Mideast News Stories
Israel orders new evacuations in Rafah after UN votes in favor of Palestine's membership
JERUSALEM, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Israel ordered new evacuations on Saturday in Gaza's southern city of Rafah as it prepared to escalate its military operation, a day after the United Nations (UN) passed a resolution endorsing the Palestinian request for full UN membership. LOOMING CRISIS More than 1...
photo: AP / Abdel Kareem Hana
US says Israel's use of weapons may have violated international law
The Biden administration has said that Israel's use of US-supplied weapons may have violated international humanitarian law during its military operation in Gaza, in its strongest criticism to date of Israel. But the administration stopped short of a definitive assessment, saying that due to the...
photo: AP / Tsafrir Abayov
Heavy fighting in Gaza’s Rafah keeps aid crossings closed, sends 100,000 civilians fleeing
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah has left crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and caused over 100,000 people to flee north, a United Nations official said Friday. Israel’s plans...
photo: AP / Fatima Shbair
Tunisia: The migration trap
Sub-Saharan African refugees and migrants fleeing northwards away from war, conflict and corrupt governments are ending up trapped in Tunisia, unable to move on to Europe or return home. Across Tunisia, signs of growing hostility towards these arrivals are apparent.Keep reading list of 4 itemslist 1...
photo: AP / Francisco Seco, File
Iran’s Khamenei urges people to vote in parliamentary run-off amid apathy
Iranians are voting in a run-off for the remaining seats in Parliament after conservative candidates dominated the elections in March. Shortly after polling stations opened on Friday, state TV showed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei casting his vote.Keep reading list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Low...
photo: Creative Commons / Khamenei.ir https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
Israel strikes Rafah as talks yield no breakthrough
SMOKE billows from a building which caught fire after fresh Israeli attacks in the Zaytoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, on Thursday.—AFP CAIRO: Israeli tanks and warplanes bombarded areas of Rafah on Thurs­day, Palestinian residents said, after President Joe Biden said the United States would...
photo: AP / Ismael Abu Dayyah
Sudan’s paramilitary RSF accused of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in West Darfur
Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias killed “at least thousands of people” in West Darfur state, an international rights group has said, in what it called apparent “crimes against humanity” and “genocide”. In a report published on Thursday, Human Rights Watch (HRW)...
photo: AP / ussein Malla
Give or take a few bombs, US complicity in genocide remains ‘ironclad’
On Wednesday, May 8, United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin became the first senior administration official to publicly confirm that the US government has uncharacteristically paused a weapons shipment to Israel. Over the past seven months, the Israeli military has killed some 35,000...
photo: AP / Tsafrir Abayov
Iran warns it will change nuclear doctrine if ‘existence threatened’
Iran could be pushed into building a nuclear weapon if Israel threatens its existence, an adviser to the country’s supreme leader has warned. “We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb but should Iran’s existence be threatened, there will be no choice but to change our military doctrine,” said...
photo: AP / Vahid Salemi
Israel shells Rafah as Biden vows arms suspension
Palestinians work to remove debris following an Israeli strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on Thursday. Reuters Israel shelled Rafah on Thursday as US President Joe Biden offered his starkest warning yet over the conduct of its war against Hamas, vowing to cut off arms transfers if an offensive into the...
photo: AP / Abdel Kareem Hana

photo photo