Citywide pro-Palestinian rallies planned Tuesday at major intersections along Bloor, Danforth to demand arms embargo
The rallies will take place on major intersections along Bloor and Danforth from Main Street in the east to Kipling Avenue in the west on Aug. 12 starting around 5 p.m., according a news release.
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CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Netanyahu hints that Gaza ceasefire talks now focus on the release of all hostages at once
Palestinians collect humanitarian aid packages from the United Arab Emirates after they were airdropped into Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday hinted that ceasefire efforts in Gaza are now focused on a comprehensive deal that would release the remaining hostages all at once, rather than in phases. Arab officials told The Associated Press last week that mediators Egypt and Qatar were preparing a new framework for a deal that would include the release of all remaining hostages in one go in return for a lasting ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces. The long-running indirect talks appeared to break down last month. But a Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo for ceasefire talks on Tuesday, Egypt's state-run Qahera news channel reported, a sign that efforts have not been abandoned after 22 months of war. Israel has threatened to widen its military offensive against Hamas to the areas of Gaza that it does not yet control, and where most of the territory's 2 million residents have sought refuge. Those plans have sparked international condemnation and criticism within Israel, and could be intended to raise pressure on Hamas to reach a ceasefire. The militants still hold 50 hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war. Israel believes around 20 of them are alive. `I want all of them' In an interview with Israel's i24 News network broadcast Tuesday, Netanyahu was asked if the window had closed on a partial ceasefire deal. Egyptian Foreign Ministry Badr Abdelatty told reporters that Cairo is still trying to advance an earlier proposal for an initial 60-day ceasefire, the release of some hostages and an influx of humanitarian aid before further talks on a lasting truce. 'I think it's behind us,' Netanyahu replied. 'We tried, we made all kinds of attempts, we went through a lot, but it turned out that they were just misleading us.' 'I want all of them,' he said of the hostages. 'The release of all the hostages, both alive and dead -- that's the stage we're at.' He added, however, that Israel's demands haven't changed, and that the war will end only when all hostages are returned and Hamas has surrendered. He has said that even then, Israel will maintain open-ended security control over the territory. Hamas has long called for a comprehensive deal but says it will only release the remaining hostages in return for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The militant group has refused to lay down its arms, as Israel has demanded. UN warns about starvation, malnutrition The United Nations on Tuesday warned that starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at the highest levels since the war began. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric reported the warning from the World Food Program and said Gaza's Health Ministry told UN staff in Gaza that five people died over the last 24 hours from malnutrition and starvation. The ministry says 121 adults and 101 children have died of malnutrition-related causes during the war. 'Against this backdrop, humanitarian supplies entering Gaza remain far below the minimum required to meet people's immense needs,' Dujarric said. The UN and its humanitarian partners are doing everything possible to bring aid into Gaza, he said, but still face significant delays and impediments from Israeli authorities that prevent the delivery of food and other essentials at the scale needed. Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in that 2023 attack. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel's air and ground offensive has since displaced most of Gaza's population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine. It has killed more than 61,400 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The UN and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own. Israel says it struck militants disguised as aid workers In a separate development, the Israeli military said it recently struck a group of militants in Gaza who were disguised as aid workers and using a car with the logo of international charity World Central Kitchen. The army said it carried out an airstrike on the men after confirming with the charity that they were not affiliated with it and that the car did not belong to it. World Central Kitchen confirmed that the men and the vehicle were not affiliated with it. 'We strongly condemn anyone posing as World Central Kitchen or other humanitarians, as this endangers civilians and aid workers,' it said in a statement. The military shared video footage showing several men in yellow vests standing around a vehicle with the charity's logo on its roof. The military said five of the men were armed. The charity, founded in 2010, dispatches teams that can quickly provide meals on a mass scale in conflict zones and after natural disasters. In April, an Israeli strike killed seven World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza. Israel quickly admitted it had mistakenly killed the aid workers and launched an investigation. In November, an Israeli strike killed five people, including a World Central Kitchen worker who Israel said was part of the Hamas attack that sparked the war. The charity said at the time that it was unaware the employee had any connection to the attack. By Natalie Melzer. Associated Press reporters Samy Magdy and Fay Abuelgasim in Cairo and Edith M. Lederer in New York contributed.
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Australia's Albanese says Netanyahu ‘in denial' over suffering in Gaza
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announces that Australia will recognize a Palestinian state at a press conference in Canberra, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP) SYDNEY - Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu was 'in denial' about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, a day after announcing Australia would recognize a Palestinian state for the first time. Australia will recognize a Palestinian state at next month's United Nations General Assembly, Albanese said on Monday, a move that adds to international pressure on Israel after similar announcements from France, Britain and Canada. Albanese said on Tuesday the Netanyahu government's reluctance to listen to its allies contributed to Australia's decision to recognize a Palestinian state. 'He again reiterated to me what he has said publicly as well, which is to be in denial about the consequences that are occurring for innocent people,' Albanese said in an interview with state broadcaster ABC, recounting a Thursday phone call with Netanyahu discussing the issue. Australia's decision to recognize a Palestinian state is conditional on commitments received from the Palestinian Authority, including that Islamist militant group Hamas would have no involvement in any future state. Right-leaning opposition leader Sussan Ley said the move, which breaks with long-held bipartisan policy over Israel and the Palestinian territories, risked jeopardizing Australia's relationship with the U.S. Sentiment shift Albanese said as little as two weeks ago he would not be drawn on a timeline for recognition of a Palestinian state. His incumbent center-left Labor Party, which won an increased majority at a general election in May, has previously been wary of dividing public opinion in Australia, which has significant Jewish and Muslim minorities. But the public mood has shifted sharply after Israel said it planned to take military control of Gaza, amid increasing reports of hunger and malnutrition amongst its people. Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched across Sydney's Harbour Bridge this month calling for aid deliveries in Gaza as the humanitarian crisis worsened. 'This decision is driven by popular sentiment in Australia which has shifted in recent months, with a majority of Australians wanting to see an imminent end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,' said Jessica Genauer, a senior lecturer in international relations at Flinders University. Opposition leader Ley said the decision was 'disrespectful' of key ally the United States, which opposes Palestinian statehood. 'We would never have taken this step because this is completely against what our principles are, which is that recognition, the two state solution, comes at the end of the peace process, not before,' she said in an interview with radio station 2GB. Neighboring New Zealand has said it is still considering whether to recognize a Palestinian state, a decision that drew sharp criticism from former prime minister Helen Clark on Tuesday. 'This is a catastrophic situation, and here we are in New Zealand somehow arguing some fine point about whether we should recognize we need to be adding our voice to the need for this catastrophe to stop,' she said in an interview with state broadcaster RNZ. 'This is not the New Zealand I've known.' Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Stephen Coates.
CTV News
4 hours ago
- CTV News
Israel targets and kills Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif in Gaza as journalist toll grows
An Israeli strike in Gaza City has killed a prominent Al Jazeera journalist and four others. JERUSALEM — Israel's military targeted and killed an Al Jazeera correspondent and others with an airstrike late Sunday in Gaza, after press advocates said an Israeli 'smear campaign' stepped up when Anas al-Sharif cried on air over starvation in the territory. Both Israel and hospital officials in Gaza City confirmed the deaths of al-Sharif and colleagues, which the Committee to Protect Journalists and others described as retribution against those documenting the war in Gaza. Israel's military asserted that al-Sharif had led a Hamas cell -- an allegation that Al Jazeera and al-Sharif previously dismissed as baseless. The military has previously said it targeted individuals it described as Hamas militants posing as reporters. Observers have called this the deadliest conflict for journalists in modern times. Officials at Shifa Hospital said those killed while sheltering outside Gaza City's largest hospital complex also included Al Jazeera correspondent Mohamed Qreiqeh, plus four other journalists and two other people. Four of the six slain journalists were Al Jazeera staffers. The strike damaged the entrance to the complex's emergency building. The airstrike occurred hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended a planned military offensive into some of Gaza's most populated areas, including Gaza City, and said he directed the military to 'bring in more foreign journalists' to Gaza. The strike came less than a year after Israeli army officials first accused al-Sharif and other Al Jazeera journalists of being members of the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In a July 24 video, Israel's army spokesperson Avichay Adraee attacked Al Jazeera and accused al-Sharif of being part of Hamas' military wing. Al-Sharif and his employer denied the allegations as baseless. Al Jazeera calls strike an `assassination' Condemnation has poured in from the UN human rights office, the Foreign Press Association, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Press Institute and Amnesty International, among others. Al Jazeera called the strike a 'targeted assassination' and accused Israeli officials of incitement, connecting al-Sharif's death to the allegations that both the network and correspondent had denied. 'Anas and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices from within Gaza, providing the world with unfiltered, on-the-ground coverage of the devastating realities endured by its people,' the Qatari network said in a statement. Apart from rare invitations to observe Israeli military operations, international media have been barred from entering Gaza for the duration of the war. Al Jazeera is among the few outlets still fielding a big team of reporters inside the besieged strip, chronicling daily life amid airstrikes, hunger and the rubble of destroyed neighborhoods. Al Jazeera is blocked in Israel and soldiers raided its offices in the occupied West Bank last year. Israel at the time ordered the closure of its local offices, while preventing the broadcast of its reports and blocking its websites. The network has suffered heavy losses during the war, including 27-year-old correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi, killed last summer, and freelancer Hossam Shabat, killed in an Israeli airstrike in March. Like al-Sharif, Shabat was among the six that Israel accused of being members of militant groups last October. 'Only a journalist that is a Hamas fighter or that is, at the time of attack, directly participating in hostilities can be intentionally targeted. Alerting the world to the starvation of civilians, reporting on Israel's military conduct in Gaza, even disseminating pro-Hamas propaganda, none of this would count as direct participation in hostilities,' said Janina Dill, a professor of global security a the University of Oxford. She added that evidence is mounting that Israel considers anyone who it believes is a Hamas member to be a legitimate target. 'I do not consider this a reasonable interpretation of international humanitarian law,' Dill said. The Committee to Protect Journalists said on Monday that at least 192 journalists have been killed since Israel's war in Gaza began. Sunday's strike brings the total number of Al Jazeera staff journalists killed during the war to 10, not including 8 freelancers, according to CPJ data. Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, on July 31 said that the killings were 'part of a deliberate strategy of Israel to suppress the truth, obstruct the documentation of international crimes and bury any possibility of future accountability.' Funeral-goers call to protect journalists In a social media post that Al Jazeera said was written to be posted in case of his death, al-Sharif bemoaned the devastation and destruction that war had wrought and bid farewell to his wife, son and daughter. 'I never hesitated for a single day to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification,' the 28-year-old wrote. Hundreds of people, including many journalists, gathered Monday to mourn al-Sharif, Qreiqeh and their colleagues. The bodies lay wrapped in white sheets at the Shifa Hospital complex. Ahed Ferwana of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said reporters were being deliberately targeted and urged the international community to act. Al-Sharif began reporting for Al Jazeera a few days after war broke out. He was known for reporting on Israel's bombardment in northern Gaza, and later for the starvation gripping much of the territory's population. In a July broadcast, al-Sharif cried on air as a woman behind him collapsed from hunger. 'I am talking about slow death of those people,' he said at the time. Qreiqeh, a 33-year-old Gaza City native, is survived by two children. Both journalists were separated from their families for months earlier in the war. When they managed to reunite during the ceasefire earlier this year, their children appeared unable to recognize them, according to video footage they posted at the time. 'Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues have been the eyes and voices of Gaza. Starved and exhausted, they continued to bravely report from the frontlines, despite death threats and immense grief,' Amnesty International said in a statement Monday, adding that there must be an independent, impartial investigation into the killings of Palestinian journalists. By Sam Metz And Samy Magdy. Magdy reported from Cairo. AP writer Molly Quell contributed from Amsterdam.
