Gaza strip

CAIRO: An ‌Israeli airstrike on Sunday killed at least two Palestinians in a vehicle and wounded 13 others in the Gaza Strip, medical staff said.

The strike in the Tel Al-Hawa neighbourhood in western Gaza City, left the vehicle mangled, according to footage circulated on social media. Local medical staff told ‌Reuters that ‌they urged people to provide ‌information that could help identify the two people who were killed and whose bodies were dismembered by the explosion.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hamas militants, without giving further information.

An October 2025, U.S.-backed, ceasefire halted large-scale fighting in ‌Gaza, but ‌it has not ended Israeli strikes and ‌there has been little progress on ‌steps towards permanent peace. Hamas accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire and undermining efforts to implement U.S. President Donald Trump’s broader plan ‌to end the Gaza conflict, which includes the Israeli withdrawal from the strip and the disarmament of Hamas. Israel says Hamas has been violating the deal.

More than 1,300 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to the territory’s health officials, while the Israeli military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed.

Hamas does not usually disclose information about fatalities among its fighters.

RIYADH: Eight Islamic and Arab countries on Sunday condemned Israeli plans for the removal of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip saying the designs, voiced by ministers, jeopardise a US-backed peace in the territory.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday the government had plans to remove Palestinians from Gaza but was waiting for US approval on where to displace the territory’s population.

A day later, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said the plan aimed to remove 250,000 Palestinians from Gaza in the first year, followed by the rest of the roughly two million residents over the following six years.

The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Indonesia and Turkey said they condemned in “the strongest terms” the “plans and mechanisms they proposed aimed at forcibly expelling Palestinians from their land”.

“Such measures directly challenge international efforts to achieve peace, particularly President Donald Trump’s comprehensive plan to end the conflict in Gaza, which includes a firm rejection of forced displacement,” they added referring to a US-backed, October 2025 peace plan for Gaza.

On Saturday the US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a staunch supporter of Israel and Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, denied there was an Israeli plan to force Palestinians out of Gaza.