A senior US official told reporters that the framework agreement envisages a six-week cessation of hostilities, which could begin immediately if the Palestinian movement Hamas signs off on the release of the most vulnerable hostages it holds. The official said that the Israelis have "more or less accepted it."

Osama Hamdan, a top Hamas official in Lebanon, said the movement's leaders were reviewing a proposed framework hammered out by top officials from Israel, Qatar, Egypt and the United States. Speaking at a news conference, he said Hamas "has repeatedly said" it was "open to discussing any initiative.

Taher al-Nunu, a senior Hamas official, said his group wanted a "complete and comprehensive ceasefire, and not a temporary truce." Speaking to AFP, he said that once the fighting stopped "the rest of the details can be discussed" including a hostage release. Qatar, Egypt and the US have led mediation...

According to Lynn Hastings, UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, the conditions required to deliver aid to "the people of Gaza do not exist." He said that since the end of truce, Israeli forces have pushed into southern Gaza, "forcing tens of thousands... into compressed spaces, desperate to find...

BEIJING, CHINA – The director of China’s Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs met with the speaker of the Arab Parliament Adel Al Asoomi here. Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that Beijing is willing to...

TEHRAN, IRAN – Pretoria fully supports Tehran joining BRICS, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said at a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian. "South Africa is interested in Iran being accepted as a friendly country by the BRICS," Ramaphosa said as quoted by Mehr News. The South African...

DUBAI, UAE - Authorities in Yemen have identified a suspect in the killing of a World Food Program official in the southern Taez province, a security official has told AFP. Moayad Hameidi, the head of the UN food agency's office in Taez, was killed in a shooting on Friday in the...

TABARKA, TUNISIA - Firefighters in Tunisia are battling a major blaze that has raged for two days in a pine forest near the border with Algeria, a civil defense official said on Thursday. Regional civil defense director Abdel Laabidi told AFP that around 470 hectares (1,100 acres) of forest had already...

Three Iraqi soldiers were killed and four others wounded in a pre-dawn attack in the country's north blamed on the Islamic State group, a military official said. The assailants used automatic weapons in the attack on their barracks, about 25 kilometers west of the city of Kirkuk, the official said...

ABU DHABI, UAE -  A senior UAE official of the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MoEI) visited Germany and the Netherlands to reinforce existing partnerships and discuss common goals, energy transition, technology deployment and potential projects. Sharif Al Olama, Under-Secretary for Energy and Petroleum Affairs MoEI visited Germany and the...

ABU DHABI, UAE - Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), a Defense Public Sector Undertaking under India's Ministry of Defense appointed EDGE's GradeOne as an official channel partner. The handing over of the Authorization Letter occurred during the International Defense Exhibition (IDEX) held in Abu Dhabi from February 20-24. Khalifa Al Ali,...

DAMASCUS, SYRIA - Syria's Aleppo airport, a key conduit for relief flights after the devastating February earthquake, reopened on Friday, an official said, following Israeli air strikes this week that hit its runway. The damage caused by Tuesday's raid forced aid deliveries and all flights to be diverted to Latakia and...

Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah group has handed over a man suspected of killing an Irish United Nations peacekeeper earlier this month, a security official said. Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others injured on December 14 when their UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicle was attacked near the...

US wholesale prices continued to rise in October but at a slower pace than in the prior month, according to official data Tuesday which will add to rising hopes that inflation has peaked. The data added traction to growing expectations the Federal Reserve will be able to dial back its...

President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrived in Al Alamein City on a visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt. Upon his arrival at Al Alamein International Airport, President Sheikh Mohamed was received by President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The two leaders discussed bilateral cooperation and strategic partnership...

Iran said it had summoned Sweden's ambassador following a request by prosecutors in the Nordic country for life imprisonment for a former Iranian official.

The Al-Hol camp for displaced people in Syria is a jihadist threat and should be dismantled, a senior Iraqi security official said on Saturday. Al-Hol, in the Kurdish-controlled northeast, is Syria's largest camp for displaced people. It houses about 56,000 including displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees.

The visit by Ali Bagheri, Tehran's chief nuclear negotiator, is the first to Gulf Arab states by an official of the new government of Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi. The UAE downgraded ties with Iran in 2016 amid rivalry between its ally Saudi Arabia and the Islamic republic.