Qlayaa, Lebanon - In the Lebanese Christian border village of Qlayaa, the priest urged his parish to keep the Christmas spirit alive despite clashes between Hizbollah and Israel forcing many to flee. Nestled among lush, green fields and flowing olive groves, Qlayaa has echoed to the sound of bombing on an...

Air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said the Su-34 jets were downed around noon on Friday. In his announcement he noted a message found on a downed Russian drone which read "Die, bitches". "Great idea! Here is our response!" he said on Telegram.

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron termed it good news that that the UN has come together to "back a resolution to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza." Cameron's remarks came after the Security Council voted to approve a watered-down resolution that demands all sides allow the "unhindered" delivery of humanitarian...

The Iran-backed Houthis have repeatedly targeted vessels in the vital shipping lane with strikes they say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas. The deaths of 20.000 people in Gaza have provoked widespread anger in the Middle East and provided an impetus for attacks by...

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...

Over half a million people had sought shelter in Al-Jazirah state before the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began advancing on the villages lining the highway between Khartoum and Wad Madani. By Tuesday, the fourth day of fierce battles in the state capital, at least 250,000 people had fled Al-Jazirah, "many...

President Emmanuel Macron told the France 5 broadcaster, "We cannot let the idea take root that an efficient fight against terrorism implies to flatten Gaza or attack civilian populations indiscriminately." While acknowledging "Israel's right to defend itself and fight terror", Macron said France called for the protection of civilians and...

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...

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.

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...

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.

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...

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...

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.

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...

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...

In the first 11 months of 2023, 45 journalists were killed carrying out their work, down from 61 last year, according to the annual report by RSF. It was the smallest number since 33 died in 2002, largely due to a major drop in Latin America.

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 agency said the funding would allow it to reach 17.3m children in need of measles vaccinations, 7.6m children with acute malnutrition, and 19.3m children lacking access to education. At the same time, the United Nations Population Fund called for $1.2bn in funding "to address the mounting crises affecting women...

AFP and other international media groups had written to Blinken in late October urging his help in protecting journalists on the ground in Gaza after several were killed since the outbreak of fighting. "The United States has and will continue to underscore with Israel, and with all countries, that journalists...

Washington, US - The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is having a severe impact on the Palestinian economy, according to the World Bank, which now estimates sharp economic contraction this year and next. The conflict, sparked by Hamas' cross-border attacks on October 7 that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures, and...

Washington, United States -- The United States unveiled sanctions Tuesday on individuals and companies based in China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and others, aiming to disrupt Moscow's military procurement networks amid its war in Ukraine. The latest actions take aim at people and entities accused of supplying Russia’s industry and...

International aid organizations have struggled to get supplies to desperate Gazans under Israeli bombardment, with only the Rafah crossing in Egypt open. UN humanitarian agency OCHA said Sunday that around 100 trucks per day were bringing humanitarian supplies from Egypt into Gaza since a week-long truce ended on December 1.

The ministry did not provide further details on the fatalities, while the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said they were killed in a drone strike on the Old City. Around 270 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire and settler attacks in the West Bank, Palestinian officials say, as violence has...

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, the strikes had targeted "Hizbollah sites" in the Sayeda Zeinab district and near Damascus airport. Strong explosions were reported in the suburbs of Damascus, which have been previously targeted by strikes that Syrian authorities have blamed on Israel.

Antonio Guterres had convened an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after two months of fighting in Gaza. He deployed the rarely-used Article 99 of the UN Charter to bring to the council's attention "any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security".

In a country gripped by the most severe financial crisis in its recent history-- inflation has hovered near 40% after the currency lost half its value-- the economy is the crux of Egyptians' concerns. Even before the crisis, about two-thirds of the country's nearly 106m people were living on or...

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...

Israel declared war on the Palestinian fighter group Hamas after its attack on October 7 in southern Israel, which killed around 1,200 people, Israeli officials say. Israel's ensuing military campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 17,200 people, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Speaking to Kathimerini on Wednesday, the Turkish leader said communication channels with Greece had been "revived" and that he looked forward to signing a declaration of bilateral friendship with Greece on Thursday. Thursday's talks are expected to also discuss the Israel-Hamas war, where Erdogan has shown no sign of abandoning...

The latest round of conflict between Israel and Hamas began when the Palestinian fighters launched an unprecedented attack into Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 240 hostages. In response, Israel has carried out air strikes and a ground offensive that have killed more than 16,200...

The Palestinian foreign ministry said on Tuesday that Israel was "taking advantage of international concern over the war in Gaza to approve the construction of a settlement in occupied Jerusalem". It was part of a plan to "flood Jerusalem with settlements and settlers" and "separate it from its Palestinian surroundings",...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office wrote on X that a "minimal supplement of fuel necessary to prevent a humanitarian collapse and the outbreak of epidemics" had been approved to enter "into the southern Gaza Strip". The announcement follows the UN warning of a total breakdown of public order in...

Hamas statement comes days after UN Women said it was "alarmed by the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities" during the attacks on southern Israel, which authorities say killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and responded with an intense military campaign that has killed 15,899...

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...

Smoke again clouded the sky over the north of the Palestinian territory, whose Hamas government said 240 people had been killed since a pause in hostilities expired early Friday and combat resumed. After the truce expired on Friday, Israel had told NGOs not to bring aid convoys across the Rafah...

Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the UN's COP28 climate talks in Dubai, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the "Israeli authorities" will have to define their objective and desired end state more precisely. He warned that its aim of destroying the Palestinian movement could unleash a...

The resumption of fighting dashed hopes for an extension of a seven-day truce that had seen dozens of hostages freed in exchange for Palestinian civilian releases by Israel. On Thursday, US top diplomat Antony Blinken, meeting Israeli and Palestinian officials, called for the pause in hostilities to be extended, and...

The truce agreement between Israel and Hamas stipulates that a minimum of 10 Israeli hostages should be released alive each day. But a source close to Hamas told AFP that two Russian-Israeli women freed on Wednesday in addition to 10 others made up for only eight Israelis being released on...

The overnight releases, which came after a sixth batch of hostages were freed from Gaza, bring the number of Palestinian civilians freed by Israel under a truce deal to 210. Hamas and other fighters in Gaza have released 70 Israelis under the deal, along with nearly 30 hostages of other...

The meeting came after the world's richest person visited a kibbutz community devastated in attacks by Hamas fighters on October 7, and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defense officials. Musk has been criticized over what critics say is a proliferation of hate speech on X, formerly Twitter, since...

The shooter, who is still on the loose, was described by police as "a white man with a handgun." The incident occurred amid high tensions, and occasional violence, on college campuses and elsewhere in the United States over the Israel-Hamas war.

The fledgling rapprochement between the North African country and Israel had made steady progress since 2020 when the two governments normalized relations, but that has been thrown into reverse by the deadly conflict in the Palestinian territory. Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain all established diplomatic ties with Israel...

Musk, owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, has come under fire over what critics say is a proliferation of hate speech on the social media site since his takeover. He has also been accused by the White House of "abhorrent promotion" of anti-Semitism after endorsing a conspiracy theory seen...