Category: 2. Middle East

Gaza’s population has dropped by 10% as Israel continued its destructive war on the Palestinian enclave, official figures showed on Thursday, Anadolu reports.

“Palestine, specifically the Gaza Strip, is suffering an unprecedented humanitarian and demographic catastrophe due to the ongoing Israeli aggression since October 2023,” the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

The bureau said that more than 57,000 Palestinians, including…

Syrian couturier Rami Al Ali made history Thursday as the first fashion designer from his country to feature in the official Paris Haute Couture Week calendar in a new landmark for Arab representation in the luxury business.

After years of showing his tailored evening dresses on the sidelines of Couture Week, he was invited this year by France’s Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode to join the programme.

He sent out models in long pleated dresses in pastel colours, making elaborate…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met twice with US President Donald Trump during his three-day visit to Washington, but despite heightened expectations prior, no announcement was made of a Gaza ceasefire deal, nor were there any concrete decisions regarding the Iranian nuclear file or Israeli talks with Syria. 

Still, according to Ynet on Thursday, Israel agreed for Qatar and other donor countries to start transferring funds for the reconstruction of Gaza once the 60-day ceasefire…

The United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan have signed a trade deal, as Azerbaijan’s leader met with his Armenian counterpart in Abu Dhabi on Thursday for peace talks aimed at ending the decades-long conflict between their two countries.

The so-called Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed in the Emirati capital by UAE Minister of Foreign Trade Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi and Azerbaijani Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov.

The trade deal is expected to contribute around…

The 12-day war between Israel and Iran ended with a fragile ceasefire. A review of the war’s economic toll suggests that a prolonged conflict would have been economically unsustainable for both sides. For Iran, this was anticipated given the country’s decades-long exposure to sanctions, but for Israel, the war marked a test of its economic strength and resilience and exposed deeper vulnerabilities. As recently as last year, the Israeli Finance Minister had Continue Reading

News Source: www.middleeastmonitor.com

The United States has announced it will impose sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, based in Geneva.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday X that Albanese had taken “illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt International Criminal Court (ICC) action against US and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.” 

In a follow-up statement, Rubio condemned…

A new Israeli report alleging that Hamas used sexual violence as a “weapon of war” during the 7 October attacks is facing renewed scrutiny after a senior United Nations official said there is no independent evidence for the Israeli claim.

“It is my understanding that neither the [UN] Commission nor any other independent human rights mechanism established that sexual or gender-based violence was committed against Israelis on or since the 7 October as a…

A UK parliamentary committee on Thursday blamed Iran for at least 15 attempts to kill or kidnap British-based individuals since 2022, saying the threat from Iran had “significantly increased”.

London’s response has been too focused on “crisis management”, said parliament’s intelligence and security committee, with concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme dominating their attention too much.

Tehran swiftly issued a “categorical rejection of the unfounded, politically motivated and hostile…

BEIRUT — Clashes erupted in Lebanon on Thursday between members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and residents of a southern town, marking the latest in a series of similar confrontations that have escalated in recent months. 

What happened: According to the state-run National News Agency, a UN peacekeeping patrol was passing through the town of Aaitit when a group of residents intercepted it, demanding that the peacekeepers leave and return only with a Lebanese Army…

A US consulting firm accused of helping model plans for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza is now under formal scrutiny by a UK parliamentary committee.

Boston Consulting Group (BCG), one of the world’s most powerful management consultancies, has been asked to explain its role in a controversial postwar redevelopment scheme for Gaza that included cost estimates for the mass relocation of Palestinians. 

Liam Byrne MP, chair of the Business and Trade…