The Dispatch

Israel bombs Hamas sites in Gaza over fire balloons -military

Israeli warplanes bombed Hamas sites in Gaza in response to incendiary balloons launched from the Palestinian enclave that caused brush fires in southern Israel, its military said early on Tuesday. There…

Read More Here

Egypt to close Rafah crossing with Gaza from Monday

Egypt is to close the Rafah crossing on its border with the Gaza Strip until further notice on Monday, Egyptian security sources said. Hamas, the Palestinian faction that controls Gaza,…

Read More Here

Israeli aircraft strike Hamas sites in Gaza after border clashes

Israeli aircraft struck Hamas sites in Gaza late on Saturday, the military said, in an escalation of hostilities after earlier cross-border gunfire seriously injured an Israeli soldier and wounded 41…

Read More Here

Gaza militants fire rocket at Israel, Israeli military says

Militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket at Israel on Monday that was intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, the military said, in the first such attack since…

Read More Here

Palestinian groups in Gaza committed ‘war crimes’: HRW

Deadly rocket and mortar fire on Israeli cities by Palestinian militant groups during a May conflict in and around Gaza constituted war crimes, Human Rights Watch said Thursday. The New…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Israel strikes Hamas sites over fire balloons, challenging truce

Israeli aircraft struck Hamas sites in Gaza on Wednesday after incendiary balloons were launched from the Palestinian enclave in the first such attacks since a fragile ceasefire ended 11 days…

Read More Here

Gaza truce shifts focus to Egypt’s regional role

Egypt's work to broker and secure a truce in the Gaza Strip this month has thrust it into the diplomatic spotlight, prompting top-level reengagement from Washington and overshadowing moves by…

Read More Here

Photo Story: Iran’s IRGC unveils new drone called Gaza

A handout photo made available by Iranian revolutionary guard corps (IRGC) official website Sepahnews shows the new drone called 'Gaza' at an undisclosed location in Iran. The IRGC unveiled the…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Gaza ceasefire holding, Blinken to visit Israel, West Bank

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip held into Saturday as officials said Egyptian mediators conferred with the sides on securing longer-term calm. The ceasefire…

Read More Here

Israel and Hamas both claim victory as fragile ceasefire takes hold

Israel and Hamas both claimed victory on Friday after their forces ended 11 days of fighting, but a clash between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem underscored the fragility…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Israel-Hamas truce takes hold after 11 days of fighting

A truce between Israel and Hamas took hold on Friday after the worst violence in years, with U.S. President Joe Biden pledging to salvage the devastated Gaza Strip and the…

Read More Here

U.S. says no to French push for U.N. Mideast action

The U.S. mission to the United Nations said it "will not support actions that we believe undermine efforts to de-escalate" violence between Israel and Palestinian militants when asked about a…

Read More Here

U.N. chief Guterres calls Gaza ‘hell on earth’ for children

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday described Gaza as "hell on earth" for children, appealing to Israel for rapid and unhindered aid access and telling the 193-member General Assembly he…

Read More Here

Germany’s foreign minister defends Israel’s right to self-defence

Israel's right to defend itself includes the right to destroy infrastructure from which future attacks can be launched, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Thursday at the start of…

Read More Here

World powers urge truce as Israel-Palestinian conflict rages

Israel bombarded Gaza with air strikes and Palestinian militants resumed cross-border rocket fire on Tuesday after a brief overnight lull during which the U.N. sent a small fuel convoy into…

Read More Here

In first, Gaza logs no deaths from overnight Israeli strikes

Gaza health officials said on Tuesday they had no reports of Palestinians killed overnight in ongoing Israeli strikes on the enclave, the first apparent reduction of casualties since fighting erupted…

Read More Here

Speaker Farrugia calls for the ceasefire in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Malta's Speaker Anġlu Farrugia has called for the immediate ceasefire in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. He has encouraged the two sides to revert to talks to find…

Read More Here

U.N. chief says Israel, Gaza fighting ‘utterly appalling’

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the U.N. Security Council on Sunday that hostilities in Israel and Gaza were "utterly appalling" and called for an immediate end to fighting. Opening the…

Read More Here

What is going on between Israel and the Palestinians?

Weeks of violent clashes in East Jerusalem have ignited the heaviest fighting in years between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. At the core of the violence that…

Read More Here

Pope Francis calls for end to fighting in Israel and Gaza

Pope Francis called on Sunday for an end to the conflict in Israel and Gaza, saying the deaths of so many innocent people in recent days, including children, was unacceptable.…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Israel air strikes kill 33 Palestinians, rockets fired from Gaza

Israeli air strikes killed 33 Palestinians, including 13 children, in Gaza early on Sunday, Gaza health officials said, and militants fired rockets into Israel as hostilities stretched into a seventh…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Israel bombs Hamas Gaza chief’s home as fighting enters seventh day

Israel bombed the home of Hamas's chief in Gaza early on Sunday and the Islamist group fired rocket barrages at Tel Aviv as hostilities stretched into a seventh day with…

Read More Here

Update: Israel-Gaza conflict rages, U.S. tells Israel to protect media after tower hit

GAZA/JERUSALEM, May 15 (Reuters) - Israel pounded Gaza, destroying a tower block that housed media organisations and which it said had militant assets, while Palestinian rocket salvoes hit Tel Aviv…

Read More Here

Israel targets Gaza tunnels, Palestinian rocket attacks persist

Israel fired artillery and mounted extensive air strikes on Friday against a network of Palestinian militant tunnels under Gaza that it dubbed “the Metro”, amid persistent rocket attacks on Israeli…

Read More Here

Israel fires artillery into Gaza, Palestinian rocket attacks persist

Israel fired artillery and mounted more air strikes on Friday against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip amid constant rocket fire deep into Israel’s commercial centre. As hostilities entered their…

Read More Here

Gaza conflict intensifies with rocket barrages and air strikes

Palestinian militants fired more rockets into Israel's commercial heartland on Thursday as Israel kept up a punishing bombing campaign in Gaza and massed tanks and troops on the enclave's border. The four…

Read More Here

UPDATED: European airlines cancel Tel Aviv flights amid escalating conflict

British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Iberia all cancelled flights to Tel Aviv as European carriers joined U.S. airlines in avoiding flying to Israel amid an escalating conflict there. "The safety…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Israeli troops mass at Gaza border, hundreds of rockets hit Israel, its jets strike Gaza

Israeli troops massed at Gaza's border on Thursday and Palestinian militants pounded Israel with rockets in intense hostilities that have caused international concern and touched off clashes between Jews and…

Read More Here

Biden predicts conflict’s end as Hamas hits deep in Israel, which pummels Gaza

Hamas launched rockets at Tel Aviv and toward Jerusalem early on Thursday and Israel vowed to keep pummelling the Islamist faction in Gaza despite a prediction by U.S. President Joe…

Read More Here

Death toll rises in Gaza and Israel in most intense hostilities in years

Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes in Gaza into Wednesday morning as the Islamist group Hamas and other Palestinian militants fired multiple rocket barrages over the border at Tel…

Read More Here

War crimes court concerned over violence in West Bank – prosecutor

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is concerned about escalating violence in the West Bank and the possibility that war crimes are being committed there, its prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said on Wednesday. "I note with great concern the escalation of violence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as…

Read More Here

Israeli energy pipeline hit in Gaza rocket attack, sources say

JERUSALEM, May 11 (Reuters) - A pipeline belonging to an Israeli state-owned energy company was hit in a rocket attack from Gaza late on Tuesday, an Israeli government official and an energy…

Read More Here

35 killed in Gaza, 5 in Israel, as violence escalates

GAZA/JERUSALEM, May 12 (Reuters) - Hostilities between Israel and Hamas escalated overnight, with at least 35 killed in Gaza and five in Israel in the most intensive aerial exchanges for years. Israel…

Read More Here

Gaza’s Hamas militants fire 130 rockets towards Tel Aviv – Hamas statement

Gaza's Islamist ruler Hamas said it had fired over 130 rockets towards Tel Aviv on Tuesday night in response to an Israeli air strike that had flattened a tower block…

Read More Here

Gaza’s first COVID-19 vaccine shipment on its way

Gaza will receive its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday after Israel approved the transfer via its territory, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. Gaza, which has a population of…

Read More Here

Palestinians open election registration offices in West Bank and Gaza

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinians opened election registration offices in Gaza and the West Bank on Wednesday, one day after rival factions agreed steps to ensure that the first elections in…

Read More Here

ICC ruling brings hope for Palestinians, dismay for Israelis

JERUSALEM/GAZA (Reuters/Sky) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) has determined it has the jurisdiction to investigate Israel and the leaders of the Palestinian faction Hamas for alleged war crimes. In…

Read More Here

Photo Story: COVID19 Restrictions eased in Gaza

Palestinians walk in the streets after the authorities eased restrictions put in place to stop the spread of the COVID-19, amid a coronavirus lockdown in Gaza City, 23 January 2021.…

Read More Here

Palestinian Authority accuses Israel of shirking duty to ensure availability of vaccine

GAZA, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority said on Sunday it expects to receive its first COVID-19 vaccine doses in March under a deal with drugmaker AstraZeneca, and accused…

Read More Here

Gaza gets vital medical aid as hospitals struggle with rising infections

The World Health Organization delivered 15 ventilators to Gaza hospitals on Sunday amid a spike in COVID-19 infections that has tested the Palestinian territory's under-developed health system. The donation of…

Read More Here

Coronavirus infections skyrocket in Gaza Strip

Health experts in the Gaza Strip are sounding the alarm, saying the pandemic could soon rage out of control with hospitals there are wholly unprepared for the situation, and doctors…

Read More Here

Palestinian rocket fire draws Israeli air strikes in Gaza

Palestinian militants fired a rocket into Israel, drawing Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said on Sunday. There were no casualties reported on either side of…

Read More Here

Photo Story: Stormy weather over Gaza City

Lightning lights up the sky over Gaza sea during a storm in Gaza City, on Sunday 15 November 2020. Via EPA-EFE/MOHAMMED SABER

Read More Here

Israeli aircraft strike in Gaza, sirens in southern Israel

Israeli aircraft attacked in Gaza on Wednesday, witnesses said, and sirens warning of rocket fire from the Palestinian territory sounded in southern Israel. The witnesses said a training base run…

Read More Here

Gaza man dies of coronavirus as enclave clamps down on outbreak

A 61-year-old man has died in the Gaza Strip after contracting the coronavirus, Palestinian authorities said on Wednesday as they clamped down on an outbreak of the pandemic in the…

Read More Here

Israel strikes targets in Lebanon and Gaza

Israeli aircraft struck posts belonging to the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah early on Wednesday after shots were fired from Lebanon towards its troops, Israel's military said in a statement. No…

Read More Here

Israel closes Gaza crossing after Palestinians launch incendiary balloons

Israel on Tuesday closed one of its main border crossings with the Gaza Strip after Palestinians launched incendiary balloons that set fire to areas on the Israeli frontier. Israeli media reported that more than 30 fires…

Read More Here

Photo Story: Gaza children back to school after five months of closure over COVID-19 pandemic

Palestinian students wearing protective face masks sit inside a classroom at a United Nations-run school in Gaza City, 09 August 2020. Tens of thousands of children in the besieged Gaza…

Read More Here

First coronavirus cases confirmed in the Gaza Strip

The first two cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the densely-populated Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials said on Sunday. Two Palestinians who had travelled from Pakistan and entered Gaza…

Read More Here

Israel warns preparing plan to fundamentally change situation in Gaza

Israel is “preparing a plan to fundamentally change the situation in the Gaza Strip” Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said following a night of deadly retaliatory airstrikes against the Palestinian Islamic…

Read More Here

Alarm in the Holy Land after visit by pilgrims with coronavirus

Israeli and Palestinian authorities sought to quell fears of a potential local outbreak of the coronavirus after learning that South Korean pilgrims who had toured some of the holy land’s…

Read More Here

The Year in Photos – The Unknown Faces of 2019

Hamas supporters pose as they attend a rally to mark the 32nd anniversary of the group, in Gaza City, 14 December 2019. Hamas was founded in 1987, shortly after the…

Read More Here

Rocket shot from Gaza interrupts Netanyahu rally

Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu was hustled off the stage during a leadership rally under rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. It comes just a day before a tense leadership battle…

Read More Here

Israeli army defends intelligence and admits mistake in attack on Gaza family

A strike in Gaza that killed nine members of the same family was due to a faulty assessment of the risk to civilians, the Israeli army said as it admitted…

Read More Here

Israel reverses ban, Gaza Christians can visit Christmas sites

Christians in the Gaza Strip will be allowed to visit holy cities such as Bethlehem and Jerusalem at Christmas, Israel authorities said on Sunday, reversing a decision not to issue…

Read More Here

Israel attacks Hamas targets in Gaza following rocket fire

The IDF announced on Thursday morning that its fighter jets were striking Hamas terror targets in the Gaza Strip following rocket fire from Gaza early Thursday morning. "The Hamas terrorist…

Read More Here

Israeli aircraft attack Hamas sites after rocket fire from Gaza

Israeli aircraft attacked several sites linked to the military wing of Gaza’s Hamas early on Wednesday in what it said was a response to rocket fire from the Palestinian…

Read More Here