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Hamas offers response to Gaza truce plan as fighting rages

Hamas gave its official response to the latest truce proposal for Gaza on Tuesday, calling for a "complete halt" to Israeli "aggression" as fighting raged in the Palestinian territory.

The response came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his eighth Middle East tour since the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war, pushed the group to accept the deal.

"The response prioritises the interests of our Palestinian people and emphasises the necessity of a complete halt to the ongoing aggression on Gaza," Hamas said in a joint statement with Islamic Jihad.

Palestinian men walk along a narrow street past destroyed buildings in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip

US promises $400 mln in Palestinian aid as ceasefire push grows

The United States on Tuesday promised more than $400 million in new aid for the Palestinians at an emergency summit in Jordan, where world leaders backed a US push for a ceasefire as the only ultimate solution to help war-ravaged Gaza.

Jordan and Egypt called the urgent talks on the Dead Sea as aid groups warned conditions were worse than ever in Gaza, with virtually the whole population of more than two million people relying on sporadic aid deliveries.

Jordan's King Abdullah II (right) takes part in an emergency summit on Gaza aid in Sweimeh on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan

Israel lawmakers revive bill on ultra-Orthodox conscription

Israeli lawmakers voted Tuesday to revive a bill that would increase the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men only gradually, despite objections from the defence minister and criticism it falls short of the army's needs.

The move by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition comes after the Gaza war forced Israel to call up hundreds of thousands of reservists, sending the flashpoint issue of exemptions from mandatory military service back to the top of the political agenda.

Israeli police officers try to remove ultra-Orthodox Jews protesting against defence ministry plans to end their longstanding exemption from  compulsory military service

Yemen rebels say aid workers held over 'US-Israeli spy network'

Yemen's Huthi rebels on Monday said they had arrested a "spy network" operating under the cover of humanitarian organisations, after aid workers including 11 UN staff were held last week.

The Iran-backed group claimed the network was linked to the CIA and had been carrying out "espionage" activities in Yemen for years, initially through the United States embassy before it suspended operations in Sanaa in 2015.

A United Nations vehicle in Yemen's third city of Taez, in February

Former Hamas captive mourns husband as Israel celebrates freed hostages

Israel's collective euphoria following the rescue of four hostages on Saturday stands in stark contrast with the anger of Tami Metzger, whose captive husband in Gaza was announced dead days ago.

"If the government had stopped the war", her husband Yoram would still be alive, 79-year-old Metzger, who was also held hostage by Hamas, told AFP.

"I'm angry... they are heartless."

The Israeli army announced on June 3 that four Israeli hostages held in the Palestinian territory had died, including Yoram Metzger, 80.

Tami Metzger was freed from captivity by Hamas militants in Gaza but her husband Yoram died in their custody -- she blames Israel's government

UN Sec. Council votes for US-drafted Gaza ceasefire resolution

The United Nations Security Council on Monday adopted a US-drafted resolution supporting a ceasefire plan in Gaza, as Washington leads an intense diplomatic campaign to push Hamas to accept the proposal.

The text -- passed with 14 votes in favor and Russia abstaining -- "welcomes" the truce and hostage release proposal announced on May 31 by President Joe Biden, and urges "parties to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition."

The resolution says Israel has accepted the truce plan, and "calls upon Hamas to also accept it."

United Nations Security Council members votes to adopt a US-drafted resolution supporting a ceasefire plan in Gaza

EU targets UAE telecoms firm in new anti-subsidy probe

The European Union on Monday announced a formal anti-subsidy probe targeting an Emirati telecoms company, the first action under new rules to focus on a foreign bid to buy EU assets.

Brussels has ramped up its scrutiny of foreign investment into the bloc in a bid to defend European industry, usually from rising threats from China and the United States.

The latest probe is the first against a non-Chinese company under new EU rules.

Telecoms group e& signed an agreement in August 2023 to purchase EU telecoms assets

Blinken meets Sisi in Cairo at start of Mideast tour

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on Monday at the start of a regional tour to push for a much awaited Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

In closed-door talks also attended by Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, Sisi and Blinken discussed "joint efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange" deal, according to a statement from the presidency.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to reporters after his meeting with the Egyptian president

Blinken in Israel to push Gaza ceasefire plan backed by UN

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, pushing a ceasefire plan that the UN Security Council later supported in an effort to halt eight months of war in the Gaza Strip.

Blinken met for around two hours in Jerusalem with Netanyahu and discussed diplomacy towards a ceasefire, US officials said, before the Security Council adopted a US-drafted resolution supporting the ceasefire plan.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L), pushing a Gaza ceasefire plan, meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem

Who is Benny Gantz, former Israeli general who quit Netanyahu’s government?

Benny Gantz, who quit Israel's war cabinet Sunday, is a centrist politician with dreams of toppling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

The former army chief and defence minister had little political experience when he launched the centre-right National Union Party in 2019 with the explicit goal of ousting Netanyahu from power.

Five years later, the silver-haired Gantz is looking to ride a wave of mounting public outrage over Netanyahu's failure to return hostages held in the Gaza Strip more than eight months after the war with Hamas broke out.

Israel's former army chief and defence minister Benny Gantz said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 'is preventing us from progressing to a real victory' in Gaza