Israel-Palestine category
Trump and Netanyahu are to meet in Florida at a crucial moment for the U.S.-backed Gaza ceasefire
PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, as Washington looks to create fresh momentum for a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that could be in danger of stalling before a complicated second phase. Trump could use the face-to-face at...
3 Palestinians arrested on suspicion of torching a Christmas tree at a Catholic church in West Bank
Three Palestinians have been arrested on suspicion of setting fire to a Christmas tree and damaging part of a Nativity scene at a Catholic Church in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian Authority police said. Police said late Wednesday that the arrests were made after reviewing surveillance footage....
Ex-aide says Netanyahu tasked him with making a plan to evade responsibility for Oct. 7 attack
JERUSALEM — A former close aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that immediately following the October 2023 Hamas attack that triggered Israel’s two-year war in Gaza, the Israeli leader instructed him to figure out how the premier could evade responsibility for the security breach. Former Netanyahu spokesperson Eli Feldstein,...
Israel launches intense airstrikes in Lebanon as deadline looms to disarm Hezbollah
BEIRUT — Israel carried out a series of airstrikes on southern and northeastern Lebanon on Thursday as a deadline looms to disarm the militant Hezbollah group along the countries’ tense frontier. The strikes came a day before a meeting of the committee monitoring the enforcement of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that...
Hamas confirms the death of a top commander in Gaza after Israeli strike
JERUSALEM — Hamas on Sunday confirmed the death of a top commander in Gaza, a day after Israel said it had killed Raed Saad in a strike outside Gaza City. The Hamas statement described Saad as the commander of its military manufacturing unit. Israel had described him as an architect...
Netanyahu says Israel and Hamas will enter ceasefire’s 2nd phase soon
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel and Hamas are “very shortly expected to move into the second phase of the ceasefire,” after Hamas returns the remains of the last hostage held in Gaza. Netanyahu spoke during a news conference with visiting German Chancellor...
A single hostage still in Gaza after identification of Thai worker’s remains
JERUSALEM — Remains that militants in Gaza handed to Israel as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal were those of a Thai agricultural worker, Israeli and Thai officials said Thursday. The return of Sudthisak Rinthalak’s remains leaves just one more hostage to be returned under the agreement....
Israel receives remains of possible hostage and plans to reopen Gaza crossing into Egypt
JERUSALEM — Israel received remains of what could be one of the last hostages in Gaza on Wednesday and said it will begin allowing Palestinians to leave the war-torn territory through a border crossing with Egypt. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an attack by militants earlier in the day...
Israel says it receives ‘findings’ handed over by Palestinian militants in Gaza
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israel on Tuesday said it had received “findings” handed over by Palestinian militants in Gaza to the Red Cross. They were believed to be remains of one of the two hostages still in the territory: an Israeli and a Thai national. Israel’s government said they...
Israeli forces kill at least 13 in southern Syria raid, officials and residents say
DAMASCUS, Syria — Israeli forces in southern Syria raided a village and opened fire when they were confronted by residents on Friday, killing at least 13, Syrian officials said, as Israel fights on a number of fronts while the shaky ceasefire in Gaza moves forward. Syria’s Foreign Ministry said in...
Israeli forces kill Palestinian men in West Bank after they appear to surrender
JERUSALEM — Israeli forces on Thursday killed a pair of Palestinian men in the occupied West Bank after they appeared to surrender to troops, drawing Palestinian accusations that the men were executed “in cold blood.” The Israeli military said it was investigating. The killings, captured in videos shown on two...
Israel says it has received another set of human remains from militants in Gaza
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israel on Tuesday said it received human remains that Palestinian militants handed over to the Red Cross, but it was not immediately clear if they were one of three hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip. The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the remains...
U.S.-backed aid company in Gaza shutters operations
JERUSALEM — A controversial U.S.- and Israel-backed company that provided aid to Gaza said Monday it would shutter operations. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had already closed distribution sites after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect six weeks ago in Gaza. It announced Monday that it was permanently shutting down, claiming it...
Israel launches new strikes in Gaza against Hamas in ceasefire’s latest test
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israel’s military on Saturday said it launched airstrikes against Hamas militants in Gaza in the latest test of the ceasefire that began on Oct. 10. Health officials in Gaza reported at least 14 people killed and another 45 wounded, including children. Similar waves of strikes...
Israel may have committed war crimes in expelling West Bank refugees, human rights group alleges
JERUSALEM — Israel may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity when it forcibly expelled 32,000 Palestinians from three West Bank refugee camps earlier this year during a military operation in the area, a human rights group said Thursday. Human Rights Watch said in a report that top Israeli...
Netanyahu applauds UN adoption of U.S. Gaza plan, Hamas rejects it
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday applauded the United Nations’ approval of the Trump administration’s blueprint to secure and govern Gaza, while Hamas rejected the plan as a foreign instrument of control. The resolution that passed the U.N. Security Council on Monday authorizes an international stabilization force...
Netanyahu insists on no Palestinian state ahead of UN vote
TEL AVIV, Israel — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to oppose any attempts to establish a Palestinian state, a day before the U.N. Security Council is to vote on an American resolution that leaves the door open to Palestinian independence. Netanyahu has long ruled out Palestinian independence. But...
Gaza patients face a painful wait as hospitals sag under burden of cases
CAIRO/GAZA — Mohammed Wael Helles, 14, has been waiting for surgery on a serious spinal injury caused by an Israeli airstrike for nearly two months, one of thousands of Gazans waiting for urgent treatment in Gaza’s battered health system. Helles was a top student with aspirations of becoming a doctor...
Israeli defense minister says he intends to close public radio station
Israel’s defense minister said on Wednesday he planned to close publicly funded Army Radio in what he described as an attempt to preserve the military’s nonpartisan character, but the decision was denounced by the station’s chief as a blow to press freedom. The minister, Israel Katz, said in a statement...
Trump asks Israeli president to pardon Netanyahu in letter, Israeli president’s office says
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has received a letter from President Donald Trump urging him to consider granting a pardon to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Herzog’s office said on Wednesday. Netanyahu has been facing a long-running corruption trial, and Trump has repeatedly asked for a pardon for his close ally. Netanyahu...
Israel returns bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza as exchanges outlined in fragile ceasefire proceed
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Officials at Gaza’s largest functioning hospital said Wednesday that the bodies of 15 more Palestinians were returned from Israel, as exchanges outlined in last month’s fragile ceasefire continued despite allegations of violations. The International Committee of the Red Cross has transported 285 bodies held in...
Hamas says body of Israeli soldier hostage found in Gaza, will be handed over
CAIRO — The armed wing of Hamas said on Tuesday it had found the body of an Israeli soldier who had been held hostage by Palestinian militants in Gaza, and that it would hand over the body at 8 p.m. Hamas said the body was found in Shejaia, an eastern...
Israeli attacks kill 3 Palestinians in Gaza, testing fragile truce
CAIRO — The Israeli military attacked the Gaza Strip for a fourth day on Friday, killing three people, Palestinian health authorities said, in another test of a fragile ceasefire agreement. Residents reported Israeli shelling and gunfire in northern Gaza on Friday, as Israel continued to bombard areas of the enclave...
Israel’s military says ceasefire is back on as death toll from overnight strikes in Gaza reaches 104
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israel’s military said Wednesday that the ceasefire was back on in Gaza after it carried out heavy airstrikes overnight across the Palestinian territory that killed 104 people, including 46 children, according to local health officials. The strikes — the deadliest since the ceasefire began on...
Slow release of hostage bodies threatens Gaza ceasefire and deepens families’ heartbreak
TEL AVIV, Israel — The announcement Monday that Hamas had released the body of another hostage offered hope to 13 families and an Israeli public desperately waiting for the remains of loved ones to come back from Gaza. Then came word from Israeli officials that the militant group had returned...
