Category: 2. Middle East

Syria on Saturday announced the closure of a camp for people displaced by the country’s 13-year civil war, calling it the end of a grave tragedy, Anadolu reports.

“The closure of the Rukban camp marks the end of one of the harshest humanitarian tragedies experienced by our displaced people,” Raed al-Saleh, the country’s emergency and disaster management minister, said in a statement. “We hope this step will mark the beginning of a process that ends the suffering in other camps…

At least 54,772 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war since October 2023, the Health Ministry said on Saturday, Anadolu reports.

A ministry statement said that 95 bodies were brought to hospitals in the last 48 hours, while 304 people were injured, taking the total number of injuries in the Israeli onslaught to 125,834.

“Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.

The…

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), on Saturday condemned Israel’s ongoing ban on international journalists entering Gaza, calling it an unprecedented act in modern conflict, Anadolu reports.

“This is unprecedented in any other conflict in modern history,” Lazzarini said in a statement.

“It is a ban on the truth. It is a ban on reporting the facts. It is the perfect recipe to fuel…

Israeli authorities claimed Saturday that the body of Thai citizen Natfong Pinta was recovered from the Gaza Strip, Anadolu reports.

In a statement, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said the operation took place in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday, claiming that the hostage was killed in captivity.

Israeli estimates suggest that 59 captives remain in Gaza, with 24 believed to be alive.

In contrast, around 10,000 Palestinians remain imprisoned in…

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Saturday that Israeli forces had killed at least 36 Palestinians, six of them in a shooting near a US-backed aid distribution centre.

The Israeli military told AFP that troops had fired “warning shots” at individuals it said were “advancing in a way that endangered the troops”.

The shooting deaths were the latest reported near the aid centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) in the southern district of Rafah, and came after it resumed distributions…

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 36 Palestinians on Saturday, six of them in a shooting near a US-backed aid distribution centre.

The Israeli military told AFP that troops had fired “warning shots” at individuals that it said were “advancing in a way that endangered the troops”.

The shooting deaths were the latest reported near the aid centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) in the southern district of Rafah and came after it resumed distributions…

The UK, and 29 other countries condemned attacks against civilians and humanitarian workers in Sudan, according to a joint donor statement on Friday, Anadolu reports.

The donor countries said they “condemn in the strongest terms” the attack on a humanitarian convoy of 15 trucks from the World Food Program (WFP) and the UNICEF in Al Koma, North Darfur, on the night of June 2.

Recalling that the attacks resulted in the death of five members of the convoy and…

Moroccan King Mohammed VI issued on Friday a royal pardon for 1,526 individuals on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice, Anadolu reports.

According to a statement by the Justice Ministry, the pardon was granted on the eve of Eid al-Adha, which falls on Saturday in the North African country.

Among those granted clemency are 1,305 prisoners, 206 who are not in custody but had been sentenced and 15 convicted in cases related to terrorism…

The military wing of Hamas warned on Friday that Israeli army’s recent losses in Khan Younis and Jabalia are merely a preview of what awaits its forces throughout the Gaza Strip, Anadolu reports.

“The losses suffered by the occupation army today in Khan Younis (south) and Jabalia (north) are just a continuation of a series of high-level operations,” Abu Obaida, the spokesman of Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement, emphasizing that “this is a model of…

Beginning early Saturday, Israeli air strikes and gunfire killed at least 65 Palestinians and injured around 100 more in the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian sources, Anadolu reports.

Medical sources told Anadolu that on day two of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, at least 15 Palestinians, including six children, were killed and over 50 others injured when Israeli warplanes struck a residential home with two missiles in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City.

Rescue teams on the ground…