"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...

Israeli and US authorities have intensified their financial hunt into Hamas in recent days as they track illicit funds via digital currencies. Ari Redbord, global policy head at crypto tracking specialist TRM Labs, said there is now less crypto transfer activity on pro-Hamas support networks as a result.

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...

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...

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...

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.

Washington has said it hopes China's friendship with Hamas-backer Iran could help calm the conflict, particularly after Beijing brokered a detente between long-time foes Tehran and Riyadh this year. China has refrained from explicitly condemning Hamas for the attacks that sparked the war.

The White House statement the Western leaders voiced commitment to coordinate "to ensure sustained and safe access to food, water, medical care, and other assistance required to meet humanitarian needs." They also pledged close diplomatic coordination "to prevent the conflict from spreading, preserve stability in the Middle East, and work...

Describing the entry of a few dozens trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza from Egypt as "not enough", EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that it was important to send in the basic things that make water and electricity supply being restored. He made the comments ahead of a...

Around 40 organizations joined the rally, including Heilbronn's as well as the Jewish French Union for Peace and an association of France-based Muslims. The rally took place amid tight security after recent days brought bomb threats to several French airports and the Versailles palace tourist hotspot west of Paris.

Iran and Russia have bolstered ties in many fields over the last few years and Moscow has turned to Tehran for military support and economic partnerships as both countries face a raft of Western sanctions. The West has accused Tehran of supporting Russia's offensive in Ukraine by providing it with...

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"...

"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".

While Israeli strikes have repeatedly caused the grounding of flights at the government-controlled airports in the capital Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo, it is the second time simultaneous strikes have hit the facilities since this month's conflict between Israel and Hamas began. "At around 5:25 am (0225 GMT),...

It has repeatedly called for talks on ending the conflict, which has risked undermining its growing ties with Iran and complicated its relations with long-time partner Israel. President Vladimir Putin spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Iranian and Arab leaders earlier this week in the hope...

New Delhi, India--India on Sunday flew 38.5 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Egypt's Sinai region for Palestinian civilians from the embattled Gaza Strip, the foreign ministry said. An Indian air force Boeing C-17 transport plane "carrying nearly 6.5 tonnes of medical aid and 32 tonnes of disaster relief material for...

Berlin, Germany--Qatar, a key power in the efforts to release hostages seized by Hamas from Israel, believes they can be released "very soon" thanks to ongoing discussions, a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman told the German Welt am Sonntag newspaper Saturday. Doha's mediation played a key role in the release on Friday...

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.

Speaking at a campaign fundraiser, US president said the Saudis wanted to recognize Israel and unite the Middle east, and he believes Hamas's attack on Israel was aimed at disrupting warming ties between the Jewish country and Saudi Arabia. "They (Hamas) knew I was about to sit down with the...

Tel Aviv, Israel - Gaza's Hamas rulers released two Americans on Friday among some 200 hostages they abducted in brutal October 7 attacks in Israel and indicated that more could follow. Judith Tai Raanan and her daughter Natalie Shoshana Raanan were back in Israel late Friday, the Israeli government said. No...

"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...

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.

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...

The UN has described the situation inside Gaza as "beyond catastrophic" as Israel pounds the enclave from the air in reprisal for a Hamas attack that was the bloodiest in its 75-year history. More than 3,700 Palestinians, mainly civilians, have been killed across the Gaza Strip in relentless Israeli bombardments...

Mohammed bin Salman, the Gulf kingdom's de facto ruler, made his comments during a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who before visiting Riyadh met with Israeli leaders and pressed them to let more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Prince Mohammed "affirmed that the kingdom considers targeting civilians in Gaza...

Maryan Apparel in the southern state of Kerala said it had supplied around 100,000 uniforms to Israel's police force for every year since 2015. "It is a moral decision," the company's managing director Thomas Olickal told AFP.

Moody's announced that it was putting a number of the Israeli government's credit ratings on review for a downgrade, including its long-term foreign-currency and local-currency ratings, because of the war. "Israel's credit profile has proven resilient to terrorist attacks and military conflict in the past," it said.

Biden also called for an end to a surge in both anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim prejudice in the United States, especially after the killing of a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy in an alleged hate crime linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict. "To all of you hurting, I want you to know, I see...

Washington, United States - US military forces in the Middle East have faced multiple threats from drone attacks in Middle East, Washington Post reported today. A US Navy destroyer in the Red Sea successfully intercepted a salvo of cruise missiles and drones launched toward Israel from Yemen. These actions come...

London, United Kingdom - European and US stock markets fell Thursday as investors worried over rising US Treasury yields and the Israel-Hamas crisis potentially growing into a wider conflict in the Middle East. Wall Street opened higher after falling the previous day, but slid into loss during morning trading, while Europe's...