Israeli forces expand attacks beyond residential homes, targeting civil order in Rafah. Recent strikes aim at police, sparking fear of civil unrest.

Jerusalem

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

Israel-Gaza War

Israel expands offensive into Rafah

Yes, we're looking, in just a little over 24 hours, at at least 40 Palestinians. The vast majority of them happen to be displaced families who have been sheltering inside residential homes or tents or evacuation centers across Rafah City. In central Rafah City, the northern part and the eastern part of the city, overcrowded, densely populated areas full of Palestinians who have been displaced from the northern part and Gaza City. More attacks on residential homes. But the latest of what seems to be, for a lot of people here, is an attack on civil order, is the systematic, intentional targeting of police departments and police personnel here. So far, we're looking at three separate attacks on police personnel, including the director of the investigative departments here, in addition to the director of the police department. At later hours yesterday, in the morning, three people were killed in a car in the western part of Rafah City. That's the director of the investigative department, along with his two of his assistants. At earlier, later hours, at about late afternoon hours, another three police personnel were inside their car in one of the, in the central area of Rafah City, were targeted and killed. A lot of people reacted. This is the beginning of this operations in Rafah City, and they look at it as a way the Israeli military is following just to cause some sort of civil disorder, civil collapse in the city. It's important to point out the police department here in Rafah City have been working very hard to secure the delivery of trucks, humanitarian trucks, been trying to cause some sort of stability inside health care facilities and in front of food distribution points. And at such an attack, it's only an indication that we are ahead of some sort of civil collapse within the coming days, if it continues to happen. In earlier hours today, ongoing artillery shelling of the eastern part of the city. And it's just important to point out that Rafah hasn't been largely safe for Palestinians, but not for the local residents who live in Rafah, but also for half of the population of the Gaza Strip who became displaced and forced as ordered by the Israeli military to come to Rafah City. A lot of people who got to the city in the initial weeks of the war were killed within just a short period of time of their arrivals or sheltering inside the residential homes or in the evacuation zones at the western part of the city. Hani, let's just move to the backdrop to all of this, which is the announcement that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the military to put together a plan for an offensive on Rafah and also to put together a plan to evacuate Rafah. How are people reacting to that? Very frustrated. And in fact, there isn't a lot of trust going on here because they have this terrible experience with Israeli evacuation orders since the beginning of the war. People who were told to evacuate the northern part in Gaza City were given these sharp orders to the central area, to Hani Unisan, here in Rafah City, because they were specifically told in order to avoid being bombed, they had to go to certain designated zones by the military. And within a short period of time of their arrival, they were bombed and they were killed. So it just, for the most part, these evacuation orders have been very confusing, contradictory and misleading. And there isn't much trust going on with the Israeli narrative. So far, it's all based on allegations that are not supported by substantial evidence whatsoever. Almost everything the military has said, what we see on the ground is quite the contrary. And that's why people here are not only frustrated, but also do not have any other options at all. The options available are either equivalent to none or very, very limited. We're talking about a southern part of the border of the city. It's the Egyptian-Gaza border, which people hoping are not going to be forced to cross to the Egyptian side, because this will only feed into a permanent displacement. There is no way whatsoever they will be able to get back. And going back to the northern part through this corridor passage, not only they are not safe and it hasn't been guaranteed that they're going to be safe, but they're also talking about going back to a wasteland, the entire northern part and central area that have been turned into a pile of ruins and largely a wasteland with no services, with no civic institutions whatsoever. And to the point, it is becoming uninhabitable by creating difficult conditions on the ground to make it unlivable. Hadi, thank you very much indeed. Hani Mahmoud talking to us from Rafah in southern Gaza.

The 2024 Paris Olympic Games are officially underway following a spectacular opening ceremony. The city was turned into a stage with an incredible display paying tribute to France's history and culture.

Paris

Paris shines in Olympics opening ceremony

A rainy outdoor ceremony marked the official launch of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The event featured performances from Lady Gaga and Céline Dion as athletes and other performers floated down the iconic Seine River.

Rain soaks Olympics Opening Ceremony

Officials have returned to Jasper, Canada for the first time since a devastating wildfire wiped out a third of the town's properties. The rebuilding process is expected to be slow, leaving residents and businesses unsure about what’s next.

Jasper

Historic Canadian town 'wiped out' by wildfires

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.

Paris Olympics

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.

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Israel-Gaza War