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Could mass protests persuade Netanyahu to agree to a cease-fire deal?

Israelis were plunged into grief and anger this weekend after the military said six hostages were killed by their captors in Gaza just as troops were closing in on their location. The rage sparked massive protests and a general strike — the most intense domestic pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since the start of the war nearly 11 months ago.

Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for the mounting number of dead hostages and are calling for a cease-fire agreement to free the remaining roughly 100 captives — even if that means ending the conflict. Sunday's demonstrations were the largest show of support for a hostage deal since Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel and kidnapped 250 people.

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Algeria says dismantled 'spy ring' involving Moroccans

Algeria has arrested seven people including four Moroccans accused of belonging to a "spy ring", prosecutors said on Sunday, less than a week before the country's presidential election.

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Tunisia electoral authority announces 3 presidential candidates, dismisses others

Tunisia's electoral authority on Monday announced it had approved three presidential candidates for the October 6 election, dismissing three other would-be candidates despite court rulings allowing them to run.

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Israeli court orders end to general strike over hostage crisis

A rare call for a general strike in Israel to protest the failure to return hostages held in Gaza led to closures and other disruptions around Israel on Monday, including at its main international airport. But it was ignored in some areas, reflecting deep political divisions.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis poured into the streets late Sunday in grief and anger after six hostages were found dead in Gaza. The families and much of the public blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying they could have been returned alive in a deal with Hamas to end the nearly 11-month-old war.

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Biden, Harris to meet US negotiating team on Gaza hostage deal

President Joe Biden will sit down on Monday with U.S. negotiators pushing for a hostage-release deal in the Israel-Hamas war, the White House said, after the deaths of six captives in Gaza, including an American citizen.

Biden's official schedule was revised to make time for the White House meeting, which will also be attended by Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running to succeed him in November's presidential election.

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Suspected attacks by Yemen's Houthis target 2 ships in Red Sea

Suspected attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted two ships in the Red Sea on Monday, authorities said, near where crews hope to salvage a tanker loaded with oil and still ablaze after another assault by the group.

The attacks are believed to be the latest in the Iranian-backed rebels' campaign that has disrupted the $1 trillion in goods that pass through the Red Sea each year over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip as well as halted some aid shipments to conflict-ravaged Sudan and Yemen.

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Israelis go on strike for Gaza deal after hostage deaths

A rare call for a general strike in Israel to protest the failure to return hostages held in Gaza led to closures and other disruptions around the country on Monday, including at its main international airport. But it was ignored in some areas, reflecting deep political divisions.

Tens of thousands of Israelis had poured into the streets late Sunday in grief and anger after six hostages were found dead in Gaza. The families and much of the public blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying they could have been returned alive in a deal with Hamas to end the nearly 11-month-old war.

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3 Israeli police officers killed in West Bank shooting attack

Israeli police said three people killed in Sunday's shooting attack in the occupied West Bank were members of the police force.

"Three members of the police force were killed this morning in a shooting attack," Ouzi Levy, chief of the Israeli police in the West Bank, told reporters at the scene of the attack near the Tarqumiya checkpoint near the city of Hebron.

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Health authorities begin large-scale polio vaccinations in war-ravaged Gaza

Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies on Sunday began a large-scale campaign of vaccinations against polio in the Gaza Strip, hoping to prevent an outbreak in the territory that has been ravaged by the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Authorities plan to vaccinate children in central Gaza until Wednesday before moving on to the more devastated northern and southern parts of the strip. The campaign began with a small number of vaccinations on Saturday and aims to reach about 640,000 children.

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Israel recovers bodies of 6 captives in Gaza, including Israeli-American

Israel on Sunday said it had recovered the bodies of six captives in Gaza, including a young Israeli-American man who became one of the most well-known captives held by Hamas as his parents met with world leaders and pressed for his release, including at the Democratic convention last month.

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