Headline
Netanyahu, Biden Discuss Progress In Gaza Ceasefire-for-hostages Deal Talks
Published
6 months agoon
By
Editor
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken with US President Joe Biden about the progress in negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal.
“The prime minister discussed with the American president the progress in the negotiations to release our hostages and updated him on the mandate he gave to the negotiating team to Doha in order to advance the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement about the call on Sunday.
It added, “the prime minister wanted to thank the American President (Joe) Biden and the incoming President Donald Trump for their cooperation for the holy mission.”
The White House said Biden and Netanyahu discussed the negotiations in Doha, based on the proposal the US president laid out in May. Biden once again called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the return of the hostages and increased humanitarian aid to the enclave.
Biden also spoke to Netanyahu about the “fundamentally changed regional circumstances” following the ceasefire in Lebanon in November last year, the collapse of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime the following month, and Iran’s weakened position in the region, the White House said.
This is the first publicly announced call between the two men since October 2024, and it comes as Netanyahu summoned two major critics of Biden’s ceasefire deal proposal to meetings to discuss a potential deal.
READ ALSO: Hamas Police Chief Among 11 Killed In Israeli Airstrike On Gaza
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir have previously rejected a peace proposal laid out by Biden in May of last year, which would pair a release of hostages with a “full and complete ceasefire.” Both ministers rejected the idea of an immediate ceasefire and have called for fighting to continue until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages are returned.
The far-right ministers have previously threatened to resign and topple Netanyahu’s governing coalition if he accepted Biden’s proposal.
The meetings with the Israeli cabinet members on Sunday come as Israeli negotiators have expressed “cautious optimism” at the talks ongoing in Doha this weekend, which involve a high-level Israeli delegation including Mossad chief David Barnea.
Netanyahu under pressure
Netanyahu, who met with Trump’s incoming Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, on Saturday, is facing pressure from both the current and incoming US administrations to reach a deal.
Last week, Witkoff touted progress made at the Doha talks and expressed optimism about making gains by the time of Trump’s inauguration on January 20, though a senior administration official said talks remained difficult.
READ ALSO: Body of Hezbollah Leader Recovered As Israel Kills Another Top Leader
Trump himself has said there would be “hell to pay” in the Middle East if the hostages are not released by the time he is sworn into office. His incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz told ABC on Sunday said he wants to see some type of agreement before inauguration.
“I want to see (the hostages) walking across the tarmac, or at a minimum, some type of agreement before the inauguration because President Trump is serious,” Waltz said.
Waltz also said Hamas was “completely isolated” and has “to enter into some type of agreement.”
The Biden administration said earlier Sunday it was still working toward securing a hostage deal before the president leaves office.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that while reaching a deal by January 20 is “possible,” he “cannot make any predictions.”
“We are very, very close, and yet being very close still means we’re far, because until you actually get across the finish line, we’re not there,” Sullivan said on “State of the Union.”
Sullivan said White House Middle East adviser Brett McGurk is still in Doha, “hammering out with the mediators the final details of a text to be presented to both sides.”
In a December interview with CBS that aired Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that when an agreement is reached, it will be “on the basis of what President Biden put forward.”
READ ALSO: Israel’s Netanyahu To Undergo Prostate Removal Surgery
Meanwhile those close to the Israeli prime minister have stressed his commitment to securing a deal. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar emphasized Israel’s aim to secure a hostage deal as he welcomed his British counterpart to Jerusalem on Sunday. And Netanyahu spokesperson Omer Dostri told Israeli outlet Channel 14 that the government was making “every effort” to reach a deal but there had been “slow progress.”
“In the end, it depends on Hamas,” he said on Sunday, pushing back against critics who have claimed Netanyahu didn’t want a deal.
“I am in various discussions and I can tell you the prime minister works on this 24-seven, holds discussions into the night, conversations with leaders,” he said.
“When I hear all kinds of sources saying that the prime minister does not want to return our hostages home, I tell you, this tears me apart. The prime minister wants a deal.”
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Headline
Family Of Five Killed In Iranian Missile Strike After Fleeing Ukraine For Safety In Israel
Published
7 hours agoon
June 28, 2025By
Editor
A Ukrainian family of five who fled Russia’s war in search of safety were killed in Israel by an Iranian missile — the very conflict they thought they had escaped.
Mariia Pieshkurova had brought her 7-year-old daughter, Anastasiia, to Bat Yam, a suburb of Tel Aviv, hoping to get lifesaving cancer treatment and refuge from the violence at home.
Along with Anastasiia’s grandmother, Olena Sokolova, and two young cousins, Illia and Kostiantyn, they had started over — believing they were finally safe.
But on June 15, an Iranian missile tore through their apartment building during a retaliatory strike on Israel, killing them all.
“I really thought they’d be safe,” said Artem Buryk, Anastasiia’s father and Mariia’s former partner. “I never thought they’d go to Israel to escape war — and find it there.”
READ ALSO:US Struck Iran With B-2 Bombers, Submarine-launched Missiles – Top US General
The missile attack, part of Iran’s response to Israeli airstrikes on its territory, collapsed much of the building in Bat Yam.
It took four days to recover Mariia’s body from the rubble.
Their deaths marked a heartbreaking intersection of two wars — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Iran’s conflict with Israel — both of which had already tested the family’s will to survive.
Mariia had moved to Israel in late 2022 after Anastasiia was diagnosed with leukemia.
Ukraine’s hospitals were overwhelmed, and its largest children’s hospital was later destroyed in a missile strike.
In Israel, treatment began immediately. It was effective but costly. Mariia turned to Instagram, sharing photos of her daughter in treatment and videos of Artem pleading for help while serving on Ukraine’s front lines.
READ ALSO:Israel-Iran War: Stranded Nigerians Cry For Help From Underground Shelters
“Masha did everything for her little girl,” said Anastasiia’s godmother, Khrytsyna Chanysheva. “She dedicated her life to her, moved to Israel to get her full treatment.”
Despite the pain, Anastasiia always smiled at visitors.
“She was in pain, and she would close her eyes for a second,” said charity worker Lada Fichkovsi. “But every time I walked into her room, she would smile.”
Her cousins joined the family in May 2024 as the situation in Odesa deteriorated.
“The shelling made my children cry,” said Hanna Pieshkurova, Mariia’s sister. “I decided to let them go.”
Though Israel was at war with Hamas, Mariia had assured her sister that Bat Yam was calm. Air raid sirens were rare, and the Iron Dome defense system offered hope.
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“Ukrainians often say, ‘This is not Ukraine, it’s not as scary,’” said Inna Bakhareva of Chance4Life, a charity helping sick children in Israel. “They felt secure due to the Iron Dome.”
That sense of security evaporated after Israel struck Iranian targets on June 12. Iran retaliated with missile attacks across Israeli cities.
“Dad, at night I saw how the missiles were falling,” Anastasiia told her father in a voice message the night before she died.
She and her mother had been scheduled to visit the hospital the next morning. The missile struck before dawn.
Mr. Buryk, who had just returned from the front lines near Sumy, received the news that same day.
“I still don’t understand what’s happening,” he said. “I still can’t believe it.”
He used to promise Anastasiia they’d go fishing together when peace returned.
“Every time I talked to her, I’d say, ‘Sweetheart, we’ll go fishing. Just us,’” he said. “And now I just don’t understand. I still don’t even grasp that she’s gone.”
“Last night,” he added quietly, “I sent her voice messages.”
(New York Times)
Headline
Militia Attack On DRC IDP Camp, Kills 10, Mostly Women, Children
Published
18 hours agoon
June 27, 2025By
Editor
An armed group at the centre of a long-running ethnic conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeast attacked a camp for displaced people on Friday, killing 10, local sources told AFP.
Bordering Uganda, Ituri province has for years been the scene of pitched battles between the Lendu, a group mainly made up of settled farmers, and the Hema people, typically nomadic herders.
The fighting has led to the deaths of thousands of civilians and the mass displacement of many more.
Friday’s assault on the Djangi displaced persons camp was carried out by the self-proclaimed Cooperative for the Development of Congo (Codeco), a Lendu-aligned militia responsible for previous civilian massacres, the camp’s head told AFP.
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“They were many and armed with firearms and machetes. They surprised us, they killed 10 displaced people, most of them women and children,” said Richard Likana.
An employee of the Red Cross, who asked to remain anonymous, confirmed the attack, which took place around 60 kilometres (37 miles) from Bunia.
“They were cut up with machetes while others were shot,” the humanitarian worker added.
Congolese army Colonel Ruffin Mapela, the local administrator for Djugu territory where the camp is located, gave the same toll of 10 dead and put the number of injured at 15.
READ ALSO:Heineken Withdraws Staff As Armed Rebels Seize Facilities In Eastern DR Congo
According to local and humanitarian sources, Codeco was responsible for an attack on February 10 which killed 51 people in Ituri province. Most of the victims were also displaced persons.
That raid was said to be a response to a strike by the rival Hema-led Zaire militia in the same area.
Violence between the Hema and Lendu killed thousands in gold-rich Ituri from 1999-2003, which only ended after European forces intervened.
The conflict erupted again in 2017, killing thousands more.
The violence has led to more than 1.5 million people leaving their homes, according to the UN.
AFP
Headline
Israel Wants Global Action Against Iran’s Nuclear Plans
Published
18 hours agoon
June 27, 2025By
Editor
Israel’s foreign minister said on Friday that the world was obliged to stop Iran from developing an atomic bomb, days after Israel claimed it had “thwarted Iran’s nuclear project” in a 12-day war.
“Israel acted at the last possible moment against an imminent threat to itself, the region, and the international community,” Gideon Saar wrote on X.
“The international community must now prevent, by any effective means, the world’s most extreme regime from obtaining the most dangerous weapon.”
READ ALSO:Netanyahu Vows To Thwart ‘Any Attempt’ By Iran To Rebuild Nuclear Programme
Israel and Iran each claimed victory in the war that ended with a ceasefire on June 24.
The conflict erupted on June 13 when Israel launched a bombing campaign, stating it aimed to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon—an ambition Iran has consistently denied.
Following waves of Israeli attacks on nuclear and military sites, the United States bombed three key facilities, with President Donald Trump insisting it had set Iran’s nuclear programme back by “decades”.
READ ALSO:We Would Have Killed Iran’s Supreme Leader If Given Opportunity – Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an address to the nation after the ceasefire, announced that “we have thwarted Iran’s nuclear project”.
However, there is no consensus as to how effective the strikes were.
On Friday, Iran rejected a request by UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi to visit the bombed facilities, saying it suggested “malign intent”.
The comments from Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi came after parliament approved a bill suspending cooperation with the UN watchdog.
In a post on X following the move, Saar said Iran “continues to mislead the international community and actively works to prevent effective oversight of its nuclear programme”.
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