Middle East

Reuters Gaza City’s medieval Great Omari Mosque was targeted by Israel’s military during the past two years of war With pickaxes and wheelbarrows, dozens of Palestinian workers in hard hats and high-visibility vests are clearing rubble from the ruins of the Gaza Strip’s oldest and largest mosque. The broken stump …

Hanya Aljamal, a teacher turned aid worker from Gaza, talks about the alienation she feels after being permitted to move to London to study last month. BBC News

Lucy WilliamsonMiddle East correspondent, Bnei Brak EPA The push to conscript more ultra-Orthodox men triggered a huge protest in Jerusalem last month An impending crisis over conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli army is threatening to undermine Israel’s government and split the country. Public opinion on the issue has shifted …

Ian YoungsCulture reporter Getty Images Jafar Panahi picked up three trophies at the Gotham Awards in New York on Monday Award-winning Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi has been given a prison sentence on charges of creating propaganda against the political system, his lawyer has said, on the same day his new …

BBC Elizabeth Tsurkov spoke to the BBC from Israel, where she is recovering from her ordeal An Israeli-Russian woman held captive for two and a half years by militants in Iraq has told the BBC how she invented “confessions” to try to get her captors to stop torturing her. Elizabeth …

Yolande Knell,Middle East correspondentand Malak Hassouneh,Jerusalem BBC In a bustling Gaza City market, a money repairer expertly inspects a worn, yellow 100 shekel ($30.50; £23.10) note. He straightens it out and enhances its faded colour with careful strokes of a pencil. Baraa Abu al-Aoun should have been studying at university …

The Prince of Wales has visited a number of severely ill children from Gaza being treated by the NHS, a Kensington Palace spokesperson says. The NHS began offering specialist care to Gazan children in September as part of a UK government humanitarian mission. As of 21 November, 50 children are …

Watch: BBC correspondent examines footage showing moments leading up to shooting in the occupied West Bank Video has emerged showing Israeli security forces shooting dead two Palestinians who appeared to have surrendered in the occupied West Bank. The incident happened during an ongoing Israeli military operation in the city of …

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband has urged the government to scale up efforts to return a jailed British couple from Iran to prevent another family being separated for years. Craig and Lindsay Foreman were arrested by Iranian authorities in January while on a motorbike trip from Europe to Australia. They were accused …

Jon DonnisonCorrespondent, Jerusalem Zaher Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim was 15 when he was arrested at his family’s holiday home in the occupied West Bank A Palestinian-American teenager is expected to appear in court in Israel later this week after nine months in detention without being charged. Mohammed Ibrahim, who is 16 …

Sebastian UsherGlobal affairs reporter BBC Zeynab Javadli divorced Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum in 2019 The former wife of a member of Dubai’s ruling family has expressed concern that she could be arrested as her ex-husband has lodged a criminal complaint with local police, accusing her of …

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Hamas have handed over to the Red Cross a coffin which the armed groups say contains the body of one of the last three deceased hostages still in Gaza, according to the Israeli military. The remains will be transferred to Israeli forces, who will take …

US President Donald Trump has ordered officials to examine whether to designate some chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorists groups, a move that would target the group with economic and travel sanctions. His executive order on Monday calls for his top aides to produce a report investigating whether the …

An iconic Popemobile belonging to the late Pope Francis has been turned into a mobile medical clinic for children in the war-torn Gaza Strip. Aid workers say it has a practical purpose and also serves as a symbol of goodwill. The BBC’s Middle East Correspondent, Yolande Knell, went to Bethlehem …

Israel has carried out an air strike on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, for the first time in months, targeting a senior member of the militant group Hezbollah, despite a ceasefire. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the target was Hezbollah’s chief of staff. …

At least 22 Palestinians have been killed in a series of Israeli air strikes across northern and central Gaza, Hamas medical and civil defence officials have said. They said five sites had been hit, including residential homes. A senior Hamas commander was among the dead, according to local sources. The …

Paul AdamsDiplomatic correspondent EPA The 32,000 displaced refugees are demanding that Israeli forces allow them to return to their homes “They punished ordinary people. This is collective punishment.” It’s been more than nine months since 54-year-old Nehaya al-Jundi last saw her home in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nur Shams, …

A pilot has died after an Indian fighter jet crashed while performing a display at an airshow in Dubai, officials have said. The Indian Air Force said in a statement: “IAF deeply regrets the loss of life and stands firmly with the bereaved family in this time of grief. “A …

Lucy WilliamsonMiddle East correspondent, Jerusalem Yasser Abu Shabab/Facebook One of the largest militia, the Popular Forces, operates near the southern city of Rafah Urgent questions are being raised over a patchwork of armed groups that have emerged to fight Hamas in Gaza over recent months. They include groups based around …

Lauren Turner and Ian Youngs,Culture reporter EPA Israel’s Yuval Raphael topped the public vote at this year’s contest, and finished second overall The Eurovision Song Contest is changing its rules around voting and promotion in the wake of controversy about Israel’s result at this year’s competition. Some countries raised concerns …