Category: 2. Middle East

AL-Monitor is an award-winning media outlet covering the Middle East, valued for its independence, diversity and analysis. It is read widely by US, international and Middle East decision makers at the highest levels, as well as by media, thought and business leaders and academia.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese, has described the Israeli government as “the most criminal of all governments”, adding that “Israel is using starvation as a weapon”, Quds Press reported.

Albanese accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, and said that the siege it continues to impose goes against international humanitarian law.

She…

The Israeli occupation army has killed 16,278 Palestinian children in the genocide it has been committing in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, at a rate of one child killed every 40 minutes, the Ministry of Health reported yesterday.

The ministry said that “among these martyrs are 908 infants who did not complete their first year, and 311 children who were born and martyred during the genocidal war.”

It warned of the escalating health and humanitarian…

Leader of Israel’s National Unity Party, Benny Gantz, yesterday accused the Israeli government of being busy dividing the people rather than winning the war on Gaza, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported.

“Time has come to tell the truth — while we are achieving military victories, and the IDF is crushing the Iranian axis and has dismantled Hamas as a military force, fighting terrorism is not like a football match that ends with a final whistle,” Gantz…

Dozens of Israeli reserve soldiers and officers are reportedly unwilling to report for military service as the army is calling up tens of thousands of reservists for an expanded offensive against the besieged Gaza Strip.

This came after the Israeli security cabinet approved expanding the war on Gaza yesterday evening, under the pretext of “forcing Hamas to agree to a prisoner exchange agreement without a ceasefire”.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the…

At Basel al-Sati’s souvenir shop in a central Damascus market, socks bearing caricatures that ridicule ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and his once feared family now sell like hot cakes.

“I want to bring joy to people who’ve been deprived of happiness for so many days and years,” said Sati, 31, displaying pairs of white ankle-length socks.

“Everyone who comes from abroad wants to buy the socks — some to keep as a souvenir, others to wear mockingly and take pictures,” he told AFP.

“There…

A former Israeli captive has admitted that she felt more safe and protected in Gaza than in Israel, the Hebrew Maariv newspaper reported yesterday.

Mia Schem, 23, was released as part of a prisoner swap deal in November 2023.

Earlier this month, Schem identified herself as the plaintiff in a previously reported rape case against a famouse personal trainer in Tel Aviv, who is a prominent figure on social media and has several celebrity clients, including a…

A “major disagreement” broke out on Sunday evening between Israel’s army Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, and far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, regarding the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, Channel 12 reported yesterday.

“A heated discussion took place in the security cabinet meeting last night between Zamir and Ben-Gvir, after the latter declared that there was no need to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip,” the…

The Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out a drone attack targeting the seaport and airport in the city of Port Sudan, eastern Sudan, today.

According to an Anadolu correspondent, fires broke out at Port Sudan city’s airport and seaport, following the sound of loud explosions that resulted from an apparent drone attack.

The Sudanese government has yet to comment on the attack.

Following the drone attack, several flights were delayed or…

The Grand Mufti of the Sultanate of Oman, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Hamad Al-Khalili, congratulated the Houthi group in Yemen after it attacked Ben Gurion Airport in the occupation state of Israel with a ballistic missile.

In a post on his official account on X on Sunday, Al-Khalili said: “We salute the heroic Yemeni commandos who were sincere in upholding the truth and confronting injustice and oppression, and God fulfilled His promise.”

“We congratulate them on…