The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) is set to defend his organization's work at the General Assembly on Monday, after crippling backlash over accusations that some employees were involved in Hamas' surprise October 7 attack on Israel.

Philippe Lazzarini warned in a letter to the General Assembly's president that his agency is at a "breaking point" as donors freeze funding, Israel exerts pressure to dismantle the agency and humanitarian needs soar.

Hamas has called on Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank to rise up against Israel during the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan, speaking to reporters in Beirut on Monday, said Palestinians should “make every moment of Ramadan a confrontation.”

Omar Abu Kuwaik is far from his home in Gaza. The 4-year-old's parents and sister were killed by an Israeli airstrike, when he lost part of his arm.

He's one of the lucky ones.

It took 10 years and three rounds of in vitro fertilization for Rania Abu Anza to become pregnant, and only seconds for her to lose her five-month-old twins, a boy and a girl.

An Israeli strike hit the home of her extended family in the southern Gaza city of Rafah late Saturday, killing her children, her husband and 11 other relatives and leaving another nine missing under the rubble, according to survivors and local health officials.

Mediators and Hamas envoys have made "significant progress" towards a Gaza truce, Egyptian state-linked TV reported Monday as the talks in Cairo entered a second day.

After weeks of diplomatic efforts, Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been scrambling to lock in a proposed six-week truce in the war between Israel and Hamas before Ramadan starts next week.

Harris is to meet with Israeli Cabinet official who is in Washington despite Netanyahu's rebuke

Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday is hosting a member of Israel's wartime Cabinet who is visiting Washington in defiance of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A fertilizer-laden cargo ship, which sank in the Gulf of Aden after it was damaged by missiles from Yemen's Houthi rebels, poses an environmental risk, the U.S. military warned.

The Houthis claimed the February 18 attack against the Rubymar, a cargo ship flying a Belizean flag and operated by a Lebanese firm, which transported combustible fertilizers.

The Israeli military has said AI helps it more accurately target militants in its five-month war against Hamas, but as Gaza deaths rise, experts are questioning how effective algorithms can really be.

Egypt was Sunday set to host the latest talks aiming for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas as Gaza officials reported more deadly bombardment in the nearly five-month-old war.

A senior Hamas official told AFP that a delegation from the Palestinian group would discuss with mediators a proposal for a six-week truce, after a U.S. official said Israel had "more or less accepted" its terms.

Israel has essentially endorsed a framework of a proposed Gaza cease-fire and hostage release deal, and it is now up to Hamas to agree to it, a senior U.S. administration official said Saturday, a day before talks to reach an agreement were to resume in Egypt.

International mediators have been working for weeks to broker a deal to pause the fighting before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins around March 10. A deal would likely allow aid to reach hundreds of thousands of desperate Palestinians in northern Gaza who aid officials worry are under threat of famine.