Ceasefire Efforts
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Israeli strikes kill 27 Palestinians in Gaza
Israeli military strikes killed at least 27 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, medics said, as health officials resumed vaccination of tens of thousands more children in the enclave against polio.
In Nuseirat, one of the territory’s eight historic refugee camps, an Israeli airstrike killed two women and two children, while eight other people were killed in two other airstrikes in Gaza City, the medics said. The rest were killed in subsequent strikes across the enclave, they added.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces battled Hamas in the Zeitoun suburb of Gaza City, where residents said tanks have been operating for over a week, in eastern neighbourhoods of Khan Younis, and in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, where residents said Israeli forces blew up several houses.
American shot dead at West Bank protest where Israeli forces opened fire
A Turkish-American woman was shot dead while demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank town of Beita, where the army acknowledged opening fire, AFP reports.
Turkiye identified the woman as Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, condemning her death, while the United States called it a “tragic” event, without immediately assigning responsibility. The incident occurred as Israeli forces withdrew from a deadly 10-day raid in the West Bank city of Jenin.
Eygi, in her mid-20s, was in Beita as part of a weekly protest against Israeli settlements in the West Bank — where some 490,000 people live — which are illegal under international law.
Israeli troops leave West Bank’s Jenin as Gaza talks stall
Israeli forces withdrew after a deadly 10-day raid in a flashpoint city in the occupied West Bank, witnesses said, as key ally Germany warned against treating the territory like Gaza, AFP reports.
There was no official confirmation that Israel’s military had withdrawn from Jenin, a bastion of Palestinian armed groups, but AFP journalists reported residents returning home.
On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged both Israel and Hamas to finalise a truce deal, saying: “I think based on what I’ve seen, 90 per cent is agreed.”
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied this in an interview with Fox News, saying: “It’s not close.”
ICC chief prosecutor defends arrest warrants for Netanyahu
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has defended arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that justice must be seen to be done, Anadolu reports.
In an interview with the BBC, Karim Khan said that it was important to show the court would hold all nations to the same standard, welcoming the UK government’s decision to drop its opposition to the arrest warrants.
Khan elaborated that the ICC needed to request warrants for leaders on both sides to ensure people around the world thought the court was applying “the law equally based upon some common standards”.
Side deal between US, Hamas to return US captives ‘not possible’: report
A White House official has told CNN that the US will not propose a unilateral deal to Hamas to release US citizens held captive in Gaza, despite earlier reports it was considering the option, Al Jazeera reports.
“Because of Hamas’s demands, there has not been a formal offer for a side deal made because no such deal is possible,” CNN quoted the unnamed US official.
14 killed during Jenin siege, Israeli army says
The Israeli army has released a statement saying it killed 14 “terrorists” and arrested more than 30 “suspects” in Jenin, during a siege that lasted 10 days.
Among those killed was Wissam Hazem, whom the military identified as the head of Hamas in Jenin, according to the statement.
It also claimed to have destroyed about 30 explosives, as well as an underground weapons stockpile located under a mosque and a laboratory for the production of explosives.
Ben-Gvir aims to bring West Bank into the fold
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has requested that PM Netanyahu include the defeat of Hamas in the occupied West Bank among the goals of the war in Gaza.
Ben-Gvir said in a post on X – accompanied by a copy of a formal letter – that Israel must avoid a repetition of the October 7 attack by Hamas. “We must not repeat the mistakes, war on Hamas – also in Judea and Samaria!,” he said, using the Israeli name for the West Bank.
Ben-Gvir has repeatedly and openly called for Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.
Netanyahu gives a starkly different take on Biden administration's hopes for a Gaza deal
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were sharply at odds Thursday over prospects of reaching a deal for a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release, with Netanyahu saying it was “exactly inaccurate” that a breakthrough was close.
“There’s not a deal in the making,” Netanyahu said in an interview with “Fox and Friends.” His public skepticism comes as U.S. officials said they were working on a revised proposal to address remaining disputes between Israeli and Hamas leaders after the weekend discovery of six dead hostages added urgency to the talks.
Israeli forces withdraw from Jenin and its camp, Palestine news agency says
CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli forces have withdrawn from the city of Jenin and a refugee camp there, following a 10-day episode of "violent aggression", the Palestine news agency (WAFA) said on Friday.
Twenty-one people were killed in the city and camp, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.
German police kill gunman suspected of targeting Israeli consulate in Munich
MUNICH (AFP) - An 18-year-old Austrian man was shot dead by German police in Munich on Thursday after opening fire near the Israeli consulate and the Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism.
While the motive for the attack is not yet known, Bavarian state premier Markus Soeder said "there is a terrible suspicion" the attack is linked to Thursday's anniversary of the deadly 1972 attack on Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich by Palestinian militants.
Israeli military leaves medical team out in the cold
The Israeli military is not cooperating to coordinate the entry of medical teams deployed for the emergency polio vaccination campaign, Gaza’s Health Ministry claims.
Amnesty urges war crimes probe over Israel levelling east Gaza
PARIS (AFP) – Amnesty International Thursday urged a war crimes probe into Israel razing homes and farms in eastern Gaza to expand a so-called buffer zone between it and the Palestinian territory.
"Using bulldozers and manually laid explosives, the Israeli military has unlawfully destroyed agricultural land and civilian buildings, razing entire neighbourhoods, including homes, schools and mosques," it said.
Humanitarian crisis in Gaza beyond catastrophic, says UN
The UN said the humanitarian situation in the war-torn Gaza is ‘beyond catastrophic’.
In August, more than one million Palestinians in Gaza did not receive food aid rations, the UN says.
No Oct 7 attack on Israel would have been possible under my presidency, says Trump
WASHINGTON (Dunya News) – Former US president Donald Trump says his policies don’t let conflicts grow.
“Had I been the president, there would have been no Oct 7 attack on Israel,” said Trump.
Media reports quoted Trump as having said in a statement that there would also not have been conflict between Russia and Ukraine if he were in power.
Blinken urges Israel, Hamas to finalise truce, says '90 percent agreed'
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday urged Israel and Hamas to finalise a Gaza truce, stating that 90% of a deal was ready. Blinken added that the US would offer further ideas via Egypt and Qatar. However, in an interview with Fox News, Israeli Prime Minister Binjamin Netanyahu denied the claim, saying "it's not close."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday urged both Israel and Hamas to finalize a Gaza truce, standing by US assessments that 90 percent of a deal was ready.
