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Israel Includes Gaza Americans in US Visa-waiver Pilot as Deadline Nears

Israeli and American flags stand during the final rehearsal for the ceremony to welcome US President Joe Biden ahead of his visit to Israel, at Ben Gurion International airport, in Lod near Tel Aviv, Israel July 12, 2022. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Israeli and American flags stand during the final rehearsal for the ceremony to welcome US President Joe Biden ahead of his visit to Israel, at Ben Gurion International airport, in Lod near Tel Aviv, Israel July 12, 2022. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
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Israel Includes Gaza Americans in US Visa-waiver Pilot as Deadline Nears

Israeli and American flags stand during the final rehearsal for the ceremony to welcome US President Joe Biden ahead of his visit to Israel, at Ben Gurion International airport, in Lod near Tel Aviv, Israel July 12, 2022. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Israeli and American flags stand during the final rehearsal for the ceremony to welcome US President Joe Biden ahead of his visit to Israel, at Ben Gurion International airport, in Lod near Tel Aviv, Israel July 12, 2022. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo

Israel eased travel for Palestinian Americans from the Gaza Strip on Monday as part of final preparations for a deal enabling Israelis to enter the United States without visas, an Israeli official said.
As a condition for its accession to the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP), Israel has since July 20 loosened access through its borders, and in and out of the occupied West Bank, for Palestinian Americans in what the allies deem a pilot period, Reuters said.
The deadline for Israel to show compliance with the US conditions is Sept 30. If successful, it expects to be incorporated in the VWP by November - a respite for relations strained by disputes over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial reforms and policies on the Palestinians.
Gaza, whose governing Islamist Hamas is designated a terrorist group by Israel and the United States, was previously excluded from the pilot. The enclave is under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade and both maintain restrictions along their borders with it.
The exclusion stirred protests by Palestinian Americans and calls from Washington for a change in practice.
An Israeli official said that, as of Monday, Palestinian Americans living in Gaza and who are not deemed security threats will be able to enter Israel on a "B2" tourist visa, opening up the possibility of them taking flights out of its airports.
Israel previously said it intended to include Palestinian Americans living in Gaza - whose number it puts at between 100 and 130 - on Sept 15 but would try to bring the date forward.
The US Embassy in Jerusalem had no immediate comment.
As part of the pilot, Israel says it has already been letting Palestinian Americans leave Gaza by special buses to Jordan, from which they could travel elsewhere.
In another new policy, Israel says it is allowing Palestinian Americans from abroad who have first-degree relatives in Gaza to make once-yearly visits of up to 90 days.
Palestinian and US officials have assessed that the number of dual US nationals in Gaza may be several hundred. Asked about the apparent discrepancy in the figures, an Israeli official said most of those are not full-time Gaza residents.

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Arab World

A Blast in Gaza Wounds Soldier and Israel Accuses Hamas of Ceasefire Violation

A woman sits next to her tent on an alley of a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A woman sits next to her tent on an alley of a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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A Blast in Gaza Wounds Soldier and Israel Accuses Hamas of Ceasefire Violation

A woman sits next to her tent on an alley of a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A woman sits next to her tent on an alley of a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

An explosive device detonated in Gaza on Wednesday, injuring one Israeli soldier and prompting Israel to accuse Hamas of violating the US-backed ceasefire. It was the latest incident to threaten the tenuous truce that has held since Oct. 10 as each side accuses the other of violations.

The blast came as Hamas met with Turkish officials in Ankara to discuss the second stage of the ceasefire. Though the agreement has mostly held, its progress has slowed, The AP news reported.

All but one of the 251 hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war have been released, alive or dead, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and detainees. The ceasefire's second phase has even bigger challenges: the deployment of an international stabilization force, a technocratic governing body for Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and further Israeli troop withdrawals from the territory.

Israel vows to ‘respond accordingly’ Israel's military said the explosive detonated beneath a military vehicle as soldiers were “dismantling” militant infrastructure in the southern city of Rafah. The lightly injured soldier was taken to a hospital, the military said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement called the incident a violation of the ceasefire and said Israel would "respond accordingly.”

Israel previously launched strikes in Gaza in response to alleged ceasefire violations. On Oct. 19, Israel said two soldiers were killed by Hamas fire and it responded with a series of strikes that killed over 40 Palestinians, according to local health officials.

Hamas accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire by not allowing enough aid into the territory and continuing to strike civilians. Palestinian health officials say over 370 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the truce.

On Friday, Israeli troops fired over the ceasefire line in northern Gaza, killing at least five Palestinians, including a baby, according to a local hospital that received the casualties.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with a Hamas delegation led by Khalil al-Haya to discuss the ceasefire's second phase, according to ministry officials.

Fidan reaffirmed Türkiye's efforts to defend the rights of Palestinians and outlined ongoing efforts to address shelter and other humanitarian needs in Gaza, the officials said.

The Hamas delegation said they had fulfilled the ceasefire’s conditions but that Israel’s continued attacks were blocking progress toward the next stage. They also asserted that 60% of the trucks allowed into Gaza were carrying commercial goods rather than aid.

According to the officials, the meeting also discussed reconciliation efforts between the Palestinian factions and the situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, stressing that Israel’s actions there were “unacceptable.”

Arab World

Algeria Passes Law Declaring French Colonisation a Crime

Members of the committee drafting the law criminalizing colonialism (File Photo/ Algerian Parliament)
Members of the committee drafting the law criminalizing colonialism (File Photo/ Algerian Parliament)
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Algeria Passes Law Declaring French Colonisation a Crime

Members of the committee drafting the law criminalizing colonialism (File Photo/ Algerian Parliament)
Members of the committee drafting the law criminalizing colonialism (File Photo/ Algerian Parliament)

Algeria's parliament unanimously approved on Wednesday a law declaring France's colonisation of the country a crime, and demanding an apology and reparations.

Standing in the chamber, lawmakers wearing scarves in the colors of the national flag chanted "long live Algeria" as they applauded the passage of the bill, which states that France holds "legal responsibility for its colonial past in Algeria and the tragedies it caused".

The vote comes as the two countries are embroiled in a major diplomatic crisis, and analysts say that while Algeria's move is largely symbolic, it is still politically significant, AFP reported.

Parliament speaker Brahim Boughali told the APS state news agency before the vote that it would send "a clear message, both internally and externally, that Algeria's national memory is neither erasable nor negotiable".

The legislation lists the "crimes of French colonisation", including nuclear tests, extrajudicial killings, "physical and psychological torture", and the "systematic plundering of resources".

It states that "full and fair compensation for all material and moral damages caused by French colonisation is an inalienable right of the Algerian state and people".

France's rule over Algeria from 1830 until 1962 remains a sore spot in relations between the two countries.

The period was marked by mass killings and large-scale deportations, all the way up to the bloody war of independence from 1954-1962.

Algeria says the war killed 1.5 million people, while French historians put the death toll lower at 500,000 in total, 400,000 of them Algerian.

French President Emmanuel Macron has previously acknowledged the colonisation of Algeria as a "crime against humanity", but has stopped short of offering an apology.

Asked last week about the vote, French foreign ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux said he would not comment on "political debates taking place in foreign countries".

Hosni Kitouni, a researcher in colonial history at the University of Exeter in the UK, said that "legally, this law has no international scope and therefore is not binding for France".

But "its political and symbolic significance is important: it marks a rupture in the relationship with France in terms of memory," he said.

Arab World

Türkiye, Hamas Discuss Gaza Ceasefire Deal’s Second Phase, Turkish Source Says

Palestinian children play next to tents in a makeshift camp for displaced people set up on the beach in Gaza City, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP)
Palestinian children play next to tents in a makeshift camp for displaced people set up on the beach in Gaza City, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP)
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Türkiye, Hamas Discuss Gaza Ceasefire Deal’s Second Phase, Turkish Source Says

Palestinian children play next to tents in a makeshift camp for displaced people set up on the beach in Gaza City, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP)
Palestinian children play next to tents in a makeshift camp for displaced people set up on the beach in Gaza City, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP)

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday ​met with Hamas political bureau officials in Ankara to discuss the ceasefire in Gaza and advancing the ‌agreement to ‌its ‌second ⁠phase, ​a ‌Turkish Foreign Ministry source said according to Reuters.

The source said the Hamas officials told Fidan that they had fulfilled ⁠their requirements as ‌part of the ‍ceasefire ‍deal, but that Israel's ‍continued targeting of Gaza aimed to prevent the agreement from ​moving to the next phase.

The Hamas members ⁠also said humanitarian aid entering Gaza was not sufficient, and that goods like medication, equipment for housing, and fuel were needed, the source ‌added.