Category: 2. Middle East

Meeting in Istanbul, Groups of Parliaments in Support of Palestine on Saturday urged Israel’s Knesset to withdraw all laws and legislative initiatives that are incompatible with its obligations under international law and to ensure an immediate and lasting ceasefire for the implementation of all phases of the ceasefire agreement declared in Gaza on Jan. 15, Anadolu reports.

A declaration released following the meeting of 14 parliament speakers, including from…

Thousands of Israelis demonstrated Saturday in central Tel Aviv to demand the return of hostages in the Gaza Strip, even at the cost of ending the war in the enclave, Anadolu reports.

The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said thousands gathered in Hostages Square, including hundreds of family members of the captives.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, reaffirmed Saturday that he would not end the 19-month war until “Hamas’s civil and military…

The Houthi group announced Saturday that it shot down a second US MQ-9 drone within 24 hours in the skies above the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, Anadolu reports.

Yahya Sare’e, the group’s spokesperson, said that “air defenses shot down an American MQ-9 drone with a locally made surface-to-air missile while it was conducting hostile activities over Sanaa.”

Sare’e said it was the second drone that the group’s air defenses succeeded in downing within 24…

The US and Iran “made very good progress” in direct and indirect discussions, a US official said Saturday, Anadolu reports.

“We agreed to meet again next week and are grateful to our Omani partners for facilitating these talks and to our Italian partners for hosting us today,” the official said in a statement.

The official said the second round of talks in Rome lasted more than four hours.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described the talks as…

The Israeli army acknowledged late Saturday that an officer was killed and three soldiers, including a female officer, were seriously wounded during a battle in the northern Gaza Strip, Anadolu reports.

The announcement came as the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced that its fighters conducted a “complex ambush” of Israeli soldiers and destroyed a tank and bulldozer in Gaza City.

“Warrant Officer G’haleb Sliman Alnasasra, 35 years…

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and the head of Hamas’ Shura Council on Saturday discussed efforts to establish a ceasefire in Gaza, Anadolu Agency reports.

According to Turkish diplomatic sources, Fidan and Muhammad Darwish along with his delegation met in the Turkish capital Ankara.

During the meeting, it was underlined that Israel, by blocking the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, is trying to starve the Palestinian population, stressing the need for…

At first glance, there is nothing unusual about the bulky bulldozer turning up soil at a testing site in central Israel, but as it pulled closer it became clear: the driver’s cabin is eerily empty.

This is the Robdozer, a fortified engineering vehicle manned remotely, and in this case operated from a military expo halfway across the globe in Alabama.

Army engineers and military experts say that the Robdozer — the robotic version of Caterpillar’s D9 bulldozer — is the future of automated…

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian resistance group Hamas, released a brief video on Saturday featuring an audio message from an Israeli captive, titled “Soon … Time is Running Out”, Anadolu Agency reports.

The 21-second clip contains a voice message from an unnamed captive, directed to his mother.

No image, name, or identifying details of the captive were shown in the video. It ends with the image of an hourglass and the phrase “Time…

Israeli authorities have denied Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa permission to visit Palestinian towns and villages in the occupied West Bank that have been repeatedly targeted by illegal settlers, a Palestinian official said Saturday, Anadolu Agency reports.

Mouayed Shaban, head of the Colonization and Wall and Resistance Commission, told Anadolu that Israel refused to coordinate Mustafa’s planned visit to the villages of Burqa and Deir Dibwan, east…

Palestine on Saturday warned of growing incitement by Israeli far-right settler groups calling for the destruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, Anadolu reports.

Palestine’s Foreign Ministry condemned an AI-generated video titled “Next Year in Jerusalem,” circulating on extremist Hebrew platforms. The video shows Al-Aqsa Mosque being bombed and replaced by a so-called Third Temple.

In a statement, the ministry called the video “a…