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Qaida's Yemen branch leader dead in unclear circumstances

The leader of Yemen's branch of al-Qaida is dead, the militant group announced late Sunday, without giving details.

Khalid al-Batarfi had a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S. government over leading the group, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, through years that saw him imprisoned, freed in a jailbreak, and governing forces in Yemen amid that country's grinding war.

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Suspected attack by Yemen's rebels sees explosion near ship in Red Sea

An explosion that took place near a ship in the Red Sea on Monday is suspected to have been an attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels, though the blast caused no damage, authorities said.

The master of the vessel reported the explosion and said no one was hurt, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.

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Palestinians in Gaza begin Ramadan amid hunger and war

Palestinians began fasting for Ramadan on Monday as the Muslim holy month arrived with cease-fire talks at a standstill, hunger worsening across the Gaza Strip and no end in sight to the five-month-old war between Israel and Hamas.

Prayers were held outside amid the rubble of demolished buildings late Sunday. Some people hung fairy lights and decorations in packed tent camps, and a video from a U.N.-school-turned-shelter showed children dancing and spraying foam as a man sang into a loudspeaker.

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Muslims in Lebanon welcome Ramadan with mix of joy and deep concern

Muslims around the world are welcoming the arrival of Ramadan, a month of dawn-to-dusk fasting, intense prayer, charity and feasts that begins for many Sunday night.

In Lebanon, Sunnis began fasting Monday after officials in Saudi Arabia saw the crescent moon on Sunday night, while some Lebanese Shiites began fasting Monday and others Tuesday.

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Spain PM to propose that parliament recognize Palestinian state

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that he will propose that Spain's parliament recognize a Palestinian state.

"I will propose granting Spain's recognition to the Palestinian state," Sánchez said. "I do this out of moral conviction, for a just cause and because it is the only way that the two states, Israel and Palestine, can live together in peace."

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Biden: Netanyahu 'hurting Israel' by not preventing more civilian deaths in Gaza

U.S. President Joe Biden has said that he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "hurting Israel more than helping Israel" in how he is approaching its war against Hamas in Gaza.

The U.S. leader expressed support for Israel's right to pursue Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack, but said of Netanyahu that "he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken." Biden has for months warned that Israel risks losing international support over mounting civilian casualties in Gaza, and the latest remarks in an interview with MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart pointed to the increasingly strained relationship between the two leaders.

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US ship with equipment for building pier en route to Gaza as part of plan to boost aid

A U.S. Army vessel carrying equipment for building a temporary pier in Gaza was on its way to the Mediterranean on Sunday, three days after U.S. President Joe Biden announced plans to ramp up aid deliveries by sea to the besieged enclave where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been going hungry.

The opening of the sea corridor, along with airdrops by the U.S., Jordan and others, showed increasing alarm over Gaza's humanitarian crisis and a new willingness to bypass Israeli control over land shipments.

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Plans to get aid into Gaza by sea gain pace as airdrop mishap kills five

An international effort is gathering pace to get desperately needed humanitarian relief into Gaza by sea in a bid to counter overland access restrictions blamed on Israel as it battles Hamas militants.

The dire conditions more than five months into the war have led some countries to airdrop food and other assistance over the besieged Gaza Strip, but a parachute malfunction turned the latest operation lethal on Friday.

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US-led coalition shoots down 15 Yemen rebel drones

U.S. and allied forces shot down 15 one-way attack drones fired by Iran-backed Yemeni rebels into the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden on Saturday, the U.S. military said.

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Erdogan says Turkey firmly backs Hamas leaders

Turkish President Recep Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday Ankara "firmly backs" Palestinian militant group Hamas.

"No-one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization," he said in a speech in Istanbul. "Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them."

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