E-Paper
Benjamin Netanyahu announces ban on Al Jazeera in Israel
Benjamin Netanyahu called the AL Jazeera incitement channel.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the country's government has decided to shut down Qatar's global news channel Al Jazeera's local branch. The remark comes amid a long-running tension between the country and the international news channel.
Netanyahu called the AL Jazeera incitement channel.
"The government unanimously decided: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel," Netanyahu wrote on social media website X.
Earlier today, Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas' demand for ending the war in Gaza in exchange for Israeli hostages, saying that would keep the Islamist group in power in Palestine, posing a threat to the former's country.
He added that Israel will not accept terms that amount to capitulation. He vowed that Israel will continue the war in Gaza till its aims are achieved.
Israel has been fighting a protracted war against Hamas since October 7, when the group's fighters stormed the former's cities and killed 1200 people, including women and children.
The health ministry of Hamas-run Gaza said on Sunday that 34,683 people have died during the seven-month-old Israel-Gaza war. Over 78018 people have been wounded in the Gaza strip.
The United Nations has called for an immediate ceasefire as there is a famine in northern Gaza.
The death toll in Palestine has also resulted in strained ties between Israel and its ally the United States.
The United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has blamed Hamas for stalling a ceasefire. He said the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas.
Qatar, Egypt and the US are trying to broker a peace between Israel and Hamas.
A Hamas official told AFP that there won't be a truce until Israel stops the war and withdraws from Gaza.
An Israeli official on Saturday, however, told AFP in Jerusalem that Israel has not agreed to any guarantees that the war will end.
Israel has warned that it would attack Rafah if hostages are not released.
The country hasn't sent its delegation to Cairo for peace talks.
Blinken on Friday said Israel has not presented a plan to protect civilians. Without it, "we can't support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what's acceptable," Blinken added, per AFP.
