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Tag: Ceasefire

  • Israeli strikes kill 29 Palestinians, including children, one of highest tolls since ceasefire

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    Hospitals in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed at least 29 Palestinians Saturday, one of the highest tolls since the October ceasefire aimed at stopping the war.Israeli strikes hit locations throughout Gaza, including lethal ones on an apartment building in Gaza City and a tent camp in Khan Younis, officials at hospitals that received the bodies said. The casualties included two women and six children from two different families. An airstrike also hit a police station in Gaza City, killing at least 14 and wounding others, Shifa Hospital director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said.Related video above: The last family in a West Bank Bedouin community is forced out after years of Israeli settler intimidationThe series of strikes came a day before the Rafah crossing along the border with Egypt is set to open in Gaza’s southernmost city. All of the territory’s border crossings have been closed throughout almost the entire war. Palestinians see Rafah as a lifeline for the tens of thousands who need treatment outside the territory, where the majority of medical infrastructure has been destroyed.The crossing’s opening, limited at first, marks the first major step in the second phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Reopening borders is among the challenging issues on the agenda for the phase now underway, which also include demilitarizing the strip after nearly two decades of Hamas rule and installing a new government to oversee reconstruction. Still, Saturday’s strikes are a reminder that the death toll in Gaza is still rising even as the ceasefire agreement inches forward. Nasser Hospital said the strike on the tent camp caused a fire to break out, killing seven, including a father, his three children and three grandchildren. Meanwhile, Shifa Hospital said the Gaza City apartment building strike killed three children, their aunt and grandmother on Saturday morning, while the strike on the police station killed at least 14 — officers, including four policewomen, and inmates held at the station. The Gazan Interior Ministry said Palestinian civilians were also killed in the strike.Hamas called Saturday’s strikes “a renewed flagrant violation” and urged the United States and other mediating countries to push Israel to stop strikes.Israel’s military, which has struck targets on both sides of the ceasefire’s dividing line, said its attacks since October have been responses to violations of the agreement. It said in a statement that Saturday’s strikes followed what it described as ceasefire violations a day earlier, when the army killed at least four militants emerging from a tunnel in an Israeli-controlled area of Rafah.Gaza’s Health Ministry has recorded 509 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the start of the ceasefire on Oct. 10. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.___Magdy reported from Cairo and Metz from Jerusalem.

    DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip —

    Hospitals in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed at least 29 Palestinians Saturday, one of the highest tolls since the October ceasefire aimed at stopping the war.

    Israeli strikes hit locations throughout Gaza, including lethal ones on an apartment building in Gaza City and a tent camp in Khan Younis, officials at hospitals that received the bodies said. The casualties included two women and six children from two different families. An airstrike also hit a police station in Gaza City, killing at least 14 and wounding others, Shifa Hospital director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said.

    Related video above: The last family in a West Bank Bedouin community is forced out after years of Israeli settler intimidation

    The series of strikes came a day before the Rafah crossing along the border with Egypt is set to open in Gaza’s southernmost city. All of the territory’s border crossings have been closed throughout almost the entire war. Palestinians see Rafah as a lifeline for the tens of thousands who need treatment outside the territory, where the majority of medical infrastructure has been destroyed.

    Anadolu

    Smoke rises after an airstrike hit a building in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, Gaza, despite the ceasefire on January 31, 2026. The Israeli army has carried out intense attacks on various areas of the Gaza Strip since the morning.

    The crossing’s opening, limited at first, marks the first major step in the second phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Reopening borders is among the challenging issues on the agenda for the phase now underway, which also include demilitarizing the strip after nearly two decades of Hamas rule and installing a new government to oversee reconstruction.

    Still, Saturday’s strikes are a reminder that the death toll in Gaza is still rising even as the ceasefire agreement inches forward.

    Nasser Hospital said the strike on the tent camp caused a fire to break out, killing seven, including a father, his three children and three grandchildren. Meanwhile, Shifa Hospital said the Gaza City apartment building strike killed three children, their aunt and grandmother on Saturday morning, while the strike on the police station killed at least 14 — officers, including four policewomen, and inmates held at the station. The Gazan Interior Ministry said Palestinian civilians were also killed in the strike.

    Hamas called Saturday’s strikes “a renewed flagrant violation” and urged the United States and other mediating countries to push Israel to stop strikes.

    Israel’s military, which has struck targets on both sides of the ceasefire’s dividing line, said its attacks since October have been responses to violations of the agreement. It said in a statement that Saturday’s strikes followed what it described as ceasefire violations a day earlier, when the army killed at least four militants emerging from a tunnel in an Israeli-controlled area of Rafah.

    Gaza’s Health Ministry has recorded 509 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the start of the ceasefire on Oct. 10. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.

    ___

    Magdy reported from Cairo and Metz from Jerusalem.

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  • Israeli troops kill Palestinians for crossing a vague ceasefire line

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    A dividing line, at times invisible, can mean life or death for Palestinians in Gaza.Those sheltering near the territory’s “yellow line” that the Israeli military withdrew to as part of the October ceasefire say they live in fear as Israeli soldiers direct near-daily fire at anyone who crosses or even lingers near it.Video above: Palestinians struggle for food amid floodingOf the 447 Palestinians killed between the ceasefire taking effect and Tuesday, at least 77 were killed by Israeli gunfire near the line, including 62 who crossed it, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Among them were teenagers and young children, The Associated Press found.And although the military has placed some yellow barrels and concrete barriers delineating the limits of the Palestinian zone, the line is still unmarked in certain places and in others was laid nearly half a kilometer (0.3 miles) deeper than what was agreed to in the ceasefire deal, expanding the part of Gaza that Israel controls, according to Palestinians and mapping experts.“We stay away from the barrels. No one dares to get close” said Gaza City resident Ahmed Abu Jahal, noting that the markers are less than 100 meters (110 yards) from his house — instead of the roughly 500 meters (546 yards) outlined in a map put out by the Israeli military.As of Tuesday, the military had acknowledged killing 57 people around the yellow line, saying most were militants. It said its troops are complying with the rules of engagement in order to counter militant groups, and are informing Palestinians of the line’s location and marking it on the ground to “reduce friction and prevent misunderstandings.”Easy to get lostUnder the ceasefire, Israel withdrew its troops to a buffer zone that is up to 7 kilometers (4 miles) deep and includes most of Gaza’s arable land, its elevated points and all of its border crossings. That hems more than 2 million Palestinians into a strip along the coastline and central Gaza.People of all ages, some already dead, have been showing up almost daily at the emergency room of Gaza City’s Al-Ahli hospital with bullet wounds from straying near the line, said hospital director Fadel Naeem.Amid the vast destruction in Gaza, the demarcation line often isn’t easy to detect, Naeem said. He recounted picking his way through undamaged paths during a recent visit to the southern city of Khan Younis. He didn’t notice he was almost across the line until locals shouted at him to turn back, he said.The Israeli military said most of the people it has killed crossing the line posed a threat to its troops. According to a military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with military rules, troops issue audible warnings and then fire warning shots whenever someone crosses the line. Many civilians retreat when warning shots are fired, though some have been killed, the official acknowledged.Killed while playing near the lineZaher Shamia, 17, lived with his grandfather in a tent 300 meters (330 yards) from the line in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya refugee camp. On Dec. 10, he was playing with his cousin and some friends near the line, according to video he took before his death.Suddenly, shots rang out and the video stopped. Soldiers approaching the line with an armored bulldozer had fired on the teens, hitting Zaher, said a witness.A neighbor eventually found Zaher’s body, which had been crushed by the bulldozer, said Zaher’s grandfather, Kamal al-Beih: “We only recognized him from his head.”Two doctors, Mohamed Abu Selmiya and Rami Mhanna, confirmed that the teen had been killed by gunshots and then run over by a bulldozer. The military official said he was aware that Shamia was a civilian and that the military was looking into it.Maram Atta said that on Dec. 7, her 3-year-old daughter, Ahed al-Bayouk, was playing with siblings outside of their tent, which was near the yellow line along Gaza’s southern coast. Atta was preparing lentils when she heard aircraft overhead, then shots.A stray projectile whizzed close to her and struck Ahed, who was dead before they reached the clinic.“I lost my daughter to what they keep calling a ‘ceasefire’” said Atta, crying. “What ceasefire are they talking about?”A military official denied the killing.Deadly ambiguityThe line’s exact location is ambiguous, differing on maps put out by the Israeli military and the White House.Neither matches the line troops appear to be marking on the ground, according to Palestinians and geolocation specialists.Video below: Palestinians react to UN plan for Gaza futureChris Osiek, an open source intelligence analyst and consultant, has geolocated a number of yellow blocks based on social media videos. He found at least four urban areas where troops set the blocks several hundred meters deeper into Gaza than the military map-specified yellow line.“This is basically what you get when you simply let Trump make an image and post it on Truth Social and let the IDF make their own,” he said, using the acronym for the military. “If it’s not a proper system, with coordinates that make it easy for people to navigate where it is, then you leave the ambiguity free for the IDF to interpret the yellow line how they basically want.”The military official dismissed such criticism, saying any deviations from the map amount to just a few meters. But to Palestinians hemmed in by widespread destruction and displacement, every few meters lost is another house that can’t be sheltered in — another they doubt will ever be returned.‘The line is getting very close’Under the ceasefire, Israeli forces are only supposed to remain at the yellow line until a fuller withdrawal, though the agreement doesn’t give a timeline for that. With the next steps in the deal lagging and troops digging into positions on the Israeli side, though, Palestinians wonder if they are witnessing a permanent land takeover.In December, Israel’s defense minister described the yellow line as “a new border line — serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity.”The military has continued leveling buildings inside the Israeli-held zone, turning already damaged neighborhoods to moonscapes. Almost all of the city of Rafah, on Gaza’s border with Egypt, has been razed over the past year. The army says this is necessary to destroy tunnels and prepare the area for reconstruction.In some places, demolitions since the ceasefire have encroached beyond the official yellow line. Since November, troops have leveled a swath of Gaza City’s Tuffah neighborhood extending some 300 meters (330 yards) outside the Israeli-held zone, according to Oct. 14 and Dec. 18 satellite photos provided by Planet Labs.Video below: Israeli settlers forcibly enter Palestinian home, kill sheep in latest West Bank attackAbu Jahal moved back to his damaged house in Tuffah at the ceasefire’s start. He said he frequently saw new yellow barrels appear and the military forcing out anyone living on its side of the markers.On Jan. 7, Israeli fire hit a house near him, and the residents had to evacuate, he said. Abu Jahal said his family — including his wife, their child, and seven other relatives — may also have to leave soon.“The line is getting very close,” he said.

    CAIRO, Cairo Governorate —

    A dividing line, at times invisible, can mean life or death for Palestinians in Gaza.

    Those sheltering near the territory’s “yellow line” that the Israeli military withdrew to as part of the October ceasefire say they live in fear as Israeli soldiers direct near-daily fire at anyone who crosses or even lingers near it.

    Video above: Palestinians struggle for food amid flooding

    Of the 447 Palestinians killed between the ceasefire taking effect and Tuesday, at least 77 were killed by Israeli gunfire near the line, including 62 who crossed it, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Among them were teenagers and young children, The Associated Press found.

    And although the military has placed some yellow barrels and concrete barriers delineating the limits of the Palestinian zone, the line is still unmarked in certain places and in others was laid nearly half a kilometer (0.3 miles) deeper than what was agreed to in the ceasefire deal, expanding the part of Gaza that Israel controls, according to Palestinians and mapping experts.

    “We stay away from the barrels. No one dares to get close” said Gaza City resident Ahmed Abu Jahal, noting that the markers are less than 100 meters (110 yards) from his house — instead of the roughly 500 meters (546 yards) outlined in a map put out by the Israeli military.

    As of Tuesday, the military had acknowledged killing 57 people around the yellow line, saying most were militants. It said its troops are complying with the rules of engagement in order to counter militant groups, and are informing Palestinians of the line’s location and marking it on the ground to “reduce friction and prevent misunderstandings.”

    Easy to get lost

    Under the ceasefire, Israel withdrew its troops to a buffer zone that is up to 7 kilometers (4 miles) deep and includes most of Gaza’s arable land, its elevated points and all of its border crossings. That hems more than 2 million Palestinians into a strip along the coastline and central Gaza.

    People of all ages, some already dead, have been showing up almost daily at the emergency room of Gaza City’s Al-Ahli hospital with bullet wounds from straying near the line, said hospital director Fadel Naeem.

    Amid the vast destruction in Gaza, the demarcation line often isn’t easy to detect, Naeem said. He recounted picking his way through undamaged paths during a recent visit to the southern city of Khan Younis. He didn’t notice he was almost across the line until locals shouted at him to turn back, he said.

    The Israeli military said most of the people it has killed crossing the line posed a threat to its troops. According to a military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with military rules, troops issue audible warnings and then fire warning shots whenever someone crosses the line. Many civilians retreat when warning shots are fired, though some have been killed, the official acknowledged.

    Killed while playing near the line

    Zaher Shamia, 17, lived with his grandfather in a tent 300 meters (330 yards) from the line in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya refugee camp. On Dec. 10, he was playing with his cousin and some friends near the line, according to video he took before his death.

    Suddenly, shots rang out and the video stopped. Soldiers approaching the line with an armored bulldozer had fired on the teens, hitting Zaher, said a witness.

    Jehad Alshrafi

    FILE – The body of 11-year-old Palestinian girl Hamsa Hosou, killed by Israeli fire in Jabalia, is brought to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026.

    A neighbor eventually found Zaher’s body, which had been crushed by the bulldozer, said Zaher’s grandfather, Kamal al-Beih: “We only recognized him from his head.”

    Two doctors, Mohamed Abu Selmiya and Rami Mhanna, confirmed that the teen had been killed by gunshots and then run over by a bulldozer. The military official said he was aware that Shamia was a civilian and that the military was looking into it.

    Maram Atta said that on Dec. 7, her 3-year-old daughter, Ahed al-Bayouk, was playing with siblings outside of their tent, which was near the yellow line along Gaza’s southern coast. Atta was preparing lentils when she heard aircraft overhead, then shots.

    A stray projectile whizzed close to her and struck Ahed, who was dead before they reached the clinic.

    “I lost my daughter to what they keep calling a ‘ceasefire’” said Atta, crying. “What ceasefire are they talking about?”

    A military official denied the killing.

    Deadly ambiguity

    The line’s exact location is ambiguous, differing on maps put out by the Israeli military and the White House.

    Neither matches the line troops appear to be marking on the ground, according to Palestinians and geolocation specialists.

    Video below: Palestinians react to UN plan for Gaza future

    Chris Osiek, an open source intelligence analyst and consultant, has geolocated a number of yellow blocks based on social media videos. He found at least four urban areas where troops set the blocks several hundred meters deeper into Gaza than the military map-specified yellow line.

    “This is basically what you get when you simply let Trump make an image and post it on Truth Social and let the IDF make their own,” he said, using the acronym for the military. “If it’s not a proper system, with coordinates that make it easy for people to navigate where it is, then you leave the ambiguity free for the IDF to interpret the yellow line how they basically want.”

    The military official dismissed such criticism, saying any deviations from the map amount to just a few meters. But to Palestinians hemmed in by widespread destruction and displacement, every few meters lost is another house that can’t be sheltered in — another they doubt will ever be returned.

    ‘The line is getting very close’

    Under the ceasefire, Israeli forces are only supposed to remain at the yellow line until a fuller withdrawal, though the agreement doesn’t give a timeline for that. With the next steps in the deal lagging and troops digging into positions on the Israeli side, though, Palestinians wonder if they are witnessing a permanent land takeover.

    In December, Israel’s defense minister described the yellow line as “a new border line — serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity.”

    The military has continued leveling buildings inside the Israeli-held zone, turning already damaged neighborhoods to moonscapes. Almost all of the city of Rafah, on Gaza’s border with Egypt, has been razed over the past year. The army says this is necessary to destroy tunnels and prepare the area for reconstruction.

    In some places, demolitions since the ceasefire have encroached beyond the official yellow line. Since November, troops have leveled a swath of Gaza City’s Tuffah neighborhood extending some 300 meters (330 yards) outside the Israeli-held zone, according to Oct. 14 and Dec. 18 satellite photos provided by Planet Labs.

    Video below: Israeli settlers forcibly enter Palestinian home, kill sheep in latest West Bank attack

    Abu Jahal moved back to his damaged house in Tuffah at the ceasefire’s start. He said he frequently saw new yellow barrels appear and the military forcing out anyone living on its side of the markers.

    On Jan. 7, Israeli fire hit a house near him, and the residents had to evacuate, he said. Abu Jahal said his family — including his wife, their child, and seven other relatives — may also have to leave soon.

    “The line is getting very close,” he said.

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  • Gaza After the Ceasefire

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    The Gaza Strip is more or less divided between the half controlled by Hamas and the half that is controlled by the Israelis. How has this changed what life is like for Gazans?

    In terms of the half of the Strip that is controlled by Israel, they’re not allowing anybody in, and anybody who comes close to what they call the yellow line may get shot or killed. So all Gazans are living inside the Hamas-controlled side, and that’s not enabling us to access our farmland, for example, or garbage-dump sites. There are also cities on the other side, even though they have been largely demolished. Factories and industrial areas are also on that side. There were several wastewater-treatment plants, too. It’s an essential part of Gaza, which is so small. It’s really causing a difficult situation.

    Is one of your concerns that this is going to become a long-term border, and that the Gaza Strip and the people who live in it are going to be permanently stuck in the part of Gaza that they’re in now?

    No. I think that we have a ceasefire agreement. We have a Trump plan, and we are sure, or hopeful, that the Trump plan will work and President Trump will be able to, if not convince, then force the Israelis to stick to the plan and withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

    This is your hope, you’re saying?

    It’s hope, and really we believe that it will most likely happen.

    Is there a reason that you’re more hopeful about this than I am?

    [Laughs.] Because I want to believe it. It’s our only hope. The situation cannot really continue like this.

    How would you describe the attitude toward Hamas in the Gaza Strip now?

    In what sense? They are controlling everything in Gaza. They are trying to help the situation in Gaza. They are providing security for us, which is most important. You cannot leave things in a vacuum. If you leave New York in a vacuum, without security, without police, what will happen? Same thing in Gaza. So we’re very comfortable with their keeping the security in Gaza. For instance, before the signing of the ceasefire agreement, there was lots of looting of humanitarian aid, and these looters were backed up. They were militias backed up by Israel and protected by Israel. The main one was the Abu Shabab group. They used to loot trucks, and then take refuge in Israeli-controlled areas. That has stopped. It stopped because the de-facto government is preventing them from doing it.

    I know that a lot of prominent businesspeople, including you, decided to write a letter to Trump urging an end to the war, right before the ceasefire came into effect. Some of the people who signed that letter were very critical of Hamas in other venues. Was there a division about how much to be critical in the letter?

    Anybody in Gaza can be critical of Hamas. It’s O.K. We have freedom to talk about Hamas or anybody else. [Palestinians in Gaza, including journalists, have been physically assaulted for criticizing or reporting negatively on Hamas. Since the ceasefire went into effect, Hamas has also carried out executions of people whom it claims were political rivals or collaborators with Israel.] I mean, it’s a personal opinion, so there’s no problem with that. Is that your question? Maybe I did not understand your question.

    Well, I know you’ve said that you think the Palestinian Authority will be better able to bring about a long-term solution and a two-state solution, which you advocate.

    Well, it’s our only hope, actually. We want to be united with the West Bank, and the Palestinian Authority is the best scenario for this. We hope we will have elections. I mean, Palestinians deserve to decide, and to have elections—they deserve to select their representatives and to have an exchange of authority.

    Right, because the last elections in Gaza were a couple of decades ago, correct?

    Exactly. Yes.

    Can you talk a little bit about what your job is?

    I’m the chairman of the Gaza Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture. We are trying here to help our members get their papers for reactivating bank accounts, or to start businesses both outside and within Gaza. We’re trying to help them organize local markets, and coördinate or actually do some networking for them with humanitarian actors. And we do trainings. But there isn’t much we can do, because of Israeli restrictions. They are even preventing some fuel for the private sector. They are preventing the entry of agricultural seeds like tomato, cucumber, whatever, with the intention to keep all people dependent on humanitarian aid and not to be productive. So my job is really difficult, because there isn’t much I can do, but we’re trying to promote, for example, electronic payments, because all the banknotes in Gaza, the cash, is getting worn out and Israel won’t allow us to replace these banknotes.

    So we do lots of advocacy work. We collect information about local markets, about some economic indicators. We produce reports in that regard. We make the international community and humanitarian actors aware of the situation, so they can be informed when making plans. We are also doing some really small projects, trying to help people in the food-production sector start or improve their businesses, but we are making very limited interventions because of the lack of finance and production-input materials.

    A lot of people in your position or somewhat similar positions managed to leave Gaza during the war. You did not. Can you talk about why you stayed?

    Yes. When the war started, I was new in my position: I was elected at the beginning of 2023, and nine months later the war broke out. I felt that I was obliged to stay with the people who elected me in Gaza. I really like Gaza so much, and I don’t think I can stay out of Gaza for long. And what am I going to do outside? Being a Palestinian, it is very difficult to be somewhere outside. And I know many people are in Egypt now, but they are in difficult situations economically. I didn’t think that it would go on this long, of course. But I’m very happy that I did not leave because being outside Gaza for such a long time is not an easy thing.

    I know that the humanitarian situation is still not great. I know that people are still dying. I’m just curious what it feels like in the Strip, and if people have become more hopeful or not in the last couple of months since the ceasefire.

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    Isaac Chotiner

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  • Israel-backed Gaza militias tout themselves as part of any post-conflict solution

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    AMMAN, Jordan — When Israel and Hamas signed a ceasefire earlier this year, it brought into question the fate of militias Israel cultivated during the devastating two-year war as an alternative ruling force in Gaza. Many expected that Hamas — still the dominant force in the Strip — would hunt them down.

    Instead, Israel has shifted the militias to the half of Gaza from which it has yet to withdraw, east of the so-called Yellow Line, the military boundary which divides Gaza in two. In the Israeli-controlled half, five factions, still supported by Israel with arms and aid, have established what are essentially tiny fiefdoms, even as they continue to wage a harassment campaign across the Yellow Line to stop Hamas from reasserting its rule.

    For its part, Israel wants to use the factions as local proxies to secure parts of the enclave under its control, ensure they’re free of any hostile groups, then set up humanitarian distribution points to keep residents there.

    “The objective,” according to a June report on Israeli-supported militias in Gaza from the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, “is to sever Hamas’s access to both the local population and to the incoming humanitarian aid.”

    But the militias, which first arose as criminal gangs exploiting the security vacuum during the war and include members with questionable links to Islamic State, have larger plans: They tout themselves as an integral part of any post-conflict plan.

    “After two years of destruction by Hamas, we are the nucleus of a new Gaza, one which will provide a dignified life for Gazan citizens,” said Hussam Al-Astal, the head of one faction called Strike Force Against Terror and which controls a mostly depopulated village southwest of the southern Gazan city of Khan Yunis. He said Israel is working with five different factions operating across the Israeli-controlled parts of the enclave.

    He added that he has hundreds of militiamen under his command, contradicting observers who put the total number of fighters across the five groups at around 200.

    “Israel is now looking for a peace partner in Gaza,” Al-Astal said. “That’s what we will be.”

    The largest of the factions working with Israel is the so-called Popular Forces, which was led until recently by Yasser Abu Shabab, a 32-year-old clansman who was imprisoned twice by Hamas before the war on charges of drug trafficking; and known to have ties to Islamic State in neighboring Sinai. He escaped from a Hamas prison during the war.

    Abu Shabab, who was regularly accused by humanitarian groups of looting aid trucks, was assassinated this month by disgruntled members of his militia, according to a statement from Abu Shabab’s clan.

    He was soon replaced by his deputy, Ghassan Al-Duhini, 39, a no less controversial figure who once served as a security officer with the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, then left it to join Jaysh al-Islam, a Gaza-based armed faction that pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2015.

    Al-Duhini reportedly coordinated smuggling with militant groups in Sinai. He too was arrested twice by Hamas before the war and escaped when it began.

    Since the ceasefire, Israel has been working through the Popular Forces as its proxy in Rafah, the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip which was all but destroyed during the war, razed by Israeli forces.

    The city now lies mostly empty. But the U.S.-led Civilian-Military Coordination Center (the body supposed to monitor the ceasefire, coordinate aid deliveries and start reconstruction in the enclave) is considering Rafah as a pilot for a Hamas-free, so-called “alternative safe community” of some 10,000 to 15,000 people, according to a U.N. official and an aid worker who refused to be named to be able to speak freely.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Mar-a-Lago on Monday, where he met with President Trump and a raft of U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with whom Netanyahu said on X he had “a great meeting.”

    Netanyahu was discussing the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for an interim authority to govern the Gaza, along with an International Stabilization Force that would deploy in Israel’s stead. Both points are problematic for Israel, which has been reluctant to continue on to the second phase without seeing Hamas disarm.

    Plans call for Gaza to be governed by a Trump-led Board of Peace, which would also oversee rebuilding the Strip for its 2.1 million people.

    During a news conference ahead of his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump pointed to the Israeli leader and said he was “looking forward” to the start of reconstruction.

    “We’ve already started certain things, we’re doing things for sanitary and others,” Trump said. “But Gaza is a tough place, it’s truly a tough neighborhood.”

    Reconstruction is likely to start in Rafah, said the unnamed aid worker, which would mean “the U.S. will be cooperating with an ISIS-aligned security force,” using an abbreviation for Islamic State.

    Of Al-Duhini, the aid worker said, “There are so many other, better partners in Gaza than this guy.”

    In a recent propaganda video released by the Popular Forces group, Al-Duhini is shown addressing a group of gunmen, telling them they are working as part of the Trump-led Board of Peace and the International Stabilization Force, which are meant to monitor the ceasefire.

    “We will sweep through Rafah one grain of a sand at a time,” he says, to remove “terrorism” and allow civilians to return to the area. “We want to establish a safe community.”

    What that has meant in practice, according to analysts and people living in areas under the Popular Forces’ control, is a heavy security hand, with militiamen regularly confiscating and inspecting people’s phones, preventing them from communicating with anyone in Hamas-controlled areas, and searching homes.

    “They’re treating them like prisoners,” said Muhammad Shehada, a Gaza expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He added that Israel had given the factions capture-or-kill lists for various Hamas members in Gaza and was supervising interrogations.

    Meanwhile, the militias have also conducted hit-and-run operations against Hamas operatives, killing a number of them when the opportunity arises; the Popular Forces said in June they had killed 50 Hamas members.

    On Monday, Hamas confirmed the death of a number of its top commanders in strikes by Israel during the last year.

    The leaders killed included Muhammad Sinwar, head of its military wing the Qassam Brigade, the head of manufacturing and chief of staff. Also killed was Abu Ubaida, the masked spokesman last seen in a September speech; the group identified him as Huthaifa Al-Kahlout. Israel previously disclosed his identity in 2023.

    The groups have also acted on Israel’s behalf: Last week, a faction called the Popular Defense Army, based near Gaza City, shot at homes in a neighborhood east of the city, forcing residents to leave. Observers said this was aimed at allowing Israel to shift the Yellow Line westward. (The Yellow Line’s location was specified during the ceasefire, but Israel has continued to shift it westward.)

    According to Al-Astal, of the group Strike Force Against Terror, the five militias plan to unite their efforts soon with the establishment of a military council, which he says could act as a transitional government for the moment Hamas falls. He said international recognition would help.

    There are indications of support beyond Israel. Popular Forces’ fighters have appeared with vehicles with markings from the United Arab Emirates, and some of the factions claim they are affiliated peripherally with the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority denied any links.

    “We’re hoping to have better things coming, and that our presence will expand,” Al-Astal said. He added that once this happens, he expects people in Hamas-held areas to shift to eastward to the militias’ control.

    “I’m telling you, if the way before them was open, there wouldn’t be a single person left in those parts of Gaza under Hamas except for just a few Hamas fighters,” he said.

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    Nabih Bulos

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  • Thailand and Cambodia reach ceasefire deal to end weeks of fighting

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    Thailand and Cambodia agreed to an “immediate” ceasefire on Saturday, the two countries said in a joint statement issued by the Cambodian side, pledging to end weeks of deadly border clashes.

    The neighbors’ long-standing border conflict reignited this month, shattering an earlier truce and killing at least 47 people, according to official counts. Around one million people have also been displaced.

    “Both sides agree to an immediate ceasefire after the time of signature of this Joint Statement with effect from 12:00 hours noon (local time) on 27 December 2025, involving all types of weapons, including attacks on civilians, civilian objects and infrastructures, and military objectives of either side, in all cases and all areas,” said the statement signed by the two countries’ defense ministers.

    Both sides agreed to freeze all troop movements and allow civilians living in border areas to return home as soon as possible, the statement said.

    They also agree to cooperate on demining efforts and combatting cybercrime.

    The ceasefire will end battling over a smattering of ancient temples in disputed zones along the two countries’ shared frontier.

    The Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting convenes on Dec. 22, 2025, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to resume ceasefire talks after deadly border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia. 

    Thai MFA via AP


    It comes after three days of border talks announced following a crisis meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which both Cambodia and Thailand are members.

    The United States, China and Malaysia also pushed for the warring neighbors to resume their ceasefire.

    The three countries brokered a truce to end five days of deadly clashes in July, but the ceasefire was short-lived.

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  • Palestinian death toll has surpassed 70,000 since the Israel-Hamas war began, Gaza ministry says

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    The Palestinian death toll has surpassed 70,000 since the Israel-Hamas war began, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Saturday, while a hospital said that Israeli fire killed two Palestinian children in the territory’s south.The toll has continued to rise after the latest ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10. Israel still carries out strikes in response to what it has called violations of the truce, and bodies from earlier in the war are being recovered from the rubble.The Health Ministry says the Palestinian toll is now 70,100. The ministry operates under the Hamas-run government. It is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.The war began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and militants taking more than 250 hostages. Almost all of the hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals.Staff at Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies of the children in southern Gaza, said the brothers, ages 8 and 11, died when an Israeli drone struck close to a school sheltering displaced people in the town of Beni Suhaila.Israel’s military said it killed two people who crossed into an Israeli-controlled area, “conducted suspicious activities” and approached troops. The statement didn’t mention children. The military said it also killed another person in a separate but similar incident in the south.At least 352 Palestinians have been killed across the territory since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on Oct. 10, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.Israel says its strikes are aimed at militants violating the truce. Both Israel and Hamas have accused the other of violating the deal. Hamas again urged mediators on Saturday to pressure Israel to stop what it called ceasefire violations in Gaza.A U.S. blueprint outlining the future of Gaza, which has been devastated by more than two years of war, is still in the early stages. The plan to secure and govern the territory authorizes an international stabilization force to provide security, approves a transitional authority to be overseen by U.S. President Donald Trump and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.Israeli forces have pushed forward on a number of other fronts in the region in recent weeks.Syrian officials said that Israeli forces raided a Syrian village on Friday and opened fire when they were confronted by residents, killing at least 13 people. Israel said it conducted the operation to apprehend suspects of a militant group planning attacks in Israel, and that the militants opened fire at troops, wounding six.Israel also has escalated strikes in Lebanon, saying it’s targeting Hezbollah sites and asserting that the militant group is attempting to rearm.Hezbollah called on Pope Leo XIV to “reject injustice and aggression,” in reference to the near-daily Israeli strikes, despite a ceasefire that ended the 14-month war between the two sides a year ago. The pope is visiting the region on his first foreign trip.In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers were accused by Palestinians of executing two men on Thursday after footage aired by two Arab television stations showed troops shooting the men after they appeared to surrender. The Israeli military said that it was investigating.Israeli settler violence has continued to rise in the West Bank. On Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said that 10 Palestinians were injured by beatings and live ammunition during settler attacks in Khallet al-Louza village close to Bethlehem.

    DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip —

    The Palestinian death toll has surpassed 70,000 since the Israel-Hamas war began, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Saturday, while a hospital said that Israeli fire killed two Palestinian children in the territory’s south.

    The toll has continued to rise after the latest ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10. Israel still carries out strikes in response to what it has called violations of the truce, and bodies from earlier in the war are being recovered from the rubble.

    The Health Ministry says the Palestinian toll is now 70,100. The ministry operates under the Hamas-run government. It is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

    The war began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and militants taking more than 250 hostages. Almost all of the hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals.

    Staff at Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies of the children in southern Gaza, said the brothers, ages 8 and 11, died when an Israeli drone struck close to a school sheltering displaced people in the town of Beni Suhaila.

    Israel’s military said it killed two people who crossed into an Israeli-controlled area, “conducted suspicious activities” and approached troops. The statement didn’t mention children. The military said it also killed another person in a separate but similar incident in the south.

    At least 352 Palestinians have been killed across the territory since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on Oct. 10, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.

    Israel says its strikes are aimed at militants violating the truce. Both Israel and Hamas have accused the other of violating the deal. Hamas again urged mediators on Saturday to pressure Israel to stop what it called ceasefire violations in Gaza.

    A U.S. blueprint outlining the future of Gaza, which has been devastated by more than two years of war, is still in the early stages. The plan to secure and govern the territory authorizes an international stabilization force to provide security, approves a transitional authority to be overseen by U.S. President Donald Trump and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.

    Israeli forces have pushed forward on a number of other fronts in the region in recent weeks.

    Syrian officials said that Israeli forces raided a Syrian village on Friday and opened fire when they were confronted by residents, killing at least 13 people. Israel said it conducted the operation to apprehend suspects of a militant group planning attacks in Israel, and that the militants opened fire at troops, wounding six.

    Israel also has escalated strikes in Lebanon, saying it’s targeting Hezbollah sites and asserting that the militant group is attempting to rearm.

    Hezbollah called on Pope Leo XIV to “reject injustice and aggression,” in reference to the near-daily Israeli strikes, despite a ceasefire that ended the 14-month war between the two sides a year ago. The pope is visiting the region on his first foreign trip.

    In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers were accused by Palestinians of executing two men on Thursday after footage aired by two Arab television stations showed troops shooting the men after they appeared to surrender. The Israeli military said that it was investigating.

    Israeli settler violence has continued to rise in the West Bank. On Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said that 10 Palestinians were injured by beatings and live ammunition during settler attacks in Khallet al-Louza village close to Bethlehem.

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  • Israel identifies the latest remains returned from Gaza as hostage Dror Or

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    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel had identified the latest remains returned from Gaza as hostage Dror Or.That leaves the bodies of two hostages in Gaza as the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement nears a conclusion.Palestinian militants released Or’s remains Tuesday.Israel has agreed to release 15 Palestinian bodies for each hostage returned.Dror Or was killed by Islamic Jihad militants who overran his home in Kibbutz Beeri on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel’s military said. His wife, Yonat Or, was also killed in the attack.That day, Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people across southern Israel and abducted 251 to Gaza. Kibbutz Beeri was one of the hardest-hit farming communities in that attack that started the war in Gaza.Two of Or’s children, Alma and Noam, were abducted by the militants on Oct. 7 and released in a hostage deal in November 2023.Almost all of the hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals. The remains of two — one Israeli and one Thai national— are still in Gaza.Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 69,700 Palestinians have been killed and 170,800 injured in Israel’s retaliatory offensive. The toll has increased during the ceasefire, both from new Israeli strikes and from the recovery and identification of bodies of people killed earlier in the war.The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures, but has said women and children make up a majority of those killed. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel had identified the latest remains returned from Gaza as hostage Dror Or.

    That leaves the bodies of two hostages in Gaza as the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement nears a conclusion.

    Palestinian militants released Or’s remains Tuesday.

    Israel has agreed to release 15 Palestinian bodies for each hostage returned.

    Dror Or was killed by Islamic Jihad militants who overran his home in Kibbutz Beeri on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel’s military said. His wife, Yonat Or, was also killed in the attack.

    That day, Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people across southern Israel and abducted 251 to Gaza. Kibbutz Beeri was one of the hardest-hit farming communities in that attack that started the war in Gaza.

    Two of Or’s children, Alma and Noam, were abducted by the militants on Oct. 7 and released in a hostage deal in November 2023.

    Almost all of the hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals. The remains of two — one Israeli and one Thai national— are still in Gaza.

    Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 69,700 Palestinians have been killed and 170,800 injured in Israel’s retaliatory offensive. The toll has increased during the ceasefire, both from new Israeli strikes and from the recovery and identification of bodies of people killed earlier in the war.

    The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures, but has said women and children make up a majority of those killed. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts.

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  • Opinion | Can Trump Deliver Putin?

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    The hysterics will get hysterical all over again when it turns out peace isn’t nigh.

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    Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.

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  • IDF ‘increasing attacks’: UN says 127 civilians killed by Israel in Lebanon since ceasefire

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    The UN human rights office said that at least 127 civilians had been killed in Lebanon in strikes by the Israeli military since the ceasefire’s implementation.

    Following a series of Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the UN and Lebanese Health Ministry on Tuesday reported casualty estimates for those wounded and killed in the country since the implementation of the ceasefire between Israel and the terror group nearly a year ago.

    The UN human rights office said that at least 127 civilians had been killed in Lebanon in strikes by the Israeli military since the ceasefire’s implementation, and called for an investigation into the matter and for the truce to be respected.

    “Almost a year since the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel was agreed, we continue to witness increasing attacks by the Israeli military, resulting in the killing of civilians and destruction of civilian objects in Lebanon, coupled with alarming threats of a wider, intensified offensive,” Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, said at a Geneva press briefing.

    He said the number included deaths the UN had verified using its own strict methodology, but that the actual level could be higher.

    Women Hezbollah members mourning during the funeral procession on November 24, 2025 in Beirut, Lebanon. Hezbollah confirmed that its top military commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai was killed yesterday in an Israeli air strike on Lebanon’s capital, Beirut. (credit: Adri Salido/Getty Images)

    Lebanese Health Ministry reports 331 ‘martyrs’ since ceasefire start

    Earlier on Tuesday, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported that 331 “martyrs” had been killed since the start of the ceasefire and that another 945 had been wounded.

    The ministry did not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

    The reports come two days after Israel killed Hezbollah military commander Ali Tabatabai in a strike in Beirut. Four additional Hezbollah terrorists were killed along with him.

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  • Russia keeping

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    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that the suggested legal recognition of Russian sovereignty over captured territory in the east of his country remained a “main problem” in negotiations as President Trump pushes for a deal to end Moscow’s nearly-four-year war on Ukraine.

    Ukrainian and American officials met over the weekend in Switzerland to discuss a 28-point proposal floated last week by the White House. They discussed the possibility of Zelenskyy visiting the U.S. this week as part of Mr. Trump’s bid to get an agreement by Thanksgiving, CBS News’ Margaret Brennan reported, citing multiple U.S. and Ukrainian officials familiar with the discussions. 

    Mr. Trump has described the Thanksgiving deadline as flexible, and he told reporters Saturday that the plan presented last week was “not my final” proposal. 

    President Zelenskyy addressed the Swedish Parliament on Monday morning.

    www.president.gov.ua


    Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in Geneva for the weekend talks, said “very, very meaningful” progress was made with the Ukrainian and European delegations, but that “there’s still some work left to do and that’s what our teams are going to be doing right now.”

    Addressing Sweden’s parliament on Monday, Zelenskyy made it clear one of the key points of contention over the U.S. proposal was a call for Ukraine and the global community to formally recognize some portion of the ground Russian forces have occupied by force as no longer Ukrainian.

    “Putin wants legal recognition to what he has stolen, to break the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Zelenskyy said. “That’s the main problem. You all understand what that means.”

    Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said there were still “major issues which remain to be resolved” regarding the U.S. peace proposal, though he also welcomed progress made during the high-stakes talks in Geneva.

    Rubio struck a more optimistic tone in describing the weekend talks, saying Sunday that the session in Geneval was “probably the most productive day we have had on this issue” since President Trump came back into office for his second term in January.  

    screenshot-2025-11-24-at-12-13-17.png

    Ukrainian officials say four people died and 13 were injured in an overnight drone attack on Kharkiv. The attacks come as U.S.-Ukraine peace talks continue.

    Ukrainian State Emergency Service


    Rubio stressed that there was more work to do and said he didn’t want to “declare victory or finality.” 

    The top U.S. diplomat was pressed by reporters but would not offer any insight into which issues were the main sticking points in the peace talks. He called the proposal a “living, breathing document” and said he believed the issues that remained unsettled were “not insurmountable.”

    The White House said in a statement Sunday night that U.S. and Ukrainian officials “drafted an updated and refined peace framework” following their discussions, but Russia’s government said Monday that the revisions had not been shared, and that it would reserve judgement.

    Putin said Friday that the U.S. proposal could serve as the basis of a negotiated resolution to what his government has refused to acknowledge as a war, but he warned that if Ukraine turned down the plan, Russian forces would remain on the attack, seizing yet more ground.

    “We are, of course, closely monitoring the media reports that have been pouring in from Geneva over the past few days,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday, “but we have not yet received anything official.” 

    “We read a statement that, following the discussions in Geneva, some amendments had been made to the text which we had seen earlier. We will wait. It seems that the dialogue is continuing,” he said, adding that there were no plans for a meeting this week between Russian and U.S. officials on the topic, but that Moscow remained open to dialogue.

    The 28-point plan, which U.S. officials said last week had Mr. Trump’s backing, sparked alarm among America’s European allies for being perceived as too favorable to Russia.

    Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S., Olga Stefanishyna, told CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday that her country had not agreed to all of the terms in the draft plan, which was leaked to media outlets last week.

    “This plan is not about justice and the truth of this war and the aggression,” Stefanishyna said. “It’s about, you know, ending the war and stopping the military engagement.”

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  • Trump approves 28-point Ukraine-Russia peace plan, but so far, no indication Ukraine is on board

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    A senior White House official confirmed to CBS News on Thursday that President Trump has approved a 28-point plan to end the war Russia launched nearly four years ago with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    There was no indication, however, that Ukraine has backed the proposal, which is believed to call for the current battle lines to be frozen where they are — with Russia’s occupying forces in control of a massive portion of eastern Ukraine. Mr. Trump’s endorsement of the plan was first reported by NBC.

    In an interview with Axios on Monday, Kirill Dmitriev, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said he and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff had written a 28-point peace plan during a face-to-face visit last month in Miami. 

    Just days after the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Russian oil and gas in October, Dmitriev traveled to the U.S. to hold previously scheduled talks with Witkoff in an effort to continue to make progress on a proposal to end the war, as a senior U.S. official described it at the time. 

    The White House official who spoke with CBS News’ Nancy Cordes on Thursday said Witkoff had been working on the proposal quietly for about a month, consulting with both the Russians and Ukrainians to take their feedback into account.

    The plan calls for Ukraine to abandon territory, give up some weapons and shrink its army, and while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that the war must end, he reiterated that from Kyiv’s perspective, “there can be no reward for waging war.”

    Speaking with Cordes on Wednesday, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said he didn’t have any announcements to share about a peace plan, but he added that it was an issue “the president has continued to put at the forefront of our foreign policy goal.”

    Ukrainian rescue personnel operate at the site of a heavily damaged residential building following Russian strikes on the city of Ternopil, in western Ukraine, Nov. 19, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

    YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP/Getty


    Amid the U.S. diplomatic efforts — which include a visit to Kyiv this week by a delegation led by the U.S. Army secretary — Russian missiles have continued to pummel Ukraine.

    Rescuers were still searching on Thursday for victims of a devastating Russian strike on an apartment building in the western city of Ternopil that killed at least 26 people, including three children, according to Ukrainian authorities.

    Shrieking Russian missiles slammed into the building on Wednesday, burning at least 19 people to death in the apartments.

    The strike came just as the Army secretary Dan Driscoll arrived in the Ukrainian capital, one day after the U.S. greenlit a $100 million package to upgrade Ukraine’s Patriot missile-interceptor systems.

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  • Opinion | Trump Changed the Stakes in the Middle East

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    In the 77 years since the formation of the Jewish state, and for the 2,000 years since the destruction of the Second Temple, the West has understood peace in the Middle East—peace between Arabs and Jews—as impossible.

    Semantically, the “Peace Process” was the continuing enjoyment of a process which could be ended only by peace. What, then, have the West, the world and the United Nations been doing in regard to the Mideast since 1948?

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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    David Mamet

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  • Israel says Gaza ceasefire back on after dozens of Palestinians killed in airstrikes

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    The Israeli military said it had “begun the renewed enforcement of the ceasefire” in Gaza after carrying out airstrikes that it said hit “dozens of terror targets and terrorists” in the Palestinian territory. The flare-up of violence on Tuesday sparked fears that the U.S.-brokered peace deal between Israel and Hamas could crumble. 

    At least 104 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s strikes, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

    The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday that it would “continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement and will respond firmly to any violation of it.”

    An Israeli military source said Tuesday that IDF forces had been operating in Rafah, southern Gaza, to dismantle tunnels when enemy fire was directed at a structure and an engineering vehicle, killing Master Sergeant (Res.) Yona Efraim Feldbaum.

    Shortly after, anti-tank missiles were fired at a separate armored vehicle and troops in the area, the Israeli military source said.

    Hamas denied any involvement in the shooting.

    Relatives of Palestinians, including children, said to have been killed in Israeli strikes on central Gaza, mourn as they carry the bodies from the al-Shifa Hospital for burial in Gaza City, Oct. 29, 2025.

    Saeed M. M. T. Jaras/Anadolu/Getty


    Later Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered Israel’s military to conduct “powerful strikes” in Gaza in response to ceasefire violations by Hamas. 

    In response, Hamas said it would delay the return of the remains of another hostage that had been expected to take place on Tuesday.

    President Trump, who is on a trip to Asia, said Israel was justified in carrying out the strikes against Hamas, telling reporters on Wednesday: “As I understand it, they [Hamas] took out an Israeli soldier, so the Israelis hit back and they should hit back. When that happens, they should hit back.”

    “Nothing is going to jeopardize” the ceasefire, Mr. Trump added. “You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave.”

    On Wednesday, Hamas accused the Israeli military of committing “a large-scale massacre” overnight, “despite the agreement to halt the war.”

    Israel’s strikes “reflect a clear lack of respect by the occupation government toward the mediators and guarantor states, which have failed to stop the occupation from continuing its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip,” Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said in a statement.

    Mohammed Hasan Abu Daqa, a Palestinian in Khan Younis, told CBS News’ team in Gaza that he believed Israel had breached the truce.

    “We call on the Arab nations, on world leaders, on the International community to stand with the people of Gaza,” Abu Daqa said. “The people of Gaza are searching for food. They are searching for water. They are searching for freedom. They are asking for the crossings to be opened and for a decent life like everyone else.”

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  • Vance says if Hamas doesn’t cooperate in ceasefire, it will be “obliterated”

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    Vice President JD Vance and U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are in Israel to bolster the Gaza ceasefire. During an address on Tuesday, Vance doubled down on President Trump’s threats against Hamas if they do not cooperate. CBS News’ Imtiaz Tyab has more details.

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  • Opinion | A Mamdani Mayoralty Threatens New York’s Jews

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    By propagating lies about ‘occupation,’ ‘apartheid’ and ‘genocide,’ he helps promote antisemitism.

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    Elisha Wiesel

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  • As Vance arrives to bolster the Gaza ceasefire, how committed are Hamas and Netanyahu to peace?

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    Vice President JD Vance, as well as President Trump’s negotiating team — his son-in-law Jared Kushner and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff — were all in Israel on Tuesday, trying to shore up the fragile ceasefire in Gaza. Before he left for Israel, Vance said bumps in the road to peace were expected.

    “There are gonna be fits and starts,” Vance told reporters. “Hamas is gonna fire on Israel, Israel’s gonna have to respond, of course.”

    Hamas has denied responsibility for an alleged RPG attack that killed two Israeli soldiers over the weekend. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that it was a Hamas attack, and that the Israeli military responded to the alleged ceasefire violation by dropping almost 169 tons of bombs in Gaza.

    “One of our hands holds a weapon, the other hand is stretched out for peace,” Netanyahu told lawmakers on Monday. “You make peace with the strong, not the weak. Today Israel is stronger than ever before.”

    The Israeli strikes killed at least 45 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-ruled territory.

    President Trump warned Hamas on Monday against breaching the deal that took months to negotiate.

    “They’re gonna behave, they’re gonna be nice,” he said. “And if they’re not, we’re gonna go and eradicate them if we have to.”

    Kushner and Witkoff met Monday with Netanyahu, and the Israeli leader’s office said Vance would also meet him this week. The vice president and second lady Usha Vance were greeted upon their arrival Tuesday by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and Israel’s Minister of Justice Yariv Levin.

    U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrives at Ben Gurion airport, Oct. 21, 2025, in Tel Aviv, Israel.

    Nathan Howard/Pool/Getty


    Vance was scheduled to have a working lunch with Witkoff and Kushner on Tuesday before his meeting with Netanyahu.

    The peace process has taken incremental steps forward despite the weekend violence, with Israel returning the remains of 15 Palestinians to Gaza on Tuesday following the handover by Hamas on Monday evening of the body of another deceased hostage. As part of the peace deal, a total of 165 Palestinians’ bodies have now been returned to Gaza, many of them former detainees, while all 20 living Israeli hostages have been released by Hamas, along with the remains of 13 deceased captives.

    But despite those steps, the long-term viability of Mr. Trump’s peace plan, which he’s said will end nearly eight decades of fighting between Israel and the Palestinians, remains less certain.

    Ex-Israeli official casts doubt on prospects for Trump’s peace plan

    Some Israelis remain skeptical that the Israeli prime minister is genuinely interested in a lasting peace. Among them is fierce Netanyahu critic Alon Pinkas, who served as an advisor to four Israeli foreign ministers.

    He told CBS News that Netanyahu signed the peace deal brokered by Mr. Trump, but never really backed its core purpose, or Mr. Trump’s stated goal of securing an enduring peace in the heart of the Middle East.

    “This was an agreement he was bullied into,” Pinkas said. “This is an agreement he signed under duress, and now he is developing a new scheme to manipulate Trump.”

    Pinkas credited Mr. Trump for doing “something that his predecessors were disinclined or hesitant to do, and that is exert real pressure” on Israel’s leader.

    “It worked, but it only worked for the first phase,” Pinkas said, referring to the living Israeli hostages being released and the ceasefire coming into effect.

    He said after the weekend’s violence that the deal had been “ostensibly restored, but when Netanyahu says, ‘I’m restoring the ceasefire,’ it’s only because there’s a visit here of the vice president, JD Vance, and because the U.S. sent its envoy.”

    Pinkas said he was certain Israeli forces would resume operations in Gaza within days, noting they remained deployed in about half of the Palestinian territory.

    Israeli soldiers stand next to tanks near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel

    Israeli soldiers stand next to vehicles near the Israel-Gaza border, in southern Israel, Oct. 19, 2025.

    Amir Cohen/REUTERS


    “The hostages are no longer in danger because they were freed, and Hamas was not decisively destroyed, as Mr. Netanyahu promised and boasted and bragged for two years, so I see a serious incentive for Mr. Netanyahu to resume” an offensive against Hamas, Pinkas told CBS News. “Maybe not on a huge scale, given the agreement, but I do see … a local skirmish that becomes a wider flare-up, that then deteriorates or escalates into a full Israeli military operation.”

    Hamas’ top negotiator said Tuesday that the group remained committed to the ceasefire agreement. But President Trump’s peace plan calls for the demilitarization of Gaza, and many analysts, including Pinkas, have doubts that Hamas will willingly hand over all its weapons.

    “That’s probably the biggest flaw in the agreement,” said Pinkas. “The agreement in and of itself is a good agreement, but in order for an agreement like that to work, it requires good faith, good will, and trust. None of these ingredients exist. In fact, both sides have a vested interest in not progressing beyond the ceasefire.”

    “Hamas wants to lure Israel inside [Gaza] into a de-facto occupation, and mount an insurgency and show to the Palestinians that they are the real resistance. And Netanyahu wants to go in because he knows that if everything stops now and there is progress into the next phases, that almost inevitably means that he will be deemed as the guy who failed to defeat Hamas.”

    Pinkas said that while the past two years of war have left Hamas defeated militarily and degraded, “Hamas is not done. Hamas are there, and you see those pictures every day. You show them on CBS — Hamas gangs walking around in battle fatigues, armed. That’s not going to cut it politically for Mr. Netanyahu.”

    Red Cross receives bodies of hostages from Hamas as part of Gaza ceasefire swap

    An armed Hamas militant stands guard as a Red Cross vehicle arrives to receive the bodies of deceased Israeli hostages, in Gaza City, Oct. 14, 2025.

    Dawoud Abu Alkas/REUTERS


    Speaking in a recent interview with CBS News’ Tony Dokoupil, Netanyahu said his government had agreed “to give peace a chance,” but he noted that the conditions of Mr. Trump’s 20-point peace plan “are very clear — it’s not only that we get the hostages out without getting our military out, but that we would subsequently have both demilitarization and disarmament. They’re not the same thing. First Hamas has to give up its arms. And second, you want to make sure that there are no weapons factories inside Gaza. There’s no smuggling of weapons into Gaza.”

    “We also agreed: Okay, let’s get the first part done. Now let’s give a chance to do the second part peacefully, which is my hope,” the Israeli leader told CBS News.

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  • As Israel-Hamas clashes test Trump’s Gaza peace deal, Vance, Witkoff and Kushner all head to region

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    The fragile peace deal President Trump spearheaded between Israel and Hamas in Gaza appeared on Monday to have survived serious threats over the weekend. The top U.S. officials who helped negotiate the ceasefire and hostage release agreement — senior envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — were back in Israel on Monday to help ensure it does not unravel.

    Israel struck multiple targets inside Gaza after a deadly attack on Israeli soldiers. Hamas has rejected Israel’s claim that it was involved in that attack.

    On Monday, the skies over Gaza were quiet again in the wake of the gravest threat since the ceasefire there came into effect on Oct. 10. Hamas and Israel accused each other of violating the terms of Mr. Trump’s peace plan over the weekend, but both sides recommitted to the process on Monday.

    For a couple tense days, however, war was back in Gaza. Local health officials in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory said 45 people were killed in Israeli strikes. The Israel Defense Forces said, meanwhile, that two soldiers were killed when Hamas operatives opened fire with an RPG.

    Israeli soldiers stand next to vehicles near the Israel-Gaza border, in southern Israel, Oct. 19, 2025.

    Amir Cohen/REUTERS


    As mediators raced to get the peace process back on track, President Trump said the situation would be “handled toughly, but properly,” and added that in his view, the ceasefire remained in effect.

    Over the weekend, Palestinian families had come out to enjoy a quiet moment at a seaside café in Gaza, when cameras captured the moment that an Israeli strike shattered the peace.

    Many feared the blood-soaked scenes left in the wake of the explosions were a sign that two years of relentless violence had resumed after just a week.

    “We were drinking tea,” said Salih Salman, “when suddenly people were bombed.”

    PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT-GAZA

    Smoke billows following an Israeli strike that targeted a building in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip, Oct. 19, 2025.

    EYAD BABA/AFP/Getty


    Once again Gaza’s crippled hospitals filled up with dozens of injured in the wake of 1multiple Israeli strikes.

    The IDF said it was targeting Hamas forces responsible for ceasefire violations, and it provided video purportedly showing armed Hamas fighters moving toward Israeli troops.

    A media center in central Gaza was among the locations bombed, with the strike killing a cameraman and an engineer, and wounding three other people.

    “We are all journalists here,” protested Ajeb Mohamed at the scene. “No-one else can even enter here.”

    More than 220 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since the war started, according to the international advocacy group Reporters Without Borders.

    Amid the renewed fighting and accusations over the weekend, an Israeli official said all humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza would be suspended. On Monday, however, COGAT, the Israeli government agency that handles affairs in the Palestinian territories, told CBS News that the Kerem Shalom border crossing was open for aid to transit.

    The United Nations and a number of humanitarian aid agencies have called repeatedly since the ceasefire came into effect for Israel to open all of the border crossings into Gaza to allow far more food, water, medicine, building materials and other essential items in.

    The ingress of aid — which under the U.S. peace plan should be maximized under the ceasefire — is likely to be among the key issues as Witkoff and Kushner meet with Israeli officials this week to ensure the process stays on track. Vice President JD Vance is also due in Israel this week, and set to meet with Netanyahu.

    Netanyahu met Monday with Witkoff and Kushner to discuss “developments and updates in the region,” Shosh Bedrosian, a spokeswoman for Netanyahu’s office said Monday. 



    Kushner, Witkoff reveal key moments that led to the Israel-Hamas deal

    14:12

    She added that Vance and his wife were also expected in the country “for a few days and will be meeting with the prime minister,” but neither she nor the White House have confirmed the Vances’ arrival date.

    Witkoff and Kushner were entrusted by Mr. Trump to broker the peace deal, and in an exclusive interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, they said an apology phone call from Netanyahu to Qatar’s leader, about unprecedented airstrikes on the U.S. ally’s capital, Doha, and a moment of personal connection between Witkoff and Hamas’ top negotiator marked two key turning points that led to the ceasefire. 

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  • Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff’s extended 60 Minutes interview

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    After the Israel-Hamas deal was signed earlier this month, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s envoys and the leading brokers of the agreement, sat down with Lesley Stahl to discuss their unconventional deal-driven approach.

    Editor’s note: The video above is an extended version of the interview that was broadcast on 60 Minutes on Sunday, October 19, 2025.
    This extended version was condensed for clarity.

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  • Israel says transfer of aid into Gaza is halted ‘until further notice’ as ceasefire faces major test

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    The fragile ceasefire in Gaza faced its first major test Sunday as an Israeli security official said the transfer of aid into the territory is halted “until further notice” after a Hamas ceasefire violation, and Israeli forces launched a wave of strikes.The official spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement on the halt in aid, which is occurring a little over a week since the start of the U.S.-proposed ceasefire aimed at ending two years of war.Israel’s military earlier Sunday said its troops came under fire from Hamas militants in southern Gaza. Health officials said at least 19 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in central and southern Gaza.Israel’s military said it had struck dozens of what it called Hamas targets.A senior Egyptian official involved in the ceasefire negotiations said “round-the-clock” contacts were underway to de-escalate the situation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to reporters.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed the military to take “strong action” against any ceasefire violations but didn’t threaten to return to war.Israel’s military said militants fired at troops in areas of Rafah city that are Israeli-controlled according to the agreed-upon ceasefire lines. No injuries were reported. The military said Israel responded with airstrikes and artillery.Hamas, which continued to accuse Israel of multiple ceasefire violations, said communication with its remaining units in Rafah had been cut off for months and “we are not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas.”Shortly before sunset, Israel’s military said it had begun a series of airstrikes in southern Gaza against what it called Hamas targets. It also said its forces struck “terrorists” approaching troops in Beit Lahiya in the north.Strikes in GazaAn Israeli airstrike killed at least six Palestinians in central Gaza, health officials said. The strike hit a makeshift coffeehouse on the coastal side of the town of Zawaida, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government.Another Israeli strike killed at least two people close to the Al-Ahly soccer club in the Nuseirat refugee camp, the ministry said. The strike hit a tent and wounded eight others, said Awda hospital, which received the casualties.A third strike hit a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis in the south, killing at least one person, according to Nasser hospital.An Israeli military official told journalists there had been three incidents Sunday, two in southern Gaza and one in the north, and noted that the update was partial for now.More bodies of hostages identifiedIsrael identified the remains of two hostages released by Hamas overnight.Netanyahu’s office said the bodies belonged to Ronen Engel, a father of three from Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Sonthaya Oakkharasri, a Thai agricultural worker from Kibbutz Be’eri.Both were believed to have been killed during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the war. Engel’s wife, Karina, and two of his three children were kidnapped and released in a ceasefire in November 2023.Hamas in the past week has handed over the remains of 12 hostages.Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said that it had found the body of a hostage and would return it on Sunday “if circumstances in the field” allowed. It warned that any escalation by Israel would hamper search efforts.Israel on Saturday said the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would stay closed “until further notice” and its reopening would depend on how Hamas fulfills its ceasefire role of returning the remains of all 28 deceased hostages.Hamas says the devastation and Israeli military control of certain areas of Gaza have slowed the handover. Israel believes Hamas has access to more bodies than it has returned.Israel has released 150 bodies of Palestinians back to Gaza, including 15 on Sunday, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel has neither identified the bodies nor said how they died. The ministry has posted photos of bodies on its website to help families attempting to locate loved ones. The bodies were decomposed and blackened. and some were missing limbs and teeth.Only 25 bodies have been identified, the Health Ministry said.After Israel and Hamas exchanged 20 living hostages for more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, the handover of remains is a major issue in the first stage of the ceasefire. A major scale-up of humanitarian aid, including the opening of the Rafah crossing, for people entering or leaving Gaza, is the other central issue.Ceasefire’s second phaseHamas said talks with mediators to start the ceasefire’s second phase have begun.The next stages of the ceasefire are expected to focus on disarming Hamas, Israeli withdrawal from additional areas it controls in Gaza, and future governance of the devastated territory.Hazem Kassem, a Hamas spokesman, said late Saturday that the second phase of negotiations “requires national consensus.” He said Hamas has begun discussions to “solidify its positions,” without giving details.According to the U.S. plan, the negotiations will include disarming Hamas and the establishment of an internationally backed authority to run Gaza.Kassem reiterated that the group won’t be part of the ruling authority in a postwar Gaza. He called for the prompt establishment of a body of Palestinian technocrats to run day-to-day affairs.For now, “government agencies in Gaza continue to perform their duties, as the vacuum is very dangerous, and this will continue until an administrative committee is formed and agreed upon by all Palestinian factions,” he said.Rafah border crossingThe Rafah crossing was the only one not controlled by Israel before the war. It has been closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of the Gaza side. A fully reopened crossing would make it easier for Palestinians to seek medical treatment, travel or visit family in Egypt, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians.On Sunday, the Palestinian Authority’s Interior Ministry in Ramallah announced procedures for Palestinians wishing to leave or enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing. For those who want to leave Gaza, Palestinian Embassy staff from Cairo will be at the crossing to issue temporary travel documents that allow entry into Egypt. Palestinians who wish to enter Gaza will need to apply at the embassy.The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross.Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the attack that sparked the war.___Samy Magdy reported from Cairo.

    TEL AVIV, Israel —

    The fragile ceasefire in Gaza faced its first major test Sunday as an Israeli security official said the transfer of aid into the territory is halted “until further notice” after a Hamas ceasefire violation, and Israeli forces launched a wave of strikes.

    The official spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement on the halt in aid, which is occurring a little over a week since the start of the U.S.-proposed ceasefire aimed at ending two years of war.

    Israel’s military earlier Sunday said its troops came under fire from Hamas militants in southern Gaza. Health officials said at least 19 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in central and southern Gaza.

    Israel’s military said it had struck dozens of what it called Hamas targets.

    A senior Egyptian official involved in the ceasefire negotiations said “round-the-clock” contacts were underway to de-escalate the situation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to reporters.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed the military to take “strong action” against any ceasefire violations but didn’t threaten to return to war.

    Israel’s military said militants fired at troops in areas of Rafah city that are Israeli-controlled according to the agreed-upon ceasefire lines. No injuries were reported. The military said Israel responded with airstrikes and artillery.

    Hamas, which continued to accuse Israel of multiple ceasefire violations, said communication with its remaining units in Rafah had been cut off for months and “we are not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas.”

    Shortly before sunset, Israel’s military said it had begun a series of airstrikes in southern Gaza against what it called Hamas targets. It also said its forces struck “terrorists” approaching troops in Beit Lahiya in the north.

    Strikes in Gaza

    An Israeli airstrike killed at least six Palestinians in central Gaza, health officials said. The strike hit a makeshift coffeehouse on the coastal side of the town of Zawaida, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government.

    Another Israeli strike killed at least two people close to the Al-Ahly soccer club in the Nuseirat refugee camp, the ministry said. The strike hit a tent and wounded eight others, said Awda hospital, which received the casualties.

    A third strike hit a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis in the south, killing at least one person, according to Nasser hospital.

    An Israeli military official told journalists there had been three incidents Sunday, two in southern Gaza and one in the north, and noted that the update was partial for now.

    More bodies of hostages identified

    Israel identified the remains of two hostages released by Hamas overnight.

    Netanyahu’s office said the bodies belonged to Ronen Engel, a father of three from Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Sonthaya Oakkharasri, a Thai agricultural worker from Kibbutz Be’eri.

    Both were believed to have been killed during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the war. Engel’s wife, Karina, and two of his three children were kidnapped and released in a ceasefire in November 2023.

    Hamas in the past week has handed over the remains of 12 hostages.

    Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said that it had found the body of a hostage and would return it on Sunday “if circumstances in the field” allowed. It warned that any escalation by Israel would hamper search efforts.

    Israel on Saturday said the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would stay closed “until further notice” and its reopening would depend on how Hamas fulfills its ceasefire role of returning the remains of all 28 deceased hostages.

    Hamas says the devastation and Israeli military control of certain areas of Gaza have slowed the handover. Israel believes Hamas has access to more bodies than it has returned.

    Israel has released 150 bodies of Palestinians back to Gaza, including 15 on Sunday, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel has neither identified the bodies nor said how they died. The ministry has posted photos of bodies on its website to help families attempting to locate loved ones. The bodies were decomposed and blackened. and some were missing limbs and teeth.

    Only 25 bodies have been identified, the Health Ministry said.

    After Israel and Hamas exchanged 20 living hostages for more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, the handover of remains is a major issue in the first stage of the ceasefire. A major scale-up of humanitarian aid, including the opening of the Rafah crossing, for people entering or leaving Gaza, is the other central issue.

    Ceasefire’s second phase

    Hamas said talks with mediators to start the ceasefire’s second phase have begun.

    The next stages of the ceasefire are expected to focus on disarming Hamas, Israeli withdrawal from additional areas it controls in Gaza, and future governance of the devastated territory.

    Hazem Kassem, a Hamas spokesman, said late Saturday that the second phase of negotiations “requires national consensus.” He said Hamas has begun discussions to “solidify its positions,” without giving details.

    According to the U.S. plan, the negotiations will include disarming Hamas and the establishment of an internationally backed authority to run Gaza.

    Kassem reiterated that the group won’t be part of the ruling authority in a postwar Gaza. He called for the prompt establishment of a body of Palestinian technocrats to run day-to-day affairs.

    For now, “government agencies in Gaza continue to perform their duties, as the vacuum is very dangerous, and this will continue until an administrative committee is formed and agreed upon by all Palestinian factions,” he said.

    Rafah border crossing

    The Rafah crossing was the only one not controlled by Israel before the war. It has been closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of the Gaza side. A fully reopened crossing would make it easier for Palestinians to seek medical treatment, travel or visit family in Egypt, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians.

    On Sunday, the Palestinian Authority’s Interior Ministry in Ramallah announced procedures for Palestinians wishing to leave or enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing. For those who want to leave Gaza, Palestinian Embassy staff from Cairo will be at the crossing to issue temporary travel documents that allow entry into Egypt. Palestinians who wish to enter Gaza will need to apply at the embassy.

    The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

    Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross.

    Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the attack that sparked the war.

    ___

    Samy Magdy reported from Cairo.

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  • Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire, Qatar says

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    Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday. It follows more than a week of fighting that has killed dozens of people and injured hundreds.Related video above: After historic hostage release, experts say lasting peace for Israel, Gaza is far from certainThe two sides agreed to establish mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability, as well as hold follow-up talks in the coming days to ensure the ceasefire’s sustainability, the Qatari statement said.Delegations from Afghanistan and Pakistan were in Doha for talks to resolve the deadliest crisis between them in several years. The talks were mediated by Qatar and Turkey.Both governments had sent their defense ministers to lead the talks, which Pakistan said would focus on “immediate measures to end cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghanistan and restore peace and stability along the border.”Each country has said it was responding to aggression from the other. Afghanistan denies harboring militants who carry out attacks in border areas.Regional powers, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have called for calm, as the violence threatened to further destabilize a region where groups, including the Islamic State group and al-Qaida, are trying to resurface.A 48-hour ceasefire intended to pause hostilities expired Friday evening. Hours later, Pakistan struck across the border.Pakistani security officials confirmed to The Associated Press Saturday that there were strikes on two districts in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province.The targets were hideouts of the militant Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. One said the operation was a direct response to the suicide bombing of a security forces compound in Mir Ali, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province a day earlier.The Pakistani Air Force raids killed dozens of armed fighters and there were no civilian deaths, they said.But Afghan officials said the aerial assaults killed at least 10 civilians, including women, children and local cricketers. The attacks prompted the national cricket board to boycott an upcoming series in Pakistan.On Saturday, several thousand people attended funeral prayers in Paktika. They sat in the open air as loudspeakers broadcast sermons and condemnation.Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government’s chief spokesman, in a statement, criticized the “repeated crimes of Pakistani forces and the violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.”Such acts were deemed provocative and viewed as “deliberate attempts” to prolong the conflict, he added.The two countries share a 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) border known as the Durand Line, but Afghanistan has never recognized it.Pakistan is grappling with surging militancy, especially in areas bordering Afghanistan. It also accuses its nuclear-armed neighbor and rival India of backing armed groups, without providing any evidence.Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, urged Afghans to choose “mutual security over perpetual violence and progress over hardline obscurantism.””The Taliban must rein in the proxies who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan,” he told an audience on Saturday at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.___Associated Press writers Abdul Qahar Afghan in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sajjad Tarakzai in Islamabad, and Riaz Khan, in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

    Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday. It follows more than a week of fighting that has killed dozens of people and injured hundreds.

    Related video above: After historic hostage release, experts say lasting peace for Israel, Gaza is far from certain

    The two sides agreed to establish mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability, as well as hold follow-up talks in the coming days to ensure the ceasefire’s sustainability, the Qatari statement said.

    Delegations from Afghanistan and Pakistan were in Doha for talks to resolve the deadliest crisis between them in several years. The talks were mediated by Qatar and Turkey.

    Both governments had sent their defense ministers to lead the talks, which Pakistan said would focus on “immediate measures to end cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghanistan and restore peace and stability along the border.”

    Each country has said it was responding to aggression from the other. Afghanistan denies harboring militants who carry out attacks in border areas.

    Regional powers, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have called for calm, as the violence threatened to further destabilize a region where groups, including the Islamic State group and al-Qaida, are trying to resurface.

    A 48-hour ceasefire intended to pause hostilities expired Friday evening. Hours later, Pakistan struck across the border.

    Pakistani security officials confirmed to The Associated Press Saturday that there were strikes on two districts in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province.

    The targets were hideouts of the militant Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. One said the operation was a direct response to the suicide bombing of a security forces compound in Mir Ali, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province a day earlier.

    The Pakistani Air Force raids killed dozens of armed fighters and there were no civilian deaths, they said.

    But Afghan officials said the aerial assaults killed at least 10 civilians, including women, children and local cricketers. The attacks prompted the national cricket board to boycott an upcoming series in Pakistan.

    On Saturday, several thousand people attended funeral prayers in Paktika. They sat in the open air as loudspeakers broadcast sermons and condemnation.

    Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government’s chief spokesman, in a statement, criticized the “repeated crimes of Pakistani forces and the violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.”

    Such acts were deemed provocative and viewed as “deliberate attempts” to prolong the conflict, he added.

    The two countries share a 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) border known as the Durand Line, but Afghanistan has never recognized it.

    Pakistan is grappling with surging militancy, especially in areas bordering Afghanistan. It also accuses its nuclear-armed neighbor and rival India of backing armed groups, without providing any evidence.

    Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, urged Afghans to choose “mutual security over perpetual violence and progress over hardline obscurantism.”

    “The Taliban must rein in the proxies who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan,” he told an audience on Saturday at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Abdul Qahar Afghan in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sajjad Tarakzai in Islamabad, and Riaz Khan, in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

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