Politics
Key moments in Israel-Hamas war
US President Donald Trump says Israel and Hamas have agreed the first phase of a Gaza peace plan after more than two years of war that killed tens of thousands and unleashed a major humanitarian crisis.
Here are some of the key moments in the conflict:
Hamas attacks
Hundreds of Hamas fighters infiltrate Israel at dawn on October 7, 2023, storming southern Israeli communities and a desert music festival with gunfire, rockets and grenades.
It results in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
They seize 251 hostages and take them back to Gaza. Israel´s military says 47 remain, many of them dead.
Ground offensive
Israel begins bombing and besieging Gaza. On October 13, it calls on civilians in the territory´s north to move south.
Almost all Gazans have been displaced during the war, according to the UN.
Israel begins a ground offensive on October 27.
More than two years later, Israel’s military campaign has killed at least 67,183 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.
The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.
Truce and hostage swap
A week-long truce between Israel and Hamas begins on November 24.
Hamas releases 105 hostages, mostly Israeli but also Thai workers, in return for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
When the war resumes, Israel expands its operations into southern Gaza.
Regional spillover
Iran pounds Israel on April 13, 2024, with drones and missiles — its first-ever direct assault on Israel´s soil. The strikes are retaliation for an attack on its Damascus consulate, blamed on Israel.
Israel bombards a Yemeni port on July 20 after a drone attack on Tel Aviv by Iran-backed Huthi rebels who have been targeting shipping since November 2023 in solidarity with Gaza.
On September 17 and 18, hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Lebanese group Hezbollah exploded in an Israeli operation that Lebanese authorities say killed 39 and wounded thousands.
Israel escalates its air campaign in Lebanon and, on September 27, kills Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in southern Beirut.
Israel launches days later a ground offensive in southern Lebanon.
On October 1, Iran fired a barrage of 200 missiles at Israel in response to the killing of Nasrallah and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, assassinated on Iranian territory in July.
ICC warrants
On November 14, a United Nations Special Committee says Israel´s warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of “genocide”. Israel accuses the UN of bias.
The International Criminal Court issues on November 21 arrest warrants for Netanyahu, former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif (likely already dead, as Hamas will confirm months later). Israel appeals.
Second ceasefire begins
A long-awaited truce between Israel and Hamas begins on January 19, 2025, allowing hundreds of thousands of war-weary displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.
When the first six-week phase ends on March 1, 33 Israeli hostages — including eight bodies — have been freed in exchange for some 1,800 Palestinians.
Israel allows more humanitarian aid into Gaza, which the UN says faces famine, but then cuts it off on March 2.
Israel-Iran war
Israel strikes Iranian nuclear and military installations on June 13, starting a 12-day conflict.
Washington enters the fray on June 22, hitting three nuclear sites. Two days later, a fragile ceasefire announced by Trump comes into effect.
Israel hits Qatar
Israel targets Hamas officials on September 9 in strikes on the capital of Qatar, a key mediator in the conflict in Gaza.
The strikes are condemned by the international community.
Shortly afterwards, Israel´s army launches a major ground operation in Gaza City.
Trump announces deal
Trump announces on October 8 that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of his peace plan.
The deal will see all hostages released and Israel redeploying troops to an agreed-upon line, with aid also entering the famine-stricken region.
- Venezuela’s Machado gave her Nobel medal to Trump.
- Donald Trump says he intends to keep the medal.
- Original laureate recorded in history as prize recipient.
OSLO: The Nobel Peace Prize remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation that won it, though the medal can be given away, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said on Friday, a day after last year’s winner gave her medalto US President Donald Trump.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gave her medalon on Thursday to Trump, who thanked her for it. The White House released a photo of Trump and Machado, with Trump holding up a gold-coloured frame displaying it, and a White House official said Trump intends to keep it.
Machado’s award also consists of a diploma and 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.19 million).
“Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma, or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history as the recipient of the prize,” the award body said in a statement.
“There are no restrictions in the statutes of the Nobel Foundation on what a laureate may do with the medal, the diploma, or the prize money. This means that a laureate is free to keep, give away, sell, or donate these items,” it added.
‘Inseparably linked’
The medal and the diploma are physical symbols confirming that an individual or organisation has been awarded the prize, said the five-strong award committee.
“The prize itself – the honour and recognition – remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation designated as the laureate by the Norwegian Nobel Committee,” it said.
The committee, which did not refer to Trump and Machado by name in its statement, said it does not comment on a laureate’s statements, decisions or actions after the prize is announced.
It was not the first time a Nobel laureate has given away the medal. In 1943, Nobel literature laureate Knut Hamsun gave his to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
In 2022, Nobel Peace laureate Dmitry Muratov sold his medal for $100 million to raise money for the UN children’s fund Unicef to help Ukrainian refugee children.
In 2024, the widow of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan donated his 2001 Nobel Peace Prize medal and diploma to the UN office in Geneva.
US President Donald Trump purchased about $100 million in municipal and corporate bonds from mid-November to late December, his latest disclosures showed, including up to $2 million in Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery bonds just weeks after the companies announced their merger.
Financial disclosures posted on Thursday and Friday showed the majority of Trump’s purchases were municipal bonds from cities, local school districts, utilities and hospitals.
But he also bought bonds from companies including Boeing, Occidental Petroleum and General Motors.
The investments were the latest reported assets added to Trump’s expanding portfolio while he is in office.
It includes holdings in sectors that benefit from his policies, raising questions about conflicts of interest.
For example, Trump said in December that he would have a say in whether Netflix can proceed with its proposed $83 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, which faces a rival bid from Paramount Skydance.
Any deal to acquire Warner Bros will need regulatory approval.
A White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said on Friday that Trump’s stock and bond portfolio is independently managed by third-party financial institutions and neither Trump nor any member of his family has any ability to direct, influence or provide input regarding how the portfolio is invested.
Like many wealthy individuals, Trump regularly buys bonds as part of his investment portfolio.
He previously disclosed at least $82 million in bond purchases from late August to early October.
US President Donald Trump has reiterated his claim of having stopped a war between Pakistan and India, while also saying that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked him for saving at least 10 million lives.
He made the remarks at the renaming of Southern Boulevard to Donald J Trump Boulevard in Washington on Friday.
“In a year, we made eight peace deals and ended the conflict in Gaza. We have peace in the Middle East…We stopped India and Pakistan from fighting, two nuclear nations…The Pakistani Prime Minister said Donald Trump saved at least 10 million people, and it was amazing,” he said.
The US president further recalled that the Pakistani prime minister’s remarks were an honour for him.
Trump cited his administration’s foreign policy record and repeated assertions of brokering peace between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Trump has made similar claims multiple times since May 10 last year, arguing that US pressure helped defuse tensions between India and Pakistan.
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