All posts tagged: gaza hamas

Israeli troops seize Gaza side of Rafah crossing, hit Rafah with airstrikes

Israeli troops seize Gaza side of Rafah crossing, hit Rafah with airstrikes

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Israel’s military said Tuesday its forces had taken control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, a day after ordering tens of thousands of Palestinians to leave the area and launching repeated airstrikes. The Israeli operation comes after weeks of Israeli officials saying an offensive in Rafah was necessary to achieve their goal of defeating Hamas, while the United States, the United Nations and others warned that launching an offensive in an area crowded with Palestinian civilians could create a humanitarian disaster. The developments in Rafah also follow an announcement by Hamas that it had accepted a cease-fire proposal worked out with Egyptian and Qatari negotiators. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Monday the cease-fire proposal was “far from Israel’s essential demands,” but that Israel would send negotiators to Cairo to continue talks. During the past week, efforts to secure a cease-fire intensified, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s traveling to the region and repeatedly telling Hamas that Israel had made compromises, and that Hamas should …

Israeli military calls for evacuations from eastern Rafah ahead of planned offensive

Israeli military calls for evacuations from eastern Rafah ahead of planned offensive

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Israel’s military said Monday that people in eastern parts of Rafah should go to what the military called an expanded humanitarian area that now includes Khan Younis, in a move that comes ahead of a planned Israeli offensive in Rafah. An IDF spokesperson, posting on social media in Arabic, said the Israeli military will act forcefully against terrorist organizations in Rafah, and that anyone who is in the area will be putting their lives at risk. Israel has previously issued such warnings amid its campaign to eliminate the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip. Many of the Palestinians in Rafah traveled there seeking shelter after Israel warned them to flee other parts of Gaza. Maps provided by the Israeli military previously showed a humanitarian zone along the Gaza coast west of Khan Younis. Monday’s announcement expanded that area both to the north along the coast, as well as east to include Khan Younis. Israel has said an offensive in Rafah is necessary to defeat Hamas, while the United States, United Nations and others have …

Colombia to cut diplomatic ties with Israel

Colombia to cut diplomatic ties with Israel

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Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Wednesday his government would sever diplomatic relations with Israel Thursday in response to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Speaking at a march in the Colombian capital, Bogota, Petro described Israel’s leadership as “genocidal.” “If Palestine dies, humanity dies, and we are not going to let it die,” Petro said. His comments drew a quick response from Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who called Petro’s decision a gift to Hamas. “History will remember that Gustavo Petro decided to side with the most despicable monsters known to mankind who burned babies, murdered children, raped women and kidnapped innocent civilians,” Katz said on X. As Israel prepares for a planned military operation in Rafah, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke by telephone Wednesday with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. A Pentagon spokesperson said Austin “stressed the need for any potential Israeli military operation in Rafah to include a credible plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians and maintain the flow of humanitarian aid.” Austin also reiterated U.S. support for Israel’s defense, as well as a …

Israeli forces withdraw from area of northern Gaza hospital after two-week operation

Israeli forces withdraw from area of northern Gaza hospital after two-week operation

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The Israeli military said Monday its forces withdrew from the area of the Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza after completing an operation there. The withdrawal comes two weeks after Israeli forces launched the operation at Gaza’s largest hospital, accusing Hamas commanders of using the site to conduct terror operations. The Israeli military has said it killed 200 militants in the area of the hospital, where it carried out both ground fighting and airstrikes. Bodies were found inside and outside of the hospital complex as people returned to the site following the departure of Israeli tanks and troops. Palestinians inspect the damage outside Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital after the Israeli military withdrew from the complex housing the hospital on April 1, 2024. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he has approved a military operational plan for the southern Gaza city of Rafah, an area that has drawn international concern as half of Gaza’s population shelters there from the war. Netanyahu said during a news conference the Israeli military is prepared to evacuate civilians and provide humanitarian …

China Envoy Meets Hamas Leader as Beijing Steps Into Israel Conflict

China Envoy Meets Hamas Leader as Beijing Steps Into Israel Conflict

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Tel Aviv, Israel —  China’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday acknowledged a meeting between its diplomat Wang Kejian and the political leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, on Sunday in Qatar to discuss the conflict in Gaza. In a short statement, the ministry said Wang and Haniyeh discussed the conflict but did not elaborate. The meeting is the first announced to have taken place between the Chinese envoy and Hamas since the militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 Israelis and taking about 250 hostage. Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed nearly 32,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, Gaza health officials say. The Israeli military says it has killed thousands of Hamas fighters. The meeting came just days after Wang met separately with officials from Israel and from the Palestinian Authority as part of Beijing’s efforts at diplomacy. The Jerusalem Post reports Hamas on Sunday night said Haniyeh told Wang the war must end quickly, the Israel Defense Forces must withdraw from Gaza and an independent Palestinian state needs …

Blinken to Discuss Cease-fire Push, Post-War Gaza Plans at Talks in Saudi Arabia and Egypt

Blinken to Discuss Cease-fire Push, Post-War Gaza Plans at Talks in Saudi Arabia and Egypt

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to visit Saudi Arabia and Egypt this week for talks that he said will focus on pushing for a cease-fire in Gaza, the release of hostages held by Palestinian militants, and planning for a post-war Gaza. Speaking Tuesday during a visit to the Philippines, Blinken told reporters that there will need to be arrangements in place for how to approach governance, security, humanitarian assistance and redevelopment of Gaza. Blinken said the United States has impressed upon Israel the imperative of having a plan, and that the hope remains the conflict will end as soon as possible. Much of the Gaza Strip’s infrastructure and homes have been leveled as Israel pursued its campaign to eliminate the Hamas militant group following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people according to Israeli tallies and included the capture of about 250 hostages. The Gaza health ministry says the Israeli counteroffensive has killed nearly 32,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. More than half of Gaza’s population …

Israel Launches Operation at Gaza City Hospital

Israel Launches Operation at Gaza City Hospital

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Israel’s military said Monday it was conducting an operation at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, an area where it came under international criticism for a November raid. Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a statement that Israeli forces were acting Monday because senior Hamas officials were using the hospital to command attacks against Israel. “We will conduct this operation with caution and care while ensuring that the hospital continues its important function,” Hagari said. Witnesses reported airstrikes in the area of the hospital, which is the largest in the Gaza Strip, as well as the presence of Israeli tanks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rebuffed international pressure, vowing that Israel would push ahead with an attack on Hamas militants in Rafah near the Gaza-Egyptian border, even as cease-fire talks were set to resume in Qatar in the coming days. “No amount of international pressure will stop us from realizing all the goals of the war,” to erase any Hamas control in Gaza, Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting in …

Biden Expresses Hope for Gaza Cease-fire Next Week

Biden Expresses Hope for Gaza Cease-fire Next Week

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U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday he hopes to see a new Gaza cease-fire by early next week, as delegations from several countries work to negotiate the first halt in fighting since late November. “My national security adviser tells me that we’re close,” Biden told reporters in New York. “We’re close. We’re not done yet. My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a cease-fire.” Negotiators have been working toward an agreement that would pause fighting for six weeks. The deal would include the release of hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza, as well as the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Hundreds of trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza each day would also be part of the agreement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said a temporary cease-fire would not change Israel’s plans to eventually carry out an offensive in the southern town of Rafah to achieve Israel’s goal of eliminating Hamas. Prospects of a Rafah operation have raised international alarms because of the large number of Palestinians who are living there, …

Health Officials Report Israeli Attack on Khan Younis Hospital

Health Officials Report Israeli Attack on Khan Younis Hospital

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Gaza health officials said Israeli shelling Thursday hit the main hospital in southern Gaza, killing one person and wounding several others. The attack on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis followed Israeli military orders to evacuate the site. Israel said it opened an evacuation corridor Wednesday, and several thousand people who had been sheltering in the hospital left the area. The Hamas-run health ministry said last week that Israeli sniper fire in the area had prevented people from leaving, while medics warned the situation at the hospital was not safe. Doctors Without Borders condemned the evacuation order and said its staff at the hospital were treating patients “amid near impossible conditions.” “People have been forced into an impossible situation: stay at Nasser Hospital against the Israeli military’s orders and become a potential target, or exit the compound into an apocalyptic landscape where bombings and evacuation orders are a part of daily life,” said Lisa Macheiner, Doctors Without Borders project coordinator in Gaza. “Hospitals should be considered as safe places and shouldn’t even be evacuated in the …

Blinken Discussing Israel-Hamas Cease-fire Proposal with Israeli Officials

Blinken Discussing Israel-Hamas Cease-fire Proposal with Israeli Officials

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State Department —  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel for talks Wednesday with Israeli leaders about a proposed pause in fighting in Gaza and the release of hostages held by Hamas. The meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and President Isaac Herzog come a day after Blinken said Hamas leaders had given their response to the proposal. Blinken told reporters in Doha, Qatar, that the United States was studying the response intensely, and that it had been shared with Israel. “We will be working as hard as we possibly can to try to get an agreement so that we can move forward with not only a renewed but an expanded agreement on hostages and all the benefits that would bring with it,” Blinken said. In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden described the response from the militant group as “a little over the top” and said the negotiation is continuing. The United States, Egypt and Qatar helped craft the cease-fire proposal that is currently under consideration, which would …