06 March 2025
In a dramatic escalation of territorial disputes, China has accused the United States of violating its sovereign waters by alleging that the USS Gabrielle Giffords "illegally intruded" near the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. The People's Liberation Army Southern Theater claimed that a Chinese naval force was deployed to monitor the American warship's movements, accusing the U.S. of deliberately disrupting the situation in the region.
Israeli forces have found 800 shafts leading to Hamas' vast subterranean network of tunnels and bunkers since a Gaza ground operation began on Oct 27, and have destroyed more than half of them, the military said on Sunday.
The Palestinian terrorist group said before the now eight-week-old war in the Gaza Strip that it had hundreds of kilometres of tunnels - a network comparable in size to the New York subway system - to protect and serve as operational bases.
Fighting resumed in Gaza on Friday immediately after the expiry of a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas, with the first fatalities reported minutes later, according to health officials in the Palestinian territory.
An AFPTV livecam showed a heavy cloud of grey smoke rolling over northern Gaza, and apparent sounds of automatic weapons fire and explosions within the first 90 minutes after the truce expired at 0500 GMT.
While the temporary ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, which began on November 24, was extended for another day on Thursday, a source close to the terror group told news agency AFP that Hamas was willing to extend the truce further. The seven-day pause saw dozens of Israeli hostages exchanged for more than 200 Palestinian prisoners.
Since its attack on Israel, the Hamas terror group had taken nearly 240 people hostages. More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza, In Israel, nearly 1,200 people have been killed, mostly during the initial incursion by Hamas.
10-month-old baby, family held hostage in Gaza killed in Israeli airstrike, claims Hamas: News agency Reuters
