The cease-fire proposal announced by President Joe Biden has placed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a crossroads, with either path likely to shape the legacy of Israel's longest-serving and deeply divisive leader.
The proposal offers the possibility of ending Israel's war against Hamas, returning scores of hostages held by the Islamic militant group, quieting the northern border with Lebanon and potentially advancing a historic agreement to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia.
Full StoryIsraeli airstrikes around the Syrian city of Aleppo killed several people early on Monday, including an Iranian military adviser, the Syrian state media and Iranian news outlets reported.
Israel did not immediately acknowledge the strikes.
Full StoryOn the same scorching day last month, Israeli troops fought street battles with Hamas militants in Gaza, its fighter jets struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and soldiers exchanged fire with Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.
As the war in the Gaza Strip nears its ninth month, Israel's military is getting pulled deeper into conflicts on multiple fronts and risks becoming overstretched, analysts told AFP.
Full StoryIran's acting foreign minister dismissed a Gaza cease-fire deal proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden and warned Israel against launching an all-out war on Lebanon during a visit to Beirut Monday, his first official diplomatic visit since his predecessor died last month.
Ali Bagheri Kani replaced Hossein Amirabdollahian, a hard-liner close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, who died in a helicopter crash on May 19 in a mountainous area near Iran's border with Azerbaijan, along with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and a delegation of other officials.
Full StoryPalestinian health officials said Israeli strikes killed 11 people overnight into Monday, including a woman and three children, in central Gaza.
A strike on a home in the built-up Bureij refugee camp late Sunday killed four people, including the three children. The second strike, early Monday, killed seven people, including a woman, in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Full StoryThroughout its grinding seven-month war with Hamas, Israel has pledged to investigate a series of deadly events in which its military forces are suspected of wrongdoing. The commitment comes in the face of mounting claims — from human rights groups and the International Criminal Court 's chief prosecutor — that the country's leaders are committing war crimes in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
In one of the highest-profile cases, an attack on a World Central Kitchen convoy that killed six foreign aid workers and their Palestinian driver, the Israeli army promptly published its findings, acknowledged misconduct by its forces and dismissed two soldiers. But other investigations remain open, and admissions of guilt are rare.
Full StoryPatients lying shackled and blindfolded on more than a dozen beds inside a white tent in the desert. Surgeries performed without adequate painkillers. Doctors who remain anonymous.
These are some of the conditions at Israel's only hospital dedicated to treating Palestinians detained by the military in the Gaza Strip, three people who have worked there told The Associated Press, confirming similar accounts from human rights groups.
Full StoryAt the base of the sacred Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, President Javier Milei of Argentina appeared to be in a spiritual trance.
With head and hands pressed against the ancient stone, he prayed with the Orthodox rabbi who introduced him to Judaism three years ago. Although born and raised Roman Catholic, Milei has increasingly shown public interest in Judaism and even expressed intentions to convert.
Full StoryDoubts were growing on Monday about a plan for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden as heavy fighting raged for a third day since his White House address.
Biden on Friday presented what he labelled an Israeli three-phase plan that would end the bloody conflict, free all hostages and lead to the reconstruction of the devastated Palestinian territory without Hamas in power.
Full StoryAt least 12 pro-regime fighters were killed in an overnight Israeli strike that targeted a factory near Aleppo in the north of Syria, an NGO reported early Monday.
"Twelve pro-Iranian fighters of Syrian and foreign nationalities were killed, according to an initial tally, in an Israeli air strike on a position in the town of Hayyan, north of Aleppo, setting off strong explosions in a factory," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Full Story