The Israeli army said yesterday that with the resumption of fighting it had published a map to advise Gazans of safe areas for their evacuation.

The United Nations deplored the resumption of conflict in Gaza yesterday, describing the hostilities as “catastrophic” and urging parties to bring about a lasting ceasefire.

Israel and Hamas struck a last-minute agreement yesterday to extend their ceasefire for a seventh day, while mediators pressed on with talks to extend the truce further to free more hostages and let aid reach Gaza.

With a month to run, 2023 will reach global warming of about 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels, adding to “a deafening cacophony” of broken climate records, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said yesterday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday said a temporary truce between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas had produced results and the United States hoped it would continue.

Last-minute negotiations between Israel and Hamas to extend the Gaza truce were overshadowed yesterday by an unconfirmed claim by Hamas that a 10-month old baby Israeli hostage and his family had been killed.

The population of Gaza, especially women and children, risk famine if humanitarian food supplies do not continue, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) warned.

Israeli forces and Hamas fighters held their fire yesterday beyond the original deadline of a truce, extended at the last minute by at least two days to let more hostages go free.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described an extended truce between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas on Monday as “a glimpse of hope and humanity,” but warned it was not enough time to meet the aid needs of the Gaza Strip.

A suspect was arrested in the shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont, CNN reported early yesterday, in an attack police are investigating as a suspected hate-motivated crime.

Mediator Qatar said yesterday a truce between Israeli and Hamas forces in Gaza had been extended by two days, continuing a pause in seven weeks of warfare that has killed thousands and laid waste to the Palestinian enclave.

A new group of 17 more hostages, including 14 Israelis and the first American, were freed yesterday from Gaza, on the third day of a truce after seven weeks of war.

After seven weeks of bombardment stopped in Gaza for a truce, Tahani al-Najjar used the calm yesterday to return to the ruins of her home, smashed by an Israeli air strike that she said killed seven of her family and forced her into a shelter.

Israeli air strikes yesterday made Damascus airport inoperable just hours after flights had resumed following a similar attack last month, a war monitor said, as state media also reported the attack.

Attackers seized a tanker linked to Israel off the coast of Aden, Yemen, yesterday, authorities said.

Farmers in the occupied West Bank face near-daily incursions and violence from Israeli settlers, to the point that they live in fear of having their homes and land stolen, they say.

Hamas confirmed yesterday that the second release under a truce agreement of Israeli hostages captured in the October 7 attacks will go ahead after a delay.

A temporary ceasefire between Israeli and Hamas forces took hold in the Gaza Strip yesterday, the first respite in 48 days of conflict that has devastated the Palestinian enclave, but both sides warned that the war was far from over.

With children and pets in their arms and their belongings loaded onto donkey carts or car roofs , thousands of displaced Gazans headed home yesterday as a four-day Israel-Hamas truce began.

Western powers have been reluctant to get tough on Tehran for fear of aggravating Middle East tensions as Iran grows its nuclear programme and reduces cooperation with the UN watchdog, diplomats say.