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Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement called on its Islamist rivals Hamas on Saturday to relinquish power in order to safeguard the “existence” of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”Hamas must show compassion for Gaza, its children, women and men,” Fatah spokesman Monther al-Hayek said in a message sent to AFP from Gaza.He called on Hamas to “step aside from governing and fully recognise that the battle ahead will lead to the end of Palestinians’ existence” if it remains in power in Gaza.Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007 from the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, and subsequent attempts at reconciliation have failed.The territory has been devastated by an Israeli offensive in retaliation for the attack by Hamas and other Palestinian militants on Israel on October 7, 2023.Hamas has said repeatedly it is willing to leave power in Gaza once the war is over but categorically excludes giving up its weapons.”We are ready to accept any agreement regarding the administration of Gaza (post-war), and are not interested in participating in it,” Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou said in a statement Saturday.”What’s important to us is the national consensus,” he added, recalling that Hamas has endorsed an Egyptian proposal for an independent committee of professionals and technocrats to manage Gaza post-war and oversee reconstruction.Abbas says the committee must report to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, the sole legitimate entity to govern Gaza according to him, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has rejected this.Following disagreement over the next steps in a January 19 ceasefire in the Gaza war, Israeli resumed air strikes on Tuesday, followed by ground operations the day after.On Friday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened to annex parts of Gaza unless Hamas frees the remaining Israeli hostages seized in the October 7 attack.Of the 251 hostages taken that day, 58 are still being held, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.Nearly 50,000 people in Gaza have been killed in the war, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.The latest Israeli offensive has caused a new exodus of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza.”We are exhausted by the cycle of displacement,” Ramadan Houdoud told AFP in a tent camp in Al-Zawayda in the centre of the territory, after fleeing from Gaza City.Displaced woman Umm Khaled lamented the destruction, adding: “There is no water, no food, and no rest.””Where can we go? We need a solution. Are there really no more Muslims to help us?” she asked.

Israel launched a new wave of strikes on Lebanon in response to a rocket attack from across the border on Saturday, as militant group Hezbollah denied responsibility for the launch.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered “a second wave of strikes against dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon”, the defence ministry said, in the largest escalation since a November 27 ceasefire.It said the strikes were “a response to rocket fire towards Israel and a continuation of the first series of strikes carried out this morning” against southern Lebanon.Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported one girl among five killed in an Israeli strike during the day on the southern town of Touline.The agency later said another person was killed in an Israeli strike on the key coastal city of Tyre, one of the targets of the new wave of strikes on the south and east, with multiple injuries reported.Ali Safieddine, of Tyre’s civil defence, confirmed to AFP the toll of one dead and said 15 were injured.- Hezbollah denial -The Israeli army said six rockets, three of which were intercepted, had been fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the region.Hezbollah denied any involvement in the rocket attack, and called Israel’s accusations “pretexts for its continued attacks on Lebanon”.Hezbollah said that it stands “with the Lebanese state in addressing this dangerous Zionist escalation on Lebanon”.While Hezbollah has long held sway over parts of Lebanon bordering Israel, other Lebanese and Palestinian groups have also carried out cross-border attacks. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned that renewed military operations on the southern border risked “dragging the country into a new war,” his office said.Lebanon’s top diplomat Youssef Raggi called for “pressure on Israel to stop the aggression and escalation and contain the dangerous situation on the southern borders”.But Israeli defence chiefs said they held the Lebanese government responsible for all hostile fire from its territory regardless of who launched it.”We cannot allow fire from Lebanon on Galilee communities,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said, referring to towns and villages in the north, many of which were evacuated after Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of Hamas in October 2023.”The Lebanese government is responsible for attacks from its territory. I have ordered the military to respond accordingly,” Katz said.- UN ‘alarmed’ -The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said it was “alarmed by the possible escalation of violence” following the morning’s rocket fire.Hezbollah has long had strongholds in south and east Lebanon, as well as south Beirut, but the war with Israel dealt the group devastating blows, leaving it massively weakened.Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah is supposed to pull its forces back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.Israel is supposed to withdraw its forces across the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but has missed two deadlines to do so and continues to hold five positions it deems “strategic”.Israel has carried out repeated air strikes during the ceasefire, targeting what it said were Hezbollah military sites that violated the agreement.The Lebanese army said it had dismantled three makeshift rocket batteries in an area north of the Litani on Saturday.The mayor of the Israeli border town Metula, targeted in Saturday’s rocket launch, urged authorities to “act offensively and make it so that not one bullet is fired ever again at northern communities”. – Seven ‘martyred’ in Gaza  -Saturday’s flare-up came five days into Israel’s renewed offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza, which shattered the relative calm since a January 19 ceasefire there.On Saturday in Gaza City, Sameh al-Mashharawi said “seven people were martyred” in a strike on his family’s house that killed his two brothers, their children and wives.Israel’s defence minister said Friday that he had ordered the army to “seize more territory in Gaza”.”The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel,” Katz said.When the first stage of the Gaza ceasefire expired early this month, Israel rejected negotiations for the promised second stage, calling instead for the return of all its remaining hostages under an extended first stage.That would have meant delaying talks on a lasting ceasefire, and was rejected by Hamas as an attempt to renegotiate the original deal mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt.

Sudan’s military said Saturday it seized several key buildings in central Khartoum from paramilitary control after army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan promised “full liberation” following the recapture of the presidential palace.Army spokesman Nabil Abdallah said the military was “continuing to pressure” the Rapid Support Forces throughout the city centre, giving a list of buildings recaptured including the Central Bank, state intelligence headquarters and the Sudan National Museum.Despite its advances in the capital, Africa’s third largest country remains effectively split in two, with the army holding the east and north while the RSF controls nearly all of the western region of Darfur and parts of the south.Activists on Saturday said dozens of civilians had been killed in a paramilitary attack in a remote part of North Darfur state, hundreds of kilometres (miles) from the capital.Sudan’s national institutions in Khartoum’s centre were all overrun and looted by paramilitaries in the first weeks after fighting erupted in April 2023.An RSF source confirmed to AFP that its fighters had “withdrawn from some locations in central Khartoum,” but added “the battle has not been decided yet”.”Our forces are now waging a fierce battle” near the airport, he said on condition of anonymity.RSF fighters remain inside what remains of the airport, which has been heavily damaged during nearly two years of fighting.On Friday, the army and allied armed groups retook the presidential palace from the RSF, which retaliated with a drone strike that killed three members of a Sudanese TV crew and several army personnel.The paramilitaries had used the palace to house their elite forces and stockpile ammunition, according to military sources.Photos showed parts of the palace blasted away by battle damage. Built with Chinese funding, the building on the Blue Nile river opened about a decade ago.The battle for Khartoum’s city centre could consolidate the military’s hold on the capital region but is unlikely to end the war.With its advance on Friday, the army has taken the entire south side of the Blue Nile, which separates the capital from Khartoum North. It has also secured the main road route across the White Nile from the city centre to Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman.Since April 2023, the military led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has fought the RSF, headed by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.After a year and a half of defeats, the tide seemed to turn late last year, when an army counteroffensive through central Sudan led to its recapture of much of Khartoum.- Battle ‘not over’ -In a video shared by the army on Saturday, Burhan said his forces were “advancing with steady steps towards the full liberation of Sudan”.”The battle is not over, we will continue,” he said to cheers and ululations in al-Kamlin, a town about 100 kilometres (62 miles) southwest of Khartoum, the day before.Army sources said the paramilitaries withdrew into buildings in al-Mogran, an area just west of the palace housing banks and business headquarters.The paramilitaries posted snipers in the district’s high-rises, which overlook both Omdurman and the government ministries of central Khartoum.”Our forces in central Khartoum are continuing to pressure the Daglo thugs … (who) are trying to escape from our forces,” said Abdallah, the army spokesman.He said the army had “eliminated hundreds of militia members who tried to escape through pockets in central Khartoum.”Analysts cautioned that even if the army went on to recapture the whole of greater Khartoum, it would not spell the end of Sudan’s war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 12 million.Facing successive army victories in central Sudan, the RSF has redoubled its efforts to consolidate its hold on Darfur, where its resupply links from Libya have come under increasing attack in recent months by army-allied armed groups known as the Joint Forces.On Saturday, activists said a paramilitary attack on the North Darfur town of Al-Malha killed at least 45 civilians. RSF on Thursday said it had seized the town.The resistance committee, a volunteer aid group in North Darfur state capital El-Fasher, about 200 kilometres (124 miles) southwest, said it was unable to identify 15 other “victims of the al-Malha massacre”.

Israel conducted deadly strikes on Lebanon Saturday in response to a rocket attack from across the border, as militant group Hezbollah denied responsibility for the launch.Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported one girl among two killed in an Israeli strike on the southern town of Touline, during the largest escalation since a November 27 ceasefire.The Israeli army said six rockets, three of which were intercepted, were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the region for the first time since November.”Hezbollah denies any involvement in the rocket fire from southern Lebanon into the occupied Palestinian territories (Israel),” the Iran-backed group said in a statement, calling Israel’s accusations “pretexts for its continued attacks on Lebanon”.Hezbollah said that it stands “with the Lebanese state in addressing this dangerous Zionist escalation on Lebanon”.While Hezbollah has long held sway over areas of Lebanon bordering Israel, other Lebanese and Palestinian groups have also carried out cross-border attacks. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned that renewed military operations on the southern border risked “dragging the country into a new war,” his office said.But Israeli defence chiefs said they held the Lebanese government responsible for all hostile fire from its territory regardless of who launched it.Analysts have said the weakening of Hezbollah during its war with Israel enabled Lebanon’s long-deadlocked parliament to in January name army chief Joseph Aoun as president, with backing from the United States, Saudi Arabia and others.Upon taking office, Aoun pledged to usher in a new era in which the Lebanese state would have a “monopoly on weapons”.”We cannot allow fire from Lebanon on Galilee communities,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said, referring to towns and villages in the north, many of which were evacuated after Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of Hamas in October 2023.”The Lebanese government is responsible for attacks from its territory. I have ordered the military to respond accordingly,” Katz said.NNA said Israeli air strikes and shelling had targeted several areas of the south.One strike killed two people including a girl in Touline, NNA reported after earlier saying Israeli strikes wounded two people several kilometres (miles) further east in the border village of Kfar Kila.- UN ‘alarmed’ -The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said it was “alarmed by the possible escalation of violence” following the morning’s rocket fire.”We strongly urge all parties to avoid jeopardising the progress made, especially when civilian lives and the fragile stability observed in recent months are at risk,” it said.Hezbollah has long had strongholds in south and east Lebanon, as well as south Beirut, but the war with Israel dealt the group devastating blows, including the killing of longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah.Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah is supposed to pull its forces back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.Israel is supposed to withdraw its forces across the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but has missed two deadlines to do so and continues to hold five positions it deems “strategic”.Israel has carried out repeated air strikes during the ceasefire, targeting what it said were Hezbollah military sites that violated the agreement.The Lebanese army said it had dismantled three makeshift rocket batteries in an area north of the Litani on Saturday.The mayor of the Israeli border town Metula, across from Kfar Kila, urged the authorities to “act offensively and make it so that not one bullet is fired ever again at northern communities”. Metula was targeted by the rockets.- Seven ‘martyred’ in Gaza  -Saturday’s flare-up came five days into Israel’s renewed offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza, which shattered the relative calm since a January 19 ceasefire there.On Saturday in Gaza City, Sameh al-Mashharawi said “seven people were martyred” in a strike on his family’s house that killed his two brothers, their children and wives.Israel’s defence minister said Friday that he had ordered the army to “seize more territory in Gaza”.”The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel,” Katz said.The White House said Israel consulted US President Donald Trump’s administration before launching its Gaza strikes. Israel said it “fully coordinated” with Washington.Hamas took issue Saturday with Washington’s characterisation of its position, insisting that it stood ready to release all its remaining hostages as part of a second stage of the ceasefire.”The claim that ‘Hamas chose war instead of releasing the hostages’ is a distortion of the facts,” the group said.When the first stage of the ceasefire expired early this month, Israel rejected negotiations for the promised second stage, calling instead for the return of all its remaining hostages under an extended first stage.That would have meant delaying talks on a lasting ceasefire, and was rejected by Hamas as an attempt to renegotiate the original deal mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt.

Israel launched air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon on Saturday after intercepting cross-border rocket fire, with Lebanese state media reporting a woman was killed.The Israeli army said three rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the region for the first time since a November ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah.Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned the country risked being dragged into a “new war” after months of relative calm.The Israeli military said all three rockets were intercepted and there was no immediate claim of responsibility from any group.But Israeli defence chiefs said they held the Lebanese government responsible for all hostile fire from its territory regardless of who launched it.”We cannot allow fire from Lebanon on Galilee communities,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said, referring to towns and villages in the north, many of which were evacuated after Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of Hamas in October 2023.”The Lebanese government is responsible for attacks from its territory. I have ordered the military to respond accordingly,” Katz said.”We promised security to Galilee communities, and that is exactly what will happen. Metula’s fate is the same as Beirut’s.”Armed forces chief Eyal Zamir warned the military would “respond severely”.”The state of Lebanon bears responsibility for upholding the agreement,” he said, referring to the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah which was signed by the government on the Lebanese side.Lebanon’s official National News Agency said Israeli air strikes and shelling had targeted several areas of the south.One Israeli strike killed a woman in Touline, the NNA reported, adding three other people were wounded in the southern town. It had earlier reported Israeli strikes wounded two people in the border village of Kfarkila.- UN ‘alarm’ -The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said it was “alarmed by the possible escalation of violence” following the morning’s rocket fire.”Any further escalation of this volatile situation could have serious consequences for the region,” it said.”We strongly urge all parties to avoid jeopardising the progress made, especially when civilian lives and the fragile stability observed in recent months are at risk.”The Lebanese prime minister expressed concern at the flare-up.”Salam warned against renewed military operations on the southern border, because of the risks they carry of dragging the country into a new war, which will bring woes to Lebanon and the Lebanese people,” his office said.There was no immediate claim for the rocket fire on Israel.Although Hezbollah launched the great majority of the rockets fired during the past two years, the Lebanese arm of Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed some attacks.Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah was supposed to pull its forces back north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.Israel has carried out repeated air strikes during the ceasefire that it said targeted Hezbollah military sites that violated the agreement.The Lebanese army said it had dismantled three makeshift rocket batteries in an area north of the Litani on Saturday.- Gaza assault enters day five -Saturday’s flare-up on the Lebanese border came as Israel’s renewed offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza entered its fifth day.Israel’s resumption of military operations on Tuesday shattered the relative calm that had reigned since a January 19 ceasefire.Israel’s defence minister said Friday that he had ordered the army to “seize more territory in Gaza”, which he would annex if Hamas failed to heed Israel’s demands for the next steps in the Gaza ceasefire.”The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel,” Katz said.The return to military operations was coordinated with US President Donald Trump’s administration but drew widespread condemnation.Hamas took issue Saturday with Washington’s characterisation of its position, insisting that it stood ready to release all its remaining hostages as part of a promised second stage of the ceasefire.”The claim that ‘Hamas chose war instead of releasing the hostages’ is a distortion of the facts,” the group said.When the first stage of the ceasefire expired early this month, Israel rejected negotiations for the promised second stage, calling instead for the return of all its remaining hostages under an extended first stage.That would have meant delaying talks on a lasting ceasefire, and was rejected by Hamas as an attempt to renegotiate the original deal.burs/kir/dv