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Hamas Demands End to Israeli Siege as UN Chief Visits Gaza

UN chief Antonio Guterres attends a joint press conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, following their meeting in Ramallah on August 29. (AFP)
UN chief Antonio Guterres attends a joint press conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, following their meeting in Ramallah on August 29. (AFP)
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Hamas Demands End to Israeli Siege as UN Chief Visits Gaza

UN chief Antonio Guterres attends a joint press conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, following their meeting in Ramallah on August 29. (AFP)
UN chief Antonio Guterres attends a joint press conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, following their meeting in Ramallah on August 29. (AFP)

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres paid a visit to Hamas-controled Gaza on Wednesday as the Palestinian movement called on Israel to end its siege of the coastal strip.

This marked the first visit by the UN chief to the strip since taking office and as international concerns have grown over the humanitarian conditions in the area.

Hamas welcomed the trip, describing it as “important,” urging Guterres to make "all efforts to lift the siege on the strip and end the suffering for two million Palestinians living in the largest prison in the world."

The residents are experiencing electricity shortages and deteriorating humanitarian conditions.

Small demonstrations accompanied the UN chief’s visit. At one protest, around 25 people held a fake coffin with a sign that said "Welcome to the largest prison in the world".

Dozens of people also demonstrated as Guterres's convoy crossed the border with Israel into Gaza, calling for action in support of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Guterres, who held talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem and Ramallah on Monday and Tuesday, was to visit a school in the strip run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade for a decade, while its sole crossing with Egypt has also been largely closed in recent years.

At least 70 percent of Gazans are dependent upon international aid. UNRWA plays a major role in the strip, with the same percentage of the population classified as refugees.

Palestinians in Gaza and Israel have fought three wars since 2008, and Israel says the blockade is necessary to keep Hamas from obtaining weapons or materials that could be used to make them.

The blockade also serves to isolate the movement.

UN officials have however called for the blockade to be lifted, saying the enclave is fast becoming unlivable, with sparse electricity and a lack of clean water.

Guterres arrived in Israel on Sunday on a three-day visit. His meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders are aimed at encouraging the resumption of peace talks.

Prior to arriving in Gaza, he took a helicopter tour of the Israel-Gaza border with Israeli officials, visited a tunnel Hamas dug into Israel to carry out attacks and met local residents living along the volatile front.

Guterres was accompanied by Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, and Aviv Kochavi, Israel's deputy military chief. Danon warned Guterres that Gaza's Hamas rulers have been exploiting international humanitarian aid to dig the tunnels aimed at harming Israel.

"Instead of working to ensure a better future for their children, Hamas has turned the residents of Gaza into hostages," he said. "At the same time, the Israeli residents of the border communities have stood strong in the face of terror threats, as they build prosperous communities and help further develop the region for the betterment of the next generation."

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Arab World

Israel Says Killed Four Militants Exiting Tunnel in Gaza’s Rafah

Boys walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
Boys walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Says Killed Four Militants Exiting Tunnel in Gaza’s Rafah

Boys walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
Boys walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (AFP)

Israel's military said it killed four suspected militants who attacked its troops as the armed men emerged from a tunnel in southern Gaza on Monday, calling the group's actions a "blatant violation" of the ceasefire.

Despite a US-brokered truce entering its second phase last month, violence has continued in the Gaza Strip, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of breaching the agreement.

"A short while ago, four armed terrorists exited an underground tunnel shaft and fired towards soldiers in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip.... Following identification, the troops eliminated the terrorists," the military said in a statement.

It said none of its troops had been injured in the attack, which it called a "blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement" between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli troops "are continuing to operate in the area to locate and eliminate all the terrorists within the underground tunnel route", the military added.

Gaza health officials have said Israeli air strikes last Wednesday killed 24 people, with Israel's military saying the attacks were in response to one of its officers being wounded by enemy gunfire.

That wave of strikes came after Israel partly reopened the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on February 2, the only gateway to the Palestinian territory that does not pass through Israel.

Israeli forces seized control of the crossing in May 2024 during the war with Hamas, and it had remained largely closed since.

Around 180 Palestinians have left the Gaza Strip since Rafah's limited reopening, according to officials in the territory.

Israel has so far restricted passage to patients and their accompanying relatives.

The second phase of the Gaza ceasefire foresees a demilitarization of the territory -- including the disarmament of Hamas -- along with a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Hamas has repeatedly said that disarmament is a red line, although it has indicated it could consider handing over its weapons to a future Palestinian governing authority.

Israeli officials say Hamas still has around 20,000 fighters and about 60,000 Kalashnikovs in Gaza.

A Palestinian technocratic committee has been set up with a goal of taking over day-to-day governance in the strip, but it remains unclear whether, or how, it will address the issue of demilitarization.

Arab World

Building Collapse in Lebanon's Tripoli Kills 13, Search for Missing Continues

Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)
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Building Collapse in Lebanon's Tripoli Kills 13, Search for Missing Continues

Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)

The death toll from the collapse of a residential building in the Lebanese city of Tripoli rose to 13, as rescue teams continued to search for missing people beneath the rubble, Lebanon's National News ‌Agency reported ‌on Monday. 

Rescue ‌workers ⁠in the ‌northern city's Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood have also assisted nine survivors, while the search continued for others still believed to be trapped under the ⁠debris, NNA said. 

Officials said on ‌Sunday that two ‍adjoining ‍buildings had collapsed. 

Abdel Hamid Karameh, ‍head of Tripoli's municipal council, said he could not confirm how many people remained missing. Earlier, the head of Lebanon's civil defense rescue ⁠service said the two buildings were home to 22 residents, reported Reuters. 

A number of aging residential buildings have collapsed in Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest city, in recent weeks, highlighting deteriorating infrastructure and years of neglect, state media reported, ‌citing municipal officials. 

 

Arab World

Salam Concludes Visit to South Lebanon: Region Must Return to State Authority

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (L) holds bouquets of flower as he stands next to the mayor of the heavily-damaged southern village of Kfar Shouba, near the border with Israel, during his visit on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (L) holds bouquets of flower as he stands next to the mayor of the heavily-damaged southern village of Kfar Shouba, near the border with Israel, during his visit on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
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Salam Concludes Visit to South Lebanon: Region Must Return to State Authority

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (L) holds bouquets of flower as he stands next to the mayor of the heavily-damaged southern village of Kfar Shouba, near the border with Israel, during his visit on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (L) holds bouquets of flower as he stands next to the mayor of the heavily-damaged southern village of Kfar Shouba, near the border with Israel, during his visit on February 8, 2026. (AFP)

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam vowed on Sunday to work on rebuilding infrastructure in southern villages that were destroyed by Israel during its last war with Hezbollah.

On the second day of a tour of the South, he declared: “We want the region to return to the authority of the state.”

He was warmly received by the locals as he toured a number of border villages that were destroyed by Israel during the conflict. His visit included Kfar Kila, Marjeyoun, Kfar Shouba and Kfar Hamam. He kicked off his tour on Saturday by visiting Tyre and Bint Jbeil.

The visit went above the differences between the government and Hezbollah, which has long held sway over the South. Throughout the tour, Salam was greeted by representatives of the “Shiite duo” of Hezbollah and its ally the Amal movement, as well as MPs from the Change bloc and others opposed to Hezbollah.

In Kfar Kila, the locals raised a banner in welcome of the PM, also offering him flowers and an olive branch. The town was the worst hit during the war with Israel, which destroyed nearly 90 percent of its buildings and its forces regularly carrying out incursions there.

Salam said the town was “suffering more than others because of the daily violations and its close proximity to the border.”

He added that its residents cannot return to their homes without the reconstruction of its infrastructure, which should kick off “within the coming weeks.”

“Our visit underlines that the state and all of its agencies stand by the ruined border villages,” he stressed.

“The government will continue to make Israel commit” to the ceasefire agreement, he vowed. “This does not mean that we will wait until its full withdrawal from occupied areas before working on rehabilitating infrastructure.”

Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil noted that the people cannot return to their town because it has been razed to the ground by Israel and is still coming under its attacks.

In Marjeyoun, Salam said the “state has long been absent from the South. Today, however, the army has been deployed and we want it to remain so that it can carry out its duties.”

“The state is not limited to the army, but includes laws, institutions, social welfare and services,” he went on to say.

Reconstruction in Marjeyoun will cover roads and electricity and water infrastructure. The process will take months, he revealed, adding: “The state is serious about restoring its authority.”

“We want this region to return to the fold of the state.”

MP Elias Jarade said the government “must regain the trust of the southerners. This begins with the state embracing and defending its people,” and protecting Lebanon’s sovereignty.

MP Firas Hamdan said the PM’s visit reflects his keenness on relations with the South.

Ali Murad, a candidate who ran against Hezbollah and Amal in Marjeyoun, said the warm welcome accorded to Salam demonstrates that the “state needs the South as much as the people of the South need the state.”

“We will always count on the state,” he vowed.

Hezbollah MP Hussein Jishi welcomed Salam’s visit, hoping “it would bolster the southerners’ trust in the state.”

Kataeb leader MP Sami Gemayel remarked that the warm welcome accorded to the PM proves that the people of the South “want the state and its sovereignty. They want legitimate institutions that impose their authority throughout Lebanon, without exception.”