Israel | DD News

August 25, 2024 11:21 AM

Hezbollah launches missile barrage at Israel to avenge top commander

Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones against Israel on Sunday in retaliation for the assassination of a senior commander in Beirut last month, the Iranian-backed movement said, as Israel’s cabinet met to prepare a response. Israeli jets hit targets in Lebanon shortly before the strikes as the military assessed that Hezbollah was preparing to begin the barrage, the military said. Hezbollah said it had launched more than 320 Katyusha rockets towards Israel and hit 11 military targ...

August 24, 2024 5:14 PM

Hamas delegation heads to Cairo on Saturday to discuss Gaza ceasefire talks

Hamas delegation headed by its senior official Khalil al-Hayya will arrive in Cairo on Saturday to hear from mediators on the latest round of Gaza ceasefire talks that took place in the Egyptian capital, the Palestinian group said in a statement. Two Egyptian security sources said that U.S. and Israeli delegations started on Thursday a new round of meetings in Cairo that lasted for two days aimed at resolving differences over a truce proposal. Hamas affirmed its "commitment to what it had ap...

August 21, 2024 3:16 PM

Israel says it bombed Hezbollah arms depots in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it bombed Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley overnight, its latest strike on arms depots in a major stronghold of the powerful Iranian-backed militia. The air attack came hours after Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that "attacking munitions warehouses in Lebanon is preparation for anything that might happen". Hezbollah said it had retaliated for the strike on the Bekaa region by firing Katyusha rockets at an Isr...

August 21, 2024 11:16 AM

Blinken wraps up Mideast trip with Gaza deal still elusive

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought during a whirlwind trip to the Middle East to inject urgency into efforts to broker a Gaza ceasefire deal, but departed the region on Tuesday with an agreement between Israel and Hamas still elusive. Blinken and mediators from Egypt and Qatar have pinned their hopes on a U.S. "bridging proposal" aimed at narrowing the gaps between the two sides in the 10-month-old war, after negotiations last week paused without a breakthrough. The deal "needs ...

August 20, 2024 5:36 PM

Egypt’s Sisi, Blinken discuss ways to move forward in Gaza ceasefire negotiations

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss ways to move forward in negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza, the Egyptian presidency said. Sisi warned of the risk of the Gaza war expanding regionally in a way "difficult to imagine". "The ceasefire in Gaza must be the beginning of broader international recognition of the Palestinian state and the implementation of the two-state solution, as this is the basic guarantor of stab...

August 20, 2024 10:13 AM

Blinken says Israel accepts Gaza proposal, urges Hamas to do same

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted a "bridging proposal" presented by Washington to tackle disagreements blocking a ceasefire deal in Gaza, and urged Hamas to do the same. Blinken spoke to journalists after a day of meetings with Israeli officials, including a 2-1/2-hour meeting with Netanyahu. The top U.S. diplomat had said earlier that this push was probably the best and possibly last opportunity for a deal. Talks in Q...

August 19, 2024 4:24 PM

Blinken warns Israel, Hamas of best, last chance to end Gaza war

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Monday that the latest push for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal was probably the best and possibly last opportunity, urging Israel and Hamas towards an elusive agreement. Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has cast doubt on the chances of reaching a deal since talks in Qatar last week paused without a breakthrough, but the negotiations are to resume this week based on a U.S. "bridging proposal". Blinken met Israeli President Isaac Herzog...

August 18, 2024 10:10 AM

Israeli strike kills at least 17 Palestinians in central Gaza, health officials say

At least 17 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli strike in the central Gaza town of Zawayda on Saturday, health officials said, as Israel issued new evacuation orders, citing Hamas rocket fire nearby. Israel also announced the names of two soldiers Israeli media reported were killed on Saturday afternoon when a roadside bomb exploded in the central Gaza Strip, and an air strike in the occupied West Bank that it said killed two senior Hamas militants involved in the killing ...

August 16, 2024 10:31 AM

Gaza ceasefire negotiations extend to another day as death toll exceeds 40,000

Negotiators were to meet in the Qatari capital Doha again on Friday in an effort to hammer out a Gaza ceasefire agreement as Israel continued to slam targets in the Palestinian enclave. Gaza health officials reported separately on Thursday that the death toll there had surpassed 40,000 people after more than 10 months of fighting. This round of negotiations opened on Thursday, and the talks would resume on Friday for a second day, Qatari and U.S. officials said. A U.S. official briefed on th...

August 14, 2024 4:24 PM

Hamas to stay out of Gaza truce talks, Iran considers Israel attack

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said on Wednesday it would not take part in a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks slated for Thursday in Qatar, dimming hopes for a negotiated truce that Iranian sources say could hold back an Iranian attack on Israel. The U.S. has said it expects indirect talks to go ahead as planned in Qatar's capital Doha on Thursday, and that a ceasefire agreement was still possible. However Axios reported that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed a trip to...