West Bank’s Jenin camp going in ‘catastrophic direction’: UNRWA
The Israeli military launched a major offensive in the West Bank on January 21 aimed at rooting out Palestinian armed...
Geostrategy
Maori-led AI initiative can revolutionize language preservation, says Peter-Lucas Jones
Davos, Switzerland -- Peter-Lucas Jones, a Kaitaia native, who has been listed in the prestigious Time100 AI 2024 List, was...
World Economic Forum
Geostrategy
Israel destroys dozens of Bedouin homes in Negev desert
Israeli authorities destroyed around 50 homes belonging to Bedouins in the Negev desert on Wednesday, an AFP journalist reported, with...
- Israel considers the homes built in Wadi al-Khalil to be illegal
- Only 11,000 bedouins remained within Israel's borders after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
Biden threatens to stop arm shipments if Israel invades Rafah
Biden, a self-described Zionist, had long resisted stopping any of the $3 billion in weapons the United States sends each...
- In an interview with CNN Biden also deplored the fact that civilians had been killed by the dropping of US bombs on the Palestinian territory
- His fresh warning came after the US last week halted a shipment of huge American bombs to Israel as it appeared ready to proceed with a major attack on Rafah
Geostrategy
Empty streets and ‘fear’ in Gaza’s Rafah since Israeli incursion
Rafah, Palestinian Territories - Displaced Gazan Marwan al-Masri, sheltering in Rafah, said on Wednesday "life has completely ceased" since Israeli tanks...
- More than 1.4 million people had crammed into Rafah, a city on the Gaza Strip's southern border with Egypt, as Israeli forces pushed their way southward
- Caught between Israeli shelling from the east, an Egyptian border to the south and the Mediterranean to the west, many fleeing Rafah went north
Geostrategy
Israel seizes Rafah crossing as Gaza truce talks resume
Egypt's state-linked Al-Qahera News reported that mediators from Qatar, the United States and Egypt were meeting with a Hamas delegation.
- A senior Hamas official warned this would be Israel's "last chance" to free the estimated 128 captives still held in Gaza, including 36 officials who are dead
- Israel's offensive has killed at least 34,789 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry
Geostrategy
Hamas accepts Gaza truce proposal, Israel urges Rafah evacuation
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the proposal "is far from Israel's essential demands", but the government will send...
- The Hamas announcement brought cheering crowds onto the street amid tears of happiness, chants of "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest") and celebratory shooting in the air
- Israel's military meanwhile reiterated an earlier call for residents of east Rafah to evacuate as it prepares for a "ground operation" in the southern Gaza city
Hamas says delegation heading to Cairo for truce talks
The hawkish prime minister has insisted he will send ground troops into Rafah, despite strong concerns voiced by UN agencies...
- Foreign mediators have been waiting for a Hamas response to a proposal to halt the fighting for 40 days and exchange hostages for Palestinian captives
- A major stumbling block has been that, while Hamas has demanded a lasting ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue to fight
Geostrategy
EU pledges $1 bn for Lebanon, urges curbs against illegal migration
The EU Commission's spokesman said in Brussels the aid will be disbursed "in grants", with 736 million euros earmarked to...
- "I can announce a financial package of $1 billion for Lebanon that would be available from this year until 2027," the European Commission chief said
- She said the aid was designed to strengthen basic services such as education and health amid a severe economic crisis
Geostrategy
Blinken urges Hamas to agree truce to help Gazans
A Hamas official said the group would respond "within a very short period" to a plan proposed by mediators to...
- "Hamas needs to say yes and needs to get this done," said Blinken, who was in Israel on his seventh Middle East crisis tour since the war broke out in October
- He later added: "If Hamas actually purports to care about the Palestinian people and wants to see an immediate alleviation of their suffering, it should take this deal."
Geostrategy
Blinken says US ‘determined’ to get Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal ‘now’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken renewed calls for Hamas to accept a ceasefire deal Wednesday as he started talks...
- Netanyahu: Israel will launch an invasion of Rafah "with or without" a ceasefire deal.
- Aid is coming to Gaza but more is needed
Geostrategy
Blinken presses for Gaza aid on Jordan visit
Blinken, on his latest tour of the region since the Gaza war erupted in October, observed Jordan's efforts to bring...
- Blinken observed Jordan's efforts to bring in food and supplies and praised the "extraordinary work" led by the United Nations
- Blinken met separately with King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi both on aid and on diplomacy for a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas
West Bank’s Jenin camp going in ‘catastrophic direction’: UNRWA
The Israeli military launched a major offensive in the West Bank on January 21 aimed at rooting out Palestinian armed...
Geostrategy
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Lebanon MPs demand UN protection of heritage sites from Israel attacks
The Lebanese MPs called on Azoulay to "urgently prioritize the protection of these historic sites by mobilizing UNESCO’s authority.
Geostrategy
Trump wins White House in stunning comeback
The polarizing Republican's win, following one of the most hostile campaigns in modern US history, was all the more remarkable...
Geostrategy
Republicans seize control of US Senate: networks
Republicans wrested the US Senate from Democratic control, ending four years in the minority, in its quest to dominate every...
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Israel escalates strikes in Lebanon, Gaza as Netanyahu visits Northern Border, and Hezbollah claims missile attack
Israel intensifies airstrikes across Lebanon and Gaza, escalating cross-border violence as Netanyahu urges troops to push Hezbollah back and prevent...
- Netanyahu's visit came after an air strike killed at least three people near the southern Lebanon city of Sidon,, and as more bombs hit the country's east
- Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday said a potential ceasefire with its allies Hamas and Hezbollah "could affect the intensity and type of our response."
Geostrategy
Lebanon accuses Israel of truce rejection after deadly Beirut strikes and growing Gaza crisis
A US-brokered plan reportedly under consideration would see Hezbollah pull back 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, north of...
- The strikes on Lebanon came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met US officials to discuss a possible deal to end the war against Hezbollah
- In Gaza, where Israel has been engaged in a major offensive in the north for nearly a month, a Hamas official said the Palestinian group had rejected short-term truce
Geostrategy
Israel, US envoys discuss possible ceasefire amid rising casualties in Lebanon conflict
With US mediation, a ceasefire proposal emerges for both Gaza and Lebanon, balancing Israel's security demands and Lebanon’s need for...
- Netanyahu told Washington envoys Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk that any Lebanon deal must guarantee Israel's longer term security
- More than a month into its war with Israel, Hezbollah says it is ready for a truce, but there are limits to what it can accept after suffering devastating attacks