Weeks of talks involving Israel, Hamas, Qatar, Egypt and the US saw three girls and a boy, aged from two to nine besides six women aged over 70 arrive in Israeli territory.

Germany on November 2 banned Hamas and Samidoun. According to official figures, Germany hosts an estimated 450 members of Hamas, proscribed as a "terrorist" organization by the European Union, the United States and Israel. The ministry said that while Hamas members had not staged "violent action" in Germany so far,...

Dubai, UAE - The ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza could result in a significant economic toll for Israel, with estimations pointing to a potential cost of $48 billion over the current and upcoming year, Turkey's Anadolu Agency reports. Yali Rotenberg, the chief accountant at the Israeli Ministry of Finance, was...

An Egyptian security source told AFP that Israeli security officials, International Red Cross-Red Crescent staff and an Egyptian team would deploy to Rafah, on the Egypt-Gaza border, to receive the hostages, who will then be flown to Israel. AFP has confirmed the identities of 210 of the roughly 240 people...

Beirut, Lebanon - Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has met with Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizbollah, which has traded cross-border fire with Israel since the start of the Gaza war, the Lebanese movement said on Thursday. Since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, the border between Lebanon and Israel...

Cairo, Egypt - Tunisian film star Hend Sabri has resigned as World Food Program goodwill ambassador in protest at what she called the use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. Sabri, a leading figure in Arab cinema, said that she had decided with "a heavy heart and deep...

An official in the Hamas-run health ministry specified to AFP that one other doctor and two nurses had been detained, as well as the hospital director. In a statement, Hamas said it "strongly denounces" the arrest of Salmiya and his colleagues, calling on the International Committee of the Red Cross...

After tedious days marked by idle chitchat and dreary diets of beans and instant coffee, the men, all Egyptians, took some comfort in news that more fuel and other essentials may soon be allowed in as part of a four-day truce that could begin as soon as Friday. But it...

The group, in a statement, said that Abbas Raad, son of the head of Hizbollah's parliamentary bloc Mohammed Raad, was "martyred on the road to Jerusalem". Later Hizbollah issued separate statements with the identities and photographs of four other fighters who were also killed. The group and Israel have been...

The delay is a hammer blow to families desperate to see their loved ones return home, and to two million-plus Gazans praying for an end to 47 days of war and destruction. The complex and carefully choreographed deal saw Israel and Hamas militants agree a four-day truce, during which at...

Paris, France -- The emirate of Qatar has further boosted its status as a specialist power in resolving delicate hostage situations by using its influence to help secure the release of hostages by Palestinian militant group Hamas. Analysts say Qatar has honed a careful balancing act, allowing it to marry warm...

Erdogan went on to reiterate his claim that Israel was a “terrorist state”: “We need to know this once and for all. Israel is a terrorist state. There is no need to hesitate to say this. This is the truth we know. This is the case.”

Qatar's foreign ministry confirmed the deal, saying that "a number of Palestinian women and children detained in Israeli prisons" would be released in exchange for the hostages. "The starting time of the pause will be announced within the next 24 hours and last for four days, subject to extension," the...

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported "the deaths of three citizens -- two journalists and another civilian -- in enemy bombing" of the Tair Harfa area

"The collective punishment of Palestinian civilians through the unlawful use of force by Israel is a war crime. The deliberate denial of medicine, fuel, food and water to the residents of Gaza is tantamount to genocide," said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Qatar's prime minister said that a deal to free some of the hostages in return for a temporary ceasefire hinged on "minor" practical issues. Under the tentative deal, between 50 and 100 Israeli civilian and foreign hostages would be released, but no military personnel. In exchange, about 300 Palestinians would...

The European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell drew this conclusion from his discussions with a range of leaders on his tour of the Middle East. He maintained that Israel should not occupy Gaza after the current conflict ends and that the Palestinian Authority should control the besieged enclave.

Dubai, UAE--The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said Monday 12 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in the north of the Palestinian territory. The 12, including wounded patients and their companions, "were killed and dozens wounded as a result of the Israeli occupation targeting...

Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas and to free around 240 people taken hostage by the fighters during the worst attack in its history, most of them Israeli citizens but also dozens of foreigners. On Sunday, Qatari mediators said they were inching closer to a deal to free some of...

DUBAI - An investigation carried out by Israeli police has concluded that Hamas, involved in the October 7 attack, had no prior knowledge of the Nova music festival held near the border of Gaza, the Israeli media said. According to a report by Haaretz on Saturday, Hamas had no prior...

The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, said all parties would halt combat operations for at least five days while some hostages were released in batches. But the White House quickly responded on Saturday evening with its message on X to deny any major breakthrough.

The White House said Biden and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani discussed "the urgent need for all hostages held by Hamas to be released without further delay". French President Emmanuel Macron also discussed the hostages with al-Thani and Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday, his office said.

The UN health agency said that it led an assessment mission to the hospital and determined it was a "death zone", calling for a full evacuation. It said that the agency is developing plans for the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff and their families, adding that 291 patients...

Beirut, Lebanon - In a ramshackle Palestinian refugee camp here, Hayat Shehadeh wrings her hands as she watches the Israel-Hamas war. Her daughter is in Gaza, and she has not spoken to her for a week. "I can't sleep. I get up at 3:00 am... I go to watch the television,"...

As UN warns of an increasingly desperate situation for 2.4m Palestinians and pleaded for a ceasefire, the first delivery of fuel arrived from Egypt on late Friday. At the same time, Israel carried on its offensive, combing Gaza's largest hospital. It has vowed to "crush" Hamas in response to the...

The announcement came shortly after Israel agreed to a US request to allow two fuel trucks a day into Gaza, following a UN warning that the shortages had halted aid deliveries and put people at risk of starvation. The situation was dire at the Al-Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza,...

Washington, which provides significant military aid to Israel, has given unwavering support to its top Middle East ally since the October 7 attack by Hamas, saying Israel has the right to defend itself. However, the US side has started voicing concerns over the methods of Israel's military operations. and civilian...

Israel has targeted Syria several times in the past weeks as regional tensions simmer over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. While Israel rarely comments on the strikes it carries out in Syria, it has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to extend its footprint there.

Geneva, Switzerland - The heads of numerous United Nations agencies and other humanitarian organizations said on Thursday they would not take part in Gaza "safe zones" declared by only one side in the conflict. "As humanitarian leaders, our position is clear: We will not participate in the establishment of any 'safe...

Kibbutz Beeri, Israel - EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Thursday called for Gaza hostages to be immediately freed, but asked Israel "not to be consumed by rage" in its battle with Hamas. "I ask for their immediate and unconditional release," Borrell said on a visit to a kibbutz community targeted...

Geneva, Switzerland - The UN human rights chief on Thursday decried serious allegations of international law violations in the Israel-Hamas war and suggested an international investigation was needed. Volker Turk said "extremely serious allegations of multiple and profound breaches of international humanitarian law, whoever commits them, demand rigorous investigation and full...

Israeli forces raided and then combed through Al-Shifa, Gaza's largest hospital, before withdrawing and redeploying around its outskirts, a journalist trapped inside the facility told AFP. Israel accuses Palestinian militants of using the compound for military purposes, which Hamas has denied.

Four days after Hamas's surprise October 7 attack on Israel, Netanyahu and another opposition leader, Benny Gantz, announced an agreement to form an "emergency government" for the duration of the war. Lapid said at the time he would not be joining, accusing Israeli leaders of an "unpardonable failure" for not...

"The amount of humanitarian aid sent to Gaza is very small and almost zero, and it is necessary for the United Nations to take immediate and serious action in this regard," Amir-Abdollahian said in a meeting in Geneva with UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths.

San Francisco, US - US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will try to prevent the superpowers' rivalry spilling into conflict when they meet for the first time in a year at a high-stakes summit in San Francisco on Wednesday. With tensions soaring over issues including Taiwan, sanctions and...

ANKARA, TURKEY - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday called Israel a "terror state", stepping up his condemnation of the spiralling civilian toll of its war against Hamas in Gaza. Erdogan's latest -- and one of the most heated -- verbal attacks against Israel came two days before he plans...

"Once we've reached about 120 million (passengers a year), which is what we think our total capacity at DXB (Dubai International) is at the absolute maximum with everything optimized, we are going to need a new airport," Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths said.

Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas uses the hospital as cover for a command post and weapons stores, a claim Hamas denies. That use "jeopardizes" the hospital's "protected status under international law", the military said, a claim that many international human rights lawyers refute.

The Israeli army said its forces conducted "counterterrorism activities" in the city, during which "engineering vehicles uncovered explosive devices planted on routes to attack the forces". "In addition, soldiers questioned and apprehended wanted suspects, and during exchanges of fire with armed assailants, a number of the assailants were killed," the...

A journalist inside the hospital who is collaborating with AFP said the stench of decomposing bodies was everywhere in the facility. The situation in Gaza's other hospitals is also dire, with the UN saying 22 of 36 are not functional due to lack of generator fuel, damage and combat.

Military units "took over the Hamas parliament, the government building, the Hamas police headquarters and an engineering faculty that served as an institute for the production and development of weapons," the army said in a statement.

A local mayor and Lebanese state media corroborated the journalists' account of the cross-border incident, which came exactly a month after deadly strikes blamed on Israel hit a press group near Alma al-Shaab in southern Lebanon. Around a dozen journalists from several media outlets were on a tour to inspect...

Washington, United States - Israel and the Hamas are close to reaching agreements that will make possible to free the majority of Israeli women and children captured on October 7, a columnist of The Washington Post (WP) David Ignatius wrote in his op-ed, citing sources in the Israeli government. The agreement can...

Falsely accusing people of faking their suffering has become "one of the most predictable" disinformation tactics in a crisis scenario, said Mike Caulfield, who researches online falsehoods at the University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public. Similar "crisis actor" claims have followed US mass shootings and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking to the reporters in the Oval Office, US president said he hoped and expected "that there will be less intrusive action relative to the hospital," adding that he was in touch with the Israelis on the matter. According to MSF, hundreds of people are stranded in the hospital complex...

In Geneva, the second-largest UN headquarters after New York, the UN flag on Monday flew at half-mast and none of the other flags of the 193 member countries were hoisted along the main alley of the compound.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that his country's forces carried out precision strikes on facilities in Syria used by Iran's IRGC and Iran-affiliated groups in response to continued attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria. It is the third time in three weeks that the US targeted locations...

"We heard that there was an impending deal of this kind or of that kind and then we learned that it was all hokum. But the minute we started the ground operation, that began to change," Netanyahu told NBC show "Meet the Press."

Real-estate tycoon Barry Sternlicht has initiated this campaign and sought $1million donations from various affluent business figures, including David Geffen and Michael Dell. This initiative comes at a time when recent polls from the University of Maryland and Ipsos indicate a shift in American public opinion.

Perched on trucks, crammed into cars, pulled by donkeys on carts, and on foot, tens of thousands of Palestinians are fleeing Israeli army strikes on the territory squeezed between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean.