This article contains descriptions of sexual abuse and violence which some readers may find distressing. Two Palestinian men have told the BBC they personally experienced the kind of beatings and sexual abuse highlighted in recent reports into the treatment of prisoners in Israeli detention. The Un»»»

Israel’s disclosure of a naval commando operation in the northern Lebanese town of Batroun has thrust back into focus a case that straddles security, political, and legal fault lines. The announcement, accompanied by Israeli claims surrounding Imad Amhaz, comes at a delicate moment, coinciding with»»»

Mediators are convening for fresh talks in Miami, Florida, as efforts to advance the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement remain stalled, months after the truce came into effect on Oct. 10. The meeting, which mediators say will focus on outlining a framework for the next phase, comes amid a»»»

The ousted chair of Ben & Jerry's has accused the company which owns the brand of threatening to launch a public smear campaign against her. Anuradha Mittal, who chaired Ben & Jerry's independent board for seven years, told the BBC that Magnum had threatened to publish "defamatory statements" about»»»

GAZA, Dec 19 (KUNA) -- Palestinian Health officials in Gaza Strip reported on Friday that several Palestinians were killed and others wounded when Israeli occupation forces targeted a school sheltering displaced people east of Gaza City.Palestinian eyewitnesses inside the school, who survived the a»»»

Palestinians crowd to receive hot meals in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, Gaza, in June. A hunger watch group said Friday that Gaza is no longer in famine, but there is still critical food insecurity. File Photo by Anas Deeb/UPI | License Photo Dec. 19 (UPI) -- An international hunger watchdog g»»»

There is no longer famine in Gaza thanks to improved aid access, but the war-ravaged territory still faces emergency conditions, a UN-backed global hunger monitor said on Friday, with around 1.6 million people forecast to face "crisis" levels of food insecurity over the coming months. A famine decl»»»

Mostafa Madbouly vows to avert Israeli escalation. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (R) shakes hands with Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, on Friday. Photo by Lebanese Presidency Press Occie/EPA BEIRUT, Lebanon, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- E»»»

Earlier this month a group of Palestinian boys turned out to train at their local football pitch in the shadow of the wall separating Israel from the West Bank's Aida refugee camp -- and found a note at the gate. The children took the ominous message from Israeli authorities to Muhannad Abu Srour, »»»

More than a month after Iraq's parliamentary elections, the country's top leaders remain locked in talks to form a government while facing pressure from Washington to exclude Tehran-backed armed groups. Amid seismic changes in the Middle East, where new alliances are forming and old powers waning, »»»

More than 1,000 patients have died while waiting for urgent medical evacuation from war-ravaged Gaza in the last year and a half, the World Health Organization said Friday. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that the UN agency and its partners had "evacuated over 10,600 patients from Ga»»»

Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, arrived in Gaza Friday for Christmas Mass at the Holy Family Parish in Gaza City, which hosts the Palestinian territory's only Roman Catholic church. The senior churchman "arrived in Gaza today for a pastoral visit to the Holy Family Pa»»»

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday described the Mechanism meeting held in Naqoura as “a continuation of the security dialogue aimed at ensuring the disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese army.” “During the meeting, ways to promote economic projects were discussed in order to und»»»

There is no longer famine in Gaza, a global hunger monitor said on Friday, after access for humanitarian and commercial ​food deliveries improved following a fragile October 10 ceasefire in the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants. The latest assessment by the Integrated Food Security»»»

President Joseph Aoun on Friday emphasized “the priority of the return of the border villages’ residents to their villages, homes and land as a gateway for discussing all the other details” with Israel, after the U.S.-led Mechanism committee held a second meeting in the presence of Lebanese and Isr»»»

Egypt is doing all it can to prevent further escalation between Lebanon and Israel amid tension between the two sides over the disarmament process of Hezbollah, the Egyptian prime minister said Friday during a visit to the Lebanese capital. Egypt, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, ha»»»

Egypt said that a natural gas deal with Israel was a "strictly commercial" arrangement with no political dimensions, adding it was concluded by private energy companies under market rules without direct government intervention, Reuters reported. Earlier this week, Israel approved an export deal sig»»»

The committee overseeing the Hezbollah-Israel truce in Lebanon focused on Friday on how to return displaced people to their homes, addressing civilian issues to help prevent ​renewed war if a year-end deadline to disarm Hezbollah is not met. The 15th meeting of the committee reflected a long-standi»»»

Share: Hezbollah and Syrian flags flutter on a military vehicle in Western Qalamoun, Syria August 28, 2017. By SARIT ZEHAVI This month, we mark one year since the fall of the Assad regime and the rise of the new government in Syria. This anniversary comes shortly after the one-year anniversary of t»»»

UN-backed food security experts have found improvements in nutrition and food supplies in Gaza since the ceasefire but say 100,000 people were still experiencing "catastrophic conditions" last month. In August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) found that half a million people»»»

Civilian and military representatives from Lebanon and Israel met on Friday as part of the 'Mechanism' committee monitoring implementation of the year-long Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said, noting that the "security and economic tracks" advanced "in parallel" in the talks»»»

Israel's military said Friday a man seized last year in Lebanon's Batroun was a Hezbollah operative who played a key role in planning a covert maritime force for the militant group. The Israeli army said special unit troops apprehended Imad Amhaz in November 2024 from the north Lebanese city of Bat»»»

Israel's military said Friday a man seized last year in Lebanon was a Hezbollah operative who played a key role in planning a covert maritime force for the militant group. The military said special unit troops apprehended Imad Amhaz in November 2024 from the north Lebanese city of Batroun, and tran»»»

Lebanese Army chief General Rodolphe Haykal agreed to document the army's progress in disarming Hezbollah during talks Thursday with international envoys in Paris, the French foreign ministry said, as Beirut seeks to forestall expanded Israeli attacks. Israel and Hezbollah clashed for more than a y»»»

Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal met Thursday in Paris with French army chief Fabien Mandon ahead of a key meeting with U.S., French and Saudi officials to discuss ways of assisting the army in its mission to boost its presence in the border area. The Paris meeting will discuss reinforcing th»»»

Kyrgyzstan ranked 41st in the global ranking of average gasoline prices, published by the analytical portal Global Petrol Prices. According to the ranking, the average price of a liter of gasoline in the country is $0,935, or approximately 81.8 soms. Over the past year, Kyrgyzstan has fallen 13 pla»»»

More than a month after Iraq's parliamentary elections, the country's top leaders remain locked in talks to form a government while facing pressure from Washington to exclude Tehran-backed armed groups. Amid seismic changes in the Middle East, where new alliances are forming and old powers waning, »»»

A top Hamas official said that talks in Miami on Friday to advance the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire must aim to end Israeli truce "violations" in the Palestinian territory. U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is to meet senior officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey in Fl»»»

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ambitions for Israel hold a major key to what will occur in the Middle East in 2026. Photo by Abir Sultan/EPA BEIRUT, Lebanon, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- The conflict-ridden Middle East will stand at a critical juncture in 2026 after power shifts and unresolved war»»»

Israel is weighing extraordinary legal measures that could result in the execution of up to 100 Hamas fighters accused of taking part in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. Defense Minister Israel Katz and Justice Minister Yariv Levin have discussed the creation of a dedicated military court to try hundreds o»»»

A meeting held between France, the United States and Saudi Arabia in Paris on Thursday resulted in an agreement to hold a conference in February aimed at supporting the Lebanese army. Lebanese army commander Gen. Rodolphe Haykal held meetings with French, US and Saudi officials to discuss ways of a»»»

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian rejected “humiliating conditions” set by the US for resuming nuclear talks, warning against any attempts to exert coercion, bullying, or any process that undermines Iran’s military capacities in the face of Israel. At a meeting with a group of political elites, p»»»

A simmering battle over the future of President Donald Trump's political movement exploded on one of the right's biggest stages Thursday, as prominent conservative influencers used Turning Point USA's annual youth conference to attack each other and their competing visions. The feuding threatened t»»»

After two decades of stalled talks, Cyprus and Lebanon finally demarcated their offshore Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) on 26 November, in an agreement that caused few ripples, despite its sensitivity and importance. As the crow flies, the distance between these two Mediterranean nations is less th»»»

The fall of the Sudanese city of El-Fasher in November led to horrendous reports of mass killing. In recent days, British parliamentarians were told that at least 60,000 people are thought to have been murdered in the first three weeks after the city fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, »»»

The International Criminal Court slammed a "flagrant attack" on its independence on Thursday after the United States imposed sanctions on two more judges over their role in investigating Israeli officials for possible war crimes in Gaza. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an ICC »»»

This is the second part of RT's special investigation on Igor Kolomoysky. You can find Part 1 here to read about Kolomoysky's rise to the status of godfather of Ukrainian corruption, his involvement in the Maidan revolution and the following years leading up to Vladimir Zelensky's election. Zelensk»»»

The United States is sanctioning two more International Criminal Court judges for targeting Israel with politicized lawfare, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday. Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI | License Photo Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The State Department has sanctioned two more International Cri»»»

More than two months after a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in Gaza, the group has steadily reasserted some security control in areas under its authority. Yet for Gaza’s residents, daily economic hardship and deteriorating living conditions show little sign of easing. Hamas’»»»

After Egypt’s Foreign Ministry launched a white paper outlining the principle of strategic balance in Egyptian diplomacy, Asharq Al-Awsat spoke to Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on a broad range of regional crises in which Cairo is engaged as a mediator, partner and diplomatic actor. Abdelatty des»»»

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that the US was sanctioning two judges of the International Criminal Court for targeting Israel. "Today, I am designating two International Criminal Court (ICC) judges, Gocha Lordkipanidze of Georgia and Erdenebalsuren Damdin of Mongolia, pursuant »»»

Kiryat Gat: Launched after the Israel-Hamas ceasefire to monitor the truce and facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid, the Civil-Military Coordination Centre for Gaza is struggling to live up to its promises. The CMCC, a US initiative, is meant to set the stage for the next steps of President Dona»»»

Beirut: Israel launched several strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon on Thursday, Lebanese state media reported, as the Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure including a military compound. The attacks come as the committee monitoring the ceasefire, in effect since November 2»»»

As 2025 draws to a close, the Middle Eastern political theatre is bracing for a seismic shift. At its zenith lies the long-anticipated normalisation between Israel and several Gulf capitals—a process that has remained in the wings since Donald Trump’s first term. However, the foundations of this sh»»»

Israel has informed Washington that it has “no deadline for using force in Lebanon,” sources told Al-Arabiya’s Al-Hadath channel. “Iran is succeeding in smuggling arms and funds to Hezbollah,” a U.S. official told the channel. “The priority is for disarming Hezbollah,” the official said, adding tha»»»

The U.S. is optimistic over the Mechanism meeting that will be held on Friday and will push for a “serious and fruitful dialogue” between Lebanon and Israel, diplomats told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper. Several regional diplomatic sources meanwhile agreed, in remarks to the same daily, that Israeli»»»

DOHA (Sputnik) - Qatar on Thursday held its first large-scale military parade in six years to mark National Day, commemorating the state's founding, showcasing military readiness following Israel's September strikes on its capital, a Sputnik correspondent reported. The parade was opened with fighte»»»

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has approved a $35 billion natural gas export deal to Egypt, the biggest gas deal in Israeli history. The agreement could also help repair relations between the two countries strained during the two-year war in the Gaza Strip. The gas will be delive»»»

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri described Thursday a series of Israeli strikes on east and south Lebanon as a "message" to a Paris conference dedicated to supporting the Lebanese army. The meeting in Paris is taking place today with the Lebanese army chief and American and Saudi officials, at a time»»»

Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal met Thursday in Paris with French army chief Fabien Mandon ahead of a key meeting with U.S., French and Saudi officials to discuss ways of assisting the army in its mission to boost its presence in the border area. The Paris meeting will discuss reinforcing th»»»