AnewZ Morning Brief - 17 February, 2026
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 17th of February, covering the latest developments you need to...
Israel's military said it had expanded operations in Gaza City on Friday and bombarded Hamas infrastructure, while displaced Palestinians traumatised by the advance said they had no means to flee.
"The situation is really bad. All night long, the tank was firing shells," said Palestinian Toufic Abu Mouawad, who left a camp for the displaced with nowhere else to go.
"I want to flee with the boys, the girls, the children. This is the situation that we are living in. It is a very tragic situation. We call on all the Arab countries and the people who have a good conscience to stand with us.”
Israeli forces have taken control of Gaza City's eastern suburbs and have been focusing on the Sheikh Radwan and Tel Al-Hawa areas, positioning themselves for potential movement into the central and western regions, where many civilians are taking shelter.
The Gaza health authorities said 33 Palestinians had been killed in the last 24 hours.
On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it believed 350,000 people had left Gaza City since the start of September and that about 600,000 remained.
Satellite imagery from 18 September, reviewed by Reuters, shows new tents appearing in the areas south of Gaza City after 5 September.
It also shows crowds of people on the Al Rashid road and what appear to be vehicles on the Salah al Din road.
In leaflets dropped over Gaza City, the military had told Palestinians they could use the newly reopened Salah al Din road to escape to the south.
The IDF said an airstrike had killed Mahmoud Yusuf Abu Alkhir, whom it identified as deputy head of military intelligence in Hamas’ Bureij Battalion.
It said he had taken part in "terrorist attacks against Israeli troops and the state".
Families of the remaining 20 or so surviving hostages have been imploring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the offensive and instead negotiate a ceasefire with Hamas to free their loved ones.
Israel Katz, Israel's defence minister, said on X, "If Hamas does not release the hostages and disarm, Gaza will be destroyed and turned into a monument to the rapists and murderers of Hamas."
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani said the United States could evaluate its own interests separately from those of Israel in ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday (15 February) called it “troubling” a report by five European allies blaming Russia for killing late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny using a toxin from poison dart frogs.
Cuba’s fuel crisis has turned into a waste crisis, with rubbish piling up on most street corners in Havana as many collection trucks lack enough petrol to operate.
Norway is holding a commanding lead in the medal standings with 12 golds and a total of 26, with Italy having an historic performance on home soil on the ninth day of the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday (15 February).
Iran is pursuing a nuclear agreement with the U.S. that delivers economic benefits for both sides, an Iranian diplomat was reported as saying on Sunday (15 February), days before a second round of talks between Tehran and Washington.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 17th of February, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama said aliens are “real,” but emphasised that he never encountered any indication of extraterrestrial contact while in office.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government would not assist Australian families of suspected Islamic State (IS) militants return home from a Syrian camp.
The Pentagon has threatened to designate artificial intelligence firm Anthropic as a “supply chain risk” amid a dispute over the military use of its Claude AI model, according to a report published Monday.
Representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the United States are set to meet in Geneva for a third round of trilateral negotiations aimed at ending the nearly four-year war, even as both sides intensify military pressure on the ground.
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