DEVELOPING | Israel confirms Rafah strikes, no deal, after Hamas says it accepted ceasefire proposal

No deal yet, says Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that his war cabinet approved continuing an operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah in order to increase pressure on Hamas to release Israeli hostages and achieve the country's other war goals.

At the same time, even though Hamas' latest truce proposal falls short of Israel's demands, Israel would send a delegation to meet with negotiators to try to reach an acceptable agreement, Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

- Reuters

Israel confirms Rafah strikes

The Israeli military said on Monday it was currently conducting targeted strikes against targets belonging to the Islamist group Hamas in the eastern part of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

- Reuters

Israel carried out intense air strikes on Rafah late Monday after reiterating a call for people to evacuate the east of the city in southern Gaza, according to an AFP correspondent.

42-day phases, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in deal, Hamas says

Senior Hamas member Khalil al-Hayya said Monday a proposal agreed by the group for a Gaza ceasefire includes a three-stage truce with the goal of a lasting ceasefire.

Hayya told Qatar-based Al Jazeera channel that each phase would last 42 days, and the deal includes plans for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the return of Palestinians displaced by the ongoing war, an exchange of hostages and prisoners and the aim of a "permanent ceasefire".

- AFP

Crowds celebrate in Rafah – but there is no word yet on a deal from Israel

Crowds danced, cheered, and fired in the air in the streets of the southern Gaza city of Rafah Monday after Hamas said it approved a ceasefire proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar.

People were crying tears of happiness, chanting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest") and shooting in the air in celebration of the news, an AFP journalist reported.

But Israeli officials said the war was continuing – including a planned assault on Rafah – while knowledgable sources suggested the terms of the proposal Hamas accepted are not acceptable to Israel. 

People gathered in the hundreds, waving Palestinian flags, one even holding a party fog machine in the air for the festive occasion while others, perched on the shoulders of friends clapped their hands above the crowd.

Some danced around a bonfire lit on the pavement, and others held up their hands in victory signs.

Men stood on top of buses and trucks, waving handkerchiefs or waving their arms in the air as they celebrated.

- AFP with News24

US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a 30-minute phone call today – but that was before Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal, the White House just said.

- News24

Israel maintains call for Rafah evacuation

Israel's army late Monday reiterated its call for evacuations in Rafah as it prepares for a "ground operation" in the southern Gaza city, despite Hamas saying it had approved a truce proposal.

"We also call on residents this evening to evacuate," military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a broadcast address after the Hamas announcement, adding that throughout the day Monday, "airforce aircraft targeted more than 50 terror targets in the Rafah area".

- AFP

Military operations continue while hostage proposals considered, says Israeli military

Israel's military spokesperson said on Monday that all proposals regarding negotiations to free hostages in Gaza are examined seriously – and that in parallel it continues to operate in the Hamas-ruled territory.

Asked during a media briefing whether Hamas saying it accepted a ceasefire proposal would impact a planned offensive in the Gaza city of Rafah, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said: "We examine every answer and response in the most seriously manner and are exhausting every possibility regarding negotiations and returning the hostages."

"In parallel, we are still operating in the Gaza Strip and will continue to do so," he said.

- Reuters

US 'quite concerned' by Israel shutting down Al Jazeera

The United States said Monday it opposed ally Israel's closure of Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera, saying it should be allowed to operate despite any concerns about its coverage.

"We think AL Jazeera ought to be able to operate in Israel, operate in other countries in the region," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, adding that the United States was "quite concerned" about the Israeli move.

- AFP

Hamas says it is sincere, Iran says

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said the Hamas chief told him in a phone call on Monday that the ball is now in Israel's court after the group had agreed to an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal.

Amirabdollahian also said on social media platform X that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh had told him "We are sincere in our intentions."

- Reuters

No deal, says Israeli official on ceasefire

An Israeli official said on Monday no ceasefire had been agreed in Gaza, after Hamas said it had accepted a proposal from Egyptian and Qatari mediators.

The Israeli official said the proposal that Hamas had accepted was a "softened" version of an Egyptian proposal, which included "far-reaching" conclusions that Israel could not accept.

"This would appear to be a ruse intended to make Israel look like the side refusing a deal," said the Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

- Reuters

Ceasefire deal includes Gaza reconstruction, Hamas says

The ceasefire proposal Hamas agreed to entails a ceasefire, reconstruction of Gaza, return of the displaced and a prisoner swap deal, Hamas official Taher Al-Nono told Reuters on Monday.

- Reuters

Hamas says it agrees to ceasefire proposal in Gaza war

Palestinian group Hamas on Monday agreed to a ceasefire proposal in the seven-month-old war with Israel in Gaza, hours after the Israeli military told residents to evacuate some parts of Rafah, which has been sheltering more than a million displaced people.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh informed Qatari and Egyptian mediators that the group accepted their ceasefire proposal, according to a brief statement from Hamas, which gave no details of the accord.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

- Reuters

'Where can we go?': Israel's Rafah evacuation order sparks global alarm

Israel called on Palestinians to leave eastern Rafah Monday ahead of a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city, amid increasing global alarm about the consequences of such a move.

The evacuation call followed disagreement between Israel and Hamas over the Palestinian militant group's demands to end the seven-month war, during weekend negotiations in Cairo.

Egyptian state-linked media said the talks stalled after a rocket attack claimed by Hamas's armed wing killed four Israeli soldiers on Sunday.

Biden to speak with Netanyahu as Rafah fears mount

President Joe Biden will hold urgent talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday after Israel defied repeated US warnings and told Palestinians to evacuate part of the southern Gaza city of Rafah ahead of an offensive.

The call comes as Biden mounts a diplomatic offensive to get ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas back on track, with Jordan's King Abdullah II due at the White House for lunch on Monday.

Biden told Netanyahu in April that invading Rafah would be a "mistake," and Washington has said it does not support an offensive without a credible plan to aid some 1.2 million civilians sheltering there.

- AFP

UNICEF warns 600 000 children face 'catastrophe' in Rafah

Some 600 000 children packed into Gaza's Rafah city face "further catastrophe," UNICEF warned Monday, urging against their forced relocation after Israel ordered an evacuation ahead of its long-threatened ground invasion.

"Given the high concentration of children in Rafah... UNICEF is warning of a further catastrophe for children, with military operations resulting in very high civilian casualties and the few remaining basic services and infrastructure they need to survive being totally destroyed," the United Nations children's agency said in a statement.

It said Gaza's youth were already "on the edge of survival," with many in Rafah - where the agency said the population has soared to 1.2 million people, half of them children - already displaced multiple times and with nowhere else to go.

- AFP

Israeli army says fourth soldier dies after Gaza crossing attack  

The number of Israeli soldiers killed in a rocket attack launched from the besieged Gaza Strip toward the Kerem Shalom border crossing has risen to four, the military announced on Monday, updating an earlier figure.  

The military did not specify whether the soldier was among the 12 servicemen wounded in the attack on Sunday.  

The military said on Sunday that three soldiers were killed in the attack, which was claimed later by the armed wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas.  

The soldiers were hit while guarding heavy machinery, tanks and bulldozers that were stationed in the area.  

The attack prompted the Israeli authorities to close the crossing, a key gateway for vital humanitarian aid into Gaza.  

The military said 14 rockets were fired at the crossing from an area adjacent to the Rafah crossing.  

- AFP

Gaza truce talks 'bogged down': Egypt state-linked media  

A rocket strike by Hamas militants on the Kerem Shalom border area between Gaza and Israel has stalled talks aiming to reach a truce between the warring sides, state-linked TV in mediator Egypt said on Monday.  

Al-Qahera News, linked to Egyptian intelligence services, cited a high-level source as saying the Sunday strike, which killed four Israeli soldiers, "caused truce negotiations to bog down".  

- AFP

Security forces and emergency personnel deploy at a site hit by rockets fired from southern Lebanon in the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona near the Lebanese border, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

(Photo by Jalaa Marey/AFP)

Hamas official says Israel's Rafah evacuation order is a 'dangerous escalation'  

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters on Monday that Israel's Rafah evacuation order ahead of an expected offensive is a "dangerous escalation that will have consequences".  

- Reuters

Relatives of Israeli hostages taken captive by Palestinian militants in Gaza during the 7 October attacks hold portraits of those taken during a demonstration calling for their release in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv, amid the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian militant Hamas group.

(Photo by Jack Guez/AFP)

Some families leave east Rafah on Israeli evacuation order, witnesses say  

Some Palestinian families were leaving areas east of Rafah on Monday after receiving evacuation orders from the Israeli military, witnesses in the city on the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt told Reuters.  

- Reuters

Israel army says east Rafah evacuation a 'limited scope operation'  

The Israeli army on Monday said its operation to begin evacuating residents of eastern Rafah in the Palestinian territory of Gaza was temporary and limited.  

"This morning... we began a limited scope operation to temporarily evacuate residents in the eastern part of Rafah," a military spokesperson told journalists in an online briefing.  

"This is a limited scope operation."  

- AFP

Hamas truce deal elusive as Netanyahu vows: 'Israel will not agree to Hamas' demands'

Efforts aimed at securing an elusive truce in exchange for hostages held in Gaza were due to resume on Monday as disagreement between Israel and Hamas over demands to end the seven-month war intensified.

Palestinians search for casualties in the rubble of a house destroyed in an Israeli strike in the centre of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement.

(Photo by AFP)

Israel military begins evacuating Palestinian civilians from Rafah, radio says  

Israel's armed forces have begun evacuating Palestinian civilians from Rafah ahead of a threatened assault on the southern Gazan city, an Israeli broadcaster said on Monday.  

The military gave no immediate confirmation of the report on Army Radio.  

According to the report, the evacuations were now focused on a few peripheral districts of Rafah, from which, it said, evacuees would be directed to tent cities in nearby Khan Younis and Al Muwassi.  

Seven months into its offensive against Hamas, Israel has said Rafah harbours thousands of the Palestinian Islamist group’s fighters and that victory is impossible without taking the city.  

But with more than a million displaced Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, the prospect of a high-casualty operation worries Western powers and neighbouring Egypt.  

- Reuters

Hamas due back in Cairo on Tuesday for ceasefire talks

Hamas negotiators are due back in Cairo on Tuesday, said Al-Qahera News, a site linked to Egyptian intelligence services, after ceasefire talks again stalled, with each side blaming the other.

A Hamas official said Sunday the group's delegation for Gaza truce talks in Cairo was leaving for Qatar, after public disagreement with Israel intensified over demands to end their seven-month war.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "surrendering" to a demand to end the war would amount to defeat.

The Qatar-based political chief of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, countered by accusing Netanyahu of sabotaging the talks.

The Hamas official, who requested anonymity to discuss the negotiations, told AFP that "the meeting with the Egyptian intelligence minister has ended and the Hamas delegation is leaving for Doha for further consultations".

CIA director Bill Burns meanwhile was headed to Doha for "emergency" talks on mediation efforts with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, a source with knowledge of the discussions told AFP.

Negotiators met in Cairo Sunday without an Israeli delegation present.

Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators had proposed a 40-day pause in the fighting and an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, according to details released by Britain. 

- AFP

Israeli police raid Al Jazeera after shutdown order

Israeli police raided a Jerusalem hotel room used by Al Jazeera as its de facto office on Sunday following a government decision to shut down the Qatari-owned TV station's local operations, an Israeli official and an Al Jazeera source told Reuters.

Video circulated online showed plainclothes officers dismantling camera equipment in a hotel room. The Al Jazeera source said the hotel was in East Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet shut down the network for as long as the war in Gaza continues, on the grounds the Qatari television network threatens national security.

- Reuters

Hamas, Israel, entrench positions at Gaza truce talks

Talks to reach a Gaza truce resumed Sunday, a Hamas source said, but public disagreement between the Islamist movement and Israel intensified over demands to end their seven-month war.

The Hamas delegation had begun meeting with Qatari and Egyptian mediators, the source said.

At around the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a government decision to shut down operations in his country of Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera, which has intensely covered the Gaza war.

The broadcaster called the decision a "criminal act".

- AFP

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: govt to 'close' Al Jazeera TV in Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that his government has decided to shut down the Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera, with which his administration has had a long-running feud.

The government "unanimously decided: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel", Netanyahu said on X, formerly Twitter.

"There will be no freedom of speech for the Hamas trumpets in Israel," Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said in a separate joint statement with Netanyahu.

Hezbollah says fires 'dozens' of rockets at Israel after deadly Lebanon strike  

Hezbollah said on Sunday it launched dozens of rockets at northern Israel in retaliation for a strike on south Lebanon that a local official said killed a couple and their child.  

The Iran-backed group said in a statement that it fired "dozens of Katyusha and Falaq rockets" at Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel "in response to the horrific crime that the Israeli enemy committed in Mays al-Jabal" which it said killed and wounded civilians.  

- AFP

Local official says Israeli strike kills three in south Lebanon  

A local official in southern Lebanon said an Israeli strike on a village on Sunday killed a couple and their child, the latest deadly incident in the border region.  

"The dad, the mother and their little son were martyred", according to the Mays al-Jabal municipality chief Abdelmoneim Chukair.  

- AFP

Israeli border police member wounded in West Bank raid  

The Israeli army said troops killed five Palestinian "terrorists" barricaded in a building during a 12-hour siege in the occupied West Bank on Saturday.  

A member of a counterterrorism unit of Israel's border police was wounded in the operation, it added.  

The already restive West Bank has seen a surge in violence since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on 7 October.

At least 496 Palestinians have been killed in the territory by Israeli troops or settlers, according to an AFP tally.  

The Gaza war started with an unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1 170 people, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.  

Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 34 654 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry.  

- AFP

Israel uses bulldozer in West Bank raid which killed 5  

Israeli troops deployed a bulldozer to flatten a building and carried at least one body out of the rubble, an AFP photographer reported.  

Israeli forces "engaged in an extensive 12-hour counterterrorism operation in the Tulkarem area", the army and the Shin Bet security service said in a joint statement.  

The Israeli army said troops had come under fire after entering the village to "neutralise a terrorist cell" and had "retaliated" with "live ammunition, shoulder-fired missiles and other weaponry".  

An army drone registered two hits on the building before sappers moved in to "dismantle" it.  

"The confrontation ended with the elimination of five terrorists, and the seizure of military gear and weapon components," the joint statement said.  

- AFP

Israel army says five Palestinians killed in West Bank raid  

The Israeli army said troops killed five Palestinian "terrorists" barricaded in a building during a 12-hour siege in the occupied West Bank on Saturday.  

The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas, reported the death of three fighters, including its Tulkarem chief Alaa Adib.  

An AFP photographer saw a heavy military deployment in the village of Deir al-Ghusun, near the northern town of Tulkarem.  

- AFP

'Tough and long negotiations': Israel and Hamas blame each other for lack of Gaza deal

Talks to strike a Gaza truce were expected to resume on Sunday after Hamas rejected any deal that failed to end the war in the Palestinian territory and accused Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu of "personally hindering" an agreement.

Israeli official says Hamas demand for end to war 'thwarting' truce efforts

A top Israeli official said Saturday that Hamas's continued demand for a lasting ceasefire in the war in Gaza was stymying prospects of reaching a truce.

"So far, Hamas has not given up its demand to end the war, thus thwarting the possibility of reaching an agreement," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The official rejected reports that Israel had agreed to end the war as part of a deal to free the hostages held by Gaza militants.

The official said suggestions Israel was prepared to allow mediators to provide Hamas with guarantees of an end to the war were also "not accurate".

The official's comments came after Hamas negotiators returned to Egypt on Saturday to give their response to a proposed pause in the nearly seven-month war.

Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been waiting for Hamas to respond to a proposal that would halt fighting for 40 days and exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, according to details released by Britain.

Despite months of shuttle diplomacy between the warring parties, the mediators have been unable to broker a new truce like the week-long ceasefire that saw 105 hostages released last November, the Israelis among them in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel.

- AFP 

'Progress' in Gaza truce talks but Israel still set on Rafah ground attack

A delegation from the Palestinian group Hamas is in the Egyptian capital for truce and captive-release negotiations, with sources saying that some progress has been made.

However, sticking points remain, including Israel’s insistence on launching a ground invasion into Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah.

The Hamas team arrived in Cairo on Saturday to meet mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States regarding a proposal that would halt Israel’s war on Gaza for 40 days and exchange captives for Palestinian prisoners, according to details released by the United Kingdom.

Hamas negotiators arrive in Cairo for Gaza truce talks, CIA chief also present

Hamas negotiators arrived in Cairo on Saturday for intensified talks on a possible Gaza truce that would see the return to Israel of some hostages, a Hamas official told Reuters, with the CIA director already present for the indirect diplomacy.

Egypt's state-affiliated Al-Qahera News TV channel also confirmed the arrival of the Hamas delegation in Cairo.

"The results today will be different. We have reached an agreement over many points, and a few point remain," one Egyptian security source told Reuters.

A Palestinian official with knowledge of the mediation efforts sounded cautious optimism."Things look better this time but whether an agreement is on hand would depend on whether Israel has offered what it takes for that to happen," the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

The Hamas delegation arrived from the Palestinian Islamist movement's headquarters in Qatar, which, along with Egypt, has tried to mediate a follow-up to a brief November ceasefire.

Washington - which, like other Western powers and Israel, brands Hamas a terrorist group - has urged it to enter a deal.

The talks have stumbled, however, over Hamas' long-standing demand for a commitment to end the almost seven-month-old offensive by Israel, which insists that after any truce it would resume operations designed to disarm and dismantle the faction.

- Reuters 

US campus protests wane after crackdowns, Biden rebuke

Pro-Palestinian protests that have rocked US campuses for weeks were more muted Friday after a series of clashes with police, mass arrests and a stern White House directive to restore order.

Police in Manhattan cleared an encampment at New York University after sunrise, with video posted to social media by an official showing protesters exiting their tents and dispersing when ordered to do so.T

he scene appeared relatively calm compared to crackdowns at other campuses around the country -- and some worldwide -- where protests over Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza have multiplied in recent weeks.

University administrators, who have tried to balance the right to protest and complaints of violence and hate speech, have increasingly called on police to clear out the demonstrators ahead of year-end exams and graduation ceremonies.At the University of Chicago, the school's president said talks with protesters on a compromise had failed and indicated that the university might intervene in an encampment there as a result.

The news came the same day that dozens of American flag-wielding counter-protesters showed up and confronted the school's pro-Palestinian group, but police separated the two sides, local media reported.

More than 2,000 arrests have been made in the past two weeks across the United States, some during violent confrontations with police, giving rise to accusations of use of excessive force.

President Joe Biden, who has faced pressure from all political sides over the conflict in Gaza, gave his first expansive remarks on the protests Thursday, saying that "order must prevail."

- AFP

Hamas 'only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire': Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Hamas was the only holdup to a Gaza ceasefire as the militants prepared to send a delegation back to Cairo on Saturday for talks.

"We wait to see whether, in effect, they can take yes for an answer on the ceasefire and release of hostages," Blinken said late Friday.

"The reality in this moment is the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas."

Blinken pointed to difficulties in negotiating with Hamas, which the United States considers a terrorist group and does not engage with directly and which Israel has vowed to eliminate.

"The leaders of Hamas that we're indirectly engaged with -- through the Qataris, through the Egyptians -- are, of course, living outside of Gaza," Blinken said.

"The ultimate decision-makers are the folks who are actually in Gaza itself with whom none of us have direct contact."Blinken was addressing a dinner at the McCain Institute's Sedona Forum in Arizona two days after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top leaders on his latest visit to the Middle East.

Ahead of his talks with Blinken, Netanyahu vowed to push ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah to root out Hamas regardless of the outcome of negotiations for a temporary ceasefire that would involve the release of hostages.

President Joe Biden's administration has repeatedly warned Netanyahu's government against moving on Rafah, where some 1.4 million Palestinians have taken shelter after fleeing the Israeli assault in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas.

Blinken said that Israel, which counts on the United States for military and diplomatic support, has yet to present "a credible plan to genuinely protect the civilians who are in harm's way" in Rafah.

"Absent such a plan, we can't support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what's acceptable," Blinken said.

- AFP

Israeli PM trying to derail Gaza truce deal - Hamas

A top Hamas official accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday of trying to derail a proposed Gaza truce and hostage release deal with his threats to keep fighting the Palestinian militant group.

"Netanyahu was the obstructionist of all previous rounds of dialogue... and it is clear that he still is," senior Hamas official Hossam Badran told AFP by telephone.

Foreign mediators have waited for a Hamas response to a proposal to halt the fighting for 40 days and exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners, which its chief Ismail Haniyeh has said the group was considering in a "positive spirit".

A major stumbling block has been that, while Hamas has demanded a lasting ceasefire, Netanyahu has vowed to crush its remaining fighters in the far-southern city of Rafah, which is packed with displaced civilians.

-AFP

ICC demands end to threats against court amid Gaza war probe

The prosecutor's office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the "administration of justice" by the world's permanent war crimes court.

The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said in a statement on Friday that all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence its officials must cease immediately.

While the prosecutor's statement did not mention Israel, it was issued after Israeli and US officials had warned of consequences against the ICC if it issued arrest warrants over Israel's war on Gaza.

"The Office seeks to engage constructively with all stakeholders whenever such dialogue is consistent with its mandate under the Rome Statute to act independently and impartially," Khan's office said.

"That independence and impartiality is undermined, however, when individuals threaten to retaliate against the Court or against Court personnel should the Office, in fulfillment of its mandate, make decisions about investigations or cases falling within its jurisdiction."

It added that the Rome Statute, which outlines the ICC's structure and areas of jurisdiction, prohibits threats against the court and its officials.

Aljazeera

Police clear pro-Gaza sit-in at top Paris university

Police on Friday entered the Sciences Po university in Paris to remove dozens of students staging a pro-Gaza sit-in in the entrance hall, AFP journalists saw, as protests fire political debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

One student, who identified himself as a representative of the Palestine Committee named Hicham, said university authorities had given the group 20 minutes to leave before the forcible evacuation because of "exams to be held from Monday".

"The chief of police deployed law enforcement to evacuate the Sciences Po site... 91 people were removed without incident," the Paris police headquarters said.

Bastien, 22, told AFP he and other protesters had been peacefully brought out in groups of 10 by officers.

But another student, Lucas, working towards a master's degree, said "some were dragged and others gripped by the head or shoulders".

Administrators had closed Sciences Po's main buildings on Friday in response to the sit-in and called for remote classes instead.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal's office said such protests would be dealt with using "total rigour", adding that 23 university sites had been "evacuated" on Thursday.

Some students were still at the end of the blocked street after the building was cleared, chanting "we're still here, even if Sciences Po doesn't want us" and "long live the Palestinian people's struggle".

-AFP

'Show solidarity': Pro-Palestinian protesters camp across Australian universities

Hundreds of people protesting Israel's war in Gaza rallied at one of Australia's top universities on Friday demanding it divest from companies with ties to Israel, in a movement inspired by the student occupations sweeping US campuses.

Pro-Palestinian activists set up an encampment last week outside the sandstone main hall at University of Sydney, one of Australia's largest tertiary institutions.

Similar camps have sprung up at universities in Melbourne, Canberra and other Australian cities.

Unlike in the US, where police have forcibly removed scores of defiant pro-Palestinian protesters at several colleges, protest sites in Australia have been peaceful with scant police presence.

On Friday, protesters rallied to demand University of Sydney divest from companies with ties to Israel, echoing calls from students in the US, Canada and France.

'Positive spirit': Hamas will 'soon' send delegation to Egypt to complete ceasefire negotiations

 Hamas says it is considering in a "positive spirit" a Gaza truce deal. At the same time, the UN warned rebuilding the devastated Palestinian territory would require efforts not seen since World War II.

After months of stop-start negotiations, Hamas has sounded an optimistic tone about the latest hostages-for-ceasefire proposal, raising hopes an agreement may soon be reached - even as medics in the besieged strip reported fresh strikes on Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah on Friday.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said the group will "soon" send a delegation to Egypt to complete ongoing ceasefire discussions with a deal that "realises the demands of our people".

Israel confirms death of hostage held in Gaza

An Israeli man held hostage in Gaza since the 7 October Hamas attack has been confirmed dead, the government said early Friday.

Dror Or, 49, was killed and his body was held in Gaza since 7 October, said the Be'eri kibbutz where he had lived. It was one of the communities hardest hit in the Hamas attack on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip.

His wife Yonat was killed in the initial assault while two of their three children, Noam and Alma, aged 17 and 13, were abducted and then freed in November as part of a ceasefire and hostages-for- prisoners swap deal between Israel and Hamas.

"We are heartbroken to share that Dror Or who was kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October, had been confirmed as murdered and his body is being held in Gaza," the Israeli government said on X. The two children and their brother Yahli are now orphans, it added.

The government did not say how it learned of the death of Or.

This man's death was announced as mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt are waiting for Hamas's response to a new proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release.

In late November, during a week-long ceasefire, 105 hostages were released, including 80 Israelis and people from other countries, in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinians held by Israel.

The war started with Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1 170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel estimates that 129 captives seized by militants during their attack remain in Gaza. The military says 35 of them are dead, including Or.

Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 34 596 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

- AFP

Israeli strikes injure 8 Syrian soldiers: ministry

Syria's defence ministry on Friday said eight soldiers had been injured in Israeli air strikes near Damascus.

On Thursday night, "the Israeli enemy launched air strikes from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting a site near Damascus... injuring eight soldiers," the ministry said in a statement.

Israel rarely comments on individual strikes but has repeatedly said it will not allow its arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Israel had struck a government building in the Damascus countryside that has been used by Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group since 2014.

The Israeli military has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the outbreak of a civil war in its northern neighbour in 2011, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters.

But the strikes increased after Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip began on October 7, when the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group launched a deadly attack against Israel.

On April 19, Israeli strikes targeted a Syrian army position in the country's south, Syria's government and the Observatory said, as US media reported Israel had hit Iran.

Overnight on April 13, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles against Israel in an unprecedented attack that came in retaliation for a deadly strike -- widely blamed on Israel -- on Tehran's consulate in Damascus.

Syria's war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions more since it erupted in March 2011 with the repression of anti-government protests.

- AFP

Turkey is breaking deals by blocking Israeli trade, minister complains

Israel's foreign minister said on Thursday that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was breaking agreements by blocking ports for Israeli imports and exports.

"This is how a dictator behaves, disregarding the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen, and ignoring international trade agreements," Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted on X.

Katz said he instructed the foreign ministry to work to create alternatives for trade with Turkey, focusing on local production and imports from other countries.

Bloomberg reported on Thursday that Turkey had stopped all exports and imports to and from Israel, citing two Turkish officials.

The Turkish presidency, foreign and trade ministries were not immediately available for comment.

- Reuters

US says Israel should prevent attacks on aid convoys

 Israel should prevent further attacks on aid convoys bound for Gaza after Israeli settlers attacked a shipment from Jordan, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday, who also called Hamas actions to divert aid "unacceptable."

-Reuters