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Palestinian death toll soars past 25,000 in Gaza with no end in sight to Israel-Hamas war

The Palestinian death toll in Gaza from over three months of war between Israel and the territory's Hamas rulers has soared past 25,000, the Gaza Health Ministry said Sunday.

At least 178 bodies were brought to Gaza's hospitals in 124 hours along with nearly 300 wounded people, according to Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra.

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Netanyahu rejects any Palestinian sovereignty in post-war Gaza, rebuffing Biden

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he "will not compromise on full Israeli control" over Gaza and that "this is contrary to a Palestinian state," rejecting U.S. President Joe Biden's suggestion that creative solutions could bridge wide gaps between the leaders' views on Palestinian statehood.

In a sign of the pressures Netanyahu's government faces at home, thousands of Israelis protested in Tel Aviv calling for new elections, and others demonstrated outside the prime minister's house, joining families of the more than 100 remaining hostages held by Hamas and other militants. They fear that Israel's military activity further endangers hostages' lives.

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EU's Borrell accuses Israel of 'creating' and 'financing' Hamas

The EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell has accused Israel of having "created" and "financed" the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which launched unprecedented attacks on Israel on October 7.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has in recent days reaffirmed his opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state, drawing criticism from his U.S. ally, which is still advocating a "two-state solution".

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Scuffles on Tel Aviv highway as captives' families protest

Israeli police scuffled with relatives of captives held by Hamas after the group of family members blocked a major Tel Aviv highway, a sign of growing tensions over the government’s lack of visible progress in reaching a new deal to secure the captives' release.

Shahar Mor, whose nephew Avraham remains in Gaza, said he was one of seven protesters detained by police after the protest late Thursday. Footage showed demonstrators holding up signs reading “Deal Now” as they faced long lines of cars.

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Senior officer among 4 Iranians killed in Israeli strike in Damascus

An Israeli airstrike Saturday on Damascus' Mazzeh neighborhood killed four Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers, including the head of the Quds Force's intelligence unit in Syria, media reports said.

The strike also killed Hezbollah official "Hajj Youness," who was in charge of transferring weapons from Iran by land, the reports said, noting that the targeted meeting was discussing transfering arms by land rather than by air.

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Biden and Netanyahu have finally talked, but their visions still clash for ending Israel-Hamas war

U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally spoke Friday after a glaring, nearly four-week gap in direct communication during which fundamental differences have come into focus over a possible pathway to Palestinian statehood once the fighting in Gaza ends.

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Russia says Gaza situation catastrophic, urges Hamas to release hostages

Russia on Friday urged Hamas to release all its hostages during talks with the militant group in Moscow, saying the humanitarian situation in Gaza had reached "catastrophic" levels.

Russian diplomat Mikhail Bogdanov "stressed the need for the speedy release of civilians captured during the attacks of 7 October" in talks with Hamas politburo member Musa Abu Marzouk, the Russian foreign ministry said.

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Israel president hit with criminal complaint in Switzerland

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has been targeted with a criminal complaint during a visit to Switzerland, Swiss prosecutors said Friday, amid allegations of crimes against humanity over the war in Gaza.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office (BA) confirmed that it had received a criminal complaint against the Israeli president, who was at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos on Thursday to discuss the Gaza war.

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Nearly 20,000 babies born into Gaza war 'hell', says UN

The United Nations said Friday that thousands of babies had been born in conditions "beyond belief" in Gaza since the war there erupted more than three months ago.

Spokeswoman Tess Ingram, back from a recent visit to the Gaza Strip, described mothers bleeding to death and one nurse who had performed emergency caesareans on six dead women.

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Rifts emerge among top Israeli officials over how to handle Gaza war

Rifts are emerging among top Israeli officials over the handling of the war against Hamas in Gaza. A member of the country's War Cabinet cast doubt over the strategy for releasing hostages, and the country's prime minister rejected the United States' calls to scale back its offensive.

Only a cease-fire deal can win the release of dozens of hostages still held by Islamic militants in Gaza, and claims they could be freed by other means was spreading "illusions," said former army chief Gadi Eisenkot, one of four members of the War Cabinet, in his first public statements on the course of the war.

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