At least 54 killed in new Israeli strikes across Gaza

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The father of a US-Israeli captive held in Gaza said on Saturday he remains hopeful his 21-year-old son was still alive after Hamas said it could not account for his status.

Adi Alexander, whose son Edan was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured on October 7, 2023, called on the United States to engage in direct talks to free the remaining hostages – dead and alive.

"I think we should engage back with them directly and see what can be done in regards to my son, four American dead hostages and everybody else," the father said in an interview on Saturday.

"It seems like the negotiations are stalled, everything is stuck and we are kind of back to a year ago," he added. "It's really concerning." Hamas had previously agreed to release Edan Alexander, believed to be the last surviving American hostage held by the militant Palestinian group, as well as the bodies of four other Americans it captured on October 7, 2023. The armed wing of Hamas said on Saturday it did not know the fate of Alexander, after noting that the guard holding him was killed. Reuters could not verify Hamas' claim.

Israeli forces have assaulted a photographer from the Palestinian Wafa news agency during a raid on his home in Tulkarem, northern West Bank.

Wafa Awwad told the news agency that Israeli soldiers stormed his house without warning, physically assaulted him while hurling verbal abuse.

"They attacked me brutally and cursed me repeatedly, then confiscated my press card, ID and phone," he said.

Despite identifying himself as a news photographer, he said soldiers vandalised his home, breaking furniture and other belongings.

Yemen's Houthi rebels said on Saturday that the US military launched a series of airstrikes on the capital, Sanaa, and the Houthi-held coastal city of Hodeida, less than two days after a US strike wrecked a Red Sea port and killed more than 70 people.

The Houthis’ media office said 13 US airstrikes hit an airport and a port in Hodeida, on the Red Sea. The office also reported US strikes in the capital, Sanaa.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The US military’s Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said it continues to conduct strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.

An Israeli campaign group urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday to secure a deal to bring the hostages from Gaza, even if it meant ending the war.

"Netanyahu has no plan. Tonight, we heard endless talk about what not to do. We would appreciate hearing from our prime minister what should be done," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement. "There is one clear, feasible, and urgent solution that can be achieved now: reach a deal that will bring everyone home - even if it means stopping the fighting."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to bring home remaining hostages from Gaza without yielding to Hamas' demands, insisting the military campaign in the Palestinian territory had reached a "critical stage".

"I believe we can bring our hostages home without surrendering to Hamas's dictates," Netanyahu said, in his first comments since Hamas, seeking a permanent end to the Gaza war, rejected a new truce proposal. "We are at a critical stage of the campaign, and at this point, we need patience and determination to win."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed his commitment Saturday to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, declaring he would not waver in that effort.

"I'm committed to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. I will not give up on this, I will not let go of it, and I will not retreat from it - not even by a millimetre," Netanyahu said in a televised statement.

Gaza's civil defence agency reported that Israeli air strikes killed at least 54 people on Saturday, adding the toll was expected to climb.

"Fifty-four people have been killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip since dawn today... and the number is likely to rise as the bombing continues until this moment," agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

The Israeli military announced that a soldier had been killed on Saturday in the fighting in Gaza, the first fatality since a ceasefire with Hamas collapsed in mid-March.

The military said Sergeant Major Ghaleb Sliman Al-Nasasra, 35, fell during combat in northern Gaza, adding that three others were also wounded.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is "gravely concerned" about air strikes conducted by the United States in Yemen, a spokesman said Saturday, after rebels there said the attacks killed some 80 people and wounded 150.

"The Secretary-General is gravely concerned about the air strikes conducted by the United States over the course of 17 and 18 April in and around Yemen's port of Ras Issa, which reportedly resulted in scores of civilian casualties, including five humanitarian workers injured," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Turkey's intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met with Hamas leaders on Saturday for talks about how to deliver aid to war-ravaged Gaza where Israel resumed its military offensive last month.

Kalin held talks with Mohammad Darwish, head of the political council of Hamas which rules Gaza and his delegation, Turkey's Anadolu state news agency reported, without saying where the meeting took place. Media reports said it was in Turkey.

As well as discussing ways to deliver humanitarian aid, they also spoke of initiatives to secure a permanent ceasefire along with ways to counter Israeli plans to forcibly displace Gaza's population, Anadolu said, citing security sources.

Kalin reassured them of Turkey's ongoing support and said Ankara would firmly oppose any new efforts to occupy or annex further Palestinian territory.

Israeli soldiers have shot and injured a 13 year-old Palestinian boy near Nablus, occupied West Bank on Saturday.

Israeli forces carried out a raid in the town of Beit Furik, leading to confrontations with Palestinian residents.

Israeli soldiers fired live bullets, rubber-coated metal rounds and gas canisters, the Palestinian Wafa agency said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that the child was shot with live ammunition in the thigh and was transferred to a hospital for treatment

Oman's foreign minister has voiced optimism that Iran and the US will reach an agreement about the future of Tehran's nuclear programme.

Badr Al-Busaidi, who mediated today's talks in Rome, thanked Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff for their "highly constructive approach" to the meeting.

"These talks are gaining momentum and now even the unlikely is possible," he wrote on social media.

I would like to thank Iranian Foreign Minister Dr Seyed Abbas Araghchi and Presidential Envoy Mr Steve Witkoff for their highly constructive approach to the talks today. These talks are gaining momentum and now even the unlikely is possible. https://t.co/a6zM8nCVZR

— Badr Albusaidi - بدر البوسعيدي (@badralbusaidi) April 19, 2025

Medical sources have told Al Jazeera Arabic that 52 Palestinians have now been killed in Israeli raids today.

Hamas's armed wing released a video Saturday showing an Israeli prisoner alive in Gaza speaking on a telephone in Hebrew.

Israeli media identified him as Elkana Bohbot, who was abducted from the site of a music festival in southern Israel during Hamas's 7 October, 2023 attack that triggered the war in Gaza.

The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades released the more than four-minute clip, in which he is seen sitting in a tiny room and purportedly talking to a friend and some family members.

It could not be confirmed whether such a call actually took place, and AFP was unable to verify when the video was filmed.

(AFP)

Iranian and US officials will meet in Oman on Wednesday for technical talks ahead of the third round of negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program on Saturday, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said.

Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff have within the past hour concluded a second round of talks in Rome, which Iran's Foreign Ministry has described as "constructive" and "useful".

The talks were held in the embassy of Oman, which is mediating the discussions between the two foes.

"There is no reason for too much optimism or too much pessimism," Araghchi told Iranian media following the meeting.

"I hope that we will be in a better position next week after the technical meetings.

More from the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson:

"The discussions were useful and the atmosphere was constructive.

"It was agreed that the talks would resume at a technical level in the next few days and continue next Saturday at the level of two senior negotiators."

Hamas's armed wing said on Saturday the fate of Israeli-American prisoner Edan Alexander was unknown after the group found the guard who was holding the hostage killed.

On Tuesday, Hamas said it had lost contact with a group of militants holding Alexander in Gaza after the Israeli army attacked the place where they were holding him.

Alexander is a 21-year-old soldier in the Israeli army.

"We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives ... but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy's army," the spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, said.

"The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown," he added.

(Reuters)

Iranian media is describing today's US-Iran nuclear talks as "constructive".

A third round of talks will take place in the coming days, a member of Iran's negotiating team told Tasnim.

More to follow.

The second round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States ended Saturday in Rome after about four hours of discussion, Iranian state media reported.

The mediated talks between the Iranian and US delegations began at around 0930 GMT in the Italian capital, a week after a first round was held in Oman, state television said.

(AFP)

Medical sources in Gaza are now saying that 41 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks so far today, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

Italy's top diplomat met his Iranian counterpart ahead of the US-Iran nuclear talks currently underway in Rome today, and encouraged him to come to an agreement with the Trump administration.

"I received the Iranian Foreign Minister [Abbas Araghchi] and encouraged him to continue on the path of negotiations against nuclear weapons," Antonio Tajani wrote in a post on X.

"The Italian Government hopes that together we can reach a positive solution for the Middle East."

Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.

The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.

Iran and the US are currently holding a new round of nuclear talks in Rome to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran's atomic aims.

Ahead of Saturday's talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was "ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the U.S.A."

(Reuters)

The number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza on Saturday has climbed to 39, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

Israel has carried out raids across the territory today, including in Gaza City, Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah and Beit Hanoun.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Jordan's King Abdullah II held a phone call on Saturday to discuss the situation in Gaza,

Abdullah received a call from the Egyptian leader to "discuss efforts to end the war on Gaza, resume the entry of humanitarian aid, and achieve comprehensive calm in the region," the Royal Hashemite Court said in a statement.

Israeli forces have killed 92 Palestinians in Gaza over the past 48 hours, according to the local health ministry.

More than 200 others were injured.

The latest killings have increased the death toll from Israel's 18-month assault on Gaza to 51,157, the ministry said.

Thousands of others are believed to be trapped beneath the rubble.

The second round of nuclear talks between Iran and the US has begun in Rome, according to Iranian state TV.

(AFP)

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has met with a US congressman, the Syrian presidency said on Saturday, the first such visit by an American lawmaker since the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani was also present at the meeting with Republican Cory Mills at the presidential palace in Damascus, a presidency statement said.

Mills arrived in Syria on Friday along with Marlin Stutzman, another politician from the Republican party of US President Donald Trump.

(AFP)

The number of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Saturday has risen to at least 30, medical sources tell Al Jazeera Arabic.

The US and Iran are set to resume high-stakes talks Saturday on Tehran's nuclear programme, a week after an initial round of discussions that both sides described as "constructive".

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Rome to join Oman-mediated talks with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

The meeting comes a week after the two sides conducted what Iran called indirect talks in Muscat. Those were the first discussions at such a high level between the foes since US President Donald Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear accord in 2018.

In a cryptic statement on Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the Israeli leader will give a "special statement" on a diplomatic matter on Saturday evening.

Netanyahu's office did not provide further information about what he intends to address.

The statement will come hours after the second round of US-Iran nuclear talks, a diplomatic initiative the Israeli government has reportedly been trying to undermine in favour of a military attack on Tehran's nuclear sites.

It also comes as Netanyahu's far-right allies demand further escalation in Gaza in response to the ongoing deadlock with Hamas over a ceasefire and prisoner-exchange agreement.

At least four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia, north Gaza, this morning, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

At least 21 Palestinians have been killed in a new round of Israeli attacks in Gaza since dawn on Saturday, Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting.

Casualties have been reported from Israeli strikes across the strip, including Gaza City, Khan Younis, Beit Lahia, and Al-Bureij refugee camp.