Middle East

UPDATED: Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh killed in Iran

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran on Wednesday, the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards said in separate statements. The Islamist faction mourned the death…

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Israel claims to kill Hezbollah senior commander in Beirut strike

Israel's military claimed it killed Hezbollah's most senior commander in an airstrike on Beirut on Tuesday, in retaliation for a cross-border rocket attack that killed 12 youngsters three days ago…

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Polio cases ‘very likely’ in Gaza population, WHO says

It is very likely that polio has infected people in the Gaza Strip, in what would be a setback for global efforts to eradicate the disease, a World Health Organization…

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IDF says 10 Hezbollah targets hit

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck around 10 Hezbollah targets in seven different areas of southern Lebanon. The IDF also said it "eliminated" a member of the group…

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More airlines cancel Beirut flights amid escalation

Greece's Aegean Airlines and Germany's Condor cancelled flights to Beirut on Tuesday, the latest airlines to suspend services to the Lebanese capital in recent days as tensions escalate between Israel…

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Israel’s Plans for Limited Retaliation Against Hezbollah

Israel wants to hurt Hezbollah but not drag the Middle East into all-out war, two Israeli officials said, as Lebanon braced for retaliation after a rocket strike that killed 12…

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Why the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict is heating up again

A deadly rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has added to concerns that Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah could be sucked into a full-scale war - something…

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Hezbollah on ‘high alert’ in case of Israeli retaliation

Israel's security cabinet on Sunday authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to decide on the "manner and timing" of a response to a rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights…

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Harris pushes Netanyahu to ease suffering in Gaza

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to help reach a Gaza ceasefire deal that would ease the suffering of Palestinian civilians, striking a…

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Israeli army says it has recovered bodies of five hostages killed on October 7

The Israeli Defence Forces announced on Thursday that they had found the bodies of five hostages killed during the October 7 attacks who have been held in Gaza ever since.…

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Netanyahu sketches vague outline for post-war Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sketched a vague outline of a plan for a "deradicalized" post-war Gaza in a speech to Congress on Wednesday and touted a potential future alliance…

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Israel tanks advance deeper in southern Gaza as more ceasefire talks expected

Palestinian residents of eastern neighbourhoods of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip fled their homes on Tuesday as Israeli tanks advanced deep into the area after Israel ordered the…

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Israeli warplanes break sound barrier over Beirut

Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over Beirut and other areas of Lebanon on Tuesday, Lebanese security sources and media reported, rattling nerves as the conflict between the Iran-backed Hezbollah…

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Israel’s Netanyahu says deal could be nearing for hostages in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told families of hostages held in Gaza that a deal that would secure their loved ones' release could be nearing, his office said on Tuesday.…

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UPDATED: Palestinian factions sign declaration to end divisions after talks in China

Various Palestinian factions have agreed to end their divisions and strengthen Palestinian unity by signing the Beijing Declaration on Tuesday morning in China, according to Chinese state media. The declaration…

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Israel declares two more Gaza hostages dead

Israel declared dead on Monday two more of its hostages being held in Gaza, as talks to secure a ceasefire deal that would include the release of some 120 captives…

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UN rights office says ‘anarchy’ spreading in Gaza

The United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) on Friday warned that "anarchy" was spreading in the Gaza Strip, with rampant looting, unlawful killings and shootings as the population faces an…

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UPDATED: Tel Aviv hit by drone attack claimed by Iranian-backed Houthis

A long-range Iranian-made drone hit the centre of Tel Aviv in the early hours of Friday, in an attack claimed by the Yemen-based Houthi militia that killed one man and…

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Israel’s Knesset votes to reject Palestinian statehood

Israel’s parliament has passed a resolution that overwhelmingly rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state, Israeli media reported. The resolution passed in the Knesset with 68 votes in favour and…

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Israel tells ‘everyone in Gaza City’ to leave

The Israeli military has instructed all residents of Gaza City to evacuate south to the central Gaza Strip due to intensified operations in the north. Leaflets dropped by aircraft advised…

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Hamas says Israel’s offensive in north Gaza could sink cease-fire efforts

Hamas has warned that Israel’s expanding military operations in Gaza City and the displacement of thousands of residents could have “disastrous repercussions” for talks aimed at a cease-fire and the…

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Israel sends delegation to negotiate hostage release deal with Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Joe Biden he has decided to send a delegation to resume stalled negotiations on a hostage release deal with Hamas, their administrations…

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Israel weighs Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire proposal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet on Thursday evening to discuss new Hamas positions on a ceasefire deal in Gaza, a source in Netanyahu's office said,…

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Biden, Netanyahu expected to meet in Washington during Israeli PM’s July visit

U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are expected to meet in Washington in late July when the Israeli leader comes to address the U.S. Congress about…

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Thousands flee their homes as Israeli forces bomb southern Gaza

Israeli forces bombarded several areas of the southern Gaza Strip and thousands of Palestinians fled their homes in what could be part of a final push of Israel's intensive military…

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Hamas-Iran Ally Islamic Jihad’s Rocket Attack and Israeli Military Offensive in Gaza

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Monday, in an apparent show of force as Israeli tanks pressed their advance deeper into Gaza amid…

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Israeli forces pound north and south Gaza, battle Hamas in Rafah

Israeli forces pounded several areas across Gaza on Wednesday, and residents reported fierce fighting overnight in Rafah in the south of the Palestinian enclave. Residents said fighting intensified in the…

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High risk of famine persists across Gaza

Gaza remains at high risk of famine as war between Israel and Hamas continues and access to aid is restricted, though delivery of supplies had limited the projected spread of…

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Israel’s contentious military exemption for ultra-Orthodox community

Israel's Supreme Court has ruled the state must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students to the military, a move that ends a longstanding exemption on their conscription and risks destabilising…

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Israel supreme court rules religious seminary students must be drafted to military

Israel's Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students to the conscript military, a decree likely to send shockwaves through Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's…

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Germany warns risk of all-out Middle East war grows daily

Germany is extremely concerned about rising violence on Israel's border with Lebanon and the growing risk of a full-blown regional conflict, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on a visit to…

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Israel kills senior Gaza health official, tanks push deeper into Rafah

An Israeli air strike at a medical clinic in Gaza City killed the director of Gaza's Ambulance and Emergency Department, the enclave's health ministry said, while Israel's military said the…

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Netanyahu says intense fighting against Hamas is ending but war to go on

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the phase of intense fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip was coming to an end but that the war would…

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Head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah threatens Israel and Cyprus

The head of Lebanon's Hezbollah said that nowhere in Israel would be safe if a full-fledged war breaks out between the two foes, and also threatened EU member Cyprus for…

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Israel and Lebanon escalate rhetoric

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned that a decision on an all-out war with Hezbollah was coming soon, even as the United States tries to avert any escalation. U.S. envoy…

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Palestinian Authority at risk of collapse this summer

The Palestinian Authority could collapse in the coming months, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said, citing a lack of funding, continuing violence and the fact that half a million…

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Netanyahu disbands his inner war cabinet

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the six-member war cabinet, an Israeli official said on Monday, in a widely expected move that came after the departure from government of…

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Netanyahu denounces tactical pauses in Gaza fighting to get in aid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized plans announced by the military on Sunday to hold daily tactical pauses in fighting along one of the main roads into Gaza to facilitate…

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Hezbollah says it attacked 9 Israeli military sites with rockets, drones

Hezbollah said it had launched rockets and weaponised drones at nine Israeli military sites in a coordinated attack on Thursday, ramping up hostilities on Lebanon's southern border for the second…

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Israeli forces thrust deeper into Rafah as diplomacy falters

Israeli tanks advanced deeper into the western area of Rafah, amid one of the worst nights of bombardment from air, ground, and sea, forcing many families to flee their homes…

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Hezbollah fires big rocket salvos at Israel after senior commander killed

Lebanon's Hezbollah fired big barrages of rockets at Israel on Wednesday in retaliation for an Israeli strike which killed a senior Hezbollah field commander, escalating the conflict across the Lebanese-Israeli…

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‘Immense’ scale of Gaza killings amount to crime against humanity, UN inquiry says

Both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in the early stages of the Gaza war, a U.N. inquiry found on Wednesday, saying that Israel's actions also constituted crimes against humanity…

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Hamas says it creates broad prospects for a ceasefire deal in Gaza

Hamas on Wednesday said its "positive" response to a U.S. ceasefire plan for the eight-month-old war in the Gaza Strip opened a "wide pathway" to reach an agreement, but the…

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UPDATED: Hamas says it accepts UN-backed Gaza truce plan, US cites ‘hopeful sign’

Hamas accepts a U.N. resolution backing a plan to end the war with Israel in Gaza and is ready to negotiate details, a senior official of the Palestinian militant group…

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Israeli Minister Benny Gantz Resigns from War Cabinet Over Gaza War Conflict

Israeli minister Benny Gantz announced his resignation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet on Sunday. He accused Netanyahu of mishandling the war effort against Hamas. Gantz's departure marks the…

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UN Includes Israel in Global Child Rights Violations List

The United Nations has included Israel in the global list of states and armed groups that have violated the rights of children, as stated by the country's UN representative, Gilad…

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Israeli strike on UN school in Gaza kills at least 20

Israel targeted a Gaza school on Thursday that it said contained an Hamas compound, killing fighters involved in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the eight-month war, but Gaza media…

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Netanyahu says Israel prepared for strong action in the north

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured the country's northern border with Lebanon on Wednesday and said Israel was prepared for strong action in the north.Israeli towns near the border, many…

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Gaza war impact ripples through neighbours’ health systems, says WHO

Healthcare systems of neighbouring countries are feeling the strain as thousands of critical patients from the Gaza Strip are evacuated for treatment of complex injuries and ailments, a top WHO…

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UPDATED: Gunman fires shots at US Embassy in Lebanon

A gunman fired shots at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon on Wednesday and was wounded in an exchange of fire with troops, the Lebanese army said. The army said the…

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UPDATED: Israel says more than a third of Gaza hostages are dead

Israel believes that more than a third of the remaining Gaza hostages are dead, a government tally showed on Tuesday, as the United States sought to advance their recovery under…

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UN experts urge all countries to recognise Palestinian statehood

A group of United Nations experts called on Monday for all countries to recognise a Palestinian state to ensure peace in the Middle East. The call came less than a…

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Israeli presumed among Hamas hostages found dead near Gaza

An Israeli who went missing during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas-led Palestinian gunmen and was presumed to have been taken hostage has been found dead in the border village…

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Several killed in Israeli attack in Syria

A number of people were killed in an Israeli air attack targeting sites in the vicinity of the Syrian city of Aleppo on Monday, Syrian state media said citing a…

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Biden’s Gaza plan ‘not a good deal’ but Israel accepts it, Netanyahu aide says

An aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel had accepted a framework deal for winding down the Gaza war now being advanced by U.S. President Joe Biden, though…

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Syrians in Lebanon fear unprecedented restrictions, deportations

The soldiers came before daybreak, singling out the Syrian men without residence permits from the tattered camp in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. As toddlers wailed around them, Mona, a Syrian refugee…

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Reports Israel sent messages to Tehran to avoid Iranian response to embassy attack

Israel sent messages to Tehran via Egypt that it would "compromise" in Gaza to avert an Iranian response to an attack on Iran's embassy in Syria, the Tasnim news agency…

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