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Egyptian official says group wants clear terms allowing displaced people to return to the north of GazaSee all our Middle East crisis coverageReporting for Al Jazeera from Rafah, Tareq Abu Azzoum has said that Israel appears to have “ramped up airstrikes and land bombardment”. He writes for the news network:Israeli artillery units have been relentlessly pounding the Nuseirat refugee camp – in the northern...

The US president made the comments in a call with Egypt and Qatar’s leaders as Hamas considers its response to the latest ceasefire proposalAl Jazeera is carrying a quote from Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan. It quotes him saying:It’s clear from the Israeli paper that they are still insisting on two major issue: they don’t want a complete ceasefire and they are not talking –...

Pictures released by US central command come after satellite photos showed US navy ship offshore with floating platform being built alongside itSee all of our Israel-Gaza coverageThe US military has released pictures it says show that a pier to help bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip is now under construction.The images show what appears to be a large metal construction with workers...

State department says five units mostly from IDF but including at least one police unit responsible for gross violations in West Bank The US has found five units of the Israeli security forces responsible for gross violations of human rights, over incidents in the West Bank before the current Gaza war, the state department has said.The findings come at a time when Israel is...

US secretary of state says Iran is biggest source of instability in region but adds many nations interested in ‘path of greater peace’Biden and Netanyahu speak amid pressure over Rafah and ceasefireAntony Blinken has told a meeting of regional leaders in Riyadh that the most effective way to alleviate humanitarian suffering in Gaza is to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.Speaking in Saudi...

US president and Israeli PM talk as Israel vows to invade southern Gaza city despite global concern for 1 million Palestinians sheltering thereJoe Biden “reiterated his clear” opposition to an invasion of Rafah in a conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, as pressure builds on Israel and Hamas to reach a deal that would free some Israeli hostages and bring a ceasefire to the...

US secretary of state to meet regional leaders after Hamas says it is studying Israel’s latest counterproposalA senior Qatari official has urged both Israel and Hamas to show “more commitment and more seriousness” in ceasefire negotiations in interviews with Israeli media.The interviews with the newspaper Haaretz and the Israeli public broadcaster Kan were published and aired on Saturday evening.If I look at the situation...

Tents, debris and personal items from the Nova festival, where 364 people died on 7 October, form shocking exhibit on Wall StreetWhile New York was preoccupied with student protests over the US’s ­support of Israel’s war in Gaza last week, another aspect of how the city with the largest Jewish population outside Israel is coming to terms with bloodshed in the Middle East was...

Israeli media reports planned visit, citing unnamed officials, in the wake of stalled talks mediated by Qatar, the US and EgyptSee all of our Israel-Gaza war coverageA premature Palestinian infant, rescued from her mother’s womb by an emergency caesarean section shortly after the woman was killed by an Israeli airstrike, has died, her uncle said Friday.Associated Press reports Rami al-Sheikh said Sabreen Jouda died...

About 1,000 US troops will support the military construction efforts, but Joe Biden has ordered them not to set foot on the Gaza shoreUS troops have begun construction of a maritime pier off the coast of Gaza that aims to speed the flow of humanitarian aid into the territory, the Pentagon has said, but the complex plan to bring more desperately needed food to...

UK and US leaders among those calling for release, as families renew pressure on Netanyahu to restart negotiationsThe leaders of 18 countries including the US and the UK have called on Hamas to free Israeli and dual-national hostages held in Gaza.“The fate of the hostages and the civilian population in Gaza, who are protected under international law, is of international concern,” they said. “We...

At least 34 arrested at University of Texas in Austin and 50 more detained at University of Southern California while House speaker jeered at Columbia UniversityDozens of protesters were arrested on Wednesday while participating in pro-Palestine demonstrations across US college campuses.At least 34 protesters, including a member of the media from a local news station, were arrested during protests at University of Texas in...

Israel says the graves were dug by people in Gaza a few months ago but the corpses had been examined by IDF soldiersHere are some of the scenes in Jerusalem, where people, including Israeli interior security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have been worshipping during the Passover holiday.Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah for Al Jazeera, states that two people have been killed there by drone strikes....

The $95bn package allots funds to Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine, which desperately needs munitions for its war with RussiaJoe Biden praised congressional leaders and lawmakers for what he called an effort “to answer history’s call at this critical inflection point” after the US Senate voted resoundingly in a bipartisan majority on Tuesday to approve $95bn in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.The Senate passed...

Government to resume cooperation with UN agency for Palestinians in Gaza after report finds Israel had yet to back up accusations on employees having terror tiesAn Israeli government minister has said he would rather vote for Donald Trump than Joe Biden in the forthcoming US presidential election.Speaking to Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, Amichai Chikli, who is the diaspora affairs minister and a member of...

State department says Hamas has changed their demands, but that the US will keep pushing for an agreementSee all our Israel-Gaza war coverageUN rights chief Volker Turk has said he was “horrified” by the destruction of the Nasser and al-Shifa medical facilities in Gaza and reports of mass graves discovered there.The emergency services said yesterday that 73 more bodies had been found at the...

Hundreds of members of teaching staff demonstrate in solidarity with arrested students as protest tents put back up on campusHundreds of faculty members at Columbia University in New York held a mass walkout on Monday to protest against the president’s decision to have police arrest students at a pro-Palestinian encampment protest last week.The solidarity protest came as students put protest tents back up on...

Exclusive: review finds government yet to substantiate claims UN relief agency staff have ties to Hamas or Islamic JihadIsrael still has no proof of Unrwa terrorist claims – but damage to aid agency is doneIsrael has yet to provide supporting evidence of its claims that employees of the UN relief agency Unrwa are members of terrorist organisations, an independent review led by the former...

Maj Gen Aharon Haliva is first senior figure to step down over role in deadliest assault in country’s historyMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe head of Israel’s military intelligence directorate has resigned over the failures surrounding Hamas’s unprecedented attack on 7 October, the military said, becoming the first senior figure to step down over his role in the deadliest assault in Israel’s history.Maj Gen...

Tory MPs urging government not to restore funding despite UN’s roadmap, published on Monday, to make agency more transparentA plan due to be published today to improve the accountability and transparency of Unrwa, the UN relief works agency for Palestinians, is not expected to lead to a snap British decision to restore funding to the agency.Britain joined 18 other nations in suspending funding for...

More than half of Gaza’s population has sought refuge in areaOvernight Israeli strikes on Rafah killed 18 people, including 14 children, health officials have said in an update (earlier we reported that 13 people, including 9 children, were killed in the overnight strikes).The first strike killed a man, his wife and their 3-year-old child, according to the nearby Kuwaiti hospital, which received the bodies....

‘The United States has not conducted air strikes in Iraq today,’ the US military’s Central Command said Paul Scruton, Lucy Swan, Iona Serrapica and Alex Olorenshaw have created a visual guide to Friday’s events in Iran via graphics, video and satellite images.You can take a look at it here: Continue reading...

Grim milestone comes as G7 leaders urge Netanyahu not to press ahead with Rafah invasionThe death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza climbed to more than 34,000 on Saturday, with the majority of victims women and children, including at least six killed by an overnight airstrike on a house in Rafah.The latest grim milestone comes as hope of a ceasefire has dimmed, and global...

Ukraine aid component threatens to throw the Republican party into disarray – and endangers the speakership of Mike JohnsonThe US House of Representatives will finally vote on Saturday on a series of foreign aid bills, bringing an end to a months-long standoff in Congress led mostly by Republicans who refuse to support funding Ukraine’s ongoing military defense against Russia’s invasion.House members will hold separate...