Middle East
Latest stories
Arab leaders gather to hash out alternative to Trump's Gaza plan

Arab leaders meeting in Egypt are set to approve a counterproposal to President Donald Trump's call for the Gaza Strip to be depopulated and transformed into a beach destination.

The summit on Tuesday hosted by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is expected to include the leaders of regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, whose support is seen as crucial for any postwar plan.

W140 Full Story
Arab foreign ministers discuss Gaza plan to counter Trump's proposal

Arab foreign ministers are meeting in Cairo Monday for talks focusing on an Egyptian plan to rebuild the war-ravaged Gaza Strip that is meant to counter President Donald Trump’s proposal to transfer Palestinians out of the coastal enclave and take it over.

The ministers’ meeting comes ahead of an Arab summit Tuesday in Cairo which is meant to adopt the Egyptian plan, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said.

W140 Full Story
With Gaza ceasefire in limbo, Israel tries to impose alternative plan on Hamas

Israel this week introduced what it said was a new U.S. ceasefire plan — different from the one it agreed to in January — and is trying to force Hamas to accept it by imposing a siege on the Gaza Strip.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to it as the "Witkoff proposal," saying it came from U.S. President Donald Trump's Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff. But the White House has yet to confirm that, saying only that it supports whatever action Israel takes.

W140 Full Story
Israel army says struck motorized vessel off Gaza's Khan Younis

Israel's army said it struck on Monday a "suspicious motorized vessel" off the coast of south Gaza's Khan Younis, the day after Israel blocked aid to the Palestinian territory during an impasse over extending the truce.

"Earlier today, a suspicious motorized vessel off the coast of northern Khan Younis... was struck by the (military)", the army said in a statement. It said troops also "identified two suspects approaching them in southern Gaza, posing an immediate threat", before they "opened fire toward the suspects to remove the threat, and hits were identified".

W140 Full Story
Israel criticized after blocking Gaza aid to pressure Hamas

Israel faced sharp criticism as it stopped the entry of all food and other supplies into Gaza on Sunday and warned of "additional consequences" for Hamas if a fragile ceasefire isn't extended.

Mediators Egypt and Qatar accused Israel of violating humanitarian law by using starvation as a weapon.

W140 Full Story
Syria forces deploy in Damascus suburb after deadly unrest

The forces of Syria's new authorities deployed Sunday in a Damascus suburb following deadly clashes with Druze gunmen, state media said amid tensions after Israeli demands to protect the minority group.

Jaramana, a mostly Druze and Christian suburb of the capital, saw a fatal shooting at a checkpoint on Friday, followed a day later by clashes between security forces and local gunmen tasked with protecting the area, according to a war monitor.

W140 Full Story
Netanyahu thanks Trump for weapons to 'finish the job' against Iran axis

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for sending munitions held up by the previous administration, which would help "finish the job against Iran's terror axis".

Netanyahu has long expressed his opposition to Iran, its nuclear program and its proxies, which include Palestinian militant group Hamas with which Israel has been fighting in the Gaza Strip since October 2023.

W140 Full Story
1 killed and 4 wounded in stabbing attack in Haifa

A 70-year-old man was killed and four other people were wounded in a stabbing attack Monday in the northern Israeli city of Haifa. Israeli authorities said the assailant was killed.

Israel's police said the perpetrator was a member of Israel's Druze Arab minority who recently returned from abroad.

W140 Full Story
Israel tells army to prepare to defend a Druze community outside Syria's capital

Israel's defense ministry said the military has been instructed to prepare to defend a Druze settlement in the suburbs of Damascus, asserting that the minority it has vowed to protect was "under attack" by Syrian forces.

The statement, citing an order from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, follows an Israeli warning last weekend that the forces of neighboring Syria's new government and the insurgent group that led last year's ouster of former President Bashar Assad should not enter the area south of Damascus.

W140 Full Story
Israel cuts off aid to Gaza in attempt to pressure Hamas to accept new ceasefire proposal

Israel stopped the entry of all goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip on Sunday and warned of "additional consequences" if Hamas does not accept a new proposal for an extension of the first phase of a fragile ceasefire.

Hamas accused Israel of trying to derail the truce and said its decision to cut off aid was "cheap extortion, a war crime and a blatant attack on the (ceasefire) agreement." Both sides stopped short of saying the ceasefire had ended.

W140 Full Story