Saudi Arabia announced on Thursday the sighting of the Dhul Hijjah crescent, signalling the beginning of the Islamic month of Dhul Hijjah, one of the holiest months in the Islamic calendar, reports Al Arabiya

Israel yesterday announced a new military campaign against Hamas in central Gaza where Palestinian medics said dozens of people had been killed in airstrikes, complicating expected talks between mediators to try to finalise a ceasefire deal.

Qatar, which has been mediating on Gaza between Israel and Hamas, stressed yesterday that there should be a clear position from both parties to reach a ceasefire deal.

Forced displacement has pushed over a million Palestinians away from the Gaza city of Rafah, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) said yesterday.

Some 55 percent of all structures in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed, damaged or possibly damaged since the Israeli offensive began in the Palestinian territory eight months ago, according to preliminary satellite analysis by the UN.

Britain, France and Germany will seek to censure Iran over its lack of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog at its board meeting starting today despite US opposition, diplomats told AFP

An aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday confirmed that Israel had accepted a framework deal for winding down the Gaza offensive now being advanced by US President Joe Biden, though he described it as flawed and in need of much more work.

Iran’s hardline former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has registered to run for president in the country’s June 28 election, organized after the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month, Iran’s state television reported yesterday.

Amira al-Taweel scoured pharmacies in northern Gaza for milk to feed her child, but could not find a single bottle to satisfy his hunger.

Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah issued a decree nominating Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah as crown prince, the state news agency KUNA reported on Saturday

But Netanyahu took issue with Biden’s presentation of what was on the table, insisting on Friday the transition from one stage to the next was “conditional” and crafted to allow Israel to maintain its war aims.

At the request of Baghdad, the UN Security Council unanimously decided Friday that the United Nations political mission in Iraq will leave the country at the end of 2025 after more than 20 years.

US President Joe Biden yesterday said Israel had proposed a Gaza ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages, and called on Hamas to agree to the new offer, saying it was the best way to end the conflict.

The United Nations, which has warned of famine in Gaza, said on Wednesday the amount of humanitarian aid entering the enclave has dropped by two-thirds since Israel began its military operation in the enclave’s southern Rafah region this month.

Rafah residents reported intense artillery shelling and gunfire in Gaza’s far-southern city yesterday after Israel said it had seized Philadelphi corridor on the Palestinian territory’s border with Egypt.

Joe Biden’s red lines over Israel’s assault on Rafah have kept shifting, but the US president faces growing pressure to take a firmer stance after a deadly strike in the southern Gaza city.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday hit out at the United Nations and called on the “Islamic world” to take united action following the latest Israeli strikes on Gaza.

Yemen’s Houthis targeted six ships in three different seas, including the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Laax that was damaged after reporting a Houthi missile attack off the coast of Yemen, the Iran-backed group said yesterday.

Iran fires the starting gun this week on an election to replace President Ebrahim Raisi, whose death in a helicopter crash could complicate efforts by the authorities to manage a task of even greater consequence - the succession to the supreme leader

Israeli strikes on a tent camp in an evacuation area west of Rafah killed at least 21 Palestinians yesterday, Gaza health authorities said, and tanks advanced to the centre of the southern Gaza city for the first time after a night of heavy bombardment.