Israel's top ally the United States said it began air-dropping aid into war-ravaged Gaza, as the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry reported over a dozen child malnutrition deaths. The start of the US relief operation came hours after President Joe Biden, who has pushed Israel to allow more aid in, announced...

Palestinian Territories - A Hamas delegation was expected to fly to Cairo on Saturday for talks on a truce in Gaza, a source close to the group told AFP, as mediators scrambled to secure a deal. Egyptian, Qatari and US go-betweens have been shuttling between Israeli and Hamas negotiators, trying...

Nairobi, Kenya - African Union chief Moussa Faki Mahamat on Saturday accused Israel of "the mass killing of Palestinians" and urged an international probe after dozens died following a rush on an aid convoy in war-torn Gaza. "Mahamat strongly condemns an attack by Israeli forces that killed and wounded more than...

Global attention turned to the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza on Thursday, when the health ministry said more than 100 people were killed after desperate Palestinians rushed an aid convoy. Israel's retaliatory offensive to eliminate Hamas has now killed at least 30,228, mostly women and children, according to the ministry's...

Hamas said that seven more hostages seized during its unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 had died because of Israeli military operations in Gaza. Meanwhile, four more children have died of "malnutrition and dehydration" in war-torn Gaza, the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry said, the latest such reported deaths...

London, UK- Controversial left-wing firebrand George Galloway was elected to the UK parliament on Friday after tapping into anger over the Israel-Hamas war in a chaotic by-election marred by anti-Semitism allegations. Galloway, 69, first became an MP in 1987 and will return to the House of Commons for the first time...

The UN and other humanitarian actors have not yet declared a state of famine in Gaza, despite worsening conditions in the Palestinian territory. However, "once a famine is declared, it is too late for too many people", said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA.

Global condemnation flowed after Israeli forces in war-ravaged Gaza opened fire as Palestinian civilians scrambled for food aid during a chaotic incident which the Hamas-run territory's health ministry said killed over 100 people. The Israeli military said a "stampede" occurred when thousands of desperate Gazans surrounded a convoy of 38...

Brazil's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad told a news conference in Sao Paulo that it was "impossible" to reach a final joint statement. The minister said the impasse was over the ongoing conflicts without explicitly mentioning Russia's invasion of Ukraine or Israel's ongoing military campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip.

More than 750 others were injured after Israeli soldiers opened fire on civilians gathered at an aid distribution point in the Palestinian territory. The death toll from the "massacre" in Gaza City "rose to 104 martyrs and 760 injuries due to the bullets of the occupation forces that targeted a...

According to Syria's defense ministry, Israeli fighter jets carried out strikes "from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan", targeting a number of sites in the Damascus countryside. The ministry added that the country's air defenses responded to the attack, shooting down most of the missiles.

In January, Israel's cabinet approved an additional 55 billion shekels ($15 billion) to meet the cost of the war, while the mobilization of reservists and the displacement of communities on the borders with Gaza and Lebanon have disrupted the economy. Confronted with the conflict, Arab countries that have normalized relations...

Doha, Qatar - Qatar is "hopeful" of a Gaza war ceasefire and is pushing for an agreement before Ramadan, its foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday. The gas-rich Gulf state, which hosts Hamas's political bureau, has been a key mediator in negotiations involving the Palestinian fighters, Israel, the United States and...

Tubas, Palestinian Territories - Israeli troops killed three Palestinians in an overnight raid in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said on Tuesday. It was the latest in a surge of violence in the restive Palestinian territory since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in...

Baalbek, Lebanon - Israeli strikes near the Hizbollah-dominated city of Baalbek killed two group members on Monday, two security sources told AFP, in the first strikes on Lebanon's east since clashes began after the Gaza war. "Two Hizbollah members were killed in the Israeli strikes near Baalbek," a security official told...

The resignation of the government in the West Bank comes as several countries, including the United States, have called for a reformed Palestinian Authority that would take charge of all Palestinian territories after the war in Gaza ends. "The next stage and its challenges require new governmental and political measures...

JERUSALEM - An Israeli soldier seized by Hamas fighters during their October 7 attack was killed the same day and his body is being held in Gaza, the army and a campaign group said on Sunday. The Israeli army confirmed the death of Sergeant Oz Daniel, 19, while the Hostages...

According to local media reports, the country's war cabinet endorsed the decision to dispatch negotiators to Qatar to continue talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in the war against Hamas and the return of hostages being held in Gaza. Pressure has mounted on Israeli PM to strike a deal to...

Palestinian Territories - At the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, Abu Gibril was so desperate for food to feed his family that he slaughtered two of his horses. "We had no other choice but to slaughter the horses to feed the children. Hunger is killing us," he told AFP....

The negotiations come after a plan for a post-war Gaza unveiled by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew criticism from key ally the United States, and was rejected by Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank. They also come alongside deepening fears for Gaza's civilians.

The plan lays out that, even after the war, the Israeli army would have "indefinite freedom" to operate throughout Gaza to prevent any resurgence of Hamas activity, according to the proposals. The plan was swiftly rejected by the Palestinian Authority and drew criticism from the United States.

"The plan states that Israel will move forward with its already-in-motion project to establish a security buffer zone on the Palestinian side of the strip's border," the report said, adding the zone would remain "as long as there is a security need for it" The plan envisages Gaza's "complete demilitarization."

"We are deeply concerned about the impacts that the Israel and Gaza war are having on hate crimes and on social cohesion in the UK," said Tell MAMA director Iman Atta.

The shooters were "neutralized", police said, and an AFP photographer later saw two bodies at the scene of the attack on a highway east of Jerusalem, where five cars were riddled with bullets. "The three terrorists... got out of their vehicle and started shooting automatic weapons at vehicles that were...

Major powers trying to find a way to end the destructive Israel-Hamas war have so far failed, but a US envoy was in Israel Thursday in the latest attempt to secure a truce deal. International concern has spiraled over Gaza's escalating civilian death toll and the desperate humanitarian crisis sparked...

An Israeli strike on a residential area of Damascus killed at least two people, Syrian state media reported, the latest deaths from an escalating Israeli air campaign since the Gaza war erupted in October. Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria since civil war broke out in 2011.

Jerusalem - Despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's insistence the Gaza war will end with Israel achieving "absolute victory", a majority of Israelis do not think this is a likely outcome, a poll published Wednesday found. Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that Israel will continue its offensive in the Gaza Strip until...

Heavy fighting rocked besieged Gaza as aid agencies warned of looming famine and new talks were held in Cairo towards an Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage release deal. The White House sent Middle East envoy Brett McGurk for renewed talks, a day after a UNSC resolution calling for a ceasefire was...

The World Food Program (WFP) resumed deliveries on Sunday after a three-week halt but its convoy "faced complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order", it said. Twenty weeks into Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, UN agencies have warned that food and safe water...

The resolution, which Algeria had been working on for three weeks, had demanded "an immediate humanitarian ceasefire that must be respected by all parties." "Proceeding with a vote today was wishful and irresponsible... we cannot support a resolution that would put sensitive negotiations in jeopardy," said Washington's ambassador to the...

Lula's remarks on Sunday sparked outcry in Israel after the Brazilian leader said the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip "isn't a war, it's a genocide" and compared it to "when Hitler decided to kill the Jews". On Sunday, the head of Yad Vashem, Dani Dayan, said that Lula's remarks...

Overall, Israel's GDP grew by 2.0 percent in 2023, short of the 2.3 percent projection made by the Bank of Israel after the war's outbreak in October, the Central Bureau of Statistics figures showed.

The portion of the revenues that Israel will transfer to Norway will remain in a Norwegian account until the parties agree whether Norway may release the funds to the Palestinian Authority. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store hailed the agreement.

The Houthis, who control vast swathes of Yemen, have said the attacks, beginning in November, have targeted vessels linked to Israel, in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. In December the United States announced a maritime security initiative, Operation Prosperity Guardian, to protect shipping in the area.

Mediator Qatar acknowledged that separate ceasefire talks had also hit an impasse after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected some Hamas demands as "ludicrous". Israel has concentrated its military operations in Khan Yunis, the hometown of Hamas's Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, whom it accuses of masterminding the October 7 attack.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the situation in the Israel-occupied West Bank posed a major obstacle to finding a long-term solution for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. "The West Bank is the real obstacle for the two-state solution," Borrell said at the Munich Security Conference.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accused Israel of committing "genocide" against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and compared its actions to Adolf Hitler's campaign to exterminate Jews. "What's happening in the Gaza Strip isn't a war, it's a genocide," Lula said in Addis Ababa where he was attending...

Algeria has requested a UN Security Council vote on Tuesday, but Washington signaled it is likely to veto the measure. US President Joe Biden is working with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leaders of Egypt and Qatar on a hostage deal that would bring about six weeks of...

Truce efforts intensified this week as Qatar and fellow mediators Egypt and the US scrambled to secure a ceasefire before Israeli troops enter Rafah, the last major population center in Gaza untouched by Israeli ground troops. Despite a direct appeal from US President Joe Biden earlier this week, Netanyahu insisted...

Speaking at a televised news conference, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that critics exhorting Israel not to lauch offensive in Rafah were telling the Jewish country to "lose the war" against Hamas. He suggested that troops would go in regardless of whether a hostage release is reached.

Tehran, Iran - Iran unveiled two new air defense systems on Saturday, state media reported, with tensions high in the Middle East amid the war in Gaza. "The Arman anti-ballistic missile system and the Azarakhsh low-altitude air defense system, built by the ministry of defense, were unveiled this morning," the official...

Palestinian Territories - Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday reiterated the group's demand of a complete ceasefire in Gaza, a day after US President Joe Biden called for a "temporary truce" to secure the release of hostages. High-level negotiations to pause the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza were held this week...

Geneva, Switzerland - Israel is waging a concerted campaign aimed at destroying UNRWA, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said in an interview published on Saturday. Philippe Lazzarini said calls for his resignation were part of the Israeli government's push. "Right now we are dealing with an expanded,...

Nasrallah said the killing of civilians was aimed at "putting pressure" on Hizbollah to stop attacks on Israel, but stressed that the group will intensify its cross-border fire. "The response to the massacre must be to pursue the resistance (against Israel)" and Hizbollah will not just strike "(military) positions... and...

Palestinian Territories -- The health ministry in Gaza said five patients died Friday due to lack of oxygen at one of the war-torn Palestinian territory's few operating hospitals that had been raided by Israeli forces. "A fifth patient at Nasser hospital was martyred as a result of the stopping of...

In a post in Hebrew on social media platform X, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Jewish country will continue to oppose unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Such recognition, in his opinion, would offer an "enormous reward to unprecedented terrorism.

"The immense loss suffered by Palestinian journalists in this war will have long-term impacts for journalism not just in the Palestinian territories but for the region and beyond. Every journalist killed is a further blow to our understanding of the world." CPJ has previously attacked what it calls "persecution" of...

CIA Director William Burns had joined Tuesday's talks with David Barnea, head of Israel's Mossad intelligence service, which Egyptian media said had been mostly "positive". US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby described the negotiations as "constructive and moving in the right direction".

The UN and many governments across the world have expressed alarm about the possible civilian toll of an Israeli assault against the southern city of Rafah. The negotiations, which also involved Qatar's prime minister and Egyptian officials, were part of an intensifying effort to secure a ceasefire.

It was unclear from the footage where the tunnel was located, but in recent weeks the Israeli military has pounded Khan Yunis, southern Gaza's main city and Sinwar's hometown. Hagari said the video had been filmed on October 10, three days after Hamas carried out an attack on Israel that...