Brian The Empire8 hours agoShareSaveAleks Phillips & Hafsa KhalilBBC NewsShareSaveThe UN says that one of its workers has been killed and others injured after a compound in Gaza was damaged on Wednesday, adding that the circumstances of the incident remain unclear.
The Palestinian territory’s Hamas-run health ministry blamed an Israeli strike and said five critically injured foreign workers had arrived in hospital. Israel’s military denied striking the UN compound in Deir al-Balah.
It comes after Israel said it was resuming fighting in Gaza following a two-month ceasefire – launching a wave of strikes that killed more than 400 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
On Tuesday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it had “resumed combat in full force”.
A day later, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was extending ground operations in Gaza up to the Netzarim corridor, which divides the north and south of the strip.
Troops moved into the area “to create a partial buffer between nort..
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More than 400 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. BBC Verify’s Nick Beake has been assessing footage of the strikes and building a picture of the damage done.
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5 days agoShareSaveGabriela PomeroyBBC NewsShareSaveIsrael has “resumed combat in full force” against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday night.
In a defiant video statement, he warned that “negotiations will continue only under fire” and that “this is just the beginning”.
His comments came after Israeli aircraft launched massive airstrikes against what the military said were Hamas targets in Gaza.
More than 400 people have been killed in the attacks, the Hamas-run health ministry said, and hundreds more injured.
The wave of strikes was the heaviest since a ceasefire began on 19 January.
The fragile truce had mostly held until now, but this new wave of attacks suggests plans for a permanent end to the war may be off the table.
The airstrikes which hit Beit Lahia, Rafah, Nuseirat and Al-Mawasi on Tuesday shattered the relative peace that Gazans had been experiencing since January, and hospitals are once again overrun with casualties.
The attacks .. -
6 days agoShareSaveFrances MaoBBC NewsShareSaveMourners on Tuesday crying over the bodies of those killed in Monday night’s airstrikes at Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir Al-BalahIt had started as a normal night in Gaza, with people up already having their pre-dawn meal in the holy month of Ramadan. After 50 nights of ceasefire, life in the territory had settled into a relative rhythm of calm.
But then the rat-a-tat of gunfire began, and explosions. Then came the sound of people screaming.
Essam Abu Odeh and his family had been sleeping when the war planes came again.
“Around 02:00 [midnight GMT], we were suddenly awakened by the sounds of heavy shelling,” he told the BBC’s Gaza radio service.
“My daughter woke me up, warning me about the bombs. We quickly took shelter against the walls, fearing that rubble might fall on us.”
Israel’s planes tore in from the north to sweep across the strip, striking Gaza City in the centre and then targets further south in Rafah and Khan Younis.
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5 days agoShareSaveEmir NaderBBC News, JerusalemShareSaveMany Gazans have fled their homes against after Israel renewed air strikes Israeli fighter jets unleashed a wave of bombardment across the Gaza Strip through the night, ripping into a fragile truce that has mostly held since it came into effect in January.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu overnight laid the blame at Hamas’s door for the renewal of his deadly aerial campaign.
The Israeli leader’s statement said the military have been instructed to take “strong action” against Hamas following their “repeated refusal to release our hostages” as well as its rejection of US proposals.
In local press, Israeli military sources have also talked about seeing an increase of Hamas activity to regroup their forces in recent days.
While the truce mostly held until last night, officials at the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza have said that over 140 people have been killed by Israel in the two months since it came into effect in January.
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20 hours agoShareSaveRushdi Abualouf, Robert Greenall and George Wrightreporting from Cairo and LondonShareSaveThe Israeli military says it is carrying out “extensive strikes” in the Gaza Strip, with the Hamas-run health ministry reporting more than 400 Palestinians have been killed.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was attacking what it called “terror targets” belonging to Hamas. The strikes are continuing and the IDF has issued fresh evacuation orders for many areas.
Mahmoud Abu Wafah, deputy interior minister in Gaza and the territory’s highest-ranking Hamas security official, is among the dead. Four other senior officials were later reported killed.
This is the largest wave of air strikes in Gaza since the ceasefire began on 19 January. Talks to extend it have failed to reach an agreement.
Israeli military announces “extensive” strikes on targets in Gaza – follow liveMany people were having their pre-dawn meal, part of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when explosions start.. -
Sharone Lifschitz said it was important all families were reunited with their relatives, both dead and alive
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3 days agoShareSaveGeorge WrightBBC NewsShareSaveYemen’s Houthi rebels say there have been fresh US strikes against them, with the number of dead rising to 53, including five children.
Targets in the Al Jaouf and Hudaydah areas were hit early on Monday, according to the rebel group, while the US Central Command said its forces had continued operations.
The US launched what it called a “decisive and powerful” wave of air strikes on Houthi targets on Saturday as part of efforts to stop Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
Washington says some key Houthi figures are among the dead, but the group has not confirmed this.
Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said his militants would target US ships in the Red Sea as long as the US continued its attacks on Yemen.
Updating an earlier death toll, Houthi health ministry spokesperson Anis al-Asbahi posted on X that 53 people had been killed including “five children and two women”, and that 98 people had been wounded.
One father of two, who.. -
4 days agoShareSaveRushdi Abu AloufGaza correspondentMaia DaviesBBC NewsShareSaveMore than 90% of homes in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged, says the UNTalks to extend the Gaza ceasefire have failed to reach an agreement, a Palestinian official has told the BBC, as the US accused Hamas of making “entirely impractical” demands at meetings in Qatar.
Negotiators have been trying to find a way forward after the first phase of the temporary truce ended on 1 March.
The US proposed to extend the first phase until mid-April, including a further exchange of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
But the Palestinian official familiar with the talks, who did not wished to be named, said Israel and Hamas disagreed over key aspects of the deal set out by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff at the indirect talks.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel was prepared to continue negotiations with Hamas on extending the ceasefire in Gaza.
The com.. -
15 hours agoShareSaveMalu CursinoBBC NewsShareSaveThe US has launched a “decisive and powerful” wave of air strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, President Donald Trump has said, citing the group’s attacks on shipping in the Red Sea as the reason.
“Funded by Iran, the Houthi thugs have fired missiles at US aircraft, and targeted our Troops and Allies,” Trump said on social media, adding that their “piracy, violence, and terrorism” had cost “billions” and put lives at risk.
The Houthi-run health ministry said at least 31 people were killed and 101 others were injured in the strikes.
The group later said it would continue to target Red Sea shipping until Israel lifted its blockade of Gaza, and that its forces would respond to the strikes.
The Houthis reported a series of explosions on Saturday evening in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and in the northern province of Saada – the rebels’ stronghold on the border with Saudi Arabia.
The Iranian-backed rebel group, which considers Israel its enemy,..
