Region

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — An Israeli air strike early Sunday heavily damaged one of the few functioning hospitals in Gaza, with the Israeli military saying it had targeted a Hamas "command and control centre" operating within the facility.

Since the outbreak of war, tens of thousands of Gazans have sought refuge in hospitals, many of which have suffered severe damage in the ongoing hostilities.

The strike on Al Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza -- also known as the Baptist or Ahli Arab Hospital -- caused no casualties, but came a day after Israeli forces seized a key corridor in the territory and signalled plans to expand their campaign.

It also came as aid agencies and the United Nations warned that medicines and related supplies were rapidly running out in Gaza as casualties surged.

"The bombing led to the destruction of the surgery building and the oxygen generation station for the intensive care units," Gaza's civil defence rescue agency said.

It came "minutes after the (Israeli) army's warning to evacuate", the agency added.

AFP photographs showed massive slabs of concrete and twisted metal scattered across the site after the strike.

The blast left a gaping hole in one of the hospital's buildings, with iron doors torn from their hinges. An Iraqi broadcaster said one of its TV vans was also damaged.

A separate air strike Sunday on a vehicle in the central city of Deir el-Balah killed seven people including six brothers, the civil defence agency said.

Mahmud Abu Amsha, who witnessed the strike, said those killed were distributing aid.

"They do not care about children or people being killed... This aid was being provided to the displaced people," he told AFP.

Patients on streets 

On Saturday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced that the military planned to expand its offensive as it completed the takeover of the "Morag axis" between the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis.

Patients, relatives and medical personnel evacuated the Al-Ahli hospital in haste following the military's warning.

Many found themselves stranded in the surrounding streets.

Naela Imad, 42, had been sheltering at the hospital but had to rush out of the complex.

"Just as we reached the hospital gate, they bombed it. It was a massive explosion," she told AFP.

"Now, me and my children are out on the street. We've been displaced more than 20 times. The hospital was our last refuge."

Hamas condemned what it described as a "savage crime" committed by Israel "with blatant US cover and complicity", dismissing the claim that the facility was a used militarily.

Qatar, which helped mediate a fragile ceasefire between the warring parties that fell apart last month, also denounced the strike as "a heinous crime".

Hospitals targeted 

Hospitals, protected under international humanitarian law, have repeatedly been hit by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Al Ahli was heavily damaged by an explosion in its car park on October 17, 2023 that caused multiple fatalities.

Aid agencies and the UN say that only a few of Gaza's 36 hospitals remain partially functional.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy urged Israel on Sunday to halt the "deplorable attacks" on hospitals, calling for diplomacy to "achieve a lasting peace".

Last month, Israeli forces opened fire on ambulances in Gaza, killing 15 medics and rescuers in an incident that sparked international condemnation.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said Sunday that a medic who had been missing since the attack, Asaad Al Nsasrah, was being held by Israeli authorities.

"His fate had remained unknown since he was targeted along with other PRCS medics in Rafah," the group said in a statement.

The Israeli army has said it is investigating the attack.

The Gaza war broke out after Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel. Gaza's health ministry said Sunday that at least 1,574 Palestinians had been killed since March 18 when the ceasefire collapsed, taking the overall death toll since the war began to 50,944.

The ceasefire had largely put a halt to the fighting in Gaza for two months, but Israel restarted intense strikes in mid-March, with Palestinian militants resuming rocket fire from the territory days later.

The Israeli military said Sunday that "one projectile that was identified crossing into Israeli territory from Gaza was intercepted" by the air force, with no injuries reported.

TEHRAN — Iran's foreign ministry said Sunday that talks with the United States slated for next weekend will remain "indirect" with Omani mediation, and focused solely on the nuclear issue and lifting of sanctions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held talks Saturday in Muscat, marking the highest-level Iran-US nuclear negotiations since the collapse of a 2015 accord.

They agreed to meet again in seven days.

"Negotiations will continue to be indirect. Oman will remain the mediator, but we are discussing the location of future negotiations," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in an interview with state TV.

He said the talks would only focus on "the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions," and that Iran "will not have any talks with the American side on any other issue."

Analysts had said the US would push to include on the agenda discussions over Iran's ballistic missile programme along with Tehran's support for the "axis of resistance" -- a network of militant groups opposed to Israel.

Tehran has, however, maintained it will talk only about its nuclear programme.

Donald Trump in 2018 pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers during his first term as US president.

Saturday's rare negotiations came weeks after Trump sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging nuclear talks while warning of possible military action if Iran refuses.

Iran and the US separately described Saturday's discussions as "constructive".

Iran said the talks were held indirectly with Oman's foreign minister acting as intermediary.

The negotiators, Araghchi and Witkoff, spoke directly for "a few minutes" after the talks, Tehran's foreign ministry said.

Another round of talks will be held on Saturday, April 19.

Asked about the talks, Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One: "I think they're going OK. Nothing matters until you get it done."

The process took place in a "friendly atmosphere", Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said.

'Turning point' 

Iran, reeling from Israel's pummelling of its allies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, is seeking relief from wide-ranging sanctions hobbling its economy.

Tehran has agreed to the meetings despite baulking at Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign of ramping up sanctions and repeated military threats.

On Sunday, Iranian media largely welcomed the rare talks as a "decisive turning point" in relations between the longtime foes.

Iran's conservative Javan daily praised the US for "not seeking to expand the negotiations to non-nuclear issues".

The government-sponsored newspaper, Iran, described the discussions as "constructive and respectful," quoting Araghchi.

Meanwhile, the reformist Shargh newspaper said it was a "decisive turning point" in Iran-US relations.

The hardline Kayhan newspaper, which was largely sceptical in the days leading up to the talks, lamented that Iran does not have a "plan B" while there was "no clear prospect for an agreement with Donald Trump."

It, however, lauded the fact that the American side did not bring up "the dismantling of nuclear facilities" and "the possibility of a military attack" during the discussions.

Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Western-backed shah.

Iran has been wary about engaging in talks with the United States, often citing previous experience and undermined trust.

After pulling out of the 2015 nuclear deal Trump reimposedsweeping economic sanctions against Iran.

Tehran continued to adhere to the agreement for a year after Washington's pullout but later began rolling back its own commitments.

Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

MUSCAT, Oman — The United States wants a nuclear agreement "as soon as possible", Iran said after rare talks on Saturday, as US President Donald Trump threatens military action if they fail to reach a deal.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who briefly spoke face-to-face with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff during the indirect meeting in Oman, said the talks would resume next Saturday.

"The American side also said that a positive agreement was one that can be reached as soon as possible but that will not be easy and will require a willingness on both sides," Araghchi told Iranian state television.

"At today's meeting, I think we came very close to a basis for negotiation... Neither we nor the other party want fruitless negotiations, discussions for discussions' sake, time wasting or talks that drag on for ever," he added.

Oman's foreign minister acted as intermediary in the talks in Muscat, Iran said. The Americans had called for the meetings to be face-to-face.

However, the negotiators also spoke directly for "a few minutes", Iran's foreign ministry said. It said the talks were held "in a constructive and mutually respectful atmosphere".

The long-term adversaries, who have not had diplomatic relations for more than 40 years, are seeking a new nuclear deal after Trump pulled out of an earlier agreement during his first term in 2018.

Araghchi, a seasoned diplomat and key architect of the 2015 accord, and Witkoff, a real estate magnate, led the delegations in the highest-level Iran-US nuclear talks since the previous accord's collapse.

The two parties were in "separate halls" and were "conveying their views and positions to each other through the Omani foreign minister", Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei posted on X.

The process took place in a "friendly atmosphere", Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said.

Iran, weakened by Israel's pummelling of its allies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, is seeking relief from wide-ranging sanctions hobbling its economy.

Tehran has agreed to the meetings despite baulking at Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign of ramping up sanctions and repeated military threats.

Meanwhile the US, hand-in-glove with Iran's arch-enemy Israel, wants to stop Tehran from ever getting close to developing a nuclear bomb.

 Witkoff open to 'compromise' 

There were no visible signs of the high-level meeting at a luxury hotel in Muscat, the same venue where the 2015 agreement was struck when Barack Obama was US president.

Witkoff told The Wall Street Journal earlier that the US position starts with demanding that Iran completely dismantle its nuclear programme -- a view held by hardliners around Trump that few expect Iran to accept.

"That doesn't mean, by the way, that at the margin we're not going to find other ways to find compromise between the two countries," Witkoff told the newspaper.

"Where our red line will be, there can't be weaponisation of your nuclear capability," he added.

The talks were revealed in a surprise announcement by Trump during a White House appearance with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

Hours before they began, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: "I want Iran to be a wonderful, great, happy country. But they can't have a nuclear weapon."

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's adviser Ali Shamkhani said Iran was "seeking a real and fair agreement".

Saturday's meetings followed repeated threats of military action by both the US and Israel.

"If it requires military, we're going to have military," Trump said on Wednesday when asked what would happen if the talks fail.

'Survival of the regime' 

The 2015 deal that Trump abandoned aimed to make it practically impossible for Iran to build an atomic bomb, while at the same time allowing it to pursue a civil nuclear programme.

Iran, which insists its nuclear programme is only for civilian purposes, stepped up its activities after Trump withdrew from the agreement.

The latest International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran had an estimated 274.8 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent, nearing the weapons grade of 90 percent.

Karim Bitar, a Middle East Studies lecturer at Sciences Po university in Paris, said the Iranian government's very survival could be at stake.

"The one and only priority is the survival of the regime, and ideally, to get some oxygen, some sanctions relief, to get their economy going again, because the regime has become quite unpopular," he told AFP.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — A Palestinian sentenced as a teen for taking part in a knife attack against two Israelis was freed Thursday after spending more than nine years in jail, a lawyer said.

Ahmad Manasra, now 23, was just 13 when he carried out the attack in October 2015 in Israeli-occupied and annexed east Jerusalem.

"He was released today," said Nareman Shehadeh Zoabi, an attorney for rights group Adalah and part of a legal team representing him.

"His family met him and now the family is taking the time with him and to be able to stay quiet for some time alone with Ahmed," she told AFP.

Manasra was originally sentenced in 2016 to 12 years in prison, but his term was later reduced to nine and a half years by Israel's supreme court.

AFPTV footage on Thursday showed Manasra, wearing a surgical mask and with his hair closely cropped, at an Israeli security facility in Jerusalem alongside his father.

Between Manasra's conviction and sentencing, Israeli law was amended to allow civilian courts to convict children as young as 12 for "terrorist offences".

Manasra, an east Jerusalem resident, was the youngest Palestinian to be convicted by an Israeli civilian court at the time.

Zoabi, the lawyer at Adalah legal centre, said her team had worked to secure Manasra's early release in 2022 but failed to secure it.

Among other things, his health had declined drastically after he spent nearly two years in solitary confinement.

Rights group Amnesty International had also raised concerns at the time, warning of his deteriorating psychological condition.

"Ahmad Manasra's release today is a huge relief for him and for his family, but nothing can undo the years of injustice, abuse, trauma and ill-treatment he endured behind bars," Amnesty regional director Heba Morayef said in a statement on Thursday.

Manasra initially pleaded not guilty, saying he had intended to frighten the Israelis, not kill them.

ISTANBUL — Turkey and Israel have started talks aimed at easing tensions over Syria, officials from both sides said Thursday.

Israel has launched air strikes and ground incursions to keep Syrian forces away from its border. Turkey is a key backer of the Islamist-led coalition in Syria that toppled Bashar Al Assad in December.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan confirmed the talks in comments to CNN-Turk television late Wednesday.

While Turkey was carrying out "certain operations in Syria", there had to be a way of heading off conflict with Israel "which is flying its planes in that region -- just as we do with the Americans and the Russians", he said.

A Turkish defence ministry source said Thursday that the first technical meeting with Israel had taken place in Azerbaijan on Wednesday.

A statement from Israeli prime minister l Benjamin Netanyahu's office also confirmed the talks.

They had "agreed to continue on the path of dialogue in order to maintain regional stability", said the statement.

But Fidan, in his comments, said this did not mean the two sides were moving toward normalising ties strained over Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.

Turkey has suspended all trade with Israel, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accusing Netanyahu of "state terror" and "genocide" in Gaza since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.

On Monday, US President Donald Trump offered himself as a mediator between Israel and Turkey.

Speaking alongside key ally Netanyahu at the White House, Trump touted his "great relations" with Erdogan as an avenue for negotiations.

ISTANBUL — Turkish courts on Thursday ordered the release of at least 107 students arrested during massive protests against the jailing of Istanbul's popular mayor, a lawyer told AFP.

Nearly 2,000 people, including more than 300 students, have been arrested in a crackdown on the protests -- the largest demonstrations in Turkey in more than a decade -- after the March 19 arrest of mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on graft charges.

Two Istanbul courts ordered 107 students' release on Thursday, lawyer Ferhat Guzel told AFP. 

The court also lifted house arrests ordered for 25 students, he added.

"I am very happy, just like other mothers," she told AFP briefly. "We passed through really bad days".

Erdogan on Wednesday accused the opposition party of "darkening" the lives of young people. 

Some of the students were detained during clashes with police outside City Hall last month. 

"If the lives of those young people are darkened, it is again you, as the CHP, who darkened those lives," Erdogan said.

"You call the youth to the streets, have them attack the police, then you shamelessly shed crocodile tears," he added, pointing to CHP leader Ozgur Ozel.

"We will not let you exploit the youth of this country."