"The people in Gaza are lacking the most basic necessities. We want to do our part to ensure that they get access to food and medicine," said Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

The incident comes amid mounting concern about worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where Israel has carried out relentless military operations since October. Gaza's dire food shortages after more than five months of war have resulted in 27 deaths from malnutrition and dehydration, most of them children.

A diplomatic source said the food aid has arrived at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv before being transferred to the Palestinian Red Crescent at the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza. Morocco is the first country to transport its humanitarian aid via "this unprecedented land route".

A Jordanian citizen has died after being shot by Israeli forces in the West Bank, Palestinian authorities said, with the military accusing the man of aiding a fighter. Tawfiq Aed Fawaz Hussein, 25, was shot at Zeita junction north of the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Monday, the Palestinian...

The first -- a hulking gray-painted watercraft known as a Logistics Support Vessel -- slowly churned away from the pier at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia. It was followed by three smaller vessels that will also make the roughly 30-day trip to the eastern Mediterranean for the port mission.

"We are not near a deal, meaning that we are not seeing both sides converging on language that can resolve the current disagreement over the implementation of a deal," said foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari. He added that he could not "offer any timeline" on an agreement.

Hamas ally Hizbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily cross-border fire since the Gaza war erupted in October, but several Israeli strikes have recently hit Hizbollah positions further north, raising fears of a full-blown conflict. Hizbollah has repeatedly said it will only stop its attacks on Israel with a ceasefire in...

With the flow of food and other assistance slowed to a trickle, a UN report citing the territory's Hamas-run health ministry said 25 people have now died from malnutrition and dehydration, most of them children.

A security source said Israeli aircraft targeted a former Hizbollah building near Dar Al Amal Hospital, adding that Israel "conducted another raid on a warehouse west of Baalbek". Strikes have largely remained confined to border regions, but several have hit Hizbollah positions further north in recent weeks

As the Muslim world welcomed Ramadan with the customary daytime fast, many Gazans awoke to bombardment that saw residents once more search through the rubble of destroyed homes for survivors and bodies.

"We have witnessed month after month of civilian killing and destruction at a level that is unprecedented in all my years as Secretary-General," he said.

Hamas chief said in a televised speech that Israel was unwilling to meet Hamas's conditions for a deal that would have seen hostages held by fighters exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israel. Mediators had been pushing for a new truce in the war, now in its sixth month.

His comments came one day after Biden said Netanyahu "must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken" in Gaza. His failure to bring home hostages has led to regular protests in Israel and calls for early elections, including in Tel Aviv...

Hizbollah said it had fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel after Israeli strikes the day before left five dead in southern Lebanon, including three of the group's members. Hamas ally Hizbollah and its arch-foe Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since the Israel-Hamas war broke out...

With Gaza's humanitarian crisis growing more dire and Biden's left flank in uproar, the US president made contradictory remarks as to the question of a "red line" over Israel's threatened offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza. Netanyahu "has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas,"...

Canada and Sweden announced over the weekend they were resuming funding for the cash-strapped UN agency, weeks after having suspended it over Israeli accusations that several UNRWA employees were involved in the Hamas attack that triggered the ongoing war. Israel's foreign ministry called on both governments to cut funding and...

With t-shirts and banners featuring the names and pictures of hostages seized during Hamas's October 7 attack, the crowd demanded swift action to rescue the remaining captives. Around 100 hostages remain in Gaza alive and 31 are presumed dead, Israel has said, a key source of demonstrators' despair.

Lebanon's official National News Agency said the Israeli strike on a house in the Khirbet Selm area killed a family of four," a couple and their two children, and one other person. Hizbollah and Israel have traded deadly cross-border fire on a near-daily basis since war broke out in October...

London, UK - Thousands of protesters marched in central London on Saturday to call for a ceasefire in Gaza amid ongoing bombardments by Israel after the Hamas attack on its territory on October 7.Regular marches protesting Israel's military response to the attacks have seen dozens arrested for anti-Semitic chanting and banners,...

A boat laden with food for Palestinians in war-ravaged Gaza was "ready" to set sail from Cyprus, an NGO said, as fighting raged between Israeli troops and Hamas ahead of Ramadan. The sea route aims to counter aid access restrictions, which humanitarians and foreign governments have blamed on Israel.

Ankara, Turkey - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday Ankara "firmly backs" Palestinian group Hamas."No-one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization," he said in a speech in Istanbul. "Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them."Erdogan has been one of...

Geneva, Switzerland - The war in Gaza has "ruptured any sense of a shared humanity," the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Saturday.ICRC head Mirjana Spoljaric called for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza, saying Israel and Hamas must respect international law and protect civilians caught up...

In his annual State of the Union address to Congress, President Joe Biden said the US military would "lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the coast of Gaza that can receive large shipments carrying food, water medicine and temporary shelters."

Other parts of the Islamic world may be grappling with their own challenges, from conflicts to high inflation. But many Muslims say their thoughts are with Palestinians this year.

Using his annual State of the Union address to deliver some of his strongest comments yet about the five-month-long war, Biden also ordered the US military to lead "an emergency mission" to build a temporary pier off Gaza to facilitate more aid deliveries.

The UN aid coordinator for the Palestinian territory Sigrid Kaag said her message to UN Security Council was that the international community must "flood the market in Gaza with humanitarian goods" and "re-energize the private sector" so more commercial goods can enter to meet civilians' needs.

In the wasteland of Jabalia, northern Gaza, Palestinians gathered to receive meals at a distribution point. "There is no gas to cook our food on. There is no flour or rice," said Bassam al-Hou, standing beside large, blackened cooking pots among the rubble.

President Joe Biden will tell Congress that he has ordered the US military to set up a port in Gaza to get more humanitarian aid by sea, senior US officials said. The announcement will not involve any US boots on the ground in the Palestinian enclave, as military personnel will...

Paris, France - An Israeli tank crew who killed one journalist and wounded six others in Lebanon in October then "likely" opened fire on them with a machine gun, an expert report said on Thursday.The strike in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border on October 13 instantly killed Issam Abdallah, a...

A senior Hamas official confirmed that the group's delegation in talks seeking a Gaza truce left Cairo for consultations in Doha, while voicing dissatisfaction with Israel's responses. "We are awaiting the final official response from the enemy (Israel)," said the official, who was involved in negotiations in Cairo but declined...

Palestinian Territories - Gaza's Hamas-run government media office said on Thursday that Israel had returned dozens of bodies that had been exhumed from graves in the besieged territory in recent weeks.Israeli forces have on several occasions taken bodies from Gaza to Israel for examinations as they look for hostages seized during...

The Houthi rebels have been defiantly hitting ships in vital commercial waters in professed solidarity with the Palestinians as Israel pounds Hamas-ruled Gaza in response to the October 7 attack. Asked if the latest attack showed a failure of the US and UK strikes on the Houthis, Miller said, "We...

The foreign minister said that the catastrophe in Gaza once again reminded the world that "the fact that the Palestinian territories have been occupied for a long time can no longer be ignored." Beijing has been calling for an immediate ceasefire since the start of the current Israel-Hamas war in...

While negotiators in Cairo tried to surmount tough stumbling blocks, fighting again raged in Gaza where the UN warns famine looms and desperate crowds have stopped and looted food aid trucks. Gazans were waiting to collect bags of flour outside an office of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA,...

The administrative step forward comes after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich last month vowed to expand settlements, in response to Palestinian gunmen killing an Israeli civilian and wounding several others in the West Bank.

Southeast Asia is home to about 40 percent of the world's Muslim population, and ASEAN heavyweights Indonesia and Malaysia are staunch supporters of the Palestinian cause. But other influential ASEAN nations such as Singapore have closer ties with Israel -- and are less eager to stoke controversy.

Yemen's Houthi rebels, who since November have fired drones and missiles at numerous ships in the Red Sea area vital for world trade, claimed responsibility for the latest incident. They say their campaign is in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip where Israel is battling Hamas fighters.

UNRWA chief's comments capped a tumultuous day during which Israel and UNRWA have traded accusations, with Israel accusing the agency of having employed more than 450 "terrorists." Israel also recalled its ambassador to the UN for consultations after the country accused the organization of failing to adequately address claims of...

According to the Hizbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee, three volunteer paramedics died "due to a direct Zionist attack on an emergency centre" in south Lebanon's Adaysseh. The armed group later said its fighters targeted Gesher Haziv "with batches of Katyusha rockets" in retaliation.

The head of the UNRWA is set to defend his organization's work at the General Assembly, after crippling backlash over accusations that some employees were involved in Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel. Philippe Lazzarini warned in a letter to the General Assembly's president that his agency is at a...

"A diplomatic solution is the only way to end the current hostilities" and achieve "a lasting fair security arrangement between Lebanon and Israel", Washington's envoy Amos Hochstein told reporters in Beirut, adding that "a temporary ceasefire is not enough". "A limited war is not containable," he said after meeting with parliamentary...

Israel routinely demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks, arguing that such measures act as a deterrent, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment.

Taking an unusually sharp tone, Harris demanded Israel "do more to significantly increase the flow of aid" into Gaza, where she said people are starving and the conditions "inhumane". Pressure for a truce has mounted after attempted aid deliveries have descended into scenes of tragedy, and convoys have failed to...

The Hamas official said that if Israel were to meet its demands -- which include a military withdrawal from Gaza and stepped-up humanitarian aid -- this would "pave the way for an agreement within the next 24-48 hours". The health ministry in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip said at least 90...

As the peaceful demonstration was underway in Jerusalem, a senior US official said a truce deal which may see hostages freed could be within reach. Mediators from many countries have scrambled to lock in a new truce before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan begins later this month.

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 to...

Tehran, Iran - Iran began counting ballots on Saturday after a vote for parliament and a key clerical body, with local media estimating a low turnout and conservatives expected to dominate.Friday's elections were the first since widespread protests triggered by the September 2022 death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, 22,...

An Israeli strike on a car in south Lebanon killed three Hizbollah fighters, a security source said, the latest in almost five-months of escalating cross-border fire between the Iran-backed group and Israel. Since war erupted between Israel and Hamas on October 7, Hizbollah has been launching near-daily attacks from Lebanon...

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 100...