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New push to wind down Middle East conflicts faces familiar challenges

The United States and other mediators are ramping up efforts to halt the wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, circulating new proposals to wind down the regional conflict during the Biden administration's final months. Negotiations on both fronts have been stalled for months and none of the warring parties have shown any sign of backing down from their demands. Senior White House officials Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein are scheduled to visit Israel on Thursday for talks on possible cease-fires in both Lebanon and Gaza, and the release of hostages held by Hamas. CIA Director Bill Burns will go to Egypt to discuss those efforts, according to a US official who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. A proposal to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah calls for a two-month cease-fire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon, and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the country's southern border, two other officials familiar

Highlights: North Korean troops in Russian uniforms heading toward Ukraine, says US

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Israel warns Iran again after Oct 26 attack: 'Will hit places we spared'

Israel targeted Iran's military bases on Saturday as a response to the October 1 attack, in which Iran launched a barrage of missiles on Israel

Who is Sheikh Naim Qassem - the new face of Hezbollah after Nasrallah?

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant labels Sheikh Naim Qassem's appointment a 'temporary' measure while predicting his term would not last

Israel strikes 200 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon; Gaza raids continue

Among the terrorists killed in south Lebanon was Abbas Adnan Moslem, the commander of the Aitaroun area in Hezbollah's elite Radwan unit

Israeli strike in northern Gaza killed 34 people, says Palestinian official

An Israeli strike on a five-story building where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 34 people early Tuesday, more than half of them women and children, Gaza's Health Ministry said. The ministry's emergency service said another 20 people were wounded in the strike in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, near the Israeli border. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has been waging a large-scale operation in northern Gaza for more than three weeks, targeting what it says are pockets of Hamas militants who have regrouped there. The dead included a mother and her five children, some of them adults, and a second mother with her six children, according to an initial casualty list provided by the emergency service. Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital, said it was overwhelmed by the wave of wounded people from the strike. Israeli forces raided the medical facility over the weekend, ...

Israel approves two bills that may halt UNRWA's aid delivery to Gaza

Israel's parliament has passed two laws that could prevent the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, a main provider of aid to Gaza, from being able to continue its work. The laws ban the agency, UNRWA, from operating in Israel, designate it a terror organisation, and cut all ties between the agency and the Israeli government. It's the culmination of a long-running campaign against the agency, which Israel contends has been infiltrated by Hamas. But supporters say Israel's real aim is to sideline the issue of Palestinian refugees. The agency is the major distributor of aid in Gaza and provides education, health and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The head of the agency, Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini, called the move unprecedented on X following the vote and said the bills will only deepen the suffering Palestinians, especially in Gaza where people have been going through more than a year

Yemen's Houthi rebels strike ship in Bab el-Mandeb Strait near Red Sea

Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a ship travelling through the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Red Sea on Monday, though it escaped undamaged, authorities said. The attack ended an 18-day lull in reported assaults attributed to the Houthis, who have been attacking ships travelling through the Red Sea corridor for nearly a year now over the Israel-Hamas war raging in the Gaza Strip. The violence has disrupted international shipping through the region, once valued at USD 1 trillion in goods annually. The vessel passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which separates the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Peninsula from East Africa, reported the attack, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said. The ship's captain reported two explosions near the ship, though the vessel and all crew are reported as safe, the UKMTO added. The private security firm Ambrey also described the attack as involving two close proximity explosions. It said the

Israeli Cabinet meets in secret location after Iran vows to retaliate

Israeli officials said that, for security reasons, the cabinet wouldn't meet at its usual place in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem

Detained 100 suspected militants in raid on Gaza hospital, says Israel

Israel's military said it detained 100 suspected Hamas militants in a raid on a hospital in northern Gaza over the weekend. Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya on Friday, detaining 44 male staff, according to the World Health Organisation. Palestinian medical officials said the hospital, which was treating some 200 patients, was heavily damaged in the raid. Israel has raided several hospitals in Gaza over the course of the yearlong war, saying Hamas and other militants use them for military purposes. Palestinian medical officials deny those allegations and accuse the military of recklessly endangering civilians. The Israeli military has called on Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza, where it has been waging a large offensive for more than three weeks. The UN said earlier this month at least 400,000 people are still in northern Gaza and hunger is rampant as the amount of humanitarian aid reaching the north has plummeted over the past month. Israel's offensiv

Israel says it has completed its strikes on Iran, including missile plants

The Israeli military launched strikes early Saturday on military targets in Iran, officials said. It wasn't immediately clear what the targets were. Iranian state media reported the sound of explosions around Iran's capital, Tehran, without immediately elaborating. An Israeli military statement said that Israel has the right and the duty to respond. The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since October 7 on seven fronts including direct attacks from Iranian soil, the statement read. It also did not elaborate on the targets. Iranian state television later identified some of the blasts as coming from air defense systems, without offering more details. Iran has launched two ballistic missile attacks on Israel in recent months. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below.

Highlights: India name squad for Test series against Aus; pacer Harshit Rana gets maiden call up

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Hamas wants Russia to push Prez Abbas for negotiations for post-war Gaza

Marzouk said that Hamas had asked Russia to encourage Abbas, who is attending the Brics summit in Kazan, to start negotiations about a unity government, RIA reported

Displacement from Israel-Hezbollah war transforms Beirut's famed street

Inside what was once one of Beirut's oldest and best-known cinemas, dozens of Lebanese, Palestinians and Syrians displaced by the Israel-Hezbollah war spend their time following the news on their phones, cooking, chatting and walking around to pass the time. Outside on Hamra Street, once a thriving economic hub, sidewalks are filled with displaced people, and hotels and apartments are crammed with those seeking shelter. Cafes and restaurants are overflowing. In some ways, the massive displacement of hundreds of thousands of people from south Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut's southern suburbs has provided a boost for this commercial district after years of decline as a result of Lebanon's economic crisis. But it is not the revival many had hoped for. The displacement revived Hamra Street in a wrong way, said the manager of a four-star hotel on the boulevard, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the problems the influx has caused for the neighbourhood. For th

Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine killed in Israeli airstrike in Beirut

Hashem Safieddine, a close relative of Hassan Nasrallah, held important roles within Hezbollah's military and organisational structures and was influential in the group's financial affairs

Hezbollah claims responsibility for drone attack on Netanyahu's house

Hezbollah's chief spokesman says the group was behind the weekend drone attack that targeted Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house without inflicting casualties. Mohammed Afif told reporters in Beirut Tuesday that if in the previous attack Netanyahu was not hurt, the coming days and nights and the (battle) fields are between us. Afif was hinting that Hezbollah might carry out such attempts in the future. Afif said Hezbollah is fully responsible for the drone attack that targeted Netanyahu's house. He added that the group did it on its own. Netanyahu's office said the drone on Saturday targeted his house in the Mediterranean coastal town of Caesarea. Neither he nor his wife was there. It wasn't clear if the house was hit.

News updates: We will continue to cooperate to establish a just world order, says Putin

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Drone targets Netanyahu's house while strikes in Gaza kill more than 50

Israel's government said a drone targeted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house Saturday, with no casualties, as fighting with Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Gaza-based Hamas showed no pause after the killing of the Hamas mastermind of last year's October 7 attack. Israel's military said dozens of projectiles were launched from Lebanon a day after Hezbollah announced a new phase in fighting. Netanyahu's office said the drone targeted his house in the Mediterranean coastal town of Caesarea. Neither he nor his wife were there. It wasn't clear if the house was hit. The proxies of Iran who today tried to assassinate me and my wife made a bitter mistake, Netanyahu said. Hezbollah didn't claim responsibility for the drone attack, but said it carried out several rocket attacks on northern and central Israel. The barrage came as Israel is expected to respond to an attack earlier this month by Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas. Israel in turn carried out at least 10 airstrikes on

Hezbollah fires rockets into northern Israel as Israeli strikes hit Gaza

Pledges from Israel and its enemies Hamas and Hezbollah to keep fighting in Gaza and Lebanon have dashed hopes that the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar might hasten an end to war

Netanyahu's residence targeted as tensions rise with Hezbollah, Hamas

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesperson confirmed that the prime minister was not in the vicinity during the incident, and there were no casualties