Hamas accepts a U.N. resolution backing a plan to end the war with Israel in Gaza and is ready to negotiate details, a senior official of the Palestinian militant group said on Tuesday in what the U.S. Secretary of State called a hopeful sign.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel is 'at war' following a surprise attack from Gaza by Hamas militants.

Israel-Gaza War

A senior Hamas official has announced that the Palestinian militant group has accepted a United Nations-backed ceasefire resolution and is prepared to negotiate its details. The U.N. Security Council recently approved the proposal put forward by U.S. President Joe Biden, which aims to pause the fighting in the Gaza Strip, facilitate the return of Israeli hostages, and eventually bring an end to the ongoing war.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken referred to Hamas' acceptance as a hopeful sign while in Tel Aviv. He emphasized the importance of hearing a confirming word from Gaza's leadership. Despite this, Blinken remained cautious, noting that past indications of progress had not always led to tangible outcomes. 

The governments of Egypt and Qatar have been mediating talks between Israel and Hamas. However, officials close to these negotiations reported that no formal replies accepting the truce proposal had been received from either party. Both Israel and Hamas presented the plan as meeting their divergent goals, casting doubt on whether meaningful progress towards a ceasefire had been achieved.

The conflict began when Hamas-led militants launched an attack from Gaza into southern Israel on October 7th, resulting in over 1,200 deaths and more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli sources. Israel's subsequent air and ground operations in Gaza have resulted in the deaths of over 37,000 Palestinians, as reported by the Gaza Health Ministry. The densely populated coastal enclave has largely been reduced to ruins due to the relentless strikes.

Blinken later traveled to Jordan for a summit focused on the humanitarian crisis affecting Gaza's 2.3 million residents, many of whom are now homeless. During the summit, Blinken announced more than $400 million in assistance for Palestinians.



Hamas says it accepts U.N.-backed Gaza truce plan

A senior Hamas official said on Tuesday the Palestinian militant group had accepted a United Nations-backed ceasefire resolution and is ready to negotiate details. The U.N. Security Council approved U.S. President Joe Biden's proposal for a truce on Monday. Biden's proposal would pause fighting in the Gaza Strip and facilitate the return of Israelis held hostage by Hamas, ultimately leading to an end to the war. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and said Hamas' response to the resolution was a quote, hopeful sign. And yesterday, the United Nations Security Council, in effect speaking for the entire international community, made it as clear as it possibly could be that this is what the world is looking for. But he said he'd seen such signs before. What is dispositive, at least what's so far been dispositive one way or another, is the word coming from Gaza and from the Hamas leadership in Gaza. That's what counts, and that's what we don't have yet, and that's why I say we're waiting to see. The governments of Egypt and Qatar have been mediating talks between Israel and Hamas. An official close to those talks told Reuters mediators have not received formal replies from either side accepting the U.N.-backed truce proposal. And both sides suggested on Tuesday the plan fit their clashing goals, raising doubt whether any genuine headway toward a deal had been made. The war began when Hamas-led Palestinian militants stormed into southern Israel from Gaza on October 7th, killing more than 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's retaliatory air and ground onslaught in Gaza has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Tuesday. Israeli strikes have reduced most of the densely populated coastal enclave to wasteland. Blinken traveled from Israel to neighboring Jordan for a summit on the humanitarian response for Gaza's 2.3 million residents, most of whom are now homeless. The American diplomat announced more than $400 million in assistance for Palestinians.

The Paris Olympic Games have officially opened with a ceremony in the rain along the River Seine. Athletes floated along on boats for the parade, while former French sprinter Marie-José Pérec and French judoka Teddy Riner lit the Olympic flame.

Paris

Paris Olympics

Paris Olympics underway after Opening Ceremony

Taiwanese authorities are assessing the damage caused by Typhoon Gaemi. The coastguard has been rescuing boats stranded by the tropical storm. The official death toll has risen to eight, with more than 800 people injured.

Taipei

Cargo crew rescued from Typhoon Gaemi

Wildfires are raging from western Canada to California in the U.S. At least a dozen fires are burning across California, with the Park Fire growing to become one of the biggest wildfires ever recorded in California in just two days.

Chico

Uncontrolled fires burn across California

Typhoon Gaemi has made landfall in southeastern China prompting warnings of flash floods and waterlogging in areas still recovering from torrential rain several weeks ago. Authorities relocated more than 290-thousand people.

Tsim Sha Tsui

Climate Crisis

Thousands evacuated in China as Typhoon makes landfall

Mexican drug kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and a son of his former partner, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, were arrested on Thursday in El Paso, Texas, in a major coup for U.S. authorities that may also reshape the Mexican criminal landscape.

El Paso

Mexican drug lords arrested in El Paso

Former U.S. President Donald Trump said his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had always been warm as the two leaders met on Friday (July 26), and the Israeli leader said he hoped progress was being made in talks on a Gaza ceasefire.

Palm Beach

Netanyahu meets Trump, says working on cease-fire

A North Korean military intelligence operative has been indicted in a conspiracy to hack into American health care providers, NASA, U.S. military bases and international entities.

Kansas City

North Korean charged in U.S. cyberattacks

Arsonists lighting fires across France's high-speed rail network have disrupted the transport network just hours before the Olympic Opening Ceremony in Paris, however the attacks failed to stop the event from going ahead.

France rail network attacked before Olympics

Saboteurs struck France's TGV high-speed train network in a series of pre-dawn attacks that caused chaos on the country's busiest rail lines ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but two security sources said initial suspicions fell on hardline leftist militants or environmental activists.

Saboteurs attack French railways ahead of Olympic ceremony

Typhoon Gaemi pummeled towns on China's coastal Fujian province on Friday with heavy rains and strong winds as the most powerful storm to hit the country this year began its widely watched trek into the populous interior.

Fujian

Typhoon Gaemi lashes China after pounding Taiwan, Philippines

Presidential candidates in Venezuela have held their final campaign rallies ahead of the election on Sunday. Opposition leaders are asking voters to oust President Nicolas Maduro, who's seeking a third term. But Maduro has warned the country risks a "bloodbath" if the opposition wins.

Caracas

Final rallies held ahead of Venezuela presidential election

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help reach a Gaza ceasefire deal that would ease the suffering of Palestinian civilians, striking a tougher tone than President Joe Biden.

Washington

Harris strikes tougher tone on Gaza ceasefire deal

Dolphins swimming coach Mick Palfrey will remain in Paris for the Olympics, after being criticised for publicly backing South Korean swimmer Kim Woo-min. Swimmer Elijah Winnington has defended the coach saying he's a great guy and there's no hard feelings.

Swim coach spared axe over supporting Korean rival

On the eve of the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games, security in Paris is tight and athletes are navigating the risks. More than a million people have undergone screening to access the site of the Opening Ceremony.

Athletes navigate security risks at Paris 2024

Typhoon Gaemi has reached southeastern China after churning across the Taiwan Strait. The typhoon has prompted warnings of swelling rivers, flash floods, and waterlogging in cities and provinces that were hit by extreme rains several weeks ago.

Typhoon Gaemi hits China after pounding Taiwan, Philippines

The Olympic Games are set to officially open on Friday (July 25), with the French government pledging an "unprecedented" security operation to ensure the safety of the event. A force of 35,000 to 45,000 security personnel will be deployed, including 15,000 French military members and over 2,000 foreign police officers.

Major security operation in place to guard Paris Olympics

U.S. President Joe Biden pressed for a ceasefire to the 9-month-old war in Gaza in talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday (July 25), with Vice President Kamala Harris due to meet the Israeli leader later in the day.

Biden meets with Netanyahu, presses for ceasefire in Gaza

Counterterrorism officers are investigating after a man was allegedly found with chemical explosives and a knife at a Sydney shopping centre. Police moved in after shoppers heard a loud blast at Miranda Westfield.

Miranda

Man with knife and explosives arrested at Westfield

The Prime Minister is set to unveil a new Cabinet line-up after two senior members announced today they're retiring from politics. Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney and Brendan O'Connor will move to the backbench.

Canberra

Prime Minister set to reveal cabinet reshuffle

A limited curfew is still in place in Bangladesh after days of protests and a police crackdown. Some businesses and government offices are reopening, and partial internet service is being restored in some areas. Police have arrested more than 2,000 people. The United Nations has demanded an investigation of the Bangladeshi government's crackdown on student protesters.

Dhaka

UN demands investigation of Bangladesh's crackdown on protesters

President Joe Biden on Wednesday said abandoning his reelection campaign and endorsing his vice president, Kamala Harris, as the Democratic candidate was the best way to unite the country and save democracy, despite his ambition to win a second term.

U.S. Presidential Election

Biden says he bowed out to unite nation, backs Harris to beat Trump

On the eve of the Olympics the city of Paris is getting ready to put on a show For the next two and a half weeks the competition will unfold in some of the capital's most iconic sites all prepped for the occasion, while thousands of miles away the French Polynesian island of Tahiti is also getting ready to host the surfing events.

From Paris to Polynesia, final Olympic preparations underway

Thousands of people gathered in North Carolina for Donald Trump's first rally since Joe Biden pulled out of the race. It’s a key battleground state for both sides and the Republican nominee wasted no time in going on the attack against his likely opponent in November, Kamala Harris.

North Carolina

Trump slams Harris as ‘radical’ in first rally since Biden’s exit

In a fiery speech to the U.S. Congress skipped by some top Democrats, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed critics of his country’s war against Hamas as ‘useful idiots’ for Iran, and said America and Israel must stand together.

Netanyahu blasts Gaza war critics, Iran in fiery speech to U.S. Congress

A passenger plane has crashed and caught fire shortly after taking off from Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, killing 18 people, aviation officials say. The pilot was the only survivor of the crash and was treated in hospital.

Kathmandu

Nepal plane crash kills 18; pilot only survivor

Heavy rain from Typhoon Gaemi has flooded the Philippine capital Manila and nearby cities, forcing authorities to shut schools, offices and cancel flights and declare a state of calamity in a region that is home to 13 million people.

Manila

Typhoon Gaemi brings heavy rain to Manila, forcing evacuation

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told families of hostages held in Gaza that a deal that would secure their loved ones' release could be nearing, his office said.

Netanyahu in U.S. says hostage deal may come soon

U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris told cheering supporters in Wisconsin she now has enough delegates to secure the Democratic Party nomination and take on Donald Trump. Meanwhile, campaign donations have shot past $100M in the two days since she entered the presidential race.

Wisconsin

Harris slams Trump at first campaign rally

As Paris prepares to host the world for the Olympic Games, homeless advocates are accusing city officials of ‘social cleansing’ after tent camps were broken up and undocumented migrants were bussed out of the city in the lead up to the opening ceremony.

Paris officials criticized for pre-Olympic homeless sweep

The head of the United States Secret Service is stepping down over the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump after days of mounting pressure and criticism for failing to prevent the shooting.

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Israel-Gaza War