Israel | DD News

May 29, 2025 3:13 PM

Who is Mohammad Sinwar, the Hamas chief in Gaza declared eliminated by Israel?

Mohammad Sinwar, the elusive Hamas military chief in Gaza who Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday had been eliminated, has long been at the top of Israel's most wanted list. Sinwar was elevated to the top ranks of Hamas in 2024 after the death in combat of his brother Yahya, mastermind of the 2023 attack on Israel that led to the war in Gaza and later named as overall Hamas leader. Hamas has yet to confirm Mohammad Sinwar's death, which would leave his close associate Izz al-Di...

May 29, 2025 12:08 PM

Deadly break in at UN warehouse as aid trickles into Gaza

A United Nations warehouse in war-torn Gaza was broken into by "hordes of hungry people" on Wednesday as aid trickles into the Palestinian enclave on the brink of famine and the United States readies new terms for a possible truce between Israel and Hamas. The World Food Programme said initial reports were that two people had died and several more were injured at the central Gaza warehouse. The U.N. agency appealed for an immediate scale-up of food aid "to reassure people that they will not sta...

May 23, 2025 3:19 PM

Netanyahu accuses France, Britain and Canada of ’emboldening’ Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the leaders of France, Britain and Canada of wanting to help the Palestinian militant group Hamas after they threatened to take "concrete action" if Israel did not stop its latest offensive in Gaza. The criticism, echoing similar remarks from Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Thursday, was part of a fightback by the Israeli government against the increasingly heavy international pressure on it over the war in Gaza. "You're on the wrong side of hu...

May 22, 2025 10:14 AM

Aid trucks enter Gaza after delays, as pressure mounts on Israel

Israel allowed 100 aid trucks carrying flour, baby food and medical equipment into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the Israeli military said, as UN officials reported that distribution issues had meant that no aid had so far reached people in need. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would be open to a temporary ceasefire to enable the return of hostages. But otherwise he said it would press ahead with a military campaign to gain total control of Gaza. After an 11-week blockade on suppl...

May 21, 2025 9:06 AM

Airstrikes kill dozens in Gaza, international criticism of Israel grows

Israeli forces killed at least 55 Palestinians in airstrikes in Gaza on Tuesday, local medics said, continuing to bombard the enclave despite mounting international pressure to halt military operations and allow unimpeded deliveries of aid. Britain announced it was suspending trade talks with Israel and summoning its ambassador over "egregious policies" in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, while European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas asked for a review of the EU-Israel trade deal, accor...

May 7, 2025 2:31 PM

Israel says 24 hostages alive in Gaza after Trump comment alarms families

An Israeli official said on Wednesday that 24 hostages were alive in Gaza after U.S. President Donald Trump said the number was 21, alarming the families of hostages. Gal Hirsch, Israel's coordinator for hostage issues, said in a post on X that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was holding 59 hostages of whom 24 were alive and 35 dead - figures unchanged since before Trump spoke. "All families of the kidnapped are always updated with the information we have about their loved ones," he said....

May 6, 2025 9:55 AM

Israel may seize all Gaza in expanded operation, officials say

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday an expanded offensive against Palestinian militant group Hamas would be "intensive" after his security cabinet approved plans that may include seizing the Gaza Strip and controlling aid. However an Israeli defence official said the operation would not be launched before U.S. President Donald Trump concludes his visit next week to the Middle East. The decision, after weeks of faltering efforts to agree a ceasefire with Hamas, underlines t...

May 5, 2025 4:19 PM

Israeli leadership votes to expand Gaza ground offensive

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet voted to scale up the offensive against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza to the point of seizing the entire enclave and holding its territories, an Israeli official said on Monday. A report by Israel's public broadcaster Kan, citing officials with knowledge of the details, said the new plan was gradual and would take months, with forces focusing first on one area of the battered enclave. Such a timeline could leave the door open fo...

April 28, 2025 12:34 PM

Israel’s Gaza aid blockade contested in World Court hearings

Israel will face accusations of breaking international law by refusing to let aid into the Gaza Strip when dozens of nations present arguments at the International Court of Justice during a week of hearings starting in The Hague on Monday. Since March 2, Israel completely cut off all supplies to the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip, and food stockpiled during a ceasefire at the start of the year has all but run out. In December, the U.N.'s top court was tasked to form an advisory opinio...

April 16, 2025 4:40 PM

Israel will keep Gaza buffer zone, minister says, as ceasefire efforts stall

Israeli troops will remain in the buffer zones they have created in Gaza even after any settlement to end the war, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday, as efforts to revive a ceasefire agreement faltered. Since resuming their operation last month, Israeli forces have carved out a broad "security zone" extending deep into Gaza and squeezing more than 2 million Palestinians into ever smaller areas in the south and along the coastline. "Unlike in the past, the IDF is not evacuating are...