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.

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.

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.

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.

Iran is enriching uranium to close to weapons-grade at a steady pace while discussions aimed at improving its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog are stalled, two confidential reports by the watchdog showed on Monday.

A Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier off the Yemeni coast took on water after being targeted with three missiles, maritime security and shipping sources said yesterday.

Direct flights from Syria to Saudi Arabia for pilgrims taking part in the annual hajj resumed today, ending 12 years of isolation since the civil war began, a Syrian official told AFP

An Israeli airstrike triggered a fire that killed 45 people in a tent camp in the Gazan city of Rafah, officials said yesterday, prompting an outcry from global leaders who urged the implementation of a World Court order to halt Israel’s assault.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said yesterday it had filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) over Palestinian journalists killed or injured in Gaza.

Egypt's military said today a border guard was killed in a shooting in the Rafah border area with Gaza, where Israeli forces are deployed, adding that a probe had been launched

At least 70 organisations are calling on relevant authorities and international institutions to officially declare a famine in the Gaza Strip, where there is a rapid spread of famine, according to the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor yesterday.

Israeli air strikes and artillery pounded Rafah on yesterday, despite the International Court of Justice ordering an immediate halt to its military offensive in the southern Gazan city.

A Paris court on Friday ordered life jail terms for three top Syrian security officials for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes in a landmark case

Iran’s army has so far found no evidence of criminal activity in a helicopter crash that killed the country’s president Ebrahim Raisi and seven others, state media reported.