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Hamas Official Says Netanyahu's Continuation of Gaza War Shows Goal is 'Genocide'

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas continues, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 19, 2023. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas continues, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 19, 2023. (Reuters)
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Hamas Official Says Netanyahu's Continuation of Gaza War Shows Goal is 'Genocide'

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas continues, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 19, 2023. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas continues, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 19, 2023. (Reuters)

A senior Lebanon-based official in Palestinian militant group Hamas said Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's continued pursuit of war in Gaza showed the goal was "genocide" against Palestinians.

Netanyahu's "insistence on continuing the aggression totally confirms that the goal of the aggression on Gaza is genocide against the Palestinian people", Osama Hamdan told a news conference in Beirut.

"We will exert every effort to protect our people, whether through the resistance on the ground or... political efforts to stop the aggression," Hamdan added, AFP reported.

Netanyahu on Wednesday dismissed Hamas's demand for a ceasefire and ordered troops to prepare to move on the city of Rafah in Gaza's far south, where more than one million Palestinians have sought refuge.

The Israeli leader's comments appeared to dampen US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's hopes for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, even as he cautioned that more negotiations were needed.

An Egyptian official told AFP that "a new round of negotiations" would start on Thursday in Cairo aimed at achieving "calm in the Gaza Strip".

Hamdan said a Hamas delegation led by senior official Khalil al-Hayya would travel to Cairo on Thursday "to follow up on" the negotiations within the framework of Egyptian-Qatari efforts.

He urged "all resistance factions... to continue the fight" and to be cautious of Israeli "treachery during the final quarter-hour of this confrontation, particularly as we are seeking to end the aggression in a way that befits the sacrifices of our people and resistance".

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Arab World

KSrelief Masam Project Clears 908 Mines Across Yemen in One Week

Saudi Arabia, through its humanitarian arm KSrelief, continues its efforts to clear mines in Yemen, enhancing civilian safety and supporting safe and dignified living conditions for Yemenis - SPA
Saudi Arabia, through its humanitarian arm KSrelief, continues its efforts to clear mines in Yemen, enhancing civilian safety and supporting safe and dignified living conditions for Yemenis - SPA
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KSrelief Masam Project Clears 908 Mines Across Yemen in One Week

Saudi Arabia, through its humanitarian arm KSrelief, continues its efforts to clear mines in Yemen, enhancing civilian safety and supporting safe and dignified living conditions for Yemenis - SPA
Saudi Arabia, through its humanitarian arm KSrelief, continues its efforts to clear mines in Yemen, enhancing civilian safety and supporting safe and dignified living conditions for Yemenis - SPA

The Project Masam for clearing landmines in Yemen, implemented by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief), removed 908 mines from various areas of Yemen during the second week of March 2026, including three anti-personnel mines, nine anti-tank mines, 890 unexploded ordnance, and six IEDs, SPA reported.

The team conducted clearance operations across several governorates, removing mines, explosive devices, and unexploded ordnance.

In Aden Governorate, it dismantled two anti-tank mines, 215 pieces of unexploded ordnance, and two IEDs.

It also removed one anti-tank mine and seven pieces of unexploded ordnance in Al-Khawkhah District of Al-Hudaydah Governorate; three anti-personnel mines, three anti-tank mines, 513 pieces of unexploded ordnance, and two IEDs in Al-Mukalla District of Hadhramaut Governorate; and one piece of unexploded ordnance in Midi District of Hajjah Governorate.

The number of mines removed in March rose to 2,171, bringing the total cleared since the launch of the Project Masam to 548,123.

Saudi Arabia, through its humanitarian arm KSrelief, continues its efforts to clear mines in Yemen, enhancing civilian safety and supporting safe and dignified living conditions for Yemenis.

Arab World

Germany Warns Major Israeli Ground Campaign in Lebanon Would Worsen Humanitarian Situation

A displaced woman and a child sit in a tent in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, 15 March 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
A displaced woman and a child sit in a tent in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, 15 March 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
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Germany Warns Major Israeli Ground Campaign in Lebanon Would Worsen Humanitarian Situation

A displaced woman and a child sit in a tent in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, 15 March 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
A displaced woman and a child sit in a tent in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, 15 March 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

Germany is enormously concerned by the developments in Lebanon, said a government spokesperson in Berlin on Monday, and warned that ‌a major Israeli ‌ground offensive ‌would ⁠significantly worsen the ⁠already tense humanitarian situation in the region.

"A glance at this part ⁠of the war ‌zone ‌fills us ‌with concern because we ‌see preparations for a major Israeli ground offensive, which ‌would significantly worsen the already tense humanitarian ⁠situation ⁠in the region," said the spokesperson.

The spokesperson added that Germany welcomed efforts to restart talks between Israel and Lebanon.

Arab World

Israeli Forces Kill 16 People in Gaza and West Bank

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike that targeted a police vehicle in Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip on March 15, 2026. (Photo by Eyad Baba / AFP)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike that targeted a police vehicle in Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip on March 15, 2026. (Photo by Eyad Baba / AFP)
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Israeli Forces Kill 16 People in Gaza and West Bank

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike that targeted a police vehicle in Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip on March 15, 2026. (Photo by Eyad Baba / AFP)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike that targeted a police vehicle in Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip on March 15, 2026. (Photo by Eyad Baba / AFP)

Israeli forces killed 16 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, health officials said, in one of the heaviest death tolls in a single day in weeks.

Medics and the interior ministry of the Hamas-run Gaza said an Israeli airstrike killed a senior police official and eight other officers when it hit their vehicle near the entrance to Zawayda town in the central Gaza Strip. At least 14 other people, mostly bystanders, were wounded, the Gaza health ministry said.

Earlier on Sunday, health officials said an Israeli airstrike had killed three people - a man, his pregnant wife, and their son - in the western area of Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said it had carried out a strike in Gaza on Sunday in response to an incident a day earlier in ⁠which Hamas militants opened ⁠fire on Israeli troops. It did not say if it was referring to the strike that killed the officers or the strike that killed the family in Nuseirat.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a Palestinian father, mother, and two of their children were killed as they drove in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health authorities said, and the Israeli military said the incident was under review.

In Gaza there have been regular outbreaks of violence since a ceasefire went into effect in October following two years of devastating war triggered by Hamas-led attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023.

While Israeli ⁠attacks in Gaza declined in the days after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, according to residents, medics and analysts, they have since begun to rise again.