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).

DOHA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM, Jan 15 — Negotiators in Qatar appeared on Wednesday to be close to sealing a deal on a ceasefire in the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas after 15 months of death and destruction.

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.

JERUSALEM/CAIRO, Jan 7 — Hamas stood by its demand on Tuesday that Israel fully end its assault on Gaza under any deal to release hostages, and said United States (US) President-elect Donald Trump was rash to say there would be "hell to pay" unless they go free by his January 20 inauguration.

CAIRO/JERUSALEM, Dec 27 — Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital on Friday, one of three medical facilities on the northern edge of Gaza, ordering dozens of patients and hundreds of others to evacuate and leaving part of the site on fire, Health Ministry officials said.

CAIRO, Dec 24 — Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz admitted yesterday for the first time publicly to Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran in July, further risking tensions between Tehran and its arch-enemy Israel in a region shaken by Israel’s war in Gaza and the conflict in Lebanon.

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.

JERUSALEM/CAIRO, Dec 3 — Israeli leaders hailed today a pledge by US president-elect Donald Trump that there would be “hell to pay” in the Middle East unless hostages held in the Gaza Strip were released ahead of his January 20 inauguration.

THE HAGUE, Nov 21 — The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence chief, as well as a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, the court said today.

BEIRUT, Nov 15 — An Israeli airstrike flattened a building near one of Beirut’s busiest traffic junctions today, shaking the Lebanese capital as Israel kept up its intensified bombardment of Hezbollah-controlled areas of the city.

NEW YORK, Nov 12 — The United States will decide this week whether Israel has made progress toward improving the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and how Washington will respond, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday as Israel began to make its case.

CAIRO, Nov 3 — Israeli forces stepped up bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing at least 23 people, Palestinian medics said, with over half the deaths in northern areas where the army has waged a month-long campaign it says is to prevent Hamas from regrouping.

TEL AVIV/JERUSALEM/CAIRO, Oct 22 — United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, in the first big US push for a Middle East ceasefire since Israel killed the leader of Hamas last week — and the last attempt before a presidential election that could upend US policy.

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT/CAIRO, Oct 20 — Israel has struck what it said were Hezbollah arms facilities in southern Beirut on Saturday after the Lebanese armed group fired rockets into northern Israel, while a spokesman said a drone was launched at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's holiday home.

CAIRO, Oct 19 — Israeli planes dropped leaflets over southern Gaza today showing a picture of the dead Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, with the message that “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza”, echoing language used by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has condemned the Israeli Zionist regime for killing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who fought for and defended Palestinians.

JERUSALEM/CAIRO, Oct 18 — Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group said on Friday it was moving to a new and escalating phase in its war against Israel, while Iran said “the spirit of resistance will be strengthened” after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

CAIRO, Oct 9 — Leaders from Islamist group Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement will hold unity talks in Cairo today, a Hamas official told Reuters.

GENEVA, Sept 1 — Health authorities in the Gaza Strip have confirmed the first case of polio in the Palestinian enclave in 25 years last month.

CAIRO/GAZA, Aug 26 — Israel issued new evacuation orders for Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip late yesterday, forcing more families to flee, saying forces intended to act against militant group Hamas and others operating in the area.