Middle East

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 …

Benedict Garman, Emma Pengelly and Matt Murphy,BBC Verify BBC The Israeli military is exerting control over more of Gaza than expected from the ceasefire deal with Hamas, a BBC Verify analysis has found. Under the first stage of the deal, Israel agreed to retreat to a boundary running along the …

A small number of British planning officers has been sent to Israel to join a US-led multinational taskforce to help monitor the ceasefire in Gaza, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said. The taskforce, called the civil military coordination centre, is also likely to include troops from Egypt, Qatar, …

Israel has received two bodies that Hamas says are two more deceased hostages who had been held in Gaza. The Israeli military said two coffins were handed over to troops in the Palestinian territory by the Red Cross, which had earlier received them from Hamas. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) …

Under Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, the “yellow line” – which Israel withdrew to earlier this month – is the first of three stages of Israeli military withdrawal. It leaves it in control of about 53% of the Gaza Strip. One Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, referred to it as …

A 55-year-old Palestinian woman has been taken to hospital after being clubbed over the head by a masked Jewish settler as she was picking olives. The unprovoked attack, which took place on Sunday morning in the Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya in the occupied West Bank, was captured on video …

Yolande KnellMiddle East correspondent, Jerusalem Reuters Sunday saw the deadliest day of attacks since the ceasefire took effect on 10 October One week ago, US President Donald Trump was given a hero’s welcome in Israel after securing the Gaza ceasefire and exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. But the …

The US State Department says it has “credible reports” that Hamas is planning an “imminent” attack on civilians in Gaza, which it says would violate the ceasefire agreement. A statement released on Saturday said a planned attack against Palestinians would be a “direct and grave” violation of the ceasefire agreement …

Tim WhewellPresenter of A People’s History of Gaza BBC “I rode away on a camel with my grandmother, along a sandy road, and I started to cry.” Ayish Younis is describing the worst moment of his life – he still regards it as such, even though it was 77 years …

The head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has told the BBC the tide is turning on starvation in Gaza, as more aid enters the territory after Donald Trump’s ceasefire deal. Speaking from Gaza City, Tom Fletcher said “hundreds of trucks a day” were …

A 10-year-old Palestinian boy has been killed by Israeli forces in a village south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military says its soldiers opened fire on Thursday in response to “confrontations and rock-hurling” directed at them. Residents of al-Rihiya say that Muhammad al-Hallaq and his friends …

Israel’s prime minister has told a memorial for victims of the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023 that he is “determined” to secure the return of the dead hostages still inside Gaza, and that the country will continue to fight terrorism with “full force”. Benjamin Netanyahu made the comments hours …

Yemen’s Houthi movement says its military chief of staff, Mohammed al-Ghamari, has been killed. A statement gave no details, but it did say that Ghamari and his teenage son died during what it described as the “honourable battle against the Israeli enemy”. The Israeli military has carried out many rounds …