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Hamas says no Gaza truce second phase while Israel 'continues violations'

Hamas said on Tuesday that the Gaza ceasefire plan cannot proceed to its second phase as long as Israeli "violations" persist and called on mediators to pressure Israel to respect the agreement.

The US-sponsored ceasefire, in effect since October 10, halted the war that began after Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. But it remains fragile as Israel and Hamas accuse each other almost daily of breaches.

The Gaza ceasefire plan's initial steps saw Israeli troops withdraw to positions behind a so-called 'Yellow Line'

Israel to reopen Jordan border crossing for passage of aid and goods

JERUSALEM, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Israel is ​set to reopen the ​Allenby Crossing with Jordan to ⁠the passage of goods and aid on Wednesday, an Israeli security official ​said on Tuesday.

The border crossing ‍has been closed ​to aid and goods since September, when a driver bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza opened fire ⁠and killed two Israeli military personnel before being killed by security forces.

FILE PHOTO: Allenby Bridge Crossing between West Bank and Jordan is closed, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 24, 2025. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo

Salah turns up for training with Liverpool future in balance

Mohamed Salah reported for Liverpool training on Tuesday as doubts continued to grow about the star striker's future at the Premier League champions.

The Egypt forward was left out of Liverpool's squad for their Champions League tie at Inter Milan on Tuesday following his extraordinary public criticism of Reds manager Arne Slot after he was left on the bench for the third consecutive game.

Salah drove himself to Liverpool's training base in Kirkby on Tuesday and posted an Instagram picture of himself in the facility's gym.

Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah arriving at the club's training ground while his teammates were in Milan

'Shockingly high' number of Gaza children still acutely malnourished after truce, UN says

GENEVA, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Thousands of children have been admitted for ​treatment for acute malnutrition in Gaza ​since an October ceasefire that was supposed to enable a major ⁠increase in humanitarian aid, the U.N. children's agency said on Tuesday.

UNICEF, the biggest provider of malnutrition treatment in Gaza, said that 9,300 ​children were treated for severe acute malnutrition in ‍October, when the first phase of ​an agreement to end the two-year Israel-Hamas war came into effect.

FILE PHOTO: Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, September 28, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/ File Photo

RSF says Israel killed highest number of journalists again this year

Reporters Without Borders said on Tuesday that Israel was responsible for nearly half of all journalists killed this year worldwide, with 29 Palestinian reporters slain by its forces in Gaza.

In its annual report, the Paris-based media freedom group said the total number of journalists killed reached 67 globally this year, up from 66 killed in 2024.

Israeli forces accounted for 43 percent of the total, making them "the worst enemy of journalists", RSF said in its report, which documented deaths over 12 months from December 2024.

The killing of journalists during Israeli strikes in Gaza has sparked protests around the world

The long wait for parents of the last Gaza hostage

The parents of the last hostage in Gaza have been waiting for over two years for the return of their son, whom they described as "fighting to the last bullet" during Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Now the mother of Ran Gvili says there is consensus in Israel that his body must be returned before the second phase of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip begins.

The last deceased hostage in Gaza is Ran Gvili, who fell in battle on October 7, 2023 during the Hamas attack on southern Israel

US Congress moves toward repeal of tough 'Caesar' sanctions on Syria

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - A set of tough U.S. sanctions imposed on Syria under its former leader Bashar al-Assad could be lifted within weeks, after their repeal was included in a sweeping defense policy bill unveiled during the weekend and due for votes in Congress within days.

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria March 29, 2025. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

Khashoggi widow seeks probe in France over phone hacking before killing

The widow of slain Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi Monday filed a legal complaint in France accusing Saudi Arabia of using Israeli spyware to steal data from her phones before he was killed, her lawyers said.

Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, whose husband was murdered at the kingdom's Istanbul consulate in October 2018, alleged her data was in part stolen in France, where she landed repeatedly while working as an air hostess, according to a copy of the complaint seen by AFP.

Hanan Elatr Khashoggi alleges her phone was hacked in the months before her husband was killed

UN chief Guterres condemns Israeli raid on UNRWA compound

Dec 8 (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned on Monday an Israeli raid on the East Jerusalem compound of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.

“This compound remains United Nations premises and is inviolable and immune from any other form of interference,” Guterres said in a statement.

“I urge Israel to immediately take all necessary steps to restore, preserve and uphold the inviolability of UNRWA premises and to refrain from taking any further action with regard to UNRWA premises.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at a media briefing inside the G20 Summit venue at the Nasrec Expo Centre, ahead of the summit scheduled for November 22–23, in Johannesburg, South Africa, November 21, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya