Category: 2. Middle East

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Monday called on the EU to exert “real pressure” on Israel to stop what it described as the “carnage” in Gaza, Anadolu reports.

“Our message to the leaders is simple. We urge you to use all political, economic and diplomatic tools to exert real pressure on Israel to stop the carnage in Gaza and to allow unhindered humanitarian aid,” MSF Secretary General Christopher Lockyear said in a news conference, reading an open…

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli troops killed 20 people waiting to collect food on Monday, in the latest deadly incident near a US-backed aid centre in the Palestinian territory’s south.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that “the (Israeli) occupation forces opened fire” near the Al-Alam roundabout in the southern city of Rafah, where many were waiting to reach an aid distribution site.

Bassal said that “20 martyrs and more than 200 wounded by occupation gunfire” were…

The UN refugee agency said Monday it will cut 3,500 staff jobs — slashing nearly a third of its workforce costs — due to a funding shortfall, and reduce the scale of its help worldwide.

UNHCR carried out a review of its activities, expenditure, staffing and structures following a plunge in humanitarian funding.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been among a host of UN and private aid agencies badly hit by funding cuts by the United States.

The United States…

At least 27 more Palestinians were killed, many of them people seeking to get humanitarian aid, in fresh Israeli attacks in the war-torn Gaza Strip on Monday, the Health Ministry said.

A ministry statement said 20 people lost their lives and over 200 others were injured when Israeli forces opened fire on hundreds of people waiting near aid distribution points in central and southern Gaza.

The ministry said that 50 of the injured are in critical condition.

Two…

The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz was leaving Southeast Asia on Monday after canceling a Vietnam visit, as the Pentagon announced it was sending “additional capabilities” to the Middle East amid a ramp up of the Iran-Israel conflict.

At 13:45 GMT, the carrier was traveling through the Malacca Strait toward the Indian Ocean, according to Marine Traffic, a ship-tracking site.

A Vietnamese government official confirmed to AFP that a planned reception aboard the USS Nimitz on June 20, as part of the…

The White House insisted Monday evening that US forces remained in a “defensive” posture in the Middle East, despite a military buildup over the Israel-Iran war and a shock warning from President Donald Trump to evacuate Tehran.

Trump’s brief warning on social media, without further details, raised speculation that the United States may be readying to join Israel in attacking Iran.

Those suspicions rose further after it was announced that Trump would be leaving a G7 summit in Canada and…

The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz was leaving Southeast Asia on Monday after cancelling plans to dock in Vietnam, amid reports it is headed to the Middle East to boost the US presence as Israel and Iran do battle.

At 13:45 GMT, the carrier was traveling through the Malacca Strait toward the Indian Ocean, according to Marine Traffic, a ship-tracking site.

A Vietnamese government official confirmed to AFP that a planned reception aboard the USS Nimitz on June 20, as part of the ship’s expected…