Feb 09 Watch 7:29 Lebanese villagers blocked from returning home as Israeli forces remain in area By Simona Foltyn, Ahmad Baydoun Israel pulled its forces from a key Gaza corridor Sunday as part of a fragile ceasefire deal with Hamas. Meanwhile, on Israel’s northern front inside Lebanon, concerns are mounting that its forces there may stay past a second deadline to… Continue watching
Feb 09 Watch 2:52 News Wrap: Egypt to host Arab summit on Gaza's future after Trump remarks In our news wrap Sunday, Arab leaders will gather to discuss Gaza’s future at the request of Palestinian leaders, Trump will become the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl, the Trump administration instructed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau… Continue watching
Feb 09 Pressure to extend ceasefire in Gaza mounts as Israeli troops withdraw from key corridor By Mohammad Jahjouh, Tia Goldenberg, Associated Press Talks on the second phase, meant to see more hostages released and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, were due to start Feb. 3. But Israel and Hamas appear to have made little progress, even as Israeli forces withdrew Sunday… Continue reading
Feb 09 Five released Thai hostages return to Bangkok after more than a year of captivity in Gaza By Jintamas Saksornchai, Associated Press Hamas militants kidnapped 31 Thai nationals during the Oct. 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel, making them the largest group of foreigners held captive. Continue reading
Feb 08 Three Israeli hostages exchanged for 183 Palestinian prisoners as Gaza ceasefire continues By Wafaa Shurafa, Mohammad Jahjouh, Tia Goldenberg, Associated Press Hamas-led militants released three gaunt, frail-looking Israeli hostages and Israel freed nearly 200 Palestinian prisoners Saturday in the latest exchange of a ceasefire agreement that has paused 16 months of war in Gaza. Continue reading
Feb 08 Trump orders freeze of aid to South Africa over post-apartheid land expropriation law By Zeke Miller, Associated Press President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday freezing assistance to South Africa for a law aiming to address some of the wrongs of South Africa’s racist apartheid era — a law the White House says amounts to discrimination against… Continue reading
Feb 08 State Department announces plans for $7 billion-plus arms sale to Israel By Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press The State Department has formally told Congress that it plans to sell more than $7 billion in weapons to Israel, including thousands of bombs and missiles, just two days after President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White… Continue reading
Feb 08 War-torn Lebanon establishes its first full government in more than 2 years By Kareem Chehayeb, Associated Press President Joseph Aoun announced in a statement that he had accepted the resignation of the former caretaker government and signed a decree with new Prime Minister Nawaf Salam forming the new government. Continue reading
Feb 07 Watch 3:32 Displaced Gazans return to face shattered homeland and uncertain future By Stephanie Sy, Sonia Kopelev President Trump said he is in “no rush to do anything” in Gaza. Earlier this week, he talked about the need for Palestinians to leave Gaza and for the United States to take over the area and develop it. Also… Continue watching
Feb 07 Watch 5:12 Top UN humanitarian official describes the current situation in Gaza By Geoff Bennett, Zeba Warsi One of the key United Nations agencies overseeing the provision of aid into Gaza is the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA. Its leader, Tom Fletcher, just visited Gaza and joined Geoff Bennett to discuss… Continue watching