Gaza

Trump says Israel has agreed to “initial withdrawal line”; ceasefire hinges on Hamas confirmation as strikes continue WASHINGTON — Former US President Donald Trump said on social media that Israel has accepted an “initial withdrawal line” for Gaza and that the details have been shared with Hamas, setting the stage for a tentative ceasefire and a prisoner swap — but only “when Hamas confirms.” The announcement came amid renewed Israeli bombardment that killed dozens on Saturday, underscoring how fragile any pause remains on…

Flotilla Bound for Gaza Intercepted at Sea; African Leaders Demand Release of Detainees Israeli forces intercepted a flotilla of roughly 40 vessels on Wednesday that had been sailing for weeks toward the besieged Gaza Strip, detaining scores of activists and prompting urgent diplomatic protests from African leaders whose citizens were aboard. Among those taken into custody was Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, the grandson of former South African president Nelson Mandela, an emblematic figure whose presence underscored the…

Israeli navy intercepts international aid flotilla en route to Gaza; Greta Thunberg among those taken to port Israeli forces boarded and detained vessels from a high-profile international flotilla attempting to reach Gaza on Saturday, seizing 39 boats, according to the organizers, and leaving only one ship still underway. Live-feed footage verified by Reuters showed soldiers in helmets and night-vision goggles climbing onto decks as passengers — some wearing life vests and huddling with their hands raised — were taken into…

Flotilla departs Greek waters, heads for Gaza in tense standoff with Israel An international flotilla of roughly 50 civilian vessels set out from Greek waters this week, aiming to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza and deliver aid — even as governments and navies warned that the mission risks a confrontation on the high seas. Organisers said the Global Sumud Flotilla planned to transit international waters in the eastern Mediterranean and hoped to reach the besieged coastal strip early next week. Among those aboard…

Humanitarian access collapses in Gaza City as MSF suspends operations Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it has been forced to suspend all operations in Gaza City after its clinics were surrounded by Israeli forces — a blunt sign of how rapidly humanitarian space is narrowing as the Israeli military presses a major offensive into the densely populated urban centre. "We have been left with no choice but to stop our activities as our clinics are encircled by Israeli forces," Jacob Granger, MSF's emergency coordinator in…

Gaza City assault exposes the limits of force and the widening diplomatic rupture Israeli tanks and bulldozers have pushed deeper into Gaza City in recent days, flattening apartment blocks and killing dozens of civilians in strikes that have left families digging through rubble for shreds of their lives. Gazan health authorities say at least 31 people were killed when residential buildings were blasted; among them, medics reported, were a pregnant woman and two children. One man, his leg later amputated after he was rushed…

Somalia’s president heads to UN with security gains and a moral case on Gaza Mogadishu’s message to New York MOGADISHU — As world leaders converge on the United Nations General Assembly this week, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud departs for New York carrying two intertwined narratives: a plea for continued international backing for Somalia’s fragile state-building and a sharp moral rebuke over the war in Gaza that echoes across the Global South. For Mogadishu, the UNGA trip is part diplomacy, part scoreboard.…

Under the church’s roof in Gaza City: shelter, fear and a choice to stay On a cramped compound in Gaza City, a handful of nuns, a priest and 450 people — among them disabled children, the elderly and the wounded — are sheltering beneath the vaulted roof of the Holy Family Catholic Church. Father Carlos Ferrero speaks softly on the phone, his voice threaded with exhaustion and faith, and describes a place where the ordinary rhythms of worship have been folded into the thud of distant explosions and the constant calculus of…

A UN finding that reverberates beyond headlines: what it means to call Gaza a site of genocide When an independent United Nations commission concluded this week that Israel has “committed and continues to commit genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza, it did more than add a grim line to a long list of UN reports. The finding reopened questions about the limits of international law, the responsibilities of powerful states that arm and finance warring parties, and whether the world’s institutions can halt mass suffering when…

Israeli strike flattens 14‑storey Mushtaha Tower in Gaza City as residents flee Explosion levels a high‑rise used to shelter displaced families A massive explosion reduced the 14‑storey Mushtaha Tower to rubble on Friday, sending an enormous plume of smoke over Gaza City and deepening daytime terror for thousands who have already been uprooted by months of war. Video shared on social media and by local news outlets showed the residential block in the Al‑Rimal neighbourhood collapsing after a blast at its base. Gaza’s…