Middle East
Latest stories
Biden administration sends $1 bn more in arms to Israel

The Biden administration has told key lawmakers it would send more than $1 billion in additional arms and ammunition to Israel, three congressional aides said. But it was not immediately known how soon the weapons would be delivered.

It's the first arms shipment to Israel to be revealed since the administration put another arms transfer, consisting of 3,500 bombs of up to 2,000 pounds each, on hold this month. The Biden administration, citing concern for civilian casualties in Gaza, has said it paused that bomb transfer to keep Israel from using those particular munitions in its offensive in the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah.

W140 Full Story
Palestinians say man killed by Israel troops after march marking 1948 'Nakba'

Palestinian officials said Israeli troops killed a man on Wednesday as clashes broke out after a West Bank march commemorating the mass displacement of Palestinians in the "Nakba" of 1948.

"A young man was killed by occupation bullets at the northern entrance of the city of Al-Bireh," the Palestinian health ministry said. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported the man killed was a 20-year-old student at Birzeit University.

W140 Full Story
ICC prosecutor faces demand for action against Israeli leaders, Putin

The International Criminal Court's prosecutor is facing demands for speedy action against Israeli leaders and a blistering Russian attack over the ICC's arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin stemming from Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Karim Khan responded by telling the U.N. Security Council Tuesday that he will not be swayed or intimidated as his team investigates possible war crimes or crimes against humanity in Gaza and the Palestinian territories as well as in Ukraine.

W140 Full Story
Israelis mark subdued Independence Day under shadow of Gaza war

The grills were fired up, the blankets were spread across the grass, the smoke was pungent from sizzling slabs of meat. As in previous years, Israelis marked Independence Day with barbecues in parks across the country. Usually, parties crush so close that not even a tuft of grass is visible between the picnic blankets as Hebrew techno music reverberates through the trees from dueling speakers.

But this year, the day parties Tuesday were smaller and quieter, with far fewer celebrants, in the shadow of the war in Gaza and immediately after the country marked an emotional Memorial Day. Families grappled with their desire to mark Independence Day even as the country is facing a drawn-out war and one of its most difficult tests in decades.

W140 Full Story
Palestinians across Middle East mark 'Nakba' with eyes on war in Gaza

Palestinians across the Middle East on Wednesday are marking the anniversary of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel with protests and other events across the region at a time of mounting concern over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

The Nakba, Arabic for "catastrophe," refers to the 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what today is Israel before and during the war surrounding its creation in 1948.

W140 Full Story
EU urges Israel to end Rafah military operation 'immediately'

The European Union on Wednesday urged Israel to end its military operation in Gaza's Rafah "immediately", warning that a failure to do so would undermine ties with the bloc.

"Should Israel continue its military operation in Rafah, it would inevitably put a heavy strain on the EU's relationship with Israel," said the statement issued in the EU's name by its foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

W140 Full Story
Gaza war: Latest developments

More than half a million Palestinians have been displaced in recent days by escalating Israeli military operations in Rafah and northern Gaza, the United Nations says.

Israelis celebrated their Independence Day on Tuesday with barbecues in parks across the country, although the normally raucous parties were smaller and quieter this year because of the war in Gaza.

W140 Full Story
Israel's Rafah attack set Hamas talks 'backward', Qatar says

Israel's military operation in Rafah has "set us backward" in negotiations with Hamas, mediator Qatar said on Tuesday, adding that talks are at "almost a stalemate".

"Unfortunately things didn't move in the right direction and right now we are on a status of almost a stalemate. Of course, what happened with Rafah has set us backward," Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told the Qatar Economic Forum.

W140 Full Story
Right groups say Israel carried out at least 8 strikes on aid workers

Human Rights Watch says Israeli forces have carried out at least eight strikes on aid workers and their convoys, killing at least 15 people, including two children, since the start of the war in Gaza.

The New York-based rights group said in a report Tuesday that in each case the aid groups had provided their coordinates to Israeli authorities to ensure their safety. It says no advance warning was given before the strikes, which also wounded at least 16 people.

W140 Full Story
Nearly half a million people flee fighting in Rafah and northern Gaza

Nearly half a million Palestinians have been displaced in recent days by escalating Israeli military operations in southern and northern Gaza, the United Nations says.

Palestinian officials say Israeli strikes in central Gaza killed at least 12 people overnight and into Tuesday.

W140 Full Story