Category: 2. Middle East

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, becoming the first foreign leader to personally plead for a reprieve from stinging US tariffs that have shaken the world.

Netanyahu and Trump are also set to discuss Gaza, where a short-lived US-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas has collapsed, and growing tensions with Iran.

Trump greeted Netanyahu outside the West Wing and pumped his fist, before the two leaders — both wearing dark suits, red ties…

Talks on Monday between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump are expected to be dominated by Washington’s shock tariffs on Israel and escalating tensions with Iran.

Netanyahu becomes the first foreign leader to meet with Trump in the US capital since the president unveiled sweeping levies on multiple countries in his “Liberation Day” announcement on Wednesday.

Arriving in Washington direct from a visit to Hungary, Netanyahu’s chief objective will be to…

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 44 people Sunday, as the Israeli military reported a rare salvo of around 10 projectiles fired from the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed almost daily since Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire with Hamas that had brought relative calm to the region.

“The death toll as a result of Israeli air strikes since dawn today is at least 44,…

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Morocco’s capital on Sunday against the conflict in the Gaza Strip where Israel has resumed its anti-Hamas offensive after a two-month ceasefire.

The largest pro-Palestinian protest in the capital Rabat for several months was called by the Islamist-dominated coalition the Justice and Development party.

Protesters were accompanied by chanting and the beating of drums as they marched down the city’s Mohammed V Avenue near parliament.

They waved flags…

A strike Sunday that Israel said targeted Hezbollah killed two people in south Lebanon, according to authorities, as a US envoy was visiting for talks on the militant group and economic reforms.

The strike came more than four months into a fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah, and a day after US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus discussed disarming the Iran-backed group in meetings with senior figures, according to a Lebanese official.

On Sunday in the south, near…

Batons in hand, Tunisian police marched in single file down a dirt path flanked by olive trees. Ahead of them, migrants fled as their tents burned.

Some migrants stood by helplessly, watching the smoke swirl into the sky just a few hundred metres (yards) away after the authorities torched what had been their temporary homes.

“I don’t know what to do,” said Bakayo Abdelkadeur, a 26-year-old from Mali, clutching two worn blankets.

For nearly two years, olive groves around El Amra, a town south of…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet Monday at the White House with President Donald Trump to discuss the American decision to impose 17% tariffs on Israeli imported goods.

Netanyahu will be the first foreign leader to meet twice with President Donald Trump at the White House since Trump’s inauguration in January.

A statement issued by the Israeli PM office Saturday night said “tariffs, efforts to release our hostages held in Gaza, Israel-Turkey relations, the Iranian…

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday rejected direct negotiations with the United States as “meaningless”, after US President Donald Trump said he would prefer direct talks with the Islamic republic.

Trump had called last month on Tehran to hold negotiations on its nuclear programme with Washington, but threatened to bomb Iran if diplomacy fails.

On Thursday, the US president said he would prefer to hold “direct talks” with Iran.

“I think it goes faster and you understand the other…

Iran’s top diplomat has dismissed direct negotiations with the United States as pointless, his office said Sunday, after US President Donald Trump said he preferred face-to-face talks over its nuclear programme.

Trump sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last month calling for negotiations but warning of military action if diplomacy failed.

On Thursday, the US president said he favoured “direct talks”, arguing they were “faster” and offered a better understanding than…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to travel to Washington to meet with US President Donald Trump, discussing issues including tariffs and the “Iranian threat,” his office said Saturday.

The meeting will take place on Monday, a White House official said on condition of anonymity.

The two countries are dealing with a set of extremely thorny issues, including Trump’s shock imposition of 17 percent tariffs on Israeli imports, an elusive search for a ceasefire in Gaza, and mounting…