Region

WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden will launch a renewed drive Wednesday for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, now that Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a truce in Lebanon, his national security adviser said.

The truce that began before dawn Wednesday in the south Lebanon war means Iran-backed Hizbollah is no longer fighting in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. That will increase pressure on the militant Palestinian group to agree to a ceasefire and hostage deal, Jake Suillivan told MSNBC.

Biden spoke with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu right before the US- and French-brokered truce with Hizbollah was announced Tuesday and they agreed to try again for a Gaza agreement that has eluded negotiators for months, Sullivan said.

"President Biden intends to begin that work today by having his envoys engage with Turkey, Qatar, Egypt and other actors in the region," Sullivan said.

"We believe that this is the beginning of an opportunity for a more stable Middle East in which Israel's security is assured and US interests are secured," he added.

The Israel-Hezbollah deal was a rare boost for Biden as he prepares to leave the White House and hand over to Donald Trump on January 20. 

As he announced the agreement Tuesday, Biden said the United States, Turkey, Egypt, Qatar and Israel would make another push for a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel is still at war with Hamas following the Palestinian group's deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Biden said Washington would also push for a long-explored deal to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Hamas is ready to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, a senior official in the Palestinian Islamist group said Wednesday, hailing the ceasefire that took hold in Lebanon.

"We have informed mediators in Egypt, Qatar and Turkey that Hamas is ready for a ceasefire agreement and a serious deal to exchange prisoners," the official told AFP, however accusing Israel of obstructing a deal.

In a statement released later Wednesday, Hamas said "the enemy's acceptance of the agreement with Lebanon without achieving its preconditions marks a significant milestone in shattering [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's illusions of reshaping the Middle East through force".

The group also praised the "pivotal" role of its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority expressed hope that the ceasefire would bring stability to the region, especially in war-torn Gaza.

"We hope that this step will contribute to stopping the violence and instability that the region is suffering from," the Palestinian presidency said in a statement, highlighting the need to enforce a UN resolution for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he would bring a US-brokered proposal for a ceasefire with Hizbollah in Lebanon to his security Cabinet for a vote as soon as this evening.

Citizens of Israel, this evening I will bring a ceasefire outline for the Cabinet's approval," Netanyahu said in a televised address. "The length of the ceasefire depends on what happens in Lebanon."

The United States, European Union, United Nations and G7, among others, have pushed for a halt to the long-running hostilities between Israel and Hizbollah, which escalated into full-scale war in late September.

But as the pressure for a truce has intensified, so too have air raids and ground battles between Israel and Iran-backed Hizbollah.

Waves of strikes pounded Hizbollah's south Beirut stronghold Tuesday after a flurry of Israeli evacuation warnings, AFPTV footage showed, in the heaviest raids since Israel's air campaign escalated.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said that "a belt of fire has encircled [the city's] southern suburbs" as raids targeted Burj Al Barajneh, Haret Hreik and Hadath.

The NNA reported that another strike in the central "Nweiri area in Beirut destroyed a four-storey building housing displaced people". It killed three people and injured 26, the health ministry said.

Rola Jaafar, who lives in the building opposite, said: "We were blown away and the walls fell on top of us."

Israel's military said it attacked 20 Hizbollah "terror targets" in the Beirut area, including command centres, "weapons storage facilities" and "components of Hizbollah's financial system".

It also said it had hit 30 targets in south Lebanon since the morning, and troops had "engaged in close-quarters combat with terrorists" and destroyed hidden weapons caches during ground raids in the Litani River region.

On the diplomatic front, Israel's deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel said the security cabinet would meet later Tuesday to discuss a ceasefire deal, though she declined "to go into details about it because of the sensitivity of the issue".

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said previously the cabinet would make its decision on Tuesday evening.

The United States and France have led the efforts to broker a ceasefire, and US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday talks had reached a "point where we're close".

G7 foreign ministers called Tuesday for an "immediate ceasefire" in Lebanon, saying in a statement: "Now is the time to conclude a diplomatic settlement."

Britain also called for a truce, saying this was "the only way to restore security" for civilians in Lebanon and northern Israel, while Germany said a deal was "within reach".

US news outlet Axios reported that the draft agreement included a 60-day transition period.

During that time, Israeli forces would withdraw, the Lebanese army would redeploy near the border and Hizbollah would move its heavy weapons north of the Litani River, Axios said.

A US-led committee would oversee implementation, with provisions allowing Israel to act against imminent threats if Lebanese forces failed to intervene.

Defence minister Israel Katz told the UN's Lebanon envoy on Tuesday that Israel would have "zero tolerance" when defending its security interests, even after a truce.

"If you do not act, we will do it, forcefully," Katz told Janine Hennis-Plasschaert during a meeting in Tel Aviv, a statement from his office said.

Deal a 'mistake' 

Israeli media have reported that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to endorse the US ceasefire proposal.

The war in Lebanon followed nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire initiated by Hizbollah.

The Lebanese group said it was acting in support of Hamas after the Palestinian group's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Lebanon says at least 3,799 people have been killed in the country since October 2023, most of them in the past several weeks.

On the Israeli side, the Lebanon hostilities have killed at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians, authorities say.

CAIRO — Rescuers on Tuesday recovered four bodies and four survivors a day after a diving boat capsized off Egypt's eastern coast, Red Sea governor Amr Hanafi said, with eight people still missing.

Among the survivors were two Belgians, one Swiss national and one Egyptian, the governor said, bringing the total number of survivors from the vessel to 32.

The four dead have not yet been identified and eight people remain missing.

"Rescue operations are ongoing today, supported by a military helicopter and a frigate in addition to multiple divers," Hanafi told AFP.

The vessel was carrying 31 tourists of multiple nationalities and a 13-member crew when it was hit by a large wave early on Monday, leading it to capsize near Marsa Alam in southeastern Egypt.

The "Sea Story" had embarked on a multi-day diving trip on Sunday and had been due to dock on Friday at the town of Hurghada, 200 kilometres (124 miles) north.

The governor on Monday said the boat had sunk within 5-7 minutes of its impact with the wave, leaving some passengers -- among them European, Chinese and American tourists -- unable to escape their cabins in time.

Survivors 

Rescuers from the military and a passing tourist boat had pulled 28 people from the waters on Monday.

According to a source at a hospital in Marsa Alam, six tourists and three Egyptians were admitted with minor injuries and discharged on Monday.

The tourists included "two Germans, two Britons, one Spaniard and one Swiss national," the hospital administrator told AFP, requesting anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

According to the governor's office, the boat was carrying tourists from Belgium, Britain, China, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.

Among the missing are two Polish and two Finnish tourists, according to both countries' foreign ministries.

Authorities have said the vessel was fully licensed and had passed all its inspection checks. A preliminary investigation showed no technical fault.

The Marsa Alam area experienced at least two similar boat accidents earlier this year but there were no fatalities. 

The Red Sea coast is a major tourist destination in Egypt, a country of 107 million that is in the grip of a serious economic crisis.

Nationally, the tourism sector employs two million people and generates more than 10 percent of its GDP.

Dozens of dive boats crisscross between Red Sea coral reefs and islands off Egypt's eastern coast every day, where safety regulations are robust but unevenly enforced.

Earlier this month, 30 people were rescued from a sinking dive boat near the Red Sea's Daedalus reef.

In June, two dozen French tourists were evacuated safely before their boat sank in a similar accident.

Last year, three British tourists died when a fire broke out on their yacht.

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — Gaza's civil defence agency said Tuesday 22 people were killed in Israeli air strikes and shelling of the Palestinian territory, including 11 killed by a strike on a school-turned-shelter for displaced civilians.

"At least 11 Palestinians were killed and more than 40 injured in an Israeli air strike that targeted Al Hurriya School, which houses thousands of displaced peo

The Israeli army said it struck "Hamas terrorists who were operating inside a command and control centre in Gaza City", adding that it "was embedded inside a compound that previously served as the 'Al Hurriya' School".

Hamas condemned the strike as a "new crime".

Earlier on Tuesday, the agency said 11 people were killed in overnight Israeli air strikes and shelling.

In the northern city of Jabalia, seven people were killed and several wounded in an air strike on a residential building, civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

Another person was killed in a strike on a house in nearby Beit Lahia, which along with Jabalia has been the focus of a major Israeli military operation since October 6.

Two people were killed in shelling of Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, Bassal said.

In the southern city of Rafah, an air strike killed one person and wounded several, he added.

Israel's campaign has killed 44,249 people in Gaza, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

CAIRO — Egyptian authorities said more than a dozen people including foreigners were still missing after a tourist yacht capsized in the Red Sea on Monday, with 28 others rescued.

The vessel carrying 31 tourists of various nationalities and a 13-member crew sent out a distress call at 5:30 am (3:30 GMT), a statement from Egypt's Red Sea governorate said.

It said 16 people are missing -- 12 foreigners and four Egyptians -- updating an earlier figure of 17 missing.

The statement said the boat, the "Sea Story", is owned by an Egyptian national.

On board were people from Belgium, Britain, China, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.

The yacht embarked on Sunday on a multi-day diving trip from Port Ghalib near Marsa Alam in the southeast, and had been due to dock on Friday at the town of Hurghada, 200 kilometres north.

Governor Amr Hanafi said some survivors were rescued by an aircraft, while others were transported to safety aboard a warship.

"Intensive search operations are under way in coordination with the navy and the armed forces," Hanafi added in a statement.

Beijing's embassy in Egypt said two of its nationals were "in good health" after being "rescued in the cruise ship sinking accident in the Red Sea", Chinese state media reported.

The Finnish foreign ministry confirmed to AFP that one of its nationals is missing.

Polish foreign ministry spokesman Pawel Wronski said authorities "have information that two of the tourists may have had Polish citizenship".

"That's all we know about them. That's all we can say for now," he told national news agency PAP.

Thrown 'on its side' 

The Red Sea governor said initial reports suggest "a sudden and large wave" struck the boat, causing it to capsize within 5-7 minutes.

Some passengers were unable to escape as they were inside their cabins at the time, he added.

According to a manager of a diving resort close to the rescue operation, one surviving crew member said they were "hit by a wave in the middle of the night, throwing the vessel on its side".

The governor said the vessel had passed its latest safety inspection in March 2024, with no technical issues reported.

Authorities in the Red Sea capital of Hurghada on Sunday shut down marine activities and the city's port due to "bad weather conditions".

But winds around Marsa Alam had remained favourable until Sunday night, the diving manager told AFP, before calming again by morning.

By Monday afternoon, it had become increasingly unlikely that those missing would be rescued "after 12 hours in the water", he said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The Marsa Alam area saw at least two similar boat accidents earlier this year but there were no fatalities.

The Red Sea coast is a major tourist destination in Egypt, a country of 105 million that is in the grip of a serious economic crisis.

Nationally, the tourism sector employs two million people and generates more than 10 percent of GDP.

Dozens of dive boats criss-cross between Red Sea coral reefs and islands off Egypt's eastern coast every day, where safety regulations are robust but unevenly enforced.

Earlier this month, 30 people were rescued from a sinking dive boat near the Red Sea's Daedalus reef.

In June, two dozen French tourists were evacuated safely before their boat sank in a similar accident.

Last year, three British tourists died when a fire broke out on their yacht, engulfing it in flames.

DEIR BALAH, Palestinian Territories -- Traditional clay pottery is seeing a resurgence in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians are forced to find solutions for a shortage of plates and other crockery to eat from in the territory ravaged by more than a year of war.

"There is an unprecedented demand for plates as no supplies enter the Gaza Strip," 26-year-old potter Jafar Atallah said in the central Gaza city of Deir Balah.

The vast majority of the Palestinian territory's 2.4 million people have been displaced, often multiple times, by the war that began with Hamas' attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Fleeing bombs amid Israel's devastating retaliatory military offensive, which has destroyed large amounts of civilian infrastructure, everyday items like cups and bowls have often been lost, broken or left behind to perish.

With imports made increasingly difficult by Israeli restrictions and the dangers of delivering aid, Gazans have had to find resourceful ways to meet their needs since the war began.

Bare-bones 

To keep up with demand, Atallah works non-stop, producing around 100 pieces a day, mainly bowls and cups, a stark contrast to the 1,500 units his factory in northern Gaza made before the war.

It is one of the numerous factories in Gaza to have shut down, with many destroyed during air strikes, inaccessible because of the fighting, or unable to operate because of materials and electricity shortages.

Today, Atallah works out of a bare-bones workshop set up under a thin blue plastic sheet.

He carefully shapes the clay into much-needed crockery, then leaves his terracotta creations to dry in the sun -- one of the few things Gaza still has plenty of.

Each object is sold for 10 shekels, the equivalent of $2.70 -- nearly five times what it was worth before the war led to widespread shortages and sent prices soaring.

Gazans have told AFP they are struggling to find all types of basic household goods.

"After 13 months of war, I went to the market to buy plates and cutlery, and all I could find was this clay pot," said Lora Al Turk, a 40-year-old mother living in a makeshift shelter in Nuseirat, a few kilometres from Deir Balah.

"I was forced to buy it to feed my children," she said, noting that the pot's price was now more than double what it was before the war.

Old ways 

Following each Israeli army evacuation order, which generally precedes fighting and bombing, masses of people take to the roads, often on foot, carrying whatever they can manage.

But with each passing month and increasing waves of displacement, the loads they carry grow smaller.

Many Gazans now live in tents or other makeshift shelters, and some even on bare pavement.

The United Nations has warned about the threat of diseases in the often cramped and unsanitary conditions.

But for Gazans, finding inventive ways to cope with hardship is nothing new.

In this, the worst-ever Gaza war, people are using broken concrete from war-damaged buildings to build makeshift homes. With fuel and even firewood scarce, many rely on donkeys for transport. Century-old camping stoves are reconditioned and used for cooking.

Traditional pottery is another sign of a return to the old ways of living.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel's army said Hizbollah fired around 160 projectiles into its territory from Lebanon on Sunday, with group saying its attacks had targeted the Tel Aviv area and Israel's south.

The Iran-backed group said in a statement that it had "launched, for the first time, an aerial attack using a swarm of attack drones on the Ashdod naval base" in southern Israel.

Later, it said it fired "a barrage of advanced missiles and a swarm of attack drones" at a "military target" in Tel Aviv, and had also launched a volley of missiles at the Glilot army intelligence base in the city's suburbs.

The Israeli military did not comment on the specific attack claims when contacted by AFP.

But it said earlier that air raid sirens had sounded in several locations in central and northern Israel, including in the greater Tel Aviv suburbs.

It later reported that "approximately 160 projectiles that were fired by the Hizbollah terrorist organisation have crossed from Lebanon into Israel".

Some of the projectiles were shot down.

Medical agencies reported that at least 11 people were wounded, including a man in a "moderate to serious" condition. 

AFP images from Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, showed several damaged and burned-out cars, and a house pockmarked by shrapnel.

The wave of projectiles follows at least four deadly Israeli strikes in central Beirut in the past week, including one that killed Hizbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif.

In a speech on Wednesday, Hizbollah chief Naim Qassem had said the response to the recent strikes on the capital "must be expected on central Tel Aviv".

The Lebanese army, meanwhile, said that a soldier was killed on Sunday and 18 others injured, "including some with severe wounds, as a result of an Israeli attack targeting a Lebanese army centre in Amriyeh".

Though the Lebanese army is not a party to the war between Israel and Hizbollah, Israeli strikes have killed 19 Lebanese soldiers in the last two months, authorities have said.

Since September 23, Israel has intensified its Lebanon air campaign, later sending in ground troops after nearly a year of limited exchanges of fire initiated by Hizbollah in support of its ally Hamas after the Palestinian group's October 7, 2023 attack, which sparked the Gaza war.

Lebanon's health ministry says at least 3,670 people have been killed in the country since October 2023, most of them since September this year.