Benjamin Netanyahu

July 26, 2024 9:41 AM

I will not be silent: Harris pushes Netanyahu to ease suffering in Gaza

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to help reach a Gaza ceasefire deal that would ease the suffering of Palestinian civilians, striking a tougher tone than President Joe Biden. "It is time for this war to end," Harris said in a televised statement after she held face-to-face talks with Netanyahu. Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee after Biden dropped out of the election race on Sunday, did not mince words about t...

July 4, 2024 10:48 PM

Israel weighs Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire proposal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet on Thursday evening to discuss new Hamas positions on a ceasefire deal in Gaza, a source in Netanyahu's office said, as fighting in the enclave raged. Before the cabinet meets, Netanyahu will have consultations with his ceasefire negotiations team, the source also said. Israel received Hamas' response on Wednesday to a proposal made public at the end of May by U.S. President Joe Biden that would include the release of ...

June 19, 2024 7:19 PM

Israeli tanks push deeper into Rafah, forcing people to flee again

Israeli tanks backed by warplanes and drones advanced deeper into the western part of the Gaza Strip city of Rafah on Wednesday, killing eight people, according to residents and Palestinian medics. Residents said the tanks moved into five neighborhoods after midnight. Heavy shelling and gunfire hit the tents of displaced families in the Al-Mawasi area, further to the west of the coastal enclave, they said. Some eight months into the war, there has been no sign of let up in the fighting as effo...

June 18, 2024 4:08 PM

Israeli forces deepen Rafah invasion, kill 17 in central camps

Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday killed at least 17 Palestinians in two of the Gaza Strip's historic refugee camps and Israeli tanks pushed deeper into the enclave's southern city of Rafah, residents and medics said. Residents reported heavy bombardments from tanks and planes in several areas of Rafah, where more than a million people had taken refuge before May. Most of the population has fled northwards since then as Israeli forces invaded the city. "Rafah is being bombed without any interventi...

June 18, 2024 10:01 AM

Netanyahu disbands war cabinet as pressure grows on Israel’s northern border

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the six-member war cabinet, an Israeli official said on Monday, in a widely expected move following the departure from government of centrist former general Benny Gantz. Netanyahu is now expected to hold consultations about the Gaza war with a small group of ministers, including Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer who had been in the war cabinet. The move was announced as U.S. special envoy Amos Hochs...

June 3, 2024 11:56 AM

Biden’s Gaza plan ‘not a good deal’ but Israel accepts it, says PM Netanyahu aide

An aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Sunday that Israel had accepted a framework deal for winding down the Gaza war now being advanced by U.S. President Joe Biden, though he described it as flawed and in need of much more work. In an interview with Britain's Sunday Times, Ophir Falk, chief foreign policy advisor to Netanyahu, said Biden's proposal was "a deal we agreed to — it's not a good deal but we dearly want the hostages released, all of them". "There are a lot of d...

April 15, 2024 5:01 PM

Europe joins US in urging restraint by Israel after Iranian attack

Israel's European allies urged it on Monday to show restraint over Iran's weekend missile and drone attack, calling on Israeli leaders to step away from "the edge of the cliff" of escalation in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet, which is empowered to decide on the country's response, was set to convene on Monday afternoon, a government source said. Israeli officials said the war cabinet, which also met on Sunday, favoured retaliation but was divided over ...

September 16, 2024 4:51 PM

America ‘outraged’ by Israeli airstrike killing aid workers in Gaza, Britain demands investigation

The Biden administration is outraged and has expressed deep dismay over an Israeli airstrike that resulted in the tragic deaths of seven aid workers in Gaza, a White House official said on Tuesday. President Joe Biden also spoke with Jose Andres, the founder of the affected organisation and conveyed his condolences. On the other hand, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, conveyed his deep concern regarding an Israeli strike on an aid c...

September 16, 2024 4:59 PM

Netanyahu says Israel to press on with Rafah assault plan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he would keep on with the military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, where aid agencies say famine is looming, while ceasefire talks were set to resume. Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting that Israel would push into Rafah, the last relatively safe place in the tiny, crowded Gaza enclave after more than five months of war, despite international pressure for Israel to avoid civilian casualties. "We will operate in Rafah. This will take several...