US affirms support for Israel as calls mount for Gaza ceasefire

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meet, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel December 18, 2023. (REUTERS)
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Updated 19 December 2023
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US affirms support for Israel as calls mount for Gaza ceasefire

  • Visiting Israel, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: “We must get more humanitarian assistance in to the nearly two million displaced people in Gaza and we must distribute that aid better”

TEL AVIV: The United States vowed Monday it would continue to arm Israel in its campaign against Hamas, even as it called for more humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the devastated Gaza Strip.
Fighting raged on in the third month of the bloodiest ever Gaza war, with the Hamas-run health ministry reporting another 110 people killed in strikes on the Jabalia camp near Gaza City.
The UN Security Council in New York was set to vote on another call for a ceasefire in the besieged territory, after previous bids were vetoed by Israel’s key ally the US.
But the vote was postponed until Tuesday as negotiations continued over the text of the document, diplomatic sources at the United Nations told AFP.
Visiting Israel, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: “We must get more humanitarian assistance in to the nearly two million displaced people in Gaza and we must distribute that aid better.”




An Israeli army tank shells the Gaza Strip from the border area in southern Israel on December 14, 2023 amid ongoing battles with the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

He confirmed Washington was “Israel’s greatest friend” and would continue to provide “critical munitions, tactical vehicles and air defense systems.”
Austin added that his visit did not aim to “dictate timelines or terms” for the war.
Austin is touring the Middle East as concerns grow over the war’s spread around the region, with Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen attacking international shipping in the Red Sea in solidarity with Hamas.
The attacks have disrupted global trade, driving up oil prices, with energy giant BP among the latest major firms to stop using the vital route that leads to the Suez Canal.
“In the Red Sea, we’re leading a multinational maritime taskforce to uphold the bedrock principle of freedom of navigation,” Austin said, warning Iran to stop supporting the Houthi attacks.
The war in Gaza began when its Islamist rulers Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on October 7, killing around 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and abducting 250, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Gaza’s health ministry says Israel’s military response has killed more than 19,400 people, mostly women and children, while reducing vast areas to rubble.

International alarm has mounted over the plight of 2.4 million Gazans enduring daily bombardment, food and water shortages and mass displacement.
Human Rights Watch charged that Israel “is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.”
“Israeli forces are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food and fuel, while wilfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas,” the New York-based organization said.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said “Human Rights Watch... has no moral basis to talk about what’s going on in Gaza,” charging that the group had ignored “the suffering and the human rights of Israelis.”
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, earlier said he “would not be surprised if people start dying of hunger, or a combination of hunger, disease, weak immunity.”
Israel has approved aid deliveries into Gaza via its Kerem Shalom crossing, aside from the Rafah crossing with Egypt, and dozens of trucks entered through Kerem Shalom on Monday, an AFP journalist said.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday that commercial trucks had entered Gaza, a first since the war began, joining UN-led deliveries.
It is “a critical step toward improving the lives of the Palestinian people in Gaza,” Miller said.
At the Rafah crossing, many families gathered in the hopes of finally being allowed across to safety.
“We’ve been here for about a month,” said Safa Fathi Hamad. “We are going to die, food is very limited and we have no protection.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday again vowed Israel would destroy Hamas, free the hostages and ensure Gaza will never again become “a center for terrorism.”
The army has reported 129 deaths in Gaza since it launched ground operations in late October.
Israel has accused Hamas of hiding among civilians and in tunnels underneath hospitals, schools, mosques and other civilian infrastructure.
The army released a report Sunday of part of a vast Hamas tunnel network, big enough to drive vehicles through, featuring rails, power lines, drainage systems and a communications network.
A Hamas official in Lebanon downplayed the Israeli discovery, saying that the tunnel had already served its purpose.
Israel has faced mounting global pressure to either slow, suspend or stop hostilities.
That includes families of the remaining 129 hostages believed held in Gaza, whose anger and fear intensified after Israeli forces mistakenly shot dead three hostages who had escaped their captors.
The trio waved white flags and used food leftovers to write a Hebrew-language message on a white sheet before they were shot, reports said.
Israelis protested Monday in central Tel Aviv, calling for swift action to release the remaining hostages.
Hamas’s military wing released footage it claimed showed three of the hostages. The video featured three bearded men sitting on chairs at an undisclosed location and asking to be released.
Qatar, which helped mediate a week-long truce and hostage-prisoner exchange last month, has said there are “ongoing diplomatic efforts to renew the humanitarian pause.”
US news platform Axios on Monday reported that Mossad chief David Barnea, CIA director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met in Warsaw.
As the war rages on, special concern has focused on hospitals, most of which no longer function, and several of which have been the scenes of major fighting.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement: “As hostilities continue and health needs increase, it is critical that... hospitals across the Gaza Strip are urgently restored.”
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the UN agency was “appalled by the effective destruction” of northern Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital.
Outside the hospital, the muddy ground scarred by tank and bulldozer tracks, Abu Mohammed stood crying as he searched for his son.
“I don’t know how I will find him,” he said, pointing to the debris.

 


Netanyahu appoints adviser with Trump ties to lead ceasefire talks

Updated 8 sec ago
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Netanyahu appoints adviser with Trump ties to lead ceasefire talks

  • The US-born Ron Dermer is a Cabinet minister who’s widely seen as Netanyahu’s closest adviser.
  • Dermer currently serves as Israel’s strategic affairs minister
An Israeli official said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a close confidant to lead negotiations for the second stage of the ceasefire with Hamas.
The US-born Ron Dermer is a Cabinet minister who’s widely seen as Netanyahu’s closest adviser. He previously served as Israel’s ambassador to the US and is a former Republican activist with strong ties to the Trump White House.
Israel and Hamas have yet to negotiate a second and more difficult phase of the ceasefire, and the first ends in early March. Palestinians and Arab countries have universally rejected US President Donald Trump’s proposal to remove the Palestinian population from Gaza and take over the territory.
Since the war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, more than 50,000 people have died in Gaza and Lebanon and nearly 70 percent of the buildings in Gaza have been devastated, according to health ministries in Gaza and Lebanon. Around 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the Oct. 7 attack.
Here’s the latest:
Netanyahu appoints close adviser with Trump ties to lead ceasefire negotiations
An Israeli official said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a close confidant to lead negotiations for the second stage of the ceasefire with Hamas.
The official says that Cabinet Minister Ron Dermer will head the Israeli team. Previous talks have been led by the heads of the Mossad and Shin Bet security agencies.
Talks have not yet started on the second stage, which is meant to include an end to the war, return of all hostages and Israeli pullout from Gaza.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the appointment has not been officially announced.
The US-born Dermer is widely seen as Netanyahu’s closest adviser. He previously served as Israel’s ambassador to the US and is a former Republican activist with strong ties to the Trump White House.
Dermer currently serves as Israel’s strategic affairs minister, where he has been a key player in relations with the US as well as Gulf Arab countries.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee West Bank refugee camps

Updated 19 February 2025
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Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee West Bank refugee camps

  • The camps, built for descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war around the creation of the state of Israel, have long been major centers for armed militant groups

JERUSALEM: Tens of thousands of Palestinians living in refugee camps in the occupied West Bank have left their homes as a weeks-long Israeli offensive has demolished houses and torn up vital infrastructure in the heavily built up townships, Palestinian authorities said.
Israeli forces began their operation in the refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Jan. 21, deploying hundreds of troops and bulldozers that demolished houses and dug up roads, driving almost all of the camp’s residents out.
“We don’t know what’s going on in the camp but there is continuous demolition and roads being dug up,” said Mohammed Al-Sabbagh, head of the Jenin camp services committee.

An Israeli army excavator demolishes a residential building in the Tulkarem camp for Palestinian refugees during an ongoing Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The operation, which Israel says is aimed at thwarting Iranian-backed militant groups in the West Bank, has since been extended to other camps, notably the Tulkarm refugee camp and the nearby Nur Shams camp, both of which have also been devastated. The camps, built for descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war around the creation of the state of Israel, have long been major centers for armed militant groups. They have been raided repeatedly by the Israeli military but the current operation, which began as a ceasefire was agreed in Gaza, has been on an unusually large scale. According to figures from the Palestinian Authority, around 17,000 people have now left Jenin refugee camp, leaving the site almost completely deserted, while in Nur Shams 6,000 people, or about two thirds of the total, have left, with another 10,000 leaving from Tulkarm camp.
“The ones who are left are trapped,” said Nihad Al-Shawish, head of the Nur Shams camp services committee. “The Civil Defense, the Red Crescent and the Palestinian security forces brought them some food yesterday but the army is still bulldozing and destroying the camp.” The Israeli raids have demolished dozens of houses and torn up large stretches of roadway as well as cutting off water and power, but the military has denied forcing residents to leave their homes.
“People obviously have the possibility to move or go where they want, if they will. But if they don’t, they’re allowed to stay,” Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters.
The operation began as Israel moved to banish the main UN Palestinian relief organization UNRWA from its headquarters in East Jerusalem and cut it off from any contact with Israeli officials.
The ban, which took effect at the end of January, has hit UNRWA’s work in the West Bank and Gaza, where it provides aid for millions of Palestinians in the refugee camps.
Israel has accused UNRWA of cooperating with Hamas and said some UNRWA workers even took part in the Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that set off the 15-month war in Gaza.

 


Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee West Bank refugee camps

Updated 18 February 2025
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Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee West Bank refugee camps

  • The camps, built for descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war around the creation of the state of Israel, have long been major centers for armed militant groups

JERUSALEM: Tens of thousands of Palestinians living in refugee camps in the occupied West Bank have left their homes as a weeks-long Israeli offensive has demolished houses and torn up vital infrastructure in the heavily built up townships, Palestinian authorities said.
Israeli forces began their operation in the refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Jan. 21, deploying hundreds of troops and bulldozers that demolished houses and dug up roads, driving almost all of the camp’s residents out.
“We don’t know what’s going on in the camp but there is continuous demolition and roads being dug up,” said Mohammed Al-Sabbagh, head of the Jenin camp services committee.

An Israeli army excavator demolishes a residential building in the Tulkarem camp for Palestinian refugees during an ongoing Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The operation, which Israel says is aimed at thwarting Iranian-backed militant groups in the West Bank, has since been extended to other camps, notably the Tulkarm refugee camp and the nearby Nur Shams camp, both of which have also been devastated. The camps, built for descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war around the creation of the state of Israel, have long been major centers for armed militant groups. They have been raided repeatedly by the Israeli military but the current operation, which began as a ceasefire was agreed in Gaza, has been on an unusually large scale. According to figures from the Palestinian Authority, around 17,000 people have now left Jenin refugee camp, leaving the site almost completely deserted, while in Nur Shams 6,000 people, or about two thirds of the total, have left, with another 10,000 leaving from Tulkarm camp.
“The ones who are left are trapped,” said Nihad Al-Shawish, head of the Nur Shams camp services committee. “The Civil Defense, the Red Crescent and the Palestinian security forces brought them some food yesterday but the army is still bulldozing and destroying the camp.” The Israeli raids have demolished dozens of houses and torn up large stretches of roadway as well as cutting off water and power, but the military has denied forcing residents to leave their homes.
“People obviously have the possibility to move or go where they want, if they will. But if they don’t, they’re allowed to stay,” Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters.
The operation began as Israel moved to banish the main UN Palestinian relief organization UNRWA from its headquarters in East Jerusalem and cut it off from any contact with Israeli officials.
The ban, which took effect at the end of January, has hit UNRWA’s work in the West Bank and Gaza, where it provides aid for millions of Palestinians in the refugee camps.
Israel has accused UNRWA of cooperating with Hamas and said some UNRWA workers even took part in the Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that set off the 15-month war in Gaza.

 


More than one million Syrians return to their homes: UN

People walk past shops in Homs on February 10, 2025. (AFP)
Updated 19 February 2025
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More than one million Syrians return to their homes: UN

  • “Since the fall of the regime in Syria we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes,” Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees

GENEVA: More than one million people have returned to their homes in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar Assad, including 280,000 refugees who came back from abroad, the UN said on Tuesday.
Assad was toppled in December in a rebel offensive, putting an end to his family’s decades-long grip on power in the Middle Eastern country and bookmarking a civil war that broke out in 2011, with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
Syria’s war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions from their homes.
The Islamist-led rebels whose offensive ousted Assad have sought to assure the international community that they have broken with their past and will respect the rights of minorities.
“Since the fall of the regime in Syria we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes,” Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote on the X social media platform.
“Early recovery efforts must be bolder and faster, though, otherwise people will leave again: this is now urgent!” he said.
At a meeting in Paris in mid-February, some 20 countries, including Arab nations, Turkiye, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan agreed at the close of a conference in Paris to “work together to ensure the success of the transition in a process led by Syria.”
The meeting’s final statement also pledged support for Syria’s new authorities in the fight against “all forms of terrorism and extremism.”
 

 


Israeli military says it struck weapons belonging to former Syrian administration in southern Syria

Updated 19 February 2025
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Israeli military says it struck weapons belonging to former Syrian administration in southern Syria

CAIRO: The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it struck weapons which it said belonged to the former Syrian administration in southern Syria.