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Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that he will move forward with the construction of 3,401 new settlement units in Area E1, located between Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement.

The decision comes despite international pressure against construction in the area beyond the Green Line and after a 20-year pause.

Smotrich’s plan aims to link Ma’ale Adumim with Jerusalem, cutting off Palestinian movement between Ramallah and Bethlehem. The…

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) -Israeli forces demolished houses in eastern areas of Gaza City overnight, killing at least 11 people in aerial and tank fire, local health authorities said, as the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas told mediators it was ready to resume ceasefire talks.

Residents and medics said eight people were killed when Israeli tank shelling hit a house in Zeitoun neighbourhood, while a man was killed in an airstrike on a building in the nearby Shejaia suburb. Two other…

People are buying water by the truckload in Beirut as the state supply faces its worst shortages in years, with the leaky public sector struggling after record-low rainfall and local wells running dry.

“State water used to come every other day, now it’s every three days,” said Rima al-Sabaa, 50, rinsing dishes carefully in Burj al-Baranjeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Even when the state water is flowing, she noted, very little trickles into her family’s holding tank.

Once that runs out,…

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel can bomb Gaza like the Allies bombed Dresden during World War II. 

His remarks were made during an interview with right-wing US network Newsmax on Wednesday.

When asked why the Israeli military does not “wipe Hamas and the Gaza Strip” off the map, he replied, “We can bomb them like the Allies [in World War II] bombed Dresden, we could starve them if we followed the vilifications, these false…

The organizers of protests supporting Palestine Action, a group banned under the UK’s anti-terrorism laws, said Wednesday that they aim to double the turnout from their last rally in a push to overturn the decision, Anadolu reports.

Last Saturday’s protest in London’s Parliament Square drew more people than expected, with the organizers initially anticipating 500.

The next demonstration, set for Sept. 6, will go ahead only if 1,000 people commit to…

A UN commission investigating sectarian bloodshed in Syria’s Alawite heartland documented systematic violence at the hands of government forces and allied groups, warning Thursday that some of the acts could constitute war crimes.

The violence in March unfolded along Syria’s predominantly Alawite Mediterranean coast, where security personnel and their allies were accused of carrying out summary executions, mostly targeting civilians from the religious minority, with a war monitor saying more…

GENEVA (Reuters) -War crimes were likely committed by members of interim government forces as well as by fighters loyal to Syria’s former rulers during an outbreak of sectarian violence in Syria’s coastal areas that culminated in a series of March massacres, a U.N. team of investigators found in a report on Thursday.

Some 1,400 people, mainly civilians, were reported killed during the violence that primarily targeted Alawi communities, and reports of violations continue, according to a report…

GAZA CITY (Reuters) -A boy’s lilting song filled the tent in Gaza City, above an instrumental melody and backing singers’ quiet harmonies, soft music that floated into streets these days more attuned to the deadly beat of bombs and bullets.

The young students were taking part in a lesson given on August 4 by teachers from the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, who have continued classes from displacement camps and shattered buildings even after Israel’s bombardments forced them to…