The United States and Iran had engaged in several rounds of indirect talks on Tehran's nuclear programme in recent weeks, but Iran said after the start of Israel's campaign that it would not negotiate while under attack.

In the central region, at least four people, including a 10-year-old boy, were killed and around 100 others wounded in a rocket strike, according to a spokesperson for Magen David Adom (MDA).

Jerusalem, Undefined -- US President Donald Trump's decision to skip over Israel in his Middle East tour was just the latest sign of a shifting dynamic between the historic allies. From nuclear talks with Iran, a ceasefire deal in Yemen and the announcement of lifting sanctions on Syria, Trump has...

Iran unlikely to escalate situation with Israel, say experts, as UN chief says destruction in Gaza is "shocking". Netanyahu faces opposition to his policies as relatives of Israeli hostages interrupt his speech.

Israel has intensified its attacks against Lebanon striking emergency services and professionals - a possible war crime. Several hospitals in Lebanon shut down after severe damage from violent Israeli attacks.

Oil prices shoot up as Biden suggests that Israel might target Iranian oil facilities, while GCC Arab states, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, reassure Iran of neutrality in the conflict between Tehran and Israel.

Israeli fighter jets pounded parts of Lebanon and a drone attacked a Sunni neighborhood in central Beirut killing dozens across Lebanon and injuring more than 500 people. Saudi Arabia expresses "great concern".

Jerusalem, Undefined - A missile launched by Yemen's Hamas-aligned Houthi rebels hit central Israel on Sunday, a rare incident which caused no casualties but added to regional tensions nearly a year into the Gaza war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Iran-backed Houthis will pay a "heavy price" for the attack,...

Chanting "yes, to peace, yes, to a deal", hundreds of Palestinian and Jewish Israelis marched noisily through Tel Aviv on Thursday night, demanding an end to the war in Gaza and the cycle of violence. While Tel Aviv's various protest groups may diverge on politics, they overlap in the call...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned "anyone who harms us will pay a very heavy price", after Friday's drone attack in Tel Aviv killed an Israeli civilian. But Houthi politburo member Mohammed al-Bukhaiti swiftly threatened to "meet escalation with escalation", in a social media post.

A statement from the rebels, who have carried out dozens of attacks against Red Sea shipping in what they say is an act of solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war, said their "UAV force" attacked "one of the important targets in the occupied Jaffa region, what is now called...

The UN called on Israel to conduct a "thorough and transparent" investigation into the Rafah strike, as the Israeli military said it was launching a probe into civilian deaths. French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X that "these operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian...

Rocket sirens blared in Tel Aviv for the first time in months, with an AFP correspondent reported hearing at least three blasts. Israel's offensive has killed at least 35,984 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

Organizers said about 100,000 people converged at a Tel Aviv crossroads renamed "Democracy Square" since mass protests against controversial judicial reforms last year. Chanting "elections now", protesters called for his resignation as the war in Gaza enters its seventh month on Sunday, AFP correspondents reported.

Israel said it was targeting a "Hamas gunman" when it killed in Gaza seven aid workers whose deaths caused an international outcry, with its military admitting violations of its own rules of engagement. The drone team who killed them made an "operational misjudgement of the situation", an internal Israeli military...

Jerusalem--Four Israeli police were injured in a car-ramming attack at a checkpoint in the centre of the country, police said Wednesday, adding that the assailant was killed after trying to stab other security forces. The 26-year-old attacker crashed into four police officers at a checkpoint in the town of Kochav...

Talks have been underway for weeks to secure a second truce in the four-month war, which would see more hostages freed in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

New defense technologies including artificial intelligence-powered gunsights and robotic drones form a bright spot in an otherwise dire period for Israel's tech industry. Over 150 countries in December backed a UN resolution identifying "serious challenges and concerns" in new military tech, including "artificial intelligence and autonomy in weapons systems."

Jerusalem, Undefined - Israeli flag carrier El Al said Friday it will scrap direct flights to South Africa following "a significant fall in demand by Israeli travelers" to the country and other destinations. "From the end of March 2024, El Al will suspend its operations on the Johannesburg-Tel Aviv route," an...

Tel Aviv, Israel--Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv late Saturday calling for the release of hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas fighters, on the eve of the 100th day of their captivity. The protests came after families unveiled a replica of the tunnels in the besieged Palestinian territory where...

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said, "We will never allow espionage activities to be conducted against the national unity and solidarity of our country."

Dubai, UAE--Several rockets fired from the Gaza Strip targeted Tel Aviv and southern Israel as the country rang in the New Year on Monday, according to AFP journalists on the ground. Air-raid sirens sounded as journalists in Tel Aviv saw Israeli missile defence systems intercept the rockets. People who had...

In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on Monday night, Netanyahu vowed to stay the course. "Hamas must be destroyed, Gaza must be demilitarized, and Palestinian society must be deradicalized. These are the three prerequisites for peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors in Gaza," Netanyahu said.

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 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

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan made the push during talks in Tel Aviv with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials, discussing the war Israel launched after the October 7 attacks. Washington has strongly backed Israel's right to defend itself, but mounting civilian casualties in the Palestinian territory...

Carrying placards with messages like "bring them home now", hundreds of Israelis took to streets in Tel Aviv on Saturday to call for the release of nearly 140 people still being held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Hamas took 240 hostages back to Gaza during its bloody October...

The hostages, most of whom were freed during a seven-day truce between Israel and Hamas, spoke in a video broadcast before a crowd of thousands at a rally in central Tel Aviv. In the brief interviews, four women who were held by Hamas related the fear, hunger, and sleeplessness of...

Istanbul, Turkey - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday pushed back against mounting US pressure to cut Ankara's historic ties with Hamas in the wake of the group's unprecedented attacks on Israel. The US Treasury's top terrorism financing official conveyed Washington's "profound" alarm about Ankara's past relations with Hamas during...

Ankara, Turkey - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday branded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "the butcher of Gaza" and accused him of spawning anti-Semitism across the world. Erdogan has lashed out repeatedly at Israel for the scale of death and destruction caused by its response to Hamas members' unprecedented...

The terms of the truce agreement pausing the fighting in the Gaza Strip say it can be extended beyond its initial four-day term as long as 10 hostages are released for each extra day, with three times as many Palestinians freed in return. As such, another 50 hostages would imply...

Hamas released a third group of hostages including a four-year-old American girl with more Palestinian prisoners set to be freed in exchange. A source close to the group said it was willing to prolong a truce. The Israeli army said 13 released hostages were back in the country and another...

Tel Aviv, Israel - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) suspended its military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, near the border with Egypt, for four hours for humanitarian aid, said Avichay Adraee, the IDF spokesperson for the Arab media. "We will allow a tactical pause in fighting in...

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...

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...

US and European stock markets mostly fell and oil prices rose as US President Joe Biden prepared for a trip to the Middle East aimed at preventing the Israel-Hamas conflict spreading across the region. Investors also weighed another raft of company earnings and rising interest rates.

The spokesman, who blamed the decision on the "current situation in the Middle East", confirmed information from two passengers who had been unable to fly from Frankfurt to Beirut. On Saturday Lufthansa cut its flights to Tel Aviv, citing "the current security situation".

Qatar, where Blinken will head immediately after Jordan, has longstanding ties with Hamas and has been seen as an intermediary in freeing the hostages. "We'll continue pressing countries to help prevent the conflict from spreading, and to use their leverage with Hamas to immediately and unconditionally release the hostages," Blinken...

Blinken, a secular Jew, spoke in unusually personal terms during his visit, recalling how his grandfather escaped Russian pogroms and his stepfather survived Nazi concentration camps. He said Netanyahu showed graphic photographs from the Hamas attacks, including of a bullet-riddled baby, beheaded soldiers and young people burned alive in their...

"The occupation (Israeli forces) committed massacres this morning in Al-Shati camp and Jabalia camp, leaving dozens of martyrs and injured," Iyad al-Buzum, spokesman for the Hamas interior ministry, told AFP. AFP journalists saw at least seven dead bodies and six buildings destroyed in Al-Shati camp.

The suspension of flights by the airline follows similar decisions by American Airlines, Air France, Lufthansa, Emirates and Ryanair and others that this weekend pulled flights to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport. American Airlines on Monday said it operated two flights out of Tel Aviv on Saturday and Sunday to...

Air France-KLM group's low-cost carrier Transavia announced it was cancelling all flights from Paris and Lyon to Tel Aviv up to and including Monday. Spanish airline Iberia announced that its budget subsidiary Iberia Express was cancelling its Tel Aviv flights as the war intensifies between Israel and Palestinian militants.

World calls for restraint as Palestinian death toll reaches 232 and Israeli casualties cross 200, prompting a vow of retaliation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - Israel's US$3.5-billion sale of its Arrow 3 missile defense system to Germany, sparked by security fears after Russia's Ukraine invasion, is the biggest yet for the small country's outsized arms sector. With its armed forces steeled by a tragic history of war, Israel is now the ninth...

The Biden administration made the decision after Israel in July promised a series of steps to comply with longstanding US demands to treat all US passport holders equally -- without discriminating against Americans who are of Palestinian or other Arab heritage or who are Muslim. Visa-free travel marks "a critical...

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL – The total global Jewish population rose to 15.7 million over the last year, while the number of those living in Israel hit 7.2 million, the Jewish Agency said. The agency’s data showed that the global Jewish population grew by some 100,000 over the past year. Israel...

Tel Aviv, Israel - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is considering a trip to the Middle East in October as part of Washington's ongoing efforts to broker a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, according to a report published in The Times of Israel.  The proposed visit would...

Tel Aviv, Israel - Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has welcomed the launch of the ambitious India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) as the "largest cooperation project in our history" that will have a profound impact on the Middle East, Israel, and the world. Leaders from the United States, India, Saudi...

Four Roman-era swords and a javelin were discovered inside a cave in the Judean desert, where they had been preserved for nearly 1,900 years.

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL- A dozen Eritrean asylum seekers were wounded by Israeli police gunfire here on Saturday after a demonstration against an Eritrean government event turned violent, police and medical sources said. Clashes began outside a south Tel Aviv venue that was set to host a pro-regime event organized by the...