عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Israel Strikes Gaza within Hours of Ceasefire Accord with Hamas

FILE - Palestinian children play next to a building destroyed by Israeli army strikes in the central Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)
FILE - Palestinian children play next to a building destroyed by Israeli army strikes in the central Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)
TT
TT

Israel Strikes Gaza within Hours of Ceasefire Accord with Hamas

FILE - Palestinian children play next to a building destroyed by Israeli army strikes in the central Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)
FILE - Palestinian children play next to a building destroyed by Israeli army strikes in the central Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

Israel intensified strikes on Gaza hours after a ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced, residents and authorities in the Palestinian enclave said, as mediators sought to quell fighting ahead of the truce's start on Sunday.
The complex ceasefire accord between Israel and the Hamas group, which controls Gaza, emerged on Wednesday after months of mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the US and 15 months of bloodshed that devastated the coastal territory and inflamed the Middle East, Reuters said.
The deal outlines a six-week initial ceasefire with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, where tens of thousands have been killed. Hostages taken by Hamas would be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel.
At a news conference in Doha, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the ceasefire would take effect on Sunday. Negotiators are working with Israel and Hamas on steps to implement the agreement, he said.
"This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity," US President Joe Biden said in Washington.
His successor, Donald Trump, takes office on Monday and claimed credit for the breakthrough in Gaza.
Israel's acceptance of the deal will not be official until it is approved by the country's security cabinet and government, with votes slated for Thursday, an Israeli official said.
The accord was expected to win approval despite opposition from some hardliners in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government.
Significant progress was made in the negotiations once the Biden and Trump administrations began working hand-in-hand to make the case for urgency, outgoing US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew told Reuters.
While people celebrated the pact in Gaza and Israel, Israel's military escalated attacks after the announcement, the civil emergency service and residents said.
Heavy Israeli bombardment, especially in Gaza City, killed 32 people late on Wednesday, medics said. The strikes continued early on Thursday and destroyed houses in Rafah in southern Gaza, Nuseirat in central Gaza and in northern Gaza, residents said.
Israel's military said Gaza militants fired a rocket into Israel on Thursday, causing no casualties.
JUBILATION IN GAZA
In social media posts, some Gaza residents urged Palestinians to exercise extra caution in the belief Israel could step up attacks in the next few days to maximize gains before the ceasefire starts.
Nevertheless, news of the ceasefire deal sparked jubilation in Gaza, where Palestinians have faced severe shortages of food, water, shelter and fuel. In Khan Younis, throngs clogged the streets amid the sounds of horns as they cheered, waved Palestinian flags and danced.
"I am happy. Yes, I am crying, but those are tears of joy," said Ghada, a displaced mother of five.
In Tel Aviv, families of Israeli hostages and their friends likewise welcomed the news, saying in a statement they felt "overwhelming joy and relief (about) the agreement to bring our loved ones home." In a social media statement announcing the ceasefire, Hamas called the pact "an achievement for our people" and "a turning point."
If successful, the ceasefire will halt fighting that has razed much of heavily urbanized Gaza, killed over 46,000 people and displaced most of the tiny enclave's pre-war population of 2.3 million, according to Gaza authorities.
That in turn could defuse tensions across the wider Middle East, where the war has stoked conflict in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and raised fears of all-out war between arch regional foes Israel and Iran.
With 98 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, phase one of the deal entails the release of 33 of them, including all women, children and men over 50. Two American hostages, Keith Siegel and Sagui Dekel-Chen, were among those to be released in the first phase, a source said.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Beirut Blast Investigator Resumes Work After Two Years

An aerial view shows the massive damage at Beirut port's grain silos and the area around it on August 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion hit the heart of the Lebanese capital. (AFP)
An aerial view shows the massive damage at Beirut port's grain silos and the area around it on August 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion hit the heart of the Lebanese capital. (AFP)
TT
TT

Beirut Blast Investigator Resumes Work After Two Years

An aerial view shows the massive damage at Beirut port's grain silos and the area around it on August 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion hit the heart of the Lebanese capital. (AFP)
An aerial view shows the massive damage at Beirut port's grain silos and the area around it on August 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion hit the heart of the Lebanese capital. (AFP)

Lebanese judge Tarek Bitar resumed his investigation into the deadly 2020 Beirut port blast on Thursday, charging 10 people including security, customs and military personnel, a judicial official said.

The fresh charges come after a two-year hiatus in the investigation into the August 4, 2020 explosion that killed more than 220 people, injured thousands and devastated swathes of Lebanon's capital.

Authorities said the explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where a huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate fertilizer had been haphazardly stored for years.

But nobody has been held responsible for the blast, one of history's largest non-nuclear explosions.

The probe stalled two years ago after Lebanese group Hezbollah had accused Bitar of bias and demanded his dismissal, and after officials named in the investigation had filed a flurry of lawsuits to prevent it from going forward.

The resumption comes with Hezbollah's influence weakened after its recent war with Israel.

It also follows the election of a Lebanese president after the top position had been vacant for more than two years, with the new head of state Joseph Aoun last week pledging to work towards the "independence of the judiciary".

The judicial official told AFP that "procedures in the case have resumed", speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The official said that "a new charge sheet has been issued, charging three employees and seven high-ranking officers in the Lebanese army, in the General Security, (and) in customs" with negligence and "possible intent to commit murder". Their interrogations would begin next month.

In March and April, "investigating sessions" would resume for those previously charged in the case, including former ministers, lawmakers, security and military officers, judges and port management employees, after which Bitar would ask public prosecutors to issue indictments, according to the judicial official.

Analysts say Hezbollah's weakening in its war with Israel last year allowed Lebanon's deeply divided political class to elect Aoun last week and back his naming of Nawaf Salam as premier on Monday.

Salam, until recently the presiding judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, on Tuesday promised "justice for the victims of the Beirut port blast".

Hundreds of individuals and organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, had previously called for the United Nations to establish a fact-finding mission on the disaster -- a demand Lebanese officials have repeatedly rejected.

Cecile Roukoz, a lawyer whose brother died in the explosion, said she was optimistic after "the promises made by the president and the prime minister, then the probe resuming".

"There is hope that the rights of the victims, for whom we never stopped fighting, won't be forgotten," said the attorney, one of several representing the relatives of those killed.

Visiting Lebanon on Thursday, UN rights chief Volker Turk called for the "resumption of an independent investigation into the explosion".

"I repeat that those responsible for that tragedy must be held to account and offer the support of my office in this regard," he said.

The probe has been repeatedly stalled since 2020.

In December of that year, lead investigator Fadi Sawan charged former prime minister Hassan Diab -- who had resigned in the explosion's aftermath -- and three ex-ministers with negligence.

But Sawan was later removed from the case after mounting political pressure, and the probe was suspended.

His successor, Bitar, also summoned Diab for questioning and asked parliament, without success, to lift the immunity of lawmakers who had served as ministers.

The interior ministry also refused to execute arrest warrants issued by Bitar, further undermining his efforts.

The public prosecutor at the time, Ghassan Oueidat, thwarted his attempt to resume investigations in early 2023 after Bitar charged him in the case.