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Tag: Ceasefire

  • Israel and Hamas will exchange hostages and prisoners after agreeing to 1st phase of Gaza peace plan

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    Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of a peace plan for Gaza, paving the way for a pause in the fighting and the release of the remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Palestinians greeted the news cautiously Thursday as a possible breakthrough in ending the devastating 2-year-old war.Uncertainty remains about some of the thornier aspects of the plan advanced by the administration of President Donald Trump — such as whether and how Hamas will disarm, and who will govern Gaza. But the sides appear closer than they have been in months to ending a war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed most of Gaza and brought famine to parts of it, and triggered other conflicts across the Middle East.The war, which began with Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, has sparked worldwide protests and increasingly isolated Israel, as well as bringing allegations of genocide that Israel denies.Even with the agreement expected to be signed later in the day, Israeli strikes continued, with explosions seen Thursday morning in northern Gaza. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes but earlier in the day said it had begun preparations for the implementation of the ceasefire, and troops were planning to transition to “adjusted deployment lines.”Following news of the agreement, Alaa Abd Rabbo, originally from northern Gaza but forced to move multiple times during the war, said it was “a godsend.”“This is the day we have been waiting for,” he said from the central city of Deir al-Balah. “We want to go home.”In Tel Aviv, families of the remaining hostages popped champagne and cried tears of joy when the deal was announced.“This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace,” Trump wrote on social media late Wednesday after the agreement was reached. “All Parties will be treated fairly!”Under the terms, Hamas intends to release all 20 living hostages in a matter of days, while the Israeli military will begin a withdrawal from the majority of Gaza, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss details of an agreement that has not fully been made public.In an interview on Fox News, Trump said Hamas will begin releasing hostages “probably” on Monday.The breakthrough came on the third day of indirect talks in Egypt.“With God’s help we will bring them all home,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proclaimed on social media shortly after Trump’s announcement. Netanyahu said he would convene the government Thursday to approve the deal.Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has opposed previous ceasefire deals, said he had “mixed emotions on a complex morning.”While he welcomed the return of the hostages, he said he had “immense fear about the consequences of emptying the jails and releasing the next generation of terrorist leaders” and said that as soon as the hostages are returned, Israel must continue trying to eradicate Hamas and ensure Gaza is demilitarized.Hamas, meanwhile, called on Trump and the mediators to ensure that Israel implements “without disavowal or delay” the troop withdrawal, the entry of aid into the territory and the exchange of prisoners.Ahmed al-Farra, the general director of pediatrics at Khan Yunis’ Nasser Hospital, which has seen many of the casualties of the war, said he was still skeptical of Israel following through on the deal but held out hope.“We need to go back to living,” he said.Trump’s peace planThe Trump plan calls for an immediate ceasefire and release of the 48 hostages that militants in Gaza still hold from their attack on Israel two years ago. Some 1,200 people were killed by Hamas-led militants in that assault, and 251 were taken hostage. Israel believes around 20 of the hostages are still alive.Under the plan, Israel would maintain an open-ended military presence inside Gaza, along its border with Israel. An international force, comprised largely of troops from Arab and Muslim countries, would be responsible for security inside Gaza. The U.S. would lead a massive internationally funded reconstruction effort in Gaza.The plan also envisions an eventual role for the Palestinian Authority — something Netanyahu opposes. But it requires the authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, to undergo a sweeping reform program that could take years to implement.The Trump plan is even more vague about a future Palestinian state, which Netanyahu firmly rejects.Even with many details yet to be agreed, some Palestinians and Israelis expressed relief at the progress.“It’s a huge day, huge joy,” Ahmed Sheheiber, a Palestinian displaced man from northern Gaza, said of the ceasefire deal.Crying over the phone from his shelter in Gaza City, he said he was waiting “impatiently” for the ceasefire to go into effect to return to his home in the Jabaliya refugee camp.Joyful relatives of hostages and their supporters spilled into the central Tel Aviv square that has become the main gathering point in the struggle to free the captives.Einav Zangauker, the mother of Israeli captive Matan Zangauker and a prominent advocate for the hostages’ release, told reporters that she wants to tell her son she loves him.“If I have one dream, it is seeing Matan sleep in his own bed,” she said.This would be the third ceasefire since the start of the war.The first, in November 2023, saw more than 100 hostages, mainly women and children, freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. In the second, starting in January of this year, Palestinian militants released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight more in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israel ended that ceasefire in March with a surprise bombardment.Praying for a dealIn the Gaza Strip, where much of the territory lies in ruins, Palestinians have been desperate for a breakthrough. Thousands fleeing Israel’s latest ground offensive have set up makeshift tents along the beach in the central part of the territory, sometimes using blankets for shelter.More than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and nearly 170,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.The ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half of the deaths were women and children, is part of the Hamas-run government. The United Nations and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.Ayman Saber, a Palestinian from Khan Younis, reacted to the ceasefire announcement by saying he plans to return to his home city and try to rebuild his house, which was destroyed last year by an Israeli strike.“I will rebuild the house, we will rebuild Gaza,” he said.___Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Madhani from Washington. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington, Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, David Rising in Bangkok and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

    CAIRO —

    Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of a peace plan for Gaza, paving the way for a pause in the fighting and the release of the remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Palestinians greeted the news cautiously Thursday as a possible breakthrough in ending the devastating 2-year-old war.

    Uncertainty remains about some of the thornier aspects of the plan advanced by the administration of President Donald Trump — such as whether and how Hamas will disarm, and who will govern Gaza. But the sides appear closer than they have been in months to ending a war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed most of Gaza and brought famine to parts of it, and triggered other conflicts across the Middle East.

    The war, which began with Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, has sparked worldwide protests and increasingly isolated Israel, as well as bringing allegations of genocide that Israel denies.

    Even with the agreement expected to be signed later in the day, Israeli strikes continued, with explosions seen Thursday morning in northern Gaza. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

    The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes but earlier in the day said it had begun preparations for the implementation of the ceasefire, and troops were planning to transition to “adjusted deployment lines.”

    Following news of the agreement, Alaa Abd Rabbo, originally from northern Gaza but forced to move multiple times during the war, said it was “a godsend.”

    “This is the day we have been waiting for,” he said from the central city of Deir al-Balah. “We want to go home.”

    In Tel Aviv, families of the remaining hostages popped champagne and cried tears of joy when the deal was announced.

    “This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace,” Trump wrote on social media late Wednesday after the agreement was reached. “All Parties will be treated fairly!”

    Under the terms, Hamas intends to release all 20 living hostages in a matter of days, while the Israeli military will begin a withdrawal from the majority of Gaza, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss details of an agreement that has not fully been made public.

    In an interview on Fox News, Trump said Hamas will begin releasing hostages “probably” on Monday.

    The breakthrough came on the third day of indirect talks in Egypt.

    “With God’s help we will bring them all home,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proclaimed on social media shortly after Trump’s announcement. Netanyahu said he would convene the government Thursday to approve the deal.

    Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has opposed previous ceasefire deals, said he had “mixed emotions on a complex morning.”

    While he welcomed the return of the hostages, he said he had “immense fear about the consequences of emptying the jails and releasing the next generation of terrorist leaders” and said that as soon as the hostages are returned, Israel must continue trying to eradicate Hamas and ensure Gaza is demilitarized.

    Hamas, meanwhile, called on Trump and the mediators to ensure that Israel implements “without disavowal or delay” the troop withdrawal, the entry of aid into the territory and the exchange of prisoners.

    Ahmed al-Farra, the general director of pediatrics at Khan Yunis’ Nasser Hospital, which has seen many of the casualties of the war, said he was still skeptical of Israel following through on the deal but held out hope.

    “We need to go back to living,” he said.

    Trump’s peace plan

    The Trump plan calls for an immediate ceasefire and release of the 48 hostages that militants in Gaza still hold from their attack on Israel two years ago. Some 1,200 people were killed by Hamas-led militants in that assault, and 251 were taken hostage. Israel believes around 20 of the hostages are still alive.

    Under the plan, Israel would maintain an open-ended military presence inside Gaza, along its border with Israel. An international force, comprised largely of troops from Arab and Muslim countries, would be responsible for security inside Gaza. The U.S. would lead a massive internationally funded reconstruction effort in Gaza.

    The plan also envisions an eventual role for the Palestinian Authority — something Netanyahu opposes. But it requires the authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, to undergo a sweeping reform program that could take years to implement.

    The Trump plan is even more vague about a future Palestinian state, which Netanyahu firmly rejects.

    Even with many details yet to be agreed, some Palestinians and Israelis expressed relief at the progress.

    “It’s a huge day, huge joy,” Ahmed Sheheiber, a Palestinian displaced man from northern Gaza, said of the ceasefire deal.

    Crying over the phone from his shelter in Gaza City, he said he was waiting “impatiently” for the ceasefire to go into effect to return to his home in the Jabaliya refugee camp.

    Joyful relatives of hostages and their supporters spilled into the central Tel Aviv square that has become the main gathering point in the struggle to free the captives.

    Einav Zangauker, the mother of Israeli captive Matan Zangauker and a prominent advocate for the hostages’ release, told reporters that she wants to tell her son she loves him.

    “If I have one dream, it is seeing Matan sleep in his own bed,” she said.

    This would be the third ceasefire since the start of the war.

    The first, in November 2023, saw more than 100 hostages, mainly women and children, freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. In the second, starting in January of this year, Palestinian militants released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight more in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israel ended that ceasefire in March with a surprise bombardment.

    Praying for a deal

    In the Gaza Strip, where much of the territory lies in ruins, Palestinians have been desperate for a breakthrough. Thousands fleeing Israel’s latest ground offensive have set up makeshift tents along the beach in the central part of the territory, sometimes using blankets for shelter.

    More than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and nearly 170,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

    The ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half of the deaths were women and children, is part of the Hamas-run government. The United Nations and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

    Ayman Saber, a Palestinian from Khan Younis, reacted to the ceasefire announcement by saying he plans to return to his home city and try to rebuild his house, which was destroyed last year by an Israeli strike.

    “I will rebuild the house, we will rebuild Gaza,” he said.

    ___

    Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Madhani from Washington. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington, Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, David Rising in Bangkok and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

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  • U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner heading to Egypt as Gaza ceasefire talks continue

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    U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are planning to head to Egypt on Tuesday and arrive there Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the matter, as indirect peace talks between Israel and Hamas continue.

    White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that Witkoff and Kushner were on hand to take part in the talks, which are focused on a plan proposed by Mr. Trump last week that aims to end the war in Gaza.

    The indirect talks, with Egypt and Qatar acting as intermediaries between Israel and Hamas, resumed on Tuesday for a second day in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. They were being held as neighboring Israel marked two years since the Hamas attack that triggered the war.  

    Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told journalists that members of the U.S. delegation would join the talks on Wednesday.

    Senior officials from the U.S., Qatar and Turkey continue to arrive in Sharm el-Sheikh to join the negotiations, a senior Egyptian official involved in the talks told The Associated Press.

    The official said Hamas has demanded guarantees that Israel won’t return to war after the release of the remaining 48 hostages who were taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Israel believes 20 of them are still alive. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive, closed-door negotiations.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the war will only end when all the remaining hostages are returned and Hamas — which the U.S. and Israel consider to be a terrorist organization — has been disarmed. He has accepted Mr. Trump’s plan, which calls for Gaza to be placed under international governance and for Hamas to be disarmed — demands that its leaders have yet to accept.

    The plan has received widespread international backing. Mr. Trump told reporters on Monday that he thought there was a “really good chance” of a lasting deal.

    “This is beyond Gaza,” he said. “Gaza is a big deal, but this is really peace in the Middle East.”

    The plan envisions Israel withdrawing its troops from Gaza after Hamas disarms, and an international security force being put in place. The territory would be placed under international governance, with Mr. Trump and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair overseeing it.

    In a statement issued Tuesday, Hamas reiterated its longstanding demands for a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza but said nothing about disarmament.

    The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251. Most have since been released in ceasefires or other deals.

    The war that has ensued has killed at least 67,160 Palestinians and left nearly 170,000 wounded, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. The ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, says more than half of the deaths were women and children.

    U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the hostilities have created “a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale that defied comprehension.” Mr. Trump’s proposal “presents an opportunity that must be seized to bring this tragic conflict to an end,” he said in a statement.

    Part of the plan is to surge humanitarian aid into Gaza, where more than 2 million Palestinians are facing hunger and, in some areas, famine.

    Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, said Monday’s talks went on for around four hours. He said on Tuesday that Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, who is also the country’s minister of foreign affairs, will join the negotiations on Wednesday.

    Israel’s delegation included Gal Hirsch, coordinator for the hostages and the missing from Netanyahu’s office. Hamas representatives included top negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya.

    Camilla Schick

    contributed to this report.

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  • Israel marks 2 years of pain since Hamas’ attack, as the Gaza war echoes across solemn memorial events

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    Re’im, southern Israel — The people of Israel were marking a grim milestone on Tuesday, mourning their dead two years after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led terrorist attack. Some 1,200 people were murdered that day, most of them civilians, and 251 others taken hostage. Israeli officials believe 48 people are still being held captive in Gaza, only 20 of them believed to be alive. 

    Their families are desperate for a deal to end the war and bring their loved ones home. 

    Indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel were entering a second day in Egypt, spurred by President Trump’s calls for both sides to agree to a ceasefire based on his recently announced 20-point peace proposal. 

    Pressure has been mounting on Israel and Hamas not only from the White House but from around the world, with many of Israel’s Arab neighbors pushing Hamas to accept a peace agreement and backing Mr. Trump’s proposal.

    “I have said it time and again, and I am repeating it today with even greater urgency: Release the hostages, unconditionally and immediately,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement. “Put an end to the hostilities in Gaza, Israel and the region now. Stop making civilians pay with their lives and their futures.”

    People walk past portraits of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip since 2023, during a rally in Tel Aviv marking two years since the Hamas terrorist attack, Oct. 7, 2025.

    AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty


    The main Oct. 7 memorial event, in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, was organized by the bereaved families — not the government, reflecting deep divisions over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership since the attack. 

    Many Israelis blame him for failing to bring all the hostages home. 

    The Hamas attack sparked Israel’s ongoing, devastating war in the Gaza Strip. More than 66,000 people have been killed, according to the Palestinian territory’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health. Huge swaths of the coastal enclave, home to more than 2 million people, have been destroyed.

    Another memorial was set up at the site of the Nova music festival, close to the Gaza border in the southern Israeli desert. It was overrun by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 two years ago, and almost 380 people were killed.

    Israel Marks October 7 Anniversary As talks Held to End Gaza War

    Visitors at the Nova music festival memorial site are seen two years after the Hamas terror attack, near Kibbutz Re’im, in southern Israel, Oct. 7, 2025.

    Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg/Getty


    Orit Baron, whose daughter Yuval was among the festival goers killed that day, along with her fiance Moshe Shuva, told the French news agency AFP that she came to the site “to be with her, because this is the last time that she was alive.”

    Baron was among dozens of friends and relatives of those killed, and others just wishing to pay their respects. Many lit candles and stood for one minute in silence, remembering those lost to terrorism. 

    As they did, the sounds of the war in Gaza, just a few miles away, continued reverberating through the air.

    Agnes Reau and

    Tucker Reals

    contributed to this report.

    Debora Patta

    Debora Patta is a CBS News senior foreign correspondent based in Johannesburg. Since joining CBS News in 2013, she has reported on major stories across Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Edward R. Murrow and Scripps Howard awards are among the many accolades Patta has received for her work.

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  • Israeli who was captured on Oct. 7 pleads for return of other hostages:

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    Jerusalem — Early on the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, Ohad Ben Ami heard the alarm go off in his community of Kibbutz Be’eri. He and his wife ran into their home’s safe room, where they quickly realized that something unusual was happening.

    On his phone, Ben Ami could see that alarms were sounding at other, nearby kibbutzim. There were also reports of airborne attacks. He shut the phone off to avoid panicking.

    About 15 minutes later, he heard people outside.

    “Then I understand that it is very severe, and it’s not only missile attack. It’s something much more complicated,” Ben Ami said.

    He started receiving messages from neighbors who told him that attackers had entered their houses. So he crawled from his safe room to try to secure the doors to his home. Then, he was shot.

    As he retreated to his safe room, attackers followed him. They easily opened the door behind him, which was only meant to protect those inside from projectiles or flames and could not be locked.

    When they entered, Ben Ami’s wife was hidden, so Ben Ami told them he was alone.

    “I was sure I’m going to be dead,” he said.

    Former Israeli hostage Ohad Ben Ami stands at his house in Kibbutz Be’eri, from which he was kidnapped during the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, nearly two years later, on Oct. 5, 2025.

    Amir Levy/Getty


    But unlike many of his neighbors that day at Kibbutz Be’eri, Ben Ami wasn’t killed. Loaded into the back seat of a car, he was taken to Gaza, where he would spend 491 days in captivity.

    “In my mind, I’m down there”

    During his time as a hostage, Ben Ami was moved from apartment to apartment. Many did not have running water or functioning toilets.

    “The conditions were very, very bad. Very bad. All the time, the IDF [Israeli military] is bombing. So we are very afraid to die from our bombs,” Ben Ami said.

    Sometimes he was held with other hostages, including — for a time — his wife Raz Ben Ami, who had been captured as well. She was freed in the first hostage and prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas later in 2023.

    SWITZERLAND-ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-CONFLICT-MISSING-RIGHTS

    Former Hamas hostage Aviva Siegel (L) comforts her daughter Elan Tiv next to former hostage Raz Ben Ami, during a visit to the 55th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, Feb. 29, 2024.

    FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty


    Ben Ami was moved below ground, into the Hamas tunnel network, where he said there was no light, very little food, and the sanitary conditions were extremely poor.

    He was put into an area with two other hostages, Elkaha Bohbot and Bar Kuperstein. Three more Israeli captives joined them, but the amount of food they received did not increase.

    “All the time, we are hungry. We are very nervous. We try to struggle and to get used to the situation,” he said.

    The group began to lose weight, trying to divide very limited food among them. But despite the dire conditions, Ben Ami managed to keep going.

    “They [Hamas] let us see television 15 minutes once in a month … so we saw that the people in Israel are fighting for us,” he said. “They [Hamas] told us that our government don’t want us back. The army, Israeli army, is looking to kill us. The Israeli government won’t pay the price. And our families are quiet. But when we saw on the TV that all of Israel go out… this give us hope. Give us a lot of hope to proceed and be strong.”

    In February this year, Ben Ami was released as part of the last hostage and prisoner exchange deal, but his companions were not.

    Israel Palestinians

    Israeli Ohad Ben Ami, who was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, waves to the crowd as he is escorted by Hamas members before being handed over to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Feb. 8, 2025.

    Jehad Alshrafi/AP


    “When I think of the five of my friends and all the 48 hostages that are still down there, I’m very, very worried for them,” Ben Ami said. “I love my country, and I love the people, but our government is disconnected. And until now, I have the feeling of insult. I feel that they abandoned me.”

    As negotiations are underway in Egypt on a deal that could potentially see the release of all the remaining hostages, Ben Ami says he’s hopeful.

    “I speak and I talk — but in my mind, I’m down there. So until they come back, all the 48, I cannot live. I’m still a hostage. I’m a free man, but not in my soul,” he said. “I ask all the sides to go to the middle and then … to shake hands and finish it and bring (home) all the hostages. To give our nation the time to recover, and also the Palestinians. They also need to recover from all this thing that happened.”

    Haley Ott

    Haley Ott is the CBS News Digital international reporter, based in the CBS News London bureau.

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  • Pivotal talks between Israel and Hamas begin in Egypt on eve of Gaza war anniversary

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    Israeli and Hamas officials launched indirect talks Monday at an Egyptian resort on a U.S.-drafted peace plan to end the ruinous war in Gaza on the eve of its second anniversary.Many uncertainties remain about the plan presented by President Donald Trump last week, including the disarmament of the militant group — a key Israeli demand — and the future governance of Gaza. Trump has indicated an agreement on Gaza could pave the way for a Middle East peace process that could reshape the region.Despite Trump ordering Israel to stop the bombing, Israeli forces continued to pound Gaza with airstrikes, killing at least 19 people in the last 24 hours, the territory’s Health Ministry said.An Egyptian official said talks began Monday afternoon at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the talks.The Israelis are led by top negotiator Ron Dermer, while Khalil al-Hayyah leads the Hamas delegation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said foreign policy adviser Ophir Falk would be present for Israel, but it was not clear if Dermer had arrived yet.Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News television station reported that the talks began with a meeting between Arab mediators and the Hamas delegation. Mediators will then meet with the Israeli delegation, the station said.Egyptian and Qatari mediators will discuss the outcome of their meetings with both parties, before U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff joins the talks, it said.Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is also expected to join the talks, Egypt’s state-run al-Ahram reported.Hamas said negotiations will focus on the first stage of a ceasefire, including the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces as well as the release of hostages held by the militants in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention.This latest push for peace comes after Hamas accepted some elements of the U.S. plan that Israel also said it supported. Under the plan, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages — about 20 of whom are believed to be alive — within three days. It would give up power and disarm.The talks in Egypt are expected to move quickly. Netanyahu said they would be “confined to a few days maximum,” though some Hamas officials have warned that more time may be needed to locate bodies of hostages buried under rubble.Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi hailed Trump’s efforts, underscoring the importance of preserving the U.S.-crafted “peace system” in the Middle East since the 1970s, which he said “served as a strategic framework for regional stability.”El-Sisi spoke in a televised address commemorating the anniversary of the start of the 1973 war with Israel that led to Egypt reclaiming the Sinai Peninsula, where Sharm el-Sheikh is located.US wants Israeli bombing to stopThe U.S. has said Israel’s heavy bombardment of Gaza would need to stop for the hostages to be released. Israel says it’s largely heeding Trump’s call. The Israeli military said it is mostly carrying out defensive strikes to protect troops, though dozens of Palestinians have been killed since the military’s statement Saturday night.Gaza’s Health Ministry said Monday that the bodies of 19 people, including two aid-seekers killed by Israeli strikes and gunfire, had been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours. Another 96 were wounded. The deaths brought the Palestinian toll to 67,160 since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered the war, with nearly 170,000 wounded, the ministry said.The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says more than half of the deaths were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack. Most of the largely Israeli hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals.Meanwhile, families of Israeli hostages petitioned the Nobel Prize Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Trump for what they called his unprecedented contributions to global peace.“At this very moment, President Trump’s comprehensive plan to release all remaining hostages and finally end this terrible war is on the table,” the families wrote. “For the first time in months, we are hopeful that our nightmare will finally be over.”In a commemoration ceremony for Israelis killed at the Nir Oz Kibbutz on Oct. 7, Daniel Lifshitz said the primary focus of talks should be the swift release of all remaining hostages.“Israel will pay painful concessions by releasing mass murderers and terrorists that killed many among our friends and families here in Israel, but we cherish life and in Trump we trust to make it happen,” said Lifshitz, grandson of slain hostage Oded and released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz.’Living in fear, war and displacement’In Gaza, families of Palestinian babies born on the day the war began hoped to celebrate their second birthday with the sound of laughter and cheers instead of the cacophony of bombs and bullets.The babies’ mothers have been repeatedly displaced and live in constant fear for their safety. They also lack access to health care.Amal al-Taweel and her husband, Mostafa, had their son, Ali, after three years of trying for a child. They now live in a tent without proper sanitation, food, vaccinations or toys.“I was envisioning a different life for him … He couldn’t experience what a safe family life feels like,” al-Taweel said.The Vatican marked the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks by condemning the “inhuman massacre” of innocent people in Israel and calling for the return of hostages. But it also said Israel’s razing of Gaza is itself a disproportionate massacre, and called on countries to stop supplying Israel weapons to wage the war.“Those who are attacked have a right to defend themselves, but even legitimate defense must respect the principle of proportionality,” Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said on the eve of the anniversary. “The perverse chain of hatred can only generate a spiral that leads nowhere good.”___Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Shurafa from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press Writer Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.

    CAIRO —

    Israeli and Hamas officials launched indirect talks Monday at an Egyptian resort on a U.S.-drafted peace plan to end the ruinous war in Gaza on the eve of its second anniversary.

    Many uncertainties remain about the plan presented by President Donald Trump last week, including the disarmament of the militant group — a key Israeli demand — and the future governance of Gaza. Trump has indicated an agreement on Gaza could pave the way for a Middle East peace process that could reshape the region.

    Despite Trump ordering Israel to stop the bombing, Israeli forces continued to pound Gaza with airstrikes, killing at least 19 people in the last 24 hours, the territory’s Health Ministry said.

    An Egyptian official said talks began Monday afternoon at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the talks.

    The Israelis are led by top negotiator Ron Dermer, while Khalil al-Hayyah leads the Hamas delegation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said foreign policy adviser Ophir Falk would be present for Israel, but it was not clear if Dermer had arrived yet.

    Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News television station reported that the talks began with a meeting between Arab mediators and the Hamas delegation. Mediators will then meet with the Israeli delegation, the station said.

    Egyptian and Qatari mediators will discuss the outcome of their meetings with both parties, before U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff joins the talks, it said.

    Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is also expected to join the talks, Egypt’s state-run al-Ahram reported.

    Hamas said negotiations will focus on the first stage of a ceasefire, including the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces as well as the release of hostages held by the militants in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention.

    This latest push for peace comes after Hamas accepted some elements of the U.S. plan that Israel also said it supported. Under the plan, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages — about 20 of whom are believed to be alive — within three days. It would give up power and disarm.

    The talks in Egypt are expected to move quickly. Netanyahu said they would be “confined to a few days maximum,” though some Hamas officials have warned that more time may be needed to locate bodies of hostages buried under rubble.

    Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi hailed Trump’s efforts, underscoring the importance of preserving the U.S.-crafted “peace system” in the Middle East since the 1970s, which he said “served as a strategic framework for regional stability.”

    El-Sisi spoke in a televised address commemorating the anniversary of the start of the 1973 war with Israel that led to Egypt reclaiming the Sinai Peninsula, where Sharm el-Sheikh is located.

    US wants Israeli bombing to stop

    The U.S. has said Israel’s heavy bombardment of Gaza would need to stop for the hostages to be released. Israel says it’s largely heeding Trump’s call. The Israeli military said it is mostly carrying out defensive strikes to protect troops, though dozens of Palestinians have been killed since the military’s statement Saturday night.

    Gaza’s Health Ministry said Monday that the bodies of 19 people, including two aid-seekers killed by Israeli strikes and gunfire, had been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours. Another 96 were wounded. The deaths brought the Palestinian toll to 67,160 since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered the war, with nearly 170,000 wounded, the ministry said.

    The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says more than half of the deaths were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

    Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack. Most of the largely Israeli hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals.

    Meanwhile, families of Israeli hostages petitioned the Nobel Prize Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Trump for what they called his unprecedented contributions to global peace.

    “At this very moment, President Trump’s comprehensive plan to release all remaining hostages and finally end this terrible war is on the table,” the families wrote. “For the first time in months, we are hopeful that our nightmare will finally be over.”

    In a commemoration ceremony for Israelis killed at the Nir Oz Kibbutz on Oct. 7, Daniel Lifshitz said the primary focus of talks should be the swift release of all remaining hostages.

    “Israel will pay painful concessions by releasing mass murderers and terrorists that killed many among our friends and families here in Israel, but we cherish life and in Trump we trust to make it happen,” said Lifshitz, grandson of slain hostage Oded and released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz.

    ‘Living in fear, war and displacement’

    In Gaza, families of Palestinian babies born on the day the war began hoped to celebrate their second birthday with the sound of laughter and cheers instead of the cacophony of bombs and bullets.

    The babies’ mothers have been repeatedly displaced and live in constant fear for their safety. They also lack access to health care.

    Amal al-Taweel and her husband, Mostafa, had their son, Ali, after three years of trying for a child. They now live in a tent without proper sanitation, food, vaccinations or toys.

    “I was envisioning a different life for him … He couldn’t experience what a safe family life feels like,” al-Taweel said.

    The Vatican marked the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks by condemning the “inhuman massacre” of innocent people in Israel and calling for the return of hostages. But it also said Israel’s razing of Gaza is itself a disproportionate massacre, and called on countries to stop supplying Israel weapons to wage the war.

    “Those who are attacked have a right to defend themselves, but even legitimate defense must respect the principle of proportionality,” Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said on the eve of the anniversary. “The perverse chain of hatred can only generate a spiral that leads nowhere good.”

    ___

    Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Shurafa from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press Writer Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.

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  • Israel and Hamas prepare for negotiations in Egypt ahead of possible Gaza ceasefire

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    Israel and Hamas prepared for indirect negotiations in Egypt on Monday, as hopes for a possible ceasefire in Gaza grew after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a hostage release could be announced this week.Tuesday marks two years since the Hamas attack that sparked the war.President Donald Trump has welcomed the Hamas statement accepting some elements of the U.S. peace plan. Israel has said it supported the new U.S. effort. Under the plan, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages — about 20 believed to be alive — within three days. It would give up power and disarm.Video above: Israel’s foreign minister hopes country ‘closest to a hostage deal’ since JanuaryThe delegation led by top Israeli negotiator Ron Dermer will leave Monday for the talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Netanyahu’s office said. An Egyptian official said the Hamas delegation had arrived. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to brief reporters, said U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is joining the talks.Discussions will focus on the proposed exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, Egypt’s foreign ministry said.U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the situation “the closest we’ve come to getting all of the hostages released.” The U.S. plan also addresses Gaza’s future. In a text exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Trump said there would be “complete obliteration” if Hamas stayed in power there. Trump also texted that Netanyahu was on board for ending the bombing and peace in Gaza but added, “soon on the rest.”Support for a ceasefire growsIsraeli government spokeswoman Shosh Badrosian told journalists that Netanyahu is in “regular contact” with Trump and that the prime minister has stressed that the talks in Egypt “will be confined to a few days maximum.”“I hope that we are closest to a hostage deal since the (ceasefire) deal in January,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said in a speech.Video below: Possible hostage release deal gains momentum ahead of talks MondayAnxious relatives of hostages gathered near Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, with some urging Trump to continue to apply pressure. Israel’s recent military offensive in Gaza City led many to fear for the hostages’ lives.“We cannot allow such a historic agreement to be sacrificed again,” said Michel Ilouz, father of Guy Ilouz.As hundreds of thousands of people marched across several European cities and elsewhere in support of Palestinians, the foreign ministers of eight Muslim-majority countries issued a joint statement welcoming steps toward a possible ceasefire.They also underlined their commitment to the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza, unifying Gaza and the West Bank and reaching an agreement leading to a “full Israeli withdrawal” from Gaza.Rubio told ABC that decisions regarding a governing structure or international group to manage Gaza can take place simultaneously with the ceasefire’s first step.“That’s the part that I think is going to be a little tougher to work through, but that’s what’s going to provide permanency to the end of the conflict,” he said.At least 12 killed in Gaza on SundayTrump has ordered Israel to stop bombing Gaza, but residents and local hospitals said strikes continued across the territory.The Israeli government spokeswoman, Badrosian, said “certain bombings have actually stopped inside of the Gaza Strip.”But Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said that “if the political effort does not succeed, we will return to fight.”At least eight people were killed Sunday in multiple strikes in Gaza City, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. A security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media said the strikes were against Hamas militants who were a threat to troops.Four other people were shot dead near an aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah, according to Nasser Hospital. Israel’s military said it was not involved.Doctors Without Borders confirmed the death of colleague Abed El Hameed Qaradaya, who was wounded in an attack Thursday that killed another colleague in Gaza.Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll in the war reached 67,139 on Sunday, with nearly 170,000 injured. The ministry does not differentiate how many of those killed were civilians or combatants, but says women and children make up about half of the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.Israel’s military has said it continues to dismantle Hamas infrastructure and warned residents not to return to northern Gaza.“We’re on the brink, and we don’t know whether one will die of a strike or starvation,” said Mahmoud Hashem, a Palestinian father sheltering in a tent in Gaza City. Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Andrew Wilks contributed from Istanbul.

    CAIRO, Cairo Governorate —

    Israel and Hamas prepared for indirect negotiations in Egypt on Monday, as hopes for a possible ceasefire in Gaza grew after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a hostage release could be announced this week.

    Tuesday marks two years since the Hamas attack that sparked the war.

    President Donald Trump has welcomed the Hamas statement accepting some elements of the U.S. peace plan. Israel has said it supported the new U.S. effort. Under the plan, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages — about 20 believed to be alive — within three days. It would give up power and disarm.

    Video above: Israel’s foreign minister hopes country ‘closest to a hostage deal’ since January

    The delegation led by top Israeli negotiator Ron Dermer will leave Monday for the talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Netanyahu’s office said. An Egyptian official said the Hamas delegation had arrived. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to brief reporters, said U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is joining the talks.

    Discussions will focus on the proposed exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, Egypt’s foreign ministry said.

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the situation “the closest we’ve come to getting all of the hostages released.”

    The U.S. plan also addresses Gaza’s future. In a text exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Trump said there would be “complete obliteration” if Hamas stayed in power there. Trump also texted that Netanyahu was on board for ending the bombing and peace in Gaza but added, “soon on the rest.”

    Support for a ceasefire grows

    Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Badrosian told journalists that Netanyahu is in “regular contact” with Trump and that the prime minister has stressed that the talks in Egypt “will be confined to a few days maximum.”

    “I hope that we are closest to a hostage deal since the (ceasefire) deal in January,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said in a speech.

    Video below: Possible hostage release deal gains momentum ahead of talks Monday

    Anxious relatives of hostages gathered near Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, with some urging Trump to continue to apply pressure. Israel’s recent military offensive in Gaza City led many to fear for the hostages’ lives.

    “We cannot allow such a historic agreement to be sacrificed again,” said Michel Ilouz, father of Guy Ilouz.

    As hundreds of thousands of people marched across several European cities and elsewhere in support of Palestinians, the foreign ministers of eight Muslim-majority countries issued a joint statement welcoming steps toward a possible ceasefire.

    They also underlined their commitment to the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza, unifying Gaza and the West Bank and reaching an agreement leading to a “full Israeli withdrawal” from Gaza.

    Rubio told ABC that decisions regarding a governing structure or international group to manage Gaza can take place simultaneously with the ceasefire’s first step.

    “That’s the part that I think is going to be a little tougher to work through, but that’s what’s going to provide permanency to the end of the conflict,” he said.

    At least 12 killed in Gaza on Sunday

    Trump has ordered Israel to stop bombing Gaza, but residents and local hospitals said strikes continued across the territory.

    The Israeli government spokeswoman, Badrosian, said “certain bombings have actually stopped inside of the Gaza Strip.”

    But Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said that “if the political effort does not succeed, we will return to fight.”

    At least eight people were killed Sunday in multiple strikes in Gaza City, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. A security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media said the strikes were against Hamas militants who were a threat to troops.

    Four other people were shot dead near an aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah, according to Nasser Hospital. Israel’s military said it was not involved.

    Doctors Without Borders confirmed the death of colleague Abed El Hameed Qaradaya, who was wounded in an attack Thursday that killed another colleague in Gaza.

    Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll in the war reached 67,139 on Sunday, with nearly 170,000 injured. The ministry does not differentiate how many of those killed were civilians or combatants, but says women and children make up about half of the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

    Israel’s military has said it continues to dismantle Hamas infrastructure and warned residents not to return to northern Gaza.

    “We’re on the brink, and we don’t know whether one will die of a strike or starvation,” said Mahmoud Hashem, a Palestinian father sheltering in a tent in Gaza City.

    Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Andrew Wilks contributed from Istanbul.

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  • Netanyahu signals that Gaza peace deal could be close

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    Netanyahu signals that Gaza peace deal could be close – CBS News










































    Watch CBS News



    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped to announce the release of all the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza in one fell swoop in the coming days. Debora Patta reports on the latest from the Middle East.

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  • At the Edge of Peace

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    As a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas takes shape, the long shadow of the war in Gaza gives way to a flicker of hope.

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    Ruth Margalit

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  • Airstrikes and gunfire kill at least 59 people in Gaza as pressure grows for ceasefire, hostage deal

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    Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 59 people across Gaza, health officials said Saturday, as international pressure grows for a ceasefire and hostage return deal while Israel’s leader remained defiant about continuing the war.Related video above: Palestinian president speaks by video at UNAmong the dead were those hit by two strikes in the Nuseirat refugee camp — nine from the same family in a house and, later, 15 in the same camp, including women and children, according to staff at al-Awda Hospital, where the bodies were brought. Five others were killed when a strike hit a tent for the displaced, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the dead.Israel’s army said it was not aware of anyone being killed by gunfire Saturday in southern Gaza, nor of a strike in the Nuseirat area during the time and at the location provided by the hospital.The director of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City told The Associated Press that medical teams there were concerned about Israeli “tanks approaching the vicinity of the hospital,” restricting access to the facility where 159 patients are being treated.“The bombardment has not stopped for a single moment,” Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya said.He added that 14 premature babies were treated in incubators in Helou Hospital, though the head of neonatal intensive care there, Dr. Nasser Bulbul, has said that the facility’s main gate was closed because of drones flying over the building. Netanyahu and Trump scheduled to meet as pressure growsThe attacks came hours after a defiant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told fellow world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly Friday that his nation “must finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza.Netanyahu’s words, aimed as much at his increasingly divided domestic audience as the global one, began after dozens of delegates from multiple nations walked out of the U.N. General Assembly hall en masse Friday morning as he began speaking.International pressure on Israel to end the war is increasing, as is Israel’s isolation, with a growing list of countries, including the United Kingdom, France and Australia, deciding recently to recognize Palestinian statehood — something Israel rejects.A U.N. commission of inquiry recently determined that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.Countries have been lobbying U.S. President Donald Trump to press Israel for a ceasefire. On Friday, Trump told reporters on the White House lawn that he believes the U.S. is close to achieving a deal on easing fighting in Gaza that “will get the hostages back” and “end the war.”Trump and Netanyahu are scheduled to meet Monday, and Trump said on social media Friday that “very inspired and productive discussions” and “intense negotiations” about Gaza are ongoing with countries in the region.Yet, Israel is pressing ahead with another major ground operation in Gaza City, which experts say is experiencing famine. More than 300,000 people have fled, but up to 700,000 are still there, many because they can’t afford to relocate.Hospitals are short on supplies and targeted by airstrikesThe strikes Saturday morning demolished a house in Gaza City’s Tufah neighborhood, killing at least 11 people, more than half of them women and children, according to Al-Ahly Hospital, where the bodies were brought. Four other people were killed when an airstrike hit their homes in the Shati refugee camp, according to Shifa Hospital. Six other Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire while seeking aid in southern and central Gaza, according to the Nasser and Al Awda hospitals.Hospitals and health clinics in Gaza City are on the brink of collapse. Nearly two weeks into the offensive, two clinics have been destroyed by airstrikes, two hospitals shut down after being damaged and others are barely functioning, with medicine, equipment, food and fuel in short supply, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.Many patients and staff have been forced to flee hospitals, leaving behind only a few doctors and nurses to tend to children in incubators or other patients too ill to move.On Friday, aid group Doctors Without Borders said it was forced to suspend activities in Gaza City. The group said Israeli tanks were less than a kilometer (half a mile) from its facilities, creating an “unacceptable level of risk” for its staff.Meanwhile, the food situation in the north has also worsened, as Israel has halted aid deliveries through its crossing into northern Gaza since Sept. 12 and has increasingly rejected U.N. requests to bring supplies from southern Gaza into the north, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 people and wounded more than 167,000 others, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says women and children make up around half the fatalities. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, but U.N. agencies and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.Israel’s campaign was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Forty-eight captives remain in Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive, after most of the rest were freed in ceasefires or other deals. Magdy reported from Cairo, Egypt.

    DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip —

    Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 59 people across Gaza, health officials said Saturday, as international pressure grows for a ceasefire and hostage return deal while Israel’s leader remained defiant about continuing the war.

    Related video above: Palestinian president speaks by video at UN

    Among the dead were those hit by two strikes in the Nuseirat refugee camp — nine from the same family in a house and, later, 15 in the same camp, including women and children, according to staff at al-Awda Hospital, where the bodies were brought. Five others were killed when a strike hit a tent for the displaced, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the dead.

    Israel’s army said it was not aware of anyone being killed by gunfire Saturday in southern Gaza, nor of a strike in the Nuseirat area during the time and at the location provided by the hospital.

    The director of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City told The Associated Press that medical teams there were concerned about Israeli “tanks approaching the vicinity of the hospital,” restricting access to the facility where 159 patients are being treated.

    “The bombardment has not stopped for a single moment,” Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya said.

    He added that 14 premature babies were treated in incubators in Helou Hospital, though the head of neonatal intensive care there, Dr. Nasser Bulbul, has said that the facility’s main gate was closed because of drones flying over the building.

    Netanyahu and Trump scheduled to meet as pressure grows

    The attacks came hours after a defiant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told fellow world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly Friday that his nation “must finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza.

    Netanyahu’s words, aimed as much at his increasingly divided domestic audience as the global one, began after dozens of delegates from multiple nations walked out of the U.N. General Assembly hall en masse Friday morning as he began speaking.

    International pressure on Israel to end the war is increasing, as is Israel’s isolation, with a growing list of countries, including the United Kingdom, France and Australia, deciding recently to recognize Palestinian statehood — something Israel rejects.

    A U.N. commission of inquiry recently determined that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

    Countries have been lobbying U.S. President Donald Trump to press Israel for a ceasefire. On Friday, Trump told reporters on the White House lawn that he believes the U.S. is close to achieving a deal on easing fighting in Gaza that “will get the hostages back” and “end the war.”

    Trump and Netanyahu are scheduled to meet Monday, and Trump said on social media Friday that “very inspired and productive discussions” and “intense negotiations” about Gaza are ongoing with countries in the region.

    Yet, Israel is pressing ahead with another major ground operation in Gaza City, which experts say is experiencing famine. More than 300,000 people have fled, but up to 700,000 are still there, many because they can’t afford to relocate.

    Hospitals are short on supplies and targeted by airstrikes

    The strikes Saturday morning demolished a house in Gaza City’s Tufah neighborhood, killing at least 11 people, more than half of them women and children, according to Al-Ahly Hospital, where the bodies were brought. Four other people were killed when an airstrike hit their homes in the Shati refugee camp, according to Shifa Hospital. Six other Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire while seeking aid in southern and central Gaza, according to the Nasser and Al Awda hospitals.

    Hospitals and health clinics in Gaza City are on the brink of collapse. Nearly two weeks into the offensive, two clinics have been destroyed by airstrikes, two hospitals shut down after being damaged and others are barely functioning, with medicine, equipment, food and fuel in short supply, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

    Many patients and staff have been forced to flee hospitals, leaving behind only a few doctors and nurses to tend to children in incubators or other patients too ill to move.

    On Friday, aid group Doctors Without Borders said it was forced to suspend activities in Gaza City. The group said Israeli tanks were less than a kilometer (half a mile) from its facilities, creating an “unacceptable level of risk” for its staff.

    Meanwhile, the food situation in the north has also worsened, as Israel has halted aid deliveries through its crossing into northern Gaza since Sept. 12 and has increasingly rejected U.N. requests to bring supplies from southern Gaza into the north, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

    Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 people and wounded more than 167,000 others, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says women and children make up around half the fatalities. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, but U.N. agencies and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

    Israel’s campaign was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Forty-eight captives remain in Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive, after most of the rest were freed in ceasefires or other deals.

    Magdy reported from Cairo, Egypt.

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  • Trump to take aim at ‘globalist institutions,’ make case for his foreign policy record in UN speech

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    Watched by the world, President Donald Trump returns to the United Nations on Tuesday to deliver a wide-ranging address on his second-term foreign policy achievements and lament that “globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order,” according to the White House.Watch live video from the United Nations in the video player aboveWorld leaders will be listening closely to his remarks at the U.N. General Assembly as Trump has already moved quickly to diminish U.S. support for the world body in his first eight months in office. Even in his first term, he was no fan of the flavor of multilateralism that the United Nations espouses.After his latest inauguration, he issued a first-day executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization. That was followed by his move to end U.S. participation in the U.N. Human Rights Council, and ordering up a review of U.S. membership in hundreds of intergovernmental organizations aimed at determining whether they align with the priorities of his “America First” agenda.“There are great hopes for it, but it’s not being well run, to be honest,” Trump said of the U.N. last week.The U.S. president’s speech is typically among the most anticipated moments of the annual assembly. This one comes at one of the most volatile moments in the world body’s 80-year-old history. Global leaders are being tested by intractable wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, uncertainty about the economic and social impact of emerging artificial intelligence technology, and anxiety about Trump’s antipathy for the global body.Trump has also raised new questions about the American use of military force in his return to the White House, after ordering U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June and a trio of strikes this month on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea.The latter strikes, including at least two fatal attacks on boats that originated from Venezuela, has raised speculation in Caracas that Trump is looking to set the stage for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.Some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates say that Trump is effectively carrying out extrajudicial killings by using U.S. forces to lethally target alleged drug smugglers instead of interdicting the suspected vessels, seizing any drugs and prosecuting the suspects in U.S. courts.“This is by far the most stressed the U.N. system has ever been in its 80 years,” said Anjali K. Dayal, a professor of international politics at Fordham University in New York.Trump to hold one-on-one talks with world leadersWhite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump would tout “the renewal of American strength around the world” and his efforts to help end several wars.“The president will also touch upon how globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order, and he will articulate his straightforward and constructive vision for the world,” Leavitt said.Following his speech, Trump will hold one-on-one meetings with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a group meeting with officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 invited world leaders.Gaza and Ukraine cast shadow over Trump speechTrump has struggled to deliver on his 2024 campaign promises to quickly end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His response has been also relatively muted as some longtime American allies are using this year’s General Assembly to spotlight the growing international campaign for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that the U.S. and Israel vehemently oppose.France became the latest nation to recognize Palestinian statehood on Monday at the start of a high-profile meeting at the U.N. aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. More nations are expected to follow.Leavitt said Trump sees the push as “just more talk and not enough action from some of our friends and allies.”Trump, for his part, in the lead-up to Tuesday’s address has tried to keep focus on getting agreement on a ceasefire that leads Hamas to releasing its remaining 48 hostages, including 20 still believed be alive.“I’d like to see a diplomatic solution,” Trump told reporters Sunday evening. “There’s a lot of anger and a lot of hatred, you know that, and there has been for a lot of years … but hopefully we’ll get something done.”Leaders in the room will also be eager to hear what Trump has to say about Russia’s war in Ukraine.It’s been more than a month since Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders. Following those meetings, Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska summit.European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some key Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.Trump has Oslo dreamsDespite his struggles to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump has made clear that he wants to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, repeatedly making the claim that he’s “ended seven wars” since he returned to office.He points to his administration’s efforts to end conflicts between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.Although Trump helped mediate relations among many of these nations, experts say his impact isn’t as clear cut as he claims.Still, Trump’s Nobel ambitions could have impact on the tenor of his address, said Mark Montgomery, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.“His speech is going to be driven by how much he really believes he has a chance of getting a Nobel Peace Prize,” Montgomery said. “If he thinks that’s still something he can do, then I think he knows you don’t go into the U.N. and drop a grenade down the tank hatch and shut it, right?”___AP journalists Tracy Brown and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

    NEW YORK —

    Watched by the world, President Donald Trump returns to the United Nations on Tuesday to deliver a wide-ranging address on his second-term foreign policy achievements and lament that “globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order,” according to the White House.

    Watch live video from the United Nations in the video player above

    World leaders will be listening closely to his remarks at the U.N. General Assembly as Trump has already moved quickly to diminish U.S. support for the world body in his first eight months in office. Even in his first term, he was no fan of the flavor of multilateralism that the United Nations espouses.

    After his latest inauguration, he issued a first-day executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization. That was followed by his move to end U.S. participation in the U.N. Human Rights Council, and ordering up a review of U.S. membership in hundreds of intergovernmental organizations aimed at determining whether they align with the priorities of his “America First” agenda.

    “There are great hopes for it, but it’s not being well run, to be honest,” Trump said of the U.N. last week.

    The U.S. president’s speech is typically among the most anticipated moments of the annual assembly. This one comes at one of the most volatile moments in the world body’s 80-year-old history. Global leaders are being tested by intractable wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, uncertainty about the economic and social impact of emerging artificial intelligence technology, and anxiety about Trump’s antipathy for the global body.

    Trump has also raised new questions about the American use of military force in his return to the White House, after ordering U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June and a trio of strikes this month on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea.

    The latter strikes, including at least two fatal attacks on boats that originated from Venezuela, has raised speculation in Caracas that Trump is looking to set the stage for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

    Some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates say that Trump is effectively carrying out extrajudicial killings by using U.S. forces to lethally target alleged drug smugglers instead of interdicting the suspected vessels, seizing any drugs and prosecuting the suspects in U.S. courts.

    “This is by far the most stressed the U.N. system has ever been in its 80 years,” said Anjali K. Dayal, a professor of international politics at Fordham University in New York.

    Trump to hold one-on-one talks with world leaders

    White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump would tout “the renewal of American strength around the world” and his efforts to help end several wars.

    “The president will also touch upon how globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order, and he will articulate his straightforward and constructive vision for the world,” Leavitt said.

    Following his speech, Trump will hold one-on-one meetings with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a group meeting with officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

    He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 invited world leaders.

    Gaza and Ukraine cast shadow over Trump speech

    Trump has struggled to deliver on his 2024 campaign promises to quickly end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His response has been also relatively muted as some longtime American allies are using this year’s General Assembly to spotlight the growing international campaign for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that the U.S. and Israel vehemently oppose.

    France became the latest nation to recognize Palestinian statehood on Monday at the start of a high-profile meeting at the U.N. aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. More nations are expected to follow.

    Leavitt said Trump sees the push as “just more talk and not enough action from some of our friends and allies.”

    Trump, for his part, in the lead-up to Tuesday’s address has tried to keep focus on getting agreement on a ceasefire that leads Hamas to releasing its remaining 48 hostages, including 20 still believed be alive.

    “I’d like to see a diplomatic solution,” Trump told reporters Sunday evening. “There’s a lot of anger and a lot of hatred, you know that, and there has been for a lot of years … but hopefully we’ll get something done.”

    Leaders in the room will also be eager to hear what Trump has to say about Russia’s war in Ukraine.

    It’s been more than a month since Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders. Following those meetings, Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska summit.

    European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some key Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.

    Trump has Oslo dreams

    Despite his struggles to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump has made clear that he wants to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, repeatedly making the claim that he’s “ended seven wars” since he returned to office.

    He points to his administration’s efforts to end conflicts between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.

    Although Trump helped mediate relations among many of these nations, experts say his impact isn’t as clear cut as he claims.

    Still, Trump’s Nobel ambitions could have impact on the tenor of his address, said Mark Montgomery, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.

    “His speech is going to be driven by how much he really believes he has a chance of getting a Nobel Peace Prize,” Montgomery said. “If he thinks that’s still something he can do, then I think he knows you don’t go into the U.N. and drop a grenade down the tank hatch and shut it, right?”

    ___

    AP journalists Tracy Brown and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

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  • Hamas responds to Trump’s ultimatum

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    Pro-Palestinian militant group Hamas said it was ready enter negotiations with the United States over the release of hostages after President Donald Trump issued a new ultimatum.

    “This is my last warning, there will not be another one!” Trump said. Hamas, however, said any talks would not be unconditional—underscoring the entrenchment on both sides.

    Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment.

    Freed Israeli hostages stand on stage with fighters of the Islamic Jihad and Ezz al-Din Al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas, before being handed over to representatives of the Red Cross in the southern…


    Abed Rahim Khatib/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

    Why It Matters

    Trump is pressing Hamas to “end the war” by releasing all Israeli hostages taken during the attack on October 7, 2023. Israel has expanded its military presence and intensified airstrikes deeper into Gaza City, saying it is the group’s stronghold.

    Hamas insists on the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area and refuses to disarm. It continues to clash with Israeli forces on the ground, even as the group’s capabilities appear to be waning and Israeli casualties continue to rise.

    Globally, frustration is mounting over the conflict, with Palestinian civilian deaths numbering in the tens of thousands and famine risks growing amid the ongoing hostilities.

    What To Know

    In a statement on Monday, Hamas said it had received U.S. ceasefire proposals through mediators, but said any deal must include a public commitment by Israel to uphold the terms and avoid repeating past breaches.

    Hamas holds nearly 50 Israeli hostages, of which 20 are still thought to be alive. On Friday, it released footage showing two hostages appealing for the war to end and for their safe return to their families, adding to growing public concerns in Israel for their safety amid intensifying combat.

    Trump said Israel had accepted his proposal for a comprehensive deal but that Hamas had not. Hamas says it accepted a separate ceasefire plan from Arab mediators on August 18, to which Israel has yet to respond.

    The U.S. is proposing that Hamas release all remaining hostages on the first day of a ceasefire in exchange for Israel freezing its assault on Gaza City, according to CNN.

    The proposal Hamas has accepted stipulates a temporary 60-day ceasefire, during which the Israeli army would relocate to allow the entry of humanitarian aid, while half of the 50 Israeli captives would be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners within the same time frame, Al-Jazeera reported.

    Israel strikes Gaza
    The Israeli military said it struck a high-rise in Gaza City on September 5, shortly after announcing it would target tall buildings identified as being used by Hamas ahead of its forces’ planned conquest of…


    OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP/Getty Images

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s stated goal is to end Hamas’ rule over the Gaza strip. Since Hamas took control of the territory in 2007, the frequency and intensity of rocket attacks on Israel have escalated with major clashes previously occurring in 2008-2009, 2012, 2014, and 2021.

    The October 7 attacks nearly two years ago were the most significant to date, with hundreds of militants crossing the border amid a barrage of nearly 5,000 projectiles. The attack killed nearly 1,200 Israelis and abducted 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures.

    Hamas has said it wants to see “the formation of a committee of independent Palestinians” to run Gaza—an Arab suggestion put forward by Egypt.

    Egypt, acting as the U.S.’s co-mediator along with Qatar, has expressed concern over the large numbers of Palestinians crossing the border from Gaza into the Sinai Peninsula, which it says undermines its national security interests.

    The Health Ministry of the Hamas-controlled Gaza government said on Sunday that 64,445 had been killed and more than 162,776 injured since the outbreak of war with Israel in fall 2023. Its data did not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

    What People Are Saying

    Hamas said in a statement via Telegram on Monday: “Hamas welcomes any step that supports the efforts to stop the aggression on our people and confirms readiness to immediately sit at the negotiating table to discuss the release of all prisoners in exchange for a clear declaration of ending the war, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and the formation of a committee of independent Palestinians to run the Gaza Strip and to start its work immediately.”

    U.S. President Donald Trump said on Truth Social on Sunday: “Everyone wants the Hostages HOME. Everyone wants this War to end! The Israelis have accepted my Terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well. I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one!”

    Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Monday: “Today, a powerful hurricane will strike the skies of Gaza City, and the roofs of the terror towers will. This is a final warning to the murderers and rapists of Hamas in Gaza and in luxury hotels abroad: Release the hostages and lay down your weapons—or Gaza will be destroyed, and you will be annihilated.”

    What Happens Next

    Israel will continue expanding its attacks, Katz said, while details of what the Trump administration could do next are yet to be revealed.

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  • Israeli strikes kill 33 in Gaza as famine announcement raises pressure

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    Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 33 Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday, including people sheltering in tents or seeking scarce food, local hospitals said as a famine in Gaza’s largest city sparks new pressure on Israel over its 22-month offensive.Israel’s defense minister has warned that Gaza City could be destroyed in a new military operation perhaps just days away, even as famine spreads there.Aid groups have long warned that the war, sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, and months of Israeli restrictions on food and medical supplies entering Gaza are causing starvation.Israel has rejected the data-based famine declaration as “an outright lie.” Hamas recently agreed to the terms for a six-week ceasefire, but hopes for a ceasefire that could forestall the offensive are on hold as mediators await Israel’s next steps. Women and children struck and killed in tentsIsraeli strikes killed at least 17 people in southern Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to morgue records and health officials at Nasser Hospital. The officials said the strikes targeted tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis.“Awad, why did you leave me?” a small boy asked his brother’s plastic-wrapped body.Another grieving relative, Hekmat Foujo, pleaded for a truce.“We want to rest,” Foujo said through her tears. ‘’Have some mercy on us.”In northern Gaza, Israeli gunfire killed at least five aid-seekers near the Zikim crossing with Israel, where U.N. and other agencies’ truck convoys enter the territory, health officials at the Sheikh Radwan field hospital told the AP.Six people were killed in attacks elsewhere, according to hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.Israel’s military said it was not aware of a strike in Khan Younis at that location and was looking into the other incidents.Braving gunfire and crowds for foodMohamed Saada was among thousands of people who sought food from a delivery in the Zikim area on Saturday — and one of many who left empty-handed.“I came here to bring food for my children but couldn’t get anything, due to the huge numbers of people and the difficulty of the situation between the shootings and the trucks running over people,” he said.Some carried sacks of food like lentils and flour. Others carried the wounded, including on a wooden pallet. They navigated fetid puddles and the rubble of war as temperatures reached above 92 degrees Fahrenheit.Friday’s report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said Gaza City is gripped by famine that is likely to spread if fighting and restrictions on aid continue. It said nearly half a million people in Gaza — about one-fourth of the population — face catastrophic hunger.The rare pronouncement came after Israel imposed a 2 1/2-month total blockade on Gaza earlier this year, then resumed some access with a focus on a new U.S.-backed private aid supplier, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Over 1,000 people have been killed near GHF distribution sites.In response to global outrage over images of emaciated children, Israel has also allowed airdrops and a new influx of aid by land, but the U.N. and others say it’s still far from enough.AP journalists have seen chaos on roads leading to aid deliveries, and there have been almost daily reports of Israeli troops firing toward aid-seekers. Israel’s military says it fires warning shots if people approach troops or pose a threat.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office asserts it has allowed enough aid to enter during the war. It also accuses Hamas of starving the Israeli hostages it holds.An increase in Israeli airstrikes this monthWith ground troops already active in strategic areas, the military operation in Gaza City could start within days in an area that has hundreds of thousands of civilians.Aid group Doctors without Borders, or MSF, said its clinics around Gaza City are seeing high numbers of patients as people flee. Caroline Willemen, MSF project coordinator in the city, noted a marked increase in airstrikes since early August.“Those who have not moved are wondering what they should do,” she told the AP. “People want to stay; they have been displaced endlessly before, but they also know that at some point, it will become very dangerous to remain.”Israel’s military has said troops are operating on the outskirts of Gaza City and in the city’s Zeitoun neighborhood. Israel says Gaza City is still a Hamas stronghold, with a network of militant tunnels.Ceasefire efforts await Israel’s responseMany Israelis fear the assault on Gaza City could doom the 20 hostages who are believed to have survived captivity since 2023. A further 30 are thought to be dead. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested a week ago for a deal to end the war and bring everyone home.Netanyahu said Thursday he had instructed officials to begin immediate negotiations to release hostages and end the war on Israel’s terms. It was unclear if Israel would return to talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar after Hamas said earlier this week it accepted a new proposal from Arab mediators.Hamas has said it will release hostages in exchange for ending the war, but rejects disarming without the creation of a Palestinian state.U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed frustration with Hamas’ stance, suggesting the militant group is less interested in making deals with few hostages left alive.“I actually think (the hostages are) safer in many ways if you went in and you really went in fast and you did it,” Trump told reporters Friday.Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 62,622 Palestinians have been killed in the war, including missing people now confirmed dead by a special ministry judicial committee.The total number of malnutrition-related deaths rose by eight to 281, the ministry said.Israeli protest against far-right security ministerA small group of Israelis protested against the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, as he walked to a synagogue in Kfar Malal, north of Tel Aviv. Videos showed the minister arguing with the protesters.“We don’t want him in our village. Our message is to bring back the hostages,” one of the protesters, Boaz Levinstein, told the AP.Ben-Gvir is a key partner in Netanyahu’s political coalition and a staunch opponent of reaching a deal with Hamas, which hostages’ families see as the only way to secure the release of loved ones. Magdy reported from Cairo. Sam Mednick in Jerusalem and Michelle Price in Washington contributed.

    KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip —

    Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 33 Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday, including people sheltering in tents or seeking scarce food, local hospitals said as a famine in Gaza’s largest city sparks new pressure on Israel over its 22-month offensive.

    Israel’s defense minister has warned that Gaza City could be destroyed in a new military operation perhaps just days away, even as famine spreads there.

    Aid groups have long warned that the war, sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, and months of Israeli restrictions on food and medical supplies entering Gaza are causing starvation.

    Israel has rejected the data-based famine declaration as “an outright lie.”

    Hamas recently agreed to the terms for a six-week ceasefire, but hopes for a ceasefire that could forestall the offensive are on hold as mediators await Israel’s next steps.

    Women and children struck and killed in tents

    Israeli strikes killed at least 17 people in southern Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to morgue records and health officials at Nasser Hospital. The officials said the strikes targeted tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis.

    “Awad, why did you leave me?” a small boy asked his brother’s plastic-wrapped body.

    Another grieving relative, Hekmat Foujo, pleaded for a truce.

    “We want to rest,” Foujo said through her tears. ‘’Have some mercy on us.”

    In northern Gaza, Israeli gunfire killed at least five aid-seekers near the Zikim crossing with Israel, where U.N. and other agencies’ truck convoys enter the territory, health officials at the Sheikh Radwan field hospital told the AP.

    Six people were killed in attacks elsewhere, according to hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

    Israel’s military said it was not aware of a strike in Khan Younis at that location and was looking into the other incidents.

    Braving gunfire and crowds for food

    Mohamed Saada was among thousands of people who sought food from a delivery in the Zikim area on Saturday — and one of many who left empty-handed.

    “I came here to bring food for my children but couldn’t get anything, due to the huge numbers of people and the difficulty of the situation between the shootings and the trucks running over people,” he said.

    Some carried sacks of food like lentils and flour. Others carried the wounded, including on a wooden pallet. They navigated fetid puddles and the rubble of war as temperatures reached above 92 degrees Fahrenheit.

    Friday’s report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said Gaza City is gripped by famine that is likely to spread if fighting and restrictions on aid continue. It said nearly half a million people in Gaza — about one-fourth of the population — face catastrophic hunger.

    The rare pronouncement came after Israel imposed a 2 1/2-month total blockade on Gaza earlier this year, then resumed some access with a focus on a new U.S.-backed private aid supplier, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Over 1,000 people have been killed near GHF distribution sites.

    In response to global outrage over images of emaciated children, Israel has also allowed airdrops and a new influx of aid by land, but the U.N. and others say it’s still far from enough.

    AP journalists have seen chaos on roads leading to aid deliveries, and there have been almost daily reports of Israeli troops firing toward aid-seekers. Israel’s military says it fires warning shots if people approach troops or pose a threat.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office asserts it has allowed enough aid to enter during the war. It also accuses Hamas of starving the Israeli hostages it holds.

    An increase in Israeli airstrikes this month

    With ground troops already active in strategic areas, the military operation in Gaza City could start within days in an area that has hundreds of thousands of civilians.

    Aid group Doctors without Borders, or MSF, said its clinics around Gaza City are seeing high numbers of patients as people flee. Caroline Willemen, MSF project coordinator in the city, noted a marked increase in airstrikes since early August.

    “Those who have not moved are wondering what they should do,” she told the AP. “People want to stay; they have been displaced endlessly before, but they also know that at some point, it will become very dangerous to remain.”

    Israel’s military has said troops are operating on the outskirts of Gaza City and in the city’s Zeitoun neighborhood. Israel says Gaza City is still a Hamas stronghold, with a network of militant tunnels.

    Ceasefire efforts await Israel’s response

    Many Israelis fear the assault on Gaza City could doom the 20 hostages who are believed to have survived captivity since 2023. A further 30 are thought to be dead. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested a week ago for a deal to end the war and bring everyone home.

    Netanyahu said Thursday he had instructed officials to begin immediate negotiations to release hostages and end the war on Israel’s terms. It was unclear if Israel would return to talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar after Hamas said earlier this week it accepted a new proposal from Arab mediators.

    Hamas has said it will release hostages in exchange for ending the war, but rejects disarming without the creation of a Palestinian state.

    U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed frustration with Hamas’ stance, suggesting the militant group is less interested in making deals with few hostages left alive.

    “I actually think (the hostages are) safer in many ways if you went in and you really went in fast and you did it,” Trump told reporters Friday.

    Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 62,622 Palestinians have been killed in the war, including missing people now confirmed dead by a special ministry judicial committee.

    The total number of malnutrition-related deaths rose by eight to 281, the ministry said.

    Israeli protest against far-right security minister

    A small group of Israelis protested against the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, as he walked to a synagogue in Kfar Malal, north of Tel Aviv. Videos showed the minister arguing with the protesters.

    “We don’t want him in our village. Our message is to bring back the hostages,” one of the protesters, Boaz Levinstein, told the AP.

    Ben-Gvir is a key partner in Netanyahu’s political coalition and a staunch opponent of reaching a deal with Hamas, which hostages’ families see as the only way to secure the release of loved ones.

    Magdy reported from Cairo. Sam Mednick in Jerusalem and Michelle Price in Washington contributed.

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  • Moscow noncommittal on Trump proposal for Zelensky-Putin meeting

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    The presidents of Russia and Ukraine may finally meet to discuss peace after 3½ years of war, President Trump said Monday, hosting European leaders at the White House in a push to resolve the conflict.

    But it is unclear whether the Kremlin has agreed to the proposal, telling reporters only that Russian President Vladimir Putin would consider “raising the level” of negotiations between Russia’s and Ukraine’s representatives.

    Trump proposed that Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meet one-on-one “at a location to be determined,” taking a call with the Russian leader in the middle of a high-stakes meeting with Zelensky and his European counterparts.

    “After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself,” Trump wrote on social media. “Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years.”

    The president’s statement came after European leaders urged Trump to “put pressure” on Russia, after his meeting with Putin in Alaska last week sparked widespread fears over the fate of U.S. support for security on the continent.

    The meeting had a historic flavor, with six European heads of government, the NATO secretary general and the president of the European Commission all converging on Washington for discussions with the president.

    Trump first met with Zelensky in the Oval Office, striking an affable tone after their last, disastrous meeting in the room in February. This time, Trump emphasized his “love” for the Ukrainian people and his commitment to provide security guarantees for Kyiv in an ultimate peace settlement with Russia.

    Zelensky offered only praise and gratitude to Trump, telling reporters that they had their “best” meeting yet.

    But an expanded meeting with Zelensky and the chancellor of Germany, the presidents of France and Finland, the prime ministers of the United Kingdom and Italy, and the heads of NATO and the European Commission hinted at a more challenging road ahead for the burgeoning peace effort.

    President Trump speaks to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, left foreground, as French President Emmanuel Macron listens during a meeting at the White House on Aug. 18, 2025.

    (Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

    “The next steps ahead are the more complicated ones now,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said. “The path is open — you opened it, but now the way is open for complicated negotiations, and to be honest, we would all like to see a ceasefire, at the latest, from the next meeting on.”

    “I can’t imagine the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire,” Merz added. “So let’s work on that. And let’s put pressure on Russia.”

    Emmanuel Macron, the French president, sat sternly throughout the start of the meeting before echoing Merz’s call.

    “Your idea to ask for a truce, a ceasefire, or at least to stop the killings,” Macron said, “is a necessity, and we all support this idea.”

    Trump had been in agreement with his European counterparts on the necessity of a ceasefire for months. Zelensky first agreed to one in March. But Putin has refused, pressing Russian advantages on the battlefield, and in Anchorage on Friday, he convinced Trump to drop his calls for an immediate halt to the fighting.

    “All of us would obviously prefer an immediate ceasefire while we work on a lasting peace. Maybe something like that could happen — as of this moment, it’s not happening,” Trump said at the meeting. “But President Zelensky and President Putin can talk a little bit more about that.”

    “I don’t know that it’s necessary,” Trump added. “You can do it through the war. But I like the ceasefire from another standpoint — you immediately stop the killing.”

    The European leaders all emphasized to Trump that they share his desire for peace. But the president of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called for a “just” peace, and Zelensky would not engage publicly with reporters on Putin’s central demand: a surrender of vast swaths of Ukrainian territory to Russian control.

    Putin first invaded Ukraine in 2014, occupying the Crimean peninsula in a stealth operation and funding an attack on the eastern region of Donbas using proxy forces. But he launched a full-scale invasion of the entire country in 2022, leading to the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II.

    In a hot mic moment, before the media were ushered out of the expanded meeting with European leaders, Trump told Macron that he believes the Russian president and former KGB officer would agree to a peace deal because of their personal relationship.

    He “wants to make a deal for me,” he said, “as crazy as it sounds.”

    ‘Article 5-like’ guarantees

    European leaders said that detailed U.S. security guarantees — for Ukraine specifically, and more broadly for Europe — were at the top of the agenda for Monday’s meetings, including the prospect of U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine to enforce any future peace settlement.

    Asked whether U.S. forces would be involved, Trump did not rule it out, stating, “We’ll be talking about that.”

    “When it comes to security, there’s going to be a lot of help,” he said in the Oval Office. “It’s going to be good. They are first line of defense, because they’re there — they are Europe. But we’re going to help them out, also. We’ll be involved.”

    Von der Leyen, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer praised the Trump administration for discussing what it called “Article 5-like” security guarantees for Ukraine, referencing a provision of the North Atlantic Treaty Organizaton charter that states that an attack on one member is an attack on all.

    But the provision also provides countries in the alliance with broad discretion on whether to participate in a military response to an attack on a fellow member.

    Starmer and Macron have expressed a willingness for months to send British and French troops to Ukraine. But the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday that Moscow would oppose the deployment of NATO troops to the country as “provocative” and “reckless,” creating a potential rift in the negotiations.

    A dark-bearded man, in dark suit, walks with another man, in suit and red tie, and a woman in a white suit

    President Trump walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and White House protocol chief Monica Crowley in the White House on Aug. 18, 2025.

    (Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

    Despite the gulf between Europe and Russia, Trump expressed hope throughout the day that he could schedule a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelensky.

    He planned on calling Putin shortly after European leaders left the White House, he told reporters, only to interrupt the meeting to call the Russian leader with the proposal for bilateral talks.

    Trump’s team floated inviting Zelensky to attend the negotiations in Alaska on Friday, and Zelensky has said he is willing to participate in a trilateral meeting. He repeated his interest to Trump on Monday and asked him to attend.

    It is unclear whether Moscow will agree to a summit involving Zelensky in any capacity. Ahead of Friday’s meeting, Russian officials said that conditions weren’t right for direct talks between Putin and the Ukrainian president. The Russian leader has repeatedly questioned Zelensky’s legitimacy and has tried to have him assassinated on numerous occasions.

    Quiet on territorial ‘swaps’

    In the Oval Office, a Fox News reporter asked Zelensky whether he was “prepared to keep sending Ukrainian troops to their deaths,” or whether he would “agree to redraw the maps” instead. The Ukrainian president demurred.

    “We live under each day attacks,” Zelensky responded. “We need to stop this war, to stop Russia. And we need the support — American and European partners.”

    Trump and his team largely adopted Putin’s position Friday that Russia should be able to keep the Ukrainian territory it has occupied by force — and possibly even more of Donetsk, which is part of the Donbas region and remains in Ukrainian control — in exchange for an end to the fighting. But European officials were silent on the idea on Monday.

    The Ukrainian Constitution prohibits the concession of territory without the support of a public referendum, and polls indicate that 3 in 4 Ukrainians oppose giving up land in an attempt to end the war.

    Steve Witkoff, the president’s envoy for special missions, said Sunday that Putin agreed to pass legislation through the Kremlin that would guarantee an end to wars of conquest in Ukraine, or elsewhere in Europe.

    But Russia has made similar commitments before.

    In 1994, the United States and Britain signed on to a agreement in Budapest with Ukraine and Russia that ostensibly guaranteed security for Kyiv and vowed to honor Ukraine’s territorial integrity. In exchange, Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons.

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    Michael Wilner

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  • After welcoming Putin, Trump appears to adopt his goal, agreeing to cede land for peace

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    ANCHORAGE — President Trump made his expectations clear entering a summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday: “I won’t be happy if I walk away without some form of a ceasefire,” he said aboard Air Force One.

    Yet he did, emerging from their meeting in a diplomatic retreat, endorsing Russia’s territorial ambitions and adopting Putin’s position that would put off ceasefire negotiations in favor of more comprehensive talks.

    Trump told his European counterparts he had agreed with Putin’s demand that Ukraine make territorial concessions to end the conflict, a painful prospect for Ukrainians at the heart of the war, a European official told The Times on Saturday.

    Trump also wrote on social media that he would adopt the Kremlin line deferring talks on an imminent ceasefire.

    “It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,” Trump wrote on social media. “If all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin. Potentially, millions of people’s lives will be saved.”

    It was a remarkable success for Putin, who sees a Russian edge on the battlefield and has put off discussions of a ceasefire for months as Russian forces press their advantage along the Ukrainian front lines.

    Putin was greeted on the tarmac of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson with applause and smiles from the American president and offered a ride in his iconic vehicle. After years in isolation over his repeated invasions of Ukraine, facing an indictment from the International Criminal Court over war crimes, a red carpet awaited Putin on U.S. soil.

    Landing in Washington, Trump spoke with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as the secretary-general of NATO and other European leaders. A follow-up meeting with Zelensky is scheduled for Monday in Washington.

    But achieving a peace agreement is an even higher bar than the ceasefire that has eluded the Trump administration in recent months, requiring comprehensive, often protracted negotiations that, in the meantime, will allow Russia to continue its battlefield offensive.

    The New York Times first reported details of Trump’s conversations with European leaders.

    Details of the meeting are still unclear. In Alaska, both men referenced “agreements” in statements to reporters. But Trump acknowledged the question that matters most — whether Russia is prepared to implement a ceasefire — remains unresolved.

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    “We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to. There are just a very few that are left,” Trump said. “Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant, but we have a very good chance of getting there.”

    In a follow-up interview on Fox News, Trump said the meeting went well. “But we’ll see,” he said. “You know, you have to get a deal.”

    Trump’s failure to secure a ceasefire from Putin surprised few analysts, who see Putin with the military initiative, pushing forward with offensive incursions along the front, and offering no indication he plans to relent.

    The question is whether Putin will be able to sustain Trump’s goodwill when the war continues grinding on. On Friday alone, hours before the summit began, Russian forces struck a civilian market in the Ukrainian city of Sumy.

    The Russian delegation left immediately after the press availability, providing no comments to the press corps on how the meetings went behind closed doors. And after sitting down with Fox, Trump promptly left Anchorage for Washington. The White House issued no statements, readouts or fact sheets on the summit. Administration officials fell silent.

    “Putin is going to have to give Trump some kind of concession so that he is not completely embarrassed,” said Darren Kew, dean of the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego, “probably a pledge of a ceasefire very soon — one of Trump’s key demands — followed by a promise to meet the Ukrainians for talks this fall.”

    “Both serve Putin’s goals of delay and appeasing Trump, while allowing more time for Russian battlefield victories,” Kew added, “since ceasefires can easily be broken, and peace talks can drag on for years.”

    In brief remarks of his own, Putin said that points of agreement reached with Trump would likely face opposition across Europe, including from Ukraine itself, warning continental allies not to “torpedo nascent progress” in follow-up talks with the White House.

    “I would like to hope that the agreement that we have reached together will help us bring us close to that goal, and will pave the path toward peace in Ukraine,” Putin said. “We expect that Kyiv and European capitals will perceive that constructively, and that they won’t throw a wrench in the works.”

    It was an acknowledgment that whatever terms agreed upon bilaterally between Putin and Trump’s team are almost certainly unacceptable to Ukraine, a party to the conflict that has lost hundreds of thousands of lives fighting Russia’s invasion since February 2022.

    The Financial Times reported Saturday that Putin had demanded Ukraine cede two eastern administrative divisions at the heart of the conflict — Donetsk and Luhansk — in exchange for Moscow agreeing to freeze the rest of the front line.

    Trump told Fox that a Russian takeover of Ukrainian lands was discussed and “agreed upon,” pending Ukrainian approval — an unlikely prospect given vocal opposition from Zelensky and provisions in the Ukrainian Constitution that prohibit the concession of territory.

    “Those are points that we negotiated, and those are points that we largely have agreed upon, actually. I think we’ve agreed on a lot,” Trump said. “I think we’re pretty close to a deal. Now, look. Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they’ll say no.”

    Europe and Ukraine have argued that conceding land to Putin is not enough. After invading Crimea in 2014, and successfully holding it, Putin came back for more territory in the eastern Donbas — only to launch a full-scale invasion of the country in 2022.

    The Russian Foreign Ministry said this week that its war aims remain unchanged.

    “We’re convinced that in order to make the settlement last in the long term, we need to eliminate all the primary roots, the primary causes of that conflict,” Putin said, “to consider all legitimate concerns of Russia, and to reinstate a just balance of security in Europe, and in the world on the whole.”

    “The root causes of the conflict,” he added, “must be resolved.”

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  • Trump, casting himself as ‘peacemaker-in-chief,’ faces tests in Gaza and Ukraine

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    WASHINGTON — After styling himself for decades as a dealmaker, President Trump is showing some receipts in his second term of ceasefires and peace agreements brokered on his watch. But the president faces extraordinary challenges in his latest push to negotiate ends to the world’s two bloodiest conflicts.

    Stakes could not be higher in Ukraine, where nearly a million Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in pursuit of Vladimir Putin’s war of conquest, according to independent analysts. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers add to the catastrophic casualty toll. Trump’s struggle to get both sides to a negotiating table, let alone to secure a ceasefire, has grown into a fixation for Trump, prompting rare rebukes of Putin from the U.S. president.

    And in the Gaza Strip, an alliance that has withstood scathing international criticism over Israel’s conduct of its war against Hamas has begun to show strain. Trump still supports the fundamental mission of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to destroy the militant group and secure the release of Israeli hostages in its possession. But mounting evidence of mass starvation in Gaza has begun to fray the relationship, reportedly resulting in a shouting match in their most recent call.

    Breakthroughs in the two conflicts have evaded Trump, despite his efforts to fashion himself into the “peacemaker-in-chief” and floating his own nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.

    In Turnberry, Scotland, last month, Trump claimed that six wars had been stopped or thwarted under his watch since he returned to office in January. “I’m averaging about a war a month,” he said at the time.

    He has, in fact, secured a string of tangible successes on the international stage, overseeing a peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda; hosting a peace ceremony between Armenia and Azerbeijan; brokering a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand, and imposing an end to a 12-day war between Israel and Iran after engaging U.S. forces directly in the conflict.

    Olivier Nduhungirehe, Rwanda’s foreign minister, from left, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Democratic Republic of the Congo foreign minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner in the Oval Office of the White House on June 27. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda agreed to a U.S.-backed peace deal meant to end years of deadly conflict and promote development in Congo’s volatile eastern region.

    (Yuri Gripas/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    “As president, my highest aspiration is to bring peace and stability to the world,” Trump said at the ceremony with Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders Friday.

    “We’ve only been here for six months. The world was on fire. We took care of just about every fire — and we’re working on another one,” he said, “with Russia, Ukraine.”

    Trump also takes credit for lowering tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, and for brokering a ceasefire between two nuclear states, India and Pakistan, a claim the latter supports but the former denies.

    “Wars usually last five to 10 years,” said Michael E. O’Hanlon, chair in defense and strategy at the Brookings Institution. “Trump is tactically clever, but no magician. If he actually gets three of these five conflicts to end, that’s an incredible track record.

    “In each case, he may exaggerate his own role,” O’Hanlon said, but “that’s OK — I welcome the effort and contribution, even if others deserve credit, too.”

    One-on-one with Putin

    Well past his campaign promise of ending Russia’s war with Ukraine “within 24 hours” of taking office, Trump has tried pressuring both sides to come to the negotiating table, starting with the Ukrainians. “You don’t have the cards,” Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an infamous Oval Office meeting in February, chastising him to prepare to make painful concessions to end the war.

    But in June, at a NATO summit in the Netherlands, Trump’s years-long geniality with Putin underwent a shift. He began criticizing Russia’s leader as responsible for the ongoing conflict, accusing Putin of throwing “meaningless … bull—” at him and his team.

    “I’m not happy with Putin, I can tell you that much right now,” Trump said, approving new weapons for Ukraine, a remarkable policy shift long advocated by the Europeans.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin and King of Malaysia Sultan Ibrahim walk during a welcoming ceremony at the Kremlin

    Russian President Vladimir Putin and King of Malaysia Sultan Ibrahim walk during a welcoming ceremony at the Grand Kremlin Palace on Wednesday in Moscow. Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim is on an official visit to Russia.

    (Getty Images)

    The Trump administration set Friday as a deadline for Putin to demonstrate his commitment to a ceasefire, or otherwise face a new round of crushing secondary sanctions — financial tools that would punish Russia’s trading partners for continuing business with Moscow.

    Those plans were put on hold after Trump announced he would meet with Putin in Alaska next week, a high-stakes meeting that will exclude Zelensky.

    “The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska. Further details to follow,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Friday. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

    Meeting Putin one-on-one — the first meeting between a U.S. and Russian president in four years, and the first between Putin and any Western leader since he launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — in and of itself could be seen as a reward for a Russian leader seeking to regain international legitimacy, experts said.

    President Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin

    In this June 28, 2019, file photo, President Trump, right, meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan.

    (Susan Walsh/Associated Press)

    Worse still, Putin, a former KGB officer, could approach the meeting as an opportunity to manipulate the American president.

    “Putin has refused to abandon his ultimate objectives in Ukraine — he is determined to supplant the Zelensky government in Kyiv with a pro-Russian regime,” said Kyle Balzer, a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “He wants ironclad guarantees that Ukraine will never gain admittance to NATO. So there is currently no agreement to be had with Russia, except agreeing to surrender to Putin’s demands. Neither Ukraine nor Europe are interested in doing so.

    “Put simply, Putin likely believes that he can wear down the current administration,” Balzer added. “Threatening Russia with punitive acts like sanctions, and then pulling back when the time comes to do so, has only emboldened Putin to strive for ultimate victory in Ukraine.”

    A European official told The Times that, while the U.S. government had pushed for Zelensky to join the initial meeting, a response from Kyiv — noting that any territorial concession to Russia in negotiations would have to be approved in a ballot referendum by the Ukrainian people — scuttled the initial plan.

    The Trump administration is prepared to endorse the bulk of Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territory, including the eastern region of Donbas and the Crimean peninsula, at the upcoming summit, Bloomberg reported. On Friday, Trump called the issue of territory “complicated.”

    “We’re gonna get some back,” he said. “There will be some swapping of territories.”

    Michael Williams, an international relations professor at Syracuse University, said that Trump has advocated for a ceasefire in Ukraine “at the expense of other strategic priorities such as stability in Europe and punishment of Russia through increased aid to Ukraine.”

    Such an approach, Williams said, “would perhaps force the Kremlin to end the war, and further afield, would signal to other potential aggressors, such as China, that violations of international law will be met with a painful response.”

    Gaza

    At Friday’s peace ceremony, Trump told reporters he was considering a proposal to relocate Palestinian refugees to Somalia and its breakaway region, Somaliland, once Israel ends hostilities against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

    “We are working on that right now,” Trump said.

    It was just the latest instance of Trump floating the resettlement of Palestinians displaced during the two-year war there, which has destroyed more than 90% of the structures throughout the strip and essentially displaced its entire population of 2 million people. The Hamas-run Health Ministry reports that more than 60,000 civilians and militants have died in the conflict.

    Hamas, recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and others, has refused to concede the war, stating it would disarm only once a Palestinian state is established. The group continues to hold roughly 50 Israeli hostages, some dead and some alive, among 251 taken during its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which also killed about 1,200 people.

    Protesters gather in a demonstration organized by the families of the Israeli hostages taken captive in the Gaza Strip

    Protesters gather in a demonstration organized by the families of the Israeli hostages taken captive in the Gaza Strip since October 2023 calling for action to secure their release outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

    (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

    Israel’s Cabinet voted this week to approve a plan to take over Gaza City in the north of the strip and, eventually, the rest of the territory, a deeply unpopular strategy in the Israeli military and among the Israeli public. Netanyahu on Friday rejected the notion that Israel planned to permanently occupy Gaza.

    Despite applying private pressure on Netanyahu, Trump’s strategy has largely fallen in line with that of his predecessor, Joe Biden, whose team supported Israel’s right to defend itself while working toward a peace deal that, at its core, would exchange the remaining hostages for a cessation of hostilities.

    The talks have stalled, one U.S. official said, primarily blaming Hamas over its demands.

    “In Gaza, there is a fundamental structural imbalance of dealing with a terrorist organization that may be immune to traditional forms of pressure — military, economic or otherwise — and that may even have a warped, perverse set of priorities in which the suffering of its own people is viewed as a political asset because it tarnishes the reputation of the other party, Israel,” said Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “So Trump really only has leverage over one party — his ally, Israel — which he has been reluctant to wield, reasonably so.”

    In Ukraine, too, Trump holds leverage he has been unwilling, thus far, to bring to bear.

    “There, Trump has leverage over both parties but appears reluctant to wield it on one of them — Russia,” Satloff said.

    But Trump suggested Friday that threatened sanctions on India over its purchase of Russian oil, and his agreement with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to secure greater security spending from European members, “had an impact” on Moscow’s negotiating position.

    “I think my instinct really tells me that we have a shot at it,” Trump said. “I think we’re getting very close.”

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  • Middle East conflict edges closer to ‘open-ended battle’

    Middle East conflict edges closer to ‘open-ended battle’

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    Escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is raising concerns of a broader conflict in the Middle East, with U.S. efforts to mediate a ceasefire in Gaza facing little to no progress.Overnight, Israel launched airstrikes in southern Lebanon, targeting what officials say were Hezbollah terrorists. The strikes come in response to over 100 rockets fired by Hezbollah over the weekend, following the death of one of its leaders and an attack through communications devices.One Hezbollah leader declared the attacks an “open-ended battle” as both sides spiral closer to an all-out war.”We did not want this war. We are not seeking war,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said. “Hezbollah’s been attacking us on a daily basis, demolishing Israeli villages and towns. Basically leading to the eviction of 100,000 Israelis from their homes. Life has been shattered in our northern border.””We will take whatever action is necessary to restore security and to bring our people safe back to their homes,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address. “No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We can’t accept it either.”Meanwhile, U.S. mediators have been working alongside international negotiators to secure a ceasefire deal in Gaza, but stalled progress and the escalating violence are threatening hope of bringing American hostages home.”We have not achieved any progress here in the last week to two weeks- not for lack of trying,” White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby, said. “We will certainly keep up those conversations as best we can. And we’re talking to both sides here.”President Joe Biden acknowledged the latest surge of violence and expressed concern of spreading conflict.”We’re going to do everything we can to keep from a wider war from breaking out,” he said.There are other concerns that the same type of attacks on explosive communications devices used in Lebanon could happen in the U.S. Experts believe Israel infiltrated the international supply chain and placed the rigged devices in imports headed to Lebanon. According to the Associated Press, the complex operation likely took months to pull off but little evidence has emerged so far.The White House did not comment on whether it is taking steps to protect the U.S. supply chain as a result, offering instead that Biden wants the supply chain to be largely self-sufficient, with most goods originating from within the U.S.Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to meet with leaders of the United Arab Emirates Monday before Biden travels to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

    WASHINGTON —

    Escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is raising concerns of a broader conflict in the Middle East, with U.S. efforts to mediate a ceasefire in Gaza facing little to no progress.

    Overnight, Israel launched airstrikes in southern Lebanon, targeting what officials say were Hezbollah terrorists. The strikes come in response to over 100 rockets fired by Hezbollah over the weekend, following the death of one of its leaders and an attack through communications devices.

    One Hezbollah leader declared the attacks an “open-ended battle” as both sides spiral closer to an all-out war.

    “We did not want this war. We are not seeking war,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said. “Hezbollah’s been attacking us on a daily basis, demolishing Israeli villages and towns. Basically leading to the eviction of 100,000 Israelis from their homes. Life has been shattered in our northern border.”

    “We will take whatever action is necessary to restore security and to bring our people safe back to their homes,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address. “No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We can’t accept it either.”

    Meanwhile, U.S. mediators have been working alongside international negotiators to secure a ceasefire deal in Gaza, but stalled progress and the escalating violence are threatening hope of bringing American hostages home.

    “We have not achieved any progress here in the last week to two weeks- not for lack of trying,” White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby, said. “We will certainly keep up those conversations as best we can. And we’re talking to both sides here.”

    President Joe Biden acknowledged the latest surge of violence and expressed concern of spreading conflict.

    “We’re going to do everything we can to keep from a wider war from breaking out,” he said.

    There are other concerns that the same type of attacks on explosive communications devices used in Lebanon could happen in the U.S. Experts believe Israel infiltrated the international supply chain and placed the rigged devices in imports headed to Lebanon. According to the Associated Press, the complex operation likely took months to pull off but little evidence has emerged so far.

    The White House did not comment on whether it is taking steps to protect the U.S. supply chain as a result, offering instead that Biden wants the supply chain to be largely self-sufficient, with most goods originating from within the U.S.

    Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to meet with leaders of the United Arab Emirates Monday before Biden travels to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

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  • US and negotiation partners propose ‘final’ ceasefire offer

    US and negotiation partners propose ‘final’ ceasefire offer

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    The U.S., Egypt, and Qatar are working on a new ceasefire proposal to end the war between Israel and Hamas. The deal also hopes to bring hostages and prisoners home.Meanwhile, protests in Israel stretched into a third day Wednesday, calling on the government to reach an agreement after six hostages, including an American, were found killed by Hamas over the weekend.The killings sparked new urgency for a deal.The U.S. says constructive talks are now edging closer to a “bridging proposal” that could get Israel and Hamas to agree.”Every day that goes by without an agreement, there are risks. Obviously one of the risks is region-wide conflict that we’ve worked to try and avoid,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a briefing Tuesday. “Another risk is the continued loss of innocent Palestinian lives. Hostages could die and so that’s why we continue to push for this urgency.”The White House is brushing off the deal as a “final” or “take it or leave it” offer but did not go into detail on what would happen if the deal proves unsuccessful.On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced criminal charges against six Hamas leaders connected to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel igniting the war. The indictment includes charges of terrorism and sanctions evasion but the case is mostly symbolic.Hamas’ leader is believed to be hiding in tunnels in Gaza and three other defendants are presumed dead.The United Nations Security Council will meet Wednesday to talk about the fate of the remaining hostages.

    The U.S., Egypt, and Qatar are working on a new ceasefire proposal to end the war between Israel and Hamas. The deal also hopes to bring hostages and prisoners home.

    Meanwhile, protests in Israel stretched into a third day Wednesday, calling on the government to reach an agreement after six hostages, including an American, were found killed by Hamas over the weekend.

    The killings sparked new urgency for a deal.

    The U.S. says constructive talks are now edging closer to a “bridging proposal” that could get Israel and Hamas to agree.

    “Every day that goes by without an agreement, there are risks. Obviously one of the risks is region-wide conflict that we’ve worked to try and avoid,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a briefing Tuesday. “Another risk is the continued loss of innocent Palestinian lives. Hostages could die and so that’s why we continue to push for this urgency.”

    The White House is brushing off the deal as a “final” or “take it or leave it” offer but did not go into detail on what would happen if the deal proves unsuccessful.

    On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced criminal charges against six Hamas leaders connected to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel igniting the war. The indictment includes charges of terrorism and sanctions evasion but the case is mostly symbolic.

    Hamas’ leader is believed to be hiding in tunnels in Gaza and three other defendants are presumed dead.

    The United Nations Security Council will meet Wednesday to talk about the fate of the remaining hostages.

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  • Tlaib intensifies anti-genocide message after Israel invades Rafah

    Tlaib intensifies anti-genocide message after Israel invades Rafah

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    click to enlarge

    Shutterstock

    U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib delivered a speech in Dearborn in February, urging Democrats to vote “uncommitted” in the presidential primary election to protest President Joe Biden’s support of Israel.

    U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib slammed her colleagues Tuesday for continuing to send billions of dollars in aid to Israel after the invasion of Gaza’s vital Rafah border crossing.

    Tlaib condemned her colleagues and President Joe Biden for sending billions in aid “with absolutely no conditions on upholding human rights.”

    Fears are mounting that Israel is preparing for a full-scale invasion after its military sent tanks into Rafah and conducted targeted airstrikes in the eastern part of the city on Tuesday to establish control over the Gaza side of the border crossing with Egypt.

    “Many of my colleagues are going to express concern and horror at the crimes against humanity that are about to unfold, even though they just voted to send [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu billions more in weapons,” Tlaib said in a lengthy statement. “Do not be misled, they gave their consent for these atrocities, and our country is actively participating in genocide. For months, Netanyahu made his intent to invade Rafah clear, yet the majority of my colleagues and President Biden sent more weapons to enable the massacre.”

    The assault on Rafah came despite Biden warning Israel to avoid a full-scale invasion. The assault on the city threatened to deepen the divide between Biden and Netanhyahu over a potential ceasefire and a strategy to free the hostages held by Hamas.

    Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, has been a fierce critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Since the war began, Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 34,500 people.

    Despite the disproportionate scale of violence by Israel, Congress and Biden signed off on more than $14 million to the country. More Democrats are now signaling that they won’t support additional money to Israel unless there are conditions, such as preventing civilian deaths in Gaza.

    Meanwhile, Tlaib said, the conditions in Gaza are so dire that it has become a “genocide of Palestinians.”

    “There is nowhere safe in Gaza,” Tlaib said. “Nearly 80% of the civilian infrastructure has been destroyed. There is no feasible evacuation plan, and the Israeli government is only trying to provide a false pretense of safety to try to maintain legal cover at the International Court of Justice.”

    The Detroit Democrat said the funding must stop.

    “It is now more apparent than ever that we must end all U.S. military funding for the Israeli apartheid regime, and demand that President Biden facilitate an immediate, permanent ceasefire that includes a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians,” Tlaib said.

    Tlaib also called on the International Court of Justice to “issue arrest warrants Netanhayu and senior Israeli officials to finally hold them accountable for this genocide, as is obviously warranted by these well-documented violations of the Genocide Convention under international law.”

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  • Netanyahu’s Cabinet votes to close Al Jazeera offices in Israel after rising tensions

    Netanyahu’s Cabinet votes to close Al Jazeera offices in Israel after rising tensions

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    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his government has voted unanimously to shut down the local offices of Qatar-owned broadcaster Al Jazeera.Related video above: President Biden breaks silence on Pro-Palestine protests around the countryNetanyahu announced the decision on X, formerly Twitter, but details on the implications of the step on the channel, when it would go into effect or whether the measure was permanent or temporary were not immediately clear.There was no immediate comment from the channel headquarters in Doha, Qatar. An Al Jazeera correspondent on its Arabic service said the order would affect the broadcaster’s operations in Israel and in east Jerusalem, where it has been doing live shots for months since the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war in Gaza.It would not affect Al Jazeera’s operations in the Palestinian territories, the correspondent said.Israeli media said the vote allows Israel to block the channel from operating in the country for 45 days, according to the decision.”My government decided unanimously: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will close in Israel,” Netanyahu posted on X. Al Jazeera as vehemently denied that it incites against Israel.The decision escalated Israel’s long-running feud against Al Jazeera. It also threatened to heighten tensions with Qatar, which owns the channel, at a time when the Doha government is playing a key role in mediation efforts to halt the war in Gaza.Israel has long had a rocky relationship with Al Jazeera, accusing it of bias against it.Al Jazeera is one of the few international media outlets to remain in Gaza throughout the war, broadcasting bloody scenes of airstrikes and overcrowded hospitals and accusing Israel of massacres. Israel accuses Al Jazeera of collaborating with Hamas.Al Jazeera, the Doha-based broadcaster funded by Qatar’s government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.While Al Jazeera’s English operation often resembles the programming found on other major broadcast networks, its Arabic arm often publishes verbatim video statements from Hamas and other militant groups in the region. It similarly came under harsh U.S. criticism during America’s occupation of Iraq after its 2003 invasion toppled director Saddam Hussein.It remains unclear how such an order would be enforced by Israel.___Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Jerusalem contributed to this report.’

    TEL AVIV, Israel —

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his government has voted unanimously to shut down the local offices of Qatar-owned broadcaster Al Jazeera.

    Related video above: President Biden breaks silence on Pro-Palestine protests around the country

    Netanyahu announced the decision on X, formerly Twitter, but details on the implications of the step on the channel, when it would go into effect or whether the measure was permanent or temporary were not immediately clear.

    There was no immediate comment from the channel headquarters in Doha, Qatar. An Al Jazeera correspondent on its Arabic service said the order would affect the broadcaster’s operations in Israel and in east Jerusalem, where it has been doing live shots for months since the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war in Gaza.

    It would not affect Al Jazeera’s operations in the Palestinian territories, the correspondent said.

    Israeli media said the vote allows Israel to block the channel from operating in the country for 45 days, according to the decision.

    “My government decided unanimously: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will close in Israel,” Netanyahu posted on X. Al Jazeera as vehemently denied that it incites against Israel.

    The decision escalated Israel’s long-running feud against Al Jazeera. It also threatened to heighten tensions with Qatar, which owns the channel, at a time when the Doha government is playing a key role in mediation efforts to halt the war in Gaza.

    Israel has long had a rocky relationship with Al Jazeera, accusing it of bias against it.

    Al Jazeera is one of the few international media outlets to remain in Gaza throughout the war, broadcasting bloody scenes of airstrikes and overcrowded hospitals and accusing Israel of massacres. Israel accuses Al Jazeera of collaborating with Hamas.

    Al Jazeera, the Doha-based broadcaster funded by Qatar’s government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    While Al Jazeera’s English operation often resembles the programming found on other major broadcast networks, its Arabic arm often publishes verbatim video statements from Hamas and other militant groups in the region. It similarly came under harsh U.S. criticism during America’s occupation of Iraq after its 2003 invasion toppled director Saddam Hussein.

    It remains unclear how such an order would be enforced by Israel.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Jerusalem contributed to this report.’

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  • Israelis stage largest protest since war began to increase pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu

    Israelis stage largest protest since war began to increase pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu

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    Tens of thousands of Israelis thronged central Jerusalem on Sunday in the largest anti-government protest since the country went to war in October. Protesters urged the government to reach a cease-fire deal to free dozens of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas militants and to hold early elections.Israeli society was broadly united immediately after Oct. 7, when Hamas killed some 1,200 people during a cross-border attack and took 250 others hostage. Nearly six months of conflict have renewed divisions over the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, though the country remains largely in favor of the war.Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and bring all the hostages home, yet those goals have been elusive. While Hamas has suffered heavy losses, it remains intact.Roughly half the hostages in Gaza were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November. But attempts by international mediators to bring home the remaining hostages have failed. Talks resumed on Sunday with no signs that a breakthrough was imminent.Hostages’ families believe time is running out, and they are getting more vocal about their displeasure with Netanyahu.”We believe that no hostages will come back with this government because they’re busy putting sticks in the wheels of negotiations for the hostages,” said Boaz Atzili, whose cousin, Aviv Atlizi and his wife, Liat, were kidnapped on Oct. 7. Liat was released but Aviv was killed, and his body is in Gaza. “Netanyahu is only working in his private interests.”PROTESTERS HAVE MANY GRIEVANCESProtesters blame Netanyahu for the failures of Oct. 7 and say the deep political divisions over his attempted judicial overhaul last year weakened Israel ahead of the attack. Some accuse him of damaging relations with the United States, Israel’s most important ally.Netanyahu is also facing a litany of corruption charges which are slowly making their way through the courts, and critics say his decisions appear to be focused on political survival over the national interest. Opinion polls show Netanyahu and his coalition trailing far behind their rivals if elections were held today.Unless his governing coalition falls apart sooner, Netanyahu won’t face elections until spring of 2026.Many families of hostages had refrained from publicly denouncing Netanyahu to avoid antagonizing the leadership and making the hostages’ plight a political issue. But as their anger grows, some now want to change course — and they played a major role in Sunday’s anti-government protest.Video below: Gaza ceasefire talks to resume in Cairo after Netanyahu greenlightThe crowd on Sunday stretched for blocks around the Knesset, or parliament building, and organizers vowed to continue the demonstration for several days. They urged the government to hold new elections nearly two years ahead of schedule. Thousands also demonstrated Sunday in Tel Aviv, where there was a large protest the night before.Netanyahu, in a nationally televised speech before undergoing hernia surgery later Sunday, said he understood families’ pain. But he said calling new elections — in what he described as a moment before victory — would paralyze Israel for six to eight months and stall the hostage talks. For now, Netanyahu’s governing coalition appears to remain firmly intact.Some hostage families agree that now is not the time for elections.”I don’t think that changing the prime minister now is what will advance and help my son to come home,” Sheli Shem Tov, whose son Omer was kidnapped from a music festival, told Israel’s Channel 12. “To go to elections now will just push to the side the most burning issue, which is to return the hostages home.”In his Sunday address, Netanyahu also repeated his vow for a military ground offensive in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than half of territory’s population of 2.3 million now shelters after fleeing fighting elsewhere. “There is no victory without going into Rafah,” he said, adding that U.S. pressure would not deter him. Israel’s military says Hamas battalions remain there.In another reminder of Israel’s divisions, a group of reservists and retired officers demonstrated in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood.Ultra-Orthodox men for generations have received exemptions from military service, which is compulsory for most Jewish men and women. Resentment over that has deepened during the war. Netanyahu’s government has been ordered to present a new plan for a more equitable draft law by Monday.Netanyahu, who relies heavily on the support of ultra-Orthodox parties, last week asked for an extension.The Bank of Israel said in its annual report on Sunday that there could be economic damage if large numbers of ultra-Orthodox men continue not to serve in Israel’s military.ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE HITS TENT CAMP AT HOSPITALAlso Sunday, an Israeli airstrike hit a tent camp in the courtyard of a crowded hospital in central Gaza, killing two Palestinians and wounding another 15, including journalists working nearby.An Associated Press reporter filmed the strike and aftermath at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where thousands of people have sheltered. The Israeli military said it struck a command center of the Islamic Jihad militant group.Tens of thousands of people have sought shelter in Gaza’s hospitals, viewing them as relatively safe from airstrikes. Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of operating in and around medical facilities, which Gaza’s health officials deny.Israeli troops have been raiding Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, for nearly two weeks and say they have killed scores of fighters, including senior Hamas operatives. Gaza’s Health Ministry said more than 100 patients remain with no potable water and septic wounds, while doctors use plastic bags for gloves.Not far from Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, dozens of members of Gaza’s tiny Palestinian Christian community gathered at the Holy Family Church to celebrate Easter, with incense wafting through the rare building that appeared untouched by war.”We are here with sadness,” attendee Winnie Tarazi said. About 600 people shelter in the compound.GAZA’S DEATH TOLL NEARS 33,000 AND HUNGER GROWSThe United Nations and partners warn that famine could occur in devastated, largely isolated northern Gaza. Humanitarian officials say deliveries by sea and air are not enough and that Israel must allow far more aid by road. Egypt has said thousands of trucks are waiting.Israel says it places no limits on deliveries of humanitarian aid. It has blamed the U.N. and other international agencies for the failure to distribute more aid.Gaza’s Health Ministry said Sunday that at least 32,782 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. The ministry’s count does not differentiate between civilians and fighters, but it has said that women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed.Israel says over one-third of the dead are militants, though it has not provided evidence, and it blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in residential areas.Amid concerns about a wider conflict in the region, Lebanese state media reported that an Israeli drone struck a car in the southern Lebanese town of Konin.A Lebanese security official told The Associated Press that Hezbollah militant Ismail al-Zain was killed, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Israel’s military called al-Zain a “significant commander.” Hezbollah confirmed the death.Late Sunday, a Palestinian attacker stabbed three people in southern Israel, seriously wounding them, said the Hatzalah rescue service. Police said the attacker was shot, but gave no further details on his condition.___Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report

    JERUSALEM —

    Tens of thousands of Israelis thronged central Jerusalem on Sunday in the largest anti-government protest since the country went to war in October. Protesters urged the government to reach a cease-fire deal to free dozens of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas militants and to hold early elections.

    Israeli society was broadly united immediately after Oct. 7, when Hamas killed some 1,200 people during a cross-border attack and took 250 others hostage. Nearly six months of conflict have renewed divisions over the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, though the country remains largely in favor of the war.

    Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and bring all the hostages home, yet those goals have been elusive. While Hamas has suffered heavy losses, it remains intact.

    Roughly half the hostages in Gaza were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November. But attempts by international mediators to bring home the remaining hostages have failed. Talks resumed on Sunday with no signs that a breakthrough was imminent.

    Hostages’ families believe time is running out, and they are getting more vocal about their displeasure with Netanyahu.

    “We believe that no hostages will come back with this government because they’re busy putting sticks in the wheels of negotiations for the hostages,” said Boaz Atzili, whose cousin, Aviv Atlizi and his wife, Liat, were kidnapped on Oct. 7. Liat was released but Aviv was killed, and his body is in Gaza. “Netanyahu is only working in his private interests.”

    PROTESTERS HAVE MANY GRIEVANCES

    Protesters blame Netanyahu for the failures of Oct. 7 and say the deep political divisions over his attempted judicial overhaul last year weakened Israel ahead of the attack. Some accuse him of damaging relations with the United States, Israel’s most important ally.

    Netanyahu is also facing a litany of corruption charges which are slowly making their way through the courts, and critics say his decisions appear to be focused on political survival over the national interest. Opinion polls show Netanyahu and his coalition trailing far behind their rivals if elections were held today.

    Unless his governing coalition falls apart sooner, Netanyahu won’t face elections until spring of 2026.

    Many families of hostages had refrained from publicly denouncing Netanyahu to avoid antagonizing the leadership and making the hostages’ plight a political issue. But as their anger grows, some now want to change course — and they played a major role in Sunday’s anti-government protest.

    Video below: Gaza ceasefire talks to resume in Cairo after Netanyahu greenlight

    The crowd on Sunday stretched for blocks around the Knesset, or parliament building, and organizers vowed to continue the demonstration for several days. They urged the government to hold new elections nearly two years ahead of schedule. Thousands also demonstrated Sunday in Tel Aviv, where there was a large protest the night before.

    Netanyahu, in a nationally televised speech before undergoing hernia surgery later Sunday, said he understood families’ pain. But he said calling new elections — in what he described as a moment before victory — would paralyze Israel for six to eight months and stall the hostage talks. For now, Netanyahu’s governing coalition appears to remain firmly intact.

    Some hostage families agree that now is not the time for elections.

    “I don’t think that changing the prime minister now is what will advance and help my son to come home,” Sheli Shem Tov, whose son Omer was kidnapped from a music festival, told Israel’s Channel 12. “To go to elections now will just push to the side the most burning issue, which is to return the hostages home.”

    In his Sunday address, Netanyahu also repeated his vow for a military ground offensive in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than half of territory’s population of 2.3 million now shelters after fleeing fighting elsewhere. “There is no victory without going into Rafah,” he said, adding that U.S. pressure would not deter him. Israel’s military says Hamas battalions remain there.

    In another reminder of Israel’s divisions, a group of reservists and retired officers demonstrated in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood.

    Ultra-Orthodox men for generations have received exemptions from military service, which is compulsory for most Jewish men and women. Resentment over that has deepened during the war. Netanyahu’s government has been ordered to present a new plan for a more equitable draft law by Monday.

    Netanyahu, who relies heavily on the support of ultra-Orthodox parties, last week asked for an extension.

    The Bank of Israel said in its annual report on Sunday that there could be economic damage if large numbers of ultra-Orthodox men continue not to serve in Israel’s military.

    ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE HITS TENT CAMP AT HOSPITAL

    Also Sunday, an Israeli airstrike hit a tent camp in the courtyard of a crowded hospital in central Gaza, killing two Palestinians and wounding another 15, including journalists working nearby.

    An Associated Press reporter filmed the strike and aftermath at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where thousands of people have sheltered. The Israeli military said it struck a command center of the Islamic Jihad militant group.

    Tens of thousands of people have sought shelter in Gaza’s hospitals, viewing them as relatively safe from airstrikes. Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of operating in and around medical facilities, which Gaza’s health officials deny.

    Israeli troops have been raiding Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, for nearly two weeks and say they have killed scores of fighters, including senior Hamas operatives. Gaza’s Health Ministry said more than 100 patients remain with no potable water and septic wounds, while doctors use plastic bags for gloves.

    Not far from Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, dozens of members of Gaza’s tiny Palestinian Christian community gathered at the Holy Family Church to celebrate Easter, with incense wafting through the rare building that appeared untouched by war.

    “We are here with sadness,” attendee Winnie Tarazi said. About 600 people shelter in the compound.

    GAZA’S DEATH TOLL NEARS 33,000 AND HUNGER GROWS

    The United Nations and partners warn that famine could occur in devastated, largely isolated northern Gaza. Humanitarian officials say deliveries by sea and air are not enough and that Israel must allow far more aid by road. Egypt has said thousands of trucks are waiting.

    Israel says it places no limits on deliveries of humanitarian aid. It has blamed the U.N. and other international agencies for the failure to distribute more aid.

    Gaza’s Health Ministry said Sunday that at least 32,782 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. The ministry’s count does not differentiate between civilians and fighters, but it has said that women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed.

    Israel says over one-third of the dead are militants, though it has not provided evidence, and it blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in residential areas.

    Amid concerns about a wider conflict in the region, Lebanese state media reported that an Israeli drone struck a car in the southern Lebanese town of Konin.

    A Lebanese security official told The Associated Press that Hezbollah militant Ismail al-Zain was killed, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Israel’s military called al-Zain a “significant commander.” Hezbollah confirmed the death.

    Late Sunday, a Palestinian attacker stabbed three people in southern Israel, seriously wounding them, said the Hatzalah rescue service. Police said the attacker was shot, but gave no further details on his condition.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report

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