Category: 2. Middle East

By Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel will raise defence spending by 42 billion shekels ($12.5 billion) in 2025 and 2026, the finance and defence ministries said on Thursday, citing the country’s security challenges.

The budget agreement will allow the Defence Ministry to “advance urgent and essential procurement deals critical to national security,” the ministries said in a statement.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the new defence budget “fully covers the intense fighting in…

THE HAGUE (Reuters) -Israeli airstrikes on Damascus are hampering Syria’s efforts to find and destroy chemical weapons stockpiled during the rule of toppled ruler Bashar al-Assad, a government adviser said on Thursday.

A planned visit by inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has already had to be postponed, adviser Ibrahim Olabi said.

The OPCW will hold an urgent meeting on Tuesday next week to discuss the situation and impact of the Israeli attacks,…

The US envoy to the UN urged UN Security Council members Wednesday to support the work of the US-Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), Anadolu reports.

“Unfortunately, today we have heard many Council members and aid agencies continue to defend a failed system rather than support the GHF as it delivers life-saving assistance to those in need,” US Charge d’Affaires ad interim Dorothy Shea told a Security Council meeting on the situation in the…

ROME (Reuters) -Pope Leo said on Thursday he hopes to travel to Turkey later this year for the 1,700th anniversary of a major Christian Church summit, in what would be the first foreign trip of his papacy.

The early centuries of Christianity were marked by a lively debate about how Jesus could be both God and man, and the Church decided on the issue at the First Council of Nicaea – now known as Iznik in Turkey – in 325.

“I hope to be able to meet you again, in a few months, to take part in…

The military wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, said Wednesday that its fighters recently targeted Israeli troops and military vehicles in the eastern and southern Gaza Strip, Anadolu reports.

The group reported shelling a concentration of Israeli soldiers and military vehicles Tuesday north of Khan Younis, using mortar fire.

It said fighters, in coordination with the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, also shelled an Israeli…

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned that people in Gaza are still risking their lives to get enough food and other essential supplies, as Israeli attacks continue and hunger worsens.

In its latest update on Wednesday, OCHA said “Just this morning, there were reports of dozens of people were killed or injured at one of the Israeli-militarised hubs.”

The agency added that, over the past week, serious injuries…

An Israeli strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church killed two people on Thursday, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said, as Israel said it “never targets” religious sites and regretted any harm to civilians.

Pope Leo XIV said he was “deeply saddened” by the attack, which came as Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that Israeli strikes across the Palestinian territory killed at least 20 people.

“With deep sorrow the Latin Patriarchate can now confirm that two persons were killed as a result…

A strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church injured several people on Thursday, the territory’s civil defence agency and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said, as Italy’s prime minister slammed “unacceptable” Israeli attacks on civilians.

The raid came as Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that Israeli strikes killed 18 people across the Palestinian territory on Thursday.

“The Holy Family Church in Gaza has been struck by a raid this morning. There are several injuries in the place including…

An Israeli strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church killed three people on Thursday, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said, as Israel said it “never targets” religious sites and regretted any harm to civilians.

Pope Leo XIV said he was “deeply saddened” by the loss of life, which a witness said was the result of a tank shell hitting the church.

AFP footage showed those injured being treated at Gaza City’s Al-Ahli Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, with one receiving oxygen and…

A French appeals court Thursday ordered the release of pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, imprisoned for 40 years for the 1982 killings of two foreign diplomats.

Abdallah, 74, is one of the longest-serving prisoners in France, where most convicts on life sentences are freed after less than 30 years.

He has been up for release for 25 years, but the United States — a civil party to the case — has consistently opposed him leaving prison.

Abdallah was detained in 1984 and…