Middle East

Air strikes on Yemen’s port of Hodeida, Israel considering full takeover of Gaza Strip

Six air strikes targeted the port city of Hodeida on Yemen's western coast, the Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported, blaming the strikes on Israel and the United States. In addition to the…

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At least 50 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza

At least 50 Palestinians, mostly women and children were killed and dozens more were injured on Thursday as Israel ramps up its offensives across the enclave. Israeli strikes across the…

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Israel says no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza, will keep Gaza buffer zone

Israel said it would keep blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, where a relentless military offensive has turned the Palestinian territory into a “mass grave,” a medical charity reported.Air and…

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Trump opposed a planned Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites

U.S. President Donald Trump blocked a planned Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites in favor of negotiating a deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program, the New York Times…

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At least 100 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza

At least 100 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza on Thursday, including 27, or more sheltering at a school in the north of the strip, according to Palestinian…

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Israel and Hamas threaten each other over fate of hostages

Palestinian militant group Hamas warned on Wednesday that hostages may be killed if Israel attempts to retrieve them by force and air strikes continue in the Gaza Strip. The group…

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Israeli airstrike kills Hamas official as Gaza death toll passes 50,000

An Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza killed a Hamas political leader, Salah al-Bardaweel, on Sunday, the militant group said, as Palestinian officials put the death toll from nearly 18 months…

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Israel hits Gaza with new airstrikes, at least 300 killed

Gaza Strip: Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, saying it was striking dozens of Hamas targets in its heaviest assault in the territory since…

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US and Israel look to Africa for resettling Palestinians uprooted from Gaza

The U.S. and Israel have reached out to officials of three East African governments to discuss using their territories as potential destinations for resettling Palestinians uprooted from the Gaza Strip…

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Airlines cautiously return to Middle East

Some global airlines have started lifting suspensions on flights to and from Middle East after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect in January. Below are some carriers…

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Hamas Returns 4 Hostage Bodies as Israel Releases Palestinian Prisoners

Hamas handed over four deceased hostages to the Red Cross in exchange for Israel's release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, just days before the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire…

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Israeli Bulldozers Level Jenin as West Bank Operation Expands

Israeli bulldozers have flattened vast sections of the nearly deserted Jenin refugee camp, cutting wide roadways through its labyrinth of alleyways. The move echoes tactics employed in Gaza, signaling an…

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UPDATED: Netanyahu says Hamas will pay for not returning Shiri Bibas

Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has condemned Hamas after the Israeli military said one of the bodies released by the militant group did not belong to Shiri Bibas or any…

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UPDATED: Hamas hands over bodies of youngest Gaza hostages taken from Israel

Hamas handed over the bodies on Thursday of Israeli infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel, the two youngest captives taken by Hamas in their October 7, 2023 attack…

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Hamas says it will return bodies of four Israelis on Thursday and release six living hostages on Saturday

Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya said the “Bibas family” would be included in the handover of four bodies on Thursday, without elaborating. Yarden Bibas, 34, his wife, Shiri, 33, and children…

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Israel says ceasefire will end if hostages not returned

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu warns ceasefire will end if hostages not returned on Saturday Trump doubles down on controversial Gaza plan at meeting with Jordanian king in Washington The visit…

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Trump to Hamas: Free all hostages by midday Saturday or ‘let hell break out’

U.S. President Donald Trump said that Hamas should release all hostages held by the militant group in Gaza by midday Saturday or he would propose canceling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and…

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Rubio to visit Israel, Arab states

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will pay his first visit to the Middle East this month, a senior State Department official said, in the wake of former President Donald…

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Putin says Middle East is on the brink of full-scale war

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the Middle East was on the brink of a full-scale war as tensions rose sharply between Israel and Iran. "The fighting that…

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Israel gives the US its demands for ending war in Lebanon

Israel gave the United States a document last week with its conditions for a diplomatic solution to end the war in Lebanon, Axios reported, citing two U.S. officials and two…

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Ireland ready to go it alone and restrict trade ties with Israel

Ireland won’t wait for the rest of Europe to restrict trade with Israel over the occupation of the Palestinian territories and expects to receive legal advice next week on whether…

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Greece on alert over developments in the Middle East

Greece is bracing for a potential wave of uncontrolled migration, a concern highlighted during Wednesday’s meeting of the country’s National Security Council (KYSYEA). The discussions centered on migration challenges, the…

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France sends helicopter carrier to eastern Mediterranean

A French helicopter carrier will arrive in the eastern Mediterranean in the next five to six days and take up position in case a decision is taken to evacuate foreign…

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EU Holds Emergency Meeting on Middle East Tensions

European Union foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting Monday night to address rising tensions in the Middle East following Israel’s airstrikes on Lebanon over the weekend and the death…

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Saudi Arabia announces new global coalition to establish Palestinian state

Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat announced the launch of a new initiative to establish a Palestinian state and garner support for the implementation of a two-state solution after decades of international…

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US sends additional forces to Middle East as tensions soar, Pentagon says

The United States is sending a small number of additional troops to the Middle East given escalating tensions between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, the Pentagon said on Monday, declining to…

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Kremlin warns Lebanon pager attack is a possible trigger for wider M. East conflict

The Kremlin warned on Wednesday that an attack on Lebanese group Hezbollah and others using exploding pagers could become a trigger for a wider regional conflict and called for its…

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Spain to host meeting of European and Muslim countries on Palestinian statehood

The foreign ministers of several Muslim and European countries will meet in Madrid on Friday to discuss how to implement a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Spanish and…

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Cyprus assures that flight safety is not an issue due to GPS interference

Interference with the GPS system, attributed to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, continues to affect electronic devices in Cyprus but flight safety is not an issue, the transport…

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Blinken wraps up Mideast trip with Gaza deal still elusive

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought during a whirlwind trip to the Middle East to inject urgency into efforts to broker a Gaza ceasefire deal, but departed the region…

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Gaza ceasefire talks: The main sticking points

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel stepping up diplomatic pressure in a last-ditch attempt to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostage release deal. The marathon…

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Gaza ceasefire negotiations extend to another day as death toll exceeds 40,000

Negotiators were to meet in the Qatari capital Doha again on Friday in an effort to hammer out a Gaza ceasefire agreement as Israel continued to slam targets in the…

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US prepared for possible significant attacks in Middle East by Iran

The U.S. has prepared for what could be significant attacks by Iran or its proxies in the Middle East as soon as this week, White House national security spokesperson John…

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Cyprus again offers sanctuary as Middle East violence spreads

The Mediterranean island of Cyprus is on standby to assist in the evacuation of Europeans and third-country nationals if conflict in the Middle East deepens, officials said. The European Union's…

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UPDATED: Lebanon’s Hezbollah says it launched drones at Israel, retaliation yet to come

Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah said it launched a swarm of attack drones against military targets in northern Israel on Tuesday. A source within the group told Reuters it was not…

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US military prepares for all scenarios in the Middle East

US official tells international Arabic news television channel Al Arabiya English that there are at least 12 American warships in the region, including the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and…

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Russia says the Middle East is teetering on the brink of war

Russia said on Wednesday that the Middle East was teetering the brink of a major war and that key players were continuing to raise the stakes. "The region is currently…

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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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What is the two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict?

The Gaza war has put renewed focus on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, still seen by many countries as the path to peace even though the negotiating process…

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Spain requests to intervene in South Africa’s Gaza genocide case against Israel at ICJ

Spain has requested to intervene in South Africa's genocide case against Israel's actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Thursday.…

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EU agrees to revive Rafah mission, Borrell criticises Israel’s Netanyahu

The European Union agreed in principle on Monday to revive an EU civilian mission at Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip next to Egypt, but said it would…

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Humanitarian operations ‘near collapse’ in Gaza, says World Food Programme

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is set to worsen once again as deliveries of aid and fuel to the Palestinian territory slow to a trickle in the wake of Israel’s…

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UPDATED: Ireland, Spain, Norway announce recognition of Palestinian state

Ireland, Spain and Norway announced on Wednesday that they would recognise a Palestinian state on May 28, saying they hoped other Western countries would follow suit, prompting Israel to recall…

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Greece to deport nine European nationals over pro-Palestinian protest

Nine protesters from Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Spain, arrested during a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the University of Athens School of Law last week are set to be deported from…

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Biden: What’s happening in Gaza is not genocide

U.S. President Joe Biden strongly defended Israel , saying Israeli forces are not committing genocide in their military campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza in a rejection of criticism from…

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Israel orders evacuation of neighbourhoods in Rafah

The Israeli military has told residents of neighbourhoods in central Rafah to evacuate, signalling a major expansion of its military operations in the city and threatening the displacement of hundreds…

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Israel’s use of American weapons in Gaza likely breached international law – USA

The United States said in a report that it was “reasonable to assess” that Israel has used weapons in ways inconsistent with international humanitarian law during the seven-month war. But…

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Israel rejects ceasefire deal, talks continue

Israel has rejected a ceasefire deal with Hamas with one official criticising it as 'watered-down'. According to a copy of the proposal that Hamas says it has agreed to, there will be…

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Northern Gaza in full-blown famine – WFP

A further 54 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces between Wednesday and Friday afternoon in the Gaza Strip and more than 100 were injured, according to the latest UN flash assessment, which…

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Israel steps up strikes across Gaza

Israeli strikes intensified across Gaza on Tuesday in some of the heaviest shelling in weeks, residents said, and the army ordered fresh evacuations in the north of the enclave, warning…

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Israel yet to show evidence UNRWA staff are members of terrorist groups

Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of its claims that employees of the UN relief agency Unrwa are members of terrorist organisations, an independent review led by the…

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Updated: Israel carries attack inside Iran – US Officials

Al Jazeera, CNN, APIsrael has carried out a strike inside Iran, a US official tells CNN, in a move that threatens to push the region deeper into conflict. Israel had…

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Netanyahu insists: Israel will defend itself

Israel will make its own decisions about how to defend itself, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, as Western countries pleaded for restraint in responding to a volley of…

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Putin tells the Middle East to pull back from a catastrophic clash

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged all sides in the Middle East to refrain from action that would trigger a new confrontation which he warned would be fraught with catastrophic consequences…

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Iran warns of bigger attack if Israel retaliates, Israel’s war cabinet convened

CNN reports that Israel's war cabinet will meet today at 2:00 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET) to discuss its response to Iran's unprecedented attack on Saturday night, an Israeli official has…

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France urges no travel to Iran, Lebanon, Israel and Palestinian territories

France on Friday warned its citizens to “imperatively refrain from travel in the coming days to Iran, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories”, the foreign minister’s entourage told Agence France-Presse…

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Russia advises against travel to Middle East

Russia on Thursday advised against travel to the Middle East and German airline Lufthansa extended a suspension of its flights to Tehran, as the region was kept on edge by…

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