عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Death Toll in Israeli Strikes on Gaza Rises to 77 since Ceasefire Deal

Men and children stand next to a destroyed car amidst debris and rubble by a collapsed building at the site of Israeli bombardment on a residential block in Jalaa Street in Gaza City on January 14, 2025 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Men and children stand next to a destroyed car amidst debris and rubble by a collapsed building at the site of Israeli bombardment on a residential block in Jalaa Street in Gaza City on January 14, 2025 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
TT
TT

Death Toll in Israeli Strikes on Gaza Rises to 77 since Ceasefire Deal

Men and children stand next to a destroyed car amidst debris and rubble by a collapsed building at the site of Israeli bombardment on a residential block in Jalaa Street in Gaza City on January 14, 2025 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Men and children stand next to a destroyed car amidst debris and rubble by a collapsed building at the site of Israeli bombardment on a residential block in Jalaa Street in Gaza City on January 14, 2025 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Israel airstrikes killed at least 77 people in Gaza overnight on Thursday, residents and authorities in the enclave said, hours after a ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced to bring an end to 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas.
The complex ceasefire accord emerged on Wednesday after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the US to stop the war that has devastated the coastal territory and inflamed the Middle East.
The deal, scheduled to be implemented from Sunday, 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 militant group Hamas, which controls the enclave, would be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel.
The deal also paves the way for a surge in humanitarian aid for Gaza, where the majority of the population has been displaced and is facing acute food shortages, food security experts warned late last year.
Rows of aid trucks were lined up in the Egyptian border town of El-Arish waiting to cross into Gaza, once the border is reopened, Reuters reported.
Israel's acceptance of the deal will not be official until it is approved by the country's security cabinet and government, and a vote was slated for Thursday, an Israeli official said.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed the meeting, accusing Hamas of making last-minute demands and going back on agreements.
"The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement," a statement from Netanyahu's office said.
Hamas senior official Izzat el-Reshiq said on Thursday the group is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by mediators on Wednesday.
For some Palestinians, the deal could not come soon enough.
"We lose homes every hour. We demand for this joy not to go away, the joy that was drawn on our faces - don't waste it by delaying the implementation of the truce until Sunday," Gazan man Mahmoud Abu Wardeh said.
 

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Israel Orders Gaza Families to Move in First Forced Evacuation Since Ceasefire

A Palestinian girl walks past the rubble of houses destroyed in Israeli strikes during the war, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 17, 2026. (Reuters)
A Palestinian girl walks past the rubble of houses destroyed in Israeli strikes during the war, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 17, 2026. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Israel Orders Gaza Families to Move in First Forced Evacuation Since Ceasefire

A Palestinian girl walks past the rubble of houses destroyed in Israeli strikes during the war, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 17, 2026. (Reuters)
A Palestinian girl walks past the rubble of houses destroyed in Israeli strikes during the war, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 17, 2026. (Reuters)

Israeli forces have ordered dozens of Palestinian families in the southern Gaza Strip to leave their homes in the first forced evacuation since October's ceasefire, as residents and Hamas said on Tuesday the military was ​expanding the area under its control.

Residents of Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis, said the leaflets were dropped on Monday on families living in tent encampments in the Al-Reqeb neighborhood.

“Urgent message. The area is under Israeli army control. You must evacuate immediately,” said the leaflets, written in Arabic, Hebrew, and English, which the army dropped over the Al-Reqeb neighborhood in the town of Bani Suhaila.

In the two-year war before the US brokered ceasefire was signed in October, Israel dropped leaflets over areas that were subsequently raided or bombarded, forcing some families to move several times.

Residents and a source from the Hamas group said this was the first time they had been ‌dropped since then. ‌The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

SIDES FAR ‌APART ⁠ON ​NEXT PHASES

The ‌ceasefire has not progressed beyond its first phase, under which major fighting has stopped, Israel withdrew from less than half of Gaza, and Hamas released hostages in return for Palestinian detainees and prisoners.

Virtually the entire population of more than 2 million people are confined to around a third of Gaza's territory, mostly in makeshift tents and damaged buildings, where life has resumed under control of an administration led by Hamas.

Israel and Hamas have accused each other of major breaches of the ceasefire and remain far apart on the more difficult steps planned for the next phase.

Mahmoud, a resident from the ⁠Bani Suhaila area, who asked not to give his family name, said the evacuation orders impacted at least 70 families, living in tents and homes, ‌some of which were partially damaged, in the area.

"We have fled ‍the area and relocated westward. It is maybe the ‍fourth or fifth time the occupation expanded the yellow line since last month," he told Reuters by phone ‍from Khan Younis, referring to the line behind which Israel has withdrawn.

"Each time they move it around 120 to 150 meters (yards) inside the Palestinian-controlled territory, swallowing more land," the father-of-three said.

HAMAS CITES STATE OF HUMANITARIAN DISRUPTION

Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, said the Israeli military had expanded the area under its control in eastern Khan Younis five times since ​the ceasefire, forcing the displacement of at least 9,000 people.

“On Monday, 19 January 2026, the Israeli occupation forces dropped warning leaflets demanding the forced evacuation of the Bani Suhaila area in eastern ⁠Khan Younis Governorate, in a measure that falls within a policy of intimidation and pressure on civilians,” Thawabta told Reuters.

He said the new evacuation orders affected approximately 3,000 people.

“The move created a state of humanitarian disruption, increased pressure on the already limited shelter areas, and further deepened the internal displacement crisis in the governorate,” Thawabta added.

Israel's military has previously said it has opened fire after identifying what it called "terrorists" crossing the yellow line and approaching its troops, posing an immediate threat to them.

It has continued to conduct air strikes and targeted operations across Gaza. The Israeli military has said it views "with utmost severity" any attempts by militant groups in Gaza to attack Israel.

Under future phases of the ceasefire that have yet to be hammered out, US President Donald Trump's plan envisages Hamas disarming, Israel pulling out further, and an internationally backed administration rebuilding Gaza.

More than 460 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have been reported killed since the ceasefire took ‌effect.

Israel launched its operations in Gaza in the wake of an attack by Hamas-led fighters in October 2023 which killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's assault has killed 71,000 people, according to health authorities in the enclave.

Arab World

Syrian Interior Ministry: 120 ISIS Members Escape from Prison amid Clashes

Civilians cross a collapsed bridge linking Raqqa with its western countryside of Tabqa, northern Syria, 19 January 2026. EPA/AHMAD FALLAHA
Civilians cross a collapsed bridge linking Raqqa with its western countryside of Tabqa, northern Syria, 19 January 2026. EPA/AHMAD FALLAHA
TT
TT

Syrian Interior Ministry: 120 ISIS Members Escape from Prison amid Clashes

Civilians cross a collapsed bridge linking Raqqa with its western countryside of Tabqa, northern Syria, 19 January 2026. EPA/AHMAD FALLAHA
Civilians cross a collapsed bridge linking Raqqa with its western countryside of Tabqa, northern Syria, 19 January 2026. EPA/AHMAD FALLAHA

Syria's ministry of interior said Tuesday that 120 ISIS members escaped from a prison in northeast Syria a day earlier, amid clashes between government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which guards the prison.

Security forces recaptured 81 of the escapees, “while intensive security efforts continue to pursue the remaining fugitives and take the necessary legal measures against them,” The Associated Press quoted the statement as saying.

The SDF and the government have traded blame over the escape at a prison in the town of Shaddadeh, amid the breakdown of a ceasefire deal between the two sides.

Also Tuesday, the SDF accused “Damascus-affiliated factions” of cutting off water supplies to the al-Aqtan prison near the city of Raqqa, which it called a “blatant violation of humanitarian standards.”

The SDF, the main US-backed force that fought ISIS in Syria, controls more than a dozen prisons in the northeast where some 9,000 ISIS members have been held for years without trial.

Under a deal announced Sunday, government forces were to take over control of the prisons from the SDF, but the transfer did not go smoothly.

On Monday, Syrian government forces and SDF fighters clashed around two prisons housing members of ISIS in Syria’s northeast.

The clashes came as SDF chief commander Mazloum Abdi was said to be in Damascus to attempt to solidify a ceasefire deal reached Sunday that ended days of deadly fighting during which government forces captured wide areas of northeast Syria from the SDF.

Abdi issued no statement after the meeting and the SDF later issued a statement calling for “all of our youth” to “join the ranks of the resistance," appearing to signal that the deal had fallen apart.

Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa postponed a planned trip to Germany Tuesday amid the ongoing tensions in northeast Syria.

Arab World

Egypt’s Sisi to Meet Trump on the Sidelines of Davos, Presidency Says

US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi meet ahead of a world leaders' summit on ending the Gaza war, amid a US-brokered prisoner-hostage swap and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, October 13, 2025. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi meet ahead of a world leaders' summit on ending the Gaza war, amid a US-brokered prisoner-hostage swap and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, October 13, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Egypt’s Sisi to Meet Trump on the Sidelines of Davos, Presidency Says

US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi meet ahead of a world leaders' summit on ending the Gaza war, amid a US-brokered prisoner-hostage swap and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, October 13, 2025. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi meet ahead of a world leaders' summit on ending the Gaza war, amid a US-brokered prisoner-hostage swap and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, October 13, 2025. (Reuters)

Egypt's President Abdel ​Fattah al-Sisi will meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Egypt's presidency said on Tuesday.

This ‌will be ‌the first ‌meeting ⁠between ​the ‌two leaders since the US announced it was launching the second phase of its plan to end the war in Gaza.

Sisi and ⁠Trump met in the ‌Red Sea resort ‍of Sharm ‍el-Sheikh in October during a ‍summit convened by Egypt to sign a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the ​war.

On Friday, Trump said that he was also ⁠ready to restart US mediation between Egypt and Ethiopia to resolve the dispute over an Ethiopian dam, which both Egypt and Sudan consider a serious threat to vital water supplies.