Israel says Hamas list shows 8 of the 33 hostages to be released in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire are dead
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel says Hamas list shows 8 of the 33 hostages to be released in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire are dead.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel says Hamas list shows 8 of the 33 hostages to be released in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire are dead.
More than 150 female prisoners were raped and burned to death during a jailbreak last week when fleeing male inmates set fire to a prison in Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a United Nations spokesperson has said.
Israel says it has begun preparations for the departure of Palestinians from Gaza despite widespread international rejection of President Donald Trump’s plan to empty the war-devastated territory of its population. There were no immediate signs of such preparations on the ground Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump suggested that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed the U.S. take “ownership” in redeveloping the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
Demonstrators gathered in cities across the U.S. on Wednesday to protest the Trump administration's early actions, decrying everything from the president's immigration crackdown to his rollback of transgender rights and a proposal to forcibly transfer Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Gaza has long been a powder keg, and it exploded after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and began killing and abducting people, sparking a crushing Israeli military operation that's only recently stopped under a tenuous ceasefire.
CAIRO (AP) — Israel says it has begun preparations for the departure of Palestinians from Gaza despite international rejection of President Donald Trump’s plan to empty the territory of its population. Egypt has launched a diplomatic blitz behind the scenes against the proposal, warning it would put its peace deal with Israel at risk, officials said.
Trump's plans are likely to heighten fears among Palestinians in Gaza, which had a pre-war population of around 2.3 million, of being driven out of the coastal strip, and stoke concern in Arab states that have long worried about the destabilising impact of any such exodus. Palestinians have long been haunted by what they call the "Nakba", or catastrophe, when 700,000 of them were dispossessed from their homes during the war that surrounded the creation of Israel in 1948. Israel disputes the account that they were forced out.
The protests by the 50501 Movement come days after rallies in opposition of Trump's immigration policies were held across the country.
Satellite images in Beit Hanoun, a city on the northeast of the Gaza Strip, show the Star of David etched into the ground of what previously looked like vibrant green fields and farmland in the now war-torn territory.While it is unclear exactly when the symbol appeared, satellite images of it date as far back as November 2023, according to Google Earth — one month after the Hamas-led attack on Israel. Palestinian defence and security analyst Hamzé Attar said the sheer size of the symbol, which a
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia's defence ministry said its troops repelled a Ukrainian counteroffensive in Russia's western Kursk region on Thursday. The Russian report came six months to the day since Ukraine's military pushed across the border into the Kursk region, the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two. Russia's defence ministry said Ukrainian troops and armoured vehicles launched eight waves of attacks near the villages of Ulanok and Cherkasskaya Konopelka.
In the heart of Khan Younis, surrounded by the relative quiet of the Gaza Strip under a ceasefire, Shireen Talaba removes cinder blocks from around a grave. She stands back as men start to dig, her anxiety palpable. Eventually, she takes a shovel and begins to dig herself. Over the course of the fifteen month Israel-Hamas war, the 37 year old buried her brother, Khaled, and her two cousins, Khalil and Ibrahim, in this temporary plot of land amidst the rubble of the city. After the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, Shireen and her brother were displaced from their home in Gaza City and ended up in Khan Younis. She says Khaled insisted that if he was killed during the war, he wanted to be buried near their deceased mother in Gaza City. She vowed that when the war ended, she would take the three men and bury them near their home. "We came [south] eight people, but sadly we will return as five," she told CBC freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife. "They were the most precious things in my life. My brother and both my cousins." WATCH | Bitter dismissal of Trump's Gaza plan as Palestinians return home to bury their dead: According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war in the Gaza Strip. But, in a January study published in medical journal The Lancet, researchers found that for the period between Oct 7, 2023, to June 30, 2024, the number of dead in Gaza was estimated to be 41 per cent higher than what the ministry was reporting. Shireen is not alone in her efforts to move the bodies of her loved ones. As the ceasefire continues, many families are taking the opportunity to retrieve bodies buried in haste during the war and give them proper burials in preferred locations. Bringing them homeKhaled was shot by a quadcopter in Khan Younis in June 2024, Shireen says, and was rushed to the European hospital in central Gaza. A Russian delegation of doctors performed surgery on his leg, but he died of his injuries a few days later on June 26. Ibrahim was with friends in Khan Younis when the house they were in was bombed in July 2024, and Khalil was killed in mid October near the Kerem Shalom border crossing near Rafah in south Gaza where he was looking for a job, Shireen says. Both died instantly. All three were buried in the field in Khan Younis that was donated for use as a temporary burial ground. As she prepared to leave her tent in Khan Younis, Shireen says she stayed in the area until now, waiting for the war to end so her people could go home to Gaza City. "We wanted to bring them home with us," she said. "Even if they're martyred and dead, they can be close to us if we want to visit." When the time came to move the three bodies from Khan Younis to Gaza City, Shireen, centre, asked for help removing them from their temporary burial site and transporting them on a small motorized cart so they could be buried in a proper cemetery. (Mohamed El Saife/CBC News)She helps place the bodies, now in new, white body bags, on the flatbed of the cart that will carry Khaled, Khalil and Ibrahim to their final resting place. She covers them with a brown blanket as the driver heads to Gaza City, which is about 25 kilometres north. Shireen says many told her that digging up the bodies didn't make sense because they had been dead for so long. But she was determined to fulfil Khaled's request and keep the boys close to their families. A final goodbyeAs the caravan arrives in Gaza City, a woman emerges from a building. She's here to say goodbye to her sons. Mona Talaba hadn't seen Khalil or Ibrahim in over a year — they went south during the war, but she stayed behind in Gaza City to wait it out in her home city.The 58-year-old matriarch lays a hand on the bodies as Shireen points out who is who. The mourning mother pats each body bag with her hand and says a prayer for the boys through tears. While her sons Khalil and Ibrahim were displaced to the south during the war, Mona Talaba decided to stay behind in Gaza City to wait out the fighting. She was there to greet their bodies when they were returned to her for burial. (Mohamed El Saife/CBC News)Other family members gather, and they make their way to the Sheikh Radwan cemetery in Gaza City. "We were on a mission that we waited almost the entire war to do," Shireen said of their plans to bring the bodies home. "I'm happy because I wanted them to be comfortable." Amid rubble and destroyed buildings, Shireen helps to carry three body bags to the grave. This is where their mother was buried and where the three men will be buried as well. They're laid to rest side by side as Shireen and her family look on in tears. After a moment, Shireen jumps in to help, adding water to the sand to make a paste that will close up the grave and shoveling some sand herself. Shireen Talaba and several family members help move the bodies of Khaled, Khalil and Ibrahim to their final resting place at Sheikh Radwan cemetery in Gaza City. All three were killed at different points in 2024 and buried at a temporary location in Khan Younis. (Mohamed El Saife/CBC News)When the job is done, she reflects on how things have turned out for her family and says she had hoped they would return to Gaza City the way they left — together. "But fate wouldn't have us return the same way," she said. "I felt at peace when I moved them to Gaza."
Volunteers from Bournemouth who working in Ukraine say Russian forces are targeting marked aid vehicles.
U.S. President Donald Trump's pitch to take ownership of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it after permanently displacing its residents was met with unified anger and concern from Palestinians in Gaza Wednesday.Trump raised the prospect of relocating more than two million Palestinians living there during a visit to Washington Tuesday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He suggested it had become uninhabitable after nearly 16 months of war between Israel and Hamas.Hanan Al-Shennawi said that while there is instability and an unclear future for Palestinians who remain in Gaza, they refuse to leave their land."We will not allow this because this is our country and our land. We're going to remain steadfast here … and we're not going to hand over this land," said Al-Shennawi, 22, from west of Gaza City.Hanan Al-Shennawi, right, sits along the shoreline west of Gaza City Wednesday. Al-Shennawi said Palestinians refuse to give up Gaza after Trump said he plans to redevelop it into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East.’ (Mohamed El Saife/CBC)Al-Shennawi said she does not expect Arab countries to stand behind Palestinians in rejecting the plan, which, if enforced, would breach international law."The Arab nations didn't stand with us from the beginning of the war, so they are not going to come stand with us now at the end of it and in the face of Trump," she told CBC freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife on Wednesday."They allowed [Israel] to displace us from the north to the south, so it's normal for them to displace us outside of the Gaza Strip."Trump's latest comments about turning Gaza into a "Riviera of the Middle East" after resettling Palestinians elsewhere has shattered U.S. policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and drawn widespread condemnation.On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump wants to see Palestinians in Gaza "temporarily relocated" in order for the enclave to be rebuilt — not elaborating on the shift in rhetoric a day later.Concerns about forced displacementMohammed Abu Musa, 26, said he worries Trump's plan for Gaza will progress and he and his family will be forced to seek refuge in other countries."The development in Gaza won't be for its residents, of course," Abu Musa said. "Why force out its residents for the development? Let the residents benefit from it."The [Gaza] Strip is the only place that is clear from the [Israeli] occupation. These 360 [square] kilometres. If [it] no longer remains, then the Palestinian cause will fall apart," he said.WATCH | 'We will remain steadfast,' says Palestinian woman in Gaza: He called on other Arab nations to reject Trump's plan, adding that if "we're stabbed, then they're stabbed as well."Trump has previously talked about relocating the Palestinian population of Gaza to other countries and repeatedly called Gaza a "demolition site.""The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too," Trump said in his remarks Tuesday."We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site, and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs."'Nothing but pressure'Others, meanwhile, did not think Trump's words carried any weight.Taher Al-Najjar, 30, said Trump's plan is "all nonsense" and does not expect it to affect Palestinians."These are just empty words. We were under war for 15 [months] and bombing and death and the people were not displaced.… There is nothing that will displace us," Al-Najjar said."If we are displaced then there is no Palestinian cause because we will be refugees."Abdullah Al-Ghafri, 27, echoed that sentiment."It's nothing but pressure," Al-Ghafri said.WATCH | Trump says he wants to redevelop Gaza into 'Riviera of the Middle East': He said that Palestinian's ties to their land will not allow them to give it up for any reason, pointing to how residents from northern Gaza returned to their homes from the south as soon as they were allowed. "People left their things, their blankets, everything they collected for the last year…. They left it in the south and returned to the north," he said."This shows the attachment to the land. A person is attached to his land, went home alone and returned to his land to start from scratch."Forced deportation breaches international lawOn Wednesday, the United Nations Human Rights Office (UNHR) said any forcible transfer in or deportation of people from occupied territory breaches international law."It is crucial that we move towards the next phase of the ceasefire, to release all hostages and arbitrarily detained prisoners, end the war and reconstruct Gaza, with full respect for international humanitarian law and international human rights law," the UNHR said in a statement."Any forcible transfer in or deportation of people from occupied territory is strictly prohibited," it said.Families walking in Gaza City on Wednesday. (Mohamed El Saife/CBC)Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Wednesday for the UN to "protect the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights," calling what Trump is proposing "a serious violation of international law." Hala Abu Dabaa said she feels disparaged but says Palestinians will not be removed from their lands similar to what happened during the 1948 Nakba, or "catastrophe," when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced out of their homes or fled during the war over the creation of Israel. "We choose to stay here until [our] last breath. This is our country and we can't leave it [under any] circumstances," the 26-year-old said."He should know that we will not leave our country and he should delete this idea out of his mind."Abu Ahmed Al-Daour, 44, said he felt "helpless" after learning about Trump's plan."We reject this decision … after almost 60,000 [people] martyred and injured and emergency workers, now they want to displace us," he said.The initial six-week truce, agreed with Egyptian and Qatari mediators and backed by the U.S., has remained largely intact but prospects for a durable settlement are unclear.More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the 15-month war, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Due to the chaos of war, verifying the exact number of casualties has been challenging and subject to scrutiny. The Palestinian Civil Defence has said it is searching for roughly 10,000 bodies believed to be remaining under the rubble.The coastal enclave has been largely demolished by Israel's military following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. That assault killed 1,200 people with around 250 hostages taken into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinians will mark this year the 77th anniversary of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel, an event that is at the core of their national struggle.
North Korean troops, largely special ops forces, have suffered high casualty rates in bloody assaults, not unlike prison units.
KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine accused Russian spies of orchestrating multiple bomb attacks on its draft offices, as officials reported a new explosion on Wednesday that killed one person and hurt four more at a conscription centre in the west of the country. The explosion in the Khmelnytskyi region was the latest in a series of incidents involving draft offices and conscription officers. "We... understand this is a deliberate attack by Russian special services that aims to create a false opinion in society, destabilise the situation and create a negative attitude towards the security and defence forces," national police chief Ivan Vyhivskyi said.
Most of Gaza’s olive trees, citrus trees and greenhouses have been destroyed.
DHAKA (Reuters) -Thousands of protesters set fire to the home of Bangladesh's founding leader as his daughter, ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, called on her supporters to stand against the interim government. The South Asian nation of 170 million people has struggled with political strife since Hasina was forced to flee to neighbouring India in August following weeks of protests against her rule in which more than 1,000 people were killed. Witnesses said several thousand protesters, some armed with sticks, hammers and other tools, gathered around the historic house and independence monument while others brought a crane and excavator to demolish the building late on Wednesday.
Family members with loved ones in Gaza and activists say they are outraged that Donald Trump has suggested that Palestinians should be relocated while the U.S. takes over and redevelops the territory.Bashar Alshawwa, a Toronto resident whose wife and four children are in the West Bank, said the U.S. president's plan to take over Gaza threatens Palestinians. Alshawwa came to Toronto six months ago. He says his family lost 130 loved ones in the Gaza war in approximately the last 16 months. Alshaww
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Saeed Abu Elaish’s wife, two of his daughters and two dozen others from his extended family were killed by Israeli airstrikes over the past 15 months. His house in northern Gaza was destroyed. He and surviving family now live in a tent set up in the rubble of his home.