PARIS: Fourteen countries, including France, Britain, and Germany, condemned on Wednesday Israel&#39;s recent approval of new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.&nbsp;&quot;We, States of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom condemn the approval by the Israeli security cabinet of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank,&quot; said a joint statement released by the French foreign ministry.&nbsp;&quot;We recall our clear opposition to any form of annexation and to the expansion of settlement policies,&quot; it added.&nbsp;On Sunday, Israel&#39;s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the authorities had greenlit the settlements, saying the move was aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.&nbsp;In their statement, the countries stressed such unilateral actions &quot;violate international law&quot; and risk undermining a fragile ceasefire in Gaza as mediators push for the implementation of the second phase of the truce.&nbsp;The countries urged Israel &quot;to reverse this decision, as well as the expansion of settlements&quot;.&nbsp;They also reaffirmed their &quot;unwavering commitment to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the two-state solution... where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, live side-by-side in peace and security&quot;.&nbsp;Israel has occupied the West Bank following a war in 1967.&nbsp;Excluding east Jerusalem, which was occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, along with about three million Palestinian residents.&nbsp;Earlier this month, the United Nations said the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank -- all of which are illegal under international law -- had reached its highest level since at least 2017.

Europe

Middle East

Fourteen nations condemned Israel’s approval of new West Bank settlements, calling them illegal, urging reversal, warning of risks to the Gaza ceasefire, and reaffirming support for a two-state solution.

14 countries condemn Israel's expansion of West Bank settlements

CAIRO: Delegations from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, mediators along with the United States of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, met on Tuesday in Cairo to discuss the second phase of the deal, Egyptian state-linked media reported.&nbsp;Al-Qahera News, which has ties to Egyptian intelligence, said the meeting included the Egyptian and Turkish intelligence chiefs alongside the prime minister of Qatar.&nbsp;The delegates discussed working with the US &quot;to ensure the successful implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement&quot; between Israel and Hamas, the channel reported.&nbsp;Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the US act as both mediators and guarantors for the Gaza deal, which came into effect on October 10 after two years of war.&nbsp;Their meeting in Cairo came two days after a senior Hamas delegation met with Egyptian spy chief Hassan Rashad to discuss the second phase of the truce.&nbsp;That phase concerns disarming Hamas, establishing a transitional authority and deploying an international stabilisation force of foreign troops to the Gaza Strip.&nbsp;According to Al-Qahera News, Tuesday&#39;s meeting addressed &quot;overcoming obstacles and limiting violations to ensure the ceasefire holds&quot;.&nbsp;Israel and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce.&nbsp;According to the Gaza health ministry, Israeli fire has killed more than 300 Palestinians since the truce took hold.&nbsp;The mediators on Tuesday also &quot;agreed to continue strengthening coordination and cooperation with the Civil-Military Coordination Centre&quot; -- the truce monitoring centre set up by the US and its allies in southern Israel.

Egyptian, Qatari, Turkish and US mediators met in Cairo to advance the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire, discussing disarmament plans, a transitional authority, and an international stabilisation force amid ongoing truce violations and rising casualties.

Gaza truce mediators in Cairo to discuss second phase: Egyptian Media   

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said Saturday it had conducted an air strike targeting an alleged Islamic Jihad militant in central Gaza, despite a ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump. For the past two weeks there has been a fragile truce between Hamas, an ally of Islamic Jihad, and Israel -- although the latter reserves the right to defend itself and its forces from militant attacks. &quot;A short while ago, the IDF (army) conducted a precise strike in the Nuseirat area in the central Gaza Strip targeting a terrorist from the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation who planned to carry out an imminent terrorist attack against IDF troops,&quot; the military said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to journalists as he left Israel, did not address the strike directly, but he noted that incidents are common in the immediate aftermath of ceasefires. &quot;Every night will bring new challenges on how to keep it together,&quot; he said. &quot;So we recognise that, but we also feel like we&#39;ve made tremendous progress in the last 12 or 13 days.&quot; Inside Gaza,&nbsp;the Al-Awda hospital confirmed it had received wounded for treatment after a strike in Nuseirat. &quot;The hospital has received four injured people following the Israeli occupation&#39;s targeting of a civilian car in the Al-Ahli Club area in Nuseirat Camp in central Gaza,&quot; the hospital said. The military said it would continue operations in Gaza &quot;to remove any immediate threat&quot; to its troops.

US State Secretary did not address the strike directly, but he noted that incidents are common in the immediate aftermath of ceasefires.

Israel army says targeted alleged militant in Gaza strike

CAIRO: The main Palestinian political factions, including Hamas, said on Friday they had agreed that an independent committee of technocrats would take over the running of post-war Gaza. During a meeting in Cairo, according to a joint statement published on the Hamas website, the groups agreed to hand &quot;over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a temporary Palestinian committee composed of independent technocrats.&quot; It said the committee would &quot;manage the affairs of life and basic services in cooperation with Arab brothers and international institutions.&quot; The statement also said the factions had agreed to work on unifying a common position &quot;to confront the challenges facing the Palestinian cause.&quot; It called for a meeting of all forces and factions to &quot;agree on a national strategy and to revitalize the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.&quot; Hamas is not part of the PLO, which is dominated by its longtime rival Fatah. An informed source told AFP on Thursday that delegations from Hamas and Fatah met in Cairo to discuss the second phase of a US-backed ceasefire plan in Gaza. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that both sides agreed to &quot;continue meetings in the coming period and to work on organizing the Palestinian internal front in the face of the challenges posed by the Israeli government.&quot; Alongside the Hamas-Fatah talks, Egypt&#39;s intelligence chief Hassan Rashad met senior officials from key Palestinian factions. They included Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, as well as the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine &mdash; both factions within the PLO. Hamas and Fatah have a history of deep political rivalry, which flared into fighting for a time after a 2006 election, and which has hindered efforts at Palestinian national unity. In December 2024, they agreed to create a committee to jointly administer post-war Gaza. The agreement was criticized, particularly by members of Fatah. Hamas, which seized power in the territory in 2007, has already made it clear that it does not wish to govern the post-war territory, but has pushed back against the insistence that it disarm its fighters.

Groups agree to hand "over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a temporary Palestinian committee composed of independent technocrats."



Palestinian factions agree to hand Gaza to technocrat committee

TEL AVIV: US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday to shore up the fragile US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, following a burst of deadly violence and questions over how to move forward with the plan for long-term peace. Vance was meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials and is expected to stay in the region until Thursday. His visit follows Monday&#39;s arrival of White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump&rsquo;s son-in-law. Vance met with them upon landing. Vance is also expected to meet with families of hostages whose remains are still in Gaza and some of the living hostages released last week. Earlier on Tuesday, Witkoff and Kushner met with nine of them. Hamas said it has recovered the remains of two more hostages and planned to hand them over Tuesday evening. The ceasefire took effect on October 10. While it has been tested by fighting on Sunday and mutual accusations of violations, both Israel and Hamas have said they are committed to the deal. Trump has made clear he wants it to succeed. Pressure for the ceasefire&#39;s second phase The head of Egypt&rsquo;s intelligence agency, Maj Gen&nbsp;Hassan Rashad, traveled to Israel on Tuesday to meet with Netanyahu, Witkoff and others over the ceasefire&#39;s implementation, according to Netanyahu&rsquo;s office. The high-level meetings highlight the urgency of launching negotiations for the second phase of the US plan. Hamas negotiators reiterated that the group is committed to ensuring the war &ldquo;ends once and for all.&rdquo; &ldquo;From the day we signed the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, we were determined and committed to seeing it through to the end,&rdquo; Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, who is in Cairo, told Egypt&rsquo;s Al-Qahera News television late Monday. He said Israel has complied with aid deliveries in the Gaza crossings according to the agreement, but asked mediators to pressure Israel to deliver more shelter, medical supplies and cold-weather items before winter arrives. Israel identifies another body of a hostage Israel confirmed Tuesday that Hamas released the body of Tal Haimi, who was killed in the October 7, 2023 attack. Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel is waiting for Hamas to turn over the remains of 15 hostages. Thirteen have been turned over since the ceasefire began. Under the deal, Israel is releasing 15 bodies for the remains of each dead hostage, according to Gaza&#39;s Health Ministry. It said Israel had transferred the bodies of another 15 Palestinians to Gaza, for a total of 165 since earlier this month. Aid into Gaza increases, while prices rise International organizations said they were scaling up humanitarian aid entering Gaza, while Hamas-led security forces launched a crackdown against what it called price gouging by private merchants. The World Food Program said it had sent more than 530 trucks into Gaza in the past 10 days, enough to feed nearly half a million people for two weeks. That&#39;s still well under the 500 to 600 that entered daily before the war. The WFP also said it had reinstated 26 distribution points and hopes to scale up to its previous 145 points across Gaza as soon as possible. Residents said prices for essential goods soared on Sunday. Israel has threatened to halt humanitarian aid. Mohamed al-Faqawi, a Khan Younis resident, accused merchants of taking advantage of the perilous security situation. &ldquo;Our concern stems from the wicked merchants,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They are exploiting us.&rdquo; On Monday, Hamas-run security forces raided shops across Gaza, closing at least 10 shops and warehouses, and forced merchants to lower prices, according to a unit of Hamas focused on stopping collaboration with Israel and price gouging. Hamas also has imposed more order on the streets, allowing aid trucks to move safely and halting looting of deliveries. Nahed Sheheiber, head of Gaza&rsquo;s private truckers&rsquo; union, said there was no stealing aid since the ceasefire started. &ldquo;Trucks drive safely,&rdquo; he said. Gaza doctors say bodies returned with signs of torture A senior health official in Gaza said some bodies of Palestinians returned by Israel bore &ldquo;evidence of torture&rdquo; and called for a United Nations-launched investigation. So far, only 32 of the bodies have been identified, according to Gaza&#39;s Health Ministry. The ministry&#39;s general director, Dr Muneer al-Boursh, said in a social media post late Monday that some had evidence of being bound with ropes and metal shackles, blindfolds, deep wounds, abrasions, burns and crushed limbs. It was not immediately clear if any of the bodies had been prisoners; they are being returned without identifications or details on how they died. The bodies could include Palestinian detainees who died in Israeli custody or bodies taken out of Gaza by Israeli troops during the war. The Israel Prisons Service denied that prisoners had been mistreated, saying it had followed legal procedures and provided medical care and &ldquo;adequate living conditions.&rdquo; Israeli hostages released from Gaza have also reported being bound by metal shackles and harsh conditions, including frequent beatings and starvation. The Israel war on Gaza has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza&rsquo;s Health Ministry. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll. Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross.

Vice President J.D. Vance arrives at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, October 21, 2025. (AP)

Americas

US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel to reinforce the Gaza ceasefire, meeting Prime Minister Netanyahu and regional officials amid renewed tensions, hostage recoveries, humanitarian challenges, and efforts to advance the second phase of the peace plan.

US vice president visits Israel to support fragile Gaza ceasefire

Web Desk

RAFAH: Israeli military jets struck the Rafah area in southern Gaza on Sunday in response to alleged militant attacks on Israeli forces, Reuters reported. The Israeli military said that militants fired anti-tank missiles and opened fire on troops, actions described as a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement. It vowed to respond firmly to these provocations. According to the military statement cited by Reuters, &ldquo;militants opening fire on Israeli troops is a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement.&rdquo; The strikes were carried out to neutralize the threat posed by those militants. Meanwhile, AFP reported that&nbsp;Hamas&#39; armed wing stated on Sunday that the group is fully committed to the ceasefire agreement with Israel and denies any knowledge of clashes in Rafah, where Israeli air strikes occurred.&nbsp; The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement, &quot;We reaffirm our full commitment to implementing all agreements, primarily the ceasefire throughout the Gaza Strip.&nbsp;We have no information about any incidents or clashes in Rafah, as these areas are controlled by the occupation, and our contact with remaining groups there has been lost since the war resumed in March this year.&quot;

The Israeli military said that militants fired anti-tank missiles and opened fire on troops, actions described as a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement.

Israel strikes Gaza after claiming attack on its forces

WEST PALM BEACH: The U.S. State Department said Saturday that it has &ldquo;credible reports&rdquo; that Hamas could violate the ceasefire with an attack on Palestinian civilians in Gaza. If the attack takes place, it &ldquo;would constitute a direct and grave violation&rdquo; of the agreement forged by President Donald Trump to end the two-year war between Israel and Hamas, the statement said. No further details were disclosed about the potential attack. &rdquo;Should Hamas proceed with this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire,&rdquo; the State Department said. Trump previously warned on social media that &ldquo;if Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them.&rdquo; The U.S. president later clarified he won&rsquo;t send U.S. troops into Gaza after launching the threat against Hamas. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not going to be us,&rdquo; he told reporters. &ldquo;We won&rsquo;t have to. There are people very close, very nearby that will go in and they&rsquo;ll do the trick very easily, but under our auspices.&rdquo; Trump&rsquo;s hostile rhetoric represented a shift after initially expressing nonchalance about Hamas killings, saying they had taken out &ldquo;a couple of gangs that were very bad.&rdquo;

The U.S. said it had credible reports Hamas might attack Palestinian civilians in Gaza, breaching the Trump-brokered ceasefire; Washington warned of measures to protect Gaza and preserve the truce, while Trump issued threats of force

Articles tagged with "Gaza Ceasefire"