JERUSALEM: The Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza opened on Sunday for aid trucks for the first time since the outbreak of the war, officials said, a move intended to double the amount of food and medicine reaching the enclave.
The crossing had been closed after an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and aid was being delivered solely through Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt, which Israel said could only accommodate the entry of 100 trucks per day.
Two sources in the Egypt Red Crescent told Reuters that trucks were starting to enter on Sunday through the Kerem Shalom crossing on their way into Gaza. One said there were 79 trucks.
Kerem Shalom, on the border of Egypt, Israel and Gaza, is one of the main transit points for goods in and out of Gaza, allowing much faster transit than the Rafah passenger crossing a few kilometers away.
Israel approved the entry of aid last week.
“Starting today (Dec.17), UN aid trucks will undergo security checks and be transferred directly to Gaza via Kerem Shalom, to abide by our agreement with the US,” COGAT, the branch of military which coordinated humanitarian aid with the Palestinian territories, said in a statement.
The prime minister’s office has previously said this would allow Israel to maintain its commitments to permit the entry of 200 trucks of aid per day, agreed upon in a hostage deal brokered and implemented last month.
Asked if aid had crossed into Gaza, an Israeli official said yes.
Israel had already agreed to allow trucks to be inspected at Kerem Shalom but the trucks had previously been obliged to return to Rafah, to cross into Gaza from Egypt and aid groups had been calling for them to be allowed in directly.
As Israel’s campaign in Gaza has gathered pace, the humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave has worsened dramatically with the United Nations and other world bodies warning of severe shortages of food, clean water and medicines.
Aid enters Gaza through Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing for first time in war
https://arab.news/mm463
Aid enters Gaza through Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing for first time in war
- The crossing had been closed after an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and aid was being delivered solely through Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt
Syria denies reports of assassination attempt on President Al-Sharaa
- SANA did not provide further details about the reported incident or its origins
DAMASCUS: Syria’s Ministry of Information on Sunday denied reports that an attempt was made on the life of interim president Ahmed Al-Sharaa during a recent visit to the southern city of Daraa.
A ministry source, quoted by state news agency SANA on Sunday, dismissed the claims as false, saying: “What was circulated by several media outlets about the Syrian Arab Army and Turkish intelligence foiling an assassination attempt on President Ahmad Al-Sharaa during his visit to Daraa is untrue.”
SANA did not provide further details about the reported incident or its origins.
Al-Sharaa has led Syria’s transitional administration since January, following the collapse of the Bashar Assad regime. Assad, who ruled Syria for nearly a quarter of a century and fled to Russia in December.
Israeli security service says 60 Hamas members arrested in West Bank
HEBRON: Israel’s security service said Sunday it had broken up a network of Hamas militants in the occupied West Bank suspected of planning attacks, arresting 60 of the group’s members.
The Shin Bet internal security agency said in a statement that “a significant, complex, and large-scale Hamas infrastructure was exposed” in the West Bank town of Hebron.
It said it broke up 10 militant cells that “operated to carry out attacks in various formats in the immediate time frame.”
Hamas leaders “worked to recruit, arm, and train additional Hamas operatives from the area to carry out shooting and bombing attacks against Israeli targets,” according to the statement.
Shin Bet said the three-month joint operation with the military and police was its biggest investigation in the West Bank “in the past decade.”
It said terrorism charges were being filed against the suspects.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the statement.
US embassy in Bahrain returns to normal operations
The US Embassy in Bahrain said on Sunday that it has returned to normal staffing and operations, according to a post by the embassy on X.
Shortly before this month’s 12-day war between Israel and Iran, the US military had allowed families of service members in Bahrain to depart the country temporarily.
Message for U.S. Citizens
— U.S. Embassy Manama (@USEmbassyManama) June 29, 2025
June 29, 2025
The U.S. Embassy in Bahrain has returned to normal staffing and operations. We continue to advise U.S. citizens in Bahrain to exercise caution and review security announcements as they are issued. pic.twitter.com/QkXLNdydwa
Gaza rescuers say Israeli forces kill 17, including children
- The Israeli military issued an evacuation order on Sunday for parts of Gaza City and nearby areas in the territory’s north
- Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,412 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians
Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli air strikes and gunfire killed at least 17 people including three children in the war-stricken Palestinian territory on Sunday.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that 16 people died in air strikes at five locations around the Gaza Strip, and another from Israeli fire near an aid distribution center.
The Israeli military said it was not able to comment on the reported incidents but said it was fighting “to dismantle Hamas military capabilities” in a campaign launched in 2023 against the Islamist militant group whose attack on Israel triggered the war.
Restrictions on media in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers.
Bassal said two children were killed in an air strike on their home in Gaza City’s Zeitun neighborhood in the early morning, and “the house was completely destroyed.”
A member of the family, Abdel Rahman Azzam, 45, said he was at home and “heard a huge explosion at my relative’s house.”
“I rushed out in panic and saw the house destroyed and on fire,” he added.
“We evacuated more than 20 injured people, including two martyrs — two children from the family. The screams of children and women were non-stop,” Azzam said.
“They bombed the house with a missile without any prior warning. This is a horrific crime. We sleep without knowing if we will wake up.”
Elsewhere, Bassal said a drone strike on a tent housing displaced people near the southern city of Khan Yunis killed five people including a child.
He said that other casualties included a young man killed “by Israeli fire this morning while waiting for aid” near a humanitarian distribution center in the southern city of Rafah.
The Israeli military issued an evacuation order on Sunday for parts of Gaza City and nearby areas in the territory’s north, warning of imminent action there.
The military “will operate with intense force in these areas, and these military operations will intensify and expand... to destroy the capabilities of the terrorist organizations,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a statement posted on X.
He told residents to “evacuate immediately south” to Al-Mawasi area on the coast.
The civil defense agency later said an Israeli air strike hit a house in Gaza City, killing three people.
Israel launched its offensive in October 2023 in response to the deadly Hamas attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,412 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable.
After claiming victory in a 12-day war against Iran that ended with a ceasefire on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it would refocus on its offensive in Gaza, where Palestinian militants still hold Israeli hostages.
Trump calls for deal on Gaza war as signs of progress emerge
- ‘MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!’ Trump wrote on his social media platform
- The Israeli military on Sunday ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians in large swathes of northern Gaza
TEL AVIV: US President Donald Trump on Sunday pleaded for progress in ceasefire talks in the war in Gaza, calling for a deal that would halt the fighting in the 20-monthlong conflict as the sides appeared to be inching closer to an agreement.
An Israeli official said plans were being made for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to travel to Washington, D.C., in the coming weeks, a sign there may be movement on a new deal. The official declined to discuss the focus of the visit and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss plans that had not yet been finalized.
“MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social early Sunday between posts about a Senate vote on his tax and spending cuts bill.
Trump raised expectations Friday for a deal, saying there could be a ceasefire agreement within the next week. Taking questions from reporters, he said, “We’re working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of.”
Trump has repeatedly called for Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza. Despite an eight-week ceasefire reached just as Trump was taking office earlier this year, attempts since then to bring the sides toward a new agreement have failed.
A top adviser to Netanyahu, Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, was set to travel to Washington this week for talks on a ceasefire.
Trump post slams Netanyahu corruption trial
The Gaza message wasn’t the only Middle East-related post by Trump. On Saturday evening, he doubled down on his criticism of the legal proceedings against Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, calling it “a POLITICAL WITCH HUNT, very similar to the Witch Hunt that I was forced to endure.”
In the post on Truth Social, he said the trial interfered with talks on a Gaza ceasefire.
“(Netanyahu) is right now in the process of negotiating a Deal with Hamas, which will include getting the Hostages back. How is it possible that the Prime Minister of Israel can be forced to sit in a Courtroom all day long, over NOTHING,” Trump wrote.
The post echoed similar remarks Trump made last week when he called for the trial to be canceled. It was a dramatic interference by an international ally in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state. And it unnerved many in Israel, despite Trump’s popularity in the country.
Israeli military orders new evacuations in northern Gaza
The Israeli military on Sunday ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians in large swathes of northern Gaza, an early target of the war that has been severely damaged by multiple rounds of fighting.
Col. Avichay Adraee, a military spokesperson, posted the order on social media. It includes multiple neighborhoods in eastern and northern Gaza City, as well as Jabaliya refugee camp.
The military will expand its escalating attacks to the city’s northern section, calling for people to move southward to the Muwasi area in southern Gaza, Adraee said.
After being all but emptied earlier in the war, hundreds of thousands of people are in northern Gaza following their return during a ceasefire earlier this year.
An Israeli military offensive currently underway aims to move Palestinians to southern Gaza so forces can more freely operate to combat militants. Rights groups say their movement would amount to forcible transfer.
A sticking point over how the war ends
The war in Gaza began with Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas in which militants killed 1,200 people and took roughly 250 hostages, about 50 of whom remain captive with less than half believed to be alive.
Israel’s retaliatory response has killed more than 56,000 people, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between militants and civilians in their count but say more than half of the dead are women and children.
The war has set off a humanitarian catastrophe, displaced most of Gaza’s population, often multiple times, and obliterated much of the territory’s urban landscape.
Talks between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly faltered over one major sticking point, whether the war should end as part of any ceasefire agreement.
Hamas says it is willing to free all the hostages in exchange for a full withdrawal of Israeli troops and an end to the war. Israel rejects that offer, saying it will agree to end the war if Hamas disarms and goes into exile, something the group refuses.
