Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Israel says it intends to permanently occupy Gaza and parts of Lebanon and Syria
A relative kisses the body of Ahlam Seiam, who was just days away from her first birthday when she was killed by an overnight Israeli air strike on her home, before her funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 16, 2025

ISRAELI troops will remain indefinitely in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria, Defence Minister Israel Katz said today, and continue to occupy so-called security zones.

Tel Aviv’s forces have taken over more than half of Gaza in a renewed invasion after Israel ended a ceasefire last month. 

Israel has also refused to withdraw from some areas in Lebanon following a ceasefire with Hezbollah last year. In addition, it seized a buffer zone in southern Syria after rebels overthrew president Bashar al-Assad in December.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Relatives of Palestinian child Salem Hussein, 12, killed in an Israeli army bombardment of Gaza, mourn beside his body at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, July 22, 2025
North Africa / 24 July 2025
24 July 2025

For Egypt trade trumps the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians, but how long can the country’s ‘misleaders’ – and others in the region – continue their indifference against the popular will of their own people, asks ROGER McKENZIE

Sudanese displaced families take shelter in a school after being evacuated by the Sudanese army from areas once controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Omdurman, Sudan, March 23, 2025
Northeast Africa / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025
OPPORTUNITY BECKONS: BRICS member states family photograph - In the shadow of the Sugarloaf Mountain - during the 17th BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on July 6 2025. (L to R) Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov, Crown Prince of UAE Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan, President of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, Premier of China Li Qiang, Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed, P
The Future / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025

ROGER McKENZIE expounds on the motivation that drove him to write a book that anticipates a dawn of a new, fully liberated Africa – the land of his ancestors