Israel-Palestine category, Page 16
U.S. military says Gaza Strip pier project is completed, aid to soon flow as Israel-Hamas war rages on
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military finished installing a floating pier for the Gaza Strip on Thursday, with officials poised to begin ferrying badly needed humanitarian aid into the enclave besieged over seven months of intense fighting in the Israel-Hamas war. The final, overnight construction sets up a complicated delivery process...
Netanyahu fends off criticism at home and abroad over his lack of a postwar plan for Gaza
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday fended off criticism that he is not planning for a postwar reality in the Gaza Strip, saying it was impossible to prepare for any scenario in the embattled Palestinian enclave until Hamas is defeated. Netanyahu has faced increasing pressure from critics...
Palestinians across the Middle East mark their original ‘catastrophe’ with eyes on the war in Gaza
JERUSALEM — Palestinians across the Middle East on Wednesday are marking the anniversary of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel with protests and other events at a time of mounting concern over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. The Nakba, Arabic for “catastrophe,” refers to the 700,000 Palestinians who...
Palestinians mark 76 years of dispossession as a potentially even larger catastrophe unfolds in Gaza
JERUSALEM — Palestinians on Wednesday will mark the 76th year of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel, an event that is at the core of their national struggle. But in many ways, that experience pales in comparison to the calamity now unfolding in Gaza. Palestinians refer to it...
Misery deepens in Gaza’s Rafah as Israeli troops press operation
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Aid workers struggled Monday to distribute dwindling food and other supplies to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by what Israel says is a limited military operation in Rafah, as the two main crossings near the southern Gaza city remained closed. The United Nations’ agency for...
Israel pushes deeper into Rafah and battles a regrouping Hamas in northern Gaza
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces pushed deeper into Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Sunday and battled Hamas in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago but where militants have regrouped. Warnings continued against the growing offensive in Rafah, considered the last...
Israel orders new evacuations in Gaza’s last refuge of Rafah as it expands military offensive
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israel ordered new evacuations in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Saturday, forcing tens of thousands more people to move as it prepares to expand its military operation closer to the heavily populated central area, in defiance of growing pressure amid the war from close ally...
Biden administration won’t conclude Israel violated terms of U.S. weapons agreement, AP sources say
WASHINGTON — A soon-to-be released Biden administration report does not conclude that Israel has violated the terms for its use of U.S. weapons, according three people who have been briefed on the matter. The report is expected to be sharply critical of Israel even though it didn’t conclude that Israel...
Heavy fighting in Gaza’s Rafah keeps aid crossings closed, sends 100,000 civilians fleeing
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah has left crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and caused over 100,000 people to flee north, a United Nations official said Friday. Israel’s plans for a full-scale invasion of...
Netanyahu on U.S. threat to withhold arms: Israel will fight with its ‘fingernails’ if needed
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that a U.S. threat to withhold some arms would not prevent Israel from continuing its offensive in Gaza, indicating it might proceed with an invasion of the packed city of Rafah against the wishes of its closest ally. President Joe Biden has...
Israel says it reopened a key Gaza crossing after a rocket attack but the UN says no aid has entered
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said Wednesday that it has reopened its Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza after days of closure, but the U.N. said no humanitarian aid has yet entered and there is no one to receive it on the Palestinian side after workers fled during Israel’s military incursion...
Biden says U.S. won’t supply weapons for Israel to attack Rafah, in warning to allyVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch an all-out assault on Rafah — the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza — over concern for the well-being of the more than 1 million civilians sheltering there. Biden, in...
From the Newsroom podcast: A look at the student protests at Pitt
Over the past few weeks, universities and colleges across the country have seen unrest tied to the growing public sympathy for Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war. The University of Pittsburgh also saw a version of this national protest with its own Schenley Plaza as the site of students’ pro-Palestine encampment....
Israel says it reopened a key Gaza crossing after a rocket attack but the U.N. says no aid has entered
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said Wednesday that it has reopened its Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza after days of closure, but the U.N. said no humanitarian aid has yet entered and there is no one to receive it on the Palestinian side after workers fled during Israel’s military incursion...
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, Pentagon chief says
WASHINGTON — The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that the country was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S., Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday. The shipment was supposed...
Israel seizes Gaza’s vital Rafah crossing, but U.S. says it isn’t the full invasion many fear
CARIO — Israeli troops seized control of Gaza’s vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday in what the White House described as a limited operation, as fears mount of a full-scale invasion of the southern city and cease-fire talks with Hamas remain on a knife’s edge. The U.N. warned of a...
Hamas accepts Gaza cease-fire; Israel says it will continue talks but launches strikes in Rafah
JERUSALEM — Hamas announced its acceptance Monday of an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its “core demands” and that it was pushing ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza town of Rafah. Still, Israel said it would continue negotiations. The high-stakes diplomatic moves...
Biden speaks with Netanyahu as Israelis appear closer to Rafah offensive
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Monday morning a White House official said, as Israel appeared closer to launching an offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah — a move staunchly opposed by the U.S. on humanitarian grounds. A National Security Council spokesperson...
Israeli army tells Palestinians to evacuate parts of Gaza’s Rafah ahead of an expected assault
JERUSALEM — The Israeli army ordered some 100,000 Palestinians on Monday to begin evacuating from the southern city of Rafah in Gaza, signaling that a long-promised ground invasion there could be imminent and further complicating efforts to broker a cease-fire. The looming operation in Rafah — where more than 1...
Pro-Palestinian protesters at USC comply with school order to leave their encampment
Protesters left a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Southern California early Sunday after they were surrounded by police and told they could face arrest if they didn’t go. The move, days before commencement events are set to begin on the Los Angeles campus, came after the university said campus...
Hamas says latest cease-fire talks have ended. Israel vows military operation in ‘very near future’
JERUSALEM — The latest round of Gaza cease-fire talks ended in Cairo after “in-depth and serious discussions,” the Hamas militant group said Sunday, reiterating key demands that Israel again rejected. After earlier signs of progress, the outlook appeared to dim as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to resist international pressure...
Israel orders Al Jazeera to close local operation as Qatar mediates Hamas cease-fire negotiations
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel ordered the local offices of Qatar’s Al Jazeera satellite news network to close Sunday, escalating a long-running feud between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line government as Doha-mediated cease-fire negotiations with Hamas hang in the balance. The extraordinary order, which includes confiscating broadcast...
There’s progress reported in Gaza truce talks, but Israel downplays chances of ending war with Hamas
TEL AVIV, Israel — A delegation of the Palestinian militant group Hamas was in Cairo on Saturday as Egyptian state media reported “noticeable progress” in cease-fire talks with Israel, though an Israeli official downplayed the prospects for a full end to the war in Gaza. Pressure has mounted to reach...
Hamas is sending a delegation to Egypt for further cease-fire talks in the latest sign of progressVideo
BEIRUT — Hamas said Thursday that it was sending a delegation to Egypt for further cease-fire talks, in a new sign of progress in attempts by international mediators to hammer out an agreement between Israel and the militant group to end the war in Gaza. After months of stop-and-start negotiations,...
Blinken urges Israel and Hamas to move ahead with a cease-fire deal and says ‘the time is now’
JERUSALEM — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli leaders Wednesday in his push for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, saying “the time is now” for an agreement that would free hostages and bring a pause in the nearly seven months of war in Gaza. Blinken...
