Al Jazeera

Former US diplomat Nabeel Khoury says Israel’s latest attack on southern Lebanon follows the same flawed logic and pattern as its assault on Gaza.

At his final rally on Monday New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani vowed to resist US President Donald Trump’s threat to withhold federal funds if the 34-year-old wins, framing the vote as a stand against intimidation and political bullying.

Thousands of Moroccans filled the streets of Rabat singing and waving flags after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution describing autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty as the most feasible solution to the decades-long territorial dispute. The US-drafted text provides international endorsement of Morocco in its dispute with the Algeria-backed Polisario Front.

Tens of thousands of people in Sudan have fled el-Fasher and the advance of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in the Darfur region. Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan reports from a camp for displaced civilians in the neighbouring Northern State where people are in desperate need of assistance.

Israeli forces have carried out air strikes on the areas of Mahmoudiyeh and Jarmak, in southern Lebanon. The strikes are the latest in near-daily Israeli violations of the US-brokered ceasefire involving Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah that began in November.

A residential building floor collapsed as rescue workers were searching through the rubble, following overnight Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukraine’s southern city of Zaporizhzhia. Officials said six children were among 13 injured in the strikes.

At least 60 people, including four police officers, were killed in large-scale raids targeting drug gangs across Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. The deadly operation comes days before Brazil hosts the UN climate summit COP30, set to begin on November 10.

Omar Rahman, a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, talks about the mixed messaging coming from the White House over the Gaza ceasefire.

Thousands of displaced Palestinians have been returning to northern Gaza following the ceasefire, only to find their homes reduced to rubble.

Oxfam’s Chris McIntosh explains Israel’s war on Gaza has left Palestinians there with little purchasing power, as aid trucks remain stalled at the border despite a ceasefire.

Soldiers from a Madagascar army unit have declared support for the youth-led anti-government protests, urging police to disobey ‘unlawful orders.’ President Andry Rajeolina says an ‘attempted illegal seizure of power’ is under way.

Oct. 11 (UPI) — A cease-fire remains in effect in Gaza, where aid is flowing while Israel prepares to receive 48 released hostages, only 20 of whom are thought to be alive.

U.N. officials said medical supplies, fuel and other needed materials are flowing into Gaza once again as the fighting has stopped ahead of a proposed permanent peace, NBC News reported.

The Israeli military also has withdrawn to a predetermined line, which has started the 72-hour countdown for Hamas to release the remaining 48 hostages, including the remains of an estimated 28 hostages who are believed to be dead, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff announced.

No hostilities are underway in Gaza, which has enabled its remaining residents to begin returning to their former homes, many of which have been decimated during two years of war that started when Hamas launched an unprovoked attack on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023.

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants killed some 1,200 Israeli civilians and others and kidnapped another 250, but released more than 100 during a prior cease-fire.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are returning to cities and villages that largely have been destroyed, according to Al Jazeera.

Israel has agreed to release nearly 250 Palestinian prisoners and has begun notifying the families of those who were killed by the prisoners that Israel will release.

Israel’s partial withdrawal from Gaza and the exchange of remaining hostages held in Gaza and prisoners held in Israel are part of the first phase of the peace agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli officials expect to begin receiving the living hostages and the remains of those who are deceased on Monday.

While the first phase of the peace agreement is underway, leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine have rejected any potential foreign nations acting as peacekeepers in Gaza, though.

The United States is among the nations that are tasked with helping to maintain the peace in Gaza.

Gazan officials also are demanding an independent investigation of alleged Israeli war crimes and genocide against Gazans.

The demand comes after the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reported about 67,000 Gazans died and 170,000 were injured during the two-year conflict.

The Health Ministry’s numbers do not differentiate between Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters and civilians, and the number of reported casualties has been disputed.

Sami Al-Arian, a professor at Istanbul Zaim University, talks about the Gaza ceasefire deal and the key conditions required for it to hold.

Al Jazeera Director General Sheikh Nasser bin Faisal Al Thani says ‘protecting journalists is protection of the truth.’

The Director General of Al Jazeera Media Network has stressed the importance of protecting journalists working in conflict zones and called for more solidarity between media organisations and human rights groups.

In his first public address since he was appointed director general of the Doha-based network last month, Sheikh Nasser bin Faisal Al Thani said on Wednesday that Al Jazeera has made the protection of journalists a firm priority and the network conducts training and mentorship of its journalists to ensure this.

“The press has never been a party to the conflict, but has been a tool for getting information to the people,” Sheikh Nasser told the Conference on The Protection of Journalists in Armed Conflicts, a two-day event held in Doha, Qatar.

He said it is critical to ramp up measures to safeguard journalists in war zones. “Otherwise, war crimes will remain unwritten” about.

He called for the implementation of human rights regulations and enhanced solidarity among media organisations and human rights organisations.

“Silencing free speech will not stop the truth,” Sheikh Nasser said. “Protecting journalists is protection of the truth itself.”

‘Journalists are being killed’

The first day of the conference comprised several sessions, where speakers included journalists who had reported in conflict zones, such as Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh, who was wounded in an Israeli attack on Gaza in late 2023.

Dahdouh has campaigned to raise awareness of the unsafe conditions for journalists working in Gaza since Israel launched its war on the Palestinian territory on October 7, 2023.

At least 300 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza during the two-year war, according to the Shireen Abu Akleh Observatory. This includes 10 journalists from Al Jazeera.

“Journalists are being killed and genocide is being committed against them,” Dahdouh told the conference.

Other speakers included legal experts and workers associated with nonprofit organisations that work for the safety of journalists, such as Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). A spokesperson for the International Criminal Court (ICC) also spoke at one of the sessions.

The discussions focused on attacks against journalists and the imprisonment of journalists in Gaza and around the world.

Several speakers throughout the day highlighted the importance of treating journalists like civilians. Speakers added, however, that international law provisions that lay down safeguards for civilians might not apply similarly to journalists. They pressed on the need for international laws that specifically focus on safeguarding journalists and media organisations.

“The civilian can go away from the combat field but the journalist has to stay. To assimilate the war journalist with the civilian is not right,” Omar Mekky, the regional legal coordinator for the Near and Middle East Region for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said.

Speakers also asserted the importance of countries stepping in and putting pressure on the governments that are targeting journalists.

The conference will continue for its second day on Thursday.

Videos show German police officers beating pro-Palestine protesters in Berlin after authorities banned a planned demonstration. Around 500 people gathered near Berlin’s City Hall chanting slogans and waving flags, before several were attacked and detained.

Activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla who hoped to reach Gaza have been deported after being intercepted and detained in Israel. They say Israeli forces denied them food, water and medicine, and describe Greta Thunberg as being especially mistreated.

US president Donald Trump’s order to halt fire in Gaza has forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ban his ministers from media interviews to avoid confrontation with the US president. Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh breaks it down.

Palestinians are celebrating in Gaza amid a reduction in Israeli military action. The relative quiet followed Donald Trump’s order for Israel to stop bombing the strip. Hani Mahmoud reports from Gaza, where fewer air strikes are being seen as an early sign of progress.