Middle East

The sources said Hamas had stuck to its position that any agreement must lead to an end to the war in Gaza.

The Palestinian foreign ministry and Hamas condemned the attack at Al-Ahli, and said in a statement that Israel was destroying Gaza's healthcare system.

The New York Times exposé, published on April 4, exposed how some Kenyans working in the Gulf state were subjected to abuse, with embassy officials reportedly demanding sexual favors in exchange for assistance.

The UAE says it is cooperating with Washington and conducting its own probe into the entities and individuals involved.

The 15 paramedics and emergency responders were shot dead on March 23 and buried in a shallow grave where their bodies were found a week later by officials from the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent. Another man is still missing.

President Donald Trump has pledged to deport foreign pro-Palestinian protesters and accused them of supporting Hamas, being antisemitic and posing foreign policy hurdles.

As dawn broke, Abu Mohammed Abed stood in front of a dilapidated tent in the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp, wiping away his tears as he struggled to comfort his only grandson, Mahmoud, who had lost both his parents three weeks ago.

Syria's new Sunni authorities have been under pressure from the West and Arab countries to form a government that is more inclusive of the country's diverse ethnic and religious communities.

OCHA said the 20-day closure of Gaza crossings to aid deliveries is having a devastating impact on people already facing catastrophic conditions.

Strikes were reported in multiple locations, including northern Gaza, Gaza City and the Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah in central and southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian health ministry officials said many of the dead were children.

Trump also warned Iran that it needed to immediately halt support for the group.

US and Israeli officials, speaking anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the issue, confirmed contacts with Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland.

The Council on American Islamic Relations said it recorded the highest number of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab complaints - 8,658 - in 2024 since it began publishing data in 1996.

Karishma Patel criticised the BBC’s handling of crucial stories, particularly its decision to withdraw the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone and its initial reluctance to report on the death of a Palestinian child, Hind Rajab.

The three European countries called on Israel to allow the delivery of humanitarian supplies into Gaza, and warned against using aid as a political tool.

The reconstruction plan would cost $53 billion and avoid displacing Palestinians from the enclave, in contrast to U.S. President Donald Trump's"Middle East Riviera" vision.

Boehler and Hamas officials met in Doha in recent weeks, the sources said. It was not clear who represented Hamas.

If agreed, the truce would halt fighting until the end of the Ramadan fasting period around March 31 and the Jewish Passover holiday around April 20.

Arab states, which were swift to reject Trump's plan for the US to take control of Gaza and resettle Palestinians, are scrambling to agree on a diplomatic offensive to counter the idea.

Trump lifted a block imposed on the export of the munitions by the administration of predecessor Joe Biden.

Many of those killed were unarmed and posed no imminent threat, said the UN rights office, calling the killings “part of an expanding pattern of Israel’s unlawful use of force in the West Bank where there are no active hostilities.”

Many experts say Trump may be using an old bargaining ploy from his diplomatic playbook, setting out an extreme position as an opening gambit for negotiations.

The war in Gaza erupted after a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed at least 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and saw more than 250 taken as hostages.

Sisi has repeatedly said Egypt would never facilitate the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, which Cairo would view as a serious threat to Egypt's own security, including by breeding extremism and providing a pretext for future Israeli attacks, as well as an injustice to the Palestinians.

Hamas negotiators said U.S. guarantees for the ceasefire were no longer in place given a plan by President Donald Trump to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

Saudi Arabia condemned these actions and firmly stated that "the Palestinian people have a right to their land."

Discussions centred on the contentious relocation plan as well as Egypt's long-standing dispute with Ethiopia over the Grand Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Katz announced that the military’s plan would provide options for departure by land, air, and sea, allowing Palestinians freedom of movement.

Grandi called the idea "very surprising" and emphasised the need to understand the concrete details before making any further comments.

When questioned by reporters about the legal basis for the US assuming control of Gaza, Trump claimed he had studied the matter closely for months.

Much of the rest of Gaza City also lies in ruins after 15 months of fighting and waves of Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages that left it a shell of the bustling urban centre it was before the war.

The ministers also warned that any attempt to forcibly remove Palestinians from Gaza would escalate tensions in the region and further undermine efforts to achieve lasting peace.

Families repeatedly displaced after over 15 months of war erupted in cheers at shelters and tent encampments when they heard the crossings would be opened.

The Central Dauphin School District said on Saturday it had learned about the allegations that the teacher made the derogatory comment last week in an after-school programme.

Washington had said last year it opposed the forcible displacement of Palestinians.

Cheering crowds greeted the releases on either side, including Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv and Palestinians assembled in Ramallah.

The truce deal requires at least 600 truckloads of aid to enter Gaza each day of the initial six-week ceasefire, including 50 carrying fuel. Half of those trucks are supposed to go to Gaza's north, where experts have warned famine is imminent.

Daily deliveries have surged tenfold since the Sunday deal, according to U.N. data, surpassing the 600 trucks a day target set out for the first seven weeks of the ceasefire.

The operation was launched within days of the start of a ceasefire in Gaza that saw the first exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails since a brief truce in November 2023.

Hostages were expected to be released within hours of the start of the ceasefire, opening the way to a possible end to a 15-month war that has upended the Middle East.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, buses awaited the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli detention. Hamas said the first group to be freed in exchange for the hostages includes 69 women and 21 teenage boys.

Efforts also are underway to strengthen referral processes for critical care within Gaza and facilitate cross-border medical evacuations.

The aid trucks were using the Kerem Shalom entry point pending completion of maintenance at the Rafah border crossing into southern Gaza from Egypt, the sources said.

The ceasefire deal took effect after a nearly three-hour delay, pausing a war that has brought seismic political change to the Middle East and giving hope to Gaza's 2.3 million people, many of whom have been displaced several times.

The three-stage agreement follows months of on-off negotiations brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, and comes just ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Hamas said it was committed to the ceasefire but that it had been unable so far to provide the hostage list for "technical field reasons", without elaborating.

The UN World Food Programme has said it has enough food ready to feed more than a million people for three months.