Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's comparison of Israel's military campaign in Gaza to the Holocaust has unleashed a diplomatic firestorm, with Brazil recalling its ambassador Monday and Israel declaring Lula "persona non grata."
A Hamas source told AFP that a delegation was headed to the Egyptian capital to meet Egyptian and Qatari mediators, after Israeli negotiators held talks with the mediators on Tuesday.
Jordan's King Abdullah II appealed for a full ceasefire to end the war in Gaza after talks with Joe Biden, striking a discordant note with the US president who is seeking a shorter six-week pause to allow Israel time to defeat Hamas.
Citing an unnamed military official, Syrian state news agency SANA reported that the strikes were launched from the direction of the Golan Heights, currently under Israeli control.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he has ordered troops to "prepare to operate" in Rafah, the last major town in the Gaza Strip Israeli ground troops have yet to enter.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered troops to prepare to enter Gaza's crowded southern city of Rafah, even as new talks aimed at securing a truce with Hamas were set to open Thursday in Cairo.
Black clouds loom over grapevines in northern Israel on hills that stretch to the Lebanese border, where months of violence have raised fears of a wider war.
US senators on Sunday released the text of a much-anticipated deal that would unlock billions in new aid for Ukraine and Israel while tightening US border laws, but the top House Republican quickly vowed to shoot it down.
The bill includes $17.6 billion for Israel's military and U.S. military forces without funding offsets and also omits continued U.S. assistance to Ukraine, a top priority for the Biden administration that has seen falling support among GOP lawmakers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is engaged in intense political manoeuvring as pressure grows at home and abroad to release hostages held in Gaza and bring fighting to a halt.
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on a handful of Jewish settlers as President Joe Biden said the level of violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank had reached intolerable levels.
Major donors, including Israel's top ally the United States and Germany, have suspended funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, over accusations that several staff members were involved in the October 7 attack that sparked the war.
Intense fighting raged Saturday in the Gaza city of Khan Yunis, the main theatre of conflict where the Israeli army is targeting the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas.
South Africa on Friday hailed a ruling by the United Nations' top court that Israel should do everything it can to prevent any acts of genocide in Gaza.
Israeli flag carrier El Al said Friday it will scrap direct flights to South Africa following "a significant fall in demand by Israeli travellers" to the country and other destinations.
The International Court of Justice will hand down a highly anticipated ruling on Friday in South Africa's case against Israel over alleged genocidal acts in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague could order Israel to halt its military action in Gaza, launched in retaliation for Hamas's unprecedented attacks on October 7, although it has little power to enforce its rulings.
Israel kept up its heavy assault on the "encircled" Gazan city of Khan Yunis following an outpouring of grief over the army's deadliest single day since ground operations in the territory began.
The heavy clashes came as a White House official was due in the region for talks aimed at securing more hostage releases, and as US media reported a new Israeli proposal for a deal that would involve a two-month pause in fighting.
Combat raged in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, against a backdrop of negotiations aimed at bringing about a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas in the absence of a long-term peace plan.
Israel says it still expects the war to continue for months but a US-Israeli divide over Gaza's post-war future has come into sharp focus after Washington again stressed creation of a Palestinian state as the only way to guarantee Israel's long-term security.
Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out more than three months ago, residents of southern Lebanon have been receiving strange phone calls from Lebanese numbers and from people speaking in Lebanese accents.
