Middle East

Yolande Knell BBC News, Jerusalem Reuters Netanyahu’s plan reportedly faces opposition from military chiefs Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to propose fully reoccupying the Gaza Strip when he meets his security cabinet, Israeli media say. “The die has been cast. We’re going for the full conquest of the Gaza …

Other A still showing Israeli hostage Evyatar David being held in a Gaza tunnel from the video released by Hamas The brother of an Israeli hostage held in the Gaza Strip has told the BBC that a Hamas video showing him emaciated and weak is a “new form of cruelty” …

EPA Families of Israeli hostages have consistently demanded the government prioritises their release A group of some 600 retired Israeli security officials, including former heads of intelligence agencies, have written to US President Donald Trump to pressure Israel to immediately end the war in Gaza. “It is our professional judgement …

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has visited the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem and prayed there, violating a decades-old arrangement covering one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East. Photos and videos of his visit show Ben-Gvir leading Jewish prayers at the compound, which is known …

The family of Israeli hostage Evyatar David held by Hamas in Gaza has accused the group of deliberately starving him as part of a “propaganda campaign”. “He is being starved purely to serve Hamas’s propaganda,” the family said on Saturday, a day after Hamas released a video showing an emaciated …

France has suspended its programme for receiving Palestinians fleeing Gaza. The freeze will be in place while authorities investigate a Palestinian student in France who has been accused of making antisemitic remarks online, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has said. The 25-year-old woman was on a scholarship in northern France’s …

US government US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has for the first time visited a controversial Israel- and US-backed aid distribution site in Gaza. Witkoff said the purpose of the trip to a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) site was to give Trump “a clear understanding of the …

The US says it is going to impose sanctions on the Palestinians’ self-governance organisation as well as the body that represents it on the international stage. The sanctions affect both the Palestinian Authority (PA) which was established by the Oslo peace accords, and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) which was …

Caroline Hawley Diplomatic correspondent BBC Majid Shaghnobi arrives at Heathrow airport in London Majid Shaghnobi can’t eat or speak like he used to. He can’t smile. But with his injured mouth covered by a surgical mask, his eyes were beaming as he arrived at London’s Heathrow airport on a flight …

Dalia Cusnir, the sister-in-law of Israeli hostage Eitan Horn, has urged US envoy Steve Witkoff to “bring an end to this war”. Mr Witkoff is currently on a visit to Israel. She was speaking to the BBC after France, the UK and Canada separately announced plans to recognise Palestinian statehood. …

Tom Bateman State department correspondent, at the United Nations Watch: BBC presses UK foreign secretary on timing of recognising Palestinian state As Canada joins France and the UK in announcing plans to recognise a Palestinian state, the US is standing firmly with Israel – but does Trump have a long-term …

Israeli gunfire killed at least 30 Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in northern Gaza on Wednesday, according to the Hamas-run civil defence agency. A Gaza civil defence spokesperson told the AFP news agency that Israeli fire wounded around 300 more people. Israel said details of the incident “are still being …

Israel and the families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza have condemned the UK’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state, saying it is “rewarding terrorism”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused his counterpart, Sir Keir Starmer, of appeasing Hamas with the announcement that the UK would act in September unless …

A Gazan mother has told the BBC that she struggles to feed her two-month-old daughter and asked that her baby is taken out of Gaza to undertake medical treatment. Speaking from Nasser Hospital, Yasmeen Abu Sultan said “at birth, she weighed 2.7 kilograms. Now, she weighs just 2.6 kilograms.” Yasmeen …

An Israeli settler shot dead a Palestinian teacher who helped film Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, according to the Palestinian education ministry and an Israeli-American activist who was at the scene of the shooting. No Other Land co-director Yuval Abraham said on X that a settler shot Odeh Hathaleen in …

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Tuesday that his country will recognise a Palestinian state at a United Nations meeting in September, unless Israel meets certain conditions. Sir Keir said the plan would go ahead unless the Israeli government takes “substantive steps to end the appalling situation in …

Jeremy Bowen International editor EPA Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement that Britain will recognise Palestinian statehood is a major change in UK foreign policy. He offered to postpone recognition if Israel took “substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a …

For Gazans, a 60-day ceasefire being negotiated between Israel and Hamas would be a lifeline. A window to bring in large quantities of desperately needed food, water and medicine after severe – and at times total – Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries. But for Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz a …

BBC Two of Iman al-Nouri’s five sons were killed on Thursday’s Israeli strike, while a third was seriously wounded Iman al-Nouri’s youngest son, two-year-old Siraj, woke up crying from hunger on Thursday and asked to get some nutritional supplements. Siraj’s 14-year-old cousin, Sama, agreed to take him and two of …

Tess Mallinder Heron BBC Monitoring Getty Images A fresh wave of deadly sectarian violence is rocking southern Syria, highlighting the country’s fragility as the new government attempts to impose its authority. The fighting in the province of Suweida is between Druze and Bedouin militias – two groups with long-running disputes …