Israel Mulls De-Escalation Measures in Gaza

Palestinian workers in the Gaza Strip enter from the Erez Crossing into Israel after it reopened on September 28. (AFP)
Palestinian workers in the Gaza Strip enter from the Erez Crossing into Israel after it reopened on September 28. (AFP)
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Israel Mulls De-Escalation Measures in Gaza

Palestinian workers in the Gaza Strip enter from the Erez Crossing into Israel after it reopened on September 28. (AFP)
Palestinian workers in the Gaza Strip enter from the Erez Crossing into Israel after it reopened on September 28. (AFP)

Israel is considering a series of measures to de-escalate tension in the Gaza Strip and prevent a potential escalation.

Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported that Israel is mulling increasing workers’ permits to Israel and easing the conditions for bringing goods into the Strip.

Meanwhile, Israel is holding talks with Qatar with the aim of transferring financial aid to “Hamas” to pay the salaries of its employees.

The government fears that any escalation in Gaza would undermine the ongoing talks with Saudi Arabia, according to the newspaper.

These measures are part of talks that kicked off two weeks ago in an attempt by mediators to de-escalate tension with Gaza after “Hamas” resumed protests near the border before it suspended them in parallel with a progress in talks.

Israel estimates that Hamas initiated the protests and mounted pressures in efforts to enhance the economic situation.

A Western diplomat who recently visited the Gaza Strip told the newspaper that these pressures ensue from the deteriorating economic distress in Gaza, the cut-off of international aid to residents, and the increasing challenges in the Strip.

The Israeli government is considering increasing entry permits for Gazan workers to Israel from 15,000 to 20,000 and easing the conditions for bringing goods into the Strip.

Haaretz said that the government components including the far-right wing approve that the current government is endorsing the policy of the former government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to present this issue for discussion in the government and to promote these measures in order to maintain calm on the Palestinian lands amid ongoing talks with Saudi Arabia.

US President Joe Biden told Netanyahu during their meeting in New York last week that preventing violent escalation against the Palestinians would help the US administration strengthen communications with Saudi Arabia.



France's Justice Minister to Visit Algeria amid Diplomatic Thaw

File photo: Algerian and French flags flutter ahead of the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron, in Algiers, Algeria August 25, 2022. (Reuters)
File photo: Algerian and French flags flutter ahead of the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron, in Algiers, Algeria August 25, 2022. (Reuters)
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France's Justice Minister to Visit Algeria amid Diplomatic Thaw

File photo: Algerian and French flags flutter ahead of the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron, in Algiers, Algeria August 25, 2022. (Reuters)
File photo: Algerian and French flags flutter ahead of the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron, in Algiers, Algeria August 25, 2022. (Reuters)

France's justice minister will head to Algeria next week to discuss improving cooperation and the fate of a detained French journalist, his office said Saturday, as ties warm following a diplomatic spat.

"The purpose of this trip is to work on opening a new chapter in judicial cooperation," Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin's office said of the trip planned for Monday.

But jailed reporter Christophe Gleizes would also be a "major topic," it said.

Gleizes, 37, was arrested in May 2024 while reporting on a football club in Algeria's Kabylia region and sentenced to seven years in jail in June last year for "glorifying terrorism".

Relations between France and its former colony became rocky after Paris in 2024 officially backed Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region, where Algeria supports the pro-independence Polisario Front.

But France and Algeria agreed in February to restart security cooperation as Interior Minister Laurent Nunez visited Algiers, marking the first sign of a thaw in diplomatic ties.

After deputy defense minister Alice Rufo met President Abdelmadjid Tebboune last week, France's ambassador to the North African country returned to his post after being recalled about a year ago at the height of the dispute.

Gleizes, the journalist, on Monday received his first visit from a diplomat since his detention.

His mother has said she hopes for "very positive developments on Christophe's return to France" by the end of the month, after he dropped an appeal with Algeria's top court, hoping for a presidential pardon.


Israel Strikes South Lebanon Day After Ceasefire Extension

TOPSHOT - A photograph taken from the southern area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area of Ras Al-Ain on May 12, 2026. (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
TOPSHOT - A photograph taken from the southern area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area of Ras Al-Ain on May 12, 2026. (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
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Israel Strikes South Lebanon Day After Ceasefire Extension

TOPSHOT - A photograph taken from the southern area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area of Ras Al-Ain on May 12, 2026. (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
TOPSHOT - A photograph taken from the southern area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area of Ras Al-Ain on May 12, 2026. (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)

Israel launched a series of airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, despite the extension of the truce between the two countries. 

Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah but the strikes were preceded by an evacuation warning covering nine villages. 

The continuing bombardment has only increased skepticism about the truce among the many thousands of Lebanese driven from their homes in the south. 

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported strikes on at least five villages on Saturday, including one more than 50 kilometers from the border. 

At the same time it reported a new exodus of residents towards the southern city of Sidon and the capital Beirut. 

On Friday, the two countries agreed to extend a ceasefire, which began on April 17 but has been marred by numerous violations, by another 45 days. 

Since the start of the ceasefire, Israel has repeatedly issued evacuation warnings for south Lebanese villages ahead of strikes. 

Over this period their geographical scope has expanded to include areas north of the Litani River and further from the border. 

The Israeli military also struck at least one town that was not included in the warning, near the southern city of Nabatieh. 

Despite the ceasefire, Israel continues to conduct strikes in Lebanon, and its forces are occupying territory near the border. 

Hezbollah, meanwhile, regularly claims attacks on northern Israel and against the Israeli military in southern Lebanon. 

- 'What kind of a truce is this?' - 

Israeli attacks since the start of the war have killed more than 2,900 people in Lebanon, including more than 400 since the truce took effect, according to Lebanese authorities. 

Israel has also reported the deaths of 19 soldiers in southern Lebanon since fighting with Hezbollah erupted. 

The latest strikes come after envoys from Israel and Lebanon held negotiations in Washington -- following the first direct talks in decades last month between the two countries, which do not have diplomatic relations. 

They agreed to extend the ceasefire. 

Iran-backed Hezbollah opposes the negotiations and claimed an attack against Israeli troops in the Lebanese town of Khiam on Saturday. 

The group justified their action by accusing Israel of ceasefire violations and "attacks that targeted villages in southern Lebanon". 

On Friday an Israeli strike hit a center of the Hezbollah-linked Islamic Health Committee in the southern town of Harouf, authorities said. 

Six people were killed, including three paramedics, according to the Lebanese health ministry. 

Displaced residents from southern Lebanon say the truce is not being implemented. 

"This is not a truce as long as Israeli attacks continue against the south and its people, with deaths, injuries, and destruction," said Ali Salameh, 60, from a school in Beirut where he has been displaced since the start of the war on March 2. 

Others said they backed Hezbollah to keep fighting Israel in retaliation for its attacks. 

"What kind of truce is this when they have just threatened villages and people are being displaced? Where is the state? We stand only with the resistance," said Nawal Mezhir, also displaced from the south. 

- 'Lasting stability' - 

Lebanon's negotiating delegation in Washington on Friday nonetheless welcomed the truce's 45-day extension and the creation of a US-facilitated security track, saying they "provide critical breathing space for our citizens, reinforce state institutions, and advance a political pathway toward lasting stability". 

Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei. 

On Friday, Israel struck the southern city of Tyre. 

An AFP correspondent saw significant destruction at the targeted site near the coastal city's ancient ruins. 

"They destroyed the entire neighborhood," said Ibrahim Kahwaji, a tailor who was wounded in the leg. 

"They are emptying the south of its population... it's a real occupation. We want a solution." 


Palestinian Ministry Says Israeli Forces Kill Man in West Bank Camp

 A member of the Israeli security forces aims his weapon while patrolling during a military raid in the Qalandia refugee camp, south of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 11, 2026. (AFP)
A member of the Israeli security forces aims his weapon while patrolling during a military raid in the Qalandia refugee camp, south of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 11, 2026. (AFP)
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Palestinian Ministry Says Israeli Forces Kill Man in West Bank Camp

 A member of the Israeli security forces aims his weapon while patrolling during a military raid in the Qalandia refugee camp, south of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 11, 2026. (AFP)
A member of the Israeli security forces aims his weapon while patrolling during a military raid in the Qalandia refugee camp, south of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 11, 2026. (AFP)

Palestinian health officials said Israeli forces killed a man on Saturday on the outskirts of the Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank.

The health ministry in Ramallah identified the victim as 34-year-old Nour al-Din Kamal Hassan Fayyad, saying he was "killed by occupation forces' fire in the Jenin camp".

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams in Jenin received a man "with no signs of breathing or pulse from inside Jenin camp after he sustained a live bullet wound to the thigh".

The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel launched a major military operation in mid-January in multiple northern Palestinian refugee camps, where the army says it is seeking to root out armed groups.

The operation, dubbed "Iron Wall", has targeted Jenin and Tulkarem camps and displaced nearly 40,000 Palestinians, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA.

The Israeli military has sealed off Jenin camp, allowing displaced residents only limited access to check on their homes and belongings.

Refugee camps were created in the West Bank, Gaza and neighboring Arab countries after the first Arab-Israeli war for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel at the time of its creation in 1948.

Since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023, near-daily violence has also rocked the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,072 Palestinians since then, including many gunmen, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry data.

Official Israeli figures show at least 46 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the same period.