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Pope Francis shows slight improvement in laboratory tests and resumes work, including calling the parish in Gaza.

The pope is currently in hospitalÌýas he battles double pneumonia and the onset of slight kidney failure.

Israel's army said it struck two rocket launch sites in Gaza on Monday after a projectile was fired from one of them and landed inside the Palestinian territory.

"Earlier today, a projectile launch that fell inside the Gaza Strip was identified. A short while ago, the IDF (military) struck the launch site from which the projectile was fired, as well as an additional launch site in the area," the army said in a statement.

The UN human rights chiefÌýVolker Turk has called for an independent investigation intoÌý"grave violations of international law" across the Gaza Strip.

"In Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, where the suffering has been unbearable, I repeat my call for an independent investigation into grave violations of international law, committed by Israel in the course of its attacks across Gaza, and by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups," Turk said, speaking at the 58th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

"Any sustainable solution must be based on accountability, justice, the right to self-determination, and the human rights and dignity of both Israelis and Palestinians," he said.


At least 365 Palestinians have been detained since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) revealed in a statement.

PPS said as Israel expands its offensive in the occupied West Bank, the number of detentions has reached over 300, including civilians who were detained and were kept in custody and people who were later released.

Jenin has reached over 200 cases, while Tulkarm has reached 165, including people subjected to field investigations.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres voiced concerns surrounding Gaza's ceasefire at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

"We are witnessing a precarious ceasefire. We must avoid at all costs a resumption of hostilities. The people in Gaza have already suffered too much," he said.

"It's time for a permanent ceasefire, the dignified release of all remaining hostages, irreversible progress towards a two-state solution, an end to the occupation, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with Gaza as an integral part."

European Parliament member Rima Hassan has been banned from entering Israel over her pro-Palestinian stance.

Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel said the decision is based on her activism for Palestinians, supporting boycott campaigns and being vocal against Israel on social media.

Hassan was meant to arrive in Israel from BrusselsÌýas part of a European Union delegation but was denied entry following aÌýrecommendation from the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs.

At least 48,346 Palestinians have been killed, and 111,759 have been injured since Israel's offensive on Gaza started on 7 October 2023.

Medical sources said seven bodies arrived at hospitals in the Strip, including five bodies that were recovered and six injured over the past 24 hours.

The Gaza Health Ministry said the remaining thousands trapped under the rubble are presumed dead, making the toll incomplete.

Members of the Kurdish-run autonomous administration in northeast Syria and of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces did not receive invitations to a national dialogue set to take place in Damascus on Tuesday, officials said.

Farhad Shami, a spokesperson for the Syrian Democratic Forces, and Ilham Ahmad, a senior official from the autonomous administration, told Reuters on Monday that no members of their respective organisations had been invited to the conference.

(Reuters)

Two Jordanian officials said Syrian transitional leader Ahmed al-Sharaa will visit Jordan on Wednesday and meet King Abdullah to discuss boosting ties between the two countries.

The visit is the new interim leader's third foreign trip along with Saudi Arabia and Turkey since he came to power after leading a decisive rebel offensive which ousted long-time Iran-backed Bashar al Assad.

Sharaa is expected to hold wide-ranging talks over border security and ways of expanding commercial ties.

(Reuters)

Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad on Monday accused Israel of wanting to "annex the West Bank by force" after Israel deployed tanks into the occupied territory for the first time in decades.

In a statement, Islamic Jihad said Israel's use of tanks and the evacuation of three Palestinian refugee camps "confirms the occupation's plans to annex the West Bank by force."

The militant group, which alongside Hamas fought a deadly war against Israel in Gaza until a ceasefire was announced last month, described the move as "a new act of aggression".

It was "aimed at uprooting our people from their land and consolidating military domination by creating settler corridors that reinforce the separation of West Bank cities and their camps," the group said.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Club has said that 365 Palestinians have been detained since the beginning of an Israeli assault on the northern West Bank, with 200 being detained in Jenin and the rest in Tulkarm. According to the NGO, those detained include children, women, and men, including the wounded and elderly. 

Germany's likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, told Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu that he would invite him to Germany in defiance of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Israeli prime minister's office said on Monday.

In a phone call after Merz's conservative party won most votes in a national election on Sunday, Netanyahu congratulated the German, said the Israeli's office.

It added that Merz told Netanyahu he would invite him to Germany "in defiance of the scandalous International Criminal Court decision to label the Prime Minister a war criminal".

(Reuters)

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called for a constructive dialogue but braced for criticism from some European countries as he arrived for talks on Monday in Brussels.

"I'm looking for a constructive dialogue, an open and honest one, and I believe that this is what it will be," Saar told reporters on arrival.

"We know how to face criticism," he said, adding "it's okay as long as criticism is not connected to delegitimisation, demonisation, or double standards ... but we are ready to discuss everything with an open mind".

Saar will co-chair a meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas in the first such session since 2022. Talks are set to focus on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Israeli-Palestinian relations and changing regional dynamics.

The Israeli foreign minister said that within the EU "there are very friendly countries, there are less friendly countries", but that Monday's meeting showed a willingness to renew normal relations.

(Reuters)

Israeli settlers stormed al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem Monday morning, local sources reported to Wafa.

The sources said the settlers stormed the compound and performed rituals.

Brazil's Foreign Ministry has shared its concerns over the Israeli army's recent escaltion of its raids of Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams in the northern occupied West Bank.

The ministry condemned the use of tanks and denounced the forced displacement of the almost 40,000 residents from the camps "in violation of international law and international humanitarian law".

"Brazil urges Israel to fully suspend its military operations in the West Bank," the statement said.

The European Union on Monday eased sanctions on Syria's energy, transport and banking sectors in a bid to help the country's reconstruction after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

The step approved at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels includes suspending sanctions on the energy and transport sectors, allowing transfers to five banks and making funds available to Syria's central bank.

"The EU aims to facilitate engagement with Syria, its people, and businesses, in key areas of energy and transport, as well as to facilitate financial and banking transactions associated with such sectors and those needed for humanitarian and reconstruction," the bloc said.

Syria's new leaders have been clamouring for the West to ease sanctions imposed to target Assad's regime during the civil war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Germany's conservative leader Friedrich Merz on his party's election victory and expressed hope of visiting him despite an arrest warrant, his office said Monday.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu had a warm conversation last night with Friedrich Merz and congratulated him on his win," his office said a statement.

"Merz thanked the prime minister for his call and said he would invite him for an official visit to Germany, openly defying the ICC's scandalous decision to label the prime minister as a war criminal."

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu, former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas's slain military chief Mohammed Deif.

Israeli forces targeted civilians on Monday in the Al-Zeitoun neighbourhood, southeast of Gaza City, and in the southwestern areas of Rafah City, south of the Strip - Wafa reports.

The forces fired shots in the areas, leading to a fire breaking out, but no one was injured or arrested.

The UN chief voiced alarm Monday at rising violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and calls for annexation after Israel announced expanded military operations in the occupied Palestinian territory.

"I am gravely concerned by the rising violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and other violations, as well as calls for annexation," Antonio Guterres told the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The military began a major raid in the West Bank's north a month ago, just after a truce went into effect in the Gaza Strip, a separate Palestinian territory.

Israel on Sunday said its troops would remain for many months in refugee camps in the occupied West Bank. Tens of thousands of Palestinians living there have been displaced by an intensifying military operation.

The White House said on Sunday that it supports Israel's decision to delay releasing 620 Palestinian prisoners, citing the "barbaric treatment" of Israeli captives by Hamas.

Delaying the prisoner release is an "appropriate response" to the Palestinian group's treatment of the captives, a statement from National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said.

President Donald Trump is prepared to support Israel in "whatever course of action it chooses regarding Hamas," he added.

(Reuters)