It's the 1,000th day of war since a Hamas-led attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. Other conflicts have emerged in the region, and fragile ceasefires show scars of persistent attacks. Both Israelis and Palestinians are weary of the strain.

The fate of over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, largely displaced and living amid ruins, remains uncertain. Israeli forces controlled over half of the territory under the ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10, but Israel's government has expanded that and says it aims to hold 70%.

A ceasefire sounds straightforward: Fighting stops. Negotiations ensue. Ordinary citizens get a break from fighting — and some time to rebuild.

That's not what's happening in the volatile Mideast, where ongoing fighting still resembles a war long after ceasefire agreements were announced and President Donald Trump declared victory.

Iranian state television on Tuesday cut short the broadcast of an interview with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's top negotiator in talks with the United States, drawing criticism from his team.

"This discussion was delivered to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) more than 2 hours before the broadcast time; but unfortunately, the broadcast of this discussion was stopped in the middle of it," said a statement by the parliament media center on Wednesday.

Israel's former army chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot on Tuesday announced the start of his electoral campaign as he bids to take over the seat of prime minister from veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

The United States on Wednesday signed an agreement to build a new embassy compound in Jerusalem, in a move that Israel said reflected the "unbreakable alliance" between the countries.

U.S. President Donald Trump hailed the progress on Wednesday of indirect talks between Iran and the United States, saying there had been "very good meetings" in Doha.

"As far as things are going, the denuclearization of Iran is moving along well. They've had very good meetings, and we'll see," Trump told reporters as he prepared to board his new Qatar-gifted Air Force One plane for a trip to North Dakota.

The first Parliament in Syria's post-Assad era took shape Wednesday with the release of a list of 70 legislators picked up by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

The inauguration of the new Parliament shows the country is moving ahead with drafting laws as the nation works on recovering from decades of iron-fist rule under the Assad family and a deadly war that has killed about half a million people.

A ship ran aground in the Strait of Hormuz after not running Iran's approved route through the water, Iranian state television reported Wednesday. The report identified the affected vessel as a foreign container ship, but offered no other immediate details.

The Iranian state TV report appeared aimed at underlining the claims Tehran has made since the U.S.-Iran war to control over the strait, which has long been considered by the world as an international waterway and saw a fifth of all oil and natural gas pass through it in peacetime.

Indirect talks in Doha between officials from the United States and Iran aimed at ending the Middle East war have started, a diplomat with knowledge of the talks told AFP on Wednesday.

The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks, confirmed negotiations were underway after they earlier said the U.S. and Iran were to hold "indirect technical talks on Wednesday in Doha with Qatari and Pakistani mediators".

Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio appear to be staking out differing approaches to carrying out President Donald Trump's national security agenda as the possible 2028 presidential rivals jostle for position in a divided Republican Party.

With vastly different backgrounds and policy experience, they have moved along separate paths to stake out territory: Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants with a long history in the Senate and major interest in Latin America, and Vance, a child of the Midwest and Marine Corps veteran who served in the Senate for only two years before being tapped as Trump's 2024 running mate, with a message of opposing foreign wars.