Progress has reportedly been made in indirect negotiations between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas on accelerating the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip. Israeli media reported on Tuesday that potentially six, instead of three, living hostages could be handed over on Saturday. Hamas has also apparently agreed to transfer the bodies…
Relatives of Israelis abducted by the Palestinian extremist militia Hamas in 2023 staged protests on Monday to mark 500 days of their captivity.The day’s events included blocking central streets in several towns and cities, including Tel Aviv, and a march to the Knesset in Jerusalem. A total of 73 hostages remain in Gaza, with 36…
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, has called on Israel and Hamas to ensure that all people they are holding are treated humanely. OHCHR spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan, in a statement, stated that images of emaciated Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees released as part of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement had been deeply…
President Donald Trump has lifted U.S. sanctions imposed by his predecessor on extremist settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in a reversal praised by the Israeli far right. Joe Biden’s administration had imposed sanctions on Israeli settler groups and individuals accused of violence against Palestinians. The Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been…
The Israeli government is hoping for a rapid conclusion to indirect negotiations with Hamas on the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a government spokesman said. “We are really hoping that we will soon be able to announce good news,” he said, adding: “We are…
Yemeni movement Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, said it had struck the Israeli Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv with a hypersonic missile. “We carried out a military operation against the so-called Defence Ministry of the Israeli enemy in occupied Jaffa (Tel Aviv) using a Palestine-2 hypersonic ballistic missile. The ballistic missile reached its…
Hamas is preparing for the possible release of Palestinian prisoners in light of reports of significant progress in negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire. “We renew our promise to our steadfast, patient people and to our heroic prisoners in the jails and affirm that their freedom will soon be achieved,’’ Hamas said on Monday. Israeli Foreign…
The Israeli military said early on Tuesday that its Air Force attacked a group of armed terrorists in the West Bank. A fighter jet targeted the “terrorists’’ in the area of Tamun in the Jordan Valley, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said on X. Details were not initially provided. No less than three Israelis had…
The Jerusalem court hearing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial has postponed hearings set for next week as Netanyahu undergoes a prostate operation on Sunday. The hearings will now be held on January 6 and subsequent days. Netanyahu is charged with fraud, embezzlement and bribery. The accusations against him include that he granted the…
Israel and the Lebanese armed group, Hezbollah, agreed to a ceasefire that was brokered by the United States and France. Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel will gradually withdraw its troops from Lebanon’s south over 60 days. Over the same timeframe, Hezbollah fighters and weapons will be removed from the area south of the Litani River,…
