The issue of hostage bodies still in Gaza has become a sticking point in the ceasefire implementation, with Israel linking the reopening of the main gateway into the territory to the recovery of all of the deceased.

His comments lifted hope for a new ceasefire in the devastating conflict in the Palestinian territory, after US President Donald Trump said he hoped a truce could be sealed within days.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that Israel is supporting an armed group in Gaza that opposes the militant group Hamas, following comments by a former minister that Israel had transferred weapons to it.

The latest bloodshed came despite growing optimism that negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal might finally succeed, with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan saying on Thursday that the regional "context" had changed in favour of an agreement.

Cairo, a key mediator in efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, "reiterated to all parties that it will not accept any Israeli presence" along the strategic Philadelphi Corridor, state-linked Al-Qahera News said, citing a high-level source.

Cairo, a key mediator in efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, "reiterated to all parties that it will not accept any Israeli presence" along the strategic Philadelphi Corridor, state-linked Al-Qahera News said, citing a high-level source. A key sticking point in the ceasefire talks have...

Geneva, Switzerland - The United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) has identified 46,223 destroyed structures, 18,478 severely damaged structures, 55,954 moderately damaged structures, and 35,754 possibly damaged structures, totalling 156,409 structures in the Gaza Strip. The large-scale infrastructure damage is the result of continuous Israeli attacks on the Strip, which have...

Hundreds of thousands had already left Rafah ahead of and during a ground offensive launched by Israeli troops on the southernmost city since early May. The warning for Al-Qarara, Bani Suhaila and other towns in the two governorates, made on social media and in an official statement, came hours after...

On Monday, the UN Security Council adopted a US-drafted resolution supporting the plan, and on Thursday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said G7 leaders "call on Hamas in particular to give the necessary consent". Some Gazans have also called on Hamas to do more to secure an agreement

The US president urged Hamas to accept the Israeli offer. "It's time for this war to end, for the day after to begin," he said, in comments echoed by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron. Hamas in a statement on Friday evening said it "considers positively" Biden's speech regarding "a permanent...

"The exodus that we've seen in the past 20 days or so out of Rafah has been an awesome and horrific experience for many, many people," Matthew Hollingworth, the World Food Programme (WFP) director for the Palestinian territories. They have fled the fighting to areas where there was not enough...

In central Gaza, the Israeli army said it was "intensifying operations" and had carried out air strikes that "eliminated several terrorists" operating near Israeli troops.

Israel said on Wednesday its forces had taken over the 14-kilometre Philadelphi corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border

Rafah, Palestinian Territories -- Hundreds braved roads in Rafah in south Gaza Tuesday as they fled Israel's expanding ground assault, with increased shelling, tanks in the city center, and forces positioned on higher ground. "We are panicking and afraid," 40-year-old Ihab Zorob of west Rafah told AFP. "Our children and wives...

Israel launched its controversial assault on Rafah earlier this month, dismissing concerns for the safety of the 1.4 million Palestinian civilians then sheltering in the city

Al-Qahera News, which has links to Egyptian intelligence, quoted a defence official as saying an initial probe of the shooting incident indicated that Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters had exchanged fire, "which led to shooting in several directions".

Rocket sirens blared in Tel Aviv for the first time in months, with an AFP correspondent reported hearing at least three blasts. Israel's offensive has killed at least 35,984 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

The armed wing of Hamas said it had taken "prisoner" at least one Israeli soldier in an ambush on Saturday. The Palestinian group targeted Israeli forces in a tunnel in the Jabalia camp and "all their members were killed, wounded or taken prisoner," said Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Ezzedine...

The International Court of Justice also demanded the immediate release of all hostages still held by Palestinian militants, hours after the Israeli military announced troops had recovered the bodies of three more of the captives from north Gaza. The Hague-based court, whose orders are legally binding but lack direct enforcement...

"If fuel runs out, aid doesn't get to the people where they need it, that famine, which we have talked about for so long, and which is looming, will not be looming anymore. It will be present," Martin Griffiths said. "And I think our worry, as citizens of the international...

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said "additional forces will enter" the Rafah area and "this activity will intensify". "Hundreds of targets have already been struck and our forces are maneuvering in the area," Gallant said following a troop visit on Wednesday.

Israeli forces took control earlier in May of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, in a push launched in defiance of US warnings that around 1.4 million civilians sheltering there could be caught in the crossfire.

Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday said the movement will be involved in deciding post-war rule in Gaza along with other Palestinian factions. "We say that the Hamas movement is here to stay ... and it will be the movement and all national (Palestinian) factions who will decide the post-war rule in...

Fighting has flared in north Gaza four months after the army said Hamas's command structure there had been dismantled, and six months after Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas had "lost control" of the Palestinian territory.

"There is no clarity how to stop the war from the Israeli side. I don't think that they are considering this as an option... even when we are talking about the deal and leading to a potential ceasefire," Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told the Qatar Economic Forum.

Israel said its Kerem Shalom southern crossing with Gaza reopened on Wednesday, three days after being closed because of rocket fire claimed by Hamas's armed wing. However, UN agencies and aid groups said they have been unable to transport much-needed supplies through the crossing for security reasons.

The US has warned that the reputational damage Israel will suffer if it storms a city where an estimated 1.4 million civilians are sheltering will far outweigh any possible military gain. UN chief Antonio Guterres said Friday that Gaza risked an "epic humanitarian disaster" if Israel launched a full-scale ground...

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Biden warned he would stop some US weapons supplies to Israel if it carried out its long-threatened ground assault. Israel on Thursday called Biden's comments "very disappointing". Biden told CNN: "If they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been...

Rafah, Palestinian Territories - Displaced Gazan Marwan al-Masri, sheltering in Rafah, said on Wednesday "life has completely ceased" since Israeli tanks and troops entered the city's east, sending desperate Palestinians fleeing north in the besieged territory. More than 1.4 million people had crammed into Rafah, a city on the Gaza Strip's...

Despite international objections, Israel sent tanks into the overcrowded southern city of Rafah on Tuesday and seized the nearby crossing into Egypt that is the main conduit for aid into the besieged Palestinian territory.

Egypt's state-linked Al-Qahera News reported that mediators from Qatar, the United States and Egypt were meeting with a Hamas delegation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the proposal "is far from Israel's essential demands", but the government will send negotiators for talks.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said Israel's war cabinet was meeting Thursday "to discuss how to destroy the last battalions of Hamas". Several Israeli media outlets, citing unnamed officials, said the cabinet discussed a new plan for a truce and hostage release, ahead of a visit planned for Friday by...

US-Israeli relations been strained by Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's determination to send troops into the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where 1.5 million people are sheltering, many in makeshift encampments. Fears are rising that Israel will soon launch an assault on...

At just seven months pregnant, her mother, Sabreen al-Sakani, reached the emergency unit in critical condition after she was fatally wounded in the head and abdomen at the weekend. An Israeli air strike hit her family's house in Rafah

Ministers from Italy, the UK, US, France, Germany, Japan and Canada also slammed the "unacceptable number of civilians" killed in Gaza during Israel's military offensive.

Israel's armed forces chief Herzi Halevi called the attack a "grave mistake", which he blamed on night-time "misidentification", adding in a video message that "we are sorry for the unintentional harm to the members of WCK". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged the "tragic case" would be investigated "right to...

The British-born official, who spent a week in the besieged Palestinian territory last month, said even when aid got through the border, there were still major problems getting it to those who need it most, particularly women and girls.

The White House said in a statement that the two sides had a "constructive engagement on Rafah" during two hours of videoconference talks, attended by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sulliva. The US side expressed its concerns with various courses of action in Rafah.

Palestinian Territories - Israeli forces on Monday pulled out of Gaza's largest hospital complex after an intensive two-week military operation, leaving behind charred buildings and bodies strewn at the sprawling complex. Israel said it had battled Palestinian fighters hiding inside Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital, killed at least 200 enemy fighters...

RAFAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES – Meters away from the concrete and steel fence separating the Gaza Strip from Egypt, 11-year-old Malak Ayad flies a paper kite high in the sky -- a welcome distraction from the horrors of war. "Every day I play with my brothers and cousins with kites next to the Egyptian...

"Around 9,000 patients urgently need to be evacuated abroad for lifesaving health services, including treatment for cancer, injuries from bombardments, kidney dialysis and other chronic conditions," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X. It is is up from 8,000 in the WHO's previous assessment at the beginning of...

Israel's prime minister cancelled the visit after the US abstained on the UNSC vote, allowing it to pass. But Israel backtracked, after the White House said it was "perplexed" by the move. The U-turn came after Israeli defense minister had "constructive discussions" with senior US officials in Washington.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant that civilian casualties in Gaza are "too high". A separate Israeli delegation was supposed to visit Washington to discuss US concerns over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to launch an assault Rafah, where much of Gaza's population has sought...

All 14 other members voted in favor of the resolution which "demands an immediate ceasefire" for Ramadan. The resolution calls for the truce to lead to a "lasting, sustainable ceasefire" and demands that Hamas and other groups free hostages.

In a telephone call between the two leaders, Macron also "strongly condemned" Israel's announcement Friday of the seizure of 800 hectares of land in the occupied West Bank for new settlements. Activists say Israel's declaration that the land in the northern Jordan Valley was now "state land" was the single...

Antonio Guterres repeated his call for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" to alleviate "the plight of Palestinian children, women and men struggling to survive the nightmare in Gaza during a press conference in Cairo. On Saturday, the UN chief had visited the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES – The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Sunday that Israeli forces were besieging two hospitals in southern Gaza, days after the army began targeting Hamas in and around the territory's biggest medical center. Israel has mounted several raids at and near hospitals in Gaza since the war began...

Guterres urged an end to the "non-stop nightmare" endured by Gaza's 2.4 million people in a visit to the Egyptian border. He said "horror and starvation stalk the people of Gaza. Any further onslaught will make everything worse. Worse for Palestinian civilians, for the hostages, for all people of the...

Rafah, Egypt - UN chief Antonio Guterres, on a visit to the doorstep of Gaza, on Saturday said the world has seen enough of the war's horrors and appealed for a ceasefire to allow in more aid. "Palestinians in Gaza -- children, women, men -- remain stuck in a non-stop nightmare,"...