With all the political focus on captive exchanges and truce extensions, the military side of the war has slipped from centre-stage. But Israel is planning for the fighting to resume. As is Hamas. 

Jerusalem

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

Israel-Gaza War

Netanyahu says Israel army preparing for fighting to resume

For now, the guns of war are quiet. Israeli soldiers picnic on tanks and bask in the last of the year's fading warmth. Before them lie the ruins they've made of Gaza, the scorched rubble of 48 days of destruction. But everyone knows Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli military are not finished yet. This much has been said repeatedly when he visited troops in Gaza over the weekend and again on Wednesday. In the last few days I hear a question. After this phase of returning our abductees, will Israel return to fighting? So my answer is an unequivocal yes. There is no way we are not going to go back to fighting until the end. This is my policy. The entire cabinet stands behind it. The entire government stands behind it. The soldiers stand behind it and the people stand behind it. Everyone is making what they can of the lull. Gaza's dazed civilians search for who and what has survived. Hamas and the Israeli military are preparing for the fighting to come. Israel's defence minister, Yoav Galant, has said that once the captive exchanges are done, the war will resume, as he put it, with intensity and that at least two months more fighting is expected. Andreas Krieg is a defence analyst at the School of Security Studies, King's College London. He explained to me what shape the next phase of this war might take. The more intense fighting is most likely just around the corner for the IDF. And so I think they would probably start seizing Gaza City overground. Then they will have to decide whether they will immediately shift focus towards the south and Khan Yunis or whether they are going to go after the tunnels. I suspect they will probably not go after the tunnels and just try to smoke them out. Little of this is good news for Gaza's civilians. 80% of Gaza's population has displaced most to the south. An estimated 14,000 Palestinians have been killed already. The US still backs Israel, but there are signs the pace of killing is making even the White House uneasy. Quite frankly, we continue to urge and will continue to urge the Israelis as they conduct military operations to do so with the utmost care for innocent civilian life. Israel knows the support it has from Western allies is waning. But domestically, it must show that its military objectives are being achieved. Anything less than destroying Hamas could be seen as failure, and Gaza's civilians will continue paying the price. Rory Challance, Al Jazeera, Occupied East Jerusalem.

Traffic on three major French high-speed train lines remained disrupted after saboteurs paralysed much of the rail network ahead of the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Paris.

Paris

Paris Olympics

French high speed train services remain disrupted after sabotage

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu worked to mend ties with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as he neared the end of a contentious US visit that put on display the growing American divisions over support for the Israeli-Hamas war.

Palm Beach

U.S. Presidential Election

Israeli PM Netanyahu meets with Trump at Mar-a-Lago

Thousands of residents and tourists were forced to evacuated the tourist town of Jasper in Canada's western Alberta province. Officials said that the blaze prompted 25,000 people to flee as it roared into the near-deserted town of Jasper overnight. Assessments of damaged infrastructure was ongoing, but officials estimated about 30% of the town was damaged, with 358 structures destroyed.

Jasper

Thousands forced to evacuate as wildfire consumes Canadian town

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

SEE THE FULL STORY

Israel-Gaza War