عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Israeli Strikes in Gaza Kill 6

FILE - Palestinians mourn as they carry the body of a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)
FILE - Palestinians mourn as they carry the body of a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)
TT
TT

Israeli Strikes in Gaza Kill 6

FILE - Palestinians mourn as they carry the body of a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)
FILE - Palestinians mourn as they carry the body of a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

Palestinian medical officials said Monday that Israeli strikes in the central Gaza Strip overnight killed at least six people, including one woman.
The strikes came as ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad fled to Moscow on Sunday and received asylum from his longtime ally, according to Russian media, hours after the opposition factions seized control of Damascus.
The UN Security Council plans to hold emergency closed consultations on Syria later Monday at Russia’s request.
Among the dead in the overnight Israeli strikes were Raed Ghabaien, who was released from Israeli detention in 2014, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the casualties were taken.
He was killed along with his wife when an Israeli strike hit their tent in the central town of Zuweida, the hospital records showed. Two other people were killed in a strike that hit their house late Sunday in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp. Another two were killed in a strike in the Wadi Gaza area early Monday.
An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the hospital’s morgue.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,500 Palestinians in the Gaza since the start of the war, according to local health authorities. They say most of the dead are women and children but do not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
Israel says it only strikes militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in residential areas.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250, including older adults and children. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Palestinians Return to Gaza City as Mediators Look Ahead to Next Stage 

Displaced Palestinians walk on a road to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, after Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to go back for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas. (AP)
Displaced Palestinians walk on a road to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, after Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to go back for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas. (AP)
TT
TT

Palestinians Return to Gaza City as Mediators Look Ahead to Next Stage 

Displaced Palestinians walk on a road to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, after Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to go back for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas. (AP)
Displaced Palestinians walk on a road to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, after Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to go back for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas. (AP)

Displaced Palestinians returning to their homes in Gaza City this week found a city in ruins after 15 months of fighting, with many seeking shelter amongst the rubble and searching for relatives lost in the chaotic return march.

Gaza City, in the north of the enclave, is a shell of the bustling, rough-edged urban center it was before the war, with swathes of buildings destroyed by Israeli bombardments and piles of rubble and torn up concrete on every side.

"Look at this scene, there is nothing to say," said a man who gave his name as Abu Mohammad as he searched for a place to settle. "People will sleep on the ground. There is nothing left."

Many of those returning, often laden with what personal possessions they still have after months of being moved around as the focus of the war shifted, had walked 20 km (12 miles) or more along the coastal highway north.

"I am waiting for my father, mother and brother. We lost them on the way," said Jameel Abed, who walked up from the central area of the Gaza Strip. "We found some lights here and we are waiting for them," he said.

"There is no car, no tuktuk, no donkey cart, no vehicle, nothing that could move on this road."

By late on Monday, Gaza's Hamas authorities said more than 300,000 people, or almost half of those displaced from the north during the war, had crossed into Gaza City and the north edge of the enclave from areas in the south. Even as those who arrived in Gaza looked around for somewhere to settle down, tens of thousands were still moving north as mediators began preliminary work on the second stage of ceasefire negotiations due to begin next week.

Three more Israeli hostages are due to be handed over on Thursday by Hamas, the armed group still in control of Gaza, with another three expected on Saturday, in exchange for scores of Palestinian prisoners set for release from Israeli jails, some of whom will go into exile.

In Cairo, a high-profile Hamas team led by Mohammad Darwish, head of the group's leading council, arrived for talks with Egyptian mediators, and to welcome 70 Palestinian prisoners who arrived in Cairo prior to being moved to third countries who would be willing to host them.

These include Qatar, Türkiye, and Algeria, according to Hamas and other sources.

NEGOTIATIONS

Under the terms of the ceasefire, agreed this month with Egyptian and Qatari mediation and US support, 33 hostages are due to be released during a six-week ceasefire, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, many of them serving life sentences in Israeli jails. Seven hostages and 290 prisoners have so far been exchanged.

A second stage, which will decide what happens to more than 60 other hostages, including men of military age as well as a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, is due to begin by next Tuesday.

If that succeeds, a full end to the war could follow. The conflict was triggered by the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to an Israeli toll, and saw more than 250 taken hostage.

It would also open the way to talks on reconstructing Gaza, now largely destroyed by an Israeli campaign that killed almost 47,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced pressure from some hardliners in his government, unhappy that the agreement leaves Hamas still in power in Gaza, not to proceed to the second stage but to recommence fighting to secure what they see as total victory.

But Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official, said the group believed the talks would go ahead.

"We are ready to begin negotiations for the second phase at the specified time and are confident that Netanyahu has no choice but to proceed with the second phase," he said.

What would follow full implementation of the ceasefire remains unclear after Israel's repeated declarations that Hamas will not be allowed to remain in power in Gaza.

US President Donald Trump's call for Palestinians in Gaza to be taken to Egypt or Jordan, though strongly rejected in the region and by Palestinian officials and residents, has further complicated the outlook.