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Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says 32 killed in 48 hours

Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says 32 killed in 48 hours
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that 32 people were killed in the Palestinian territory over the past 48 hours, taking the overall death toll to 46,537. (AFP/File)
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Updated 11 January 2025

Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says 32 killed in 48 hours

Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says 32 killed in 48 hours
  • The ministry said at least 109,571 people have been wounded in more than 15 months of war
  • The ministry of health added 499 deaths to its death toll on Saturday

JERUSALEM: The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that 32 people were killed in the Palestinian territory over the past 48 hours, taking the overall death toll to 46,537.
The ministry said at least 109,571 people have been wounded in more than 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas, triggered by the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack.
The ministry of health added 499 deaths to its death toll on Saturday, specifying they have now completed the data and confirmed identities on files whose information was incomplete.
A source in the ministry’s data collection department told AFP that all the 499 additional deaths were from the past several months.
The number of dead in Gaza has become a matter of bitter debate since Israel launched its military campaign against Hamas in response to the Palestinian militant group’s unprecedented attack last year.
Israeli authorities have repeatedly questioned the credibility of the Gaza health ministry’s figures.
But a study published Friday by British medical journal The Lancet estimated that the death toll in Gaza during the first nine months of the Israel-Hamas war was around 40 percent higher than recorded by the health ministry.
The new peer-reviewed study used data from the ministry, an online survey and social media obituaries, but only counted deaths from traumatic injuries. It did not include those from a lack of health care or food, or the thousands of missing believed to be buried under rubble.
The UN considers the Gaza health ministry’s numbers to be reliable.


Hamas meets with Gaza truce mediators in Cairo

Hamas meets with Gaza truce mediators in Cairo
Updated 59 min 44 sec ago

Hamas meets with Gaza truce mediators in Cairo

Hamas meets with Gaza truce mediators in Cairo
  • Hamas delegation would discuss ‘the dozens of airstrikes that killed dozens in the Gaza Strip’ on Sunday
  • Egypt and Qatar have long played a mediating role in indirect talks between Israel and Hamas

CAIRO: A Hamas delegation was to meet Qatari and Egyptian officials in Cairo on Monday to discuss the continuation of a fragile Gaza ceasefire, a source close to negotiations said.
The Israeli military struck dozens of Hamas positions across Gaza on Sunday after the militants killed two of its soldiers and Israel accused the group of “a blatant violation” of the truce.
Hamas denied any knowledge of an attack and in turn asserted Israel had broken the ceasefire deal in place since 10 October.
The source said that the delegation, headed by Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya, would discuss “the dozens of airstrikes that killed dozens in the Gaza Strip” on Sunday.
Egypt and Qatar have long played a mediating role in indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, aiming to bring about an end to the war sparked by Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Hamas’ delegation will also meet Egyptian officials to discuss an upcoming intra-Palestinian dialogue hosted by Egypt and aiming “to unify the Palestinian factions,” the source said.
Egypt has hosted several such meetings between Palestinian factions, notably including the two main rival political movements, Islamist movement Hamas and Fatah, whose leader Mahmud Abbas is also president of the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas and Fatah have been opposed for decades, all the more so since the former’s violent ousting of the latter from the Gaza Strip in 2007.
“The dialogue aims to unify the Palestinian factions and discuss key issues, including the future of the Gaza Strip and the formation of the independent committee of experts that will assume management of the Strip,” the source said.
Under the US-brokered ceasefire deal an independent transitional authority, run by technocrats, has been proposed to administer Gaza.
Hamas said it did not wish to govern Gaza after two years of war, but its forces have moved back into areas from which Israel has withdrawn since the ceasefire.
Several Palestinian political officials recently raised the possibility of a group of unaffiliated Palestinian managers to run the Palestinian territory.
Another informed source said that “mediators’ contacts and efforts succeeded last night in restoring calm and implementing the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.”


Iran sees the ‘necessary will’ to resolve prisoner issue with France

Iran sees the ‘necessary will’ to resolve prisoner issue with France
Updated 28 min 45 sec ago

Iran sees the ‘necessary will’ to resolve prisoner issue with France

Iran sees the ‘necessary will’ to resolve prisoner issue with France
  • Iran has accused France of arbitrarily detaining Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian student in Lyon arrested earlier this year over anti-Israel posts on social media

DUBAI: Both Tehran and Paris have the necessary will to resolve the “issue” of prisoners, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, a week after an Iranian court gave heavy prison sentences to two French citizens.
“We are following the issue seriously. We believe both sides have the necessary will to resolve this issue,” Baghaei said when asked at a weekly press conference about the possibility of a prisoner swap.
Cecile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris are the only two French citizens being held in Iran and have been detained since 2022.

Iran has accused France of arbitrarily detaining Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian student living in the French city of Lyon who was arrested this year over anti-Israel social media posts.


Russia prepared to expand ties with Iran in all areas, the Kremlin says

Russia prepared to expand ties with Iran in all areas, the Kremlin says
Updated 20 October 2025

Russia prepared to expand ties with Iran in all areas, the Kremlin says

Russia prepared to expand ties with Iran in all areas, the Kremlin says
  • Putin and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian signed a strategic partnership agreement in January

MOSCOW: Russia is prepared to expand cooperation with Iran in all areas, the Kremlin said on Monday.
Moscow has close relations with Tehran and condemned US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites earlier this year that were carried out with the stated aim of preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear bomb. Iran denies building a nuclear weapon.
Asked by reporters how Russia saw the development of events around Iran’s nuclear program and if Moscow would deepen ties with Tehran, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:
“Russia is definitely ready to expand cooperation with Iran in all areas. Iran is our partner, and our relations are developing very dynamically.”
Peskov said European countries were putting “excessive pressure” on Iran in regards to negotiations over its nuclear program, adding that the situation was “very complicated.”
An envoy for Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to meet with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani later on Monday, less than a week after Larijani
met with the Kremlin leader and handed him a message from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Putin and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian signed a strategic partnership agreement in January, although the pact does not contain a mutual defense clause. Moscow says it legally supplies Tehran with military equipment, while Iran has provided Russia with drones to use in its war in Ukraine.
Russian state nuclear energy giant Rosatom signed a $25-billion deal last month with Iran to build four nuclear power plants in the country, which suffers from electricity shortages and currently has only one operating nuclear power plant, built by Russia in the southern city of Bushehr.


Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing to Gaza reopens for aid: military official

Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing to Gaza reopens for aid: military official
Updated 20 October 2025

Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing to Gaza reopens for aid: military official

Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing to Gaza reopens for aid: military official
  • Following a decision at the political level, aid flowed through Kerem Shalom ‘in full compliance with the signed agreement’

JERUSALEM: Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza reopened for aid on Monday, an Israeli military official said, a day after Israel closed it, accusing Hamas of violating an ongoing ceasefire.
Following a decision at the political level, aid flowed through Kerem Shalom “in full compliance with the signed agreement,” the official said, adding that Gaza’s Rafah crossing to Egypt “will remain closed until further notice.”
Hamas has denied breaching the truce agreement and in turn accused Israel of violating the deal.


After war, Israel must ‘find a way to help’ Palestinians: US envoy

After war, Israel must ‘find a way to help’ Palestinians: US envoy
Updated 20 October 2025

After war, Israel must ‘find a way to help’ Palestinians: US envoy

After war, Israel must ‘find a way to help’ Palestinians: US envoy
  • Jared Kushner returned to Israel on Monday alongside Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff for a visit

WASHINGTON: Israel should help the Palestinians “thrive” if it seeks regional integration after the Gaza war is over, said US envoy Jared Kushner, who has been involved in mediation efforts for a ceasefire.

“The biggest message that we’ve tried to convey to the Israeli leadership now is that now that the war is over, if you want to integrate Israel with the broader Middle East, you have to find a way to help the Palestinian people thrive and do better,” Kushner told CBS News in an interview that aired on Sunday.

The interview preceded fresh Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip following Israel’s accusation that militant group Hamas had violated the truce by attacking troops.

Kushner, who is also US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, helped broker landmark deals during his first term in office that saw several Arab governments normalize ties with Israel.

In the CBS interview, he said that the situation remained “very difficult,” but he was looking for “joint security and economic opportunity” to guarantee that Israelis and Palestinians “can live peacefully side by side in a durable way.”

On Monday, Kushner returned to Israel alongside Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff for a visit that is expected to see them meet with Israeli government officials.

Referring to the situation in Gaza since the October 10 ceasefire began, Kushner said: “Hamas right now is doing exactly what you would expect a terrorist organization to do, which is to try to reconstitute and take back their positions.”

But he argued that if “a viable alternative” emerges, “Hamas will fail, and Gaza will not be a threat to Israel in the future.”

When asked about the prospect of a Palestinian state – which most governments worldwide now recognize but Israel and the United States do not – Kushner said it was “too early to tell.”