Separate diplomatic efforts were also under way for a fresh pause in the worst-ever Gaza war, which was triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel in October. With conditions deteriorating in the territory, the UN Security Council has been locked in negotiations on a resolution that would boost aid...

The impact of the conflict had reversed a slight recovery for Lebanon, which has battled a deep economic crisis for years, the Washington-based bank said in a report. "Prior to October 2023, economic growth was projected -- for the first time since 2018 -- to slightly expand in 2023," by...

The Israeli army said Wednesday that "ground, aerial and naval operations were carried out on dozens of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure" on military command and control centers in Khan Yunis. Israel's ensuing military campaign in Gaza has so far killed at least 20,000 people, the majority of them children and...

The United Nation says children make up half of the 1.9 million displaced Palestinians and a sizable number have been killed in Israeli strikes.

"Twelve martyrs and dozens of wounded, including women and children, were recovered from under the rubble when a house and a mosque were targeted hundreds of meters from Kuwaiti hospital," Gaza's health ministry.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in a statement said that ships bound for Israel will also be barred from loading cargo at any port in the largely Muslim Southeast Asian nation with immediate effect. He particularly targeted Israel's biggest shipping firm ZIM. Malaysia's cabinet authorised ZIM to dock its vessels at...

This week's back and forth comes after an impasse earlier this month, when the United States, despite unprecedented pressure from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, blocked the adoption of a Security Council resolution on the war. It had called for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in the Gaza Strip.

According to a source close to the Palestinian Islamist group, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh is set to visit Egypt on Wednesday for talks on a ceasefire in Gaza and a prisoner exchange with Israel. Haniyeh will head a Hamas delegation to Egypt, where he is due to hold talks with...

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - One of the last remaining hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip stopped operating on Tuesday after being stormed by the Israeli army, its director said.Fadel Naim told AFP Israeli troops had attacked the Al-Ahli hospital and arrested doctors, medical staff and patients, destroying part of the...

Geneva, Switzerland - Gaza is "the most dangerous place in the world" for a child, the UN children's agency spokesperson said Tuesday, expressing his rage at the situation there after returning from the Palestinian territory."I'm furious that those with power shrug at the humanitarian nightmares unleashed on a million children," UNICEF...

Israel -- backed by its ally Washington, a veto-wielding permanent Security Council member -- has opposed the term "cease-fire." This is one of the sticking points for the divided body to navigate as diplomats call for a "pause" or a "truce," or try to qualify any cease-fire as "humanitarian."

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the first private trucks entered Saturday and more came through on Monday. Miller, without confirming the meeting, said that the United States supported a new deal that would include the release of remaining hostages held in Gaza.

A report by Washington's Director of National Intelligence, quoted by US media, said that nearly half of munitions dropped by Israeli aircraft on Gaza were "dumb" bombs -- unguided munitions with limited accuracy. Israel insists Hamas is to blame for mass civilian casualties, accusing the group of using innocent Palestinians...

Dubai, UAE--A Hamas official on Monday said one of the group's tunnels revealed by the Israeli army in Gaza had "successfully" accomplished its mission, downplaying the Israeli announcement of its discovery.On Sunday the Israeli army showed images of what it said was the biggest Hamas tunnel uncovered so far under...

"Such action can potentially contribute to the violation of international law and the commission of further international crimes, thus making them liable for prosecution in South Africa," the ministry said. It did not specify how many South Africans are thought to have enlisted.

The outcome of the December 10-12 poll was widely expected after the former army chief with a fondness for infrastructure mega-projects campaigned against a small field of relative unknowns. It secures 69-year-old Sisi his third and, according to the Egyptian constitution, final term in office, starting in April and set...

Due to "escalation of war situation in recent days, Evergreen will temporary suspend Israel import and export service due to rising risk and safety considerations with immediate effect until further notice," Evergreen said in a brief notice to its customers.

Israeli forces shot dead four Palestinians in a West Bank refugee camp, the Palestinian health ministry said. Mohammad Samir Milhem, 17, his brother Hikmat, 24, and Yazan Khatib, 20, were shot in the head by Israeli troops in the Al-Fara camp near Tubas, the ministry said. Rashed Habib al-Aydi, 17,...

Nice, France - Algerian international footballer Youcef Atal goes on trial in France on Monday accused of inciting hatred after posting a video in which a Palestinian preacher purportedly threatens Israel with a "black day".Atal, who plays for Ligue 1 side Nice, shared the video on his Instagram account, which has...

Following months of fierce bombardment and fighting, most of Gaza's population has been displaced and people are grappling with shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine. Israel on Friday approved the "temporary" delivery of much-needed aid to Gaza via its Kerem Shalom crossing.

The Israeli government has come under growing pressure from the international community to pause the fighting and do more to protect civilians. The United Nations estimates that 1.9 million Gazans -- around 80 percent -- have been displaced by the war.

All health care facilities in the Gaza Strip have been hit hard by the bombardments and ground invasion launched by Israel following Hamas's unprecedented attack October. Israel's retaliatory strikes on the crowded enclave have killed 18,800 people, of which three-fourths are children, according to the Hamas-run health services.

Pope Francis spoke a day after the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said a Christian mother and daughter had been shot dead by an Israeli soldier on the grounds of the Gaza Strip's only Catholic church. He said at the end of the Angelus prayer that he continues to receive "very serious...

Alon Shamriz, 26, was one of the three Israeli hostages shot dead by soldiers during an operation in the Gaza City suburb of Shejaiya, even as they carried a white flag and cried for help in Hebrew. Shamriz, Yotam Haim and Samer El-Talalqa were killed when troops mistook them for...

The death toll from the raid on the Nur Shams camp in the West Bank city of Tulkarem climbed to five after the announcement of the deaths of two men aged 19 and 21 in hospital, the ministry said. The Israeli operation at the camp began during the night, according to...

The operation took place as Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin headed to the Middle East, where he would meet with Bahrain on "US efforts to convene multilateral coalitions to respond to aggression at sea that threatens shipping. Houthis have threatened to attack any vessels heading to Israeli ports unless food and...

Samer Abu Daqqa's body, bearing his bullet-proof vest and helmet, was carried through a crowd in the city of Khan Yunis before being buried in a grave dug by fellow journalists. His colleague, Gaza bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh, was wounded in the same attack. Dahdouh had lost his wife and two...

In a joint article written in Sunday Times, UK foreign minister David Cameron and German counterpart Annalena Baerbock said the "need is urgent" for a "sustainable ceasefire" in Gaza. They said "too many civilians have been killed" in the conflict, and raised the pressure on Israel to bring its operation...

Israeli forces, according to the Gaza health ministry, fired at "patient rooms" and arrested staff at the Kamal Adwan hospital in Gaza City during a "siege" that lasted several days. The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said the same day that the hospital director and about 70 other medical staff were...

"The Gulf country will continue its efforts to achieve peace through tangible steps and a roadmap for a two-state solution. This solution envisions an independent and sovereign Palestinian state, in line with relevant UN Security Council resolutions, and negotiated between the two parties with full international backing," he adds.

London, UK - A UK destroyer has brought down a suspected attack drone in the Red Sea, defense minister Grant Shapps said on Saturday, amid rising maritime tensions in the region.Britain announced last month that it was sending HMS Diamond, one of its most advanced naval vessels, to the Gulf to shore...

Baqa al-Gharbiya, Israel--In Baqa al-Gharbiya, an hour's drive from Haifa, city folk have temporarily traded pens for boots to aid farmers in Israel facing a labour shortage exacerbated by the Gaza war.Whether teachers or lawyers, Arab or Jew, they have come together during their leisure time to lend a helping hand...

According to human rights groups, including Amnesty International, Iran executes more people per year than any other nation except China. In a November report, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said the Islamic republic had executed more than 600 people so far this year, marking the highest figure in eight...

The Israeli army said that it had mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat, and fired, killing three of them. It added that "immediate lessons" have been learnt from the event, which have been passed on to all IDF troops in the field," it added, expressing "deep remorse over...

Around 80,000 Lebanese serve in the army, which is seen as a key pillar of the country's stability. The force is also deployed in the country's south, which has seen deadly exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, since the Israel-Hamas war began in...

The Qatari network had first reported that cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa and Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh were wounded in a school in Khan Yunis, where they were hit by "shrapnel from an Israeli missile attack". In a subsequent statement condemning the Israeli military, Al Jazeera attributed the injuries to...

There have been near-daily cross-border exchanges between Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Hamas ally in Lebanon, and Israel since the Palestinian group's unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel.

The US has suggested the internationally-recognized PA could play a role in governing Gaza after the war, though the Ramallah-based administration is deeply unpopular among Palestinians

Erdogan has been one of the Muslim world's most vocal critics of Israel's military tactics in Gaza. He has referred to Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu as "the butcher of Gaza" and branded Israel a "terror state".

The latest death was a 17-year-old boy who the ministry said was shot in the chest by the Israeli army in Jenin. In addition to 11 killed by Israeli forces, Palestinian health officials said a sick 13-year-old boy also died after Israeli forces prevented him from reaching hospital.

London, Britain - Saudi foreign minister on Thursday Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah called on the international community, especially the permanent members of the Security Council, including the United Kingdom, to fulfill their responsibilities towards intensifying efforts aimed at a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and ensure the availability...

Video footage obtained by AFP showed soldiers inside a mosque in Jenin refugee camp using loudspeakers to recite the Shema Yisrael, a central prayer in Judaism. Towards the end of the clip, laughter can be heard as troops walk outside the mosque and a Hanukkah song rings out from the...

A US official earlier said "we have indications that a missile was fired at the Maersk Gibraltar from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen, and that it hit the water and missed the ship". The official was speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to make the statement...

Filippo Grandi, head of the UN refugee agency, warned Wednesday that pushing Gazans across the frontier would be "extremely destabilizing for Egypt". "It's very important to insist that this evacuation of people beyond (the border) must not be promoted, must not be advanced, forced," the UNHCR chief told journalists in...

Tzipi Hotovely told Sky News that she did not believe in the long-standing position of the UK government and the United Nations that an independent Palestinian state should be established.

The latest death was a 17-year-old boy who the ministry said was shot in the chest by the Israeli army in Jenin. In addition to 11 killed by Israeli forces, Palestinian health officials said a sick 13-year-old boy also died after Israeli forces prevented him from reaching hospital.

According to the military's official list of casualties, nine of those killed on Tuesday belonged to units that a military spokesman said were involved in a fierce battle in Shejaiya. Two of those killed in the battle were senior officers. The official noted that around 350 Hamas fighters had been...

President Joe Biden while expressing his frustration with rightwing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred this week to "indiscriminate bombing" in Gaza". The Democratic US administration is even beginning to talk about a "timetable" for how long Israel's high-intensity military operations can continue.

The announcement came more than two months into the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza as international aid organizations have warned about the dire conditions in the crowded Palestinian territory. The ministry did not specify which vaccinations had run out, and its claim could not be independently verified.

Beirut, Lebanon - Lebanon's compounding crises are having a "devastating" impact on children and their education, a United Nations agency said Wednesday, warning of additional pressure as the Israel-Hamas war spills over into the country.UN children's agency UNICEF said more than a quarter of households surveyed last month reported children not...