Israel-Palestine category
EU hosts Palestinian peace conference as it seeks greater sway in the Middle East
BRUSSELS — Europe turned its attention to the Palestinians on Monday as the election defeat of Israel ally Victor Orban in Hungary gives new momentum to efforts addressing Gaza and the occupied West Bank. More than 60 nations sent representatives to Brussels for talks with Palestinian representatives on stability, security...
Lebanese president refuses to speak with Israeli prime minister
CAIRO — The president of Lebanon refused Thursday to speak with the Israeli prime minister ahead of a planned discussion that would have been the first direct conversation between the leaders of the two countries in more than 30 years, a government official told The Associated Press. U.S. President Donald...
Lebanon and Israel hold 1st direct diplomatic talks in decades in Washington
WASHINGTON — Lebanon and Israel opened their first direct diplomatic talks in decades on Tuesday in Washington following more than a month of war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying the mediation is a “process, not an event,” downplaying expectations for any...
Antisemitic attacks in 2025 led to highest number of fatalities in 30 years, study finds
TEL AVIV, Israel — Last year saw the highest level of deadly violence against Jews in over three decades, with 20 people killed in antisemitic attacks, according to an annual study released by Tel Aviv University on Monday. The violence, including a deadly attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Australia,...
AP reporter describes intense Israeli attacks that stunned Beirut
BEIRUT — It was 2:14 in the afternoon when the first bomb fell, and the sudden sound of crashing metal was like a heavy truck had overturned outside our office. The Israeli strike had hit somewhere nearby. Within seconds, plumes of smoke were rising across Beirut’s skyline, from the coastal...
Netanyahu authorizes direct talks with Lebanon ‘as soon as possible’
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he has authorized direct negotiations with Lebanon “as soon as possible,” as a tentative ceasefire in the Iran war staggered under the weight of Israel’s bombardment of Beirut. Netanyahu said he gave the order in response to...
Horror and fear in West Bank as Israel approves hanging Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis
JERUSALEM — Hundreds of protesters took to the streets across the embattled Palestinian territories Tuesday in outrage after Israel’s parliament passed a measure establishing the death penalty by hanging for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis. Palestinians young and old held sit-ins and marches in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the territory...
Israeli parliament approves the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis
JERUSALEM — Israel’s Parliament on Monday passed a law approving the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis. The bill’s passage marked the culmination of a yearslong push by Israel’s far-right to escalate punishment for Palestinians convicted of nationalistic offenses against Israelis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the...
Trump says Iran is eager for a deal to end the war as he extends deadline to allow for diplomacy
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday the U.S. was talking with an Iranian leader and claimed the Islamic Republic was eager for a deal to end the war. He also extended a deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on...
Iran targets British-U.S. base and its main nuclear enrichment site is struck again
CAIRO — Iran targeted a joint U.K.-U.S. military base in the Indian Ocean, and Iran’s main nuclear enrichment site was struck again, as the war in the Middle East entered its fourth week. “The war is not close to ending,” said Israel’s army chief, Gen. Eyal Zamir, while Iran said...
Blast rocks Tehran after Israel threatened to target area where pro-government rally was being held
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A large explosion rocked an area of Iran’s capital where thousands were gathered Friday for the annual state-organized Quds Day to support the Palestinians and call for Israel’s demise. Israel had earlier warned that it would target the area in central Tehran. There were no...
Lebanese parliament extends term for 2 years due to war in Middle East
BEIRUT — The Lebanese parliament has extended its term for two years on Monday due to the U.S.-Israel war with Iran and Israel steps up its attacks on Lebanon. The country’s state news agency said 76 legislators voted in favor, 41 voted against, and four abstained. Hezbollah’s 13-member bloc in...
As Israel pounds Lebanon, thousands of Syrians there flee back home
Thousands of Syrians living in Lebanon have fled to their home country in recent days after Lebanon was dragged back into conflict, with Israeli airstrikes bombarding several cities. Earlier this week, Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, fired rockets and launched drones toward Israel, in what it said was retaliation...
U.S. sinks Iranian warship as Iran vows to destroy military and economic infrastructure in Mideast
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, as Washington and Israel intensified their bombardment Wednesday of Iran’s security forces and other symbols of power. As the war expanded yet again, Tehran vowed to completely destroy the Middle East’s military and economic...
War widens to include Iranian-backed militias as Israeli and American planes pound Iran
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran and Iranian-backed militias fired missiles at Israel and Arab states Monday, apparently hitting the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait, while Israel and the United States pounded targets in Iran as the war expanded with statements of defiance and increasing casualties. At least 555 people...
Israeli strike kills 2 Palestinians in Gaza, health officials say, the latest deaths as truce stalls
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike on Thursday killed at least two Palestinians and wounded five others east of Gaza City, according to Fadel Naeem, director of Al-Ahli Hospital, where the casualties arrived. The Israeli military had no immediate comment. Deadly Israeli strikes have repeatedly disrupted the truce...
Israeli settlers torch and deface a West Bank mosque during Ramadan
TELL, West Bank — Israeli settlers vandalized a mosque in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early Monday, spray-painting offensive phrases and setting a fire, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Religious Affairs. Worshippers arriving for the day’s first prayers found the damage and a smoldering fire that spewed black smoke...
U.S. ambassador causes uproar by claiming Israel has a right to much of the Middle East
TEL AVIV, Israel — Arab and Muslim nations on Saturday sharply condemned comments by the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who said Israel has a right to much of the Middle East. Huckabee made the comments in an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson that aired Friday. Carlson said...
Trump gets pledges for Gaza reconstruction and troop commitments at inaugural Board of Peace talks
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Thursday at the inaugural Board of Peace meeting that nine members have agreed to pledge $7 billion toward a Gaza relief package and five countries have agreed to deploy troops as part of an international stabilization force for the war-battered Palestinian territory. While lauding...
Israeli drone strike kills 2 cyclists in Gaza as death toll mounts despite ceasefire
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Two Palestinians on bicycles were killed in an Israeli drone strike on Tuesday, hospital officials said, marking the latest deaths since an October ceasefire that hasn’t halted deadly attacks in the Gaza Strip. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said the two men were hit near the ceasefire...
Gaza’s Rafah border crossing has reopened but few people get through
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — When the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt finally reopened this week, Palestinian officials heralded it as a “window of hope” after two years of war as a fragile ceasefire deal moves forward. But that hope has been sidetracked by disagreements over who should...
Gaza’s border crossing to Egypt reopens in a key step for truce but few Palestinians can cross
CAIRO — Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt reopened on Monday for limited traffic, a key step in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire but a mostly symbolic one as few people will be allowed to travel in either direction and no goods will pass through. An Egyptian official said 50 Palestinians were...
Israel reopening Gaza’s border crossing with Egypt on Sunday after long closure
JERUSALEM — Israel said Friday that it will reopen the pedestrian border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt in both directions over the weekend, marking an important step forward for U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza,...
Rafah crossing is Gaza’s lifeline to the world and could open soon
CAIRO — Palestinians are eagerly awaiting the reopening of the Rafah border crossing, which is Gaza’s lifeline and only gateway to the outside world that wasn’t controlled by Israel before the war. The opening is expected after Israel on Monday announced that the remains of the final hostage in Gaza,...
Israel says the remains of the final hostage in Gaza have been recovered
JERUSALEM — Israel says the remains of the final hostage in Gaza have been recovered, clearing the way for the next phase of the ceasefire that stopped the Israel-Hamas war. Monday’s announcement came a day after Israel’s government said the military was conducting a “large-scale operation” in a cemetery in...
