18 h. ago Netanyahu accused of slander after criticising Macron, Carney and Starmer

Israeli leader’s antisemitism claim labelled defamatory as he is warned against pursuing a war without endMiddle East crisis – live updatesBenjamin Netanyahu was accused of slander and pursuing a war without end after he claimed the leaders of France, Canada and the UK were stoking antisemitism and siding with Hamas by demanding he end the two-month blockade of food and aid into Gaza.In what has become an extraordinary standoff with some of Israel’s closest allies, Netanyahu appeared to deliberately raise the stakes on Thursday night by accusing his western critics of abandoning Israel in a war for its very existence. Continue reading...

Politics

23 h. ago West warns Iran not to hit back as Israel launches revenge strikes

UK and US among nations seeking to keep Middle East from all-out war in wake of Israeli airstrikes on military targets with Tehran saying it is ‘obligated’ to respond

Events

43 h. ago More than 9,000 children treated for malnutrition in Gaza, says Unicef – Middle East crisis live

Figures come as Palestinian health minister says there have been 29 ‘starvation-related’ deaths in the last few daysIsraeli foreign minister Gideon Saar accused unnamed European officials on Thursday of “toxic antisemitic incitement” he blamed for a hostile climate in which the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington DC took place.Israel has faced criticism from Europe as it has intensified its military campaign in Gaza, where humanitarian groups have warned that an 11-week Israeli blockade on aid supplies has left the Palestinian territory on the brink of famine.There is a direct line connecting antisemitic and anti-Israel incitement to this murder.This incitement is also done by leaders and officials of many countries and organisations, especially from Europe.These libels about genocide, crimes against humanity and murdering babies pave the way exactly for such murders. Continue reading...

Society

44 h. ago Iran has several major nuclear program sites, now the subject of negotiations with the US

Iran has multiple major sites associated with its rapidly advancing nuclear program, now the subject of several rounds of negotiations with the United States

Events

46 h. ago Israeli army issues evacuation warning for 14 areas in northern Gaza – Middle East crisis live

AFP says army released statement in Arabic claiming it was ‘operating with intense force’ in a number of areasIsraeli foreign minister Gideon Saar accused unnamed European officials on Thursday of “toxic antisemitic incitement” he blamed for a hostile climate in which the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington DC took place.Israel has faced criticism from Europe as it has intensified its military campaign in Gaza, where humanitarian groups have warned that an 11-week Israeli blockade on aid supplies has left the Palestinian territory on the brink of famine.There is a direct line connecting antisemitic and anti-Israel incitement to this murder.This incitement is also done by leaders and officials of many countries and organisations, especially from Europe.These libels about genocide, crimes against humanity and murdering babies pave the way exactly for such murders. Continue reading...

Events

69 h. ago Israel 'preparing strikes on Iran nuclear sites' and may spark huge Middle East war

Israel is believed to be planning a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities at the same time as Donald Trump is attempting to negotiate a peaceful solution with Tehran

Events

3 d. ago Israel still blocking Gaza aid, says UN, despite warnings that 14,000 babies could die within hours: Latest

Nineteen Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes despite mounting international criticism

Events

3 d. ago Israel latest: UN says Gaza aid still blocked amid warnings 14,000 babies could die within hours

Nineteen Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes despite mounting international criticism

Events

3 d. ago Israel latest: UN says Gaza aid blocked after Netanyahu accused of ‘killing babies as a hobby’

Israeli opposition leader's comments represent some of the strongest criticism from within the country since start of Gaza offensive

Events

3 d. ago Gaza latest: UN says no aid distributed so far as UK condemns Israel over ‘monstrous’ blockade

David Lammy announces the suspension of trade negotiations - as UN warns 14,000 babies are at risk of dying within 48 hours if more aid doesn’t enter Gaza quickly

Politics

3 d. ago What can the UK actually do if Israel is sanctioned over Gaza bombardment?

Keir Starmer faces calls to impose restrictions on everything from sales of fighter-jet parts to bans from international music events

Politics

5 d. ago Trump makes the Gulf states feel powerful, but the real test is: can they stop Israel’s war? | Nesrine Malik

The US president’s deference to his Middle Eastern allies is hollow if they cannot affect what happens in their own back yardDonald Trump’s visit to the Middle East last week was an exercise in disorientation. Both in terms of rebalancing the relationship between the US and the region, and in scrambling perceptions. In Riyadh, he told the Saudi royals there would be no more “lectures on how to live”. He lifted sanctions on Syria so that the country may have a “fresh start”, and he fawned over the camels and lavish architecture (“as a construction guy,” he said at one Qatari palace, “this is perfect marble”). Never has Trump appeared more in his element, surrounded by the wealth of sovereigns, the marshalling power of absolute monarchies, and their calculated self-orientalisation and over-the-top flattery.The same man who enacted the Muslim ban in his first term was strolling around mosques and shrugging off the radical path to power of the Syrian president: “Handsome guy Tough past,...

Politics

6 d. ago Palestinians could be ‘forced into three controlled zones in Gaza’ under Israeli plan, report claims

The emergence of the leaked map comes after Israel launched a major new ground offensive in the Gaza Strip on Saturday despite ceasefire talks resuming in Qatar

Politics

1 week ago Statues of JRR Tolkien and his wife to be unveiled in East Yorkshire

The wooden statues commemorate the author’s time in the area while recuperating after the first world war and a moment that inspired a tale of star-crossed love in Middle-earthWooden carved statues of JRR Tolkien and his wife, Edith, will be unveiled in an East Yorkshire village next month, celebrating the area’s influence on the writer.Tolkien spent nearly 18 months in Hull and East Yorkshire while recovering from trench fever during the first world war, and the area’s landscape is believed to have inspired his works, including The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Iran's secret nuclear site dubbed Rainbow revealed in chilling satellite pictures

Satellite images have unearthed the truth behind Iran's 'chemical production' facilities that are actually posing as nuclear sites threatening the Middle East and US military bases

Events

2 w. ago ‘Maduro did not close our bureau – Trump did’: Voice of America journalists speak out

Workers at the esteemed news service say they’re being silenced by the president – but they’re vowing to fight backCarolina Valladares Pérez, a Washington-based correspondent for the government-funded international news service Voice of America, has reported from places where press freedom is severely restricted – war zones and autocratic states – in the Middle East and across Latin America. Intimidation and threats from state officials were not unusual – but she always managed to get the story out.Now for the first time in her career, Valladares Pérez says she has been silenced – not by a faraway regime, but by the government of the United States. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Israeli strikes across Gaza kill more than 40 people as Israel prepares to ramp up its offensive

Hospital officials say Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 48 people, including women and children

Events

2 w. ago Gaza should be ‘completely destroyed’ and its people moved to ‘third countries’, says Israeli minister

Israeli security minister Bezalel Smotrich said the population of Gaza will be sent to a small humanitarian zone in the south, from where they will be forced to look at relocating to third countries

Politics

2 w. ago Trump’s disturbing vision for Gaza has inspired Netanyahu’s plan to seize the Strip

Israel’s plans echo Donald Trump’s own wild plans in the past that the Palestinians be forced out of Gaza to allow the US to turn the enclave into a “Riviera of the Middle East”, writes chief international correspondent Bel Trew

Politics

2 w. ago Israeli cabinet approves plan to capture all of Gaza and keep its soldiers there indefinitely

Netanyahu has called up tens of thousands of reservists to free up soldiers for ‘the next stage’ of war in Gaza

Politics