Middle East

Aid agencies say doctors in Gaza are also struggling to treat a huge caseload of dysentery, pneumonia, and severe skin diseases because of the collapse of the health sector. “The reason behind the spread of these bacterial diseases is the complete lack of a sanitation system,” paediatric consultant Dr Ahmed …

For weeks now diplomats have been working to try to avoid the crisis in Gaza escalating into a wider regional conflict. The United States has warned the ongoing failure to agree a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas could see those diplomatic efforts fail. But despite intense …

The Israeli military says its warplanes are hitting Hezbollah targets in Lebanon after detecting moves to fire missiles and rockets into Israel. “In a self-defence act to remove these threats, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is striking terror targets,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said. Israel said Lebanese civilians had been …

Poliovirus, most often spread through sewage and contaminated water, is highly infectious. It can cause disfigurement and paralysis, and is potentially fatal. It mainly affects children under the age of five. Humanitarian groups have blamed the re-emergence of polio in Gaza on disruption to child vaccination programmes and massive damage …

An investigation by The Times newspaper found that several of the Yemeni accounts bore the blue tick of verification. Both The Times and the BBC have approached X for comment, but have not so far received any response. Most of the platform’s content moderators were laid off after the new …

In Gaza on Wednesday, at least 50 Palestinians were killed by Israeli air strikes, Hamas-run health authorities said. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it hit around 30 targets across the territory, including tunnels, launch sites and an observation post. The targets included the UN-run Salah al-Din school in Gaza …

However, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement has repeatedly targeted commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November. The Houthis say they are acting in support of the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. They have claimed – often falsely – that …

Mr El Attar says his wife – Hala – was “dedicated” to helping displaced people. She was working for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), he says, a UN agency that provides support for Palestinian refugees. Now the nurse says he is forced to come to terms with …

Chaim Peri lived in Kibbutz Nir Oz, which was one of the 26 communities and towns close to the Gaza perimeter fence targeted by Hamas on 7 October. The film lecturer and lifelong peace activist was abducted after he voluntarily left the saferoom of his home to protect his wife, …

According to an Israeli media report, Mr Netanyahu later told a meeting of hostage families that he “convinced” Mr Blinken that the deal must see Israeli troops remaining in areas of Gaza he described as “strategic military and political assets”, including along the southern border with Egypt. The reported comments …

Manuel, who is living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus, was also supported by HIV charities in the UK, after claims he had not been given regular access to his medication, which keeps the virus under control. He said: “I had to beg on a daily basis to prison officers to try …

The blast happened on Lehi Street in southern Tel Aviv, about an hour after the US secretary of state landed in the city to push for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. CCTV footage filmed moments before appeared to show a middle aged man walking past a shop carrying …

Bernard Haykel, a friend of the crown prince and Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, says that despite rumours that it hangs in the prince’s yacht or palace, the painting is actually in storage in Geneva and that MBS intends to hang it in a museum in the …

US President Joe Biden said earlier this week “we are closer than we have ever been” to a deal. But previous optimism expressed during months of on-off talks has proven unfounded. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting on Sunday that complex negotiations were taking place to secure …

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run …

Israel and Hezbollah have traded near daily fire across the border since the 7 October attack on Israel by Palestinian militants prompted an Israeli invasion of Gaza with the aim of eliminating Hamas. Tensions have escalated further in recent weeks after Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, in …

The first phase of the deal outlined by President Biden, based on Israel’s 27 May proposal, would include a “full and complete ceasefire” lasting six weeks, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza, and the exchange of some of the hostages – including women, the elderly …

Footage has emerged on social media purportedly showing houses and vehicles set ablaze in Jit late on Thursday. Plumes of smoke are seen rising above the village. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that “those responsible for any criminal act will be caught and prosecuted”. Israeli …

The sticking points facing negotiators are substantial. But proposals to bridge some of them have been widely reported in the Israeli media. For instance, Mr Netanyahu’s insistence that Israeli forces must remain on Gaza’s border with Egypt, to stop armed groups smuggling in weapons, has been countered with solutions involving …

A senior official in Hamas – which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK and other countries – told the BBC on Wednesday that it would not attend the meeting, even though its political leadership is almost entirely based in Doha. Hamas’s position was that it would …