World
Dozens killed in Gaza despite Trump’s call for Israel to halt bombing
Hamas said in a statement, referring to the Israeli prime minister, that “the continuation of the occupation’s bombing and massacres exposes Netanyahu’s lies about reducing military operations against civilians.”
Dozens were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza on Saturday, local health officials said, despite a demand from U.S. President Donald Trump for Israel to stop bombing in response to a declaration by Hamas that it was ready to free hostages under his plan to end the two-year-old war, Reuters reported.
With ceasefire talks due to begin in Egypt in the coming week, Trump said on Saturday on his Truth Social platform that Israel had agreed to an “initial withdrawal line” inside Gaza and that “when Hamas confirms, the Ceasefire will be IMMEDIATELY effective.”
At least 36 people were killed in bombardments and airstrikes in the devastated Palestinian enclave since Trump pressed Israel to halt its attacks late on Friday.
Eighteen people died in sporadic incidents, while 18 people, including children, were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli strike on a house in the Tuffah neighbourhood in Gaza City, medics said. The attack damaged several buildings nearby.
Israel said it had targeted a Hamas militant who had posed a threat to its troops in the area, and that reports of casualties were under review.
The military “regrets any harm caused to uninvolved civilians and works to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians as much as possible,” it said in a statement.
Hamas said in a statement, referring to the Israeli prime minister, that “the continuation of the occupation’s bombing and massacres exposes Netanyahu’s lies about reducing military operations against civilians.”
Early on Saturday, Trump said he appreciated that Israel had “temporarily stopped the bombing,” and he urged Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, to move quickly on his plan “or else all bets will be off.”
“I will not tolerate delay, which many think will happen, or any outcome where Gaza poses a threat again. Let’s get this done, FAST. Everyone will be treated fairly!” Trump said on Truth Social.
Hamas had drawn a welcoming response from Trump on Friday by saying it accepted certain key parts of his 20-point peace proposal, including ending the war, Israel’s withdrawal, and the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian captives, read the report.
But the group has left some issues subject to further negotiation, as well as questions unanswered, such as whether it would be willing to disarm, a key demand from Israel to end the war.
Trump posted later on Saturday: “After negotiations, Israel has agreed to the initial withdrawal line, which we have shown to, and shared with, Hamas.”
He said that once Hamas agrees to it, a ceasefire would take effect, “the Hostages and Prisoner Exchange will begin, and we will create the conditions for the next phase of withdrawal.” He did not elaborate.
There was no immediate confirmation from Israel, which has shown little willingness to significantly pull back its forces. Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
Before Trump’s post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement that the first stage of the plan calls for Hamas to free the hostages and for Israeli forces to “redeploy in a way” that they “continue to hold all of the controlling areas deep inside the Strip.”
A White House official said Trump was sending his envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, to Egypt to finalize the technical details of the hostage release and discuss a lasting peace deal.
Egypt will also host delegations from Israel and Hamas on Monday, the country’s Foreign Ministry said.
Netanyahu said the intention of Israel and the U.S. was to limit the negotiations to a few days.
Netanyahu said he hoped to announce the return of the captives during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which lasts from October 6-13, all while the Israeli military remained deep in Gaza, Reuters reported.
Hamas would be disarmed and Gaza demilitarized in the second phase of Trump’s plan, Netanyahu said, warning that it would happen either politically or militarily.
Trump’s plan sees the military eventually withdrawing to Gaza’s perimeter but does not lay out any time frame.
The prime minister spoke as tens of thousands took to the streets in Tel Aviv in support of a deal to end the war.
Hamas’ response to the plan drew optimistic statements from world leaders, who urged an end to the deadliest conflict involving Israel since its creation in 1948 and called for the release of Israelis still held in the enclave.
Another possible boost to peace hopes came with a supportive statement from the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, which is smaller than Hamas but seen as more hardline.
The group, which also holds hostages, on Saturday endorsed Hamas’ response.
Hamas’ stance may raise the spirit of Gazans, who had watched one ceasefire effort after another fail as Israeli strikes hit the strip over the past two years, creating a humanitarian crisis and displacing millions.
Some Palestinians expressed fear that Netanyahu, who heads Israel’s most far-right government in its history, will ultimately withdraw from any plan to end the war.
“What is important is that Netanyahu does not sabotage this, because now that Hamas agreed, Netanyahu will disagree, as he usually does,” said Jerusalem resident Jamal Shihada.
Israeli media reported that the country’s political echelon had instructed the military to reduce offensive activity in Gaza.
Trump has invested significant political capital in efforts to end the war that has left U.S. ally Israel increasingly isolated internationally.
Trump said on Friday he believed Hamas had shown it was “ready for a lasting PEACE” and he called on Netanyahu’s government to halt airstrikes in Gaza.
Domestically, the prime minister is caught between growing pressure to end the war — from hostage families and a war-weary public — and demands from hardline members of his coalition who insist there must be no let-up in Israel’s campaign in Gaza.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on X that halting attacks on Gaza was a “grave mistake.”
Israel began attacking Gaza after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Israel says 48 hostages remain, 20 of whom are alive, Reuters reported.
Israel’s campaign has killed more than 67,000 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.
World
US military operations killed 153 civilians in 2025, Pentagon assessment shows
A Pentagon report submitted to the U.S. Congress and published by U.S. media said all civilian deaths and injuries recorded in 2025 resulted from three U.S. strikes in Yemen.
U.S. military operations killed 153 civilians and wounded 243 others in 2025, a U.S. official said on Tuesday, citing Pentagon assessments.
According to Reuters, the figures represent a sharp increase from 2024, when Pentagon assessments recorded two civilian deaths and two injuries linked to U.S. military operations.
A Pentagon report submitted to the U.S. Congress and published by U.S. media said all civilian deaths and injuries recorded in 2025 resulted from three U.S. strikes in Yemen.
The report said the U.S. Central Command assessed that the three strikes carried out in April 2025 in Yemen “more likely than not” resulted in civilian harm.
As of February 2026, the report said, 15 other incidents in Yemen were still being assessed by U.S. Central Command following reports received through non-governmental organizations.
The U.S. military says its operations in Yemen aim to degrade the capabilities of Iran-backed Houthi militants.
The Pentagon report did not include casualties from U.S. strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. It said that as of February 1, 2026, the U.S. Southern Command had assessed that no incidents in its area of responsibility in 2025 “more likely than not” resulted in civilian casualties.
The Trump administration has also carried out strikes on vessels it accuses of transporting narcotics in the Eastern Pacific, describing the targets as “narco-terrorists.” According to a Reuters tally based on death tolls published after each strike, more than 200 people have been killed in such operations since September 2025.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have described the strikes as unlawful extrajudicial killings, while the American Civil Liberties Union has called the Trump administration’s claims about those targeted “unsubstantiated, fear-mongering claims.”
World
Trump took secret flight out of Turkey due to Iran threat, the Washington Post reports
The trip to NATO was the first international travel for the new plane, whose speedy upgrades triggered questions over its cost and security, and took place as hostilities escalated with Iran, which borders Turkey.
U.S. President Donald Trump departed on a secret military flight from Turkey last month when the White House said he was flying aboard Air Force One, an extraordinary move prompted by an Iranian assassination threat, the Washington Post reported Monday.
Trump had taken the newly renovated Qatari-donated jet to Ankara for the NATO summit but he unexpectedly used an older Air Force One when departing the country, a move that prompted questions about the newer plane’s security, Reuters reported.
The trip to NATO was the first international travel for the new plane, whose speedy upgrades triggered questions over its cost and security, and took place as hostilities escalated with Iran, which borders Turkey.
Before departing Ankara, Trump said on Truth Social that he would use an older baby blue Air Force One plane “for old time’s sake” to RAF Mildenhall in Britain while the new plane stopped at the same base so U.S. service members stationed there could tour the aircraft.
After Trump boarded the old Air Force One in front of cameras in Ankara, he was secretly shuttled by an airport catering truck to a smaller plane, an Air Force C-32A, the Post reported citing a U.S. official familiar with the operation and corroborating material it reviewed.
The deception operation was triggered by a credible threat to Trump, the Post reported. A similar operation had taken place in 2000, when President Bill Clinton used an unmarked executive jet to fly into Pakistan while sending his formal Air Force One as decoy.
On this occasion, the journalists who thought they were traveling with Trump on the older Air Force One, which was effectively used as a decoy, reported being advised to keep their window shades in the press cabin closed. The Post said aside from reporters, some White House staff also believed that the president was on board.
When asked later by reporters why they had to keep their shades shut during the flight, Trump said it was because they were “probably on a dangerous flight.” He went onto say: “But if I go, you go. Right?”
The C-32A carrying Trump flew to Britain and arrived at around 10:20 p.m. while the older Air Force One and media, arriving minutes later, the Post reported. It was not clear, the paper said, how Trump was moved from the C-32A back to the older Air Force One.
Trump’s traveling press pool reported he climbed down the stairs of the older Air Force One at 10:56 p.m. UK local time.
He gave press a peace sign but didn’t walk over to talk to them. He then spent some time greeting service members before walking to the new, Qatar-donated plane.
When asked for comment on the revelation of a secret flight on a third plane, the White House provided a statement from Communications Director Steve Cheung saying the Qatari-donated jet has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the president and his staff.
“As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats,” Cheung said. It was the same statement provided to the Post.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The new plane, with red, white, dark blue and gold livery chosen by Trump, is a Boeing 747 gifted to the United States by Qatar last year and refitted by defense contractor L3Harris Technologies. It was intended to serve as a temporary placement while Boeing (BA.N) struggled to deliver long-delayed next-generation Air Force One planes.
World
More than 100 killed after strongest quake this century hits western Colombia
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 7.4-magnitude quake struck at a depth of 107 km (66 miles). Colombia’s Geological Service said it was the strongest earthquake recorded in the country in the 21st century.
More than 100 people were killed after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, toppling buildings, damaging hospitals and infrastructure and trapping people beneath the rubble in the country’s strongest earthquake this century.
The quake struck just days after Abelardo De La Espriella was sworn in as president, thrusting the new administration into its first major crisis, with memories still fresh of devastating twin earthquakes in neighboring Venezuela in June, Reuters reported.
“The national government has all of its capabilities deployed to protect lives, assist affected communities and deliver aid wherever it is needed,” he said in a national address around 1 p.m. local time, upon declaring a national state of emergency and giving a death toll of 111. “The first priority is rescuing the people trapped under the rubble.”
De La Espriella visited Quibdo, the capital of coastal Choco province, where he promised rent subsidies for those who have lost homes, and then traveled to Cali, western Colombia’s largest city.
Though he had been expected to give an updated national death toll on Monday evening, De La Espriella offered only figures for Valle del Cauca province, where Cali is located, saying 35 people had died there, while 700 had been injured. Some local media have cited a national total of 132 deaths, though the origin of the figure is unclear.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 7.4-magnitude quake struck at a depth of 107 km (66 miles). Colombia’s Geological Service said it was the strongest earthquake recorded in the country in the 21st century.
As night fell, rescue workers and volunteers with headlamps hurried to find people still trapped under rubble.
Authorities in Cali, Armenia and Manizales announced curfews, with Cali’s mayor saying threats of looting had forced him to deploy police and military personnel to the streets. De La Espriella promised 1,000 additional security personnel for the city.
Cali authorities said the Petronio Alvarez festival, an annual celebration of Pacific music which was due to start on Wednesday, has been postponed.
Video broadcast by Caracol Television showed a group of people pulling a small baby covered in dust from under a pile of rubble. Caracol reported the six-month-old girl and her mother were rescued from under a five-story building in Cali.
Video from Cali also showed rescue workers rappelling people out from the windows of a local hospital.
BUILDINGS CRUMBLE, AIRPORTS CLOSED
In the hard-hit city of Pereira, rescue workers told local television they were in contact with a young boy trapped under a bakery, and crane operators were working to remove badly damaged parts of buildings.
A four-story building crumbled in Pereira during the quake, according to Reuters-verified video, while footage from Manizales showed one of the side towers of the city’s landmark neo-Gothic cathedral collapsing and scattering debris onto nearby streets.
Reuters video showed rescue workers, police and volunteers shoveling debris by hand and loading rubble into trucks as they searched for survivors trapped beneath collapsed buildings. Other footage showed damage to residential towers and emergency-service facilities, with debris crashing onto ambulances parked below.
Mauricio Andrade, a firefighter in Cali, said his team had rescued two adult women and two children from a collapsed building. As he spoke to Reuters, his team was preparing to rescue more people from the rubble.
“They are alive,” he said. “We are making space so we can free them and get them out.”
Carmen Yasmin Garcia, 43, a Cali resident and rescue volunteer, said her group had helped seven people out of a fallen building but there were still four people and a dog trapped underneath.
“A moment ago there was scratching but now we can’t hear anything, we still have faith that the dog is alive and we can get these people out,” she said. “The more people lending a hand the better.”
Saul Paz, 69, a resident of a Cali residential complex that partially collapsed, told Reuters he had been in the dining room with his son and wife when the shaking began.
“I think if it had lasted five seconds more there would be nothing left,” he said. “There are people who went to bed last night with a house and a car and today they won’t have anything.”
Colombia’s civil aviation authority suspended operations at several airports in the region, including Pereira, Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura, while engineers carried out structural inspections.
RING OF FIRE
Colombia sits along the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire and records thousands of mostly minor earthquakes each month.
Northwestern University seismologist Suzan van der Lee said the quake’s powerful magnitude, inland location and strike-slip motion may have amplified damage in populated valleys despite its considerable depth.
“This one was far below the crust, and in theory it shouldn’t cause as much shaking. At this magnitude, it did actually cause a lot of shaking,” she said, adding Colombia is particularly difficult for seismologists to analyze due to the interaction of several major tectonic plates.
The Colombian Geological Service said it had recorded 21 aftershocks by late Monday and warned that additional tremors were likely.
Colombia’s coffee region was devastated by a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in 1999 that killed more than 1,000 people, particularly around Armenia and Pereira.
-
Sport4 days agoAfghanistan secure direct qualification for 2027 Men’s ODI World Cup
-
Regional5 days agoGoods transporters to go on strike from Saturday after talks with Pakistan govt fail
-
Latest News4 days agoPakistan-backed armed groups in Balochistan using former Afghan government forces: report
-
Sport3 days agoAbasin Defenders stun Kabul Zalmi in Kabul Premier League
-
Regional4 days agoTurkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia defence pact technically same as NATO’s Article 5, Turkish minister says
-
Sport3 days agoKabul Premier League gets underway with high-scoring opener
-
Latest News4 days agoRussia eyes railway route via Afghanistan as alternative to Strait of Hormuz
-
Latest News4 days agoAriana Airlines brings $2.3 million Boeing 737 engine from US to Kabul
