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Palestinian Official Says Hamas Agrees to Gaza Proposal, Israel Dismisses It

A drone view shows displaced Palestinians sheltering in tents set up near the rubble of buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City February 17, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/File Photo
A drone view shows displaced Palestinians sheltering in tents set up near the rubble of buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City February 17, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/File Photo
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Palestinian Official Says Hamas Agrees to Gaza Proposal, Israel Dismisses It

A drone view shows displaced Palestinians sheltering in tents set up near the rubble of buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City February 17, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/File Photo
A drone view shows displaced Palestinians sheltering in tents set up near the rubble of buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City February 17, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/File Photo

A Palestinian official said on Monday that Hamas has agreed to a proposal by US special envoy Steve Witkoff for a Gaza ceasefire, only for an Israeli official to deny that the proposal was Washington's and add that no Israeli government could accept it.

Witkoff also rejected the notion that Hamas had accepted his offer for a hostage deal and a ceasefire in Gaza, telling Reuters that what he had seen was "completely unacceptable" and the proposal being discussed was not the same as his.

The Palestinian official, who is close to Hamas, had told Reuters that the proposal would see the release of 10 hostages and a 70-day ceasefire and was received by Hamas through mediators.

"The proposal includes the release of 10 living Israeli hostages held by Hamas in two groups in return for a 70-day ceasefire and a partial withdrawal from the Gaza Strip," the source said.

It also included the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners by Israel, including hundreds serving lengthy prison terms.

An Israeli official dismissed the proposal, saying no responsible government could accept such an agreement and rejecting the assertion that the deal matched one proposed by Witkoff.

On March 18, Israel effectively ended a January ceasefire agreement with Hamas and renewed its military campaign in Gaza. Hamas and allied factions began firing rockets and attacks two days later.

Hamas has said it is willing to free all remaining hostages seized by its gunmen in attacks on communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and agree to a permanent ceasefire if Israel pulls out completely from Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel would only be willing to agree to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of hostages, vowing that war can only end once Hamas is eradicated.

Israel launched an air and ground war in Gaza after the Hamas-led fighters' cross-border attack, which killed 1,200 people by Israeli tallies, with 251 hostages abducted into Gaza.

The conflict has killed nearly 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the coastal strip. Aid groups say signs of severe malnutrition are widespread.

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Arab World

UN Experts Call for Investigation into Israel's Killing of Lebanese Journalists

A woman sits in a cemetery before the funeral of Lebanese journalists, Al Manar reporter Ali Shoeib, Al Mayadeen reporter Fatima Ftouni and cameraman Mohammed Ftouni, who were killed by a targeted Israeli strike, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in Choueifat, Lebanon, March 29, 2026. (Reuters)
A woman sits in a cemetery before the funeral of Lebanese journalists, Al Manar reporter Ali Shoeib, Al Mayadeen reporter Fatima Ftouni and cameraman Mohammed Ftouni, who were killed by a targeted Israeli strike, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in Choueifat, Lebanon, March 29, 2026. (Reuters)
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UN Experts Call for Investigation into Israel's Killing of Lebanese Journalists

A woman sits in a cemetery before the funeral of Lebanese journalists, Al Manar reporter Ali Shoeib, Al Mayadeen reporter Fatima Ftouni and cameraman Mohammed Ftouni, who were killed by a targeted Israeli strike, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in Choueifat, Lebanon, March 29, 2026. (Reuters)
A woman sits in a cemetery before the funeral of Lebanese journalists, Al Manar reporter Ali Shoeib, Al Mayadeen reporter Fatima Ftouni and cameraman Mohammed Ftouni, who were killed by a targeted Israeli strike, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in Choueifat, Lebanon, March 29, 2026. (Reuters)

UN experts on Thursday called for an international investigation into the death of three Lebanese journalists in an Israeli strike, saying Israel had not provided "credible evidence" of their alleged links to armed groups.

The three journalists, including Ali Shoeib, a star correspondent for Al Manar channel of Hezbollah, which is at war with Israel, were killed on March 28 in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon.

"We denounce strongly what has now become a standard, dangerous practice of Israel to target and kill journalists and then claim, without providing any credible evidence, that they were involved with armed groups," the experts said in a statement.

The Israeli army had described Shoeib as a member of the Radwan force, an elite Hezbollah unit, operating "under the guise of a journalist".

According to the experts, Israel's only so-called "evidence" for its claims was a photoshopped image of the journalist.

Israel also confirmed it killed journalist Fatima Ftouni of Al Mayadeen, seen as close to Hezbollah, and her brother cameraman Mohammed Ftouni, describing him as "an additional terrorist in Hezbollah's military wing".

The experts argued that working as a journalist for a media outlet linked to an armed group does not constitute direct participation in hostilities under international humanitarian law.

"Israeli officials know this, yet they choose to ignore it -- emboldened by impunity for their previous killings of journalists in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank."

At least 231 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israel since 2023, including 210 in Gaza and 11 in Lebanon, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Although appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council, special rapporteurs are independent experts and do not speak on behalf of the UN.

Arab World

European Nations Say Israel, Hezbollah Fighting ‘Must Cease’

A man stands atop the rubble as smoke rises from a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Dahieh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, March 14, 2026. (AP)
A man stands atop the rubble as smoke rises from a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Dahieh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, March 14, 2026. (AP)
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European Nations Say Israel, Hezbollah Fighting ‘Must Cease’

A man stands atop the rubble as smoke rises from a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Dahieh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, March 14, 2026. (AP)
A man stands atop the rubble as smoke rises from a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Dahieh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, March 14, 2026. (AP)

Eighteen European countries on Thursday urged Israel and Hezbollah to stop fighting as their latest conflict reached one month and with fears over Israeli plans to occupy part of southern Lebanon post-war. 

"Israeli military operations in Lebanon and Hezbollah's attacks must cease," the foreign ministers of the countries including Italy, Spain, Belgium, Poland and Ireland said in a joint statement. 

"We urge Israel to fully respect Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and call on all parties, both Hezbollah and Israel, to halt military action," the statement said. 

Lebanon was sucked into the Middle East war after Tehran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel to avenge the US-Israeli attack that killed Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei. 

Israel has responded with massive strikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive. 

Lebanese authorities say the hostilities have so far killed more than 1,200 people and displaced more than one million others. 

The European ministers said they were "appalled by the dramatic situation" in Lebanon and called for an end to "unjustified and unacceptable" attacks on civilian targets such as healthcare personnel, aid workers and journalists. 

They pledged to continue providing humanitarian relief for the Lebanese population and called on the international community "to mobilize further" to help the country. 

Earlier this week, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the country's military would occupy a swathe of southern Lebanon even after the current war against Hezbollah has ended. 

The comments have raised fears for the area's fate following the last Israeli occupation that lasted nearly two decades. 

The European nations "strongly encouraged" Israel to hold direct negotiations with the Lebanese authorities and said reform efforts by Lebanon's government "must be supported instead of being undermined". 

"Efforts to support stabilization in Lebanon are instrumental to lasting peace and security in the Middle East. De-escalation is urgently needed. Diplomacy must prevail," they said. 

The countries include Spain, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Moldova, Norway, Poland, San Marino, Slovenia and Sweden. 

Arab World

War Crimes Complaint Filed in France Over 2024 Deadly Israeli Strike in Beirut

A photographs shows damaged buildings following an overnight Israeli airstrike in the Hadath neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs, on April 1, 2026. (AFP)
A photographs shows damaged buildings following an overnight Israeli airstrike in the Hadath neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs, on April 1, 2026. (AFP)
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War Crimes Complaint Filed in France Over 2024 Deadly Israeli Strike in Beirut

A photographs shows damaged buildings following an overnight Israeli airstrike in the Hadath neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs, on April 1, 2026. (AFP)
A photographs shows damaged buildings following an overnight Israeli airstrike in the Hadath neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs, on April 1, 2026. (AFP)

A complaint filed Thursday in France seeks a war crimes investigation into an Israeli strike on a Beirut apartment building in November 2024 said to have killed seven civilians including the parents of a French-Lebanese artist, a human rights group said.

The artist, Ali Cherri, and the International Federation for Human Rights, or FIDH, said the complaint was filed with France’s war crimes unit in Paris against unknown perpetrators over the strike in Beirut’s Noueiri neighborhood, just hours before a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect.

The human rights group said the strike hit at about 5:30 p.m. and destroyed a ninth-floor apartment owned by Cherri, as well as apartments on the seventh and eighth floors. The group identified the dead as Cherri’s parents, Mahmoud Naim Cherri and Nadira Hayek, and domestic worker Birki Negesa, among others.

“We want an investigation to help us clear up the facts and understand why civilians were targeted in this horrific way,” Cherri told The Associated Press.

The filing argues that the bombing of a civilian building could constitute a war crime under French criminal law and international humanitarian law. FIDH said it draws in part on analysis by human rights groups Forensic Architecture and Amnesty International.

Amnesty International said Thursday it supported the case and that its own investigation found no evidence of a military objective in or near the building at the time of the strike. It also said civilians received no effective advance warning and that the attack should be investigated as a war crime.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry referred questions about the case to Israel’s military, which did not immediately respond Thursday, a religious holiday in Israel. Israel’s military has previously said it follows international legal norms and strikes only legitimate military targets.

On the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel triggered the war in Gaza, the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas and the Palestinians. Israel responded with airstrikes and shelling. The low-level conflict escalated into full-scale war in September 2024.

Around 4,000 people were killed in Lebanon during that conflict while 47 Israeli civilians and more than 80 Israeli soldiers were killed before the Nov. 2024 ceasefire.

Since the US and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, a new war has erupted between Israel and Hezbollah. On March 2, Hezbollah began firing salvos of missiles across the border.

Israel has since launched aerial bombardment of large swathes of Lebanon and launched a ground invasion. More than 1,200 people have been killed and more than a million displaced in Lebanon to date.

According to FIDH, French courts do not have jurisdiction over the killings themselves because the dead were not French nationals. But it said Cherri’s dual French-Lebanese nationality gives French authorities jurisdiction to investigate the bombing of the apartment he owned.

The group also said no legal proceedings had been initiated in Lebanon or abroad to date over the attack.

“It’s going to be a long process, and probably with no cooperation from the Israelis,” Cherri said. “But it’s important to seek justice and to stop the cycle of impunity.”

Cherri, a Paris-based artist and filmmaker originally from Beirut, has said he is seeking recognition and accountability over the attack that killed his family members and other civilians.