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Israeli Strikes Kill 26 in Gaza, Including Senior Hamas Political Leader

Palestinians search through the rubble of a building at the site of an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 23, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians search through the rubble of a building at the site of an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 23, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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Israeli Strikes Kill 26 in Gaza, Including Senior Hamas Political Leader

Palestinians search through the rubble of a building at the site of an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 23, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians search through the rubble of a building at the site of an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 23, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli strikes across the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 26 Palestinians overnight into Sunday, including a Hamas political leader and several women and children. Residents said tanks had advanced into an area of the southern city of Rafah as the military ordered it evacuated.
Gaza's Health Ministry said the total number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war has now passed 50,000 after Israel ended the ceasefire last week with a wave of strikes that have killed nearly 700.
The military ordered people to leave the already heavily destroyed Tel al-Sultan neighborhood on foot along a single route to Muwasi, a sprawling area of squalid tent camps, The Associated Press reported.
Late Saturday, Israel's Cabinet approved a proposal to set up a new directorate tasked with advancing the “voluntary departure" of Palestinians in line with US President Donald Trump's proposal to depopulate Gaza and rebuild it for others. Palestinians say they do not want to leave their homeland, and rights groups have said the plan could amount to expulsion in violation of international law.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the new body would be “subject to Israeli and international law” and coordinate "passage by land, sea and air to the destination countries.”
In Rafah on Sunday, Palestinian men, women and children could be seen walking along a dirt road and carrying their belongings in their arms, a recurring scene in a war that has forced most of Gaza's population to flee within the territory, often multiple times.
Hamas said that Salah Bardawil, a member of its political bureau and the Palestinian parliament, was killed in a strike in Muwasi that also killed his wife. Bardawil was a well-known member of the group’s political wing who gave media interviews over the years.
Hospitals in southern Gaza said they had received another 24 bodies from strikes overnight, including several women and children.
The European Hospital said five children and their parents were killed in a strike on the southern city of Khan Younis. Another family — two girls and their parents — were killed in a separate strike. The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said it received the bodies of two children and their parents who were killed in a strike on their home. Two other children are still under the rubble, according to the hospital.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said a total of 50,021 Palestinians have been killed in the war and more than 113,000 have been wounded. The latest toll announced Sunday includes 673 people killed since Israel's surprise bombardment on Tuesday.

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Arab World

Syria Is at a Crossroads: It Can Return to Violence or Transition to Peace, Says UN Envoy 

A member of Syria's security forces mans a gun in the back of a truck during the funeral of three people killed in Israeli strikes a day earlier, in the southern town of Daraa on March 18, 2025. (AFP)
A member of Syria's security forces mans a gun in the back of a truck during the funeral of three people killed in Israeli strikes a day earlier, in the southern town of Daraa on March 18, 2025. (AFP)
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Syria Is at a Crossroads: It Can Return to Violence or Transition to Peace, Says UN Envoy 

A member of Syria's security forces mans a gun in the back of a truck during the funeral of three people killed in Israeli strikes a day earlier, in the southern town of Daraa on March 18, 2025. (AFP)
A member of Syria's security forces mans a gun in the back of a truck during the funeral of three people killed in Israeli strikes a day earlier, in the southern town of Daraa on March 18, 2025. (AFP)

Three months following the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad, Syria is at a crossroads, the top UN envoy for the country said Tuesday.

Geir Pedersen told the UN Security Council that Syria can return to violence or start an inclusive transition and end decades of conflict.

He said the road back to conflict, fragmentation and violations of Syrian sovereignty by external powers "must not come to pass." The other road, which would restore Syria’s sovereignty and regional security, is "viable," but "requires the right Syrian decisions" and international support, Pedersen said.

Syria’s civil war had gone on for 13 years when a lightning insurgency led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS) overthrew Assad in December, ending his family’s more than 50-year rule.

Former HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa was announced as the country’s interim president after a meeting of armed groups that took part in the offensive.

Pedersen spoke weeks after clashes between Sharaa's security forces and armed groups loyal to Assad - sparked by an ambush by regime remnants on the security forces - spiraled into sectarian revenge attacks that killed scores of civilians, most of them Alawites, a minority sect to which Assad belongs. It was the worst violence since December.

Pedersen told the council that while the situation was "comparatively calmed" after several days, the UN continues to receive reports "of harassment and intimidation, including with heavy sectarian overtones."

He said the interim authorities announced an independent investigation. Pedersen said he stressed that it must be transparent, in line with international standards, and its findings made public.

The UN special envoy, who will be returning to Damascus shortly, highlighted several priority areas for action and attention.

The latest violence, he said, "laid bare the urgent need for credible and efficient accountability for crimes" committed over decades.

He said the UN and the international community will be watching whether the soon-to-be-announced transitional government and transitional legislative council reflect Syria’s diversity and include both men and women.

Pedersen said his team was consulted on a temporary constitution and gave advice on international best practices and norms. "Some of this was taken on board, some was not," he said.

In mid-March, Sharaa signed a temporary constitution that promises to protect the rights of all Syrians for five years during a transitional phase.

"Some Syrians have commended the effort to fill the constitutional vacuum, and noted the incorporation of international human rights norms," Pedersen said. "But others have expressed reservations about the non-transparent process of its drafting and the substance itself — particularly a very strong presidency with unclear checks and balances between state powers and ambiguity regarding the transition steps."

Pedersen also cited other issues that demand action, including dealing with armed groups and foreign fighters, and reviving the economy.