Israeli fire kills 3 in Gaza Strip as the bodies of 15 Palestinians handed over

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Hamas called on mediating countries Wednesday to pressure Israel to allow safe passage for dozens of its fighters holed up in tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip.

The request came after the Israeli military said it killed over 20 Hamas members over the past week "who attempted to flee from the underground terror infrastructure in the area", and apprehended eight more.

"We hold (Israel) fully responsible for the lives of our fighters and call upon our mediators to take immediate action to pressure (Israel) to allow our sons to return home," Hamas said in a statement.

It was the first time the Islamist group had publicly acknowledged that its members were trapped in the tunnels.

Israeli media has reported that for weeks, between 100 and 200 Hamas fighters have remained trapped in a network of tunnels under the city of Rafah, in an area of the Gaza Strip occupied by Israeli forces.

(AFP and TNA staff)

A drone strike on Wednesday targeted an Emirati-owned gas complex in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, disrupting the gas supply to the region's power plants, local authorities said.

"At 11:30 pm (2030 GMT), a drone attacked the Khor Mor gas field facility, cutting off all gas supplies to power plants," the regional natural resources and electricity authorities said in a statement.

AFP correspondents in Kurdistan reported power cuts across the region, including in the city of Sulaimaniyah.

The Khor Mor gas field lies between the cities of Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah, and supplies most of the Kurdistan region's power.

Authorities said they were coordinating with the United Arab Emirates company Dana Gas to investigate the attack and restore operations.

It was unclear whether the attack resulted in any casualties, he added.

(AFP)

Israel has offered to spare the lives of dozens of Hamas fighters believed to be trapped in tunnels below Israel-occupied Rafah if they agree to surrender, according to Israeli media.

An Israeli official told Channel 12 that a proposal was sent to mediators that would see them arrested and detained in Israel.

The United Arab Emirates said on Wednesday it would invest $1 billion in the electricity infrastructure of government-held Yemen, which has been devastated by civil war.

On a visit to Aden, where the internationally recognised government is based, Emirati ambassador Mohammed Hamad al-Zaabi announced his country had "allocated $1 billion to build power plants" including solar, wind and oil-fired power stations.

The Yemeni government has been at war with the Iran-backed Houthis since 2014, with the rebel group controlling the capital Sanaa and most of Yemen's major population centres.

The UAE was part of a Saudi-led coalition that intervened in the war in 2015, exacerbating the conflict and leaving Yemen divided, with hundreds of thousands dead and gripped by one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Since a ceasefire in 2022, the war has largely been frozen.

(AFP)

Iran will allow two French citizens held by the Islamic republic for over three years to return home in "exchange" for France freeing an Iranian citizen "in the next two months", Tehran's foreign minister said on Wednesday.

In an interview with TV channel France 24 after talks in Paris with his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot, Abbas Araghchi said "an exchange was negotiated between us and France".

French citizens Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who were arrested in May 2022, were freed from prison earlier this month but are still at Paris's embassy in Tehran waiting for permission to leave Iran.

Iranian Mahdieh Esfandiari was meanwhile arrested in France in February on charges of promoting "terrorism" on social media, according to French authorities.

(AFP)

UNIFIL spokesperson Candice Ardill told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has found no evidence of Hezbollah military activity within its area of operations, as claimed by Israel. She noted that UNIFIL has begun reducing troop numbers due to a UN-wide budget crisis.

Between 27 November 2024 and 18 November 2025, UNIFIL reported over 7,500 Israeli aerial violations, about 1,000 projectiles from south to north of the Blue Line, 21 rocket trajectories from north to south, more than 100 airstrikes, and around 2,500 Israeli troop activities north of the Blue Line.

Ardill also revealed that more than 360 weapons caches were discovered in south Lebanon and handed over to the Lebanese Army. She reiterated that no Hezbollah activity was observed in UNIFIL’s operational area.

Syrian security forces announced Wednesday the arrest of Ali Kasir Raslan, a former senior officer in the State Security branch in Tartus, who is accused of committing war crimes under the ousted Assad regime.

His capture marks one of the most high-profile detentions of a security figure linked to abuses from the early years of the Syrian uprising which began in 2011.

According to the interior ministry, Raslan was detained in a targeted security operation "based on detailed intelligence gathered by the Internal Security Directorate in Tartus."

It said Raslan had served as a first assistant officer in the State Security branch and was implicated in grave violations against civilians. These alleged abuses, officials noted, targeted residents within the northwestern Tartus province, where he reportedly exercised broad security powers.

Investigators revealed Raslan’s direct involvement in the 2011 raid on the town of Al-Bayda near Baniyas - a notorious operation that saw widespread torture and arbitrary arrests.

Gaza's health ministry announced on Wednesday that the death toll from Israel's ongoing offensive in the territory since 7 October 2023 has risen to 69,785, with 170,965 others wounded.

In its daily update, the ministry said that hospitals in the Gaza Strip received 10 fatalities in the past 24 hours - two newly killed and eight bodies recovered from beneath the rubble.

The ministry did not provide further details on the latest victims, but noted that Israel continues to violate the ceasefire agreement by bombing civilian areas across the Strip and shooting at civilians.

It added that since 11 October, Israel has killed 37 Palestinians and wounded 889 others, the ministry added.

An Israeli drone strike killed two Palestinians in Beit Lahya in the northern Gaza Strip Wednesday, Alaraby TV reported.

The Swiss government said on Wednesday it would commit 23 million Swiss francs ($28.5 million) to support the US peace plan for Gaza, bringing its total humanitarian contribution there to 150 million francs since October 2023.

The ruling Swiss Federal Council said 17.5 million francs would be allotted to humanitarian aid for Gaza and the needs of children, and another 5.5 million francs towards strengthening Palestinian institutions, mostly via the Palestinian Authority.

The Federal Council said that despite an increase in aid following an October 10 ceasefire, needs on the ground in Gaza remain "immense", noting that persistent restrictions continue to limit the population's access to essential goods.

The death toll in the war-battered Gaza Strip has increased to 69,785 as of Wednesday, medical sources told Palestinian media.

This comes as 10 bodies had arrived at hospitals across Gaza in the past 24 hours, including two new fatalities. 

16 others were wounded during the same time period.

Hamas said Wednesday that the Israeli assault on the northern occupied West Bank is part of "a declared policy aimed at crushing any Palestinian presence in order to achieve full control over the West Bank."

In a statement, Hamas said the Israeli army’s announcement of a new military operation in the northern West Bank — including siege measures, curfews, raids, and arrests — reflects what it described as the "systematic criminality" practiced by Israel’s far-right government.

It added that the Israeli military operation comes within the context of "ongoing annexation and displacement plans."

The movement said Israel "seeks to turn West Bank towns and villages into besieged, fragmented areas and to prevent any normal aspects of life, in order to impose a security reality that serves its colonial project."

Hamas stressed that "the aggression will not break the will of the Palestinian people or the resolve of the resistance," adding that they have demonstrated "their ability to remain steadfast on their land and confront the occupation through various means in defence of their right to freedom and dignity."

Egypt's foreign minister said Wednesday that his country was working to de-escalate heightened tensions between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel.

"We fear any escalation and we fear for the security and stability of Lebanon," Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Ati said after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the presidential palace near Beirut.

"We are making an intensive effort to spare Lebanon any risks or any aggressive tendencies against its security and safety," he added.

Five civilians were killed and nine injured in an explosion in an arms depot in the town of Kafr Takharim in Syria's Idlib province, the media office of the internal security directorate in Idlib said on Wednesday.

The victims were still under the rubble and rescue teams were continuing recovery operations, state-run Ekhbariya TV said, citing an official.

There have been explosions at around a dozen arms depots in Syria over the last year. The explosions have usually been blamed on poor storage.

🔴انفجار ضخم في كفرتخاريم شمال إدلب pic.twitter.com/ZoSx2zSQ25

— Basil Al-Obido (@BasilAlObido) November 26, 2025

Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday warned there would be "no calm" in Lebanon if Israel's security was not guaranteed, as Israeli forces intensify operations despite a year-old ceasefire with Hezbollah.

"We will not allow any threats against the inhabitants of the north, and maximum enforcement will continue and even intensify," Katz told the Israeli parliament.

"As we prepared for a few days ago with the elimination - there will be no calm in Beirut, nor order and stability in Lebanon, until the security of the State of Israel is guaranteed," he added, referring to the killing of a top Hezbollah military chief in an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs days earlier. "Hezbollah: we will disarm them."

The Lebanese army has reiterated that it is disarming the militant group in south Lebanon under a government-approved plan, but that this process will take time.

Hezbollah has refused to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese state, citing continued Israeli threats.

The health ministry in Gaza said Israel returned the bodies of 15 Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday under the US-brokered ceasefire exchange deal.

"The Ministry of Health announces the receipt of 15 bodies of martyrs released today by the Israeli occupation via the International Committee of the Red Cross, bringing the total number of bodies received to 345," the ministry said in a statement.

A medical source at Gaza's Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis confirmed it had received 15 bodies via the Red Cross.

The 15 bodies returned on Wednesday were in exchange for the remains of Dror Or, one of the last three deceased captives held in Gaza, whose body was handed over to Israel on Tuesday by militants, via the ICRC.

The last two captives' bodies are those of Israeli Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.

Lebanon and Cyprus signed an agreement on Wednesday to demarcate their maritime border, following the Lebanese Cabinet’s approval of the deal last month.

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides visited Lebanon's presidential palace in Baabda, where the signing ceremony was held.

"Lebanon is banking on Cyprus’s presidency of the European Union to help finalize a draft economic partnership agreement with the bloc," President Joseph Aoun said during a joint press conference with Christodoulides.

"The demarcation is a strategic achievement that enshrines, in the clearest possible way, the level of our relations and sends a strong message that Cyprus and Lebanon continue to strengthen trust and mutual respect and invest in establishing cooperation," said Christodoulides.

🌲 - 🇱🇧🇨🇾 Lebanon and Cyprus have officially signed the maritime border demarcation agreement during a ceremony at the Presidential Palace. pic.twitter.com/NPOiEsL3Xm

— Lebanon News & OSINT (@LebOSINT) November 26, 2025

Massive explosions rocked the town of Kafr Takharim in northwest Syria’s Idlib province on Wednesday.

Videos shared online showed large plumes of smoke rising into the air. The cause of the blasts was not immediately clear.

انفجار في مدينة كفرتخاريم بمحافظة إدلب شمال سورية. pic.twitter.com/vGWDK3iaax

— TheCradleArabic (@TheCradleArabi) November 26, 2025

The UN Security Council will visit Syria and Lebanon next week, the Slovenian mission said Tuesday, as it looks to chair the council starting in December.

The ambassadors for 15 member states are set to visit Damascus on December 4, a few days before the first anniversary of the ouster of Syria's longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Security Council officials will then travel to Beirut on December 5, heading south the next day to meet peacekeepers with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which is set to leave the country by the end of 2027 after serving as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel since 1978.

The visit comes as Israel violates a 2024 ceasefire deal by conducting near-daily strikes and maintaining troops inside Lebanese territory.

The co-founder of activist group Palestine Action will Wednesday challenge a UK government ban under anti-terror laws that has led to mass arrests, sparking free speech and civil liberties concerns.

United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk has said the ban "appears disproportionate and unnecessary", while Europe's human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, criticised "excessive limits" on the right to protest.

The legal action brought by the group's co-founder Huda Ammori at London's High Court is expected to last Wednesday and Thursday, with a third day to be set at a later stage.

The Israeli military on Wednesday announced a new "counterterrorism" operation in the north of the occupied West Bank.

The military and internal security service said in a joint statement that they "began operating as part of a broad counterterrorism operation in the area of northern Samaria", using the Israeli biblical term for part of the West Bank.

In response to a question from AFP, the Israeli army said the operation was new and not part of its "counterterrorism" operation launched in January 2025, which primarily targets Palestinian refugee camps.

جنود الاحتلال يداهمون المنازل وينتشرون في عدة أحياء خلال العدوان المتواصل على بلدة عقابا شمال طوباس. pic.twitter.com/FnxKUPbG2v

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) November 26, 2025

Authorities in Israel on Wednesday confirmed that the latest remains handed over by Gaza militants this week were that of an Israeli captive held in the Palestinian territory.

"Following the identification process by the National Centre of Forensic Medicine, representatives of the army informed the family of the deceased captive, Dror Or, that their relative had been repatriated to Israel," read a statement released by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.