JERUSALEM: Israel plans to destroy what remains of Hamas&#39;s network of tunnels under Gaza, working with US approval after its hostages are freed, it said Sunday.&nbsp;Defence Minister Israel Katz said the operation would be conducted under an &quot;international mechanism&quot; led by the United States, sponsor of the three-day-old Gaza ceasefire.&nbsp;&quot;Israel&#39;s great challenge after the hostage release phase will be the destruction of all Hamas terrorist tunnels in Gaza,&quot; Katz said in a statement.&nbsp;&quot;I have ordered the army to prepare to carry out this mission.&quot;&nbsp;Katz said the remainder would be destroyed under the framework of Hamas&#39;s disarming and demilitarisation, foreseen in the next stages of the US-backed ceasefire plan.&nbsp;Hamas has agreed to the first stage of the plan, which led to a ceasefire on Friday and on Monday should see the release of 48 Israeli hostages, living and dead.&nbsp;In exchange, Israel is expected to release 250 &quot;national security prisoners&quot;, including several blamed for deadly attacks, and 1,700 Gazans detained by the military.&nbsp;But Hamas has resisted calls to disarm, and on Sunday senior official Hossam Badran told AFP the second phase of the US plan &quot;contains many complexities and difficulties&quot;.

Middle East

Israel plans to destroy what remains of Hamas's network of tunnels under Gaza, Hamas has agreed to the first stage of the plan, which led to a ceasefire on Friday.

Israel vows to destroy Gaza tunnels once hostages free

BEIRUT: Israel carried out intense airstrikes on southern Lebanon early Saturday, killing one person, wounding seven, and briefly cutting a highway that links Beirut with parts of south Lebanon, the Health Ministry said. The pre-dawn airstrikes on the village of Msayleh struck a place that sold heavy machinery, destroying a large number of vehicles. A vehicle carrying vegetables that happened to be passing by at the time of the strikes was hit, killing one person and wounding another, according to Hezbollah&rsquo;s Al-Manar TV. The Health Ministry later said that the one slain was a Syrian citizen, while the wounded were a Syrian national and six Lebanese, including two women. The Israeli military said it struck a place where machinery was stored to be used to rebuild infrastructure for the militant Hezbollah group. Since the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war ended in late November with a US-brokered ceasefire, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes killing dozens of people. Israel accuses Hezbollah of trying to rebuild its capabilities after the group suffered heavy losses during the war. Earlier this month, the UN human rights chief, Volker T&uuml;rk, called for renewed efforts to bring a permanent end to hostilities in Lebanon following the war. He said that until the end of September, they have verified 103 civilians killed in Lebanon since the ceasefire. The most recent Israel-Hezbollah war killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused an estimated $11 billion worth of destruction, according to the World Bank. In Israel, 127 people died, including 80 soldiers. The war started when Hezbollah began firing rockets across the border on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after a deadly Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza. Israel responded with shelling and airstrikes in Lebanon, and the two sides became locked in an escalating conflict that became a full-blown war in late September 2024.

A pre-dawn Israeli strike hit a machinery site in Msayleh early Saturday, damaging infrastructure and civilian vehicles. The strikes targeted equipment allegedly tied to Hezbollah, amid ongoing post-war tensions that persist despite last year’s ceasefire.


Israel strikes south Lebanon, killing 1 and wounding 7

CAIRO: A US delegation headed by presidential envoy Steve Witkoff will take part in talks on Wednesday focused on a Gaza truce and a possible hostage-prisoner exchange, Egypt&rsquo;s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said.&nbsp;Speaking at a joint press conference with his German counterpart, Abdelatty said Tuesday that he and Johann Wadephul &ldquo;held an extensive discussion with Steve Witkoff, who is due to arrive in Egypt within hours.&rdquo; <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The first day of talks focused on discussions around a proposed prisoner and captive exchange, a ceasefire, and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, a<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" id="isPasted">ccording to Egypt&rsquo;s state-linked Al-Qahera News<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">. The talks in Egypt&rsquo;s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh are brokered by the US and aim at hammering out details for the plan&rsquo;s first phase. That includes a ceasefire to allow for the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israel. Trump&#39;s plan has received wide international backing and raised hopes for an end to a devastating war that has upended global politics, left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead and the Gaza Strip in ruins. The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, following a Hamas-led attack on Israel. Many uncertainties remain around the latest plan, including the demand for Hamas to disarm and the future governance of Gaza. Tuesday marks two years since the war began. Here&rsquo;s what we know: Who&rsquo;s at the talksUS envoy Steve Witkoff is leading the US negotiating team, according to a senior Egyptian official Saturday. Local Egyptian media said that Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump&rsquo;s son-in-law, arrived in Egypt and are expected to join the talks. The Israelis are led by top negotiator Ron Dermer, while Khalil al-Hayyah leads the Hamas delegation. Netanyahu&rsquo;s office said that foreign policy adviser Ophir Falk would also be present for Israel among others. It&#39;s not clear how long the talks would last. Netanyahu said they would be &ldquo;confined to a few days maximum,&rdquo; and Trump has said that Hamas must move quickly, &quot;or else all bets will be off.&quot; Hamas officials have warned more time may be needed to locate bodies of hostages buried under rubble. The plan&rsquo;s essentialsAll hostilities would &mdash; in theory &mdash; immediately end. Under the deal, Hamas would release all hostages it holds, living or dead, within 72 hours. The militants still have 48 hostages. Israel believes about 20 of them are alive. Israel would free 250 Palestinians serving life sentences in its prisons and 1,700 people detained from Gaza since the war began, including all women and children. Israel also would hand over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for each body of a hostage handed over. Israeli troops would withdraw from Gaza after Hamas disarms, and an international security force would deploy. The territory would be placed under international governance, with Trump and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair overseeing it. An interim administration of Palestinian technocrats would run day-to-day affairs. Hamas would have no part in administering Gaza, and all its military infrastructure, including tunnels, would be dismantled. Members who pledge to live peacefully would be granted amnesty. Those who wish to leave Gaza can.&nbsp; Palestinians wouldn&#39;t be expelled from Gaza. Large amounts of humanitarian aid would be allowed and would be run by &ldquo;neutral international bodies,&rdquo; including the United Nations and the Red Crescent. What Hamas has saidA Hamas statement on Friday said that it was willing to release the hostages and hand over power to other Palestinians, but that other aspects of the plan require further consultations among Palestinians. The statement made no mention of Hamas disarming, which is a key Israeli demand. The statement also reiterated its longstanding openness to handing power over to a politically independent Palestinian body. What Israel has saidNetanyahu said on Friday that Israel was prepared for the implementation of the &ldquo;first stage&rdquo; of Trump&rsquo;s plan, apparently referring to the release of hostages. But his office said in a statement that Israel was committed to ending the war based on principles that it has set out before. Netanyahu has long said that Hamas must surrender and disarm. Israel&rsquo;s army on Saturday said that the country&rsquo;s leaders had instructed it to prepare for the first phase of the US plan. What remains uncertainQuestions include the timing of key steps. One Hamas official said that it would need days or weeks to locate some hostages&#39; bodies. And senior Hamas officials have suggested that there are still major disagreements requiring further negotiations. A key demand is for Hamas to disarm, but the group&#39;s response made no mention of that. It&rsquo;s not clear that Hamas officials can agree among themselves on the plan. A senior official, Mousa Abu Marzouk, said that Hamas was willing to hand over its weapons to a future Palestinian body that runs Gaza, but there was no mention of that in the group&#39;s official statement responding to Trump&#39;s plan. Another official, Osama Hamdan, told Al Araby television that Hamas would refuse foreign administration of the Gaza Strip and that the entry of foreign forces would be &ldquo;unacceptable.&rdquo; Parts of the plan remain unclear. Hamas wants Israel to leave Gaza completely, but the plan says Israel would maintain a &ldquo;security perimeter presence,&rdquo; which could mean it would keep a buffer zone inside the territory. And the future of Gaza remains in question. The plan says that if the Palestinian Authority, which administers the occupied West Bank, reforms sufficiently and Gaza redevelopment advances, &ldquo;the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.&rdquo; With additional input from AFP.

Israel and Hamas begin US-brokered talks in Egypt on Trump’s peace plan, aiming for a Gaza ceasefire, hostage-prisoner exchange, Hamas disarmament, Israeli withdrawal, and international governance to end the two-year war.

US envoy Witkoff to lead delegation joining Gaza talks Wednesday: Egypt FM

BRUSSELS: Pro-Palestinian protests are shaking major European cities, and calls are growing to ban Israel from sporting and cultural events. European navies have been deployed to protect activists trying to get aid into Gaza, and a wave of countries have done the once-unthinkable and recognized a Palestinian state. As outrage over the humanitarian catastrophe grows, more European leaders, sometimes driven by pressure from their populations, have openly condemned Israel&#39;s war conduct and sought to push Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu&rsquo;s government to agree to a ceasefire and allow in aid. &ldquo;There has been a ground-breaking shift in Europe where, somewhere over the last year, populations have been putting more pressure on their governments, which has helped break taboos at the top over criticism of Israel,&rdquo; said Sanam Vakil, director of the Chatham House think tank&rsquo;s Middle East and North Africa program. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, one of Israel&rsquo;s closest EU allies, said last week that she would support European Union sanctions against Israel. It was her toughest position yet, and followed a nationwide strike in Italy and pro-Palestinian protests from Palermo to Milan. Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Meloni said: &ldquo;Israel ended up violating humanitarian norms, causing a massacre among civilians.&rdquo; Since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters launched air and ground attacks on Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, Israel&rsquo;s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 66,000 people, according to Gaza&rsquo;s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the government and staffed by medical professionals, doesn&rsquo;t differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says women and children make up around half. The war has also destroyed vast areas of Gaza, killed 289 journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, displaced around 90% of Gaza&#39;s population, and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, including an outbreak of famine in Gaza City. Pro-Palestinian protests have grown, according to the Armed Conflict Location &amp; Event Data Project, or ACLED, which monitors worldwide conflicts. From December to April, there were 780 protests across Europe. That has grown to 2,066 in the last five months, an average of at least 15 a day, said researcher Ciro Murillo. The protests cut across parties and include members of Europe&rsquo;s large Muslim communities, an important voting bloc in countries like France and Germany. In the past six months, there were only 51 pro-Israel protests in Europe, about half of them in Germany. ACLED data showed a steep drop in public support for Israel starting a few months after the war began. Speaking at the UN two days after Meloni, Netanyahu seemed to acknowledge the turn. &ldquo;Sure, in the days immediately following Oct. 7, many ... supported Israel. But that support quickly evaporated when Israel did what any self-respecting nation would do in the wake of such a savage attack,&rdquo; he told world leaders. Israel&rsquo;s deep ties with EuropeWith a shared birth in the aftermath of World War II, Israel and the European Union are intricately interwoven. Almost all Jewish Israelis trace their heritage to either the broader Middle East or the Jewish communities of Europe laid waste to by pogroms in the Russian empire and the genocidal Third Reich of Germany. &ldquo;Israel is from Europe, and anyone who fails to admit it or understand it doesn&rsquo;t really understand this country,&rdquo; said Sharon Pardo, a professor at Ben-Gurion University and author of a book on European-Israeli relations, &ldquo;Uneasy Neighbors.&rdquo; Strategic practicality drove Israel towards Europe, even if many considered it &ldquo;a continent of murderers,&rdquo; Pardo said. Israel&rsquo;s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, began building long-standing economic, political and cultural ties with Europe. Today, the EU is Israel&rsquo;s top trading partner. &ldquo;These were the immediate markets for Israeli agriculture; this was the market for weapons for Israel,&rdquo; Pardo said. But the embrace by Netanyahu, Israel&rsquo;s longest-serving prime minister, of far-right European parties has antagonized the European political establishment. &ldquo;Netanyahu&rsquo;s Israel is an anti-European Union country, a Euro-sceptic country that does its utmost to harm the European integration project,&rdquo; Pardo said. Criticism of Israel rises as war in Gaza grinds onThe shocking violence of Oct. 7, 2023, ignited an outpouring of support from European leaders. Ursula von der Leyen, the EU&rsquo;s political chief, visited a still-smoldering kibbutz days later and met with Netanyahu. She pledged EU support for Israel. But nearly two years later, Israel&rsquo;s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, accused her of &ldquo;empowering a terrorist organization&rdquo; with her surprise call for the EU to increase pressure on Israel to halt the war. Von der Leyen said there&rsquo;s been &ldquo;a more systematic shift in the last months that is simply unacceptable&rdquo; in the conflict and that &ldquo;Europe needs to do more.&rdquo; She was likely influenced by growing protests and by EU staff critical of her policies, said Lisa Musiol, head of EU Affairs for the International Crisis Group. She pointed to open letters criticizing the EU&rsquo;s Gaza policy signed by more than 2,000 current EU staffers and 390 former European ambassadors and officials. Von der Leyen proposed increasing EU tariffs on some Israeli goods and sanctioning some Israeli settlers and two members of Netanyahu&rsquo;s Cabinet. She would also sanction 10 Hamas leaders. EU leaders were to discuss the proposals on Wednesday in Copenhagen. Major EU measures require unanimity &mdash; a likely impossibility in the 27-nation bloc &mdash; but some can be passed with a vote weighted by population. That would require Italy or Germany to join nations critical of Israel. All eyes on Merz and MeloniGermany&rsquo;s support for Israel is second only to the United States. But Germany&rsquo;s ruling coalition is split on Gaza, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz&rsquo;s centre-right Christian Democrats supporting Israel and the smaller Social Democrats more critical of the war. Merz has spoken to Netanyahu about his growing concerns and has curbed arms sales to Israel, but said he is not considering sanctions. Germany&#39;s historical responsibility for the Holocaust has shaped its postwar support for ensuring Israel&rsquo;s security and combating antisemitism. Still, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Berlin on Saturday, calling for the war&#39;s end. More likely to swing the vote would be Meloni, who has said she supports Italy joining recent moves to recognize a Palestinian state by European neighbors France, Andorra, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the United Kingdom and Portugal, as well as Commonwealth nations Canada and Australia. In contrast to Germany, Italy has a different historical relationship to Israel, said Elisabetta Brighi, a University of Westminster professor. Deeply influenced by the country&rsquo;s strong trade unions and the Vatican, Italy could switch and join European efforts to pressure Israel over Gaza. &ldquo;Italy has not translated the trauma of fascism the same way that Germany has,&quot; she said. Italy has joined Spain in sending navy ships to protect a flotilla of boats carrying activists seeking to break Israel&rsquo;s blockade of Gaza after the activists said they were attacked by drones near Greece. Calls have also grown to ban Israel from some sporting and cultural events, with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez saying after protesters disrupted the Spanish Vuelta cycling race last month that Israel should be excluded until the &ldquo;barbarity&rdquo; in Gaza ends. Some countries have also threatened to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest &mdash; hugely popular in Israel and Europe &mdash; if Israel is allowed to compete. Israeli military restricts movement, intensifies bombing in Gaza City Meanwhile, Reuters reported that the Israeli military issued new orders banning people from returning to northern Gaza while urging residents to leave for the south, as Gaza City came under heavy bombardment. Overnight strikes by Israeli planes and tanks targeted residential areas, killing at least 17 people, including seven in a strike on the old city and six sheltering in a school. Starting Wednesday, the military blocked the coastal road from south to north, allowing only southbound movement. This move pressurizes those still in Gaza City to flee and prevents displaced residents from returning, raising fears of permanent displacement.&nbsp; It also halts the flow of goods from the south to the north, likely worsening food shortages in Gaza City. Similar restrictions separating north and south were imposed earlier in the war but eased during a ceasefire in January.

Europe

Outrage over Gaza has sparked mass protests across Europe, pressuring governments to criticize Israel, consider sanctions, recognize Palestine, and threaten cultural boycotts, straining EU-Israel relations amid deepening humanitarian concerns.

As outrage over the war in Gaza grows, Europe's relationship with Israel falters

YEMEN: Israeli strikes on Sanaa killed at least nine people and wounded more than 170 on Thursday, Yemen&#39;s Houthis said, a day after they launched a drone attack on southern Israel. AFP correspondents heard explosions and saw plumes of smoke rising from three locations in the Sanaa area, in the latest retaliatory attack since the Houthis began targeting Israel in the wake of the Gaza war. Israeli forces hit several Houthi-linked targets in the rebel-held capital, Israeli officials said, warning of more attacks to come. Houthi media said the targets included a detention facility. The Israeli military later said &quot;a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted&quot;, with sirens blaring in central Israel. Rescuers in Yemen were still searching for victims of Israeli strikes, which left &quot;nine martyrs and 174 wounded,&quot; Houthi health ministry spokesman Anees Alasbahi said in an updated toll on X. The Houthis&#39; Al-Masirah television channel, citing a security source, said Israel &quot;targeted one of the (security and intelligence) service&#39;s correctional facilities, which houses a number of prisoners and detainees&quot;. Al-Masirah earlier said that a power station and two residential neighbourhoods had been targeted, sharing pictures that showed low-rise buildings with bombed-out windows. One picture showed twisted metal and pieces of concrete filling the street as people looked on, with another photo showing people on the roof of a badly damaged building. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the strikes &quot;dealt a powerful blow to numerous terror targets of the Houthi terror organization in Sanaa.&quot; They hit &quot;several military camps... eliminated dozens of Huthi terror operatives, and destroyed stockpiles of UAVs (drones) and weaponry,&quot; Katz said on X. The Israeli military said the targets included the Houthis&#39; general staff headquarters, as well as other security and intelligence sites, including some used to store weapons and &quot;plan and execute&quot; attacks on Israel. It added that the rebels&#39; &quot;military public relations headquarters&quot; was also targeted. The military statement warned Israel would &quot;conduct additional offensive operations against the Houthi regime in the near future.&quot; Failed interceptionThe Israeli strikes on Sanaa came moments before Al-Masirah began broadcasting rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi&#39;s weekly pre-recorded speech. The impact sites were cordoned off, an AFP correspondent said. The Houthi authorities have previously warned Yemenis against publishing footage of locations hit in strikes, describing it as &quot;a service to the enemy.&quot; On Wednesday, a drone attack claimed by the Houthis struck the southern Israeli tourist resort of Eilat after failed attempts by Israel&#39;s air defences to intercept it. Rescuers reported 22 wounded, including two in serious condition. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Katz warned of a severe response. The Iran-backed Huthi rebels began targeting Israel with missiles and drones, as well as attacking vessels they deem linked to the country, after the 2023 start of the Gaza war. The Houthis say they act in solidarity with Palestinians. Israel, in response, has carried out strikes in Yemen, mainly targeting infrastructure such as ports, power stations, and Sanaa&#39;s international airport. In August, Israel assassinated the head of the Houthi government, Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi, together with other senior officials. Israeli strikes killed 46 people earlier this month, according to Houthi authorities. The dead include journalists working for the September 26 and al-Yaman newspapers, who were killed in an attack on Sanaa that targeted the Houthis&#39; military media operation.

Israeli strikes on Sanaa killed at least nine people and wounded more than 170 on Thursday, Yemen's Houthis said, a day after the rebels launched a drone attack on southern Israel.


Articles tagged with "Isreal"

Israel vows to destroy Gaza tunnels once hostages free

Israel strikes south Lebanon, killing 1 and wounding 7

US envoy Witkoff to lead delegation joining Gaza talks Wednesday: Egypt FM

As outrage over the war in Gaza grows, Europe's relationship with Israel falters

Israeli strikes kill 9 in Yemen's rebel-held capital: Houthis

Israel vows to destroy Gaza tunnels once hostages free