a system of governance, aid officials, Gaza residents, analysts and Israeli officials say.

Elsewhere in Gaza, Hamas administrators and police maintain firm control of the south, where much of the population is concentrated, though civil order is breaking down in central regions.

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