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☆ Egypt Setting up Area at Gaza Border Which Could Be Used to Shelter Palestinians-Sources
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +5 min

One of the sources said Egypt was optimistic talks to clinch a ceasefire can avoid any such scenario, but is establishing the area at the border as a temporary and precautionary measure. War in Israel and Gaza View All 209 ImagesThree security sources said Egypt had begun preparing a desert area with some basic facilities which could be used to shelter Palestinians, emphasising this was a contingency step. Israel has said its army is drawing up a plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah to other parts of the Gaza Strip. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said: "The president has been clear that we do not support the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. The Gaza war has piled pressure on relations between Egypt and Israel, which signed a peace deal in 1979.

Persons: Jordan, Martin Griffiths, Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Netanyahu, Avi Dichter, Dichter, Al Mawasi, General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Sameh Shoukry, Tom Perry, Edmund Blair, Neil Fullick Organizations: Reuters, United, Egypt's, Service, Sinai Foundation, Human Rights, Israeli, U.S . State Department, ABC News, Israel's Army, Arab League Locations: Egypt, Gaza, Rafah, Cairo, Sinai, United States, Israel, ISRAEL, U.S, The U.S, Jordan

☆ What Is Hezbollah, the Group Backing Hamas Against Israel?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +7 min

Lebanon's Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israeli forces across the frontier since its Palestinian ally Hamas in Gaza and Israel went to war on Oct. 7. The exchanges are the deadliest since a 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. Both Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel have said they do not seek all-out war, and the conflict has largely been contained to areas near the border. Hezbollah demonstrated its military advances in 2006 during a five-week war with Israel, which erupted after it crossed into Israel, kidnapping two soldiers and killing others. The Gaza conflict has rippled across the Middle East, where Hezbollah has inspired and supported other Iranian-backed groups.

Persons: Hossein Amirabdollahian, Bashar al, Assad, WHAT'S, Benjamin Netanyahu, Washington, Lebanese Shi'ites, Rafik al, Hariri, spiralled, Hassan Nasrallah, Tom Perry, Edmund Blair, William Maclean Organizations: Israel, Iran's, Guards, Islamic, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, United, . Marine, U.S . Locations: BEIRUT, Lebanon, Lebanese, Hamas, Gaza, Israel, Israeli, Nabatieh, al, Iran, Tehran, The U.S, Syria, ISRAEL, Irag, Yemen, U.S, Jordan . Saudi Arabia, LEBANON, Saudi, Beirut, United States

☆ Explainer-What's the Israel-Palestinian Conflict About and How Did It Start?
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-13 | by ( Jan. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +8 min

The conflict pits Israeli demands for security in what it has long regarded as a hostile Middle East against Palestinians' unmet aspirations for a state of their own. In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel. Two-state solution: An agreement that would create a state for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip alongside Israel. Israel has said a Palestinian state must be demilitarised so as not to threaten its security. Jerusalem: Palestinians want East Jerusalem, which includes the walled Old City's sites sacred to Muslims, Jews and Christians alike, to be the capital of their state.

Persons: David Ben, Gurion, Israel, Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, Arafat, Bill Clinton, Ehud Barak, Donald Trump's, Joe Biden's, Trump, Edmund Blair, Timothy Heritage Organizations: United Nations General Assembly, Arab League, West Bank, Palestine Liberation Organization, PLO, Palestinian, European Union, U.S, Israel Locations: Israel, East, Palestine, British, Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, East Jerusalem, Egypt, Israeli, Suez, Golan, Lebanon's Iran, United States, Oslo, Arab, Palestinian, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, U.S

Mendes' account is one of seven given to Reuters by first responders or others dealing with the dead that attest to alleged sexual violence. VICTIMS DEAD, TRAUMATIZEDIn Israeli criminal law, sexual violence includes rape, but also indecent acts, harrassment and sexually demeaning a person – including forced nudity – among other offences. Some of those purporting to show sexual violence could not be authenticated – one seen by Reuters appeared to date to 2021. The news agency verified the locations of two other videos that suggest sexual violence, shared on social media within a day of the attack. Israeli lawyers say its evidentiary requirements on sexual violence are less challenging than Israel's.

Persons: Ronen, Shari Mendes, Mendes, It's, Deen al, Beeri, Taher al, Nono, Orit Soliciano, Neubach, Shelly Harush, Chen Kugel, Kugel, Dana Pugach, Rabbi Israel Weiss, Nachman Dyksztejn, Rami Shmuel, Shani Louk, Yael Vias Gvirsman, Vias Gvirsman, Geert, Jan Knoops, Israel, Peter Hirschberg, Anthony Deutsch, Stephanie Van Den Berg, Edmund Blair, Sara Ledwith, Daniel Flynn Organizations: Nova Festival, REUTERS, Rights, Shura, Reuters, Israel's Association, Association, Authorities, Israel National Center of Forensic Medicine, Ono Academic, Zaka, Police, Criminal Court, ICC, Israel's, Israeli Defence Force, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel's, Israel, Israeli, The Hague, Tel Aviv, Shura, Amsterdam, London

☆ More than 15,900 Palestinians killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 -Palestinian health minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Ali Sawafta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

More than 40,900 people in Gaza have been wounded in by Israeli bombardments, according to her ministry. "If the pace at which the (Israeli) forces are going continues, the health sector may collapse completely," said al-Kaila. She referred to the "disastrous" state of health services in Gaza, remarks similar to those by a World Health Organization official in the besieged enclave earlier in the day. Gaza health officials have recorded as many cases of severe diarrhoea among children as had been recorded among children in the enclave in all of 2020 and 2021 combined, she said. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where violence has surged since the Gaza war erupted, 260 Palestinians have been killed and 3,200 injured since Oct. 7, Al-Kaila said.

Persons: Khan Younis, Nasser, Mai al, Kaila, Ali Sawafta, Maggie Fick, Edmund Blair, Andrew Heavens, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: Hamas, West Bank, Health, Civil Defence, World Health Organization, Thomson Locations: Israel, Palestinian, Gaza, RAMALLAH, West, Ramallah, Al

According to three regional sources, Israel related its plans to its neighbours Egypt and Jordan, along with the United Arab Emirates, which normalised ties with Israel in 2020. He declined to offer details when asked whether those plans had been raised with international partners, including Arab states. A U.S. official, who declined to be identified, said Israel had "floated" the buffer zone idea without saying to whom. The regional sources compared the Gaza buffer zone plan to the "security zone" Israel once had in south Lebanon. "The buffer zone could make (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's forces a target also in the zone," he said.

Persons: Ronen, Israel, Abu Dhabi, Ophir Falk, Benjamin Netanyahu, Lebanon's, it's, Mohammad Dahlan, Benjamin, Netanyahu's, Samia Nakhoul, Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, Jonathan Saul, Dan Williams, Aidan Lewis, Humeyra Pamuk, Steve Holland, Edmund Blair, Daniel Flynn Organizations: REUTERS, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Saudi, Reuters, U.S, Lebanon's Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestine Liberation Organization, PLO, Palestinian Fatah, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Gaza Israel, Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, U.S, DUBAI, CAIRO, LONDON, Israel, Riyadh, Arab Turkey, Qatar, Qatari, Turkish, Palestinian, Cairo, Lebanon, PLO, Dubai, London, Jerusalem, Washington

Israel's response has been a fierce military campaign that has killed more than 14,000 people inside Gaza so far. Israel regards the entire Hamas leadership as terrorists, accusing Haniyeh, Meshaal and others of continuing to "pull the strings of the Hamas terror organisation." The plan, drawn up by the Hamas military council in Gaza, was such a closely guarded secret that some Hamas officials seemed shocked by its timing and scale. During the decade in which Haniyeh was Hamas' top leader in Gaza, Israel accused his leadership team of helping to divert humanitarian aid to the group's military wing. Three senior officials told Reuters that Khamenei told the Hamas leader in that meeting, that Iran would not enter the war having not been told about it in advance.

Persons: Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh, Israel, Khaled Meshaal, Yahya Sinwar, Adeeb Ziadeh, Meshaal, Iran's, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Khamenei, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, Yassin, Samia Nakhoul, Stephen Farrell, Edmund Blair Organizations: Palestinian, Gaza, Al, Hamas, Qatari, Qatar University, Reuters, Islamic University, Thomson Locations: Qatar, Gaza, Israel, Turkey, Doha, Iran, Al Jazeera, Meshaal, Muslim Iran, Egypt, Tehran, Iranian, Al, Gaza City, Al Jura, Ashkelon, Dubai

☆ Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Leads Group's Diplomacy as Gaza War Rages
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-23 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +5 min

By Stephen Farrell and Samia Nakhoul(Reuters) - Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader based in Qatar, has been the tough-talking face of the Palestinian group's international diplomacy as war has raged back in Gaza where his family home was destroyed in an Israeli air strike in November. Israel regards the entire Hamas leadership as terrorists, accusing Haniyeh, Meshaal and others of continuing to "pull the strings of the Hamas terror organisation." The plan, drawn up by the Hamas military council in Gaza, was such a closely guarded secret that some Hamas officials seemed shocked by its timing and scale. During the decade in which Haniyeh was Hamas' top leader in Gaza, Israel accused his leadership team of helping to divert humanitarian aid to the group's military wing. Three senior officials told Reuters that Khamenei told the Hamas leader in that meeting, that Iran would not enter the war having not been told about it in advance.

Persons: Stephen Farrell, Samia Nakhoul, Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh, Israel, Khaled Meshaal, Yahya Sinwar, Adeeb Ziadeh, Meshaal, Iran's, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Khamenei, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, Yassin, Edmund Blair Organizations: Palestinian, Gaza, Al, Hamas, Qatari, Qatar University, Reuters, Islamic University Locations: Qatar, Gaza, Turkey, Doha, Iran, Israel, Al Jazeera, Meshaal, Muslim Iran, Egypt, Tehran, Iranian, Al, Gaza City, Al Jura, Ashkelon, Dubai

☆ Israel–Hamas war: The hostage deal and ceasefire explained
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Israeli tanks take position near a border with Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, November 22, 2023. The pause will be extended by a day for each additional batch of 10 hostages released, Israel said in a statement. Qatar's chief negotiator in ceasefire talks, Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, said that under the deal there would be "no attack whatsoever. The deal was announced 46 days after the start of the war, one of the most fierce conflicts to erupt between the two sides. The initial negotiations for a deal between Israel and Hamas, both sworn enemies, began within days of the Oct. 7 attack but progress was slow.

Persons: Amir Cohen, Israel, Salah al, Foreign Ministry Mohammed Al, Mahmoud Abbas, Joe Biden, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's, Edmund Blair, Howard Goller Organizations: Palestinian, Hamas, REUTERS, State, Foreign Ministry, Committee, WHO, U.S, Palestinian Prisoners Society, West Bank and, Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Qatari, United, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel, Qatar, Egypt, Gaza ., Argentina, Britain, Chile, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Thailand, U.S, West Bank and Jerusalem, Doha, United States, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Israeli, Cairo

☆ Three more journalists killed in Gaza in Israeli offensive, relatives say
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Palestinians mourn local journalists Hassouna Sleem and Sary Mansour, who were killed in an Israeli strike on a house, at a hospital in the central Gaza Strip November 19, 2023. The CPJ, whose list covers journalists killed on both sides of the conflict although most have been in Gaza, said it seeks at least two sources to verify each death. Reuters could not independently verify this report or the report of the other two journalists killed this weekend. One of the journalists on CPJ's list of those killed is Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah who was killed in Lebanon near the border with Israel on Oct. 13. In addition to Jadallah, two freelance journalists - Hassouna Sleem and Sary Mansour - were killed on Saturday in an Israeli assault on Bureij refugee camp, in the centre of the Gaza Strip, their relatives and Palestinian health officials said.

Persons: Hassouna Sleem, Sary Mansour, Stringer, Sherif Mansour, Belal, Jadallah, Issam Abdallah, Hassouna, Edmund Blair Organizations: REUTERS, Protect Journalists, Journalists, Reuters, Press, Thomson Locations: Gaza, New York, Israel, CPJ's, East, North Africa, Palestine, Gaza City, Zeitoun, Lebanon

An Israeli military spokesman indicated on Friday that the military operation against Hamas would advance into southern Gaza but gave no indication of timing. "They asked us, the citizens of Gaza, to go to the south. With Palestinians now effectively cornered, the second stage in Israel's military campaign is fraught with even more risks than the first. Assessing Israel's gains till now, Eiland said he believed the IDF had dealt with "something like 50%" of Hamas' military capacity. "I'm not sure that all foreigners understand the Israeli mood: Israel will not stop the operation before the hostages are back," said Eiland.

Persons: Khan Younis, Abu Mustafa, Gazans, Israel, Abu, Giora, Daniel Hagari, Hagari, Matthew Miller, Benjamin Netanyahu, Yahya Sinwar, Ahmed, Eiland, Osama Hamdan, Al Mawasi, I'm, Jonathan Saul, Nidal, Simon Lewis, Humeyra Pamuk, Matt Spetalnick, Edmund Blair, Daniel Flynn Organizations: Hamas, REUTERS, Gazans, Israel Washington, Israel's National Security Council, Reuters, U.S, U.S . State Department, United Nations, IRNA, Thomson Locations: Israel, Palestinian, Gaza, GAZA, Israeli, Gaza City, United States, Washington, U.S, Beirut, U.N, Egypt, Rafah, Eiland, London

The stockpile continues to grow, the reports say, even though Iran has consistently denied wanting nuclear arms. "The political debate is really not going to be about negotiating with Iran, it's going to be about confronting Iran," he said. This week's IAEA reports showed Iran was making steady nuclear progress and indicated that Tehran continued to stonewall the agency in monitoring its work. Two diplomats said all that could be done in coming months was to support IAEA chief Rafael Grossi's efforts to strengthen oversight of Iran's nuclear programme. "It's way too early to say whether Iran will become a nuclear state or whether it will stay a threshold state like now," one diplomat said.

Persons: Leonhard Foeger, Biden, Trump, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Israel, Robert Einhorn, Rafael Grossi's, John Irish, Francois Murphy, Arshad Mohammed, Edmund Blair Organizations: International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, REUTERS, Trump PARIS, Reuters, U.S, Hamas, Pentagon, U.S . State Department, IAEA Washington, Governors, Thomson Locations: Vienna, Austria, stoke, WASHINGTON, VIENNA, United States, Tehran, Gaza, Iran, European, Washington, Iraq, Syria, U.S, IRAN, IAEA, stonewall, Paris

The Gaza Strip has been under a total Israeli blockade since Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7. An Israeli ground incursion since then has brought fighting to streets around the hospital in the centre of Gaza City in the north of the strip. "Luckily they are still 36, we didn’t lose any of them overnight," Dr Ahmed El Mokhatallali, a surgeon, told Reuters by telephone from Al Shifa. 'NO CLEAR MECHANISM'The military did not say what steps it would take to make an evacuation possible, amid intense air strikes and ongoing fighting in the vicinity of Al Shifa hospital. What we care most is about the wellbeing and the lives of those babies," Gaza health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra said, speaking by telephone from the hospital.

Persons: Gaza's Al Shifa, Dr Ahmed El Mokhatallali, Al Shifa, Shani Sasson, Arthur Edelman, Ashraf Al, Qidra, Israel, Al Shifa's Mokhatallali, Nidal al, Dan Williams, Abir Al, Estelle Shirbon, Andrew Heavens, Edmund Blair Organizations: Hamas, REUTERS, Israel, Al, Gaza's, Reuters, Israeli Defence Ministry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, West Bank, Medical, Israel's Coordination, Administration, Al Shifa Hospital, Thomson Locations: Gaza's Al, Israel, Palestinian, Gaza City, Gaza, GAZA, JERUSALEM, Al Shifa, Israeli, Al, Egypt, Jerusalem, Abir Al Ahmar, Dubai

☆ Lebanon front with Israel heats up, stoking fears of wider war
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Israeli strikes killed two people in south Lebanon on Monday, according to a first-responder organisation affiliated to the Hezbollah-allied Amal Movement. Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israeli forces since its Palestinian ally Hamas went to war with Israel on Oct. 7. The exchanges mark the deadliest violence at the border since Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006. So far, more than 70 Hezbollah fighters and 10 civilians have been killed in Lebanon, and 10 people including seven troops have been killed in Israel. The 2006 war killed 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Persons: Israel, Hamas, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Nasrallah, Najib Mikati, Al, Lloyd Austin, Mohanad Hage Ali, Phil Stewart, Crispian Balmer, Dan Williams, Edmund Blair Organizations: Amal, Israel Electric Company, Hezbollah, United, Israeli, U.S . Defense, Carnegie Middle East Center, Thomson Locations: Israel, BEIRUT, JERUSALEM, Lebanese, Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, United States, Beirut, Al Jazeera, Israel's, Seoul, U.S, Jerusalem

☆ HonestReporting accepts news groups had no prior warning of Oct. 7 Hamas attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Crispian Balmer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

HonestReporting's Gil Hoffman told Reuters his organisation had not claimed to know that there had been any prior knowledge by the news groups of the Hamas attack. "I was so relieved when all four of the media organisations said they didn't have prior knowledge," Hoffman said in an interview by telephone about the article. "I still very much think that the questions were legitimate and the answers were adequate from the media organisations themselves." Reacting to the HonestReporting article posted on X, the Israeli Foreign Ministry had described the use of the various images by the four news groups as "a serious violation of journalistic ethics." Despite HonestReporting's suggestions that the Palestinian photojournalists had secured their images in coordination with Hamas, he said he was "happy" their pictures had been published.

Persons: Esa Alexander, HonestReporting, HonestReporting's Gil Hoffman, Hoffman, Benjamin Netanyahu's, Danny Danon, photojournalists, Crispian Balmer, Edmund Blair Organizations: Hamas, REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Associated Press, CNN, The New York Times, Palestinian, Israeli Foreign Ministry, Likud, United Nations, AP, Jerusalem Post, HonestReporting, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel, Palestinian, Beirut, Lebanon, Israeli

☆ Reuters denies any suggestion it had prior knowledge of Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Smoke is seen in the Rehovot area as rockets are launched from the Gaza Strip, in Israel October 7, 2023. REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - International news organisation Reuters denied on Thursday any suggestion it had prior knowledge of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians and soldiers, in a statement responding to a report by media advocacy group HonestReporting. "We are aware of a report by HonestReporting and accusations made against two freelance photographers who contributed to Reuters coverage of the Oct. 7 attack," Reuters said. "Reuters categorically denies that it had prior knowledge of the attack or that we embedded journalists with Hamas on Oct 7. The photographs published by Reuters were taken two hours after Hamas fired rockets across southern Israel and more than 45 minutes after Israel said gunmen had crossed the border.

Persons: Ilan Rosenberg, HonestReporting, Israel, Mark Bendeich, Edmund Blair Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel

☆ Jordan fears the crossfire if Gaza war pulls Iran into wider conflict
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Suleiman Al-Khalidi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/3] Jordanians gather during a protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Amman, Jordan, October 27, 2023. Jordan neighbours Syria and Iraq - both states where Iranian proxies operate - and also sits next door to Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. A Jordanian army spokesperson said on Sunday that Amman had requested that U.S. Patriot missiles be deployed in Jordan. He said Jordan's military and security forces were determined "to prevent any party in these Iranian militias from exploiting the Gaza war to achieve a security breakthrough". Iranian-backed militias hold sway on Syria's southern border with Jordan and Amman blames them and Iran for running a thriving drugs smuggling business.

Persons: Al Sukhni, Jordan, King Abdullah, Abu Nuwar, Amman, Jordan . Washington, Washington, Al Maitah, Maitah, Saddam Hussein, Asad, Bashar al, Assad, Israel, Saud Al Sharafat, Suleiman Al, Phil Stewart, Edmund Blair, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Hamas, REUTERS, West Bank, Reuters, U.S . Patriot, East, Washington, U.S, Embassy, Area Defense, Patriots, Pentagon, Patriot, Hezbollah, Jordan's General Intelligence, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel, Amman, Jordan, Jordan's, Jordanian, AMMAN, Washington, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Palestinian, U.S, Jordan ., United States, Ain, Lebanese, Red Sea, Eilat, Aqaba, Yemen, Khalidi

☆ Lebanon's Hezbollah: What weapons does it have?
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Here is an overview of some of Hezbollah's most significant weapons, based on Hezbollah statements, security sources, weapons experts and academic reports. Hezbollah says it has rockets that can hit all areas of Israel. Last year, he said Hezbollah had the ability within Lebanon to retrofit thousands of rockets with guidance systems to make them precision missiles. Hezbollah has posted videos of what it says are direct hits on Israeli tanks and other military vehicles since Oct. 7. Hezbollah has since broadcast videos that it says show more of the same weapons that were used in 2006.

Persons: Amr Alfiky, Israel, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Nasrallah, Maya Gebeily, Timour Azhari, Tom Perry, Edmund Blair, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: Hamas, REUTERS, Palestinian, Raad, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel, Palestinian, Beirut, Lebanon, Iran, Islamic Republic, Iraq, Syria, Dawn, Haifa

☆ Israel-Hamas war in Gaza: What is the history of the conflict?
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

[1/3]Smoke rises after Israeli strikes on the seaport of Gaza City, in Gaza, October 10. Two-state solution: An agreement that would create a state for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip alongside Israel. Israel has said a Palestinian state must be demilitarized so as not to threaten its security. Refugees: Today about 5.6 million Palestinian refugees - mainly descendants of those who fled in 1948 - live in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza. Israel says any resettlement of Palestinian refugees must occur outside of its borders.

Persons: David Ben, Gurion, Israel, Yasser Arafat, Mohammed Salem, Yitzhak Rabin, Arafat, Bill Clinton, Ehud Barak, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Trump, Edmund Blair, Stephen Farrell, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: Israel, West Bank, Palestinian, REUTERS, Palestine Liberation Organization, Oslo Accords, Arab League, U.S, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Israel, kibbutzes, Gaza, East, British, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, East Jerusalem, U.S, Egypt, Suez, Golan, Lebanon's Iran, Gaza City, Oslo, Israeli, Arab, Palestinian, Washington, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, Jerusalem

Members of Hezbollah carry the coffin of Hezbollah member Abbas Shuman, who was killed in southern Lebanon amidst tension between Israel and Hezbollah, during his funeral in Baalbek, Lebanon, October 23, 2023. With most of its fighters killed in Israeli drone strikes, Hezbollah has unveiled its surface-to-air missile capability for the first time, declaring on Sunday it downed an Israeli drone. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel would unleash devastation on Lebanon if a war did start. Hezbollah lost 263 fighters in the 2006 war, when Israel hit sites all over Lebanon during a more than month-long conflict. The war erupted after Hezbollah launched a raid into Israel and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.

Persons: Abbas Shuman, Amr Alfiky, Israel, Sunday's, Yoav Gallant, Benjamin Netanyahu, Jama'a, Bashar al, Assad, Nabil Boumonsef, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Laila Bassam, Tom Perry, Ari Rabinovitch, Edmund Blair Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Israeli, FORCE Hezbollah, Lebanon's, Hezbollah, Thomson Locations: Lebanon, Israel, Baalbek, BEIRUT, Lebanese, Iran, Lebanon's, Hamas, Israeli, Gaza, Tehran's, Syria, Jabal Safi, Jerusalem, Beirut

☆ Israel stops missile from Lebanon, Beirut takes airport precautions
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

With tension climbing again, the Lebanese authorities issued precautionary guidance for evacuating the airport and surrounding installations in case of emergency. Israel's military said on Saturday it had "thwarted a surface-to-air missile that was fired from Lebanon" towards an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). It also said one its drones had hit a "terrorist cell" in Lebanon which had tried to launch an anti-tank missile at Israel. Sources have previously said Hezbollah's attacks on Israel were designed to keep Israel's army occupied without provoking a major war. Israel has said it has no interest in waging war and that if Hezbollah is restrained it will maintain the status quo.

Persons: Lebanon's, Riham, Edmund Blair, Giles Elgood Organizations: Lebanese, Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, Hamas, Thomson Locations: BEIRUT, JERUSALEM, Lebanon, Beirut, Gaza, Beirut Rafic, Israel, Naqoura, Dhayra, Jerusalem

☆ Despite Biden's doubts, humanitarian agencies consider Gaza toll reliable
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

U.N. and other international agencies say there can be small discrepancies between the final casualty numbers and those reported by the Gaza health ministry straight after attacks, but that they broadly trust them. The figures are initially reported in Gaza, and updated in Ramallah after they have been checked, but discrepancies are generally minimal, he said. In a report published on its website on Nov. 3, 2015, the Palestinian health ministry said the number of people killed in the July-August 2014 conflict in Gaza was 2,322. ISRAELI CONCERNIsrael has been attacking Gaza since cross-border raids in which it said 1,400 people were killed by Hamas in southern Israel. An Israeli military spokesman said this week the Gaza health ministry "continuously inflates the number of civilian casualties" and "has been caught lying in the past".

Persons: Biden, Joe Biden, Mike Ryan, Omar Shakir, Khan Younis, Abu Mustafa, Israel, Gabrielle Tétrault, Farber, James Mackenzie, Edmund Blair, Washington newsroooms, Timothy Heritage, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Palestinian, Reuters, Humanitarian Affairs, Health, Rights Watch, Palestine, Human Rights, Health Organization, Palestinian Authority, West Bank, Hamas, REUTERS, Fatah, Israeli Foreign Ministry, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Arabi, Thomson Locations: GENEVA, Gaza, Israel, Geneva, York, Palestinian, Ramallah, Israeli, Al, Ahli, Jerusalem, Beirut, Washington

[1/7] Khadjeh Chehadeh Abu Stateh, 84, left, a Palestinian refugee who fled the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and her daughter, Zahra Ahmed Abu Stateh, 51, sit at their residence in Bourj al-Barajneh Refugee Camp in Beirut, Lebanon, October 25, 2023. 'BATTLE OF THE WHOLE NATION'Many of the Palestinians who arrived in Lebanon and their descendants still live in 12 refugee camps around the country, which now hosts about 174,000 Palestinian refugees. The walls in Burj al-Barajneh, like other camps, are covered in graffiti backing Palestinian factions, which are effectively in control. Security and governance is in the hands of Popular Committees and Palestinian factions, the United Nations Palestinian refugees agency UNRWA says. Meanwhile, many in Gaza, a narrow strip of land just 40 km (25 miles) long where 2.3 million people live, most of them also Palestinian refugees from what is now Israel, have been displaced again.

Persons: Abu Stateh, Zahra Ahmed Abu Stateh, Amr Alfiky, Gazans, Bidur Al Habet, Kayyal, Zahra Steitiyeh, Khadijeh Astateh, Riham Alkousaa, Edmund Blair, Giles Elgood Organizations: REUTERS, Hamas, Popular Committees, United Nations Palestinian, UNRWA, Israel, West Bank, Thomson Locations: Bourj, Beirut, Lebanon, Burj, BURJ, Gaza, British, Palestine, Israel, Acre, Palestinian, Asylos, Burj al, Lebanese, Al Aqsa, Jordan, Egypt, Safed

[1/5] Rabab Youssef, 57, a survivor of the Israeli airstrike in 2006 that killed dozens, sits beside her daughter's grave in Qana, Lebanon October 24, 2023. You just wait," said Rabab Yousef, a 57-year-old mother who lost a daughter under the rubble of an Israeli airstrike in 2006. When conflict erupted over Gaza after Palestinian group Hamas - an ally of Hezbollah - launched its devastating raid on Israeli soil on Oct. 7, violence quickly flared on Israel's flashpoint northern border with Lebanon. An Israeli inquiry after the 2006 incident said it had been a mistake. Israel voiced regret at the 1996 incident, which prompted it to wind down its Lebanon operation at the time.

Persons: Rabab Youssef, Zohra, Jesus, Rabab Yousef, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Nabih Berri, Ghazi Hussein Ai Deebh, Qana, Israel, Jamil Salameh, Kefah, won’t, Nasrallah, Sabah Krecht, Riham Alkousaa, Edmund Blair Organizations: REUTERS, Hamas, Thomson Locations: Qana, Lebanon, Israel, Lebanese, Cana, Gaza, Palestinian, Nabih Berri . South Lebanon

☆ Qatar hostage mediators press Hamas on civilian releases -diplomats, sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Andrew Mills | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Hamas on Monday freed two Israeli civilian women captives from the besieged enclave following the release of two hostages with dual U.S.-Israeli nationality on Friday. Qatar is now discussing a larger release of civilians with Hamas and Israel, a fifth source told Reuters on Tuesday after being briefed on the negotiations. The talks are not about any of the Israeli soldiers held by Hamas, the diplomats and regional source familiar with the talks said. When its fighters stormed into Israel on Oct 7, "Hamas did not expect the operation would be as catastrophically successful as it was. Qatar, which has ambitious foreign policy goals, has a direct line of communication with Hamas and Israel.

Persons: Ammar Awad, Matthew Miller, Washington, Osama Hamdan, Israel, Matt Spetalnick, Humeyra Pamuk, Nidal, James Mackenzie, Edmund Blair, William Maclean, Nick Macfie Organizations: Hamas, REUTERS, quicken, U.S, Reuters, Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, . State Department, Qatar apprised, Thomson Locations: Tel Aviv, Gaza, Israel, DOHA, Gulf, Palestinian, Qatar, In Washington, U.S, Jerusalem, Washington, Beirut

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