Israel’s sudden threat to unleash its controversial ground operation in the southern Gazan town of Rafah unless all hostages are freed by 10 March has ratcheted up the pressure on the tortuous talks to secure an elusive agreement. Even before Benny Gantz, a leading member of Israel’s war cabinet, threw down the gauntlet, Arab leaders…
Satellite images appear to show extensive construction work in progress along Egypt’s border with Gaza, which reports claim is being carried out in preparation for housing Palestinian refugees. Unnamed Egyptian sources reportedly said the work is being done in order to set up an isolated buffer zone containing a walled enclosure in Egypt’s North Sinai…
Palestinians say Israeli forces have ordered thousands of displaced people to evacuate the largest hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip. Videos showed an announcement via loudspeaker and a crowd leaving the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. Israel’s military said it had opened a secure route for civilians, but did not intend to…
Negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza have resumed in Cairo, Egyptian media say. Senior officials from the US, Israel, Egypt and Qatar are meeting as Israel faces strong international pressure to stop its bombardment of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. About 1.5 million people are crammed into this small border…
US President Joe Biden has said an Israeli offensive in Rafah “should not proceed without a credible plan for ensuring the safety” of more than one million Palestinians sheltering there. He said many displaced people in the southern Gazan city were “exposed and vulnerable” and needed to be protected. A Palestinian doctor in Rafah told…
Details have begun to emerge of an overnight Israeli military operation which freed two Israeli-Argentine hostages held captive by Hamas in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli forces carried out intense strikes in the area during the raid, which Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said killed dozens of people. This is what…
US President Joe Biden told Israel’s prime minister a military operation in Rafah should not happen without measures to ensure the safety of civilians, the White House has said. In a call with Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr Biden said Israel needed a “credible and executable plan” to protect the more than a million people in the…
I’d rather be writing this story in the Gaza Strip, not Jerusalem. After many years of covering wars, since El Salvador in 1989, I’m convinced that nothing beats first-hand reporting. Unfortunately, in this terrible war, international journalists can’t do that. Israel and Egypt, the two countries that control Gaza’s borders, do not want us in…
Israel is facing growing international warnings over its planned offensive in Rafah – the city in southern Gaza crammed with Palestinian refugees. UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said “over half of Gaza’s population are sheltering in the area”, while Dutch FM Hanke Bruins Slot said there could be “many civilian casualties”. Saudi Arabia warned of…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to prepare to evacuate civilians from the southern Gazan city of Rafah ahead of an expanded offensive against Hamas. Some 1.5 million Palestinians are in Rafah to seek refuge from Israeli combat operations in the rest of Gaza. It comes a day after the US warned…