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LONDON — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday said his country was seeking to reinforce ties with “reliable” European allies as he met Britain’s King Charles III and France’s Emmanuel Macron on his first foreign trip since taking office.

Carney’s transatlantic visits came after his country’s southern neighbour the United States made threats towards Canada’s economy and even sovereignty, with US President Donald Trump ramping up the rhetoric.

After succeeding Justin Trudeau last week, Carney conspicuously chose key European powers France and the United Kingdom, rather than the United States, for the visits. Britain’s King Charles -- who is also head of state in Canada -- was pictured smiling as he welcomed Carney for talks at Buckingham Palace, and the Canadian leader is expected to meet his UK counterpart Keir Starmer later on Monday.

Earlier, the former Bank of England governor met President Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Describing Canada as the “most European of non-European countries”, Carney said his nation needed to boost ties with European allies like France while trying to retain positive relations with Washington. “It is more important than ever for Canada to reinforce its ties with reliable allies like France,” Carney said during a press conference with Macron.

“I want to ensure that France and the whole of Europe works enthusiastically with Canada, the most European of non-European countries, determined like you to maintain the most positive possible relations with the United States,” Carney said. Carney faces threats on three fronts: a trade war with Washington, Trump’s threats to annex his country and looming elections at home. Trump’s imposition of an escalating raft of import tariffs on Canadian goods has threatened to trigger a recession, and his scorn for Canadian sovereignty sent jitters through the former ally. Opinion polls show a large majority of Canadian voters reject Trump’s argument that their country would be better off as the “51st state of the United States”.

But the trade war is a threat to the economy of the vast country of 41 million people, which has long enjoyed a close US partnership. Canada, France and Britain are among the NATO members that have maintained strong support for Ukraine’s beleaguered government and military since Russia’s all-out invasion in February 2022, even as Trump’s US administration has pushed Kyiv to make concessions to Moscow.

London and Paris are putting together plans for a coalition security force in Ukraine and looking for allies. Canada and France want a “solid and lasting peace, accompanied by robust guarantees that will protect Ukraine against any further Russian aggression and ensure the security of the whole of Europe,” Macron said alongside Carney.
“It is in this spirit that we will maintain our support for Ukraine and continue to demand clear commitments from Russia,” he added. Carney told Macron both nations stood for “sovereignty”.

“We both stand for sovereignty and security demonstrated by our unwavering support for Ukraine under your leadership,” the Canadian premier said, two days after both leaders took part in a Saturday morning video conference of countries backing Ukraine organised by UK Prime Minister Starmer. France is Canada’s 11th-largest trading partner and Britain its third at a time when Trump’s tariffs and Canadian retaliatory measures are threatening trade with its huge southern neighbour -- destination of threequarters of Canada’s exports.

But Canada also has a “Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement” with the European Union, which includes France It is also a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive TransPacific Partnership (CPTPP), which now likewise includes Britain. In his first speech as prime minister, Carney said: “Security is a priority for this government... as is diversifying our trading and commercial relationships, of course, with both Europe and the United Kingdom.” On his return leg, Carney will touch down in Iqaluit in Nunavut, the Canadian territory closest to the Danish autonomous country of Greenland -- another Trump target for annexation -- to “reaffirm Canada’s Arctic security and sovereignty”.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - International donors pledged 5.8 billion euros ($6.3 billion) in aid for Syria Monday at a Brussels conference seeking to help set the war-torn country on the road to stability after Bashar Al Assad's ouster.

"Together we have pledged a total of 5.8 billion euros in grants and loans," said EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica, adding that grants accounted for 4.2 billion euros and loans 1.6 billion.

Of the 5.8 billion euros, the EU vowed around 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in aid for Syria as. "Syrians need greater support, whether they are still abroad, or they decide to go home. And this is why today, the European Union is increasing its pledge for Syrians in the country and in the region to almost 2.5 billion euros for 2025 and 2026," European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen told a donor conference in Brussels.

Failure to help Syria "get back on its feet" will result in a fresh wave of outward migration, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross warned Monday, as the EU hosted a donor drive for the war-torn country.

More than 300,000 refugees have returned to Syria hoping to start over following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, according to the United Nations.

But the situation in the country is fragile, with outbursts of violence and the conflict's legacy of destruction making aid all the more indispensable, said ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric.

"When you don't have schools for your children, when you don't have functioning hospitals, when you don't have access to water and energy, when your house is still collapsed and you don't have the means to rebuild (it), you will be forced to leave," she told AFP in an interview.

Western and regional powers are hoping to help put Damascus on the road to stability after 14 years of civil war that have sent millions of refugees over its borders.

But this month the worst outbreak of deadly violence since Assad was toppled in December rocked confidence in the new Islamist-led authorities.

"Syria is at the crossroads," Spoljaric said, adding that peace and stability were "possible" but required "a lot of attention" from the international community.

The country's needs are massive as swathes lie in ruins and the economy has been ravaged by years of international isolation after Assad's 2011 crackdown on opposition sparked the civil war.

BEIRUT — Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed four people on Sunday, Lebanese state media and the health ministry said, as Israel's military said it had killed two Hizbollah militants.

"The Israeli enemy strike this evening on the town of Ainata led to the death of two people," Lebanon's official National News Agency [NNA] said, citing the health ministry's emergency service.

Earlier, the health ministry confirmed one person was killed in an Israeli strike on Mais Al Jabal and NNA reported one other fatality in Bint Jbeil.

The agency reported that an Israeli drone carried out "a strike on a vehicle in the town of Mais al-Jabal, resulting in one fatality".

The NNA said it was the third Israeli strike on southern Lebanon within 24 hours.

Earlier on Sunday, the health ministry said an Israeli drone strike killed one person and wounded another when it targeted a four-wheel-drive vehicle near Yater in Bint Jbeil district at around 2:00 am, the NNA reported.

"The Israeli enemy's air strike on a vehicle in the town of Yater resulted in the martyrdom of a citizen and the injury of another," the ministry said in a statement carried by the news agency.

Israel's military said that it killed two Hizbollah militants Sunday in two separate strikes on Lebanon.

"Earlier today, the IDF struck and eliminated two Hizbollah terrorists who were surveillance operatives and took part in directing terror attacks in the area of Yatar and Meiss El Jabal in southern Lebanon," the military said in a statement.

It comes a day after Lebanon's health ministry said one person was killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the southern border town of Burj al-Muluk.

Following that raid, the Israeli military said it "struck a Hizbollah terrorist who took part in terrorist activity in the area of Kfarkela in southern Lebanon".

And on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it carried out a strike in southern Lebanon that killed a senior Hizbollah militant.

That came as Lebanon received four detainees who had been taken to Israel during fighting with Lebanon's Iran-backed Hizbollah group, with a fifth detainee, a soldier, released on Thursday after he was taken earlier this month.

A November 27 truce largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Hizbollah and Israel, including two months of full-blown war in which Israel sent in ground troops.

Israel has continued to carry out periodic strikes on Lebanese territory since the agreement took effect.

Israel had been due to withdraw from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops at five locations it deems "strategic".

The ceasefire also required Hizbollah to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

SANAA - Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels said they attacked an American aircraft carrier group twice within 24 hours as they prepared for huge rallies on Monday after US strikes left dozens dead.

The response from the Huthis follows attacks on Saturday ordered by President Donald Trump that hammered the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, and several other areas, killing 53 people, according to the rebels.

The United States struck the Huthis over their repeated attacks on Red Sea shipping sparked by the Gaza war, which have put a major strain on the vital trade route.

The rebels said they had hit back by firing 18 missiles and a drone at the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier group on Sunday, before launching a second strike hours later.

There was no immediate comment from the United States about the Huthis' claimed attacks.

In a statement posted to Telegram, a Huthi spokesperson said the attacks were "in retaliation to the continued American aggression against our country".

Washington has vowed to keep striking Yemen until the rebels stop attacking Red Sea shipping, with Trump warning he would use "overwhelming lethal force".

Huthi leader Abdulmalik Al Huthi called for large-scale rallies on Monday, the anniversary of the Battle of Badr -- an against-the-odds, seventh-century military victory by the Prophet Mohammed.

"I call on our dear people to go out tomorrow on the anniversary of the Battle of Badr in a million-strong march in Sanaa and the rest of the governorates," he said in a televised address late on Sunday.

Heavy strikes

Sanaa's Al Sabeen Square, the scene of regular major protests during the Israel-Hamas war, looked set to be packed once again for Monday's rally.

Late on Saturday, the Huthi-controlled capital was hit by heavy strikes, including in northern districts frequented by the rebels' leadership.

The Huthi health ministry said women and children were among the 53 people killed and 98 wounded.

"The house shook, the windows shattered, and my family and I were terrified," father of two Ahmed, who declined to give his full name, told AFP.

The strikes were the first since Trump came to office in January, and came despite a pause in the Huthis' attacks during a ceasefire in the Gaza war.

On Sunday, US officials vowed further strikes until the rebels ended their campaign against Red Sea shipping, also threatening action against Iran.

Huthi media reported more explosions late on Sunday night, accusing the Americans of targeting a cotton facility in the Hodeida region and the Galaxy Leader, a cargo ship hijacked in November 2023.

In response to the latest escalation along the maritime trade route, the United Nations urged both sides to "cease all military activity", while China reiterated calls for diplomacy.

"The reasons behind the situation in the Red Sea and the Yemen issue are complex and should be properly resolved through dialogue and negotiation," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.

'Hell will rain down'

The Iran-backed Huthis, who control much of the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country, have attacked Israel and shipping vessels throughout the Gaza war, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians.

Before this weekend's targeting of the US carrier group, the Huthis had not claimed attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since January 19, when the ceasefire in Gaza began.

However, the group had recently threatened to resume its attacks over Israel's blocking of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory.

It said it would "move to additional escalatory options" if the "American aggression" continued.

US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News that Saturday's strikes "targeted multiple Huthi leaders and took them out". The Huthis have not responded to Waltz's claim.

Trump, meanwhile, has warned the Yemeni group that "hell will rain down upon you" if it did not stop its attacks.

In a social media post he also addressed Iran, demanding it stop supporting "Huthi terrorists".

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the US strikes and said Washington had "no authority" to dictate Tehran's foreign policy.

A database set up by ACLED, a non-profit monitor, shows 136 Huthi attacks against warships, commercial vessels, and Israeli and other targets since October 19, 2023.

While the Red Sea trade route normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, Huthi attacks have forced many companies into costly detours around southern Africa.

The United States had already launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets under former president Joe Biden.

Israel has also struck Yemen, most recently in December, after Huthi missile fire towards Israeli territory.

In addition to their actions in the Red Sea, the rebels have been at war for nearly a decade with a Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's internationally recognised government, from which the Huthis have seized large swathes of territory.

Fighting in that conflict has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of the Huthi attacks on shipping.

SANAA — A White House official on Sunday said a wave of United States air strikes on Yemen killed senior Huthi rebel leaders and sent a message to their Iranian backers.

Attacks on the rebel-held capital Sanaa as well as Saada, Al Bayda and Radaa killed at least 31 people and wounded 101, "most of whom were children and women", Huthi health ministry spokesperson Anis al-Asbahi said.

US President Donald Trump said he had ordered Saturday night's strikes and threatened more if the rebels kept up their attacks on Red Sea and Gulf of Aden shipping.

The rebels have carried out no attacks in the waterways since January 19, when a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip, but on Tuesday said they would resume attacks on Israeli shipping.

US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News the strikes "targeted multiple Huthi leaders and took them out."

He told Fox News: "We just hit them with overwhelming force and put Iran on notice that enough is enough."

Huthis vowed to meet "escalation with escalation" after a wave of deadly US air strikes, with witnesses to the bombing saying Sunday they were taken aback by its intensity, even after years of war. 

An AFP photographer in Sanaa heard explosions and saw plumes of smoke rising Saturday night.

Footage on Huthi media showed children and a woman among those being treated in a hospital emergency room, including a dazed girl with blackened legs wrapped in bandages.

One father of two, who gave his name as Ahmed, told AFP his "house shook, the windows shattered, and my family and I were terrified".

"I've been living in Sanaa for 10 years, hearing shelling throughout the war. By God, I've never experienced anything like this before," he said.

Trump, in a post on social media, vowed to "use overwhelming lethal force" to end the Huthi attacks, which the rebels say are in solidarity with Palestinians amid the Gaza war.

"To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON'T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!" he said.

Trump also issued a stern warning to the group's main backer.

"To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!" he said, adding it would be held "fully accountable" for any continued threats.

The Huthis vowed the strikes "will not pass without response", while Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi condemned the deaths and said Washington had "no authority" to dictate Tehran's foreign policy.

The Huthi Ansarullah website slammed what it called Washington's "criminal brutality".

US Central Command, which posted videos of fighter jets taking off and a bomb demolishing a compound, said "precision strikes" were launched to "defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation".

'Fully prepared' 

"Yesterday's shelling in Al-Jiraf [northern Sanaa] was absolutely terrifying: six strikes in a row," 43-year-old father of three Malik told AFP.

"My children were screaming and crying in my arms. It's the first time I've ever said the Shahada," he added, referring to the prayer that is recited before death.

The Huthis' political bureau said its "forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation".

The rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the "axis of resistance" of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.

They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Huthis had "attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023".

The campaign put a major strain on the vital route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies to take a costly detour around southern Africa.

The Palestinian group Hamas, which has praised the Huthi support, lashed out at the US strikes, branding them "a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country's sovereignty and stability".

Iran "strongly condemned the brutal air strikes" in a statement, denouncing them as a "gross violation of the principles of the UN Charter".

The head of the country's Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, said: "Iran will not wage war, but if anyone threatens, it will give appropriate, decisive and conclusive responses."

'Political dialogue' 

The United States has launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets.

After halting their attacks when a ceasefire took effect in Gaza in January, the Huthis announced on Tuesday that they would resume them until Israel lifted its blockade of aid to the devastated Palestinian territory.

Trump's statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on merchant shipping.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration reclassified the Huthis as a "foreign terrorist organisation", banning any US interaction with it.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Moscow is close to Tehran.

"Continued Huthi attacks on US military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated," Rubio told Lavrov, according to the State Department.

Russia's foreign ministry said that "Lavrov stressed the need for an immediate cessation of the use of force and the importance for all sides to engage in political dialogue... [to] prevent further bloodshed".

The Huthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and were poised to overrun most of the rest of the country before a Saudi-led coalition intervened.

The war devastated the already impoverished nation. 

Fighting has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of Huthi attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping.

DAMASCUS — A massive explosion believed to have been triggered by a scrap dealer handling an old bomb killed at least 16 people in Syria, civil defence officials said Sunday.

The blast on Saturday in the Mediterranean city of Latakia demolished a four-storey building, ripping down slabs of concrete and crushing residents underneath chunks of their flattened homes.

Rescue officials pulled out the bodies through the night,  including five children, as they searched for survivors.

Syria's civil defence team said 16 people had been killed "as a result of an explosion in a hardware store" in the apartment block.

"Search and rescue operations continue to recover those trapped," it added, in a post on Telegram, reporting that at least 18 people had been injured.

Images from Syria's SANA news agency showed a plume of smoke rising from Latakia's crowded southern neighbourhood of Al-Rimal, and a pile of rubble where the building had once stood.

The news agency reported that a scrap dealer had handled an unexploded munition in an attempt to recover the metal.

Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also called the explosion an "accident".

 'Completely destroyed' 

Ward Jammoul, 32, from Latakia, told AFP she heard a "loud blast", adding that the building had been "completely destroyed".

She said rescue workers and crowds of other people had gathered to "look for those trapped under the rubble".

Aid agency Humanity and Inclusion warned last month of the dangers posed by unexploded munitions left over from Syria's civil war that erupted in 2011.

It said experts estimated that between 100,000 and 300,000 of the roughly one million munitions used during the war never detonated.

The explosion on Saturday came on the same day as Syrians gathered to commemorate the 14th anniversary of their uprising for the first time since president Bashar al-Assad was toppled.

The Syrian conflict began with peaceful demonstrations against Assad's government on March 15, 2011, in which thousands took part.

It later spiralled into civil war after he crushed the protests.

This year's commemoration comes after Assad was toppled on December 8 by Islamist-led rebels.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, who headed the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham [HTS] which spearheaded the offensive, has since been named interim president.

BAGHDAD — Iraqi security forces have seized more than a tonne of captagon, an illegal stimulant, smuggled from Syria via Turkey, the interior ministry said on Sunday.

Ministry spokesman General Moqdad Miri said the Narcotics Directorate "seized a truck from Syria, bound for Iraq, via Turkey, transporting 1.1 tonnes" of the synthetic drug in tablet form.

The seizure was one of the largest in Iraq in recent years and consisted of seven million pills, a security official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

It was also the first such seizure announced since the toppling in December of Syrian president Bashar Al Assad, whose government was at the heart of the trade in areas he controlled, experts have said.

The drugs were transferred from a Turkish truck to an Iraqi truck near a border crossing between the two countries, according to video footage released by the interior ministry which showed the pills hidden in a shipment of ironing boards.

Miri said there had been arrests, but did not elaborate on the number or nationality of those detained.

He said the seizure operation was mounted with the cooperation of security forces in the autonomous region of Kurdistan, which borders Turkey.

It also took place thanks to "very important information" provided by Saudi security forces, Miri added.

Captagon became Syria's largest export during the country's civil war that began in 2011.

In recent years Iraq and its neighbours, in particular the transit countries Jordan and Saudi Arabia to boost cooperation in a bid to combat trafficking.

Saudi Arabia is a major market for addictive captagon.

Iraq in 2022 announced it had seized six million pills, and in 2024 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) said the country had experienced a "dramatic increase" in both the trafficking and use of captagon in the previous five years.

"In 2023 alone, authorities (in Iraq) seized a record-high 24 million captagon tablets -- the equivalent of over 4.1 tonnes, with an estimated retail value of between $84 million and $144 million," a UNDOC report said.

It said that between 2019 and 2023, about 82 percent of the captagon seized in the Middle East originated from Syria, followed by Lebanon at 17 per cent.

The new authorities in Damascus have announced the destruction of around 100 million captagon pills but the trade persists, a diplomatic source who follows the issue said.

"Lower-ranking operators are showing resilience, adapting, and remaining in place despite political or security changes," the source said.

"It is therefore not surprising to see trafficking continue, whether through the sale of existing stockpiles or the establishment of new production".

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said that trafficking from Syria was ongoing and that there were still captagon factories operating in the country. 

BEIRUT, Lebanon - An Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon on Sunday killed one person, the health ministry said, the latest attack more than three months into a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah.

The strike, which also wounded one person, targeted a four-wheel-drive vehicle near Yater in Bint Jbeil district at around 2:00 am, the official National News Agency reported.

"The Israeli enemy's air strike on a vehicle in the town of Yater resulted in the martyrdom of a citizen and the injury of another," the ministry said in a statement carried by NNA.

It comes a day after the ministry said one person was killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the southern border town of Burj Al Muluk.

And on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it carried out a strike in southern Lebanon that killed a senior Hizbollah member.

That came as Lebanon received four detainees who had been taken to Israel during fighting with Lebanon's Iran-backed Hizbollah group, with a fifth detainee, a soldier, released on Thursday after he was taken earlier this month.

A November 27 truce largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Hizbollah and Israel, including two months of full-blown war in which Israel sent in ground troops.

Israel has continued to carry out periodic strikes on Lebanese territory since the agreement took effect.

Israel had been due to withdraw from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops at five locations it deems "strategic".

The ceasefire also required Hizbollah to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Israel and Hamas are set for more indirect talks Sunday on the Gaza ceasefire, but deep divisions persist between the two warring sides on the terms of the fragile truce.

Mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, the initial phase of the ceasefire took effect on January 19, largely halting 15 months of deadly fighting in Gaza triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

That phase ended in early March, and though both sides have since refrained from all-out war, they have been unable to agree on the next stage of the ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.

Late on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed Israeli negotiators to continue the talks, his office said.

But he directed the team to base its negotiations on a proposal by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff that calls for the "immediate release of 11 living hostages and half of the deceased hostages".

That came after Hamas said it was ready to release a living Israeli-US hostage, Edan Alexander, along with the bodies of four other Israeli-Americans in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

A Hamas delegation, which left Cairo for Doha where the movement is based, said the proposal to hand over the five had also been put forward by the United States.

But the United States, the key military ally of Israel, has since criticised Hamas' insistence on that proposal.

"The delegation held fruitful discussions with our Egyptian brothers, focusing on ways to advance the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in light of Hamas's acceptance of the updated American proposal" reportedly put forward by US hostage envoy Adam Boehler, a Hamas official said, referring to the five.

"The delegation asked mediators and guarantors, the United States, to compel the occupation (Israel) to implement the humanitarian protocol, immediately allow humanitarian aid into Gaza Strip, and begin the second phase of negotiations," the official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak publicly on the Gaza truce.

Deadlock

During the first phase of the truce agreement, Hamas released 33 hostages, including eight deceased, while Israel freed around 1,800 Palestinian detainees.

Since then, Hamas has consistently demanded that negotiations for the second phase, which include a permanent end to the war, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the reopening of border crossings for aid, and the release of remaining hostages.

Israel, however, seeks to extend the first phase until mid-April and insists that any transition to the second phase must include "the total demilitarisation" of Gaza and the removal of Hamas, which has controlled the territory since 2007.

The ceasefire negotiations are now at an impasse, with both sides holding firm in their positions and accusing each other of obstructing progress.

The October 7 attack resulted in 1,218 deaths on the Israeli side, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
In response, Israel launched a large-scale offensive in Gaza, which has killed at least 48,572 people, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the territory's health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.

Despite the fragile truce still holding, the Israeli military continues to conduct near-daily air strikes in Gaza.

On Saturday, strikes in north Gaza's city of Beit Lahia killed nine people, including four Palestinian journalists, according to the territory's civil defence agency, marking the deadliest attack on a single site since January 19.

Hamas condemned the attack as "a horrible massacre" and "a blatant violation of the ceasefire".

The Israeli military said it hit "a terrorist cell" in Beit Lahia, adding the militants were operating a drone intended to carry out "terrorist attacks" against its troops in Gaza.

It said in a statement that the drone was being used regularly by Islamic Jihad militants, who have been fighting alongside Hamas against Israeli forces in Gaza.