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Gaza rescuers say Israeli strikes kill 24 after Hamas rejects truce proposal

Gaza's civil defence rescue agency said Friday that Israeli strikes killed at least 24 people, including 10 from the same family, after Hamas signalled its rejection of Israel's latest ceasefire proposal.

The Palestinian militants' chief negotiator dismissed what he called Israel's "partial agreements" and called for a "comprehensive deal" to halt the 18-month-long war.

Khalil al-Hayya also urged international pressure to end Israel's complete blockade of Gaza that began on March 2.

People transport from the bed of a truck the remains of a victim killed in Israeli bombardment on Jabalia, northern Gaza

Hamas calls for pressure to end Israel's aid block on Gaza

Hamas on Friday urged the international community to exert immediate pressure to end Israel's complete blockade of the Gaza Strip that has been in place since March 2.

The appeal from the militants comes after the United Nations warned of worsening conditions and shortages of medicine and other essentials.

"The international community is required to intervene immediately and exert the necessary pressure to end the unjust blockade imposed on our people in the Gaza Strip," Hamas's chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said in a statement.

People transport from the bed of a truck the remains of a victim killed in Israeli bombardment on Jabalia, northern Gaza

Iran stages nationwide Army Day parades

Iran staged military parades on Friday to mark its annual Army Day celebrations, showcasing a wide array of its latest domestically built drones, missiles, tanks, and other hardware.

The events coincided with the eve of the second round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States, which will be held in Rome on Saturday.

Domestically developed drones, including the jet-powered Karrar, Arash, and Mohajer models, were shown in the parade in Tehran, state television reported.

In addition to the capital, military parades were also staged in other major cities.

Soldiers march in Tehran during the annual Army Day parade

New US envoy prays, delivers Trump 'peace' message at Western Wall

The new US ambassador to Israel prayed at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Friday, delivering a handwritten message from President Donald Trump calling for peace in Israel.

Mike Huckabee, a former Republican governor, has long been an outspoken supporter of Israel, backing calls to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank before such talk became increasingly mainstream.

He presented his diplomatic credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday, as Israel's 18-month war against Hamas Palestinian militants continues in the Gaza Strip.

United States ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee places a note given to him by US President Donald Trump in the cracks of the Western Wall, in Jerusalem's Old City

Gaza Strip shrinking as Israel expands control

By seizing large swathes of the Gaza Strip, Israel is redrawing the map of the Palestinian territory, one of the most densely populated places on Earth, making it increasingly "unlivable".

On Wednesday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military has transformed vast areas representing 30 percent of Gaza into buffer zones and displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

Agnes Levallois, lecturer at the Foundation for Strategic Research, said that leaving the buffer zones cleared and empty could be an end in itself.

Displaced Palestinians crossing the so-called Netzarim corridor in the Gaza Strip on February 9, 2025

Lebanon says two killed in Israeli strikes in south

Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli air strikes killed two people in the south on Friday, with Israel announcing attacks in the same areas targeting Hezbollah militants.

Despite a November 27 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, Israel has continued to conduct near-daily strikes in Lebanon.

An Israeli attack on "a car on the Sidon-Ghaziyeh road resulted in one dead", a Lebanese health ministry statement said on the fourth straight day of Israeli attacks in the south.

Lebanese soldiers at the site near a burnt-out vehicle in Ghaziyeh, near Sidon -- the health ministry said an Israeli strike killed one person

80 killed in deadliest US attack on Yemen, Huthis say

US strikes on a Yemeni fuel port killed at least 80 people, Huthi rebels said Friday, in the deadliest attack of Washington's 15-month campaign against the Iran-backed group.

Thursday's strikes on Ras Issa aimed to cut off supplies and funds for the rebels that control large swathes of the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country, the US military said.

Images broadcast by a Huthi-run television channel showed large blazes lighting up the night sky following the latest in an intensified barrage of attacks under US President Donald Trump.

Fire and destruction at the site of US strikes on Yemen's Ras Issa fuel port, shown in an image grab from footage released by the rebel Huthis' Al-Masirah TV

'War has taken everything': AFP reporter returns home to Khartoum

It had been nearly two years since AFP journalist Abdelmoneim Abu Idris Ali set foot in his home in war-torn Khartoum, after the sound of children playing in the street gave way to the fearsome fire of machine guns.

Sudan's once-peaceful capital awoke to the sound of bombs and gunfire on April 15, 2023 as war broke out between its two most powerful generals -- army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

AFP journalist Abdelmoneim Abu Idris Ali in his ransacked home in Khartoum

Cash crunch leaves Syrians queueing for hours to collect salaries

Seated on the pavement outside a bank in central Damascus, Abu Fares's face is worn with exhaustion as he waits to collect a small portion of his pension.

"I've been here for four hours and I haven't so much as touched my pension," said the 77-year-old, who did not wish to give his full name.

"The cash dispensers are under-stocked and the queues are long," he continued.

Since the overthrow of president Bashar al-Assad last December, Syria has been struggling to emerge from the wake of nearly 14 years of civil war, and its banking sector is no exception.

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped

Hamas signals rejection of Israel's latest truce proposal

Hamas on Thursday signalled its rejection of Israel's latest truce proposal and called for a "comprehensive" deal to end the 18-month-long war.

The Palestinian militants' chief negotiator spoke out after civil defence rescuers in Gaza said new Israeli air strikes killed at least 40 people, most of them in camps for displaced civilians, as Israel pressed its offensive in the Palestinian territory.

The Israeli military said it was looking into reports of the strikes.

The father of Abir Srour carries the shrouded body of his daughter, killed in an Israeli strike, during her funeral at the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza