ceasefire

The Syrian army is locked in intense fighting in Aleppo after SDF fighters refused to withdraw under a ceasefire.

The aid is earmarked to help support both countries in border stabilisation efforts, demining and tackling drug trafficking and cyberscams.

The United States has announced it will provide $45m in aid to help solidify a fragile truce brokered by President Donald Trump between Thailand and Cambodia.

Michael DeSombre, the US assistant secretary for East Asia, said on Friday that the US would offer $20m to help both countries combat drug trafficking and cyberscams, which have become a major concern in Cambodia.

DeSombre was meeting with senior Thai and Cambodian officials in Bangkok and Phnom Penh on Friday and Saturday to discuss implementation of the peace accords, according to a senior State Department official.

DeSombre also said $15m would be given for border stabilisation efforts to help support people displaced by the recent fighting, as well as $10m for de-mining and unexploded ordnance clearance.

“The United States will continue to support the Cambodian and Thai governments as they implement the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords and pave the way for a return to peace, prosperity and stability for their people and the region,” DeSombre said in a statement.

DeSombre was referring to an agreement signed between the two countries in Trump’s presence during his October visit to Malaysia, then head of the ASEAN regional bloc.

Border clashes between Cambodia and Thailand flared up again last month, after the collapse of a truce brokered in July by Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to end a previous round of conflict.

The Southeast Asian neighbours agreed on another ceasefire on December 27, halting 20 days of fighting that killed at least 101 people and displaced more than half a million on both sides.

Thailand accused Cambodia of violating this latest ceasefire, though later retracted the accusation, with the Thai military saying the Cambodian side had contacted them to explain the so-called violation was an accidental fire.

Cambodia, meanwhile, has called on Thailand to pull its forces out of several border areas that Phnom Penh claims as its own.

The nations’ longstanding conflict stems from a dispute over France’s colonial-era demarcation of their 800km (500-mile) border, where both sides claim territory and several centuries-old temple ruins.

Trump has listed the conflict as one of several wars he says he has solved as he loudly insists he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

Trump, on taking office, drastically slashed foreign aid, including for months freezing longstanding assistance to Cambodia for de-mining, with the administration saying it will provide money only in support of narrow US interests.

US citizens have been targeted by financial fraud operations taking place at scam centres throughout Southeast Asia.

Thailand is a longtime US ally, while the US has sought to improve relations with Cambodia to try to woo it away from strategic rival China.

The Israeli military continues to demolish structures in northern Gaza while also blocking the entry of aid.

The Israeli army has launched more attacks into parts of Gaza outside its direct military control, despite the ceasefire deal mediated by the United States in October.

At least three Palestinians were killed on Sunday in separate Israeli attacks in Khan Younis, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

They included a 15-year-old boy, a fisherman, and a third man shot dead east of Khan Younis.

In the central part of the besieged enclave, Israeli fire injured several people east of the Bureij refugee camp.

In Gaza City to the north, Israeli forces continued to demolish homes and civilian infrastructure within the mostly destroyed Tuffah neighbourhood.

The Israeli army confirmed it was destroying more infrastructure in northern Gaza, but claimed that the target was “terrorist infrastructure above and below ground”, including tunnels in Beit Lahiya.

Israeli drones also dropped explosives on several homes in eastern Gaza City. The Shujayea and Zeitoun neighbourhoods of Gaza City, which have also been extensively attacked during more than two years of Israel’s genocidal war, were hit with artillery shelling.

At least 71,386 Palestinians have been killed and 171,264 others injured since the start of the war in October 2023, according to the latest figures from Gaza’s Ministry of Health. At least 420 people have been killed since the ceasefire was signed less than three months ago.

The Israeli military continues to block a large amount of the international humanitarian aid amassing at the border with Gaza, while maintaining that there is no shortage of aid despite testimonies by the United Nations and others working on the ground.

It has also moved to ban several prominent international aid groups from operating in Gaza, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reached the end of his latest trip to the United States and appears to have gained what he wants from President Donald Trump.

Trump hailed Netanyahu after their meeting on Monday, calling him a “hero” and saying Israel – and by extension its prime minister – had “lived up to the plan 100 percent” in reference to the US president’s signature Gaza ceasefire.

That is despite reports emerging last week that US officials were growing frustrated over Netanyahu’s apparent “slow walking” of the 20-point ceasefire plan – imposed by the US administration in October – suspecting that the Israeli prime minister might be hoping to keep the door open to resuming hostilities against the Palestinian group Hamas at a time of his choosing.

Under the terms of that agreement – after the exchange of all captives held in Gaza, living and dead, aid deliveries into the enclave and the freezing of all front lines – Gaza would move towards phase two, which includes negotiations on establishing a technocratic “board of peace” to administer the enclave and the deployment of an international security force to safeguard it.

So far, Netanyahu has not allowed in all of the required aid that Gaza desperately needs and is also maintaining that phase two cannot be entered into until Hamas returns the body of the last remaining captive. He has also demanded that Hamas disarms before Israel withdraws its forces, a suggestion fully endorsed by Trump after Monday’s meeting.

Hamas has repeatedly rejected disarmament being forced upon it by Israel, and officials have said that the question of arms was an internal Palestinian matter to be discussed between Palestinian factions.

So is Netanyahu deliberately trying to avoid entering the second phase of the agreement, and why would that be the case?

Here are four reasons why Netanyahu might be happy with things just as they are:

He’s under pressure from his right

Netanyahu’s ruling coalition is, by any metric, the most right wing in the country’s history. Throughout the war on Gaza, the support of Israel’s hardliners has proven vital in shepherding the prime minister’s coalition through periods of intense domestic protest and international criticism.

Now, many on the right, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, oppose the ceasefire, protesting against the release of Palestinian prisoners and insisting that Gaza be occupied.

Netanyahu’s defence minister, Israel Katz, has also shown little enthusiasm for honouring the deal his country committed to in October. Speaking at a ceremony to mark the expansion of the latest of Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, Katz claimed that Israel’s forces would remain in Gaza, eventually clearing the way for further settlements.

Katz later walked his comments back, reportedly after coming under pressure from the US.

He doesn’t want an international force in Gaza

Allowing an international force to deploy to Gaza would limit Israel’s operational freedom, constraining its military’s ability to re-enter Gaza, conduct targeted strikes or pursue Hamas remnants within the enclave.

So far, despite the ceasefire, Israeli forces have killed more than 400 people in the enclave since agreeing to halt fighting on October 10.

Politically, agreeing to an international stabilisation force, particularly one drawn from neighbouring states, would broaden what Israel has often seen as a domestic war into an international conflict with many of the strategic, diplomatic and political decisions over that conflict being made by actors outside of its control.

It could also be framed domestically as a concession forced by the US and international community, undermining Netanyahu’s repeated claims of maintaining Israeli sovereignty and strategic independence.

“If Netanyahu allows a foreign military force into Gaza, he immediately denies himself a large degree of his freedom to operate,” Israeli political analyst Nimrod Flaschenberg said from Berlin. “Ideally, he needs things to remain exactly where they are but without alienating Trump.”

He wants to resist any progress towards a two-state solution

While not explicitly mentioning a two-state solution, the ceasefire agreement does include provisions under which Israel and the Palestinians commit to a dialogue towards what it frames as a “political horizon for peaceful and prosperous co-existence”.

Netanyahu, however, has been arguing against a two-state solution since at least 2015 when he campaigned on the issue.

More recently, at the United Nations in September, he branded the decision to recognise a Palestinian state “insane” and claimed that Israel would not accept the establishment of a Palestinian homeland.

Israeli ministers have also been at work ensuring that the two-state solution remains a practical impossibility. Israel’s plan to establish a series of new settlements severing occupied East Jerusalem – long considered the future capital of any Palestinian state – from the West Bank would make the establishment of a feasible state impossible.

This isn’t just an unfortunate consequence of geography. Announcing the plans for the new settlements in August, Smotrich said the project would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state”.

A resumption of war would benefit him

Netanyahu faces numerous domestic threats, from his own corruption trial to the potentially explosive issue of forcing conscription on Israel’s ultra-religious students. There is also the public reckoning he faces for his own failures before and during the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, all of which will fall within a critical election year for the prime minister.

Each of these challenges risks fracturing his coalition and weakening his hold on power. All of them, however, could be derailed – or at least politically blurred – by a new conflict either with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon or possibly even with Iran.

Renewed fighting would allow him to once more present himself as a wartime leader, limit criticism and rally both his allies and adversaries around the well-worn flag of “national emergency”.

PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday, as Washington looks to create fresh momentum for a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that could be in danger of stalling before a complicated second phase.

Trump could use the face-to-face at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to try to leverage his strong relationship with Netanyahu and look for ways to speed up the peace process. Before that, Netanyahu met separately with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that Trump championed has mostly held, but progress has slowed recently. Both sides accuse each other of violations, and divisions have emerged among the U.S., Israel and Arab countries about the path forward.

The truce’s first phase began in October, days after the two-year anniversary of the initial Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people. All but one of the 251 hostages taken then have been released, alive or dead.

The Israeli leader has signaled he is in no rush to move forward with the next phase as long as the remains of Ran Gvili are still in Gaza. Netanyahu’s office said he met with Gvili’s parents in Florida.

Now comes the next, far more complicated part. Trump’s 20-point plan — which was approved by the U.N. Security Council — lays out an ambitious vision for ending Hamas’ rule of Gaza.

Iran and other topics likely to come up

The two leaders also are expected to discuss other topics, including Iran, whose nuclear capabilities Trump insists were “completely and fully obliterated” after U.S. strikes on its nuclear sites in June. Israeli officials have been quoted in local media as expressing concern about Iran rebuilding its supply of long-range missiles capable of striking Israel.

There are many key facets of the ceasefire’s second phase that Israel’s leader doesn’t support or has even openly opposed, said Mona Yacoubian, director and senior adviser of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“This is going to be a really tall order, I think, for President Trump to get Netanyahu to agree,” she said.

“How he does that, what kind of pressure he puts on Netanyahu, I think, is going to be important to watch for,” said Yacoubian, who also said the two could exhibit ”a broader clash of approaches to the region.”

Next phase is complex

If successful, the second phase would see the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza under international supervision by a group chaired by Trump and known as the Board of Peace. The Palestinians would form a “technocratic, apolitical” committee to run daily affairs in Gaza, under Board of Peace supervision.

It further calls for normalized relations between Israel and the Arab world, and a possible pathway to Palestinian independence. Then there are thorny logistical and humanitarian questions, including rebuilding war-ravaged Gaza, disarming Hamas and creating a security apparatus called the International Stabilization Force.

The Board of Peace would oversee Gaza’s reconstruction under a two-year, renewable U.N. mandate. Its members had been expected to be named by the end of the year and might even be revealed after Monday’s meeting, but the announcement could be pushed into next month.

Netanyahu was the first foreign leader to meet Trump at the White House in his second term, but this will be their first in-person meeting since Trump went to Israel in October to mark the start of the ceasefire’s initial phase. Netanyahu has been to Mar-a-Lago before, including in July 2024 when Trump was still seeking reelection.

Much remains unsettled

Their latest meeting comes after U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, recently huddled in Florida with officials from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, which have been mediating the ceasefire.

Two main challenges have complicated moving to the second phase, according to an official who was briefed on those meetings. Israeli officials have been taking a lot of time to vet and approve members of the Palestinian technocratic committee from a list given to them by the mediators, and Israel continues its military strikes.

Trump’s plan also calls for the stabilization force, proposed as a multinational body, to maintain security. But it, too, has yet to be formed. Whether details will be forthcoming after Monday’s meeting is unclear.

A Western diplomat said there is a “huge gulf” between the U.S.-Israeli understanding of the force’s mandate and that of other major countries in the region, as well as European governments.

All spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that haven’t been made public.

The U.S. and Israel want the force to have a “commanding role” in security duties, including disarming Hamas and other militant groups. But countries being courted to contribute troops fear that mandate will make it an “occupation force,” the diplomat said.

Hamas has said it is ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its arsenal of weapons but insists it has a right to armed resistance as long as Israel occupies Palestinian territory. One U.S. official said a potential plan might be to offer cash incentives in exchange for weapons, echoing a “buyback” program Witkoff has previously floated.

Questions about Gaza reconstruction

One displaced man in Khan Yunis, Iyad Abu Sakla, said Trump needed to urge Netanyahu to allow Palestinians to return to their homes. Under the agreement, most Palestinians are permitted in a zone just under half the size of Gaza.

“We are exhausted. This displacement is bad; it’s cold and freezing. Enough lying to us and enough insulting our intelligence,” Sakla said.

Israeli bombardment and ground operations have transformed neighborhoods across Gaza into rubble-strewn wastelands, with blackened shells of buildings and mounds of debris stretching in all directions.

Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are pressing for a negotiated deal on disarming Hamas and on additional Israeli withdrawal from Gaza before moving to next elements of the plan, including deployment of the international security force and reconstruction, three Arab officials said.

Three other officials, including two Americans, said the United Arab Emirates has agreed to fund reconstruction, including new communities, although they said plans have not been settled.

All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations between the various countries. The UAE did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Weissert, Mednick and Magdy write for the Associated Press. AP writers Darlene Superville in Washington and Lee Keath and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.

Dec. 27 (UPI) — Weeks into a vicious border war that has killed dozens of people and displaced roughly half a million, Thailand and Cambodia agreed to a 72-hour cease-fire on Saturday.

The countries announced in a joint statement that they would not conduct any military activities along the border, although their troops can stay there, in an effort to have a prolonged period of peace to see if the cease-fire will hold, The New York Times and Financial Times reported.

The agreement comes after several days of negotiations to end renewed fighting that has plagued the border region for weeks, including Thai air strikes on Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey Province early Friday morning.

“The signing is not the end, but the beginning of proving sincerity through action,” Thailand’s Air Chief Marshal Prapas Sornchaidee said in a statement posted to X.

“Thailand will proceed based on the same principles it has consistently communicated to the international community,” said Sornchaidee, who is acting as director of the joint press center and principle spokesperson on the border negotiations.

The cease-fire was due to start at 12:00 p.m. local time, with all fighting and military activity halted and both sides avoiding “unprovoked firing or advancement or movement of troops toward the other side’s positions,” according to the agreement.

The agreement requires both sides to refrain from any type of provocative actions, to avoid disseminating “false information or fake news” and to commit to efforts for both countries to better work together.

Additionally, if the cease-fire holds for the full 72 hours, Thailand agreed to return 18 Cambodian soldiers — something it initially agreed to do in October — and both sides will start to allow civilians to return to their homes along the 500-mile border between the countries.

The soldiers were captured in July after weeks of fighting, which also had resulted in a cease-fire and an eventual peace accord signed in October in Kuala Lumpur.

That cease-fire and peace agreement rumbled in November when Thailand accused Cambodia of laying new landmines along its border — weapons that both countries have employed — Financial Times reported.

The new agreement, which was signed at 10:30 a.m. local time on Saturday morning, follows recent overtures from the United States and China to increase diplomatic efforts and end the conflict, the New York Times reported.

“The United States welcomes this announcement from Cambodia and Thailand on reaching a cease-fire that halts hostilities along their border,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “We urge Cambodia and Thailand to immediately honor this commitment and fully implement the terms of the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords.”

With a cease-fire agreed to after three days of negotiations, a trilateral meeting between the foreign ministers of Cambodia, Thailand and China will be held on Sunday and Monday to continue working toward a more lasting peace, Cambodian officials said.

A ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia has come into effect along the border, where almost three weeks of deadly clashes have forced nearly one million people from their homes.

In a joint statement, the defence ministers of the two countries agreed to freeze the front lines where they are now, ban reinforcements and allow civilians living in border areas to return as soon as possible.

The ceasefire took effect at noon local time (05:00 GMT) on Saturday. Once it has been in place for 72 hours, 18 Cambodian soldiers held by Thailand since July will be released, the statement said.

The breakthrough came after days of talks between the two countries, with diplomatic encouragement from China and the US.

The agreement prioritises getting the displaced back to their homes, and also includes an agreement to remove landmines.

Thailand’s Defence Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit described the ceasefire as a test for the “other party’s sincerity”.

“Should the ceasefire fail to materialise or be violated, Thailand retains its legitimate right to self-defence under international law,” he told reporters.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk said he hopes the ceasefire will “pave the way” for peace, while an EU spokesperson urged “good faith” in its implementation.

Thailand had been reluctant to accept the ceasefire, saying the last one was not properly implemented. They also resented what they saw as Cambodia’s efforts to internationalise the conflict.

Unlike the last ceasefire in July, US President Donald Trump was conspicuously absent from this one, although the US State Department was involved.

That ceasefire agreement collapsed earlier this month, when fresh clashes erupted. Both sides blamed each other for the breakdown of the truce.

The Thai army said its troops had responded to Cambodian fire in Thailand’s Si Sa Ket province, in which two Thai soldiers were injured.

Cambodia’s defence ministry said it was Thai forces that had attacked first, in Preah Vihear province, and insisted that Cambodia did not retaliate.

Clashes have continued throughout December. On Friday, Thailand carried out more air strikes inside Cambodia.

The Thai Air Force said it had hit a Cambodian “fortified military position” after civilians had left the area. Cambodia’s defence ministry said the strikes were “indiscriminate attacks” against civilian houses.

How well the ceasefire holds this time depends to a large extent on political will. Nationalist sentiment has been inflamed in both countries.

Cambodia, in particular, has lost many soldiers and a lot of its military equipment. It has been driven back from positions it held on the border, and suffered extensive damage from the Thai air strikes, grievances which could make a lasting peace harder to achieve.

Disagreement over the border dates back more than a century, but tension increased early this year after a group of Cambodian women sang patriotic songs in a disputed temple.

A Cambodian soldier was killed in a clash in May, and two months later, in July, there were five days of intense fighting along the border, which left dozens of soldiers and civilians dead. Thousands more civilians were displaced.

Following intervention by Malaysia and President Trump, a fragile ceasefire was negotiated between the two countries, and signed in late October.

Trump dubbed the agreement the “Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords”. It mandated both sides to withdraw their heavy weapons from the disputed region, and to establish an interim observer team to monitor it.

However, the agreement was suspended by Thailand in November after Thai soldiers were injured by landmines, with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announcing that the security threat had “not actually decreased”.

A ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia has come into effect after weeks of deadly fighting across the border. Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig says artillery fire has stopped but the next 72 hours will be a critical test of whether the truce holds. Hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians are hoping it lasts.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appeals for immediate truce as fighting intensifies in Darfur and Kordofan regions.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan’s brutal civil war, which the UN says has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Guterres’s appeal, made late on Friday, follows a peace initiative presented by Sudan’s Prime Minister Kamil Idris to the UN Security Council on Monday, which called for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to disarm.

The plan was rejected by the RSF as “wishful thinking”.

The war erupted in April 2023 when a power struggle broke out between the Sudanese army and the RSF paramilitary group. Since then, the conflict has displaced 9.6 million people internally and forced 4.3 million to flee to neighbouring countries, while 30.4 million Sudanese now need humanitarian assistance, according to UN figures.

UN Assistant Secretary-General Mohamed Khaled Khiari told the UNSC this week that fears of intensified fighting during the dry season had been confirmed.

“Each passing day brings staggering levels of violence and destruction,” he said. “Civilians are enduring immense, unimaginable suffering, with no end in sight.”

The conflict has shifted in recent weeks to Sudan’s central Kordofan region, where the RSF captured the strategic Heglig oilfield on December 8. The seizure prompted South Sudanese forces to cross into Sudan to protect the infrastructure, which Khiari warned reflects “the increasingly complex nature of the conflict and its expanding regional dimensions”.

The RSF has also launched a final push to consolidate full control over North Darfur state, attacking towns in the Dar Zaghawa region near the Chad border since December 24. The offensive threatens to close the last escape corridor for civilians fleeing the country to Chad.

The violence spilled across Sudan’s borders on Friday when a drone attack killed two Chadian soldiers at a military camp in the border town of Tine.

A Chadian military intelligence officer told Reuters news agency the drone came from Sudan, though it remained unclear whether it was launched by the army or the RSF. Chad has placed its air force on high alert and warned it would “exercise our right to retaliate” if the strike is confirmed as deliberate.

Despite the intensifying conflict, the UN achieved a rare breakthrough, saying on Friday that it conducted its first assessment mission to el-Fasher since the city fell to the RSF.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator Denise Brown said the mission followed “months of intense fighting, siege, and widespread violations against civilians and humanitarian workers,” adding that “hundreds of thousands of civilians have had to flee el-Fasher and surrounding areas”.

Earlier this month, Yale University released a report documenting systematic mass killings by the RSF in el-Fasher, with satellite imagery showing evidence of burning and the burial of human remains on a mass scale.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned last week that the fighting was “horrifying” and “atrocious”, telling a news conference that “one day the story of what’s actually happened there is going to be known, and everyone involved is going to look bad”.

Rubio said he wanted the war to end before the New Year, but there is no strong indication that progress has been made.

Prime Minister Idris’s peace plan proposed an immediate UN-monitored ceasefire and complete RSF withdrawal from the roughly 40 percent of Sudan it controls. But an adviser to RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo dismissed the proposal as “closer to fantasy than to politics”.

Upon returning to Port Sudan on Friday, Idris laid down a red line, saying the government would reject international peacekeeping forces because Sudan had been “burned” by them in the past.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

Agreement follows talks aimed at ending weeks of deadly clashes along the Thailand-Cambodia border.

Thailand and Cambodia said they have signed a ⁠ceasefire ​agreement to end weeks of fierce fighting along their border that has killed more than 100 people and forced the displacement of more than half a million civilians in both countries.

“Both sides agree to an immediate ceasefire after the time of signature of this Joint Statement,” ‍the Thai and Cambodian defence ⁠ministers said in a statement on Saturday.

“Both sides agree to maintain current troop deployments without further movement,” the ministers said.

The ceasefire is scheduled to take effect at noon local time (05:00 GMT) and extends to “all types of weapons” and “attacks on civilians, civilian objects and infrastructures, and military objectives of either side, in all cases and all areas”.

The agreement, signed by Thai Defence Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit and his Cambodian counterpart Tea Seiha, ‌ends 20 days of fighting, the worst between the two Southeast Asian neighbours in years.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow soon.

Dec. 26 (UPI) — The Thai military advanced on Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey Province on Friday morning after carrying out air strikes as the two nations continue negotiating a possible cease-fire.

Thai tanks, armored vehicles and infantry advanced into Chouk Chey Village in the O’Chrov District of Banteay Meanchey Province, which is located in northwestern Cambodia and along its border with Thailand, the Khmer Times reported.

Thai F-16 fighter jets dropped about 40 bombs onto the area from 6:08 a.m. local time to 7:15 before the Thai military’s ground forces advanced into it.

The air strikes were done “in the most ruthless and inhumane manner” as they destroyed public infrastructure, civilians’ homes and private property, Cambodian Defense Ministry spokeswoman Lt. Gen. Maly Socheata said.

“The brutal actions above are indiscriminate attacks by the Thai military,” Socheata said.

She called the attacks a “serious violation of international humanitarian law” and said the Cambodian military continues to perform its duties to defend the nation’s territories.

“We will protect our dignity with courage and unwavering resolve, at any cost, and without succumbing to coercion or intimidation in any form,” Socheata said.

Thai Air Force officials denied attacking civilians and their homes, and told the BBC that they struck a “fortified military position” after civilians evacuated the area.

Friday’s military actions were intended to give Thailand control of the village of Nong Chan.

Meanwhile, respective Cambodian and Thai negotiators continue discussing a potential cease-fire while meeting at a border checkpoint for a third day and are scheduled to meet again on Saturday.

Fighting between the two nations resumed earlier in December despite agreeing to a cease-fire in July amid border disputes dating back to the early 20th century.

At least 41 have died and about a million more are displaced since the fighting resumed this month along the 500-mile border separating the two nations.

The hostilities started in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed during a clash between the opposing forces and escalated when the Cambodian military fired rockets into Thailand on July 24.

Chinese and U.S. officials each have tried to mediate a lasting peace in the matter.

Gaza’s Christians reflected on the loss they’ve experienced after two years of Israel’s devastating war, as Palestinians marked the first Christmas since the fragile ceasefire deal.

Deadly attack comes as Gaza government media office says Israel violated ceasefire 875 times since it began in October.

Israeli forces have killed at least two Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as Israel continues to violate a ceasefire agreement and block desperately needed humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged coastal enclave.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Monday that two people were killed after Israeli troops opened fire in the Shujayea neighbourhood of eastern Gaza City.

Their deaths bring the total number of Palestinians reported killed in Gaza over the past 24 hours to at least 12, including eight whose bodies were recovered from the rubble in the territory.

The Gaza City attack is the latest in hundreds of Israeli violations of a United States-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which came into effect on October 10.

Gaza’s Government Media Office on Monday condemned Israel’s “serious and systematic violations” of the truce, noting that the Israeli authorities had breached the ceasefire 875 times since it came into force.

That includes continued Israeli air and artillery attacks, unlawful demolitions of Palestinian homes and other civilian infrastructure, and at least 265 incidents of Israeli troops shooting Palestinian civilians, the office said in a statement.

At least 411 Palestinians have been killed and 1,112 others wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the ceasefire began, it added.

Worsening shelter conditions

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian families displaced by Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza continue to grapple with a lack of humanitarian supplies, including adequate food, medicine and shelter.

As the occupying power in Gaza, Israel has an obligation under international law to provide for the needs of Palestinians there.

But the United Nations and other humanitarian groups say it has systematically failed to allow unimpeded deliveries of aid into Gaza.

The situation has been worsened by a series of winter storms that have pummelled the Strip in recent weeks, with rights groups saying Israel’s refusal to allow tents, blankets and other supplies into Gaza is part of its genocidal policy and threatening Palestinian lives.

On Monday, the Gaza Government Media Office said that only 17,819 trucks entered the territory out of the 43,800 that were supposed to be allowed in since the ceasefire came into effect in October.

That amounts to an average of just 244 trucks per day – far below the 600 trucks that Israel agreed to allow into Gaza daily under the ceasefire agreement, the office said.

On Monday, a spokesperson for UN chief Antonio Guterres reiterated the call “for the lifting of all restrictions of the entry of aid into Gaza, including shelter material”.

“Over the past 24 hours, and despite the ceasefire, we have continued to receive reports of air strikes, shelling and gunfire in all five governorates of Gaza. This has resulted in reported casualties and disruptions to humanitarian operations,” Stephane Dujarric said.

He said that the UN’s humanitarian partners are working to address the significant shelter needs, particularly for displaced families living in unsafe conditions.

“Our partners continue to work to improve access to dignified shelter for approximately 1.3 million people in Gaza in the past week, about 3,500 families affected by storms are living in flood prone areas,” he said.

Dujarric said that aid deliveries have included tents, bedding sets, mattresses and blankets, as well as winter clothing for children, but the needs remain overwhelming.

The appeals come a day after the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said that a lack of drugs and other healthcare supplies was making it difficult to provide care to patients.

Nearly all of Gaza’s hospitals and healthcare facilities were attacked during Israel’s two-year bombardment of the territory, damaging at least 125 facilities, including 34 hospitals.

The Israeli army has killed at least 70,937 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, and injured 171,192 others since its genocidal war began in October 2023.

One more Palestinian killed by Israeli army in Gaza while two Palestinians, including a child, are shot dead in occupied West Bank.

US envoy Steve Witkoff to meet senior officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye in Miami to discuss next phase of deal.

The United States Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, will hold talks in Miami, Florida, with senior officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye as efforts continue to advance the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire, even as Israel repeatedly violates the truce on the ground.

A White House official told Al Jazeera Arabic on Friday that Witkoff is set to meet representatives from the three countries to discuss the future of the agreement aimed at halting Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Axios separately reported that the meeting, scheduled for later on Friday, will include Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.

At the same time, Israel’s public broadcaster, quoting an Israeli official, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding a restricted security consultation to examine the second phase of the ceasefire and potential scenarios.

That official warned that Israel could launch a new military campaign to disarm Hamas if US President Donald Trump were to disengage from the Gaza process, while acknowledging that such a move was unlikely because Trump wants to preserve calm in the enclave.

Despite Washington’s insistence that the ceasefire remains intact, Israeli attacks have continued almost uninterrupted, as it continues to renege on the terms of the first phase, as it blocks the free flow of desperately needed humanitarian aid into the besieged Palestinian territory.

According to an Al Jazeera analysis, Israeli forces carried out attacks on Gaza on 58 of the past 69 days of the truce, leaving only 11 days without reported deaths, injuries or violence.

In Washington, Trump said on Thursday that Netanyahu is likely to visit him in Florida during the Christmas holidays, as the US president presses for the launch of the agreement’s second phase.

“Yes, he will probably visit me in Florida. He wants to meet me. We haven’t formally arranged it yet, but he wants to meet me,” Trump told reporters.

Qatar and Egypt, who are mediating and guaranteeing the truce after a devastating two-year genocide in Gaza, have urged a transition to the second phase of the agreement. The plan includes a full Israeli military withdrawal and the deployment of an international stabilisation force (ISF).

Fragile truce, entrenched occupation

Qatar’s prime minister warned on Wednesday that daily Israeli breaches of the Gaza ceasefire are threatening the entire agreement, as he called for urgent progress towards the next phase of the deal to end Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Sheikh Mohammed made the appeal following talks with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, where he stressed that “delays and ceasefire violations endanger the entire process and place mediators in a difficult position”.

The ceasefire remains deeply unstable, and Palestinians and rights groups say it is a ceasefire only in name, amid Israeli violations and a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Since the truce took effect on October 10, 2025, Israel has repeatedly breached the agreement, killing hundreds of Palestinians.

Gaza’s Government Media Office says Israel committed at least 738 violations between October 10 and December 12, including air strikes, artillery fire and direct shootings.

Israeli forces shot at civilians 205 times, carried out 37 incursions beyond the so-called “yellow line”, bombed or shelled Gaza 358 times, demolished property on 138 occasions and detained 43 Palestinians, the office said.

Israel has also continued to block critical humanitarian aid while systematically destroying homes and infrastructure.

Against this backdrop, Israel Hayom quoted an Israeli security official as saying the so-called “yellow line” now marks Israel’s new border inside Gaza, adding that Israeli forces will not withdraw unless Hamas is disarmed. The official said the army is preparing to remain there indefinitely.

The newspaper also reported that Israeli military leaders are proposing continued control over half of Gaza, underscoring Israel’s apparent intent to entrench its occupation rather than implement a genuine ceasefire.

Compounding the misery in Gaza, a huge storm that recently hit the Strip has killed at least 13 people as torrential rains and fierce winds flooded tents and caused damaged buildings to collapse.

Israel’s two-year war has decimated more than 80 percent of the structures across Gaza, forcing hundreds of thousands of families to take refuge in flimsy tents or overcrowded makeshift shelters.

In a national address, US President Donald Trump claimed the Gaza truce he helped broker brought peace to the Middle East “for the first time in 3,000 years.” Trump’s statement comes despite ongoing Israeli ceasefire violations and near-daily attacks on Gaza.

More than two months after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended two years of intense fighting in Gaza, both sides claim the other has violated the agreement, and there is no progress on the more challenging steps that follow.

The ceasefire involves three main documents. The most comprehensive is a 20-point plan by former U. S. President Donald Trump, which proposes that Hamas disarm and cease its governing role in Gaza, accompanied by an Israeli withdrawal. Although a more limited agreement was made on October 9, it mainly focused on hostages, a halt to hostilities, partial Israeli withdrawal, and a boost in aid. This agreement was supported by a United Nations Security Council resolution that aimed to set up a transitional governing body and an international force in Gaza.

The results of the ceasefire have seen all surviving hostages returned and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners released. However, the return of deceased hostages has been slow. Aid distribution has become contentious, with Hamas claiming that fewer aid trucks are entering Gaza than promised. Aid organizations report a significant shortfall in necessary supplies, while Israel asserts it is fulfilling its commitments under the truce. The Rafah border crossing with Egypt remains closed, with Israel stating it will only open it once the last hostage’s body is returned. The living conditions in Gaza are dire, with many residents constructing makeshift shelters from debris, and a large number of children suffering from malnutrition, worsened by floods affecting temporary shelters and sanitation.

Some violence persists, as Palestinian militants have attacked Israeli forces, resulting in casualties on both sides. A proposed international stabilisation force intended to maintain order in Gaza is still undefined, with disagreements over its composition and tasks. Plans for a Palestinian governing body, independent of Hamas, have also not been clarified. The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, is expected to implement reforms before taking a role in Gaza, but no details have been shared.

The possibility of lasting peace remains uncertain. Israel suggests military action may resume if Hamas does not disarm, yet a return to full-scale war does not seem imminent. Both Israelis and Palestinians are skeptical about the long-term success of the Trump plan and fear it may lead to a continued, unresolved conflict. Many Israelis are concerned about the potential for Hamas to rearm, while Palestinians worry about ongoing Israeli control and lack of resources for rebuilding Gaza.

Trust between Israelis and Palestinians is at a low point, with the two-state solution, considered vital for lasting peace, appearing increasingly distant. Despite international support for Palestinian statehood, Israeli leadership continues to reject this notion, raising doubts about future negotiations and outcomes.

With information from Reuters