Category: 2. Middle East

By Maayan Lubell and Nidal al-Mughrabi

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) -U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff was expected to arrive in Israel on Thursday in a bid to salvage Gaza ceasefire talks and tackle a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave, where a global hunger monitor has warned that famine was unfolding.

Indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Doha ended in deadlock last week with the sides blaming trade for the impasse and gaps remaining over…

“Lawyers for Justice” organisation in Palestine has announced a significant escalation in political arrests by the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the occupied West Bank.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the group revealed that it is currently monitoring the cases of at least 17 individuals detained by the PA.

The organisation highlighted that the majority of these arrests are based on charges related to freedom of opinion and expression, primarily…

Israeli media outlets have unanimously warned on Tuesday of a global political tsunami is currently hitting Israel over its ongoing genocide of the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

“In light of the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and international accusations against Israel regarding its conduct in the Strip, calls are growing from European leaders to recognise the State of Palestine” said Israeli Walla site in an article.

Reports of severe…

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Charlotte Greenfield

GAZA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -In a makeshift tent on a Gazan beach, three-month-old Muntaha’s grandmother grinds up chickpeas into the tiniest granules she can to form a paste to feed the infant, knowing it will cause her to cry in pain, in a desperate race to keep the baby from starving.

“If the baby could speak, she would scream at us, asking what we are putting into her stomach,” her aunt, Abir Hamouda said.

Muntaha grimaced and squirmed as…

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said that intensified fighting since the start of 2025 in the three states of Sudan’s Kordofan region has caused the deaths of hundreds of people, mass displacement, and the collapse of essential services.

In a statement, the ICRC said: “Attacks on civilians and essential infrastructure in Sudan’s Kordofan states — including hospitals, markets and residential areas — have caused a high number of…

Hamas has informed mediators that it will not enter negotiations with Israel until the humanitarian situation in Gaza improves, according to two sources who spoke to the Jerusalem Post.

Meanwhile, Israel has officially responded to a position paper that Hamas sent several days ago. In their reply, Israeli officials rejected Hamas’s demand for the release of live Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the bodies of Israeli captives.

An Israeli source told the…

The Belgian Public Prosecutor has decided to refer the cases of two Israeli soldiers to the International Criminal Court (ICC), following complaints accusing them of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement on Wednesday, the prosecutor said the Hind Rajab Foundation, based in Brussels, had submitted two complaints against the soldiers, who had travelled to the Belgian town of Boom to attend the “Tomorrowland” music festival on 18 and 19…

BEIRUT (Reuters) -Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun called on Hezbollah and other political parties on Thursday to hand over their weapons to the army, a move the powerful militant group is resisting as Washington ramps up pressures for it to remove its arsenal.

“It is the duty of all political parties… to seize this historic opportunity without hesitation and push for the exclusivity of weapons in the hands of the army and security forces and no one else,” Aoun said in a televised speech in…

More than 700 doctors, nurses and healthcare workers in the Tuscan region of central Italy have launched a symbolic hunger strike in protest of what they describe as genocide and the deliberate starvation of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

According to the Italian newspaper Corriere Fiorentino, participants began their rolling fasts on Tuesday, taking turns to skip lunch during work breaks at over 40 hospitals and medical centres across Tuscany. The move aims to…

(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump intensified his trade war with Canada a day ahead of his August 1 deadline for a tariff agreement, saying it would be “very hard” to make a deal with Canada after it gave its support to Palestinian statehood.

Trump is set to impose a 35% tariff on all Canadian goods not covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement if the two countries do not reach an agreement by the deadline.

“Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for…