This is Beirut

Israel Says Ban on Aid Groups Operating in Gaza to Hit 37 Organisations

This is Beirut, 2025-12-31 15:10 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Israel European Union Hamas United Nations Gaza NGO

Israel has said that 37 aid organizations will be banned from operating in Gaza starting on Thursday unless they comply with its new guidelines requiring detailed information on Palestinian staff. "They refuse to provide lists of their Palestinian employees because they know, just as we know, that some of them are involved in terrorism or linked ...

UNRWA in the Crosshairs: U.S. Weighs Unprecedented Sanctions

Amal Chmouny, 2025-12-22 10:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

United Nations Lebanon Donald Trump Hamas UNRWA

In the shadow of the Gaza conflict, a quiet but consequential debate is unfolding in Washington over whether the U.S. should designate the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as a terrorist-affiliated entity and impose sweeping sanctions. A move once viewed as unthinkable is now the subject of urgent policy deliberations, with senior ...

Rubio Urges Hamas Disarmament As Key To Gaza Peace

This is Beirut, 2025-12-19 23:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

United States Marco Rubio Hamas Israel

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday urged the disarmament of Hamas but voiced hope for headway on reaching the next stage of a Gaza ceasefire as regional officials met. Top officials of Qatar and Egypt – key mediators of the ceasefire – and regional power Turkey headed Friday to Miami to meet US envoys including Steve Witkoff, ...

Houthis Detain 10 More Yemeni UN Staffers

This is Beirut, 2025-12-18 20:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Hamas Israel Palestine United Nations

Several Israelis entered the Gaza Strip on Thursday in defiance of army orders and held a symbolic flag-raising ceremony to call for the reoccupation and resettlement of the Palestinian territory. The army acknowledged the breach in a statement, saying the group had been under constant observation and reiterating that entry into the area is ...

Hamas Says Weapons Are 'Legitimate Right', Open to Proposals That Preserve It

This is Beirut, 2025-12-14 12:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Hamas Gaza Israel Khalil al-Hayya

Hamas's Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya said on Sunday that the militant group had a "legitimate right" to hold weapons and that any proposal for the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire must uphold that right. "Resistance and its weapons are a legitimate right guaranteed by international law and are linked to the establishment of a Palestinian state," ...

Senior Hamas Military Leader Raed Saad Killed in Israeli Airstrike

This is Beirut, 2025-12-13 18:41 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Hamas Raed Saad Israel Gaza

Israel said it killed the head of weapons production in Hamas's military wing in a strike in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. "In response to the activation of a Hamas explosive device that wounded our forces today... Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the elimination of the terrorist Raad Saad, ...

Gaza: International Force Could Deploy Next Month

This is Beirut, 2025-12-12 18:25 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Donald Trump Benjamin Netanyahu Hamas Gaza Israel

International troops could be deployed in the Gaza Strip as early as next month to form a U.N.-authorized stabilization force, part of the second phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan, two U.S. officials told Reuters. According to the sources, the International Stabilization Force (ISF) will not be tasked with fighting Hamas. A U.S. ...

Netanyahu: Trump Meeting to Focus on Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria

This is Beirut, 2025-12-12 16:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Donald Trump Benjamin Netanyahu Lebanon Palestine Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to arrive in Washington on Monday, December 29, for talks with President Donald Trump, focusing on regional developments, including the Trump administration’s plan for Gaza and rising tensions with Lebanon. On Sunday, Netanyahu said he expects the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan to be ...

Israel says Hamas 'Will be Disarmed' After Group Proposes Weapons Freeze

This is Beirut, 2025-12-11 13:37 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Hamas Israel Palestine

Israel said on Thursday Hamas "will be disarmed" as part of the US-sponsored peace plan for Gaza, after a top leader from the Palestinian Islamist movement suggested a weapons freeze. The ceasefire, in effect since October 10, halted the war that began after Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. But it remains fragile ...

Amnesty Accuses Hamas of Crimes Against Humanity on Oct 7 and Afterwards

This is Beirut, 2025-12-11 10:45 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Hamas International Criminal Court Israel Palestine Amnesty International

Amnesty International on Thursday accused Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups for the first time of crimes against humanity, including extermination, during and after the October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war in Gaza. "Palestinian armed groups committed violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes, and crimes against ...

Hamas Proposes Weapons 'Freeze' in Return for Long-Term Truce

This is Beirut, 2025-12-10 23:46 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Israel Hamas Gaza Khaled Meshaal

A top Hamas leader told Qatari news channel Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the militant group is open to a weapons "freeze" but rejects the demand for disarmament put forward in the US-sponsored peace plan for Gaza. "The idea of total disarmament is unacceptable to the resistance (Hamas). What is being proposed is a freeze, or ...

Netanyahu Says Expects to Move to Second Phase of Gaza Truce 'Shortly'

This is Beirut, 2025-12-07 16:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Israel Gaza Hamas Benjamin Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he expected to move into the second phase of the US-sponsored ceasefire plan for Gaza "very shortly." Speaking during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz after a meeting between the two leaders, Netanyahu said, "We discussed how to bring an end ...

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