Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday (December 7, 2025) that he expected the second phase of the U.S.-sponsored ceasefire plan for Gaza to begin soon, and said he would meet U.S. President Donald Trump this month.

The truce, in effect since October 10, has halted the war that began after Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

But it remains delicate as Israel and Hamas accuse each other of violations.

Under the terms of the ceasefire that entered into force on October 10, Palestinian militants committed to releasing the remaining 47 living and dead captives seized on their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

All of the hostages have so far been released except for the body of an Israeli police officer.

Speaking after meeting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Jerusalem, Mr. Netanyahu said: “We very shortly expect to move into the second phase, which is more difficult.”

The plan’s initial steps saw Israeli troops withdraw to positions behind a so-called “Yellow Line” in Gaza, though still in control of more than half the territory.

Israel’s army chief, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, said the demarcation line is a “new border line”, the military quoted him as saying later Sunday.

The second stage of the Gaza truce plan concerns disarming Hamas, the further withdrawal of Israeli forces as a transitional authority is established, and the deployment of an international stabilisation force.

A final goal of the agreement is the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza in phases if certain conditions are met.

“We have a second phase, no less daunting, and that is to achieve the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarisation of Gaza,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

Flurry of aid diplomacy

Qatar and Egypt, which helped secure the long-elusive truce, called Saturday for the next steps to be taken including the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Hamas said on the same day it was ready to hand over its weapons in Gaza to a Palestinian authority on the condition that the Israeli army’s occupation ends.

Mr. Netanyahu also said he would meet Trump later in December to discuss “opportunities for peace” in the region.

The meeting is expected to take place in Washington after the premier’s office said Trump invited Netanyahu to the White House during a phone call Monday.

Before Israel, Germany’s Merz was in Jordan where he urged more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and U.S. ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz were also in Jordan Sunday to discuss humanitarian aid for the territory.

Waltz is due to travel to Israel after Jordan.

Germany reaffirms support

The German leader, who took power in May this year, has repeatedly criticised Israel’s relentless military campaign in Gaza, which according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

The war was sparked by the October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Mr. Merz urged the implementation of the plan’s next steps while reaffirming Berlin’s support for Israel during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.

“Germany must stand up for the existence and security of Israel,” Merz said, after acknowledging his country’s “enduring historical responsibility” for the mass extermination of Jews during the Second World War.

During the press conference with Netanyahu, Merz said criticism of Israel was “possible and sometimes perhaps even necessary”.

“The relationship between Germany and Israel can withstand that. But criticism of the policies of the Israeli government must not be misused as a pretext for antisemitism,” he added.

Mr., Merz also underscored German support for a two-state solution.

ICC warrant

Germany had in August moved to restrict German sales of weapons for use in Gaza but has since lifted those export restrictions following the ceasefire.

Despite the truce, more than 360 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health authorities, as well as three Israeli soldiers.

Although Mr. Merz’s public criticism of Israel was unusual for a German leader, it was measured by international standards.

Nevertheless, Mr. Merz said he did not discuss the possibility of Mr. Netanyahu’s visit to Germany with the Prime Minister.

The Israeli leader faces an arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Gaza from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“I am not going there because of an ICC decision,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

Mr. Merz this year vowed to invite the Israeli leader and told him he would not be arrested.

Published – December 08, 2025 01:00 am IST

Hamas militants escort members of the Red Cross towards an area within the so-called “yellow line” to which Israeli troops withdrew under the ceasefire, as Hamas says it continues to search for the bodies of deceased hostages seized during the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, in Gaza City November 20, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The head of the U.N. food agency said on Thursday (August 29, 2025) that it was “very evident” during her visit to Gaza this week that there isn’t enough food in the Palestinian territory and that she spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the urgent need for more aid.

The world’s leading authority on food crises said last week the Gaza Strip’s largest city is gripped by famine, and that it was likely to spread across the territory without a ceasefire and an end to restrictions on humanitarian aid.

Cindy McCain, the World Food Program’s executive director, told The Associated Press that starvation was underway in Gaza.

“I personally met mothers and children who were starving in Gaza,” she said. “It is real and it is happening now,”

Mr. Netanyahu, she said, was “obviously very concerned that people aren’t getting enough food.” In the past, he has denied that there is famine in Gaza and said the claims about starvation are a propaganda campaign launched by Hamas.

“We agreed that we must immediately redouble our efforts to get more humanitarian aid in. Access and security for our convoys is critical,” Ms. McCain said.

The famine declaration has increased international pressure on Israel, which has been fighting Hamas since the militant group’s deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Israel now says it plans to seize Gaza City and other Hamas strongholds, and there have been no public signs of progress on recent efforts for a ceasefire.

Israel rejects the declaration — issued by the authority on food crises known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC — and on Wednesday asked for a formal retraction.

The Israeli military agency in charge of transferring aid to the territory, known as COGAT, said Thursday that more than 300 humanitarian aid trucks enter Gaza every day, most of them carrying food.

But aid groups say it’s not nearly enough after 22 months of fighting, the blockade of aid earlier this year and the collapse of food production in Gaza. McCain spent most of Tuesday on a tour of Gaza speaking to displaced families living in tents and facing hunger.

“I got to meet a family who had come from the North, there were 11 of them, and they’d come from the North and they literally had not had enough food at all and they still don’t have enough food,” she said.

McCain said her program is getting more food in to Gaza, but said a surge in food supplies was needed.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said famine in Gaza is “a present-day catastrophe” and the start of expanded Israeli military operations present “a new and dangerous phase.”

He said it will have “devastating consequences” and force hundreds of thousands of traumatized and exhausted civilians to flee again.

“Gaza is piled with rubble, piled with bodies, and piled with examples of what may be serious violations of international law,” he said.

Mediators Egypt and Qatar were still waiting for Israel’s response to a 60-day ceasefire proposal in Gaza, which has been accepted by Hamas, Qatari Foreign Minister said on Thursday.

The proposal, which Egyptian and Qatari mediators delivered to Israel earlier this month, calls for a 60-day ceasefire in exchange for the release of 10 living hostages and the handover of bodies of 18 dead ones, according to Arab mediators. It also calls for the withdrawal of Israeli forces to a buffer zone on Gaza.

Also on Thursday, Israeli airstrikes hit the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in response to attacks by the Arab country’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have launched missiles and drones toward Israel and targeted ships in the Red Sea for over 22 months. The Houthis say the attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians.

Nearly 63,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza. The agency reported that 71 people were killed by Israeli strikes over the past day, while scores more were injured. While the ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, it says more than half of the dead were women and children.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.

Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Of the 50 remaining in Gaza, Israel believes around 20 are alive.

The U.N. chief said Israel, as the occupying power, has obligations to protect civilians, facilitate far greater humanitarian access and meet their essential needs.

The systematic dismantling of systems that provide food water and healthcare, Guterres said, “are the result of deliberate decisions that defy basic humanity.”

Published – August 29, 2025 10:05 pm IST

Israel must protect innocent Gaza residents by distinguishing between Hamas militants and civilians, the White House warned Sunday, as world leaders stepped up calls for desperately needed humanitarian aid to reach the war-torn Palestinian territory.

While the U.S. ally has the right to defend itself, it must do so “in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law that prioritizes the protection of civilians,” Mr. Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call, the White House said.

He spoke after his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CNN that Israel “should be taking every possible means available to them to distinguish between Hamas —terrorists, who are legitimate military targets — and civilians, who are not.”

-AFP