Middle East

Yolande KnellMiddle East correspondent, Jerusalem EPA The warehouse in Beit Lid was attacked, with lorries set on fire Dozens of Israeli settlers launched arson attacks targeting a Palestinian warehouse, a Bedouin village, and farmland in the north of the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. Several Palestinians were injured. The incidents …

Benedict Garman,BBC Verify and Barbara Metzler,BBC Verify BBC Israel has destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in areas of Gaza that have remained under its control since the ceasefire with Hamas started on 10 October, satellite images reviewed by BBC Verify show. The new photos – the latest of which was …

Hugo BachegaMiddle East correspondent , Jerusalem AFP Hamas wants its fighters in Rafah to be given safe passage, which has so far been rejected by Israel (file photo) US President Donald Trump’s envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, returned to Israel on Monday, as mediators face a new obstacle in their …

Yolande KnellMiddle East correspondent, Jerusalem EPA Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir handed out sweets after the bill’s first reading was approved Israel’s parliament has passed the first reading of a bill proposing the death penalty for those it deems to be terrorists acting against the state – a requirement …

Orla GuerinSenior International Correspondent in Syria BBC/Goktay Koraltan Adnan Al Ezzeldin says people are being killed for being Alawites The killer came by night – a masked man on a motorbike who struck without warning and then sped away. It’s become a familiar pattern in some corners of the new …

A former Israeli hostage who was released last month has told Israeli TV that he was sexually assaulted during his two years in captivity in Gaza. In an interview with Channel 13’s Hazinor programme, Rom Braslavski, 21, described being stripped naked and tied up by members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad …

Four people have been detained by French police after protesters set off flares during a concert by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Paris on Thursday night. Clashes broke out in the auditorium during one of three disruptions to the performance by conductor Lahav Shani and pianist Sir Andras Schiff. The …

The UN Security Council has voted in favour of a US resolution to lift sanctions on Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa ahead of his White House visit next week. Sharaa was named transitional president after leading a rebel offensive that ousted Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, ending 13 years of civil …

Iran has released two French nationals who were detained there for more than three years, French President Emmanuel Macron has said. Cécile Kohler, 41 and her partner Jacques Paris, 72, have been released from Evin prison, Macron said on Tuesday, with France’s foreign minister later confirming they were “safe” at …

Hamas has handed over to the Red Cross in northern Gaza a coffin containing what the Palestinian group says is the body of a deceased hostage, according to the Israeli military. The remains will be transferred to Israeli forces, who will take them to the National Centre of Foreign Medicine …

IDF Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned on Friday, admitting her role in leaking the video The former top lawyer in the Israeli military has been arrested, as a political showdown deepens over the leaking of a video that allegedly shows severe abuse of a Palestinian detainee by Israeli soldiers. Maj …

The Israeli military’s top lawyer has resigned after saying that she was responsible for the leaking of a video that purportedly shows soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee last year. Maj Gen Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the military advocate general, had been on leave since a criminal investigation was launched by police …

Hamas has handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza two coffins which the Palestinian group says contain the bodies of hostages, according to the Israeli military. They will be transferred to Israeli forces, who will take them to Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine for identification. Hamas’s armed wing …

Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israelis are taking part in a protest in Jerusalem against changes to a legal exemption for religious students from conscription in the military. Almost all sects and factions of the ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, community are taking part in what has been dubbed the “march …

Hugo Bachega,Middle East correspondent and Samantha Granville,Beirut Reuters The Israeli military said it was conducting an operation to “dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure” (file photo) Israeli troops carried out an incursion into a south Lebanese town overnight, killing a municipal employee, state media report, amid an escalation of Israeli attacks in Lebanon. …

Frank GardnerSecurity correspondent, Jerusalem EPA First responders say Israel’s overnight strikes hit residential areas, schools and tents housing displaced families When is a ceasefire no longer a ceasefire? It depends on who you ask. According to US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, “nothing is going to jeopardise” the truce between …

The brother of the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh shot dead by the Israeli army three years ago alleges that new revelations from an American military officer who investigated her killing reveals a US cover-up. Tony Abu Akleh’s comments come after the New York Times reported that a US colonel said …

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said “a lot of countries” have offered to be part of an international security force for Gaza – a key part of President Donald Trump’s peace plan – but added Israel would have to be comfortable with participants. Speaking on a visit to …

The BBC’s Nick Robinson spoke to Head of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Tom Fletcher about his recent visit to Gaza. Fletcher recounted scenes of “despair and hopelessness” and said driving to Gaza City was like “going through the ruins of Hiroshima”, referencing the Japanese …

Lucy WilliamsonMiddle East correspondent, in Jerusalem AFP The bodies of the dead Palestinians were transferred by the Red Cross in refrigerated lorries Out of a single room, with no DNA testing facilities or cold storage units of its own, the forensics team at Gaza’s Nasser hospital face the challenges brought …