The US says its military has carried out a “massive strike” against the Islamic State group (IS) in Syria, in response to a deadly attack on American forces in the country.

The US Central Command (Centcom) said fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery “struck more than 70 targets at multiple locations across central Syria”. Aircraft from Jordan were also involved.

It said the operation “employed more than 100 precision munitions” targeting known IS infrastructure and weapons sites.

President Donald Trump said “we are striking very strongly” against IS strongholds, following the 13 December IS ambush in the city of Palmyra in which two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter were killed.

In a statement on X, Centcom – which directs American military operations in the Middle East, north-east Africa, central and southern Asia – said Operation Hawkeye Strike was launched at 16:00 Eastern Time (21:00 GMT) on Friday.

Centcom commander Admiral Brad Cooper said that the US “will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists who seek to harm Americans and our partners across the region”.

Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), told news agency AFP that “at least five members of the Islamic State group were killed” in eastern Syria’s Deir ez Zor province, including the leader of a cell responsible for drones in the area.

Petra, Jordan’s state-run news agency, announced the Royal Jordanian Air Force had participated in the strikes to “prevent extremist groups” from “threaten[ing] the security of Syria’s neighbours and the wider region”.

IS has not publicly commented. The BBC was unable to immediately verify the targets.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the operation “is not the beginning of a war – it is a declaration of vengeance.

“If you target Americans – anywhere in the world – you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you.

“Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue,” the US defence secretary added.

Posting on Truth Social, President Trump said the US “is inflicting very serious retaliation, just as I promised, on the murderous terrorists responsible”.

He said the Syrian government was “fully in support”.

Centcom earlier said that the deadly attack in Palmyra was carried out by an IS gunman, who was “engaged and killed”.

Another three US soldiers were injured in the ambush, with a Pentagon official saying that it happened “in an area where the Syrian president does not have control.”

At the same time, the SOHR said the attacker was a member of the Syrian security forces.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the identity of the gunman has not been released.

In 2019, a US-backed alliance of Syrian fighters announced IS had lost the last pocket of territory in Syria it controlled, but since then the jihadist group has carried out some attacks.

The United Nations says the group still has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq.

US troops have maintained a presence in Syria since 2015 to help train other forces as part of a campaign against IS.

Syria has recently joined an international coalition to combat IS and has pledged to co-operate with the US.

In November, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa – a former jihadist leader whose coalition forces toppled Bashar al-Assad’s regime in 2024 – met Trump at the White House, describing his visit as part of a “new era” for the two countries.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yq7zzw618o

Taken From BBC News

Heavy rains over the past week have compounded the already dire living conditions of the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, UN agencies say.

Unicef spokesman Jonathan Crickx told the BBC that the weather overnight had been “horrendous”, with the rain so intense that he had seen up to 15cm (6in) of water on the ground near his office.

He said he was extremely concerned that children living in tents and makeshift shelters in wet clothing would succumb to hypothermia and other illnesses.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has said one baby has died from hypothermia and at least 11 other people have died in building collapses caused by the severe weather.

UN agencies have stepped up deliveries of tents, blankets and clothes since the Gaza ceasefire began nine weeks ago, but they have said there is still not enough aid getting in.

The UN and its partners estimate that almost 55,000 families have so far been affected by the rains, with their belongings and shelters damaged or destroyed.

More than 40 designated emergency shelters were severely flooded following downpours on Monday and Tuesday, forcing many people to relocate again.

“Last night was really horrendous for the families. The heavy rains were so intense that we could see from our office and guest house 10cm, 15cm (4-6in) of water at some point. And the winds were so strong,” Jonathan Crickx, chief of communications for Unicef State of Palestine, told the BBC’s Today programme on Wednesday.

“When I drove this morning, I could see that many, many people were trying with buckets to remove some of the water.”

He noted that most of the estimated one million people living in tents and makeshift shelters had been displaced many times during the two years of war between Israel and Hamas, and that they had no or very few changes of clothes.

“When I was seeing [children] this morning, their clothes were damp. I could see parents trying to dry some of the blankets they had. But it has been raining almost all of the time in the past four or five days, so it is extremely difficult to keep the children dry,” he said.

“With temperatures about 7C, 8C (45-46F) at night, we are extremely concerned about children getting sick or even worse, dying from hypothermia.”

Many tents were also at risk of being blown away or destroyed by the strong winds accompanying the rain because they were only made from a piece of tarpaulin or plastic sheeting nailed to a fragile wooden structure, he added.

Mr Crickx said Unicef had been able to bring in more aid during the ceasefire to help children cope with the harsh winter conditions, including 250,000 winter clothing kits, 600,000 blankets and 7,000 tents, but that it was not enough.

“We are working relentlessly to bring in that aid and to distribute it, but the scale of the needs is so immense that we still have thousands of people and children who are really suffering every night,” he warned.

Gaza’s health ministry said a two-week old boy named Mohammed Abu al-Khair had died of hypothermia on Monday, two days after he had been admitted to hospital and placed in intensive care. Another 11 people had so far died after the war-damaged buildings where they were sheltering collapsed, it added.

A spokesman for the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency, Mahmoud Bassal, put the death toll higher. He said in a video that a total of 17 people, including four children, had died because of building collapses and the cold.

He added that 17 residential buildings had collapsed completely because of the wind and rain and that another 90 buildings had collapsed partially.

On Tuesday, video footage showed first responders from the Civil Defence recovering the body of a man from the rubble of a building in Shati refugee camp, north-west of Gaza City. Its roof had collapsed suddenly, according to eyewitnesses.

“We call on the world to solve our problems and rebuild the territory so that people can have homes instead of being displaced and living in the streets,” said Ahmed al-Hosari, a relative of the man, told AFP news agency.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the collapse of damaged buildings due to the severe weather conditions was “deeply concerning”.

It stressed the need for “increased and sustained humanitarian assistance to respond to urgent and long-term needs, including food, shelter and equipment for the repair of critical infrastructure”.

Cogat, the Israeli military body which controls Gaza’s border crossings, has dismissed claims of deliberate aid restrictions as “inconsistent with facts on the ground, and the ongoing co-ordination taking place daily”.

It says that between 600 and 800 lorries carrying humanitarian supplies enter Gaza daily, and that almost 310,000 tents and tarpaulins have been delivered since the start of the ceasefire, along with more than 1,800 lorry loads of warm blankets and clothing.

The UN says a total of 67,800 tents, 372,500 tarpaulins and 318,100 bedding items have been collected from crossings over the same period.

The second phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas includes plans for the reconstruction of Gaza, along with post-war governance, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the disarmament of Hamas.

Last week, Israel’s prime minister said the second phase was close, with only the body of one dead Israeli hostage in Gaza still to be returned by Hamas as part of the first phase.

The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 70,600 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.

Paris (Imran Y. CHOUDHRY) :- Former Press Secretary to the President, Former Press Minister to the Embassy of Pakistan to France, Former MD, SRBC Mr. Qamar Bashir analysis : The Gaza peace plan, unveiled by President Donald Trump in September 2025 and later endorsed by the United Nations through Security Council Resolution 2803, was hailed as the most ambitious attempt yet to end the cycle of devastation in the Strip. It promised a structured ceasefire, a phased Israeli withdrawal, the release of hostages, the demilitarization of Gaza, and the creation of a transitional governing body capable of stabilizing the enclave after one of the deadliest wars in its modern history. For a moment, it appeared the international community had finally constructed a serious pathway toward peace.
Yet, as of 2 December 2025, the plan is facing its gravest crisis. Both major actors—Israel and Hamas—have violated core commitments, raising deep concerns that the fragile framework could unravel. The UN-mandated International Stabilization Force (ISF), meant to secure Gaza during the transition, has yet to take shape because governments are reluctant to contribute troops. And the Board of Peace, the body authorized to govern Gaza during the transitional phase, is struggling to form, weighed down by political tensions, regional mistrust, and operational uncertainty. The promise of stability is buckling under the pressure of reality.
The peace plan began with a hopeful breakthrough. After months of war, a ceasefire took effect on 10 October. Hamas released several of the remaining living hostages, while Israel freed groups of Palestinian detainees. Humanitarian aid began flowing into Gaza more steadily, offering a lifeline to a population battered by bombardment, displacement, hunger, and disease. The ceasefire was imperfect but held long enough to persuade the United Nations Security Council to endorse Trump’s 20-point plan in a rare consensus vote. Resolution 2803 gave the plan legal standing, international legitimacy, and a mandate for intervention.
But optimistic diplomacy has collided with deteriorating conditions on the ground. Despite the agreement, both Israel and Hamas have continued actions that violate core pillars of the plan. Israel has carried out repeated airstrikes in Gaza, claiming to target “remaining Hamas infrastructure,” but killing civilians in the process and stoking resentment among the very population the peace plan aims to stabilize. Even more alarming are recent Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank, particularly around Tubas and Tammun, which many diplomats warn could destabilize the entire ceasefire architecture. These operations—completely outside Gaza—signal that Israel continues to act with near-total impunity, unconstrained by the spirit of de-escalation the plan requires.
At the heart of the plan is the commitment by Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza in agreed phases. This has not happened. Israel argues that Hamas remains armed, entrenched, and capable of renewed attacks. Without full demilitarization—another part of the agreement—Israel insists it cannot risk a full withdrawal. Critics counter that Israel is using security concerns as justification for indefinite control, effectively hollowing out the plan’s political foundation. The United Nations has repeatedly urged Israel to comply with withdrawal commitments, but those calls have gone unheeded.
Hamas, for its part, has accepted the ceasefire but rejected the plan’s requirement for complete disarmament. While it has cooperated on prisoner exchanges and the return of some remains of deceased hostages, it refuses to surrender its weapons or submit to what it calls “foreign guardianship” of Gaza.
Caught between these violations is the United Nations, tasked with constructing the International Stabilization Force (ISF) that would take over security responsibilities as Israel withdraws. But weeks after Resolution 2803 passed, not a single major country has committed significant combat troops. Many governments express support for the idea in principle but fear the political and operational risks involved. Participating in the ISF means deploying soldiers into a volatile war zone where they could face attacks from militant groups opposed to foreign presence, hostility from parts of the population traumatized by war, and unpredictability from Israeli forces still conducting operations in and around Gaza.
Arab and Muslim-majority states—initially mentioned as potential contributors—have pulled back, wary of being perceived as legitimizing an arrangement that could be interpreted as internationalizing or fragmenting Palestinian territory. Turkey has been excluded by Israel from the ISF, despite offering involvement. Egypt, perhaps the most natural candidate to lead the force, has remained cautious, demanding clear rules of engagement and guarantees that it would not be forced into direct conflict with any Palestinian faction. Even Western nations, including close U.S. allies, fear getting drawn into a long and politically costly mission.
The ISF was meant to be the backbone of the peace plan. Without it, the entire architecture collapses: Israel refuses to withdraw without a credible stabilizing force; Hamas refuses to demilitarize under Israeli guns; and the United Nations cannot supervise reconstruction or transitional governance without secure conditions.
A similar paralysis haunts the Board of Peace—the temporary governing authority endorsed by the UN. It is intended to administer Gaza, manage aid distribution, coordinate reconstruction, and oversee the transition toward self-governance. President Trump is designated as the chair of this board, a unique arrangement that places a former U.S. president at the helm of an international civilian authority. But the Board has struggled to form. Key member states argue over representation, mandates, and mechanisms of accountability. Palestinians fear that the Board could become a substitute for sovereignty. Israel doubts it will be strong enough to prevent Hamas from re-emerging politically or militarily. Many countries remain uncertain whether Trump’s political involvement will provide anchor or instability, given U.S. domestic polarization and the global controversies surrounding his leadership style.
The failure to assemble the Board of Peace quickly has immediate consequences: without it, Gaza’s civil administration remains fragmented and under strain; aid agencies cannot fully coordinate reconstruction; and there is no credible neutral actor to mediate compliance between the two sides.
The cumulative effect of these failures is bleak. The peace plan is neither dead nor alive—it is suspended in a fragile limbo. Every violation, from rocket fire to airstrikes, chips away at the credibility of the agreement. Every delay in ISF formation erodes confidence in global commitments. Every political dispute over the Board of Peace deepens the vacuum of authority on the ground.
If both Hamas and Israel continue to treat the ceasefire as flexible rather than binding, the peace plan risks collapsing entirely. Diplomats warn that once trust is lost, even the most meticulously crafted architecture becomes unworkable. The success of Trump’s Gaza plan requires more than signatures on a resolution—it demands sustained restraint, credible enforcement, and international political will. For now, all three remain dangerously weak.
Whether this plan becomes a turning point or another addition to the long archive of broken peace proposals will depend entirely on whether both sides—and the world—choose to honor their commitments. At this moment, Gaza stands at the edge of both possibility and peril. The next few weeks may determine which path prevails.