Israel launches a ground operation to retake part of a key corridor in northern Gaza

Israel launches a ground operation to retake part of a key corridor in northern Gaza
An Israeli soldier operates a tank at a position along Israel's southern border with the northern Gaza Strip, Mar. 19, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 20 March 2025
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Israel launches a ground operation to retake part of a key corridor in northern Gaza

Israel launches a ground operation to retake part of a key corridor in northern Gaza
  • Israel used the Netzarim corridor as a military zone which bisected northern Gaza from the south.

DEIR AL-BALAH: Israel said Wednesday it launched a “limited ground operation” in northern Gaza to retake part of a corridor that bisects the territory, and the country’s defense minister warned that the army plans to step up the attacks that shattered a two-month ceasefire “with an intensity that you have not seen.”
The military said it had retaken part of the Netzarim corridor, which bisects northern Gaza from the south and from where it had withdrawn as part of the ceasefire with Hamas that began in January.
Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Palestinians in Gaza that the army would again order evacuations from combat zones soon, and that its attacks against Hamas would become more fierce if dozens of hostages held for more than 17 months weren’t freed.
The move appeared to deepen a renewed Israeli offensive in Gaza, which shattered a ceasefire with Hamas.
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 436 people, including 183 children and 94 women, have been killed since Israel launched the strikes early Tuesday. It said another 678 people have been wounded.
The military says it only strikes militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas. Gaza’s Health Ministry records do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The military said in a statement that as part of the new offensive, it struck dozens of militants and militant sites on Wednesday, including the command center of a Hamas battalion.
The war in Gaza, which was paused in January by an internationally-mediated ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, has been among the deadliest conflicts ever for humanitarian workers, according to the UN.
The resumption of fighting launched by Israel early Tuesday risks plunging the region back into all-out war. It came weeks after the end of the first phase of the ceasefire, during which Israel and Hamas exchanged hostages for prisoners and were set to negotiate an extension to the truce that was meant to bring about an eventual end to the war.
But those negotiations never got off the ground. Hamas has demanded that Israel stick to the terms of the initial ceasefire deal, including a full withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war. Israel, which has vowed to defeat Hamas, has put forward a new proposal that would extend the truce and free more hostages held by Hamas, without a commitment to end the war.


Hamas says it is still discussing Witkoff’s Gaza proposal

Hamas says it is still discussing Witkoff’s Gaza proposal
Updated 26 sec ago
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Hamas says it is still discussing Witkoff’s Gaza proposal

Hamas says it is still discussing Witkoff’s Gaza proposal
  • Witkoff presented last week a “bridge” plan to extend the ceasefire in Gaza into April beyond Ramadan and Passover and allow time to negotiate a permanent cessation of hostilities
CAIRO: Hamas said on Friday it is still discussing US envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal and various other ideas, with the aim of reaching a deal to release prisoners, end the war in Gaza, and achieve a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian enclave.
Witkoff presented last week a “bridge” plan to extend the ceasefire in Gaza into April beyond Ramadan and Passover and allow time to negotiate a permanent cessation of hostilities.

Situation in Gaza gravely concerning as aid massively reduced, UNRWA says

Situation in Gaza gravely concerning as aid massively reduced, UNRWA says
Updated 15 min 51 sec ago
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Situation in Gaza gravely concerning as aid massively reduced, UNRWA says

Situation in Gaza gravely concerning as aid massively reduced, UNRWA says
  • ’This is the longest period since the start of conflict in October 2023 that no supplies whatsoever have entered Gaza’

GENEVA: The situation in Gaza is gravely concerning with massive reductions in distribution of aid supplies, the United Nations Palestinian relief agency said.
“This is the longest period since the start of conflict in October 2023 that no supplies whatsoever have entered Gaza. The progress we made as an aid system over the last six weeks of the ceasefire is being reversed,” Sam Rose from UNRWA told reporters, speaking from Central Gaza.


Sudan’s military says it has retaken the last area of the capital held by rival paramilitary forces

Sudan’s military says it has retaken the last area of the capital held by rival paramilitary forces
Updated 21 March 2025
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Sudan’s military says it has retaken the last area of the capital held by rival paramilitary forces

Sudan’s military says it has retaken the last area of the capital held by rival paramilitary forces
  • Social media videos showed its soldiers inside giving the date as the 21st day of Ramadan, which was Friday.
  • The war has killed more than 28,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes

CAIRO: Sudan’s military said it retook the Republican Palace in Khartoum, the last bastion in the capital of rival paramilitary forces, after nearly two years of fighting.
Social media videos showed its soldiers inside giving the date as the 21st day of Ramadan, which was Friday.
The fall of the Republican Palace — a compound along the Nile River that was the seat of government before the war erupted and is immortalized on Sudanese banknotes and postage stamps — marks another battlefield gain for Sudan’s military. It has made steady advances in recent months under army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan.
It means the rival Rapid Support Forces, under Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, have been expelled from the capital of Khartoum after Sudan’s war began in April 2023.
The RSF did not immediately acknowledge the loss, which likely won’t stop fighting in the war as the group and its allies still hold territory elsewhere in Sudan. The head of the UN children’s agency has said the conflict created the world’s largest and humanitarian crisis.
The war has killed more than 28,000 people, forced millions to flee their homes and left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country. Other estimates suggest a far higher death toll.


Tunisian president sacks prime minister amid economic and migration crisis

Tunisian president sacks prime minister amid economic and migration crisis
Updated 21 March 2025
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Tunisian president sacks prime minister amid economic and migration crisis

Tunisian president sacks prime minister amid economic and migration crisis
  • North African country’s public finances face a severe crisis that has led to shortages of key commodities including sugar, rice and coffee.
  • The country also is facing widespread criticism over an unprecedented migrant crisis

TUNIS: Tunisian President Kais Saied sacked Prime Minister Kamel Maddouri less than a year after his appointment, and named Sara Zaafarani as his replacement, amid a faltering economy and a worsening flood of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa countries.
Zaafarani, who is an engineer and served as minister of Equipment and Housing since 2021, is the third prime minister in less than two years.
In recent months, Saied has sharply criticized the performance of ministers, saying many they have not met the required standards and that the expectations of the Tunisian people are high. Last, month he sacked Finance Minister Sihem Boughdiri.
Economic growth has not exceeded 1.4 percent in the past year, and the North African country’s public finances face a severe crisis that has led to shortages of key commodities including sugar, rice and coffee.
“We will continue the liberation battle until justice prevails for all citizens ... We will continue to thwart all conspiracies,” Saied said in a speech at a National Security Council meeting on Friday.
The country also is facing widespread criticism over an unprecedented migrant crisis, as thousands of sub-Saharan African migrants are flocking to Tunisia seeking to reach the Italian coast.
Thousands of them are living in tents in forests in Amra and Jbeniana after authorities prevented them from reaching Europe by sea.
While the migrants frequently clash with local residents who want them deported from their area, local human rights groups accuse the authorities of racist rhetoric and incitement against migrants.
Saied seized extra powers in 2021 when he shut down the elected parliament and moved to rule by decree before assuming authority over the judiciary.
The opposition described the move as a coup.


Netanyahu government approves firing of Shin Bet head amid protests

Netanyahu government approves firing of Shin Bet head amid protests
Updated 21 March 2025
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Netanyahu government approves firing of Shin Bet head amid protests

Netanyahu government approves firing of Shin Bet head amid protests
  • Netanyahu had said he had lost confidence in Shin Bet head
  • Police fire water cannon, make arrests after scuffles

JERUSALEM: The Israeli cabinet voted early on Friday to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service effective April 10, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, after three days of protests against the move.
Netanyahu said this week he had lost confidence in Ronen Bar, who has led Shin Bet since 2021, and intended to dismiss him.
Bar did not attend the cabinet meeting but in a letter sent to ministers said the process around his firing did not comply with rules and his dismissal was predicated on baseless claims.
Late on Thursday, police fired water cannon and made numerous arrests as scuffles broke out during the protests in Tel Aviv and close to the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem, where police said dozens of protesters tried to break through security cordons.
Over the past three days, demonstrators protesting the move to sack Bar have joined forces with protesters angry at the decision to resume fighting in Gaza, breaking a two-month-old ceasefire, while 59 Israeli hostages remain in the Palestinian enclave.
“We’re very, very worried that our country is becoming a dictatorship,” Rinat Hadashi, 59, said in Jerusalem. “They’re abandoning our hostages, they’re neglecting all the important things for this country.”
The decision followed months of tension between Bar and Netanyahu over a corruption investigation into allegations that a number of aides in Netanyahu’s office were offered bribes.
Netanyahu has dismissed the accusation as a politically motivated attempt to unseat him, but his critics have accused him of undermining the institutions underpinning Israel’s democracy by seeking Bar’s removal.
In his letter to the government, Bar said the decision to fire him was “entirely tainted by ... conflicts of interest” and driven by “completely different, extraneous and fundamentally unacceptable motives.”
He had already announced that he intended to step down early to take responsibility for the intelligence lapses that failed to prevent the attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Deep divisions
The angry scenes on Thursday highlighted divisions that have deepened since Netanyahu returned to power as head of a right-wing coalition at the end of 2022.
Even before the war in Gaza, tens of thousands of Israelis were joining regular demonstrations protesting a government drive to curb the power of the judiciary that critics saw as an assault on Israeli democracy but which the government said was needed to limit judicial overreach.
On Thursday Yair Golan, a former deputy chief of staff in the military who now leads the opposition Democrats party, was pushed to the ground during a scuffle, drawing condemnation and calls for an investigation by other opposition politicians.
Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz said the clashes were a direct result of divisions caused by “an extremist government that has lost its grip.”
In Tel Aviv, demonstrators rallied outside the Kirya military headquarters complex as ministers met to formally approve the dismissal of Bar.
Since the start of the war, there have also been regular protests by families and supporters of hostages seized by Hamas during the October 7 attack that have sometimes echoed the criticisms of the government.
With the resumption of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, the fate of 59 hostages, as many as 24 of whom are still believed to be alive, remains unclear and protesters said a return to war could see them either killed by their captors or accidentally by Israeli bombardments.
“This is not an outcome the Israeli people can accept,” The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing hostage families, said in a statement.