This is Beirut

Israeli Women Mobilise Against Ultra-Orthodox Military Exemptions

This is Beirut, 09:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Israel Benjamin Netanyahu Gaza Lebanon Syria

Exhausted by more than 14 months of war, the wives and mothers of Israeli soldiers are uniting in protest against exemptions from conscription for ultra-Orthodox men. For several Saturday evenings, the bridge over a key highway that runs between Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox suburb of Tel Aviv, and Givat Shmuel, a bastion of religious Zionists ...

Gaza Rescuers Say Israeli Strikes Kill 28

This is Beirut, 22/12 14:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Hamas Palestine Gaza Israel war

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli strikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least 28 Palestinians, including at one family's home and at a school building the Israeli military said was used by Hamas. On the ground in Gaza, civil agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that at least 13 people were killed in an air strike on a house in ...

Pope Again Condemns 'Cruelty' of Israeli Strikes on Gaza

This is Beirut, 22/12 14:10 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Israel Palestine Pope Francis war Gaza

Pope Francis doubled down Sunday on his condemnation of Israel's strikes on the Gaza Strip, denouncing their "cruelty" for the second time in as many days. "And with pain I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty, of the children being machine-gunned, of the bombings of schools and hospitals. What cruelty," the pope said after his weekly Angelus ...

Hamas, Two Other Palestinian Groups Declare Gaza Ceasefire Deal 'Closer Than Ever'

This is Beirut, 21/12 21:10 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Israel Hamas Gaza

Hamas and two other Palestinian militant groups said on Saturday that a Gaza ceasefire deal with Israel is "closer than ever", provided Israel does not impose new conditions. Last week, indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States were held in Doha, rekindling hope of an agreement. "The ...

Israel Accused of 'Acts of Genocide', 'Ethnic Cleansing' in Gaza

This is Beirut, 19/12 16:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Hamas Israel Genocide Gaza

Israel on Thursday faced accusations of "acts of genocide" in Gaza, while a medical charity said the devastation caused in the Palestinian territory showed "signs of ethnic cleansing". They are the latest in a series of similar accusations levelled against Israel during its 14-month war in the Gaza Strip. In a new report focused specifically on ...

US Sees 'Cautious Optimism' on Reaching Gaza Ceasefire

This is Beirut, 17/12 22:50 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Gaza Hamas Israel Qatar

The United States said Tuesday it felt "cautious optimism" on the prospects of reaching a ceasefire in the 14-month war in Gaza, although it acknowledged that similar hopes had been dashed before. Hamas on Tuesday said that talks mediated by Qatar were "serious and positive," a day after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz described the two ...

Israeli Minister Declares Significant Progress in Gaza Hostage Negotiations

This is Beirut, 16/12 21:05 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Israel Katz Israel Gaza Hostages Gaza Hamas

Israeli negotiators have "not been this close to an agreement" for the release of hostages in Gaza since the November 2023 truce in the war between Israel and Hamas, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday. "We have not been this close to an agreement on the hostages since the previous deal," Katz told members of the Israeli parliament's ...

Al Jazeera Reports Its Journalist Killed in Israeli Strike On Gaza

This is Beirut, 15/12 19:50 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Israel Hamas Press Freedom Gaza Palestine

An Israeli airstrike on Gaza killed Al Jazeera journalist Ahmed al-Louh on Sunday, the Qatar-based network reported. The strike targeted the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to Al Jazeera's Arabic-language website. The Israeli military, when contacted by AFP for comment, stated that it is "looking into the reports." Since the ...

Gaza: Over 67 Dead, Including Children and Aid Workers, in Israeli Strikes

This is Beirut, 12/12 11:22 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Israel Gaza Rafah

The Gaza Civil Defense reported that 33 people, including several children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday night, shortly after the United Nations General Assembly called for an immediate ceasefire in the war-torn Palestinian territory. Israeli warplanes targeted two houses near the Nuseirat refugee camp (central Gaza) and in ...

Gaza Rescuers Say at Least 22 Killed in Overnight Israel Strike

This is Beirut, 11/12 12:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Hamas Israel Palestine gaza

Gaza's civil defense agency said Wednesday that an overnight Israeli air strike in the northern part of the Palestinian territory killed at least 22 people, including women and children. "At least 22 people were martyred in the massacre committed by the occupation military after it bombed a house belonging to the Abu al-Tarabish family near Kamal ...

Hamas Tells Gaza Militant Groups to Identify Hostages They Hold

This is Beirut, 08/12 15:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Gaza Israeli Hostages Israel Hamas

Sources within Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said Sunday that Hamas had told them to compile information on the hostages they hold in preparation for a ceasefire and hostage-release deal with Israel. Hamas told factions including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front and the Popular Resistance Committees to prepare information such ...

Gaza Civil Defense Says 29 Dead in Israeli Strikes Around Key Hospital

This is Beirut, 06/12 16:40 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Israel Palestine Gaza war

Gaza's civil defense agency said 29 people were killed on Friday by Israeli strikes around a major hospital in the northern city of Beit Lahia. Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of northern Gaza's last functioning health centers, was hit by several strikes in the morning, the agency and the hospital director said. "There was a series of air strikes on ...

Gaza