JERUSALEM/CAIRO, Jan 19 — Palestinians headed for the rubble of their former homes in the Gaza Strip today and Israelis prepared to receive the first hostages held by Hamas after a ceasefire deal took effect that could pave the way for an end to the 15-month-old war.

JERUSALEM/CAIRO, Jan 19 — A ceasefire deal between Israel and Palestine in the Gaza Strip took effect today after a nearly three-hour delay, pausing a 15-month-old war that has brought devastation and seismic political change to the Middle East.

JERUSALEM/CAIRO, Jan 19 — A ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas is set to come into effect this morning with a hostage release to follow hours later, opening the way to a possible end to a 15-month war that has upended the Middle East.

ISTANBUL, Jan 16 — Qatar, Egypt, and the United States (US) vowed yesterday to guarantee the implementation of a Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, which is expected to come into effect on January 19, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

CAIRO, Jan 16 — Palestinians burst into celebration across the Gaza Strip yesterday at news of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, with some shedding tears of joy and others whistling, clapping and chanting "Allahuakbar" (God is greatest).

GAZA CITY, Jan 14 — At least 53 Palestinians were killed and several injured in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip yesterday, medical sources told Anadolu.

DOHA/CAIRO, Jan 13 — Mediators gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of a deal today to end the war in Gaza, an official briefed on the negotiations said, after a midnight “breakthrough” in talks attended by envoys of both Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

VATICAN CITY, Jan 9 — Pope Francis today stepped up his recent criticisms of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave “very serious and shameful”.

ISTANBUL, Jan 6 — At least seven infants have died in Gaza due to cold weather and inadequate shelter, Anadolu Agency quoted the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) yesterday.

CAIRO/GAZA, Jan 5 — Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 70 people over the last day, Palestinian medics said on Saturday, as mediators launched a new ceasefire push to end the 15-month-old war.

ZURICH, Dec 31 — A United Nations Human Rights Office report today condemned Israeli attacks on hospitals in Gaza, saying they had devastated the Palestinian enclave’s health system and raised serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law.

TEL AVIV, Dec 30 — The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, today called on Israel to release a prominent clinician detained in the Gaza Strip, reported dpa.

CAIRO/JERUSALEM, Dec 30 — Israeli forces detained more than 240 Palestinians including dozens of medical staff from a north Gaza hospital they raided on Friday, including its director, according to the Health Ministry in the enclave and Israel's military.

CAIRO, Dec 23 — Israel ordered the closure and evacuation yesterday of one of the last hospitals still partly functioning in a besieged area on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip, forcing medics to search for a way to bring hundreds of patients and staff to safety.

CAIRO, Dec 22 — Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 17 Palestinians, eight of them at a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City, medics said, as the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of a hospital in the north.

CAIRO, Dec 22 — A hospital in the north of the embattled Gaza Strip has urgently appealed to the international community for medication and food, saying it is no longer able to care for patients, reported German news agency dpa.

CAIRO, Dec 18 — The United States, joined by Arab mediators, sought today to conclude a deal between Israel and Hamas to halt the 14-month-old war in the Gaza Strip, where medics said Israeli strikes killed at least 20 Palestinians overnight.

ANKARA, Dec 16 — At least 52 more Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll since last year to 45,028, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported, citing the Palestinian Health Ministry on Monday.

CAIRO, Dec 16 — Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 53 Palestinians, including a journalist and rescue workers, medics said, and the Israeli military said its air and ground forces in the north of the enclave killed dozens of militants and captured others.

CAIRO, Dec 13 — An Israeli strike killed at least 30 Palestinians and wounded 50 others who were sheltering in a post office in central Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll yesterday in the enclave to 66.