Middle East

Megan Fisher and Emir Nader BBC News, London and Jerusalem Reuters A man holds the equipment of journalist Hussam al-Masri who was filming a live TV feed from Nasser hospital A double Israeli strike on a hospital in Gaza killed 20 people including journalists and health workers, according to the …

Raffi Berg BBC News, London Getty Images At least eight people have been killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run health ministry says. Three journalists are among the dead, health officials and Reuters news agency say. They include an Al-Jazeera cameraman and …

Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff has said there is a “deal on the table” for the remaining hostages in Gaza, according to Israeli media. Lt Gen Eyal Zamir reportedly said the Israeli military had brought about the conditions for a deal, and it is now it is in …

Reuters There are fears for the safety of up to one million Palestinians in Gaza City Planes and tanks have pounded parts of Gaza City as Israel’s plans to seize the territory’s largest urban area increase pressure on nearly a million Palestinians living there. Residents have spoken of uninterrupted explosions …

Gaza City and its surrounding area is now experiencing famine, a UN-backed body of food security experts has confirmed. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which is used by governments and international bodies to identify food insecurity and malnutrition levels around the world, has raised its classification to Phase …

Pope Leo XIV is preparing to travel to Lebanon later this year, in what could be his first journey abroad since being elected head of the Catholic Church in May. Archbishop Paul Sayah, deputy to Lebanon’s highest-ranking Catholic leader, told the BBC the Vatican was “studying” the trip but that …

Reuters Israel’s military says it has warned medical officials and international organisations to prepare for the planned evacuation of Gaza City’s one million residents ahead of an offensive to occupy it. The officials were told that “adjustments” were being made to hospitals in southern Gaza to receive patients, a statement …

Reuters Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the plans for 3,400 homes in the E1 area last week Israel has given final approval for a controversial settlement project that would effectively cut off the occupied West Bank from East Jerusalem and divide the territory in two. Construction in the E1 …

EPA An Israeli military official said five divisions would be involved in the planned offensive The Israeli military says it is calling up about 60,000 reservists ahead of a planned ground offensive to capture and occupy all of Gaza City. A military official said the reservists would report for duty …

Reuters Hostages’ families and their supporters want the Israeli government to agree a deal to end the war and bring them all home Arab mediators are awaiting a formal response from Israel after Hamas said it had accepted a new proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. The …

The Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty have made their first visit to Egypt’s border crossing with Gaza. It’s the only entry point Gaza shares with a state other than Israel, but access into Gaza from there is now shut, and under Israeli military control. …

Hamas has agreed to the latest proposal from regional mediators for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Israel, a source in the Palestinian armed group has told the BBC. According to a Palestinian official familiar with the talks, the proposal from Egypt and Qatar is a comprehensive two-stage …

The BBC’s Lucy Williamson was reporting on allegations Israeli settlers had destroyed a Palestinian man’s olive groves when she witnessed masked settlers launch an attack near Nablus, in the occupied West Bank. She described the incident, which quickly escalated, as “completely unprovoked”. The local settlers’ council said elements on both …

Lucy Williamson BBC News, Turmus Aya, in the occupied West Bank The BBC’s Lucy Williamson witnessed an attack by masked settlers From among the broken remains of Brahim Hamaiel’s olive trees, in the occupied West Bank, we saw the masked men approach. A dozen settlers, charging down from the illegal …

After widespread reports of mass starvation in Gaza drew global condemnation in late July, Israel allowed some aid to be delivered by air. But BBC Verify analysis reveals 10 separate occasions where aid was dropped into an area where the Israeli military has explicitly warned people not to enter, saying …

New footage shared on social media shows the far-right Israeli minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, taunting the most prominent Palestinian prisoner, Marwan Barghouti, in his cell. The Palestinian Authority has condemned the video. Its Vice-President Hussein al-Sheikh described it as “the epitome of psychological, moral and physical terrorism.” The 13-second-long video …

Members of Syria’s interim government forces as well as fighters linked to the former regime likely committed war crimes during sectarian violence in March that killed around 1,400 people, mainly civilians, a UN report says. The UN Syria Commission of Inquiry said it had found no evidence the authorities in …

BBC Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving prime minister and by far the dominant force in its politics, has not budged from what he believes is the essential truth about the war in Gaza. He has given Israel – and the outside world – a consistent message since Hamas attacked Israel …

Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said he will approve plans to build more than 3,000 homes in a controversial settlement project in the occupied West Bank – a move he said will prevent the creation of a Palestinian state. The so-called E1 project between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim …

Yolande Knell Middle East correspondent ABIR SULTAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Netanyahu has dismissed international criticism of his plans to expand the war Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated that Gaza ceasefire efforts are now focused on a comprehensive deal to release all the remaining hostages at once. The plan …