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☆ Hamas Releases Video of Teenage Israeli Soldier Held Hostage in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2025-01-04 | by ( Aaron Boxerman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Hamas’s military wing released a video on Saturday of Liri Albag, one of some 250 people taken hostage by the group in its attack on Israel, as Israeli and Hamas officials held further rounds of indirect cease-fire talks via mediators in Qatar. Roughly 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza nearly 15 months since the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, prompted Israel’s war in Gaza. Ms. Albag, 19, served in a unit of lookouts charged with monitoring possible threats along the border with Gaza. The video released on Saturday was edited and featured Ms. Albag speaking for about three and a half minutes. Ms. Albag said she had been held for over 450 days, but that could not be definitively confirmed.

Persons: Liri, Albag, Ms Locations: Israel, Qatar, Gaza, Palestinian

☆ European Ministers Visit Syria to Strengthen Ties With New Government
▼ + stars: | 2025-01-03 | by ( Aaron Boxerman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Syria’s new leaders are set to meet the French and German foreign ministers in the capital, Damascus, on Friday in one of the highest-level Western diplomatic visits since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad last month. Ms. Baerbock and Mr. Barrot were scheduled to meet with Ahmad al-Shara, the group’s leader. The two also visited the notorious Sednaya prison, where Mr. al-Assad’s regime tortured and killed thousands of detainees. “We are traveling to Damascus today to offer our support, but also with clear expectations of the new rulers,” Ms. Baerbock said in a statement. “A new beginning can only happen if all Syrians, no matter their ethnicity and religion, are given a place in the political process.”

Persons: Bashar al, Assad, Annalena, Jean, Noël Barrot, Tahrir, Baerbock, Barrot, Ahmad al, Ms Organizations: European Union Locations: Damascus

Since the early months of the war in Gaza, Israeli forces have occupied a four-mile road, known as the Netzarim corridor, that bisects the enclave, to keep hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans from returning north. That has slowly grown into an 18-square-mile block of territory controlled by Israeli forces, according to the Israeli military and a New York Times analysis of satellite images and video footage. The buildup suggests a shift for Israel, which had largely avoided holding Gazan territory, creating a vacuum that has allowed Hamas to reassert control in some parts of Gaza. Israelis leaders have vowed to maintain security control in Gaza even after the war, without saying clearly what that might entail. Israeli military analysts say the increase in infrastructure along the Netzarim corridor might serve that purpose.

Persons: Nadav Organizations: New York Times Locations: Gaza, Israel

☆ Hezbollah and Israel Trade Fire, Further Testing Cease-Fire
▼ + stars: | 2024-12-02 | by ( Aaron Boxerman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Hezbollah fired at northern Israel on Monday for the first time since a cease-fire was reached last week, prompting Israel to launch a wave of airstrikes in Lebanon, as each side blamed the other for violating the tenuous truce. Hezbollah said it had fired into Israeli territory, and the Israeli military said two Hezbollah projectiles fell in open areas without causing casualties. They hit a strip of land called Shebaa Farms — Har Dov to Israelis — that was seized by Israel in the 1967 war, but is claimed by both Israel and Lebanon. The Lebanese armed group said its launches were prompted by “repeated violations of the agreement by the Israeli enemy,” describing it as “an initial defensive response that serves as a warning.”Since the cease-fire agreement was announced last week, the Israeli military has repeatedly bombarded Lebanon in attacks it says target Hezbollah militants breaching the cease-fire. The truce — mediated by the United States and France — ended more than a year of fighting.

Persons: Dov, “, France — Locations: Israel, Lebanon, Lebanese, United States, France

The uneasy truce between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah largely held through its second day in Lebanon on Thursday, although Israel conducted an airstrike that it said targeted militants violating terms of the cease-fire deal. The Israeli strike was the first of its kind since the U.S.-backed cease-fire went into effect before dawn on Wednesday. But despite an exchange of blame between two parties of the deal — Israel and Lebanon — neither of the war’s combatants, Israel or Hezbollah, seemed keen to immediately return to full-scale fighting. Lebanon’s army, which is set to play a major role in enforcing the truce, accused Israel of violating the cease-fire “several times” on Thursday afternoon. The Israeli military also said its soldiers had stopped militants from advancing into southern Lebanon.

Persons: Lebanon —, Israel, Herzi Halevi, ” Locations: Israel, Lebanon, U.S, “

Hamas has long believed that a wider war in the Middle East would help deliver the organization a victory in its war with Israel. But the cease-fire deal to stop the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah has left that strategy in tatters, potentially removing Hamas’s most important ally from the fight, according to U.S. officials. The agreement is a step forward for the Biden administration, which has tried to contain that wider war and increase pressure on Hamas to make a deal with Israel and release the hostages it holds in Gaza. But even before the Lebanese cease-fire was announced on Tuesday, Palestinian and U.S. officials said they believed that Hamas’s political leadership was ready to make a deal and abandon the strategy formulated by its leader, Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli forces last month.

Persons: Biden, Yahya Sinwar Organizations: Lebanese, Hezbollah Locations: Israel, Gaza, Palestinian, U.S

An Israeli rabbi in the United Arab Emirates who had been missing since Thursday has been found dead, the Israeli authorities announced early Sunday. Israeli officials said the rabbi, Zvi Kogan, had been murdered and called his death an act of terrorism, without providing any further details. The Emirati authorities — who on Saturday said officials were investigating the rabbi’s disappearance — did not immediately comment on his death. But a senior official stressed on Sunday that the Emirates was a safe place, without explicitly mentioning Rabbi Kogan. will remain a safe haven, an oasis of stability, a society of tolerance and coexistence,” Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the Emirati president, wrote on social media.

Persons: Zvi Kogan, —, Rabbi Kogan, “, ” Anwar Gargash Organizations: United Arab Emirates, Emirates

The court also issued a warrant for the arrest of Hamas’s military chief, Muhammad Deif, accusing him, too, of crimes against humanity, including murder, hostage taking and sexual violence. Israel has said that it killed Mr. Deif in an airstrike, but the court said it could not determine whether he was dead. Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant are unlikely to find themselves in a courtroom standing trial on the charges anytime soon. The court has no police force to make arrests and neither Israel nor its chief ally, the United States, is among its member nations. But the order carries significant moral weight, it is likely to restrict the leaders’ travel around the world, and it further isolates Israel as it prosecutes wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Yoav Gallant, Muhammad Deif, Deif, Netanyahu, Gallant, Gallant “ Locations: Gaza, Israel, United States, Lebanon

☆ Why the ICC Issued Arrest Warrants for Israeli and Hamas Leaders
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-21 | by ( Aaron Boxerman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for two Israeli leaders say that there are grounds to believe they bear “criminal responsibility” for the devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, according to a statement released by the court on Thursday. Most of Gaza’s over two million people are still displaced — many living in tents — and finding enough food and clean water is often a daily struggle. Israeli officials, who ordered the invasion of Gaza after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks, say their aim is to eradicate the armed group. The court said some Gazans had died from deprivation in part imposed by Israeli restrictions on the flow of aid, providing legal grounds for suspected murder. The judges also argued that restrictions on food and medicine to Gazans as a whole could amount to the crime of persecution under international law.

Persons: ”, Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Mr, Netanyahu’s, —, Gazans Locations: Gaza, Palestinian

This resolution abandoned that necessity, and for that reason, the United States could not support it. Fourteen Security Council members voted for the resolution, while only the United States voted against it. “It is a sad day for the Security Council, for the United Nations and for the international community,” said Algeria’s ambassador, Amar Bendjama. Although Security Council resolutions are considered to be international law, the Council has no means of enforcing resolutions. That month, the United States abstained from voting on a resolution that called for a temporary halt to the fighting for the month of Ramadan.

Persons: ”, Robert A ., Amar Bendjama, Carolyn Rodrigues, Birkett Organizations: United Nations Security, United, Council, Hamas, United Nations, UNRWA, Security Council, Security, Israel Locations: States, Israel, Gaza, United States, United, Washington, American, Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Switzerland, “, ”, Ukraine, Britain, France, Russia, China

Immediately after Oct. 7, Hezbollah began carrying out strikes in northern Israel in a show of solidarity with Hamas. Isolated and in hiding in Gaza, Mr. Sinwar’s communication with his organization has become strained. Image A poster of Mr. Sinwar at a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, in August. The failure of Hezbollah or Iran to meaningfully damage Israel is a telling sign of Mr. Sinwar’s miscalculation, American officials said. On Sept. 13, Hezbollah released a letter that Mr. Sinwar sent in support of Mr. Nasrallah.

Persons: Yahya Sinwar, Sinwar, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Mohammed Saber, Hassan Nasrallah, Mr, Nasrallah, Alkis Konstantinidis, Netanyahu, Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh, Arash Khamooshi, Yoav Gallant, ” Mr, Gallant, ”, Scott D, ” Julian E, Barnes, Adam Goldman, Edward Wong, Adam Rasgon, Aaron Boxerman, Ronen Bergman Organizations: Israel, U.S, Hezbollah, Hamas, Mr, Credit, The New York Times, U.S . Defense Intelligence Agency Locations: Gaza, Israel, U.S, Deir al, Lebanon, Iran, Palestinian, Beirut, Egypt, Qatar, Tehran, Rafah, Tel Sultan, Washington, New York, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv

Hezbollah fighters at the funeral of a commander in August, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. By 2000, Israel had withdrawn from Lebanon, making Hezbollah a hero to many Lebanese. In that war, Israel rained bombs on southern Lebanon and Beirut, the capital; the fighting killed more than 1,000 Lebanese. Even some of Hezbollah’s traditionally loyal Shiite Muslim constituents in southern Lebanon are questioning the price of the current fighting. Estimates vary about just how many missiles Hezbollah has and just how sophisticated its systems are.

Persons: Israel hasn’t, Israel, Hassan Nasrallah, Nasrallah, Diego Ibarra Sánchez, Bashar al, Assad, Euan Ward Organizations: Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestine Liberation Organization, Credit, The New York Times, Central Intelligence Locations: Beirut, Lebanon, Gaza, Israel, Iran, Lebanese, United States, Syria

☆ Hamas Agrees to Meet With Mediators in Cairo Ahead of Cease-Fire Talks
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-24 | by ( Erika Solomon | Aaron Boxerman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Hamas said it would head to Cairo on Saturday to meet with mediators ahead of a new round of Gaza cease-fire talks, as the United States, Qatar and Egypt push to reach an agreement they hope can stave off the growing threat of regional war. On Friday, the Israeli military announced that at least one soldier had been killed and several others were wounded in fighting in central Gaza. While U.S. officials have insisted there is progress in negotiations, the main warring parties, Israel and Hamas, have been far more pessimistic in their assessment. Negotiators have been pushing for a major summit as early as Sunday to move ahead with the talks. But the visit to Cairo leaves the door open for further talks.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu Organizations: Civil Defense, Hamas Locations: Cairo, Gaza, United States, Qatar, Egypt, While, Israel

☆ Israel Presses for Gaza Border Presence as Part of Cease-Fire Deal
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-23 | by ( Aaron Boxerman | Raja Abdulrahim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mediators plan to move ahead with a summit next week pursuing a cease-fire agreement in Gaza, Israeli officials said on Friday, after Israeli security chiefs sought to obtain Egyptian consent for a postwar Israeli presence along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Hamas has repeatedly rejected the idea of an Israeli presence in the border area, saying that any deal to stop the war must involve Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza. Egypt, as a neighboring country and a mediator in the truce talks with a significant stake in the war’s outcome, is also key to reaching a truce agreement. The government has said that keeping Israeli troops at its Gaza border could raise national security concerns and potentially threaten Egyptian-Israeli relations. Egypt also says it has already taken aggressive action to destroy tunnels and stop smuggling.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel Organizations: Hamas Locations: Gaza, Egypt, Israel, Qatar, United States

☆ Families of Dead Hostages Vent Anger at Israeli Leaders Over War
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-23 | by ( Aaron Boxerman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The bodies returned for the final time to the villages that, in life, they had called home. Months of anguished waiting at an end, mourners embraced, wept, read tributes and lowered into the soil the remains of Israeli hostages recovered this week from the Gaza Strip. But grief had to share space with fury at Israel’s leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for not agreeing to a cease-fire with Hamas that might have saved the captives’ lives. “You were abandoned, again and again, by the prime minister and his ministers, to Hamas’s tunnels,” Keren Munder — herself a former hostage — said as she buried her father, Abraham Munder, on Wednesday in his hometown, Nir Oz. Distant explosions and crackles of gunfire occasionally interrupted her eulogy, reminders of the war between Israel and Hamas, now in its 11th month.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, “, Keren Munder —, —, Abraham Munder, Nir Oz, Munder, Haim Peri, Yoram Metzger, Alexander Dancyg, Nadav Popplewell, Yagev Buchshtab Organizations: Hamas Locations: Gaza, Israel, Nirim

An Israeli airstrike early Saturday hit a school compound in northern Gaza where displaced Palestinians were sheltering, killing dozens of people, according to Gazan officials. The Israeli military acknowledged the attack, but said Hamas and another armed Palestinian group were using the facility for military operations and attacks on Israel. The strike in Gaza City, the latest in a string of attacks on schools turned into shelters, drew strong condemnation from the European Union and the United Nations, with Josep Borrell Fontelles, the top E.U. diplomat, saying, “There’s no justification for these massacres.”The strikes have taken place alongside mounting international pressure on Israel to conclude a deal for a cease-fire and an exchange of hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian detainees, with President Biden and the leaders of Egypt and Qatar saying this week that “the time has come.”

Persons: Josep Borrell Fontelles, “, Biden, ” Organizations: European Union, United Nations Locations: Gaza, Israel, Gaza City, Egypt, Qatar

An Israeli ground assault in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday forced tens of thousands of Palestinians to flee their homes and shelters, many for a third time or more, even as the United States and some Arab allies pressed both Israel and Hamas to restart peace talks. Between 60,000 and 70,000 people had fled by Thursday evening after the Israeli military ordered people in the city of Khan Younis to leave, according to UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. More continued to flee into the night and into Friday. The Israeli military said its troops were “engaged in combat both above and below-ground” in the Khan Younis area, in an attack involving ground troops, fighter jets, helicopter gunships and paratroopers, and that the air force had struck more than 30 targets. Some were in tears.

Persons: Khan Younis, “, Younis Organizations: United Nations Locations: Gaza, United States, Israel

Hamas has chosen Yahya Sinwar, one of the architects of the deadly Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, to lead the militant group’s political wing, it announced on Tuesday, consolidating his power over Hamas as it continues to fight Israel in the Gaza Strip. Mr. Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza since 2017, has long been considered a planner of Hamas’s military strategy there. Now, he will also replace Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s previous political leader and a key liaison in the indirect cease-fire talks with Israel. Mr. Haniyeh, who had been living in Qatar, was killed in an explosion in Iran last week that has been widely attributed to Israel. A hard-line figure born in Gaza, Mr. Sinwar, 61, is a prime target for Israeli forces and is widely believed to be hiding out in tunnels underneath the enclave to avoid Israeli attack.

Persons: Yahya Sinwar, Israel, Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh, Fuad Shukr Locations: Israel, Gaza, Qatar, Iran, Lebanon, Yemen

But although Mr. Nasrallah promised that Hezbollah would respond, he equivocated on the scope and nature of that retaliation. “We have entered a new phase,” he said, speaking in a televised address during the funeral for Mr. Shukr. “You do not realize the red lines you have crossed,” warned Mr. Nasrallah, addressing Israel directly. “The only things lying between us and you are the days, the nights and the battlefield,” said Mr. Nasrallah, again addressing Israel. Credit... Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York TimesAfter Mr. Nasrallah finished his speech, Mr. Shukr’s coffin was carried onto the street outside and met a sea of mourners.

Persons: Hassan Nasrallah, Fuad Shukr, Nasrallah, ”, Shukr, Mr, Diego Ibarra Sanchez, Fatima Nizan al, “, ” Aaron Boxerman, Hwaida Saad Organizations: The New York Locations: Lebanese, Beirut, Lebanon, Israel, Lebanon’s, Iran, Credit, Beirut’s, Jerusalem

The Israeli announcement confirming the death of Mr. Deif, the leader of Hamas’s military wing, came as thousands of mourners attended the funerals of another Hamas leader and a Hezbollah commander whose assassinations this week have amplified fears of a wider regional war. Mr. Deif was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a compound in southern Gaza on July 13, according to the Israeli military. It said his death had been confirmed by an intelligence assessment, but did not provide further details. 2 Hamas leader in Gaza, he would be the group’s most senior military leader slain by Israeli forces during the offensive in Gaza that has also killed more than 38,000 people, according to the territory’s health officials. Israel began its campaign in the enclave after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, during which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 abducted to Gaza.

Persons: Muhammad Deif, Deif, Israel Organizations: Hamas Locations: Israel, Iranian, Gaza

As Hamas’s political leader, he was central to the group’s high-stakes negotiations and diplomacy, including the stalled cease-fire deal negotiations with Israel. Here is what we know:Leader of Hamas in GazaMr. Haniyeh was named the leader of Hamas in Gaza in 2006. Mr. Haniyeh led Hamas from Qatar and Turkey in recent years. He was arrested by the Israeli military and served several sentences in Israeli jails in the 1980s and 1990s. The two were targets of an attempted Israeli assassination attempt in 2003; the next year, Mr. Yassin was killed by the Israeli military.

Persons: Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh, Yemen —, Iran’s, Sheik Yassin, Yassin, Mr, Haniyeh’s, “, ” Mr, he’d Organizations: United Nations, UNRWA, Islamic, of Gaza, Mr, International Locations: Qatar, Iran, Gaza, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Yemen, Israel, Palestinian, Turkey, Egypt, United States, Gaza City, Ashkelon, Shifa

Recent unrest at two Israeli military bases has highlighted a growing divide among Israelis about the conduct of their soldiers, and revived a deeper and older battle over the nature of the Israeli state and who should shape its future. Two of the soldiers were later released. Dozens of protesters gathered outside the base in solidarity with the detained soldiers, including at least three far-right lawmakers from the ruling coalition. Hundreds later massed outside Beit Lid, a second base in which the 10 men had been brought for interrogation. The incidents were widely broadcast across Israel, spreading an image of disunity at a time when the country is fighting enemies on multiple fronts.

Locations: Palestinian, Israel

☆ War Gives Palestinian Olympians a Wider Role: Athlete-Diplomats
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-31 | by ( Tariq Panja | Aaron Boxerman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Taliyah Brooks gingerly approached the athlete as he lay on the grass and asked her question in a voice just louder than a whisper. “Do you have a pin?” she began, squeezing her shoulders together in a nervous shrug and offering a slight smile. The athlete, who had been stretching, shot up immediately and flashed a huge grin. Pins are the currency of friendship at the Olympic Games, and for Mohammed Dwedar, who will run for the Palestinian team in the track and field competition, this intrusion was more than welcome. “I was almost nervous to come over,” Brooks, a Texan, said, “because I don’t know how y’all feel about the United States.”

Persons: Taliyah Brooks gingerly, needn’t, Mohammed Dwedar, “, ” Brooks, ” Organizations: Olympic Games, Palestinian Locations: United States

Image A photo of Fuad Shukr, from a wanted poster released by the U.S. State Department. Rewards for Justice, via Associated PressIt was not immediately clear whether Mr. Shukr, also known by his nom de guerre al-Hajj Mohsin, survived the Israeli assassination attempt. Assaf Orion, a retired Israeli brigadier general, described Mr. Shukr as “an experienced veteran” who had worked intensively to develop Hezbollah’s precision-guided missile apparatus. Analysts say the munitions are a particular concern for Israeli military planners. “It’s kind of run by committee, but Fuad Shukr is more or less first among equals,” he said, adding that Mr. Shukr reported directly to Mr. Nasrallah.

Persons: Fuad Shukr, Shukr, guerre, Hajj Mohsin, ”, Hassan Nasrallah, Mustafa Badreddine, Assaf, Matthew Levitt, Mohanad Hage Ali, Mr, Levitt, “, Nasrallah, Ronen Bergman Organizations: U.S, U.S . State Department . Credit, Justice, Associated, The State Department, Hezbollah, Washington Institute for Near, Carnegie Middle East, Israel Locations: Beirut, Golan, Syria, American, Israeli, Lebanon

☆ New Israeli Evacuation Order in Gaza Displaces Palestinians Again
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-27 | by ( Adam Rasgon | Aaron Boxerman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Israeli army ordered the evacuation of several neighborhoods in southern Gaza on Saturday, the latest in a series of such directives recently that have forced tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians to relocate yet again. The decision affects an area around the city of Khan Younis that Israel had previously designated a “humanitarian zone” for Palestinian civilians, who are weary from nearly a year of unrelenting war and a daily struggle to avoid disease and find enough food and clean water to survive. “People aren’t being regarded as people,” said Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for UNRWA, the main United Nations agency providing aid to Palestinians in Gaza. “They’re being treated as pinballs and chess pieces.”The Israeli military said its recent evacuations and operations in Khan Younis have targeted a renewed Hamas insurgency and accused Hamas of installing weapons infrastructure in the area under the latest evacuation order on Saturday.

Persons: Khan Younis, Israel, aren’t, ”, Juliette Touma, “ Organizations: UNRWA, United Nations Locations: Gaza

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