Closing summary
Geir Pedersen, the UN’s special envoy for Syria, has warned that the conflict “has not ended” even after the dramatic ousting of former president Bashar al-Assad, highlighting clashes between Turkish-backed and Kurdish groups in the north.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson denied reports that he is in Cairo for Gaza ceasefire talks. Netanyahu was holding a briefing on Mount Hermon, a strategic location overlooking Damascus, a statement from the prime minister’s office said.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, said ceasefire talks in Qatar aimed at a truce and hostage-prisoner exchange in Gaza were “serious and positive”, while White House national security communications spokesperson John Kirby said “we believe we are getting closer to a Gaza ceasefire deal”.
Israeli lawmakers narrowly approved the country’s 2025 state budget in an initial vote. The 59-57 vote in the Knesset – the Israeli parliament – to pass the wartime austerity budget in its first of three readings.
A UN refugee agency official said that about one million Syrian refugees are expected to return to the country in the first six months of 2025, with thousands of people already having returned to the country mostly from Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said his country’s forces will maintain “security control” over the devastated Gaza Strip, even after the war is over, with Israeli soldiers able to act with “full freedom of action” over the territory.
At least 45,059 Palestinian people have been killed and 107,041 injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement. Of those, 31 Palestinians were killed and 79 injured in the latest 24-hour reporting period, the ministry said.
At least 10 people were confirmed killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City that destroyed the building, while further north in the town of Beit Lahiya at least 15 people were reportedly killed while they were sheltering in a house.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that toppled Assad, said all rebel factions would “be disbanded and the fighters trained to join the ranks of the defence ministry” during a meeting with members of the minority Druze community.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the bloc would send an ambassador back to Damascus. “We are ready to reopen our delegation, which is the European embassy, and we want this to be fully operational again,” she said. Kallas added that the EU would aim to help authorities restore basic services like electricity, water and infrastructure.
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Israeli airstrikes killed extended families in homes in two parts of the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, medics have said. At least 10 people were confirmed killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City that destroyed the building, while further north in the town of Beit Lahiya at least 15 people were killed while they were sheltering in a house, according to Al Jazeera. Beit Lahiya is among the areas in the devasted northern Gaza Strip that have been under siege for more than 70 days by Israeli forces.
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