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More than 70 people were killed and dozens more wounded in Syria in fighting between government security forces and militants loyal to deposed ruler Bashar al-Assad, a rights monitor said Friday.

"More than 70 killed and dozens wounded and captured in bloody clashes and ambushes on the Syrian coast between members of the Ministry of Defense and Interior and militants from the defunct regime's army," the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a post on X.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Friday called for a "lasting ceasefire" in Gaza at a press conference in Beijing.

"If major powers genuinely care about the people of Gaza, they should promote a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire in Gaza and increase humanitarian assistance," Wang said.

Syria's security forces say Latakia province under curfew until 10:00am (0700 GMT) Friday.

At least 28 Assad regime loyalists were killed by Syrian security forces in the city of Jableh, Latakia province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

The deaths come amid clashes between the army and regime elements in the coastal province.

A US envoy on Thursday praised Egypt for coming up with a new plan on Gaza, without endorsing details of the proposed alternative to Trump's calls to displace Palestinians en masse.

"We need more discussion about it, but it's a good-faith first step from the Egyptians," Steve Witkoff, Trump's Middle East pointman, told reporters.

Witkoff said Trump had succeeded in "now encouraging other people in the Middle East -- Middle Eastern world -- to present proactive proposals for what we might consider," he said.

A group of UN human rights experts said Thursday that Israel is again "weaponising starvation" in Gaza by blocking humanitarian aid after the first phase of a ceasefire deal expired.

A fragile ceasefire since January 19 saw an influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza, before Israel on Sunday announced it was blocking deliveries until Palestinian militant group Hamas accepted its terms for an extension of the ceasefire.

The group of more than 30 experts -- specialists in various fields who are mandated by the UN Human Rights Council but do not speak on behalf of the United Nations -- said the Israeli action breached international law.

Gunmen loyal to Syria's Bashar al-Assad killed 16 security personnel on Thursday, a war monitor said, in attacks it described as the "most violent" since the longtime president's ouster.

The fighting took place in the Mediterranean coastal province of Latakia, the heartland of the ousted president's Alawite minority who were considered bastions of support during his rule.

Switzerland has cancelled a conference on the application of the Geneva Conventions to the occupied Palestinian territories for want of participants, four diplomatic sources told Reuters on Thursday, after some countries expressed dissatisfaction.

The country had invited 196 parties to the conventions to participate in the 7 March conference in Geneva on the situation of civilians living in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, but then told them the gathering had been cancelled.

Read more here.

International Monetary Fund staff will visit Lebanon next week to meet with the country's new government and begin addressing its economic woes, the Washington-based lender said Thursday.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, IMF communications director Julie Kozack said the 10-14 March "fact-finding" mission to Lebanon would address the country's economic development, and its reconstruction needs amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

"Beyond this fact-finding mission, as we look ahead, future next steps could include helping the authorities to formulate a comprehensive economic reform program," she said, alluding to the prospect of a new aide package.

Gunmen linked to the former Assad regime have killed at least 13 members of Syria's security forces, Syria TV is reporting.

State news agency SANA earlier reported clashes in Latakia between security forces and militants it said were affiliated with Assad regime commander Suhail al-Hassan.

Alawite leaders have called for peaceful protests against helicopter strikes launched by government forces, which SANA said came in response to the killing of a member of the security forces by the gunmen.

We'll bring you more as we get it.

The UK has announced it has lifted sanctions on 24 Syrian entities in the finance, energy and transport sectors.

The organisations include the central bank, the national airline and the state oil company.

Read more here.

The Trump administration has offered Hamas a 60-day extension to the first phase of the ceasefire in exchange for the release of 10 living Israeli prisoners, Sky News Arabia is reporting.

Negotiations for the second phase of the truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza-Egypt border would take place during the extension, a Palestinian source said.

Crossings would be opened to humanitarian aid for the entire 10-week period, they added.

"Hamas is still considering its response to the proposal," the pan-Arab outlet quoted the source as saying.

The US earlier confirmed reports that it had held direct talks with the Palestinian group in a bid to break the deadlock in negotiations triggered by Israel's refusal to discuss the second phase of the ceasefire.

The Trump administration did not notify Israel that it was holding direct talks with Hamas, according to US and Israeli reports.

Israel obtained knowledge of the discussions via "other channels," the New York Times reports.

US news outlet Axios reported Wednesday that the Trump administration had held direct talks with Hamas leaders, breaking a long-standing taboo in the US against discussions with the Palestinian group.

Sudan has filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) alleging the UAE is complicit in genocide by funding the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) rebel militia waging war against the army. 

In proceedings initiated on Wednesday, Sudan asked the world court to approve provisional measures to prevent the Gulf state from facilitating alleged acts of genocide against the Masalit people in Darfur.

In its application, it asserts that the UAE is "complicit in the genocide on the Masalit through its direction of and provision of extensive financial, political, and military support for the rebel RSF militia".

France on Thursday saluted an Arab plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip under the future administration of the Palestinian Authority, adding Islamist militant group Hamas should be "entirely" excluded from running it.

The proposal that Arab leaders endorsed on Tuesday "constitutes a serious and credible basis to respond to reconstruction, governance and security needs after the Gaza war," French foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said. But "the plan must entirely exclude Hamas from governing Gaza, where it must be disarmed and give Israel serious security guarantees."

Fuel needed to operate Gaza's water infrastructure will run out in a week due to the siege reimposed by Israel earlier this week, Human Rights Watch has warned.

Local officials told the rights monitor that almost all wells and one of the strip's two working desalination plants will stop functioning unless Israel lifts its blockade.

Israeli authorities have also rejected appeals from Gaza's water authority to repair one of the three pipelines that provides water to the territory from Israel.

The Israeli and American air forces conducted a joint drill this week, the Israeli army confirmed today.

The exercise involved Israeli F-15I and F-35I fighter jets and a US B-52 bomber, and took place to strengthen the two countries' ability to confront "various regional threats", the army said.

Israeli public broadcaster Kan had earlier reported that dozens of jets, refuelers and bombers had participated in the exercise - the first of its kind between the two countries in two years.

One civilian has been killed and several others wounded after Israeli forces shelled a gathering in northern Gaza, Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting.

The attack, confirmed by Israeli Army Radio, occurred in Shujaiya, east of Gaza City.

US pro-Israel advocacy group J Street has criticised the visit of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to the US, saying that the invitation demonstrates a normalisation of the Israeli far-right's "racist ideology".

"We must not forget: This is a man who has dedicated his life to inciting violence against Palestinians and erasing any chance of peace," it wrote in a post on X.

Smotrich, who has repeatedly called for the Jewish resettlement of Gaza and the annexation of the occupied West Bank, is currently in Washington for talks with Trump administration officials.

That Smotrich is in Washington for meetings with Trump officials shows how much his racist ideology has been normalized. We must not forget: This is a man who has dedicated his life to inciting violence against Palestinians and erasing any chance of peace.

— J Street (@jstreetdotorg)

The number of Palestinians killed during Israel's war on Gaza has risen to 48,446, according to the latest figures from the strip's health ministry.

The number of people wounded has risen to 111,852.

Talks between Egyptian and US officials about the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement ended positively, sources tell Reuters.

The two sides discussed post-war governance plans and the names of people who would administer the strip, sources said.

Under a proposal put forward by Egypt earlier this week, Hamas would cede power to a committee of independent Palestinian experts who would govern the territory for six months before handing it over to the Palestinian Authority.

An international force composed mainly of Arab troops would provide security and establish a new police force.

The plan was approved by Arab nations at an emergency summit in Cairo on Tuesday.

A 62-year-old Palestinian man has died in Israeli custody, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club.

Ali Ashour Ali al-Batsh was detained by Israeli forces in Gaza in December 2023 and lost his life days after being transferred to hospital from Israel's Naqab prison, the Palestinian advocacy group wrote on its Telegram channel today.

Israeli authorities have not disclosed the cause of death.

Al-Batsh is the fourth Palestinian detainee to die in Israeli custody in just over a week, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club said.

His death brings the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli prisons since October 2023 to 62.

Outlawed Kurdish group PKK and all groups allied with it must disarm "immediately", a Turkish defence ministry source said on Thursday, apparently referring to Kurdish forces in Syria.

"The PKK and all groups affiliated with it must end all terrorist activities, dissolve and immediately and unconditionally lay down their weapons," the source said.

Last week, PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan urged the group to dissolve and his fighters to lay down their arms in a historic call.

The PKK, which has engaged in a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state in which tens of thousands of people have died, declared a ceasefire on Saturday and said it would comply with Ocalan's call.

But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has backed the peace move, was quick to warn that if the promises weren't kept, the military would continue its anti-PKK operations.

(AFP)

US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Hamas leaders on Wednesday night, Reuters is reporting, citing two Egyptian sources.

Officials from Qatar and Egypt - who along with the US are mediating talks between Hamas and Israel - were also involved in the talks, the sources said.

Trump last night issued Hamas a "final warning" to release all the remaining Israeli prisoners, threatening "hell to pay" if it did not do so. Hamas this morning rejected the US president's ultimatum, insisting that Israel should be made to stick to the multi-phase ceasefire pact agreed in January.

The news comes after a report claimed that the US had been in direct negotiations with Hamas, breaking a long-standing taboo against holding dialogue with the Palestinian group.

The Trump administration has imposed fresh sanctions on Yemen's Houthis in a move it said was designed to prevent the organisation procuring and smuggling weapons.

The Treasury said Wednesday that it was targeting seven high-ranking Houthi officials who it said were responsible for smuggling arms into Yemen and negotiating weapons purchases from Russia.

This came a day after the US officially designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organisation.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich agreed to strengthen economic ties during talks in Washington on Wednesday.

"This is a critical time to shape a new strategic economic future for both countries, reinforcing American global leadership and Israel's role as a key economic partner," a joint statement published by the US Treasury read.

"To advance shared economic interests, both sides agreed to strengthen dialogue mechanisms to enhance collaboration in key areas, including economic policy, technology, and financial regulation."

A Palestinian man was shot near a medical facility in Rafah on Sunday in what Doctors Without Borders (MSF) suggested this morning was likely an Israeli attack. 

“While we can't confirm the source of these bullets, shots fired from the southern Israeli-controlled buffer zone are increasingly common and cost lives, despite the ceasefire. This incident is unacceptable. It jeopardised the lives of our patients and staff,” said Myriam Laaroussi, MSF Emergency Coordinator.

🔴Gaza: On the morning of 2 March, a Palestinian man was shot next to the entrance of the MSF-supported Al-Shaboura clinic, in Rafah. This was then followed by a round of bullets shot near the facility, leading our team to take shelter inside the clinic. A bullet hit the…

— MSF International (@MSF)

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry is making efforts to mobilise international political and financial support for Egypt's reconstruction plan for Gaza.

In a statement this morning, the ministry said it had told its ambassadors abroad to intensify diplomatic action to increase support for the proposal.

At an emergency Arab League summit this week, regional leaders endorsed a post-war plan drawn up by Egypt that provides for the reconstruction of the territory without the expulsion of its 2.2 million inhabitants.

The plan was created in response to threats by the Trump administration to permanently displace Gazans into Egypt and Jordan as part of the US president's plan to construct the 'Riviera of the Middle East'.

الخارجية: حراك دبلوماسي فلسطيني عربي مكثف لحشد الدعم الدولي السياسي والمادي لمخرجات القمة العربية

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Intensive Palestinian and Arab diplomatic efforts to mobilize international political and financial support for the outcomes of the Arab Summit.

— State of Palestine - MFA 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa)

Israeli forces set fire to a building in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to local reports.

Israel has forcibly displaced 40,000 people from Jenin and Tulkarem in the seven weeks since it launched a large-scale military assault on the refugee camps.

Hamas has rejected Donald Trump's latest threat to release the remaining Israeli prisoners held in Gaza and demanded that Israel abide by the ceasefire agreement.

Trump on Wednesday issued what he called a "last warning" to Hamas to free the captives, and threatened "hell to pay" if they did not comply.

"Trump's repeated threats against our people are support for Netanyahu to evade the [ceasefire] agreement and tighten the siege and starvation of our people," Hamas spokesperson Abd al-Latif al-Qanou wrote on his Telegram channel this morning.

"The best path to free the remaining Israeli prisoners is for the occupation to enter second-phase negotiations and force it to abide by the signed agreement."

Israel has reneged on the terms of the original ceasefire agreement and is refusing to engage in talks to enter the second stage of the truce. Instead, it wants to extend the current truce for another six weeks and secure the release of more captives without negotiating a permanent end to the war.

On Sunday it reimposed its blockade on all humanitarian aid entering the strip.