11 h. ago Israel strikes Syria’s defence ministry in third day of attacks on the country

Intervention comes as clashes between the Syrian army and Druze militias in the south of the country escalateMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe Israeli military struck the Syrian defence ministry in Damascus twice on Wednesday as it intervened in the clashes between the Syrian army and Druze fighters in southern Syria in the country’s deadliest violence in months.The strikes collapsed four floors of the ministry and ruined its facade. Syrian state media said that at least two officers had been wounded and staff were reportedly sheltering in the building’s basement. Continue reading...

Events

11 h. ago Israel strikes Syria’s defence ministry in third day of attacks

Intervention comes as clashes between the Syrian army and Druze militias in the south of the country escalateMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe Israeli military struck the Syrian defence ministry in Damascus twice on Wednesday as it intervened in the clashes between the Syrian army and Druze fighters in southern Syria in the country’s deadliest violence in months.The strikes collapsed four floors of the ministry and ruined its facade. Syrian state media said at least two officers had been wounded and staff were reportedly sheltering in the building’s basement. Continue reading...

Events

14 h. ago At least 20 Palestinians killed in crush at food distribution site in southern Gaza

Guards at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation fired teargas or pepper spray on crowds, say health authorities and witnessesMiddle East crisis – live updatesAt least 20 Palestinians have been killed in a crush at a food distribution site in southern Gaza run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. It happened after GHF guards used teargas or pepper spray on hungry crowds arriving at the centre, Palestinian health authorities and witnesses said.Nineteen people were crushed and one stabbed in a “chaotic and dangerous surge” on Wednesday morning, GHF said in a statement. It did not respond to questions about the use of pepper spray or teargas by its staff at the site near Khan Younis. Continue reading...

Events

17 h. ago At least 20 killed in crush at Gaza aid point – Middle East crisis live

Israeli-backed logistics group the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation claims people trampled in Khan Younis while health officials say they were suffocatedIran’s parliament said the country should not resume nuclear negotiations with the United States until preconditions are met, in a statement reported on Wednesday by Iranian state media, Reuters reports.The statement said:When the U.S. use negotiations as a tool to deceive Iran and cover up a sudden military attack by the Zionist regime (Israel), talks cannot be conducted as before. Preconditions must be set and no new negotiations can take place until they are fully met, Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Israeli airstrike kills at least 10, including six children, at Gaza water station, say health officials

Nine killed in separate bombing of a home on Sunday and 31 others shot dead near aid distribution site on SaturdayMiddle East crisis – live updatesAn Israeli airstrike has killed at least 10 people, including six children, who were waiting to collect water in Gaza, Palestinian health officials have said.A separate airstrike on Sunday hit a home, killing nine people, and 31 others were shot dead near an aid distribution site on Saturday, marking another bloody weekend as the conflict’s death toll exceeded 58,000. Continue reading...

Society

4 d. ago UN says fuel shortage in Gaza at ‘critical levels’ – Middle East crisis live

A lack of fuel means ‘lifelines will vanish for 2.1 million people’, the UN saidIsraeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including four children, hospital officials said on Saturday, the Associated Press (AP) reports. The four children and two women were among at least 13 people who were killed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes pounded the area starting late on Friday, officials in Al-Aqsa Martyr’s hospital said.Another four people were killed in strikes near a fuel station, and 15 others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser hospital. The Israeli military said in a statement that over the past 48 hours, troops struck approximately 250 targets in the Gaza Strip, including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels and additional Hamas infrastructure sites. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago People waiting for aid among dozens reported killed by Israeli forces in Gaza – Middle East crisis live

Gaza civil defence said Israeli forces killed at least 30 people on FridayTurkish president Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that a new page opened for Turkey following the start of a weapons handover by Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) militants, Reuters reports.He said:As of yesterday, the scourge of terrorism has entered the process of ending. Today is a new day; a new page has opened in history. Today, the doors of a great, powerful Turkey have been flung wide open.Following incidents in which harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported, thorough examinations were conducted... and instructions were issued to forces in the field following lessons learned. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Nearly 800 killed at Gaza food hubs and aid convoy routes since end of May, UN says

UN human rights office says 615 of the deaths were in vicinity of sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian FoundationMiddle East crisis – live updatesAt least 798 people have been killed while seeking food at distribution points operated by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and other humanitarian convoys since the end of May, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Friday.The GHF, proposed by Israel as an alternative to the UN aid system in Gaza, has been almost universally condemned by rights groups for its violation of principles of humanitarian impartiality and what they have said could be complicity in war crimes. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Almost 800 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food aid since end of May, says UN – Middle East crisis live

Majority of those killed were in the vicinity of sites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation The number of people killed by strikes in Gaza on Friday has risen to seven, according to the region’s civil defence agency, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.Nearly all of Gaza’s population has been displaced at least once during the more than 21-month war, which has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people living there. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Five reported dead in Gaza after Israeli strike on school sheltering displaced people – Middle East crisis live

Separately, the Al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat said it received several casualties after Israeli forces had opened fire at civilians near an aid distribution pointMilitant fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) began handing over their weapons near the northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah on Friday, marking a symbolic but significant step in the decades-long conflict between Turkey and the outlawed group.The disarmament ceremony marks a turning point in the transition of the PKK from armed insurgency to democratic politics, as part of a broader effort to draw a line under one of the region’s longest-running conflicts. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago UK politics live: Starmer to face PMQs as migrant crisis deal with Macron still hangs in the balance

Paris says president looking forward to working ‘constructively’ with UK over Channel small boat crossings

Politics

7 d. ago UK politics live: France denies that Macron blames Starmer for migrant crisis ahead of crunch No 10 talks

Paris says president looking forward to working ‘constructively’ with UK over Channel small boat crossings

Politics

8 d. ago Gaza health system overwhelmed by casualties at aid distributions, says Red Cross – Israel

The ICRC said ‘the scale and frequency of these incidents are without precedent’The IDF has issued a new evacuation order for the Khan Younis area in Gaza, instructing Palestinian who live there to head west as the no-go zone expands.Col Avichay Adraee, the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, wrote on X: “Due to terror activities in the area, the IDF with its maneuvering troops and intensive firepower is expanding actions in your area.”Physiotherapists support nurses, cleaning and dressing wounds and taking vitals. Cleaners now serve as orderlies, carrying stretchers wherever they are needed. Midwives have stepped into palliative care. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago Indirect talks over Gaza ceasefire continue as Netanyahu arrives in Washington

Israeli minister says meeting with Trump will focus on ‘a new Middle East’ with 60-day pause discussed in DohaMiddle East crisis – live updatesIndirect talks between Israel and Hamas over a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza continued for a second day on Monday, hours before a meeting in Washington between Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump.Avi Dichter, an Israeli minister and member of Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said he expected Trump’s meeting with the Israeli prime minister would go beyond Gaza to include the possibility of normalising ties with Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia – an ambitious project that is central to the US president’s policy in the Middle East. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Hamas officials meet to discuss proposed Gaza ceasefire deal

Militant group said to want stronger guarantees of permanent end to war as Netanyahu prepares to meet Trump in USMiddle East crisis – live updatesHamas leaders are close to accepting a proposed deal for a ceasefire in Gaza but want stronger guarantees that any pause in hostilities would lead to a permanent end to the 20-month war, sources close to the group have said.Hamas officials met on Thursday in Istanbul to discuss the ceasefire proposals and later issued a statement confirming they were talking to other “Palestinian factions” before formally announcing a response. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Israel launches waves of Gaza airstrikes after new displacement orders

Scores of Palestinians reported killed as senior Netanyahu adviser due to arrive in Washington for ceasefire talks Middle East crisis – live updatesIsrael ramped up its offensive in Gaza on Monday, with new displacement orders sending tens of thousands of people fleeing the north of the devastated territory and waves of airstrikes killing about 60 Palestinians, according to local officials and medical staff.The violence in Gaza came as a senior adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, was due to arrive in Washington for talks on a new ceasefire, a day after Donald Trump called in a social media post for a deal to end the 20-month war and free 50 hostages held by Hamas. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago BBC says it ‘should have pulled’ Glastonbury live stream of Bob Vylan anti

Broadcaster says footage from festival contained ‘utterly unacceptable’ antisemitic sentimentsMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe BBC has said it should have cut the live stream of Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury performance, saying it contained “utterly unacceptable” antisemitic sentiments.The corporation and its director general, Tim Davie, have come under significant pressure from Keir Starmer and ministers following the broadcast on Saturday in which the musician Bobby Vylan of the punk-rap duo Bob Vylan led chants of “Free, free Palestine” and “Death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]”. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Trump says he is ‘not offering Iran anything’ as country says US must rule out airstrikes before talks resume – Middle East crisis live

Iranian deputy foreign minister says it has been told US wants to talk but president says he is not speaking to them and repeats claim that its nuclear facilities have been ‘obliterated’France, Germany and the UK have condemned “threats” against the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, after Iran rejected its request to visit nuclear facilities bombed by Israel and the US.Tehran has accused Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), of “betrayal of his duties” for not condemning the attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites, and Iranian lawmakers this week voted to suspend cooperation with the agency.France, Germany and the United Kingdom condemn threats against the director general of the IAEA Rafael Grossi and reiterate our full support to the agency.We call on Iranian authorities to refrain from any steps to cease cooperation with the IAEA. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Iran says it has ‘serious doubts’ over Israel’s commitment to ceasefire – Middle East crisis live

Iran’s armed forces chief of staff says it is ‘ready to respond with force’ if attacked again; Iran says airstrikes on Evin prison killed at least 71 Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli attacks have killed at least 14 people, including three children, so far on Sunday.Civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency that 13 people were killed in airstrikes at four locations around the Gaza Strip, and another from Israeli gunfire near an aid distribution centre. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Donald Trump reiterates calls for ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas – Middle East crisis live

US president says online ‘make the deal in Gaza’ and ‘get the hostages back’ as he says he believes a ceasefire can be reached within a weekDuring the 12-day war, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 627 civilians and injured nearly 4,900 others in Iran, according to official figures.The war on Iran – cast as a preemptive attack for self-defence – was launched by Israel and later joined in by the US. Continue reading...

Politics