Page 6 - Hamas

France demands release of hostages after Israel eliminates Sinwar

Israel has confirmed the elimination of Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the October 7 attacks last year

Sinwar's killing opens up opportunity, uncertainty for war in Gaza

Israel's killing of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' top leader and the mastermind of the group's Oct. 7 attack, is a dramatic turning point in the brutal yearlong war that it touched off. Sinwar's killing on Thursday decapitates the Palestinian militant group that has already been reeling from months of assassinations up and down its ranks. And it is a potent symbolic achievement for Israel in its battle to destroy Hamas. The killing, coming just 10 days after Israelis and Palestinians marked a year since the deadliest fighting in their decades-old conflict erupted, could set the stage for how the remainder of the war plays out, or even prompt its conclusion depending on how Israel and Hamas choose to proceed. Sinwar's death could serve as an off-ramp for Israel toward ending the warSinwar, who was appointed head of Hamas after its previous leader was killed in a blast in July blamed on Israel, spent years building up Hamas' military strength and is believed to have devised the Oct. 7, 2023,

Will redouble effort to end Israel-Hamas war as Sinwar 'removed': US

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the Sinwar has not only refused to return the hostages but also turned down the seize fire proposal

Sinwar's death 'good day' for world, opportunity for hostage deal: Biden

President Joe Biden said Thursday that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israeli troops is a good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world, and called it an opportunity" to free Israeli hostages held by Hamas and end the yearlong war in Gaza. Biden, in a statement, compared it to the feeling in the US after the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who was responsible for the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, saying the killing of the mastermind of the Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel proves once again that no terrorists anywhere in the world can escape justice, no matter how long it takes. Biden said he would speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders to congratulate them and to discuss the pathway for bringing the hostages home to their families, and for ending this war once and for all. Biden said with Sinwar's death there is now the opportunity for a day after' in Gaza without Hamas in power, and for a political settlement .

Hamas top leader Yahya Sinwar killed, confirms Israel's foreign minister

Israel's foreign minister has confirmed that Israeli troops in Gaza have killed Hamas' top leader Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of last year's attack on Israel that sparked the war. Sinwar has topped Israel's most wanted list since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war just over a year ago, and his killing strikes a powerful blow to the militant group. There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas of his death. Foreign Minister Katz called Sinwar's killing a military and moral achievement for the Israeli army. The assassination of Sinwar will create the possibility to immediately release the hostages and to bring a change that will lead to a new reality in Gaza - without Hamas and without Iranian control, he said in a statement.

Gaza strip remains at risk of famine due to war, say hunger experts

The Gaza Strip is still at risk of famine more than a year into the Israel-Hamas war, even as the number of people facing the most extreme level of hunger has declined in recent months, the international authority on hunger crises said on Thursday. The findings come after the United States warned Israel that it might cut off military aid if its ally does not do more to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of people there are displaced from their homes and packed into squalid tent camps and schools-turned-shelters. In recent weeks Israel has once again ordered the evacuation of the northern third of Gaza, and it launched another major military operation there. It allowed no food to enter the north for roughly the first two weeks of October before resuming shipments on Monday. In a statement announcing a second shipment on Wednesday, the military said it will continue to act in accordance with international law "to facilitate and ease the entry of humanitari

Checking possibility of Hamas leader Sinwar being killed in operations: IDF

Sinwar, the chief architect of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, was named leader of Hamas following the assassination of former leader Ismail Haniyeh

US launches strikes on underground weapons storage facilities in Yemen

The Pentagon condemned Houthis for their relentless attacks on US and international vessels

Israeli strikes kill 25 in Lebanese town 'Qana' known for civilian deaths

Israeli strikes have killed at least 15 people in the southern Lebanese town of Qana, which has long been associated with civilian deaths after Israeli strikes during previous conflicts with Hezbollah. Israel meanwhile struck Beirut's southern suburbs early Wednesday for the first time in nearly a week. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strikes in Qana late Tuesday. Lebanon's Civil Defence said 15 bodies had been recovered from the rubble of a building and that rescue efforts were still underway. In 1996, Israeli artillery shelling on a United Nations compound housing hundreds of displaced people in Qana killed at least 100 civilians and wounded scores more, including four UN peacekeepers. During the 2006 war, an Israeli strike on a residential building killed nearly three dozen people, a third of them children. Israel said at the time that it struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher behind the building. Israel also carried out a wave of airstrikes on the ..

More than 40 killed, including 13 children in Israeli strikes on Gaza

Meanwhile, in northern Gaza, five children were killed in an Israeli airstrike while playing marbles in Al Shati camp

Heavy Israeli bombardment in Gaza as UN peacekeepers in Lebanon hit again

Palestinians in northern Gaza described heavy Israeli bombardment Saturday in the hours after airstrikes killed at least 22 people, as Israel warned people there and in southern Lebanon to get out of the way of offensives against the Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups. In Lebanon, the UN peacekeeping force said its headquarters in Naqoura was hit again, with a peacekeeper struck by gunfire late Friday and in stable condition. It wasn't clear who fired. It occurred a day after Israel's military fired on the headquarters for a second straight day. Israel, which has warned peacekeepers to leave their positions, didn't immediately respond to questions. Hunger warnings emerged again in northern Gaza as residents said they hadn't received aid since the beginning of the month. The U.N. World Food Program said no food aid had entered the north since Oct. 1. An estimated 400,000 people remain there. Israel's military renewed its offensive in northern Gaza almost a week ago while escalating

Heavy Israeli bombardment in Gaza, UN peacekeepers in Lebanon get hit again

Palestinians in northern Gaza described heavy Israeli bombardment Saturday in the hours after airstrikes killed at least 22 people, as Israel continued to tell people there and in southern Lebanon to get out of the way of its offensives against the Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups. In Lebanon, the United Nations peacekeeping force said its headquarters in Naqoura had again been hit, with a peacekeeper struck by gunfire late Friday and in stable condition. It wasn't clear who fired. The shooting occurred a day after Israel's military fired on the headquarters for the second straight day. Israel, which has warned the peacekeepers to leave their positions, didn't immediately respond to questions. Hunger warnings emerged again as residents in northern Gaza said they hadn't received aid since the beginning of the month. The UN World Food Programme said no food aid had entered the north since October 1. An estimated 4,00,000 people remain there. Israel's military renewed its offensive

Israeli military renews orders for Palestinians to leave northern Gaza

The Israeli military on Saturday renewed its orders for Palestinian in the northern Gaza Strip to leave their homes and shelters as troops press on a weeklong offensive against militants. Most of the fighting in the past week was centred in and around Jabaliya that was pounded by Israeli war jets and artillery. Residents said they have been trapped inside their homes and shelters. In Lebanon, authorities said Friday that 60 people were killed and 168 wounded in the past 24 hours, raising the total toll over the past year of conflict between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah to 2,229 dead and 10,380 wounded. Israel has been escalating its campaign against Hezbollah with waves of heavy airstrikes across Lebanon and a ground invasion at the border, after a year of exchanges of fire. Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and Hamas' ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how

Israeli strike on refugee camp kills 22, WFP warns of depleting food stocks

The Israeli military issued evacuation orders for residents in northern Gaza, particularly those near the Jabalia refugee camp, as the death toll continues to rise

Toll rises to 22 in Israeli strikes in central Beirut, 27 in Gaza school

Israeli airstrikes hit central Beirut on Thursday evening, killing at least 22 people and wounding dozens, Lebanon's health ministry said, leaving two neighbourhoods smoldering and further escalating Israel's bloody conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The strikes apparently targeted two residential buildings in separate neighbourhoods of western Beirut, according to an AP photographer at the scene, bringing down one multi-story building and wiping out the lower floors of another. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reported strikes on the Lebanese capital. Israeli airstrikes have been far more common in Beirut's tightly packed southern suburbs, where Hezbollah bases many of its operations. Thursday's strikes followed a year of tit-for-tat exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel that boiled over into all-out war in recent weeks, with Israel carrying out waves of heavy strikes across Lebanon and launching a ground invasion. Hezbollah has expanded its

Israeli strike on Gaza shelter kills 27, say Palestinian officials

An Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza killed at least 21 people on Thursday, with the toll likely to rise, Palestinian medical officials said. Israel has continued to strike at what it says are militant targets across the Palestinian enclave even as attention has shifted to its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and rising tensions with Iran. It launched a large-scale air and ground operation against Hamas in northern Gaza earlier this week. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were brought, confirmed the toll from the strike in the central town of Deir al-Balah. It said several other people were wounded in the strike. An Associated Press reporter saw ambulances streaming into the hospital and counted the bodies, many of which arrived in pieces. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Witnesses said the strike targeted a makeshift post of the Hamas-run police inside the shelter. Israel has repeatedly attacked ...

500 Hezbollah targets including HQs hidden in nature reserve destroyed

282nd Artillery Brigade provide covering fire for the forces maneuvering in Lebanese territory and in close cooperation with Air Force, dozens of Hezbollah infrastructure and launchers were destroyed

Attack on Iran would be 'lethal', 'surprising': Israeli defence minister

Israel's defence minister warned on Wednesday that his country's retaliation for a recent Iranian missile attack will be lethal and surprising, while the Israeli military pushed ahead with a large-scale operation in northern Gaza and a ground offensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah militants. On the diplomatic front, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden held their first call in seven weeks, with a White House press secretary saying the call included discussions on Israel's deliberations over how it will respond to Iran's attack. It was direct, it was productive, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of the 30-minute call. The Israeli operation in northern Gaza left dozens of people dead and threatened to shut down three hospitals over a year into the war with Hamas, Palestinian officials and residents said. The continuing cycle of destruction and death in Gaza, unleashed by Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, comes as Israel

Biden speaks to Netanyahu on Israel's plans for retaliation against Iran

The Middle East has been on edge awaiting Israel's response to a missile attack last week that Tehran carried out in retaliation for Israel's military escalation in Lebanon

Gaza war: Biden called Israeli PM Netanyahu a 'liar'. Here's what we know

Despite knowing him for decades, US President Joe Biden's relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been rocky during their time in office