Hamas is trying to locate eight Russian-Israeli dual citizens among nearly 230 taken hostage during its members' attack on Israel after Moscow's request to free them, Russian news agencies reported. Russia has good relations with Hamas and has launched a diplomatic effort to try to free hostages held in Gaza.

The International Organization for Migration said in an update that 28,965 people have been displaced, mainly in the country's south, adding that the figure had risen by 37 percent since October 23. Some have found refuge with family members elsewhere in the country, while those who can afford it have...

The United Nations said it was concerned that war crimes were being committed on both sides in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The UN human rights office cited forcible transfer, collective punishment and the taking of hostages as the war continued into its 21st day.

"In the past, the five, six cycles of conflict in the Gaza Strip, these figures were considered as credible and no one challenged these figures," UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said in Jerusalem. Lazzarini's comments came days after US President Joe Biden said he had "no confidence" in the figures provided...

Jerusalem - Hamas's armed wing said on Thursday that "almost 50" Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7 attacks have been killed in Israeli bombing raids on the Palestinian territory. "(Ezzedine) Al-Qassam Brigades estimates that the number of Zionist prisoners who were killed in the Gaza...

Hamas released a list of around 7,000 names of people in Gaza it said had been killed in Israeli strikes. The list was produced a day after US President Joe Biden said he had "no confidence" in the militant group's death toll figures. Israel says 1,400 people were killed in...

Thousands of Gazans are already believed to have died in Israel's aerial assault, with the toll expected to rise substantially if tens of thousands of Israeli troops massed around Gaza move in. Biden on Wednesday said he had privately suggested Israel should get hostages out if possible before any ground...

Moscow, Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Wednesday that the Israel-Palestine conflict could potentially extend beyond the Middle East, Reuters reported. Russian leader stressed the need to protect innocent civilians, during a meeting with religious leaders of various faiths in the Kremlin and called for an end to...

Qatar's top diplomat Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said the two governments -- both Western allies -- "reaffirm our complete rejection of responding to the crisis with double standards when it comes to human life". "It is not permissible to condemn the killing of civilians in one context and justify it...

Israeli strikes have now killed more than 6,500 people in Gaza, a rise of over 700 since Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. One doctor said he was forced to perform emergency surgery on the wounded without anesthetic. Israel has cut off impoverished Gaza's usual water, food and other supplies,...

Erdogan had taken a more measured tone in the first day of war, condemning all attacks against civilians and urging Israel to be measured in its response to the deadly October 7 attacks by Hamas. But he became much more vocal after the deadly strike on Ahli Arab hospital in...

In the latest violence, four Palestinians were killed in Jenin and one in Qalqilya, both in the northern West Bank. One Palestinian was also killed in Qalandia, just north of Jerusalem. The health ministry blamed Israeli "bullets and missiles".

"The economic consequences of the current and ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza are impossible to determine," Richard Kozul-Wright, the director of UNCTAD's globalization and development strategies division, told a press conference. Palestinian GDP per capita is "currently at just eight percent of that of Israel", the report added.

Traders tracked a rally on Wall Street that was helped by a strong set of earnings from big-name firms including Coca-Cola, Verizon and 3M that fuelled optimism for the reporting season. Still, geopolitical crises continue to cast a shadow, with a broader war still possible, and many fearing it could...

According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), its jets hit military infrastructure and mortar launchers of the Syrian Army in retaliation for "the launches toward Israel yesterday." The strikes were inside Syria. Fears are growing that Israel's war with Hamas will create wider regional turmoil, and especially further inflame existing...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and US President Joe Biden discussed on Tuesday the military escalation in Gaza and efforts made to address it. Receiving a telephone call from Biden, the Crown Prince underlined the necessity of immediate work to explore...

United Nations, - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday alleged violations of international law as Israel pounds Gaza, and urged an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to bring in relief. "I am deeply concerned about the clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing in Gaza. Let me be clear:...

Tel Aviv, Israel - Yocheved Lifshitz "went through hell" when abducted by Hamas, the 85-year-old Israeli said Tuesday, recounting her experience before being released from Gaza and criticizing her government for failing to prevent the October 7 attack. The softly-spoken but determined Lifshitz sat in a wheelchair at a Tel Aviv...

"A united and unified position in the Muslim world could have prevented the oppression and aggression of the Zionist regime and the excesses of its Western supporters in a more effective way," he said, quoted by state news agency IRNA. Raisi also called for "strengthening co-operation" between countries in the...

Ajay Banga was speaking at the annual Future Investment Initiative, often referred to as "Davos in the Desert". More than 6,000 delegates are registered for the three-day event that will feature appearances by global banking chiefs and the presidents of South Korea, Kenya and Rwanda, organizers say.

"That's how the Nakba started," says the Gaza-based rights group Al Mezan, reflecting regional suspicions that Israel is planning to empty the coastal territory. The Nakba, or "catastrophe", is how the Arab world refers to the exodus or forced displacement of 760,000 Palestinians in the war that led to the...

The French head of state was also due to meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog, as well as opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid in Jerusalem. And in Tel Aviv, he was due to meet the families of French and French-Israeli nationals killed in the Hamas attack or being held...

Many states including Jordan on behalf of an Arab group of nations, Russia, Syria, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Combodia formally requested General Assembly president to schedule the meeting. The UN Security Council, regularly divided on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, rejected a Russian draft resolution last week calling for a "humanitarian pause."

Volker Turk exhorted for a ceasefire as the first step in order to save the lives of civilians through the delivery of quick and "effective humanitarian aid" in the Gaza Strip. He asserted that violence will never end unless leaders stand up and "take the humane choices that are required...

Paris, France - Stock markets slid on Monday, extending last week's sell-off n fears of a regional conflict in the Middle East and worries that US interest rates will remain elevated for longer than initially thought. The concerns about US interest rates have also been affecting bond markets, with the yield...

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Monday for "unhindered access" for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, in a telephone call with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Kremlin said. According to a readout of the call from the Kremlin, the two leaders "expressed serious concern...

There have also been increasing cross-border exchanges of fire along Israel's northern border with Lebanon, between Israeli troops and Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas.

The United States warned against any "escalation" in the Middle East in the wake of Israel's war with Hamas, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, hours after the Pentagon moved to step up military readiness in the region. The US has seen a "prospect of escalation of attacks on our troops"...

A rare delivery of fuel enters the Palestinian territory; Netanyahu says Hezbollah will make "mistake of its life" if its starts a war with Israel and US says it will "take appropriate action" in response to any escalation in the Middle East.

"Gaza was a desperate humanitarian situation before the most recent hostilities," five UN agencies said. "It is now catastrophic." At a peace summit in Egypt, UN chief Antonio Guterres urged a humanitarian ceasefire "to end this godawful nightmare".

Since Wednesday, three Iraqi bases used by US-led coalition troops have been targeted in five separate attacks -- Ain al-Assad, the Al-Harir base in northern Iraq and a military camp near Baghdad airport. The United States currently has about 2,500 troops stationed at the three bases, alongside around 1,000 soldiers...

Demonstrators held signs reading "Freedom for Palestine", "Stop Bombing Gaza" and "End Israeli Apartheid". Many waved Palestinian flags and some chanted "5, 6, 7, 8, Israel is a terrorist state" and "Free Palestine". Since shock Hamas attacks, Israel has launched devastating air and ground bombardments of Gaza., killing some 4,385...

Saturday's was the first such delivery since the war broke out two weeks ago between Israel and Hamas, which rules the Palestinian enclave of 2.4 million people. President Joe Biden said in a statement that the opening of "this essential supply route was the result of days of diplomatic engagement...

Antonio Guterres addressed a Cairo summit and pleaded for a "humanitarian ceasefire" in the war between Israel and Hamas fighters that has caused devastation in much of Gaza. He said the Palestinian enclave of 2.4 million people was living through a humanitarian catastrophe with thousands dead and more than a...

Jerusalem - Casualties were reported along the Israel-Lebanon border on Saturday as the army traded fire with Iran-backed group Hezbollah amid fears of a new front opening as Israel battles Hamas. Israel already ordered the evacuation of Kiryat Shmona, a border town which is home to some 25,000 people, as...

Washington, US - The United States on Saturday welcomed the arrival of aid trucks from Egypt in the war-torn Gaza Strip, and urged all parties to keep the Rafah crossing open. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged "all parties to keep the Rafah crossing open to enable the continued movement...

RAMALLAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Israeli troops on Saturday raided the West Bank home of a senior Hamas leader and detained members of his family, witnesses said. Saleh al-Aruri is the deputy to Hamas' overall leader Ismail Haniyeh and one of the founders of the Islamist group's military wing. Based in Lebanon,...

The first aid trucks arrived in the war-torn Gaza Strip from Egypt, AFP journalists said, bringing desperately needed humanitarian relief to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave under Israeli siege. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after the group carried out the deadliest attack in the country's history on October 7.

Israel urged its citizens to immediately leave Egypt and Jordan, the national security council said on Saturday as regional tensions flared over the war in Gaza. "Israel's National Security Council raises its travel warnings for Egypt (including Sinai) and Jordan to level 4 (high threat): recommendation not to travel to...

Geneva, Switzerland - At least 30% of the housing sector in the Gaza Strip has been either destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, while hospitals are overwhelmed with patients, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), reported by the Russian news agency Tass. "Since 7 October, at...

"We are in deep and advanced negotiations with all relevant sides to ensure that an aid operation in Gaza starts as quickly as possible... a first delivery is due to start in the next day or so," the UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said, quoted by his spokesman Jens Laerke...

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - The probability that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will launch a ground operation against Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip is over 50 percent, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi said. “A state of war has been declared. During the period of a state of...

KIRYAT SHMONA, ISRAEL - The Israeli military announced plans to evacuate the northern city of Kiryat Shmona on Friday, after days of clashes with Hezbollah fighters along the border with Lebanon. Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah and allied Palestinian factions have traded cross-border fire with Israel for days, after Hamas fighters attacked communities in...

Abir Bakr, a lawyer for Palestinian singer Dalal Abu Amneh who was arrested briefly four days ago, told AFP her client "went to the police station to file a complaint after she received hundreds of messages in both English and Arabic threatening her and her family with death".

Baghdad, Iraq - US troops stationed at two bases in Iraq have been targeted with rocket attacks that caused no casualties, US and Iraqi military sources said Friday, against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war. Armed factions close to Iran have threatened to attack US interests in Iraq over Washington's support...

The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also called for the release of some 200 hostages held by Hamas, as well as the restoration of basic services for Palestinians and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The package also includes $7 billion for countering China and strengthening allies in the Asia-Pacific region, and over $9 billion for humanitarian assistance for Gaza, Ukraine and Israel. But most importantly, however, the huge funding ask is an attempt to bolster waning support for Ukraine by linking it with funding...

CAIRO, EGYPT – Tens of thousands of protesters rallied across Egypt in support of war-torn Gaza on Friday, with large crowds flooding into Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square, an AFP correspondent and Egyptian media said. The correspondent said several thousand packed into Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the 2011 uprising that toppled...

Tel Aviv, Israel -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declined to take a telephone call from US President Joe Biden during the latter’s visit to Israel on October 18, Israel's state-run Kan Radio said. Citing a source in Ramallah, the administrative center of the Palestinian West Bank where Abbas has his...

Berlin, Germany - Bayern Munich on Friday said defender Noussair Mazraoui would not be suspended, after a probe into the Moroccan player over his social media posts on the Israel-Hamas conflict. In the wake of the deadly attack on Israel by Hamas, Mazraoui had put up several pro-Palestinian posts, including one...