Middle East
Israeli fire kills 8 in Gaza as Hamas says ceasefire talks resume
Associated Press
March 11, 2025
The sun sets behind the buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Monday, March 10, 2025. (Leo Correa/AP)
Israeli fire has killed eight Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and three more in the occupied West Bank over the past 24 hours, Palestinian officials said Tuesday, even as a fragile ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza has largely held since late January. During the ceasefire, Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinians in Gaza who the military says had approached its troops or entered unauthorized areas.
Israel is cutting off all electricity, food, medicine and other goods for Gaza’s more than 2 million Palestinians. The United Nations and other humanitarian aid providers say Israel is violating international law in its bid to pressure Hamas to accept an extension of the first phase of the ceasefire.
Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas instead wants to start negotiations on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase, which would see the release of remaining hostages from Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and a lasting peace. Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others.
Hamas says a new round of ceasefire talks have started
The Palestinian militant group said Tuesday it was “dealing responsibly and positively with these negotiations, including the talks with the American envoy for hostage affairs.”
Hamas had said Sunday that it wrapped up the latest round of ceasefire talks with Egyptian mediators — without changes to its position.
Hamas wants to start negotiations on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase, which would see the release of remaining hostages from Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and a lasting peace. Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce.
An Israeli airstrike kills 4 in Gaza
Palestinian first responders say an Israeli airstrike killed four people, including two brothers, in the Gaza Strip.
The Civil Defense, which operates under the Hamas-run government, said Tuesday’s strike was carried out near the Netzarim corridor, where Israeli forces had carved out a military zone bisecting the territory before withdrawing from the area as part of a fragile ceasefire.
The Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike against a group of militants “engaged in suspicious activity.”
It came after another four Gazans had been killed, according to the health ministry. The four killed included three brothers hit by a drone strike in central Gaza on Monday and a woman killed by a drone strike Tuesday in the southern city of Rafah, the ministry said.
The fragile ceasefire has held since it began on Jan. 19, even as Israeli strikes have killed dozens of Palestinians. Israel says it has struck Palestinians who approached its troops, entered unauthorized areas or otherwise violated the terms of the truce.
3 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank
The Palestinian Health Ministry says three Palestinians, including a 58-year-old woman, were killed by Israeli fire in the volatile West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday.
The Israeli military said troops killed two militants in an exchange of fire in Jenin and arrested 10 others. It said its forces eliminated a third militant who had fired at them during the operation and destroyed two vehicles loaded with weapons.
Israel launched a large-scale military operation centered on Jenin shortly after reaching a fragile ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip in January. Troops have destroyed homes and infrastructure, and tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes across the northern West Bank.
UN-backed rights experts hear Palestinians’ allegations of abuse in Israeli custody
Palestinians described alleged abuses by Israeli forces and settlers — punched in the genitals, held for days while naked, starved — to independent U.N.-backed human rights investigators on Tuesday during hearings on the treatment of detainees during the war in Gaza.
“This is not just my story. I’m just one person among many detained by the occupying Israeli power,” said one witness from Gaza, Abu Jidyan, according to a translator.
The Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory’s findings can be used as evidence for the International Criminal Court or other bodies that seek to prosecute war crimes and other violations in the context of the war.
Rights groups have alleged widespread abuse at a military detention facility, Sde Teiman.
Israel has refused to cooperate with the commission, accusing it of anti-Israel bias. Israel has repeatedly denied mistreatment of Palestinian detainees in its custody and said it takes action against any offenses.
Israel, Lebanon, France and the US meet to discuss sticking points
The Israeli prime minister’s office announced Israel will release five Lebanese detainees as a “gesture” to the new Lebanese president. The release follows a meeting Tuesday in Lebanon between representatives from Israel, Lebanon, France, and the United States.
Israel said the talks focused on bringing more stability to the region after a bruising war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has been paused by a ceasefire since late November. The four nations will continue meeting to discuss three major issues between Israel and Lebanon, including five locations in southern Lebanon that remain under Israeli military control, the border between Israel and Lebanon — which has never officially been determined — and the issue of Lebanese detainees held by Israel.
“Everyone involved remains committed to maintaining the ceasefire agreement and to fully implement all its terms,” said Morgan Ortagus, the deputy presidential special envoy at the U.S. State Department. According to the terms of the ceasefire, Israel must withdraw from all of Lebanon, including the five points along the border it’s still occupying. The Lebanese government did not have an immediate comment.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels say they are resuming attacks on shipping
The Iran-backed rebels’ secretive leader had warned Friday that attacks against Israel-linked vessels would resume within four days if Israel didn’t let aid into Gaza. As the deadline passed Tuesday, the Houthis said they were again banning Israeli vessels from the waters off Yemen.
Although no attacks were reported, the warning has put shippers on edge. The rebels targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors.
This time, the Yemeni rebels only mentioned targeting Israeli ships. Before the ceasefire in Gaza, the Houthis had said they attacked ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked had little or no connection to the conflict.