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The United States said Thursday it was “confident” that a fragile Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal would take effect on time, even as Israel carried out new air strikes ahead of a cabinet vote on the accord.The truce, announced by mediators Qatar and the United States on Wednesday, would begin on Sunday and involve the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, after which the terms of a permanent end to the war would be finalised.However, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Hamas had “reneged on parts of the agreement… in an effort to extort last-minute concessions”.It also said Israel’s cabinet, which has yet to approve the agreement, “will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement”.An Israeli official later told AFP the cabinet was scheduled to meet Friday to decide on the deal.Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri, meanwhile, said there was “no basis” for Israel’s accusations.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has been involved in months of mediation efforts, said he believed the ceasefire would go ahead on schedule.”I am confident, and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday,” he said.The foreign ministry of fellow mediator Egypt said in a statement the ceasefire must “start without delay”.Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israel pounded several areas of the territory after the deal was announced, killing at least 80 people and wounding hundreds.The Israeli military said it had hit about 50 targets across Gaza since late Wednesday, targeting Palestinian militants.Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned that Israeli strikes were risking the lives of hostages due to be freed under the deal, and could turn their “freedom… into a tragedy”.The war was triggered by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.During the attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, Palestinian militants also took 251 people hostage, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s ensuing campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,788 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.- Mixed feelings -The ceasefire agreement followed intensified efforts from mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States, after months of fruitless negotiations to end the deadliest war in Gaza’s history.If finalised, it would pause hostilities one day before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump.Envoys from both the Trump team and the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden were present at the latest negotiations, with a senior Biden official saying the unlikely pairing had been a decisive factor in reaching the deal.In Israel and Gaza, there were celebrations welcoming the truce deal, but also anguish.Saeed Alloush, who lives in north Gaza, said he and his loved ones were “waiting for the truce and were happy”, until overnight strikes killed many of his relatives.”It was the happiest night since October 7″ until “we received the news of the martyrdom of 40 people from the Alloush family”, he said.In Tel Aviv, pensioner Simon Patya said he felt “great joy” that some hostages would return alive, but also “great sorrow for those who are returning in bags, and that will be a very strong blow, morally”.Two far-right party leaders in Netanyahu’s cabinet have publicly opposed the agreement.Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said it was a “dangerous deal”, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called it “disastrous”.Israeli media said the government’s ratification of the agreement may be delayed, in part, by disagreements within the ruling coalition.Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, announcing the agreement on Wednesday, said an initial 42-day ceasefire would see 33 hostages released, including women, “children, elderly people, as well as civilian ill people and wounded”.Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, he said.- Aid needed -Announcing the deal from the White House, Biden said he was “deeply satisfied this day has come”.He added that the second phase of the agreement could bring a “permanent end to the war”.Biden said the deal would “surge much needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families”.Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also underscored the “importance of accelerating the entry of urgent humanitarian aid” into Gaza.Cairo said it was ready to host an international conference on reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, where the United Nations has said it would take more than a decade to rebuild civilian infrastructure.The World Health Organization’s representative in the Palestinian territories, Rik Peeperkorn, said Thursday that at least $10 billion would probably be needed over the next five to seven years to rebuild Gaza’s devastated health system alone.The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, facing an Israeli ban on its activities set to start later this month, welcomed the ceasefire deal.”What’s needed is rapid, unhindered and uninterrupted humanitarian access and supplies to respond to the tremendous suffering caused by this war,” UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.burs-ser/ami/smw/srm

Human Rights Watch on Thursday called for punishment for the “heinous crimes” committed “on and since October 7, 2023,” in Israel and Gaza, after the announcement of a fragile ceasefire deal in the conflict.”While yesterday Israeli officials and Hamas agreed to a multi-phase ceasefire, the heinous crimes committed on and since October 7, 2023, should not go unpunished,” said HRW chief Tirana Hassan.Hassan was speaking at a press conference to launch the organization’s annual report, in which it called out Israel for committing “crimes against humanity” and possibly “genocide” during the Gaza war.Qatar and the United States on Wednesday announced the ceasefire deal had been reached between Israel and Hamas in their bloody 15-month conflict.But Israeli air strikes have continued as it accuses the Palestinian armed group of reneging on parts of the agreement.”Whilst the ceasefire will bring some relief for the millions of displaced inside Gaza, it won’t be a solution in and of itself,” said Hassan.At least 1.9 million people — or 90 percent of Gaza’s population — have been displaced by Israel’s offensive in the territory, according to UN estimates.An estimated 345,000 people in Gaza face “catastrophic levels” of food insecurity, the UN says.”What will be required moving forward is humanitarian access, and that by that, we’re talking about the Israeli authorities, allowing materials in to rebuild the infrastructure, including the water infrastructure and the health system, which has been decimated during this conflict, as well as humanitarian relief,” Hassan said. Much of Gaza has been levelled by Israel’s punishing assault on the Palestinian territory, which has killed 46,788 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.The war was triggered by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.During the attack, Palestinian militants also took 251 people hostage, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s cabinet has yet to approve the ceasefire agreement, which was due to be implemented from Sunday.

The war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas, which on Wednesday agreed a ceasefire, has killed tens of thousands of people and created a humanitarian disaster.The fragile ceasefire deal is due to start on Sunday, but still has to be approved by Israel’s cabinet.The sheer scale of bombardment and violence of the fighting have disfigured the densely populated Palestinian territory’s urban landscape.AFP looks at the material impact of the war.- 170,000 buildings damaged or destroyed -Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on the planet. Before the war 2.4 million people lived on a 365-square-kilometre (140-square-mile) strip of land.By December 1, 2024, nearly 69 percent of the buildings in Gaza had been destroyed or damaged, according to satellite imagery analysed by the UN’s Satellite Centre (UNOSAT). That amounts to 170,812 buildings.US researchers Corey Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek, who use satellite imagery with different methodology, counted 172,015 damaged or destroyed buildings in Gaza on January 11, 2025.Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel resulted in the death of more than 1,200 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.That figure includes hostages killed while in captivity in the Gaza Strip.Since October 7, 2023, at least 46,788 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to data provided by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.Those figures are acknowledged as reliable by the UN.- Rafah city half destroyed -Before the war, Gaza City in the territory’s north was home to some 600,000 people. Almost three-quarters of its buildings (74.2 percent) have been damaged or destroyed. In Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city along the border with Egypt, the Israeli army launched a ground offensive in early May.By the end of that month, nearly 48.7 percent of the buildings in Rafah had been hit, against 33.9 percent the previous month.Although relatively spared compared with Gaza City, gutted facades and buildings stand testament to the scars of war.Rights group Amnesty International said that more than 90 percent of the buildings along 58 square kilometres of Gaza’s border territory with Israel appear to have been “destroyed or severely damaged” between October 2023 and May 2024.The United Nations has estimated that reconstruction in the territory would take up to 15 years and cost as much as $50 billion.- Half of hospitals not functioning -During the war, Gaza’s hospitals have been repeatedly attacked by Israel, which accused Hamas of using them for military purposes, a charge the militant group denies.Kamal Adwan hospital, one of the few medical facilities still operational in northern Gaza, is now empty and out of service since a major Israeli strike in late December, according to the World Health Organization.By December 31, just 18 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals, or half, were partially functioning, according to the WHO, with a total capacity of 1,800 beds.Data from UNOSAT and geographic database OpenStreetMap also indicates that more than 83 percent of Gaza’s mosques have been damaged or destroyed.- Nearly 90 percent of schools damaged -The territory’s largely UN-run schools, where many civilians have sought refuge from the fighting, have also paid a heavy price, with the Israeli military accusing Hamas of using them to conceal fighters.As of December 1, 2024, UNICEF counted 496 schools damaged — nearly 88 percent of its count of 564 facilities. There have been direct hits on 396 schools.- 68 percent of farmland -According to UN satellite imagery from August 26, 68 percent of Gaza’s farmland (103 square kilometres) has been damaged. That includes 79 percent of agricultural land in north Gaza and 57 percent of such land in Rafah.The destruction of irrigation systems, orchards, machinery and barns is even greater, with between 80 percent and 96 percent “decimated” since the beginning of 2024, according to a report from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in September.In addition, 68 percent of Gaza’s road network has been damaged.About 1,190 kilometres (740 miles) of roads have been destroyed, 415 kilometres badly damaged and 1,440 kilometres moderately damaged, according to a preliminary analysis by UNOSAT, taking into account data up to August 18.

Strong bank earnings failed to sustain a rally on Wall Street, but stocks in Europe and Asia pushed higher.More US banks reported robust earnings Thursday, but US retail sales data disappointed. “There is a good bit of news to digest this morning, including another batch of better-than-expected earnings results from the likes of Bank of America, …

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Palestinian militant group Hamas has been significantly battered by 15 months of war in Gaza but has not suffered the eradication that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intended, experts say.After sparking the deadliest war in the Palestinian territory’s history, Hamas now faces questions over its legitimacy and whether to stick to its policy of armed resistance.”Hamas has been extraordinarily weakened, its military capacity and its leadership very damaged,” said Sanam Vakil, director of Chatham House’s Middle East programme.However, “those challenges are also opportunities for Hamas”, she told AFP.Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed by Israel in a Tehran bombing last July, and Israeli soldiers killed his successor and Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar some weeks later.The group’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, has continued fighting in Gaza but has suffered heavy losses.”Hamas is under pressure,” said Hugh Lovatt, a researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations.He pointed to the suffering of the population, as well as the decision by Hamas’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah to sign its own ceasefire deal with Israel in November despite the Gaza war continuing.However, a senior Hamas leader said the organisation “represents an idea aimed at liberating Palestine, not just a group of people that the enemy can eliminate”.”The resistance will continue for so long as the occupation exists”, he told AFP.- Support grown -Despite the devastation of both Hamas and the Gaza Strip since October 2023, the group has achieved some successes, experts said.With Netanyahu having declared the annihilation of the group to be a war aim, Hamas sees “its survival as a victory in itself”, said Jamal al-Fadi, a Palestinian political scientist.Lovatt said that support for Hamas had grown and that in the occupied West Bank “clearly, many people feel aligned with their ideas”.In the most recent study by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, published in September, Hamas had the highest support of any party at 36 percent, although that represented a four-point fall from July.Yasser Abu Hein, another Palestinian political scientist, said that the October 7 attack had “elevated Hamas to global relevance” and gained the sympathy of people worldwide, “even Americans”.That said, experts pointed out that Hamas’s support among Palestinians exists in the unique context of Gaza and the West Bank, where there have been no elections for nearly two decades and political outlets are extremely limited.The majority of Palestinians do not support any political group, said Lovatt, be it Hamas, its main rival and dominant force in the Palestinian Authority Fatah, or any others.Joost Hilterman of the International Crisis Group said popular support for Hamas “as a group pursuing armed struggle against the military occupation” by Israel, stemmed from a lack of political alternatives.He said the war had also allowed Hamas to find new recruits, “as so many young Palestinians in Gaza have been orphaned”.That was a sentiment backed up by top US diplomat Antony Blinken, who said this week that during the war, “Hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost”.He called this “a recipe for enduring insurgency and perpetual war”.- ‘Hamas 2.0’ -While Hamas may have survived Israel’s military onslaught and gained some support in doing so, Vakil said it actually found itself in a crisis of legitimacy.Many “Palestinians see Hamas as part of the problem”, she said.The group “can only be seen to be legitimate if it manages to restore governance and accountability and to become… a representative voice for Palestinians”.Many experts have said that during the ceasefire negotiations, Hamas made compromises but was unwilling to bend on the return of displaced Gazans and an increase in humanitarian aid to the besieged territory.”Their desire to put an end to the war led them to show some flexibility but they remain steadfast in their principal objectives,” above all the fight against Israel, Lovatt said, adding that the group could regenerate its military capabilities.Vakil said it would “be important to assess how Palestinians themselves will assess the landscape for Hamas”, pointing out that Hamas shared responsibility for the destruction wrought by the war.The greatest unknowns remain how Hamas will choose to operate in any post-war period and how it will try to portray the October 7 attack and its consequences.While it could make compromises to remain relevant, Vakil said it was possible to “imagine a Hamas 2.0 emerging, more radicalised and perhaps motivated by the events since October 7”.

Nintendo is betting on the 2025 release of a bigger, better version of its blockbuster Switch console to keep up the success of the third best-selling games machine of all time.But the Japanese giant is keeping players waiting for full details of the successor model, showing off the console’s appearance in a slick video Thursday …

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Israel carried out fresh air strikes on Gaza on Thursday and accused Hamas of backtracking on parts of a fragile ceasefire and hostage release deal ahead of an expected vote by its cabinet.The truce, announced by mediators Qatar and the United States on Wednesday, would take effect on Sunday and involve the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, after which the terms of a permanent end to the war would be finalised.But the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Hamas had “reneged on parts of the agreement reached… in an effort to extort last-minute concessions”.It also said that the Israeli cabinet, which has yet to approve the agreement, “will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement”.Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri said there was “no basis” for Israel’s accusations.In Gaza, the civil defence agency said Israel pounded several areas of the territory after the deal was announced, killing at least 75 people and wounding hundreds more.The agreement followed months of fruitless negotiations to end the deadliest war in Gaza’s history and, if finalised, would pause hostilities one day before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump.Netanyahu spoke with both US President Joe Biden and Trump on Wednesday, the Israeli leader’s office said, thanking them for their help securing the agreement but also cautioning that “final details” were still being worked on.The war was triggered by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.During the attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, Palestinian militants also took 251 people hostage, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s ensuing campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,788 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.- Mixed feelings -In Israel and Gaza, there were celebrations welcoming the truce deal, but also anguish.Saeed Alloush, who lives in north Gaza, said he and his loved ones were “waiting for the truce and were happy”, until overnight strikes killed his relatives.”It was the happiest night since October 7″ until “we received the news of the martyrdom of 40 people from the Alloush family”, he said.In Tel Aviv, pensioner Simon Patya said he felt “great joy” that some hostages would return alive, but also “great sorrow for those who are returning in bags, and that will be a very strong blow, morally”.Two far-right party leaders in Netanyahu’s cabinet have publicly opposed the agreement.Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said it was a “dangerous deal”, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called it “disastrous”.Israeli media said the government’s ratification of the agreement may be delayed, in part, by disagreements within the ruling coalition.The deal followed intensified efforts from mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States.Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani announced on Wednesday that the “two belligerents in the Gaza Strip have reached a deal”.”We hope that all parties will commit to implementing all the terms of this agreement,” he said, adding that the three mediators would monitor its implementation.During an initial 42-day ceasefire, 33 hostages would be released, the Qatari prime minister said, including women, “children, elderly people, as well as civilian ill people and wounded”.Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, he said. – Aid needed -Announcing the deal from the White House, Biden said he was “deeply satisfied this day has come”, calling the negotiations some of the “toughest” of his career.He added that the second phase of the agreement, if finalised, would bring a “permanent end to the war”.Envoys from both Trump’s incoming administration and Biden’s outgoing one had been present at the latest negotiations, with a senior Biden official saying the unlikely pairing had been a decisive factor in reaching the deal.Trump on social media hailed the “EPIC ceasefire agreement”.Biden said the deal would “surge much needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families”.Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also underscored the “importance of accelerating the entry of urgent humanitarian aid” into Gaza.Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News cited a security source as saying coordination was “underway” to reopen the Rafah crossing on Gaza’s border with Egypt to allow in aid.The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, facing an Israeli ban on its activities set to take effect later this month, welcomed the ceasefire deal.”What’s needed is rapid, unhindered and uninterrupted humanitarian access and supplies to respond to the tremendous suffering caused by this war,” UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.burs-ser/smw

Global equities mostly pushed higher on Thursday as strong earnings and inflation data reassured investors.On Wall Street, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq pushed higher at the opening bell thanks to robust bank earnings.”There is a good bit of news to digest this morning, including another batch of better-than-expected earnings results from the likes of …

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