Benjamin Netanyahu

September 29, 2025 9:06 AM

Trump optimistic on Gaza peace deal; Hamas says it lost contact with two hostages in Gaza City

U.S. President Donald Trump hopes to finalize a Gaza peace plan proposal in a meeting on Monday with Israel's Prime Minister, Trump told Reuters on Sunday, as Israeli tanks pushed deeper into Gaza City and the military wing of Hamas said it had lost contact with two hostages held there. The fate of the two hostages, which has strong domestic resonance in Israel, could cast a shadow over a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump on Monday. The Hamas military wing, Al...

September 25, 2025 10:59 AM

US has Gaza peace plan and hopes for breakthrough soon, says envoy

The United States shared a 21-point Middle East peace plan at this week's U.N. meetings and is hopeful for a breakthrough on Gaza in the coming days, its envoy to the region said on Wednesday. U.S. President Donald Trump presented proposals to leaders from several Muslim-majority countries - including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt - during a meeting held on the sidelines of the annual General Assembly on Monday, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said. "I think it addresses Israeli concerns and,...

September 15, 2025 10:24 PM

Israel threatens Hamas ‘wherever they are’ as Qatar hosts summit

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he did not rule out further strikes on Hamas leaders "wherever they are", as the heads of Arab and Islamic states held a summit to show support for Qatar after Israel's attack on the Gulf state last week. The September 9 strike targeting leaders of the Palestinian militant group in Doha marked a significant escalation of Israeli military action in a region shaken by conflict since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks that ignited the Gaza war. ...

August 25, 2025 4:01 PM

Israel welcomes Lebanon’s Hezbollah disarmament plan, offers reciprocal military reduction

Israel's Prime Minister's Office issued a statement acknowledging Lebanon's recent government decision to pursue the disarmament of Hezbollah by the end of 2025, describing it as a significant step toward Lebanese sovereignty. The statement comes in response to Lebanon's Council of Ministers approving objectives of a US plan to restrict weapons solely to state forces, with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announcing the army would develop implementation plans by year's end. The Israeli statement p...

August 21, 2025 3:58 PM

Israel maintains military pressure on Gaza City ahead of planned offensive

The Israeli military maintained its pressure on Gaza City with heavy bombardments overnight, residents said, ahead of a Thursday meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers on plans to seize the enclave's largest city. The military, a day earlier, called up 60,000 reservists in a sign that the government was pressing ahead with the plan, despite international condemnation. Although one military official said that most reservists would not serve in combat and that the str...

August 20, 2025 10:02 PM

Israel approves settlement plan to ‘erase’ idea of Palestinian state

A widely condemned Israeli settlement plan that would cut across land which the Palestinians seek for a state received final approval on Wednesday, according to a statement from Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. The approval of the E1 project, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, was announced last week by Smotrich and received final go-ahead from a defence ministry planning commission on Wednesday, he said. Restarting the project ...

August 13, 2025 5:10 PM

Israel pounds Gaza City, 123 dead in last 24 hours

Israel's military pounded Gaza City on Wednesday prior to a planned takeover, with another 123 people killed in the last day according to the Gaza health ministry, while militant group Hamas held further talks with Egyptian mediators. The 24-hour death toll was the worst in a week and added to the massive fatalities from the nearly two-year war that has shattered the enclave housing more than 2 million Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated an idea - also enthusiast...

August 12, 2025 11:00 AM

Israel’s Gaza City offensive may be weeks away, leaving time for ceasefire

Israel's new offensive in Gaza City could take weeks to start, leaving the door open for a ceasefire, officials say, even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it would get underway "fairly quickly" and end the war with Hamas' defeat. Two officials who were at a security cabinet meeting on Thursday to approve the plan told Reuters that the evacuation of civilians from affected areas may only be completed by the start of October, giving time for a deal to be pursued. The plan raised interna...

August 11, 2025 10:50 AM

Israel kills Al Jazeera journalist it says was Hamas leader

Israel's military said it killed an Al Jazeera journalist it accused of being a Hamas cell leader in a Gaza airstrike on Sunday, but rights advocates said he had been targeted for his frontline reporting on the Gaza war and Israel's claim lacked evidence. Anas Al Sharif, 28, was among a group of four Al Jazeera journalists and an assistant who died in a strike on a tent near Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City, Gaza officials and Al Jazeera said. An official at the hospital said two other peo...

August 6, 2025 12:46 PM

Trump declines to say if he supports or opposes potential Gaza takeover by Israel

U.S. President Donald Trump declined to say whether he supported or opposed a potential military takeover of Gaza by Israel and said his administration's focus was on increasing food access to the Palestinian enclave under assault from Washington's ally. KEY QUOTES "I know that we are there now trying to get people fed," Trump told reporters on Tuesday. "As far as the rest of it, I really can't say. That's going to be pretty much up to Israel." Trump said Israel and Arab states were going to ...