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Donald Trump's 21-point plan to end Gaza war
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Rubio warns against West Bank annexation after Israel's parliament advances move
The US Secretary of State has said that a move by Israel's parliament towards annexation of the occupied West Bank would threaten Washington's plan to end the conflict in Gaza.
"That's not something we can be supportive of right now," Marco Rubio said before leaving for Israel as part of US efforts to shore up a fragile ceasefire deal.
In an apparent attempt to embarrass Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, far-right politicians took the symbolic step of giving preliminary approval to a bill granting Israel authority to annex the West Bank.
The Palestinians claim the West Bank - occupied by Israel since 1967 - as part of a hoped-for independent state.
Last year, the International Court of Justice - the UN's top court - said Israel's occupation was illegal.
Netanyahu has previously spoken in support of annexing West Bank land but has not advanced this due to the risk of alienating the US - Israel's most important ally - and Arab countries which have built relations with Israel after decades of enmity.
Ultra-nationalists in Netanyahu's governing coalition have repeatedly called for Israel to annex the West Bank outright, though the bill was put forward by MPs outside the government.
The bill passed in a 25-24 vote. It is unclear whether it has support to win a majority in the 120-seat Knesset (parliament), and there are ways the prime minister can delay or defeat it.
The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the Knesset's move, saying Israel would have no sovereignty over Palestinian land.
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews during its occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.
The settlements are illegal under international law - a position supported by an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice last year.
As he boarded the plane to Israel, Rubio said annexation would be "counterproductive" and "threatening" for the peace deal - reiterating US opposition to annexation.
His visit on Thursday comes hot on the heels of trips by US Vice-President JD Vance and two special envoys, as the Trump administration attempts to push for the start of talks on the second critical phase of his 20-point Gaza peace plan.
The first phase - which includes a ceasefire, the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces and an influx of aid - came into effect earlier this month.
Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of breaching the agreement over deadly incidents, but it has so far held.
Rubio voiced similar optimism to that of Vance for preserving the ceasefire.
"Every day there'll be threats to it, but I actually think we're ahead of schedule in terms of bringing it together, and the fact that we made it through this weekend is a good sign," he said.
The second phase of the peace plan would involve setting up an interim government in Gaza, deploying an international stabilisation force, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the disarmament of Hamas.
The war in Gaza began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
In the ensuing conflict, more than 68,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the UN as reliable.
BBC
The US Secretary of State has said that a move by Israel's parliament towards annexation of the occupied West Bank would threaten Washington's plan to end the conflict in Gaza.
"That's not something we can be supportive of right now," Marco Rubio said before leaving for Israel as part of US efforts to shore up a fragile ceasefire deal.
In an apparent attempt to embarrass Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, far-right politicians took the symbolic step of giving preliminary approval to a bill granting Israel authority to annex the West Bank.
The Palestinians claim the West Bank - occupied by Israel since 1967 - as part of a hoped-for independent state.
Last year, the International Court of Justice - the UN's top court - said Israel's occupation was illegal.
Netanyahu has previously spoken in support of annexing West Bank land but has not advanced this due to the risk of alienating the US - Israel's most important ally - and Arab countries which have built relations with Israel after decades of enmity.
Ultra-nationalists in Netanyahu's governing coalition have repeatedly called for Israel to annex the West Bank outright, though the bill was put forward by MPs outside the government.
The bill passed in a 25-24 vote. It is unclear whether it has support to win a majority in the 120-seat Knesset (parliament), and there are ways the prime minister can delay or defeat it.
The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the Knesset's move, saying Israel would have no sovereignty over Palestinian land.
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews during its occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.
The settlements are illegal under international law - a position supported by an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice last year.
As he boarded the plane to Israel, Rubio said annexation would be "counterproductive" and "threatening" for the peace deal - reiterating US opposition to annexation.
His visit on Thursday comes hot on the heels of trips by US Vice-President JD Vance and two special envoys, as the Trump administration attempts to push for the start of talks on the second critical phase of his 20-point Gaza peace plan.
The first phase - which includes a ceasefire, the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces and an influx of aid - came into effect earlier this month.
Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of breaching the agreement over deadly incidents, but it has so far held.
Rubio voiced similar optimism to that of Vance for preserving the ceasefire.
"Every day there'll be threats to it, but I actually think we're ahead of schedule in terms of bringing it together, and the fact that we made it through this weekend is a good sign," he said.
The second phase of the peace plan would involve setting up an interim government in Gaza, deploying an international stabilisation force, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the disarmament of Hamas.
The war in Gaza began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
In the ensuing conflict, more than 68,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the UN as reliable.
BBC
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Gaza doctors struggle to investigate 'signs of torture' on unnamed dead returned by Israel
Out of a single room, with no DNA testing facilities or cold storage units of its own, the forensics team at Gaza's Nasser hospital face the challenges brought by peace.
Over the past eleven days, 195 bodies have been returned to Gaza by Israeli authorities, in exchange for the bodies of 13 Israeli hostages, under the terms of Donald Trump's ceasefire deal.
Photographs released by Gaza's medical authorities show some of the bodies badly decomposed, and arriving in civilian clothes or naked except for underwear, some with multiple signs of injury. Many have their wrists tied behind their backs, and doctors say some bodies arrived blindfolded or with cloth roped around their necks.
The forensic team at Nasser hospital are working with almost no resources to answer vast questions about torture, mistreatment and identity.
The head of the unit, Dr Ahmed Dheir, said one of their biggest limitations is a lack of cold storage space. The bodies arrive in Gaza thoroughly frozen and can take several days to thaw out, ruling out even basic identification methods like dental history, let alone any deeper investigation or post-mortem (autopsy).
"The situation is extremely challenging," he said. "If we wait for the bodies to thaw, rapid decomposition begins almost immediately, putting us in an impossible position [because] we lose the ability to examine the remains properly. So the most viable method is to take samples and document the state of the bodies as they are."
The BBC has viewed dozens of photographs of the bodies, many of them shared by Gaza's health authorities, others taken by colleagues on the ground.
We spoke to several of those involved in examining the bodies in Gaza, as well as families of the missing, human rights groups, and Israeli military and prison authorities.
We also spoke to three forensic experts outside the region, including one specialising in torture, to educate ourselves about the medical processes involved in this kind of investigation – all agreed that there were questions that were difficult to answer without post-mortems.
Dr Alaa al-Astal, one of the forensic team at Nasser hospital, said some of the bodies arriving there showed "signs of torture", such as bruises and marks from binding on the wrists and ankles.
"There were extremely horrific cases, where the restraint was so tight that blood circulation to the hands was cut off, leading to tissue damage and clear signs of pressure around the wrists and ankles," he said.
"Even around the eyes, when the blindfolds were removed, you could see deep grooves - imagine how much force that took. The pressure left actual marks where the blindfold had been tied."
Dr Astal also mentioned the loose cloths tied around the necks of some bodies as needing further investigation.
"In one case, there was a groove around the neck," he said. "To determine whether the death was due to hanging or strangulation, we needed to perform a post-mortem, but because the body was frozen, it was not dissected."
Sameh Yassin Hamad, a member of the Hamas-run government committee responsible for receiving the bodies, said there were signs of bruising and blood infiltration indicating that the bodies had been severely beaten before death. He also said there were stab wounds on the chest or face of some of them.
Some of the images we saw from the unit clearly show deep indentations or tightly-fastened cable-ties on the wrists and arms and ankles. One photograph appears to show the bruising and abrasion that would confirm that ties had been used while the person was still alive.
Other bodies showed only deep indentation marks, meaning a post-mortem would be needed to determine whether the ties had been used before or after death. Cable-ties are sometimes used when transporting bodies in Israel.
When we asked Israel's military about the evidence we gathered, it said it operates strictly in accordance with international law.
We showed the photographs we were given to the outside forensic experts. The images represent a fraction of the bodies transferred to Gaza by the Red Cross.
All three experts said that some of the markings raised questions about what had happened, but that it was difficult to reach concrete conclusions about abuse or torture without post-mortems.
"What is happening in Gaza is an international forensic emergency," said Michael Pollanen, a forensic pathologist and professor at the University of Toronto. "Based upon images like this, there is an imperative for complete medical autopsies. We need to know the truth behind how deaths occurred, and the only way to know the truth is to do autopsies."
But even with limited forensic data, doctors at Nasser hospital say the routine cuffing of wrists behind the body rather than in front, along with the marks observed on the limbs, points to torture.
"When a person is naked, with their hands tied behind their back, and visible restraint marks on their wrists and ankles, it indicates that they died in that position," Dr Dheir told us. "This is a violation of international law."
And there is strong evidence to suggest widespread abuse of detainees - including civilians - in Israeli custody in the months after the war began in October 2023, particularly in the military facility of Sde Teiman.
"At least in the first eight months of the war, the detainees from Gaza were cuffed behind their backs, and had their eyes covered, 24 hrs, 7 days a week, for months," said Naji Abbas, head of the Prisoners and Detainees Programme at the Israeli human rights organisation, Physicians for Human Rights (PHRI).
"We know that people developed serious infections on their skin, hands and legs because of the cuffs."
We have spoken to several people who worked at Sde Teiman over the past two years, who confirm that detainees were cuffed hand and foot – even while undergoing medical treatments, including surgery.
One medic who worked there said he had campaigned to loosen the cuffs, and that the treatment of detainees there was "dehumanisation".
But many of those detained during the Gaza war are held as unlawful combatants, without charge.
One complication for doctors at Nasser Hospital now is determining which of the returned bodies are Hamas fighters killed in combat, which are civilians and which are detainees who died in Israeli custody.
Some of the bodies returned by Israel are still wearing Hamas headbands or military boots, but doctors say most are either naked or in civilian clothing, making it difficult to distinguish their role, interpret their injuries, and assess human rights violations.
Photographs seen by the BBC show mostly naked or decomposed bodies. One dressed in civilian clothing and trainers has what officials say are two small bullet wounds in his back.
Sameh Yassin Hamad, from Gaza's Forensics Committee, said that Israel had sent back identification with only six of the 195 bodies it had returned – and that five of those names turned out to be wrong.
"Since these bodies were held by the Israeli authorities, they will have full data about them," said Dr Dheir. "But they haven't shared that information with us through the Red Cross. We were sent DNA profiles for around half the total number of dead, but have not received any details about the dates or circumstances of death, or the time or place of detention."
We asked Israel's army about the details in this report, including striking allegations by Gaza's forensic team that Israel had removed single fingers and toes from the bodies for DNA testing.
Israel's military said "all bodies returned so far are combatants within the Gaza Strip." It denied tying any bodies prior to their release.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, Shosh Bedrosian, on Wednesday described the reports from Gaza as "just more efforts to demonise Israel" and suggested the media focus instead on the experience of Israeli hostages.
As families of those missing gather at the hospital gates, Dr Dheir and his staff are under intense pressure to identify the dead and provide answers about what happened to them.
So far, only some 50 bodies have been positively identified – mostly through basic details like height, age and obvious previous injuries. Another 54 have been buried, unidentified and unclaimed, because of intense pressure on space at the unit.
Many families of the missing attended the burial of the unnamed dead this week, just in case one of them was theirs.
"Honestly, it's hard to bury a body when you don't know whether it's the right one or not," said Rami al-Faraa, still searching for his cousin.
"If there was [DNA] testing, we'd know where he is – yes or no," said Houwaida Hamad, searching for her nephew. "My sister would know if the one we're burying is really her son or not."
Donald Trump's ceasefire deal has brought some relief for Gaza, but little closure for the families of most of those missing, left burying a body in place of a brother, husband or son.
BBC
Out of a single room, with no DNA testing facilities or cold storage units of its own, the forensics team at Gaza's Nasser hospital face the challenges brought by peace.
Over the past eleven days, 195 bodies have been returned to Gaza by Israeli authorities, in exchange for the bodies of 13 Israeli hostages, under the terms of Donald Trump's ceasefire deal.
Photographs released by Gaza's medical authorities show some of the bodies badly decomposed, and arriving in civilian clothes or naked except for underwear, some with multiple signs of injury. Many have their wrists tied behind their backs, and doctors say some bodies arrived blindfolded or with cloth roped around their necks.
The forensic team at Nasser hospital are working with almost no resources to answer vast questions about torture, mistreatment and identity.
The head of the unit, Dr Ahmed Dheir, said one of their biggest limitations is a lack of cold storage space. The bodies arrive in Gaza thoroughly frozen and can take several days to thaw out, ruling out even basic identification methods like dental history, let alone any deeper investigation or post-mortem (autopsy).
"The situation is extremely challenging," he said. "If we wait for the bodies to thaw, rapid decomposition begins almost immediately, putting us in an impossible position [because] we lose the ability to examine the remains properly. So the most viable method is to take samples and document the state of the bodies as they are."
The BBC has viewed dozens of photographs of the bodies, many of them shared by Gaza's health authorities, others taken by colleagues on the ground.
We spoke to several of those involved in examining the bodies in Gaza, as well as families of the missing, human rights groups, and Israeli military and prison authorities.
We also spoke to three forensic experts outside the region, including one specialising in torture, to educate ourselves about the medical processes involved in this kind of investigation – all agreed that there were questions that were difficult to answer without post-mortems.
Dr Alaa al-Astal, one of the forensic team at Nasser hospital, said some of the bodies arriving there showed "signs of torture", such as bruises and marks from binding on the wrists and ankles.
"There were extremely horrific cases, where the restraint was so tight that blood circulation to the hands was cut off, leading to tissue damage and clear signs of pressure around the wrists and ankles," he said.
"Even around the eyes, when the blindfolds were removed, you could see deep grooves - imagine how much force that took. The pressure left actual marks where the blindfold had been tied."
Dr Astal also mentioned the loose cloths tied around the necks of some bodies as needing further investigation.
"In one case, there was a groove around the neck," he said. "To determine whether the death was due to hanging or strangulation, we needed to perform a post-mortem, but because the body was frozen, it was not dissected."
Sameh Yassin Hamad, a member of the Hamas-run government committee responsible for receiving the bodies, said there were signs of bruising and blood infiltration indicating that the bodies had been severely beaten before death. He also said there were stab wounds on the chest or face of some of them.
Some of the images we saw from the unit clearly show deep indentations or tightly-fastened cable-ties on the wrists and arms and ankles. One photograph appears to show the bruising and abrasion that would confirm that ties had been used while the person was still alive.
Other bodies showed only deep indentation marks, meaning a post-mortem would be needed to determine whether the ties had been used before or after death. Cable-ties are sometimes used when transporting bodies in Israel.
When we asked Israel's military about the evidence we gathered, it said it operates strictly in accordance with international law.
We showed the photographs we were given to the outside forensic experts. The images represent a fraction of the bodies transferred to Gaza by the Red Cross.
All three experts said that some of the markings raised questions about what had happened, but that it was difficult to reach concrete conclusions about abuse or torture without post-mortems.
"What is happening in Gaza is an international forensic emergency," said Michael Pollanen, a forensic pathologist and professor at the University of Toronto. "Based upon images like this, there is an imperative for complete medical autopsies. We need to know the truth behind how deaths occurred, and the only way to know the truth is to do autopsies."
But even with limited forensic data, doctors at Nasser hospital say the routine cuffing of wrists behind the body rather than in front, along with the marks observed on the limbs, points to torture.
"When a person is naked, with their hands tied behind their back, and visible restraint marks on their wrists and ankles, it indicates that they died in that position," Dr Dheir told us. "This is a violation of international law."
And there is strong evidence to suggest widespread abuse of detainees - including civilians - in Israeli custody in the months after the war began in October 2023, particularly in the military facility of Sde Teiman.
"At least in the first eight months of the war, the detainees from Gaza were cuffed behind their backs, and had their eyes covered, 24 hrs, 7 days a week, for months," said Naji Abbas, head of the Prisoners and Detainees Programme at the Israeli human rights organisation, Physicians for Human Rights (PHRI).
"We know that people developed serious infections on their skin, hands and legs because of the cuffs."
We have spoken to several people who worked at Sde Teiman over the past two years, who confirm that detainees were cuffed hand and foot – even while undergoing medical treatments, including surgery.
One medic who worked there said he had campaigned to loosen the cuffs, and that the treatment of detainees there was "dehumanisation".
But many of those detained during the Gaza war are held as unlawful combatants, without charge.
One complication for doctors at Nasser Hospital now is determining which of the returned bodies are Hamas fighters killed in combat, which are civilians and which are detainees who died in Israeli custody.
Some of the bodies returned by Israel are still wearing Hamas headbands or military boots, but doctors say most are either naked or in civilian clothing, making it difficult to distinguish their role, interpret their injuries, and assess human rights violations.
Photographs seen by the BBC show mostly naked or decomposed bodies. One dressed in civilian clothing and trainers has what officials say are two small bullet wounds in his back.
Sameh Yassin Hamad, from Gaza's Forensics Committee, said that Israel had sent back identification with only six of the 195 bodies it had returned – and that five of those names turned out to be wrong.
"Since these bodies were held by the Israeli authorities, they will have full data about them," said Dr Dheir. "But they haven't shared that information with us through the Red Cross. We were sent DNA profiles for around half the total number of dead, but have not received any details about the dates or circumstances of death, or the time or place of detention."
We asked Israel's army about the details in this report, including striking allegations by Gaza's forensic team that Israel had removed single fingers and toes from the bodies for DNA testing.
Israel's military said "all bodies returned so far are combatants within the Gaza Strip." It denied tying any bodies prior to their release.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, Shosh Bedrosian, on Wednesday described the reports from Gaza as "just more efforts to demonise Israel" and suggested the media focus instead on the experience of Israeli hostages.
As families of those missing gather at the hospital gates, Dr Dheir and his staff are under intense pressure to identify the dead and provide answers about what happened to them.
So far, only some 50 bodies have been positively identified – mostly through basic details like height, age and obvious previous injuries. Another 54 have been buried, unidentified and unclaimed, because of intense pressure on space at the unit.
Many families of the missing attended the burial of the unnamed dead this week, just in case one of them was theirs.
"Honestly, it's hard to bury a body when you don't know whether it's the right one or not," said Rami al-Faraa, still searching for his cousin.
"If there was [DNA] testing, we'd know where he is – yes or no," said Houwaida Hamad, searching for her nephew. "My sister would know if the one we're burying is really her son or not."
Donald Trump's ceasefire deal has brought some relief for Gaza, but little closure for the families of most of those missing, left burying a body in place of a brother, husband or son.
BBC
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Ceasefire politics stall aid as Gaza’s people fight hunger, cold, and despair
Gaza’s Fragile Calm Tested by Scarcity and Political Gridlock
As the fragile ceasefire enters another uncertain phase, Israel-Palestine war live updates reveal a deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Palestinians returning to northern Gaza describe life as a “daily struggle for survival,” navigating through shattered neighbourhoods with no power, clean water, or food. Thousands remain displaced, unable to go home due to Israeli military presence and structural collapse risks.
Humanitarian agencies say the situation is far worse than anticipated. The World Health Organization has urged Israel to open “all border crossings” to allow aid and medical evacuations, stressing that thousands in urgent need of treatment cannot wait any longer. “If all corridors opened, it would be a game-changer,” said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative for the Palestinian territories.
According to Israel-Palestine war live updates, the ceasefire’s second phase has become a flashpoint for global politics. The U.S.-brokered plan envisions an international stabilisation force to secure Gaza, yet Israel has firmly opposed Turkiye’s participation. Israeli analyst Akiva Eldar explains that historic mistrust and political rivalry between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Erdogan make Ankara’s involvement “unacceptable” for Israel. Instead, alternative nations like India or Pakistan might be considered—though the core question remains: who will disarm Hamas?
Meanwhile, Spain’s High Court has opened a rare investigation against steelmaker Sidenor for allegedly breaching a weapons sales ban to Israel, marking one of the first potential legal consequences of Madrid’s 2024 embargo. Rights groups hailed the move as a step toward accountability for corporate complicity in the conflict.
In Israel-Palestine war live updates, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has reaffirmed that “no organisation can replace its role” in Gaza, countering U.S. claims linking it to Hamas. Washington’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio, has insisted that Gaza will be demilitarised and that Hamas will have no role in future governance. Analysts say such statements highlight the U.S.’s growing control over Israel’s wartime decisions, including restrictions on airstrikes and post-war strategy.
For Gaza’s civilians, however, politics offer little relief. With aid convoys still blocked and shelters collapsing under rain and cold, the truce feels less like peace—and more like a pause in a war that never truly stopped.
Gaza’s Fragile Calm Tested by Scarcity and Political Gridlock
As the fragile ceasefire enters another uncertain phase, Israel-Palestine war live updates reveal a deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Palestinians returning to northern Gaza describe life as a “daily struggle for survival,” navigating through shattered neighbourhoods with no power, clean water, or food. Thousands remain displaced, unable to go home due to Israeli military presence and structural collapse risks.
Humanitarian agencies say the situation is far worse than anticipated. The World Health Organization has urged Israel to open “all border crossings” to allow aid and medical evacuations, stressing that thousands in urgent need of treatment cannot wait any longer. “If all corridors opened, it would be a game-changer,” said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative for the Palestinian territories.
Global Reactions and Political Tensions Build
According to Israel-Palestine war live updates, the ceasefire’s second phase has become a flashpoint for global politics. The U.S.-brokered plan envisions an international stabilisation force to secure Gaza, yet Israel has firmly opposed Turkiye’s participation. Israeli analyst Akiva Eldar explains that historic mistrust and political rivalry between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Erdogan make Ankara’s involvement “unacceptable” for Israel. Instead, alternative nations like India or Pakistan might be considered—though the core question remains: who will disarm Hamas?
Meanwhile, Spain’s High Court has opened a rare investigation against steelmaker Sidenor for allegedly breaching a weapons sales ban to Israel, marking one of the first potential legal consequences of Madrid’s 2024 embargo. Rights groups hailed the move as a step toward accountability for corporate complicity in the conflict.
UNRWA’s Role, U.S. Influence, and Ongoing Uncertainty
In Israel-Palestine war live updates, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has reaffirmed that “no organisation can replace its role” in Gaza, countering U.S. claims linking it to Hamas. Washington’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio, has insisted that Gaza will be demilitarised and that Hamas will have no role in future governance. Analysts say such statements highlight the U.S.’s growing control over Israel’s wartime decisions, including restrictions on airstrikes and post-war strategy.
For Gaza’s civilians, however, politics offer little relief. With aid convoys still blocked and shelters collapsing under rain and cold, the truce feels less like peace—and more like a pause in a war that never truly stopped.
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Gaza risks ‘lost generation’ due to ruined schools: UN official
With Gaza’s education system shattered by two years of gruelling war, UNICEF’s regional director says he fears for a “lost generation” of children wandering ruined streets with nothing to do.
“This is the third year that there has been no school,” Edouard Beigbeder, the UN agency’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, told the AFP news agency in Jerusalem after returning from the Palestinian territory.
“If we don’t start a real transition for all children in February, we will enter a fourth year. And then we can talk about a lost generation.”
A US-brokered ceasefire, which came into effect earlier in October, has allowed UNICEF and other education partners to get about one-sixth of children who should be in school into temporary “learning centres”, Beigbeder told AFP.
“They have three days of learning in reading, mathematics and writing, but this is far from a formal education as we know it,” he added.
Beigbeder said that such learning centres, often located in schools or near displacement camps, consisted of metal structures covered with plastic sheeting or of tents. He said there were sometimes chairs, cardboard boxes or wooden planks serving as tables, and that children would write on salvaged slates or plastic boards.
Source: Al Jazeera
With Gaza’s education system shattered by two years of gruelling war, UNICEF’s regional director says he fears for a “lost generation” of children wandering ruined streets with nothing to do.
“This is the third year that there has been no school,” Edouard Beigbeder, the UN agency’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, told the AFP news agency in Jerusalem after returning from the Palestinian territory.
“If we don’t start a real transition for all children in February, we will enter a fourth year. And then we can talk about a lost generation.”
A US-brokered ceasefire, which came into effect earlier in October, has allowed UNICEF and other education partners to get about one-sixth of children who should be in school into temporary “learning centres”, Beigbeder told AFP.
“They have three days of learning in reading, mathematics and writing, but this is far from a formal education as we know it,” he added.
Beigbeder said that such learning centres, often located in schools or near displacement camps, consisted of metal structures covered with plastic sheeting or of tents. He said there were sometimes chairs, cardboard boxes or wooden planks serving as tables, and that children would write on salvaged slates or plastic boards.
Source: Al Jazeera
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Gaza children dying as they wait for Israel to enable evacuations
So many lives in Gaza still hang in the balance.
In different wards of Nasser Hospital lie two 10-year-old boys, one shot by Israeli fire and paralysed from the neck down, another with a brain tumour.
Now that a fragile ceasefire is in place, they are among some 15,000 patients who the World Health Organization (WHO) says are in need of urgent medical evacuations.
Ola Abu Said sits gently stroking the hair of her son Amar. His family says he was in their tent in southern Gaza when he was hit by a stray bullet fired by an Israeli drone. It is lodged between two of his vertebrae, leaving him paralysed.
"He needs surgery urgently," Ola says, "but it's complicated. Doctors told us it could cause his death, a stroke or brain hemorrhage. He needs surgery in a well-equipped place."
Right now, Gaza is anything but that. After two years of war, its hospitals have been left in a critical state.
Sitting by the bedside of her younger brother, Ahmed al-Jadd, his sister Shahd says her brother was a constant comfort to her through two years of war and displacement.
"He's only 10 and when our situation got so bad, he used to go out and sell water to help bring some money for us," she says. A few months ago, he showed the first signs of ill health.
"Ahmad's mouth started drooping to one side," Shahd explains. "One time he kept telling me: "Shahd my head hurts" and we just gave him paracetamol, but later, his right hand stopped moving."
The one-time university student is desperate for her brother to travel abroad to have his tumour removed.
"We can't lose him. We already lost our father, our home and our dreams," Shahd says. "When the ceasefire happened it gave us a bit of a hope that maybe there was a 1% chance that Ahmed could travel and get treated."
On Wednesday, the WHO coordinated the first medical convoy to exit Gaza since the fragile ceasefire began on 10 October. It took 41 patients and 145 carers to hospitals abroad via Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing, with ambulances and buses taking the group on to Jordan. Some have stayed for care there.
The UN agency has called for numbers of medical evacuations to be rapidly increased to deal with the thousands of cases of sick and wounded. It wants to be able to bring out patients through Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt as it has done previously.
However, Israel has said it is keeping the crossing closed until Hamas "fulfils" its commitments under the terms of the Gaza ceasefire deal by returning the bodies of deceased hostages. Israel has kept the Gaza side of the Egyptian border closed since May 2024 when it took control during the war.
Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, the head of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said "the most impactful measure" would be if Israel could allow Gazan patients to be treated in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as happened before the war.
Top EU officials and foreign ministers of more than 20 countries - including the UK - have previously called for this, offering "financial contributions, provision of medical staff or equipment needed."
"Hundreds of patients could be treated easily and efficiently in a short time if this route reopened to the East Jerusalem Hospital Network and the hospitals in the West Bank," says Dr Fadi Atrash, CEO of the Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mount of Olives.
"We can at least treat 50 patients per day for chemotherapy and radiation and even more than that. Other hospitals can do a lot of surgeries," the doctor tells me.
"Referring them to East Jerusalem is the shortest distance, the most efficient way, because we have the mechanism. We speak the same language, we're the same culture, in many cases we have medical files for Gazan patients. They've been receiving treatment in East Jerusalem hospitals for more than a decade before the war."
The BBC asked Cogat, the Israeli defence body which controls Gaza's crossings, why the medical route was not being approved. Cogat said it was a decision by the political echelon and referred queries to the Prime Minister's Office which did not offer further explanation.
After the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023, Israel cited security reasons for not allowing Gazan patients in other Palestinian territories. It also pointed out that its main crossing point for people at Erez had been targeted by Hamas fighters during the assault.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says that in the year to August 2025, at least 740 people, including nearly 140 children, died while on waiting lists.
At Nasser hospital, the director of paediatrics and maternity, Dr Ahmed al-Farra, expresses his frustration.
"It's the most difficult feeling for a doctor to be present, able to diagnose a condition but unable to carry out essential tests and lacking the necessary treatments," Dr al-Farra says. "This has happened in so many cases, and unfortunately, there's daily loss of life due to our lack of capabilities."
Since the ceasefire, hope has run out for more of his patients.
In the past week in the hospital grounds, a funeral took place for Saadi Abu Taha, aged eight, who died from intestinal cancer.
A day later three-year old Zain Tafesh and Luay Dweik, aged eight, died from hepatitis.
Without action, there are many more Gazans who will not have a chance to live in peace.
BBC
So many lives in Gaza still hang in the balance.
In different wards of Nasser Hospital lie two 10-year-old boys, one shot by Israeli fire and paralysed from the neck down, another with a brain tumour.
Now that a fragile ceasefire is in place, they are among some 15,000 patients who the World Health Organization (WHO) says are in need of urgent medical evacuations.
Ola Abu Said sits gently stroking the hair of her son Amar. His family says he was in their tent in southern Gaza when he was hit by a stray bullet fired by an Israeli drone. It is lodged between two of his vertebrae, leaving him paralysed.
"He needs surgery urgently," Ola says, "but it's complicated. Doctors told us it could cause his death, a stroke or brain hemorrhage. He needs surgery in a well-equipped place."
Right now, Gaza is anything but that. After two years of war, its hospitals have been left in a critical state.
Sitting by the bedside of her younger brother, Ahmed al-Jadd, his sister Shahd says her brother was a constant comfort to her through two years of war and displacement.
"He's only 10 and when our situation got so bad, he used to go out and sell water to help bring some money for us," she says. A few months ago, he showed the first signs of ill health.
"Ahmad's mouth started drooping to one side," Shahd explains. "One time he kept telling me: "Shahd my head hurts" and we just gave him paracetamol, but later, his right hand stopped moving."
The one-time university student is desperate for her brother to travel abroad to have his tumour removed.
"We can't lose him. We already lost our father, our home and our dreams," Shahd says. "When the ceasefire happened it gave us a bit of a hope that maybe there was a 1% chance that Ahmed could travel and get treated."
On Wednesday, the WHO coordinated the first medical convoy to exit Gaza since the fragile ceasefire began on 10 October. It took 41 patients and 145 carers to hospitals abroad via Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing, with ambulances and buses taking the group on to Jordan. Some have stayed for care there.
The UN agency has called for numbers of medical evacuations to be rapidly increased to deal with the thousands of cases of sick and wounded. It wants to be able to bring out patients through Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt as it has done previously.
However, Israel has said it is keeping the crossing closed until Hamas "fulfils" its commitments under the terms of the Gaza ceasefire deal by returning the bodies of deceased hostages. Israel has kept the Gaza side of the Egyptian border closed since May 2024 when it took control during the war.
Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, the head of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said "the most impactful measure" would be if Israel could allow Gazan patients to be treated in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as happened before the war.
Top EU officials and foreign ministers of more than 20 countries - including the UK - have previously called for this, offering "financial contributions, provision of medical staff or equipment needed."
"Hundreds of patients could be treated easily and efficiently in a short time if this route reopened to the East Jerusalem Hospital Network and the hospitals in the West Bank," says Dr Fadi Atrash, CEO of the Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mount of Olives.
"We can at least treat 50 patients per day for chemotherapy and radiation and even more than that. Other hospitals can do a lot of surgeries," the doctor tells me.
"Referring them to East Jerusalem is the shortest distance, the most efficient way, because we have the mechanism. We speak the same language, we're the same culture, in many cases we have medical files for Gazan patients. They've been receiving treatment in East Jerusalem hospitals for more than a decade before the war."
The BBC asked Cogat, the Israeli defence body which controls Gaza's crossings, why the medical route was not being approved. Cogat said it was a decision by the political echelon and referred queries to the Prime Minister's Office which did not offer further explanation.
After the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023, Israel cited security reasons for not allowing Gazan patients in other Palestinian territories. It also pointed out that its main crossing point for people at Erez had been targeted by Hamas fighters during the assault.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says that in the year to August 2025, at least 740 people, including nearly 140 children, died while on waiting lists.
At Nasser hospital, the director of paediatrics and maternity, Dr Ahmed al-Farra, expresses his frustration.
"It's the most difficult feeling for a doctor to be present, able to diagnose a condition but unable to carry out essential tests and lacking the necessary treatments," Dr al-Farra says. "This has happened in so many cases, and unfortunately, there's daily loss of life due to our lack of capabilities."
Since the ceasefire, hope has run out for more of his patients.
In the past week in the hospital grounds, a funeral took place for Saadi Abu Taha, aged eight, who died from intestinal cancer.
A day later three-year old Zain Tafesh and Luay Dweik, aged eight, died from hepatitis.
Without action, there are many more Gazans who will not have a chance to live in peace.
BBC
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The liar tyrants
===Israel says its forces carried out strike in central Gaza’s Nuseirat
The Israeli military says its forces have targeted a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group with “a precise strike” carried out “a short while ago” in the Nuseirat area of central Gaza.The army statement claimed without providing any evidence that the person was planning to carry out “an imminent terrorist attack” against Israeli troops.
Source: Al Jazeera
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Ceasefire Shadows: Israel's Violence on Gaza Continues Amid Expanding Raids
Despite a declared ceasefire, Israel's violence on Gaza and the occupied West Bank has intensified, leaving Palestinians grappling with loss, fear, and displacement. In the last 48 hours, Gaza’s Health Ministry confirmed at least eight more Palestinians killed and 13 injured in fresh Israeli strikes — pushing the overall toll to over 68,500 dead and 170,000 wounded since October 2023.
The truce, intended to allow humanitarian recovery, has been overshadowed by relentless attacks and raids. Israeli forces demolished two homes in the villages of Furush Beit Dajan and Funduq under the pretext of lacking permits, displacing families who had already endured years of uncertainty. In Furush Beit Dajan alone, village officials report that more than 90 percent of homes face demolition notices.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Civil Defence teams in Khan Younis have been preparing mass burials for 50 unidentified Palestinians returned from Israel. Many bodies, showing signs of torture and mutilation, were unrecognizable. Families continue searching for their loved ones among the dead, their grief deepened by the impossibility of proper identification or farewell.
Expanding Crackdown in the West Bank and Schools Under Fire
In parallel with Israel’s violence on Gaza, Israeli forces conducted sweeping overnight raids across the occupied West Bank, detaining 40 Palestinians, including minors. Students in al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, were also targeted as soldiers fired live ammunition, stun grenades, and tear gas, leaving several children suffering from gas inhalation.
Farmers, too, face mounting hardship as Israeli troops and settlers obstruct the olive harvest season. In Sinjil, north of Ramallah, soldiers forced farmers off their lands, contributing to what Palestinian monitors describe as over 150 incidents of violence and harassment against olive growers in recent weeks.
As Gaza families dig through rubble with bare hands to recover missing relatives, the disparity in global empathy has become glaring. While machinery has entered the enclave to retrieve the remains of Israeli captives, Palestinian families still await similar assistance for their thousands of missing loved ones — a haunting reminder of the unequal value placed on human lives amid Israel's violence on Gaza and the West Bank.
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Why the apartheid regime has issue with it?
===
Israel says it won’t ‘let’ Turkiye send armed forces to Gaza
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has said Israel is opposed to Turkiye contributing to an international force in Gaza due to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “hostile approach” to Israel.
“Countries that want or are ready to send armed forces should be at least fair to Israel,” Saar said at a news conference in Budapest.
“Turkey, led by Erdogan, led a hostile approach against Israel … So it is not reasonable for us to let their armed forces enter the Gaza Strip, and we will not agree to that and we said it to our American friends.”
While the Trump administration has ruled out sending US soldiers into Gaza, it has been speaking to Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye and Azerbaijan to contribute to the multinational force.
Turkiye’s Erdogan has been one of Israel’s fiercest critics since the Gaza war started, even calling Israel a “terror
state”.
Source: Al Jazeera
===
Israel says it won’t ‘let’ Turkiye send armed forces to Gaza
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has said Israel is opposed to Turkiye contributing to an international force in Gaza due to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “hostile approach” to Israel.
“Countries that want or are ready to send armed forces should be at least fair to Israel,” Saar said at a news conference in Budapest.
“Turkey, led by Erdogan, led a hostile approach against Israel … So it is not reasonable for us to let their armed forces enter the Gaza Strip, and we will not agree to that and we said it to our American friends.”
While the Trump administration has ruled out sending US soldiers into Gaza, it has been speaking to Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye and Azerbaijan to contribute to the multinational force.
Turkiye’s Erdogan has been one of Israel’s fiercest critics since the Gaza war started, even calling Israel a “terror
state”.
Source: Al Jazeera
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Bl*ody criminal back stabs again
===
Netanyahu orders attacks on Gaza in response to alleged truce violation
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says he has instructed the military to immediately carry out powerful strikes on Gaza.
It is unclear when and where they are going to take place.
But the Israeli government says this is in response to what they are calling Hamas’s ceasefire violations by not handing over the bodies of the remaining 13 captives that are still inside Gaza.
Hamas has said for some time that it needs assistance on the ground in the form of specialised teams and heavy machinery.
Israel has allowed those in the last couple of days, but still they have not exhumed all of the bodies.
At the end of the day, mediators – as well as Israeli and US officials, including Trump – knew that it was going to be a difficult task to exhume all of the captives’ bodies that are buried under millions of tonnes of rubble across Gaza.
Source: Al Jazeera
===
Netanyahu orders attacks on Gaza in response to alleged truce violation
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says he has instructed the military to immediately carry out powerful strikes on Gaza.
It is unclear when and where they are going to take place.
But the Israeli government says this is in response to what they are calling Hamas’s ceasefire violations by not handing over the bodies of the remaining 13 captives that are still inside Gaza.
Hamas has said for some time that it needs assistance on the ground in the form of specialised teams and heavy machinery.
Israel has allowed those in the last couple of days, but still they have not exhumed all of the bodies.
At the end of the day, mediators – as well as Israeli and US officials, including Trump – knew that it was going to be a difficult task to exhume all of the captives’ bodies that are buried under millions of tonnes of rubble across Gaza.
Source: Al Jazeera
Devadwal
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Israel to launch massive strikes in Gaza. Israel PM’s Office says, “Following the security consultations, Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed the military echelon to carry out immediate and powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip.” Decision after Hamas violated ceasefire
globetrotter
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Fresh Israel strikes kill 33 in Gaza..... reports BBC.
It clearly shows before ceasefire, Trump failed to take consideration of Israel and Gaza. Therefore this ceasefire is made between Trump and other Muslim nations who wanted to hide their failures to provide military assistants to palestenes
It clearly shows before ceasefire, Trump failed to take consideration of Israel and Gaza. Therefore this ceasefire is made between Trump and other Muslim nations who wanted to hide their failures to provide military assistants to palestenes
globetrotter
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It seems that Israel's killing of 31 palestenese doesn't bother to any Muslim nations as well as posters here
Free Hit
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Absolutely embarrassing for Muslims.
Shame on Pakistani government for their shameless praise of Trump.
Shame on Pakistani government for their shameless praise of Trump.
IMMY69
Senior T20I Player
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Firstly it's not a government, it's a dictatorship.
Secondly, I doubt anyone here expected Israel to stop the genocide... the Trump play was only backed here in jest due to the many Indians here who were doing early Diwali celebrating Trumps victory and the hike in tariffs which would somehow elevate India to a different level in terms of tech and manufacturing.... we saw how that backfired and then how the same Indians here changed tact...
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Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 50, rescuers say, after Hamas accused of killing Israeli soldier
At least 50 Palestinians were killed in a wave of Israeli strikes in Gaza on Tuesday night, the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency and hospitals say.
Israel carried out the strikes in response to what it said were violations by Hamas of the US-brokered ceasefire deal.
Israel's defence minister accused Hamas of an attack in southern Gaza that killed an Israeli soldier on Tuesday, and of breaching the terms on returning deceased hostages' bodies. Hamas claimed it had "no connection" to the attack and insisted it was committed to the ceasefire deal.
US President Donald Trump maintained "nothing" would jeopardise the ceasefire, but added that Israel should "hit back" when its soldiers were targeted.
The Israeli strikes hit homes, schools and residential blocks in Gaza City and Beit Lahia in the north of Gaza, Bureij and Nuseirat in the centre, and Khan Younis in the south.
A Civil Defence spokesman told AFP news agency that at least 50 people were killed, including 22 children, and around 200 others were injured.
In Gaza City, witnesses described seeing "pillars of fire and smoke" rising into the air as explosions shook several residential areas.
Three women and a man who were pulled from the rubble of the al-Banna family's home in the southern Sabra neighbourhood, the Civil Defence said.
In the urban Bureij refugee camp, five members of the Abu Sharar family were killed in a strike on their home in the Block 7 area, it added.
And in Khan Younis, another five people were killed when aircraft targeted a vehicle on a road north-west of the city, according to the agency.
The Civil Defence said its rescue teams were "working amid extremely difficult conditions" and that it feared the death toll would rise because some missing people were believed to trapped under rubble.
A brief statement put out by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Tuesday evening said he had ordered the military to carry out "forceful strikes" in Gaza but did not specify his reasons.
However, his defence minister said Hamas had crossed "a bright red line" by launching an attack on Israeli soldiers in Gaza on Tuesday.
"Hamas will pay many times over for attacking the soldiers and for violating the agreement to return the fallen hostages," Israel Katz warned.
On Wednesday morning, the Israeli military announced a reservist soldier, Master Sergeant Yona Efraim Feldbaum, was killed.
A military source said the attack took place in the southern city of Rafah "east of the Yellow Line", which demarcates Israeli-controlled territory inside Gaza under the ceasefire deal.
Sgt Feldbaum was killed when one of the vehicles of a military engineering team that was dismantling an underground tunnel route in the southern city of Rafah was hit by fire from "terrorists in the area", according to the source.
"A few minutes later, several anti-tank missiles were fired at another armoured vehicle belonging to the troops in the area. No injuries were reported," they added.
Hamas issued a statement denying that its fighters had attacked Israeli troops and condemning the Israeli strikes.
"Hamas affirms that it has no connection to the shooting incident in Rafah and affirms its commitment to the ceasefire agreement," it said.
"The criminal bombardment carried out by the fascist occupation [Israeli] army on areas of the Gaza Strip represents a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement."
The group's military wing meanwhile said it would postpone the return of a hostage's body it had recovered on Tuesday due to what it called Israeli "violations".
The US played down concerns that all-out hostilities could resume.
On board Air Force One, President Trump told reporters: "As I understand it, they took out, they killed an Israeli soldier. So the Israelis hit back and they should hit back."
"Nothing is going to jeopardise" the ceasefire, he said. "You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave."
US Vice-President JD Vance earlier said that the ceasefire was "holding" despite what he described as "little skirmishes" between the two sides.
On Tuesday afternoon, Israel's prime minister had pledged to take unspecified "steps" against Hamas after the group handed over the previous day a coffin containing human remains that did not belong to one of the 13 deceased hostages still in Gaza.
Netanyahu's office said forensic tests showed they belonged to Ofir Tzarfati, an Israeli hostage whose body was recovered by Israeli forces in Gaza in late 2023, and that this constituted a "clear violation" of the ceasefire deal.
The Israeli military also released footage from a drone that it said showed Hamas operatives "removing body remains from a structure that had been prepared in advance and burying them nearby" in eastern Gaza City on Monday.
"Shortly afterwards," it added, the operatives "summoned representatives of the Red Cross and staged a false display of discovering a deceased hostage's body."
Hamas rejected what it called the "baseless allegations" and accused Israel of "seeking to fabricate false pretexts in preparation for taking new aggressive steps".
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) later condemned what it called the "fake recovery", saying it had attended the scene "at the request of Hamas" and "in good faith".
It went on: "The ICRC team at this location were not aware that a deceased person had been placed there prior to their arrival, as seen in the footage – in general, our role as neutral intermediary does not include unearthing of the bodies of the deceased.
"Our team only observed what appeared to be the recovery of remains without prior knowledge of the circumstances leading up to it.
"It is unacceptable that a fake recovery was staged, when so much depends on this agreement being upheld and when so many families are still anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones."
The ceasefire agreement brokered by the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey is supposed to implement the first stage of Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan.
It said Hamas would return its 48 living and deceased hostages within 72 hours of the ceasefire taking effect on 10 October.
All 20 living Israeli hostages were released on 13 October in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.
Israel has also handed over the bodies of 195 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of the 13 Israeli hostages so far returned by Hamas, along with those of two foreign hostages - one of them Thai and the other Nepalese.
Eleven of the dead hostages still in Gaza are Israelis, one is Tanzanian, and one is Thai.
On Saturday, Hamas's chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said the group was facing challenges because Israeli forces had "altered the terrain of Gaza". He also said that "some of those who buried the bodies have been martyred or no longer remember where they buried them".
However, the Israeli government insists Hamas knows the locations of all the bodies.
All but one of the dead hostages still in Gaza were among the 251 people abducted during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, during which about 1,200 other people were killed.
Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 68,530 people have been killed, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
BBC
At least 50 Palestinians were killed in a wave of Israeli strikes in Gaza on Tuesday night, the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency and hospitals say.
Israel carried out the strikes in response to what it said were violations by Hamas of the US-brokered ceasefire deal.
Israel's defence minister accused Hamas of an attack in southern Gaza that killed an Israeli soldier on Tuesday, and of breaching the terms on returning deceased hostages' bodies. Hamas claimed it had "no connection" to the attack and insisted it was committed to the ceasefire deal.
US President Donald Trump maintained "nothing" would jeopardise the ceasefire, but added that Israel should "hit back" when its soldiers were targeted.
The Israeli strikes hit homes, schools and residential blocks in Gaza City and Beit Lahia in the north of Gaza, Bureij and Nuseirat in the centre, and Khan Younis in the south.
A Civil Defence spokesman told AFP news agency that at least 50 people were killed, including 22 children, and around 200 others were injured.
In Gaza City, witnesses described seeing "pillars of fire and smoke" rising into the air as explosions shook several residential areas.
Three women and a man who were pulled from the rubble of the al-Banna family's home in the southern Sabra neighbourhood, the Civil Defence said.
In the urban Bureij refugee camp, five members of the Abu Sharar family were killed in a strike on their home in the Block 7 area, it added.
And in Khan Younis, another five people were killed when aircraft targeted a vehicle on a road north-west of the city, according to the agency.
The Civil Defence said its rescue teams were "working amid extremely difficult conditions" and that it feared the death toll would rise because some missing people were believed to trapped under rubble.
A brief statement put out by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Tuesday evening said he had ordered the military to carry out "forceful strikes" in Gaza but did not specify his reasons.
However, his defence minister said Hamas had crossed "a bright red line" by launching an attack on Israeli soldiers in Gaza on Tuesday.
"Hamas will pay many times over for attacking the soldiers and for violating the agreement to return the fallen hostages," Israel Katz warned.
On Wednesday morning, the Israeli military announced a reservist soldier, Master Sergeant Yona Efraim Feldbaum, was killed.
A military source said the attack took place in the southern city of Rafah "east of the Yellow Line", which demarcates Israeli-controlled territory inside Gaza under the ceasefire deal.
Sgt Feldbaum was killed when one of the vehicles of a military engineering team that was dismantling an underground tunnel route in the southern city of Rafah was hit by fire from "terrorists in the area", according to the source.
"A few minutes later, several anti-tank missiles were fired at another armoured vehicle belonging to the troops in the area. No injuries were reported," they added.
Hamas issued a statement denying that its fighters had attacked Israeli troops and condemning the Israeli strikes.
"Hamas affirms that it has no connection to the shooting incident in Rafah and affirms its commitment to the ceasefire agreement," it said.
"The criminal bombardment carried out by the fascist occupation [Israeli] army on areas of the Gaza Strip represents a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement."
The group's military wing meanwhile said it would postpone the return of a hostage's body it had recovered on Tuesday due to what it called Israeli "violations".
The US played down concerns that all-out hostilities could resume.
On board Air Force One, President Trump told reporters: "As I understand it, they took out, they killed an Israeli soldier. So the Israelis hit back and they should hit back."
"Nothing is going to jeopardise" the ceasefire, he said. "You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave."
US Vice-President JD Vance earlier said that the ceasefire was "holding" despite what he described as "little skirmishes" between the two sides.
On Tuesday afternoon, Israel's prime minister had pledged to take unspecified "steps" against Hamas after the group handed over the previous day a coffin containing human remains that did not belong to one of the 13 deceased hostages still in Gaza.
Netanyahu's office said forensic tests showed they belonged to Ofir Tzarfati, an Israeli hostage whose body was recovered by Israeli forces in Gaza in late 2023, and that this constituted a "clear violation" of the ceasefire deal.
The Israeli military also released footage from a drone that it said showed Hamas operatives "removing body remains from a structure that had been prepared in advance and burying them nearby" in eastern Gaza City on Monday.
"Shortly afterwards," it added, the operatives "summoned representatives of the Red Cross and staged a false display of discovering a deceased hostage's body."
Hamas rejected what it called the "baseless allegations" and accused Israel of "seeking to fabricate false pretexts in preparation for taking new aggressive steps".
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) later condemned what it called the "fake recovery", saying it had attended the scene "at the request of Hamas" and "in good faith".
It went on: "The ICRC team at this location were not aware that a deceased person had been placed there prior to their arrival, as seen in the footage – in general, our role as neutral intermediary does not include unearthing of the bodies of the deceased.
"Our team only observed what appeared to be the recovery of remains without prior knowledge of the circumstances leading up to it.
"It is unacceptable that a fake recovery was staged, when so much depends on this agreement being upheld and when so many families are still anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones."
The ceasefire agreement brokered by the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey is supposed to implement the first stage of Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan.
It said Hamas would return its 48 living and deceased hostages within 72 hours of the ceasefire taking effect on 10 October.
All 20 living Israeli hostages were released on 13 October in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.
Israel has also handed over the bodies of 195 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of the 13 Israeli hostages so far returned by Hamas, along with those of two foreign hostages - one of them Thai and the other Nepalese.
Eleven of the dead hostages still in Gaza are Israelis, one is Tanzanian, and one is Thai.
On Saturday, Hamas's chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said the group was facing challenges because Israeli forces had "altered the terrain of Gaza". He also said that "some of those who buried the bodies have been martyred or no longer remember where they buried them".
However, the Israeli government insists Hamas knows the locations of all the bodies.
All but one of the dead hostages still in Gaza were among the 251 people abducted during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, during which about 1,200 other people were killed.
Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 68,530 people have been killed, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
BBC
India has nothing to do with it bro...you are unnecessarily blaming them. If anything, they stood strong against tyranny of Trump and didn't back down from his tariff threats unlike your PM/COAS who were drooling over to give him noble peace prize. If anything, Pak must learn from India what a khudgarz and self respecting nation looks like and how strong Prime Minister acts.
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Funerals Across Gaza as Israel Violates Truce, Kills 104 Palestinians
Israel’s overnight air strikes on Gaza have killed at least 104 Palestinians, including 46 children, in what has become the deadliest episode since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect three weeks ago. The attacks devastated residential areas and evacuation centres, leaving civilians trapped under rubble as Gaza’s hospitals struggle with a lack of supplies. Civil defence officials called the bombardment “a disgrace to humanity,” urging international intervention amid ongoing humanitarian collapse.
Israel claimed the strikes were a response to the killing of an Israeli soldier in Rafah, an act U.S. President Donald Trump said prompted Israel to “hit back” but insisted would not “jeopardise” the ceasefire. Analysts say the assault, coordinated with Washington, reflects Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to project strength amid domestic criticism and looming elections. Despite widespread destruction, Israeli public sentiment reportedly backs his hardline approach toward Hamas.
Global reactions have been sharp: Qatar urged all sides to preserve the truce, while Britain, Germany, and the EU voiced “deep concern” and called for restraint. Human rights groups and aid agencies, including Save the Children, condemned the renewed violence, warning of “unforgivable moral failure” as hospitals overflow with wounded civilians suffering shrapnel and blast injuries.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz barred Red Cross visits to Palestinian prisoners, drawing further international criticism. In the occupied West Bank, settlers destroyed olive trees and attacked farmers. As Gaza buries its dead, fears mount that the fragile ceasefire could collapse entirely, with analysts warning that continued attacks—backed by silence from major powers—risk plunging the region into renewed chaos.
Israel’s overnight air strikes on Gaza have killed at least 104 Palestinians, including 46 children, in what has become the deadliest episode since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect three weeks ago. The attacks devastated residential areas and evacuation centres, leaving civilians trapped under rubble as Gaza’s hospitals struggle with a lack of supplies. Civil defence officials called the bombardment “a disgrace to humanity,” urging international intervention amid ongoing humanitarian collapse.
Israel claimed the strikes were a response to the killing of an Israeli soldier in Rafah, an act U.S. President Donald Trump said prompted Israel to “hit back” but insisted would not “jeopardise” the ceasefire. Analysts say the assault, coordinated with Washington, reflects Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to project strength amid domestic criticism and looming elections. Despite widespread destruction, Israeli public sentiment reportedly backs his hardline approach toward Hamas.
Global reactions have been sharp: Qatar urged all sides to preserve the truce, while Britain, Germany, and the EU voiced “deep concern” and called for restraint. Human rights groups and aid agencies, including Save the Children, condemned the renewed violence, warning of “unforgivable moral failure” as hospitals overflow with wounded civilians suffering shrapnel and blast injuries.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz barred Red Cross visits to Palestinian prisoners, drawing further international criticism. In the occupied West Bank, settlers destroyed olive trees and attacked farmers. As Gaza buries its dead, fears mount that the fragile ceasefire could collapse entirely, with analysts warning that continued attacks—backed by silence from major powers—risk plunging the region into renewed chaos.
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Satanic forces hell bent on bloodbath of innocent Palestinians
===
Death toll rises in Gaza after Israel attacks to 109, including 52 children
Gaza’s Government Media Office says 109 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in the past 12 hours, including 52 children, 23 women, four elderly persons, and seven people with disabilities.
In a statement, the office said Israel is continuing its “systematic campaign of misinformation, forgery, and lies aimed at distorting the truth and covering up its ongoing crimes against civilians in the Gaza Strip”.
“The occupation published a list containing 26 names, including 21 photos, claiming they belonged to people killed during its brutal recent aggression that occurred over the past 24 hours,” it said.
“Upon careful examination, it was found the list contains three incorrect names that are not Arabic and are not recorded in the official Palestinian records, in addition to fictitious names that do not exist in reality, some of which intentionally had no photos attached.”
Israel is conducting attacks on Gaza in “flagrant and deliberate violation of the principles of proportionality and distinction”, repeatedly targeting residential neighbourhoods, hospitals and shelters, the Government Media Office said.
Source: Al Jazeera
===
Death toll rises in Gaza after Israel attacks to 109, including 52 children
Gaza’s Government Media Office says 109 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in the past 12 hours, including 52 children, 23 women, four elderly persons, and seven people with disabilities.
In a statement, the office said Israel is continuing its “systematic campaign of misinformation, forgery, and lies aimed at distorting the truth and covering up its ongoing crimes against civilians in the Gaza Strip”.
“The occupation published a list containing 26 names, including 21 photos, claiming they belonged to people killed during its brutal recent aggression that occurred over the past 24 hours,” it said.
“Upon careful examination, it was found the list contains three incorrect names that are not Arabic and are not recorded in the official Palestinian records, in addition to fictitious names that do not exist in reality, some of which intentionally had no photos attached.”
Israel is conducting attacks on Gaza in “flagrant and deliberate violation of the principles of proportionality and distinction”, repeatedly targeting residential neighbourhoods, hospitals and shelters, the Government Media Office said.
Source: Al Jazeera
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But still the apartheid idiots won't cling to their pacts
====Israel says it has received captives’ bodies from Red Cross
Netanyahu’s office says the bodies have been handed over to the Israeli army and Shin Bet and will be brought into Israel.The remains will then be transferred to Israel’s national forensic institute for identification.
“The effort to return our abductees continues continuously and will not stop until the last abductee is returned,” the Israeli prime minister’s office added.
As we’ve been reporting, Hamas’s armed wing released two Israeli captives’ bodies in Gaza a short while ago.
Source: Al Jazeera
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The apartheid idiots proving the global community wrong again and again
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Israel blocks vast majority of Gaza aid agreed under ceasefire deal
Israel continues to block the majority of aid trucks from entering Gaza, only allowing 24 percent of the number agreed under the ceasefire deal into the Strip since the truce took effect on October 10, Gaza’s Government Media Office says.
The Israeli military has attacked the Gaza Strip for a fifth day, killing at least five people in another test of the fragile US-brokered ceasefire.
The Red Cross says it transferred the unidentified bodies of three people to Israel after they were handed over by Hamas. Israeli media reports the remains were not of captives taken to Gaza.
Gaza residents say they fear a return to Israel’s full-scale bombing as they struggle to find food, water and medicine during the US-brokered truce.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 68,858 people and wounded 170,664 since it began in October 2023. A total of 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks and about 200 taken captive.
Source: Al Jazeera
====
Israel blocks vast majority of Gaza aid agreed under ceasefire deal
Israel continues to block the majority of aid trucks from entering Gaza, only allowing 24 percent of the number agreed under the ceasefire deal into the Strip since the truce took effect on October 10, Gaza’s Government Media Office says.
The Israeli military has attacked the Gaza Strip for a fifth day, killing at least five people in another test of the fragile US-brokered ceasefire.
The Red Cross says it transferred the unidentified bodies of three people to Israel after they were handed over by Hamas. Israeli media reports the remains were not of captives taken to Gaza.
Gaza residents say they fear a return to Israel’s full-scale bombing as they struggle to find food, water and medicine during the US-brokered truce.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 68,858 people and wounded 170,664 since it began in October 2023. A total of 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks and about 200 taken captive.
Source: Al Jazeera
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Israel says three bodies returned from Gaza are not those of hostages held by Hamas
The remains of three people Hamas handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza are not those of hostages, Israel has said, in the latest setback to the US-brokered ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
The handover followed Israel's return on Friday of the bodies of 30 Palestinians to Gaza, which completed an exchange after militants turned over remains of two hostages earlier in the week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Saturday that the remains of the three people did not belong to the hostages.
It was unclear who the remains belonged to.
Hamas's armed wing said it had offered to hand over samples on Friday of unidentified bodies, but Israel refused and asked for the remains for examination.
"We handed the bodies over to stop the claims of Israel," the statement said.
Health officials in Gaza have struggled to identify bodies without access to DNA kits.
Ceasefire under strain
Since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, Palestinian militants have released the remains of 17 hostages. Eleven remain in Gaza.
Militants have released one or two bodies every few days. Israel has urged faster progress. Hamas has said the work was complicated by widespread devastation and Israeli military presence in some areas.
Israel has been releasing the unidentified remains of 15 Palestinians for the remains of each Israeli hostage. The number of Palestinian bodies returned by Israel since the ceasefire began now stands at 225. Only 75 have been identified by families, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
It is unclear if those returned were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that sparked the war, died in Israeli custody as detainees or were recovered from Gaza by troops during the war.
The fragile truce faced its biggest challenge this week when Israel carried out strikes across Gaza that killed more than 100 people, following the killing of an Israeli soldier in Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city.
Questions around security
Jordan's foreign minister warned on Saturday that Israel maintaining a military presence in Gaza puts the ceasefire at risk.
Speaking at the Manama Dialogue security summit, Ayman Safadi added it was "imperative" to have a Palestinian police force maintaining security, supported by an international stabilisation force with a UN Security Council mandate.
"With Israel staying in Gaza, I think security is going to be a challenge," Mr Safadi said.
"Israel cannot stay in 53 per cent of Gaza and then expect security to be achieved."
The 20-point US peace plan includes the formation and deployment of a temporary international stabilisation force of Arab and other partners that would work with Egypt and Jordan on securing Gaza's borders and ensuring the ceasefire is respected. The US has ruled out American soldiers in Gaza.
The visiting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, met with Israeli officials on Saturday.
Multiple nations have shown interest in taking part in a peacekeeping force, but have called for a clear UN mandate before committing troops.
Other difficult questions include Hamas's disarmament and the governance of a postwar Gaza, as well as when and how humanitarian aid will be increased.
Indonesia could be part of a peacekeeping force
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has offered thousands of troops for Gaza.
"But details, or the term of reference for that matter, remain unclear," Indonesia's Foreign Minister Sugiono, who like many Indonesians uses a single name, said earlier in the week.
"There has to be a mandate from the UNSC, which we hope will be issued. There has been no discussions so far, and we're far from settling any details," he added.
Indonesian officials have also called for an independent Palestinian state but underscored the need to "recognise and guarantee the safety and security of Israel".
War's toll
The deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas began with the Hamas-led 2023 attack that killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.
Israel's military offensive has killed more than 68,600 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts.
Israel, which has denied accusations by a UN commission of inquiry and others of committing genocide in Gaza, has disputed the ministry's figures without providing a contradicting toll.
www.abc.net.au
The remains of three people Hamas handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza are not those of hostages, Israel has said, in the latest setback to the US-brokered ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
The handover followed Israel's return on Friday of the bodies of 30 Palestinians to Gaza, which completed an exchange after militants turned over remains of two hostages earlier in the week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Saturday that the remains of the three people did not belong to the hostages.
It was unclear who the remains belonged to.
Hamas's armed wing said it had offered to hand over samples on Friday of unidentified bodies, but Israel refused and asked for the remains for examination.
"We handed the bodies over to stop the claims of Israel," the statement said.
Health officials in Gaza have struggled to identify bodies without access to DNA kits.
Ceasefire under strain
Since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, Palestinian militants have released the remains of 17 hostages. Eleven remain in Gaza.
Militants have released one or two bodies every few days. Israel has urged faster progress. Hamas has said the work was complicated by widespread devastation and Israeli military presence in some areas.
Israel has been releasing the unidentified remains of 15 Palestinians for the remains of each Israeli hostage. The number of Palestinian bodies returned by Israel since the ceasefire began now stands at 225. Only 75 have been identified by families, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
It is unclear if those returned were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that sparked the war, died in Israeli custody as detainees or were recovered from Gaza by troops during the war.
The fragile truce faced its biggest challenge this week when Israel carried out strikes across Gaza that killed more than 100 people, following the killing of an Israeli soldier in Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city.
Questions around security
Jordan's foreign minister warned on Saturday that Israel maintaining a military presence in Gaza puts the ceasefire at risk.
Speaking at the Manama Dialogue security summit, Ayman Safadi added it was "imperative" to have a Palestinian police force maintaining security, supported by an international stabilisation force with a UN Security Council mandate.
"With Israel staying in Gaza, I think security is going to be a challenge," Mr Safadi said.
"Israel cannot stay in 53 per cent of Gaza and then expect security to be achieved."
The 20-point US peace plan includes the formation and deployment of a temporary international stabilisation force of Arab and other partners that would work with Egypt and Jordan on securing Gaza's borders and ensuring the ceasefire is respected. The US has ruled out American soldiers in Gaza.
The visiting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, met with Israeli officials on Saturday.
Multiple nations have shown interest in taking part in a peacekeeping force, but have called for a clear UN mandate before committing troops.
Other difficult questions include Hamas's disarmament and the governance of a postwar Gaza, as well as when and how humanitarian aid will be increased.
Indonesia could be part of a peacekeeping force
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has offered thousands of troops for Gaza.
"But details, or the term of reference for that matter, remain unclear," Indonesia's Foreign Minister Sugiono, who like many Indonesians uses a single name, said earlier in the week.
"There has to be a mandate from the UNSC, which we hope will be issued. There has been no discussions so far, and we're far from settling any details," he added.
Indonesian officials have also called for an independent Palestinian state but underscored the need to "recognise and guarantee the safety and security of Israel".
War's toll
The deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas began with the Hamas-led 2023 attack that killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.
Israel's military offensive has killed more than 68,600 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts.
Israel, which has denied accusations by a UN commission of inquiry and others of committing genocide in Gaza, has disputed the ministry's figures without providing a contradicting toll.
Three bodies returned by Hamas are not those of hostages, Israel says
Hamas says it offered to hand over samples of the unidentified bodies, but Israel refused and asked for the remains for examination.
www.abc.net.au
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Erdogan slams Israel’s ‘poor’ ceasefire record as more than 200 killed since agreement
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Hamas appears more determined than Israel to comply with the ceasefire in Gaza.“We all see that Israel’s record on this matter is very poor,” Erdogan said in remarks carried by the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency.
“We are facing an administration that has massacred over 200 innocent people since the ceasefire agreement and continues its occupation and attacks on the West Bank,” he said.
“We cannot allow the annexation of the West Bank, the changing of Jerusalem’s status or attempts to damage the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Source: Al Jazeera
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The lunacy continues unabated
===
Israel plans to build 356 new settlement units
Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing has published two tenders this week for the construction of 356 new housing units in a settlement southeast of the Palestinian city of Ramallah.
The plan is to build 342 units across five compounds as well as 14 homes for reservists’ families in Geva Binyamin (Adam), according to Israel’s Peace Now movement, which added that tenders were issued in August for 4,030 housing units in the settlements of Ma’ale Adumim and Ariel.
So far this year, tenders have been published for 5,667 settlement housing units, which is by far the highest annual total ever recorded. If all these homes are built, another 25,000 settlers could live in the occupied West Bank, Peace Now said.
The group, which backs a two-state solution, said that the Netanyahu government “is exploiting every moment in power to destroy Israel’s chances for a future of peace and prosperity”.
“The American president may have declared that there will be no annexation, but the Israeli government is doing everything it can to realise the annexation on the ground and turn Israel into an apartheid state,” it said
Source: Al Jazeera
===
Israel plans to build 356 new settlement units
Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing has published two tenders this week for the construction of 356 new housing units in a settlement southeast of the Palestinian city of Ramallah.
The plan is to build 342 units across five compounds as well as 14 homes for reservists’ families in Geva Binyamin (Adam), according to Israel’s Peace Now movement, which added that tenders were issued in August for 4,030 housing units in the settlements of Ma’ale Adumim and Ariel.
So far this year, tenders have been published for 5,667 settlement housing units, which is by far the highest annual total ever recorded. If all these homes are built, another 25,000 settlers could live in the occupied West Bank, Peace Now said.
The group, which backs a two-state solution, said that the Netanyahu government “is exploiting every moment in power to destroy Israel’s chances for a future of peace and prosperity”.
“The American president may have declared that there will be no annexation, but the Israeli government is doing everything it can to realise the annexation on the ground and turn Israel into an apartheid state,” it said
Source: Al Jazeera
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Gaza death toll tops 69,000 as Israel and militants again exchange remains
More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war so far, Gaza health officials said Saturday, as both sides completed the latest exchange of bodies under the terms of the tenuous ceasefire.
The latest jump in deaths occurred as more bodies are recovered from the rubble in the devastated Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, and as previously unidentified bodies are identified. The toll also includes Palestinians killed by strikes since the truce took hold, which Israel says target remaining militants.
Israel on Saturday returned the remains of another 15 Palestinians to Gaza, according to hospital officials in the territory, a day after militants returned the remains of a hostage to Israel. He was identified as Lior Rudaeff, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s office. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that Rudaeff was born in Argentina.
The exchanges are the central part of the ceasefire’s initial phase, which requires that Hamas return all hostage remains as quickly as possible. For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians.
Source: AP News
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Turkey now issued arrest warrants against Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu.... how funny... when the war was in full swing and Palestinians were getting killed at that time Turkey won't show any guts to take on Israel. Now after so-called ceasefire they are trying to show Muslim world that they have guts
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Israel Confirms Hamas Returns Body of Soldier Amid Ongoing Gaza Strikes
Israel says Hamas has handed over the remains of soldier Hadar Goldin, who was killed in 2014, while Israeli forces continue strikes across Gaza despite a fragile ceasefire, killing civilians in multiple areas. Aid deliveries remain far below agreed levels, with only a third of promised trucks entering the Strip, and medical evacuations are slow and restricted.
Meanwhile, education efforts show resilience as a centuries-old school in Gaza reopens for children, although more than 660,000 remain out of school due to widespread damage. Diplomatic efforts continue, with Egypt and Qatar discussing ceasefire developments and calls growing for improved humanitarian access.
www.aljazeera.com
Israel says Hamas has handed over the remains of soldier Hadar Goldin, who was killed in 2014, while Israeli forces continue strikes across Gaza despite a fragile ceasefire, killing civilians in multiple areas. Aid deliveries remain far below agreed levels, with only a third of promised trucks entering the Strip, and medical evacuations are slow and restricted.
Meanwhile, education efforts show resilience as a centuries-old school in Gaza reopens for children, although more than 660,000 remain out of school due to widespread damage. Diplomatic efforts continue, with Egypt and Qatar discussing ceasefire developments and calls growing for improved humanitarian access.
Hamas hands over Israeli soldier’s body as Israeli raids on Gaza continue
Israeli forces continue attacks on Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
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Kushner Arrives in Israel Amid Ceasefire Challenges
US presidential adviser Jared Kushner has arrived in Israel to meet with leaders and address disputes related to the five-week-old ceasefire. Meanwhile, tensions persist as Israeli settlers reportedly establish a new outpost on Palestinian land in Anata, east of occupied East Jerusalem, according to the Bedouin rights group Al-Baidar.
US presidential adviser Jared Kushner has arrived in Israel to meet with leaders and address disputes related to the five-week-old ceasefire. Meanwhile, tensions persist as Israeli settlers reportedly establish a new outpost on Palestinian land in Anata, east of occupied East Jerusalem, according to the Bedouin rights group Al-Baidar.
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The bloodshed continues as unleashed hounds continue hunt
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Gaza’s Civil Defence says 51 bodies recovered from Gaza City neighbourhood
Gaza’s Civil Defence says its crews have so far recovered 51 bodies from a mass grave in the courtyard of the Sheikh Radwan clinic in western Gaza City.
In a statement, the agency said efforts are still underway to retrieve more bodies and transport them to Al-Shifa Hospital, where work will be done to attempt to confirm their identities.
The recovery operation has been ongoing since this morning, it added.
The bodies of more than 10,000 Palestinians remain trapped under the rubble across the bombarded Gaza Strip, according to local authorities. Civil defence teams say they have been struggling to recover them due to a lack of adequate equipment and machinery caused by Israel’s ongoing blockade.
Source: Al Jazeera
====
Gaza’s Civil Defence says 51 bodies recovered from Gaza City neighbourhood
Gaza’s Civil Defence says its crews have so far recovered 51 bodies from a mass grave in the courtyard of the Sheikh Radwan clinic in western Gaza City.
In a statement, the agency said efforts are still underway to retrieve more bodies and transport them to Al-Shifa Hospital, where work will be done to attempt to confirm their identities.
The recovery operation has been ongoing since this morning, it added.
The bodies of more than 10,000 Palestinians remain trapped under the rubble across the bombarded Gaza Strip, according to local authorities. Civil defence teams say they have been struggling to recover them due to a lack of adequate equipment and machinery caused by Israel’s ongoing blockade.
Source: Al Jazeera
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Israel confirms identity of hostage body returned by Hamas as Meny Godard
Israel has identified the hostage body returned by Hamas on Thursday as that of Meny Godard, who was 73 when he was killed in the 7 October attacks.
Red Cross vehicles collected his body hours after Hamas issued a joint statement with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad saying it had been located in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister's office said forensic testing confirmed the body belonged to Godard, who was killed along with his wife, Ayelet, during Hamas's raid on kibbutz Be'eri on 7 October 2023.
Three out of 28 deceased hostages remain in Gaza, with the first phase of the current ceasefire deal which forms part of a US plan to end the Gaza war.
Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas agreed to return the 20 living and 28 dead hostages it was still holding.
All the living Israeli hostages were released on 13 October in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.
For each dead Israeli hostage returned, Israel has agreed to hand over the remains of 15 Palestinians. But with no DNA testing available in Gaza, it is hard to identify them.
Hamas seized 251 hostages when it launched the deadly attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023 during which it killed 1,200 people.
More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory response, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, whose figures the UN considers reliable.
Of the three bodies still in Gaza, two are Israeli and one is Thai.
Israel has accused Hamas of deliberately delaying the recovery of the hostages' bodies, but Hamas has said it is struggling to find them under rubble.
The slow progress has meant there has been no advance on the second phase of US President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan.
This includes plans for the governance of Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, the disarmament of Hamas, and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
BBC
Israel has identified the hostage body returned by Hamas on Thursday as that of Meny Godard, who was 73 when he was killed in the 7 October attacks.
Red Cross vehicles collected his body hours after Hamas issued a joint statement with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad saying it had been located in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister's office said forensic testing confirmed the body belonged to Godard, who was killed along with his wife, Ayelet, during Hamas's raid on kibbutz Be'eri on 7 October 2023.
Three out of 28 deceased hostages remain in Gaza, with the first phase of the current ceasefire deal which forms part of a US plan to end the Gaza war.
Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas agreed to return the 20 living and 28 dead hostages it was still holding.
All the living Israeli hostages were released on 13 October in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.
For each dead Israeli hostage returned, Israel has agreed to hand over the remains of 15 Palestinians. But with no DNA testing available in Gaza, it is hard to identify them.
Hamas seized 251 hostages when it launched the deadly attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023 during which it killed 1,200 people.
More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory response, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, whose figures the UN considers reliable.
Of the three bodies still in Gaza, two are Israeli and one is Thai.
Israel has accused Hamas of deliberately delaying the recovery of the hostages' bodies, but Hamas has said it is struggling to find them under rubble.
The slow progress has meant there has been no advance on the second phase of US President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan.
This includes plans for the governance of Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, the disarmament of Hamas, and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
BBC
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Record settler attacks in West Bank opening up rifts within Israel
The marks of the attack on Hamida Mosque, near Deir Istiya in the occupied West Bank, are still scattered on the ground outside.
Charred furniture, lecterns and smoky curls of carpet are piled around the entrance - its guts emptied, and debris cleared, in time for Friday prayers.
Dozens of men arrived for the prayers in a show of defiance - their backs turned towards the scorched and blackened wall.
The imam here, Ahmad Salman, told the BBC the attack on Thursday was a message from Jewish settlers, amid a wave of settler violence across the West Bank.
"The message they want to send is that they can reach anywhere - into cities, into villages, that they can kill civilians and burn houses and mosques."
"I feel it in my soul," he said. "It's not right to touch places of prayer, wherever they are."
But there was a message here, too, for Israel's regional military chief - scrawled in Hebrew on the mosque's exterior wall: "We're not afraid of you, Avi Bluth."
Spiralling settler attacks here over the past six weeks have triggered tough warnings from army leaders, along with a handful of arrests and investigations.
But hardline expansionist settlers enjoy government support, which some believe is pushing the West Bank towards a dangerous confrontation.
The annual olive harvest, when Palestinians try to access their farmland, often marks a spike in violence, but the attacks this year have broken UN records.
The UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs registered more than 260 settler attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties or damage to property in October alone - the highest monthly count since they began monitoring in 2006.
Human rights groups say that settler aggression towards Palestinians has risen since the Gaza War began in 2023 after the 7 October Hamas attacks. UN figures suggest that more than 3,200 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced by settler violence and restrictions since then.
In the past few days, there have been several attacks across the West Bank, including an assault by a large crowd of masked men on an industrial estate and Bedouin buildings near Beit Lid. Security cameras filmed them running across the hillside and through the factory gates, where they torched several trucks. The army said they later attacked Israeli soldiers operating nearby.
The Israel police spokesman said four suspects had been arrested. Three have reportedly since been released.
Last week, in the olive groves around Beita, a Reuters journalist, Raneen Sawafta, was beaten by a settler with a club as she was covering the olive harvest - a deep dent in her helmet clearly showing the force of the blows.
Hamad al-Jagoub abu Rabia, a volunteer with the Red Crescent in Beita, was also injured after going to help her - hit in the head with a rock and later taken to hospital.
"I never imagined a human being created by God would do this," he said. "If they had an iota of humanity, they would have never done this to a woman. If it wasn't for her helmet, she could have died."
Less than three weeks earlier, 55-year-old Afaf Abu Alia was badly beaten with a club as she lay cowering on the ground during a settler attack, after picking olives on farmland she rents near the village of Abu Falah. The video of her assault drew international condemnation.
"One of [the settlers] attacked me and started beating me - hitting my head, my arms and legs, and kicking my legs with their boots," she told the BBC. "I fell down. I wasn't aware of what was happening, my mind went blank - I was only feeling the pain. I felt like my soul was leaving my body. The only thing I thought about was my children."
Now recovering at home, Afaf said she was still in pain, with 20 stitches in her head, and bruises on her arms and legs that left her unable to sleep.
She said the family had been blocked from its own farmland by settlers, and that they had been renting land elsewhere to grow olives this year.
"I'd return there today if I could, I'm not afraid of them," Afaf said. But she also acknowledged the situation was becoming riskier.
"They weren't like this at the start of the war," she said. "In this one year, they've escalated more than in all the years before."
One man has been arrested in connection with her assault. Arrests like this are rare, and convictions rarer still. The Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din found that, over the past two decades, more than 93% of police investigations into Israeli offences against Palestinians in the West Bank were closed with no charges filed.
Israeli forces have long been criticised by human rights groups for standing idly by during settler attacks - or even taking part in them.
This week, Israel's chief of staff said he strongly condemned the recent violence by Israeli settlers, calling it "a red line" and promising to "act decisively".
The head of the army's central command, Maj Gen Avi Bluth - the man addressed in the graffiti on Hamida Mosque - said violent acts by what he called "anarchist fringe youth" were "unacceptable and extremely serious" and must be dealt with firmly.
Some hardline settlers see these comments as a betrayal.
Amichai Luria, a long-time settler from Ma'ale Levona and manager of a winery in the nearby settlement of Shiloh, told me the current focus on settler violence was overblown.
"It's amazing to me how people talk about these rare occasions [when] people misbehave," he said. "Oh, some people were trying to pick olives and some Jews came and bothered them. Give me a break. There are more muggings on the main street in London than there [are] here."
I asked him about the severe beating of women and the near-daily reports of incidents in surrounding areas. He dismissed them as an "attempt to make the Jews look bad".
"Most of the Arabs, if they could, would follow Hamas or Hezbollah. Very, very, very few want to coexist or live in peace, and at the first opportunity they have, they're going to wipe us out," he said.
"The future is very simple. Hopefully the army will wake up, hopefully people will understand that we have to prepare ourselves, that they're coming for us."
The UN's Office of Humanitarian Affairs says that, of the 1,000 Palestinians killed in the West Bank since the Gaza War began, between 20 and 32 were killed by Israeli settlers. During the same period, it says, Palestinians killed 19 Israeli civilians.
The decision of military leaders to order action on settler violence will test discipline in an army where settlers make up a growing proportion of troops.
It also risks exposing dangerous divisions between Israel's military and political leaders.
Extremist settlers say their claim to the land comes from the Bible - but their growing confidence comes from government support.
Since the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023 and the Gaza War that followed, Israel's far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has handed out more than 100,000 weapons to civilian security squads, including in West Bank settlements, and has urged Israel to formally annex the West Bank.
The government has authorised a sharp expansion of settlements, and legalised some unauthorised outposts. Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
And the Defence Minister, Israel Katz, last year banned the use of administrative detention for Jewish settlers in the West Bank - reportedly against the advice of Israel's national security agency.
Israel's army is now asking Katz to reinstate that power to help curb settler violence. Administrative detention, which allows suspects to be held for renewable six month periods without charge, is still widely used for Palestinians.
"I don't trust the army like I used to," Amichai Lurai told me. "A lot of people in the army are anti-Israel from top to bottom. Trust me, the army is not unified."
Israel's army is currently embroiled in a legal and political scandal around leaked video footage allegedly showing the abuse of Palestinian detainees - a case that has pitted ultranationalist politicians against the country's security forces.
As worshippers left the Hamida Mosque after Friday prayers, Israeli activists arrived on a visit to show solidarity. Martin Goldberg, originally from London, was one of them.
I asked him about Israeli claims that attacks by settlers were overblown.
"They're very minor attacks, when it's not happening to you," he said. "These attacks are not minor, they're extremely major. Everyone's trying to belittle it, [saying] oh it's just the 'weeds in the field' but it's not. And they're being supported by the government. Local councils are 100% behind them, financing them."
The view from Amichai Luria's winery
Many local councils provide backing and support to outposts, but have publicly condemned the violence of some settlers there. The chairman of the West Bank Settler Council this week issued a statement supporting the Israeli army in arresting the "anarchists" who harmed soldiers and civilians.
"Europe, the United States, everyone in the whole world is watching the West Bank," said Wadi abu Awad, a civil engineer who lives in the nearby village of Turmus Aya, which has seen repeated attacks.
"We are not in a fight with the Israelis. We don't kill Israeli soldiers, we don't have any hostages. And they [settlers] are pushing us towards the corner. You know, if the cat is pushed the corner, he might become a tiger."
BBC
The marks of the attack on Hamida Mosque, near Deir Istiya in the occupied West Bank, are still scattered on the ground outside.
Charred furniture, lecterns and smoky curls of carpet are piled around the entrance - its guts emptied, and debris cleared, in time for Friday prayers.
Dozens of men arrived for the prayers in a show of defiance - their backs turned towards the scorched and blackened wall.
The imam here, Ahmad Salman, told the BBC the attack on Thursday was a message from Jewish settlers, amid a wave of settler violence across the West Bank.
"The message they want to send is that they can reach anywhere - into cities, into villages, that they can kill civilians and burn houses and mosques."
"I feel it in my soul," he said. "It's not right to touch places of prayer, wherever they are."
But there was a message here, too, for Israel's regional military chief - scrawled in Hebrew on the mosque's exterior wall: "We're not afraid of you, Avi Bluth."
Spiralling settler attacks here over the past six weeks have triggered tough warnings from army leaders, along with a handful of arrests and investigations.
But hardline expansionist settlers enjoy government support, which some believe is pushing the West Bank towards a dangerous confrontation.
The annual olive harvest, when Palestinians try to access their farmland, often marks a spike in violence, but the attacks this year have broken UN records.
The UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs registered more than 260 settler attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties or damage to property in October alone - the highest monthly count since they began monitoring in 2006.
Human rights groups say that settler aggression towards Palestinians has risen since the Gaza War began in 2023 after the 7 October Hamas attacks. UN figures suggest that more than 3,200 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced by settler violence and restrictions since then.
In the past few days, there have been several attacks across the West Bank, including an assault by a large crowd of masked men on an industrial estate and Bedouin buildings near Beit Lid. Security cameras filmed them running across the hillside and through the factory gates, where they torched several trucks. The army said they later attacked Israeli soldiers operating nearby.
The Israel police spokesman said four suspects had been arrested. Three have reportedly since been released.
Last week, in the olive groves around Beita, a Reuters journalist, Raneen Sawafta, was beaten by a settler with a club as she was covering the olive harvest - a deep dent in her helmet clearly showing the force of the blows.
Hamad al-Jagoub abu Rabia, a volunteer with the Red Crescent in Beita, was also injured after going to help her - hit in the head with a rock and later taken to hospital.
"I never imagined a human being created by God would do this," he said. "If they had an iota of humanity, they would have never done this to a woman. If it wasn't for her helmet, she could have died."
Less than three weeks earlier, 55-year-old Afaf Abu Alia was badly beaten with a club as she lay cowering on the ground during a settler attack, after picking olives on farmland she rents near the village of Abu Falah. The video of her assault drew international condemnation.
"One of [the settlers] attacked me and started beating me - hitting my head, my arms and legs, and kicking my legs with their boots," she told the BBC. "I fell down. I wasn't aware of what was happening, my mind went blank - I was only feeling the pain. I felt like my soul was leaving my body. The only thing I thought about was my children."
Now recovering at home, Afaf said she was still in pain, with 20 stitches in her head, and bruises on her arms and legs that left her unable to sleep.
She said the family had been blocked from its own farmland by settlers, and that they had been renting land elsewhere to grow olives this year.
"I'd return there today if I could, I'm not afraid of them," Afaf said. But she also acknowledged the situation was becoming riskier.
"They weren't like this at the start of the war," she said. "In this one year, they've escalated more than in all the years before."
One man has been arrested in connection with her assault. Arrests like this are rare, and convictions rarer still. The Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din found that, over the past two decades, more than 93% of police investigations into Israeli offences against Palestinians in the West Bank were closed with no charges filed.
Israeli forces have long been criticised by human rights groups for standing idly by during settler attacks - or even taking part in them.
This week, Israel's chief of staff said he strongly condemned the recent violence by Israeli settlers, calling it "a red line" and promising to "act decisively".
The head of the army's central command, Maj Gen Avi Bluth - the man addressed in the graffiti on Hamida Mosque - said violent acts by what he called "anarchist fringe youth" were "unacceptable and extremely serious" and must be dealt with firmly.
Some hardline settlers see these comments as a betrayal.
Amichai Luria, a long-time settler from Ma'ale Levona and manager of a winery in the nearby settlement of Shiloh, told me the current focus on settler violence was overblown.
"It's amazing to me how people talk about these rare occasions [when] people misbehave," he said. "Oh, some people were trying to pick olives and some Jews came and bothered them. Give me a break. There are more muggings on the main street in London than there [are] here."
I asked him about the severe beating of women and the near-daily reports of incidents in surrounding areas. He dismissed them as an "attempt to make the Jews look bad".
"Most of the Arabs, if they could, would follow Hamas or Hezbollah. Very, very, very few want to coexist or live in peace, and at the first opportunity they have, they're going to wipe us out," he said.
"The future is very simple. Hopefully the army will wake up, hopefully people will understand that we have to prepare ourselves, that they're coming for us."
The UN's Office of Humanitarian Affairs says that, of the 1,000 Palestinians killed in the West Bank since the Gaza War began, between 20 and 32 were killed by Israeli settlers. During the same period, it says, Palestinians killed 19 Israeli civilians.
The decision of military leaders to order action on settler violence will test discipline in an army where settlers make up a growing proportion of troops.
It also risks exposing dangerous divisions between Israel's military and political leaders.
Extremist settlers say their claim to the land comes from the Bible - but their growing confidence comes from government support.
Since the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023 and the Gaza War that followed, Israel's far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has handed out more than 100,000 weapons to civilian security squads, including in West Bank settlements, and has urged Israel to formally annex the West Bank.
The government has authorised a sharp expansion of settlements, and legalised some unauthorised outposts. Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
And the Defence Minister, Israel Katz, last year banned the use of administrative detention for Jewish settlers in the West Bank - reportedly against the advice of Israel's national security agency.
Israel's army is now asking Katz to reinstate that power to help curb settler violence. Administrative detention, which allows suspects to be held for renewable six month periods without charge, is still widely used for Palestinians.
"I don't trust the army like I used to," Amichai Lurai told me. "A lot of people in the army are anti-Israel from top to bottom. Trust me, the army is not unified."
Israel's army is currently embroiled in a legal and political scandal around leaked video footage allegedly showing the abuse of Palestinian detainees - a case that has pitted ultranationalist politicians against the country's security forces.
As worshippers left the Hamida Mosque after Friday prayers, Israeli activists arrived on a visit to show solidarity. Martin Goldberg, originally from London, was one of them.
I asked him about Israeli claims that attacks by settlers were overblown.
"They're very minor attacks, when it's not happening to you," he said. "These attacks are not minor, they're extremely major. Everyone's trying to belittle it, [saying] oh it's just the 'weeds in the field' but it's not. And they're being supported by the government. Local councils are 100% behind them, financing them."
The view from Amichai Luria's winery
Many local councils provide backing and support to outposts, but have publicly condemned the violence of some settlers there. The chairman of the West Bank Settler Council this week issued a statement supporting the Israeli army in arresting the "anarchists" who harmed soldiers and civilians.
"Europe, the United States, everyone in the whole world is watching the West Bank," said Wadi abu Awad, a civil engineer who lives in the nearby village of Turmus Aya, which has seen repeated attacks.
"We are not in a fight with the Israelis. We don't kill Israeli soldiers, we don't have any hostages. And they [settlers] are pushing us towards the corner. You know, if the cat is pushed the corner, he might become a tiger."
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Questions loom over UN vote as initial Gaza truce phase nears end
The UN Security Council on Monday is expected to vote on a US proposal for a UN mandate for an international military force in Gaza despite opposition from Russia, China, and some Arab countries.
The first stage of the ceasefire agreement is nearing its end. The next and even more challenging stage calls for the implementation of a governing body for Gaza, and the deployment of an international stabilization force.
Then there’s the proposed disarming of Hamas. It is not clear what happens next.
For Palestinians in the war-ravaged territory, a return to massive Israeli bombardment is terrifying. Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 69,100 Palestinians – mostly women and children – since October 2023, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Source: Al Jazeera
The UN Security Council on Monday is expected to vote on a US proposal for a UN mandate for an international military force in Gaza despite opposition from Russia, China, and some Arab countries.
The first stage of the ceasefire agreement is nearing its end. The next and even more challenging stage calls for the implementation of a governing body for Gaza, and the deployment of an international stabilization force.
Then there’s the proposed disarming of Hamas. It is not clear what happens next.
For Palestinians in the war-ravaged territory, a return to massive Israeli bombardment is terrifying. Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 69,100 Palestinians – mostly women and children – since October 2023, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Source: Al Jazeera
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UN Security Council backs Trump plan for Gaza
The UN Security Council has voted in favour of Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza, which includes deployment of international troops.The move authorises the second phase of the US president's 20-point plan - including setting up an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) to demilitarise the territory and decommissioning weapons held by Hamas.
The resolution was backed by 13 countries on the Council - including the UK, France and Somalia - with none voting against the proposal.
Two countries - Russia and China - abstained from the vote.
UN Security Council backs Trump plan for Gaza
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WFP warns Gaza families face another brutal winter exposed
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) says many families in Gaza are bracing for another winter spent without proper shelter, as heavy rain floods their tents and damages what little food supplies they have left.In a post on X, WFP shared images of soaked tents and warned that plunging temperatures will worsen conditions for displaced families living outdoors.
The agency said its cash assistance programme remains a vital lifeline for the most vulnerable households as winter approaches, and that it is working to expand support to those most at risk.
Source: Al Jazeera
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Hounds on charge again against innocent civilians
===Israel forces cross ceasefire ‘yellow line’ scattering returned residents
Israel continues to occupy more than 50 percent of the Gaza Strip under the ceasefire agreement with the “yellow line” demarcation separating areas under army deployment from those inhabited by Palestinians.However, Israeli forces continue to fire and increasingly launch ground incursions across the yellow line as truce violations continue.
Northern Gaza resident Saed Mushtaha attempted to return to his destroyed home in Tuffah on Friday, but said he was unable to because Israeli forces fired at anything that moved.
Israeli bulldozers levelled what remained of homes in the adjacent neighbourhood, said Mushtaha.
“We returned after the ceasefire and repaired some heavily damaged rooms, but the [Israeli] occupation quickly displaced us again and took control of the area.”
Source: Al Jazeera
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A spate of Israeli attacks across Gaza has claimed dozens of lives and left many more wounded, highlighting that the six-week-old US-brokered ceasefire remains fragile. In just the past 24 hours, strikes during busy hours in Gaza City killed at least 22 Palestinians, including children, targeting vehicles, homes, and shelters, while drone and missile attacks hit Nuseirat and Deir el-Balah, leaving multiple civilians dead. Earlier, Israeli forces also raided West Bank towns such as Dura, wounding two and arresting another, while settler violence in Hebron continued against Palestinian farmers.
In southern Lebanon, an Israeli airstrike killed one person, and in Rafah, Israel claimed to have killed three Palestinian fighters trapped in tunnels. Human rights experts warn the attacks are causing long-lasting ecological damage, decimating Gaza’s agricultural land and infrastructure. The so-called “yellow line” ceasefire boundary has done little to protect civilians, as Israeli forces continue to open fire on those crossing into areas under their control, showing that the war and its humanitarian toll persist despite formal agreements.
In southern Lebanon, an Israeli airstrike killed one person, and in Rafah, Israel claimed to have killed three Palestinian fighters trapped in tunnels. Human rights experts warn the attacks are causing long-lasting ecological damage, decimating Gaza’s agricultural land and infrastructure. The so-called “yellow line” ceasefire boundary has done little to protect civilians, as Israeli forces continue to open fire on those crossing into areas under their control, showing that the war and its humanitarian toll persist despite formal agreements.
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Death to the oppressors
===
Deadly Israeli attacks ‘flagrant breach of international humanitarian law’
Gaza authorities have denounced a day of deadly Israeli attacks that killed two dozen Palestinians, including children.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the continued serious and systematic violations of the ceasefire agreement by the Israeli occupation authorities,” said the Government Media Office.
As of Saturday, 497 Israeli violations of the truce have been recorded since the US-brokered ceasefire came into force on October 10, it said.
“These violations constitute a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law and the humanitarian protocol attached to the agreement. Among these violations, 27 occurred today, Saturday, resulting in 24 martyrs and 87 wounded,” the press office said in a statement.
Source: Al Jazeera
===
Deadly Israeli attacks ‘flagrant breach of international humanitarian law’
Gaza authorities have denounced a day of deadly Israeli attacks that killed two dozen Palestinians, including children.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the continued serious and systematic violations of the ceasefire agreement by the Israeli occupation authorities,” said the Government Media Office.
As of Saturday, 497 Israeli violations of the truce have been recorded since the US-brokered ceasefire came into force on October 10, it said.
“These violations constitute a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law and the humanitarian protocol attached to the agreement. Among these violations, 27 occurred today, Saturday, resulting in 24 martyrs and 87 wounded,” the press office said in a statement.
Source: Al Jazeera
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Israeli strikes across Gaza kill 22 Palestinians, medical and civil defence officials say
At least 22 Palestinians have been killed in a series of Israeli air strikes across northern and central Gaza, Hamas medical and civil defence officials have said.
They said five sites had been hit, including residential homes. A senior Hamas commander was among the dead, according to local sources.
The Israeli military said it had struck targets in Gaza in response to an incident earlier on Saturday, when it said an "armed terrorist" had fired at soldiers after crossing the Strip's so-called "yellow line" designating areas under full Israeli control. Hamas denied this.
Both sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire deal agreed on six weeks ago.
More than 310 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire came into force, according to Gaza's health ministry.
The territory's civil defence said Saturday's strikes by Israel targeted Gaza City in the north, as well as Deir al-Balah and Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
The Hamas officials said five people had been killed at the Abbas junction in the densely populated Rimal area of Gaza City. Witnesses said an Israeli strike set a car on fire.
In addition, three people were killed near a mosque in Deir al-Balah, the officials said.
Two houses were targeted in Israeli strikes in Nuseirat, they added, with three killed after the home of the Abu Amouneh family was hit. Seven others were killed in another strike targeting the house of the Abu Shawish family.
Three more people were killed later on Saturday when a house in western Gaza City was hit, officials reported.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a later statement: "Today, Hamas violated the ceasefire again, sending a terrorist into Israel held territory to attack IDF soldiers. In response, Israel eliminated five senior Hamas terrorists."
The statement also called on mediators to "insist that Hamas fulfil its side of the ceasefire".
Following the strikes, Hamas said the army's westward push of the yellow line and continued bombardment of eastern Gaza amounted to a "blatant breach" of the agreement.
The group called on mediators and the US to intervene urgently, warning that Israel was attempting to impose "new facts on the ground" and undermine the ceasefire.
The Israeli military launched an offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 69,500 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, including 280 during the ceasefire, according to the territory's health ministry.
BBC
At least 22 Palestinians have been killed in a series of Israeli air strikes across northern and central Gaza, Hamas medical and civil defence officials have said.
They said five sites had been hit, including residential homes. A senior Hamas commander was among the dead, according to local sources.
The Israeli military said it had struck targets in Gaza in response to an incident earlier on Saturday, when it said an "armed terrorist" had fired at soldiers after crossing the Strip's so-called "yellow line" designating areas under full Israeli control. Hamas denied this.
Both sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire deal agreed on six weeks ago.
More than 310 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire came into force, according to Gaza's health ministry.
The territory's civil defence said Saturday's strikes by Israel targeted Gaza City in the north, as well as Deir al-Balah and Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
The Hamas officials said five people had been killed at the Abbas junction in the densely populated Rimal area of Gaza City. Witnesses said an Israeli strike set a car on fire.
In addition, three people were killed near a mosque in Deir al-Balah, the officials said.
Two houses were targeted in Israeli strikes in Nuseirat, they added, with three killed after the home of the Abu Amouneh family was hit. Seven others were killed in another strike targeting the house of the Abu Shawish family.
Three more people were killed later on Saturday when a house in western Gaza City was hit, officials reported.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a later statement: "Today, Hamas violated the ceasefire again, sending a terrorist into Israel held territory to attack IDF soldiers. In response, Israel eliminated five senior Hamas terrorists."
The statement also called on mediators to "insist that Hamas fulfil its side of the ceasefire".
Following the strikes, Hamas said the army's westward push of the yellow line and continued bombardment of eastern Gaza amounted to a "blatant breach" of the agreement.
The group called on mediators and the US to intervene urgently, warning that Israel was attempting to impose "new facts on the ground" and undermine the ceasefire.
The Israeli military launched an offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 69,500 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, including 280 during the ceasefire, according to the territory's health ministry.
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Fresh Israeli Strikes in Gaza and Lebanon Deepen Fears of Wider Regional Escalation
Ongoing Israeli operations across Gaza continued despite the ceasefire, with multiple strikes reported in northern and southern areas, drone fire killing civilians, and further destruction in neighbourhoods east of Gaza City. Medical sources confirmed several new deaths, while Israeli forces also carried out overnight raids in the occupied West Bank, where more arrests and another fatality were reported. Meanwhile, Hamas teams — accompanied by the Red Cross and Egyptian officials — continued searching in Nuseirat refugee camp for the body of an Israeli captive.
In Lebanon, tensions escalated after an Israeli air strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs killed senior Hezbollah commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai and several others, prompting warnings from analysts that the group is in a weakened position and unlikely to risk a large-scale retaliation. Israel has justified the attack by claiming Hezbollah was rearming, while Washington signalled continued support for Israeli operations. As the Israeli army launched new military exercises in the occupied Golan Heights, concerns mounted over the possibility of broader conflict, with analysts noting shifting US policy and growing pressure on Lebanon amid preparations for an upcoming visit by Pope Leo XIV.
www.aljazeera.com
Ongoing Israeli operations across Gaza continued despite the ceasefire, with multiple strikes reported in northern and southern areas, drone fire killing civilians, and further destruction in neighbourhoods east of Gaza City. Medical sources confirmed several new deaths, while Israeli forces also carried out overnight raids in the occupied West Bank, where more arrests and another fatality were reported. Meanwhile, Hamas teams — accompanied by the Red Cross and Egyptian officials — continued searching in Nuseirat refugee camp for the body of an Israeli captive.
In Lebanon, tensions escalated after an Israeli air strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs killed senior Hezbollah commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai and several others, prompting warnings from analysts that the group is in a weakened position and unlikely to risk a large-scale retaliation. Israel has justified the attack by claiming Hezbollah was rearming, while Washington signalled continued support for Israeli operations. As the Israeli army launched new military exercises in the occupied Golan Heights, concerns mounted over the possibility of broader conflict, with analysts noting shifting US policy and growing pressure on Lebanon amid preparations for an upcoming visit by Pope Leo XIV.
Israeli attacks kill 4 in Gaza; Hezbollah mulls Beirut attack response
Senior Hezbollah official says the group’s leadership considering response after Israeli air strike killed its commander
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