By Mai Yaghi with Chloe Rouveyrolles-Bazire in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Dec 11, 2023 (AFP) – Israel bombed southern Gaza’s main city on Monday after Hamas warned no Israeli hostages would leave the territory alive unless its demands for prisoner releases were met. Hamas triggered the conflict when the group carried out the deadliest-ever attack on Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures, and taking about 240 hostages back to […]
Middle East
Harvard faculty back president after anti-Semitism testimony controversy
WASHINGTON, Dec 11, 2023 (AFP) – Hundreds of Harvard faculty have signed a letter backing the university’s president after her testimony at a congressional hearing on the rise of campus anti-Semitism ignited pressure for her to resign, a US newspaper reported Sunday. The letter backing Claudine Gay, which was reported on by the Boston Globe, came after her counterpart at another Ivy League university stepped down on Saturday in the face of withering criticism and […]
Last-minute push for historic fossil fuel deal at UN climate talks
DUBAI, Dec 11, 2023 (AFP) – UN climate talks enter their endgame on Monday as negotiators seek to convince an increasingly isolated Saudi Arabia and other holdouts to give up their opposition to a historic phase-out of fossil fuels. With 24 hours to go before the official end of COP28 in Dubai, a new draft deal was expected in the morning in the hope that the right language may have finally been found to achieve […]
Hamas warns hostages doomed unless demands met
By Mai Yaghi with Chloe Rouveyrolles-Bazire in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Dec 10, 2023 (AFP) – Hamas warned Sunday that no hostages would leave Gaza alive unless its demands for prisoner releases are met, while the World Health Organization said the territory’s health system was collapsing after more than two months of war. Hamas triggered the conflict with the deadliest-ever attack on Israel on October 7 in which it killed some 1,200 people, according […]
Qatar says efforts to renew Israel-Hamas truce ‘continuing’
DOHA, Dec 10, 2023 (AFP) – Mediation efforts are continuing to secure a new Gaza ceasefire despite ongoing Israeli bombardment that is “narrowing the window” for a successful outcome, Qatar’s prime minister said Sunday. “Our efforts as the state of Qatar along with our partners are continuing. We are not going to give up,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told the Doha Forum more than two months into the Israel-Hamas war. Qatar was a […]
Israeli forces push into southern Gaza
By Adel Zaanoun with Jonah Mandel in Jerusalem GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, Dec 10, 2023 (AFP) – Israeli forces pushed Sunday into southern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled in search of shelter from bombardments and intense fighting with Hamas militants. Aid groups have sounded the alarm on the “apocalyptic” humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, warning it is on the brink of being overwhelmed by disease and starvation. Hamas, which runs […]
US vetoes Security Council resolution calling for Gaza ceasefire
UNITED NATIONS, United States, Dec 8, 2023 (AFP) – The United States on Friday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have called for an immediate ceasefire in the intense fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Washington dashed a growing clamor for an immediate ceasefire that had been led by UN chief Antonio Guterres and Arab nations. American envoy Robert Wood said the resolution was “divorced from reality” and “would have not moved […]
Israel battles Hamas in south Gaza city
By Adel Zaanoun with Stuart White in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Dec 7, 2023 (AFP) – Israeli troops battled Hamas militants Thursday in the heart of southern Gaza’s main city where a suspected mastermind of the October 7 attacks is believed to be hiding, while pressing their offensive across the besieged territory. Breaking through Hamas’s defences of Gaza’s second largest city, Israeli troops, tanks, armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers rolled into Khan Yunis, forcing […]
President Vladimir Putin Putin seeks to bolster Russia’s influence in the Middle East with visits to Saudi Arabia, UAE
RIYADH, Dec 6, 2023 (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Saudi Arabia Wednesday after visiting the United Arab Emirates, making a rare trip abroad as Moscow seeks to reassert itself on the global stage. It is only the third trip the Russian leader has taken outside the former Soviet Union since he invaded Ukraine, following visits to Iran and China, and comes as Moscow seeks to bolster its influence in the Middle East. […]
US Senate blocks Ukraine, Israel aid in row over immigration
By Danny Kemp and Frankie Taggart WASHINGTON, Dec 6, 2023 (AFP) – Republican senators blocked a White House request for $106 billion in emergency aid primarily for Ukraine and Israel Wednesday as conservatives balked at the exclusion of immigration reforms they had demanded as part of the package. The vote marked a significant defeat for President Joe Biden, who had warned Congress earlier in the day that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not stop with […]
Israeli forces encircle main southern Gaza city
By Adel Zaanoun GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Dec 6, 2023 (AFP) – Israeli forces were encircling southern Gaza’s main city on Wednesday, battling Hamas militants through streets and buildings in some of the most intense combat of the two-month war. The focus of the conflict has shifted into the besieged territory’s south following fierce fighting and bombardment that reduced much of the north to rubble and forced nearly two million people to flee their homes. […]
US facing growing Middle East crisis tied to Israel-Hamas war
By W.G. DUNLOP WASHINGTON, Dec 6, 2023 (AFP) – Washington is facing an increasingly complex and dangerous crisis resulting from the Israel-Hamas war, which has sparked repeated militant attacks and drawn US military attention and assets back to the Middle East. The United States has deployed two aircraft carriers and other forces in a bid to deter a devastating region-wide conflict. But the current violence in the Middle East — while not rising to that […]