Category: 2. Middle East

Hamas announced on Saturday that it had replied to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal, but Washington’s main negotiator criticised the response as “totally unacceptable”.

The Palestinian militant group said its response was positive while emphasising the need for a permanent ceasefire — long a sticking point for Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed US envoy Steve Witkoff’s assessment that the response was “unacceptable”, accusing Hamas of clinging “to its…

Hamas announced on Saturday that it had submitted its response to a ceasefire proposal from US envoy Steve Witkoff, saying 10 living hostages would be freed from Gaza under the deal.

The White House had said the latest proposal for a deal was approved in advance by Israel, which on Friday warned Hamas to either accept the deal and free the hostages “or be annihilated”.

The Palestinian militant group did not explicitly say it had accepted the version of the proposal it received on Thursday,…

Illegal Israeli settlers began setting up a new outpost on Saturday in the village of Khilet al-Daba, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, on the rubble of a Palestinian home demolished by the Israeli army weeks earlier.

Mohammad Rab’i, head of the village council in nearby At-Tawani, told Anadolu that illegal Israeli settlers erected a tent on the remains of a Palestinian resident’s home.

The house was one of 25 structures, including homes,…

The Palestinian group Hamas announced on Saturday that it has submitted its response to the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal by US envoy Steve Witkoff through mediators Egypt and Qatar, Anadolu reports.

In what appeared to be a list of demands, Hamas issued a statement calling for “a permanent ceasefire, a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and guarantees for the continuous flow of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people in the…

A Lebanese was killed on Saturday in an Israeli air strike targeting a vehicle in the town of Deir El-Zahrani in southern Lebanon, marking a new violation of the ceasefire agreement between the two sides, the Health Ministry said, Anadolu reports.

The ministry’s Emergency Operations Center said the man was killed in the strike on a vehicle in Deir al-Zahrani in the Nabatieh district.

Despite a November ceasefire, Israeli forces continue to carry out attacks in…

Israeli forces launched a series of raids across the occupied West Bank early Saturday, arresting two Palestinians and damaging a bus transporting Hajj pilgrims in the northern city of Jenin, Anadolu reports.

A military vehicle rammed into the bus in front of the Jenin governorate building as it was preparing to depart en route to the Karama border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan.

The passengers, many of them elderly, were Palestinians on their way to…

Syrian Information Minister Hamza Al-Mustafa said Friday that indirect negotiations between Damascus and Tel Aviv are continuing, Anadolu reports.

He said talks remain in progress and Syria continues to uphold the 1974 disengagement agreement between Israeli and Syrian Forces.

Al-Mustafa, speaking at a news conference in Damascus after a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, said his government is working to revitalize its diplomatic presence…

Palestine is a demand for greater justice throughout the world, according to British academic Salman Sayyid from the University of Leeds, Anadolu reports.

Speaking to Anadolu at the Reorienting Resistance, the fourth Critical Muslim Studies conference in Istanbul, Sayyid emphasized that the event united academics and researchers from around the world.

Sayyid described the purpose of the conference as rethinking the knowledge produced about Islam and Muslims in…

An Arab ministerial delegation on Gaza has condemned Israel’s refusal to allow their visit to Ramallah as a “flagrant violation” of its responsibilities as an occupying power under international law, Anadolu reports.

In an official statement issued on Saturday, the delegation said Israel’s decision to prevent their visit to Ramallah reflects “the extent of the Israeli government’s arrogance, its disregard for international law, and its continued…