Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes targeting positions of Palestinian resistance group Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, according to the military. Positions belonging to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, in the southern city of Khan Yunis and some agricultural...

Abu Dis, the town earmarked for the Palestinian capital in U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, lies a short distance to the east of Jerusalem’s walled Old City. A relatively featureless urban sprawl on the old road to Jericho, it has little of the religious or cultural...

Iraq's president on Wednesday threatened to unilaterally name a successor to the country's premier, who resigned in December, if parliament did not nominate a candidate within three days. "If the concerned blocs are unable to resolve the nomination issue by no later than Saturday, February...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hailed US President Donald Trump's peace proposal as a victory for Israel earned on his watch, but whether it boosts his re-election chances remains to be seen, experts say. The March 2 vote is Israel's third in less than a year, with polls suggesting...

Palestinians have rejected US President Donald Trump's peace proposals but may struggle to push back if Israel launches the plan on the ground by annexing settlements and keys parts of the West Bank. Trump's initiative grants the Jewish state full control of Jerusalem and allows it to annex...

The United States hopes to begin broad discussions with the Iraqi government in the near future, U.S. special representative for Syria James Jeffrey told Reuters on Wednesday, after U.S.-led coalition operations have been on pause in the Middle East country. Jeffrey also said the United...

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan lambasted a Middle East plan unveiled by US counterpart Donald Trump as "absolutely unacceptable" in comments published Wednesday. "Jerusalem is sacred for Muslims. The plan to give Jerusalem to Israel is absolutely unacceptable. This plan ignores...

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that U.S. President Donald Trump's peace plan for the Israel-Palestinian conflict was doomed to fail and all Muslim nations should oppose it. "The devilish and vicious policy of America towards Palestine called the 'deal of the...

Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said on Wednesday that the first reading of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan indicates a great waste of legitimate rights of Palestinians. However, the Arab League is “studying the American vision carefully. We are open to...

The United Arab Emirates announced Wednesday its first case of the new coronavirus, in a family from Wuhan, in what is thought to be the first confirmed case in the Middle East. “The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention announced a case of the new coronavirus affecting people from one...

Emboldened by a supportive White House, Israel appears to be barreling toward a showdown with the international community over its half-century-old settlement enterprise in the West Bank. With the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court poised to launch a war crimes probe of...

Jerusalem, Palestine - United States President Donald Trump's Middle East plan, also known as the "Deal of the Century", has been denounced by the Palestinians as a "new Balfour Declaration". Trump revealed his plan on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu standing by his...

Palestinian condemnation of the U.S. Middle East peace plan came swiftly on Tuesday night, with thousands protesting in Gaza and the militant Islamist group Hamas saying it would confront President Donald Trump’s “aggressive” proposals. Confounding some predictions, the proposals included a...

President Donald Trump Tuesday unveiled long-awaited details of a US plan for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, warning it may represent the last chance at statehood for the Palestinians. "Today, Israel takes a big step towards peace," Trump told a White House news conference,...

The United Nations raised "serious concerns" Tuesday about the trials of hundreds of alleged Daesh (ISIS) members in Iraq, some of whom merely prepared meals, offered medical services or even acted as human shields for the militant group. Iraq has processed thousands of cases under its...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel Wednesday to Moscow to present US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan to Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Netanyahu, who is meeting Trump in Washington Tuesday where the initiative will be unveiled, will head to Moscow the next...

Iraqi authorities have ordered the closure for a month of Al-Dijla television, which has aired intensive coverage of anti-government protests in recent months, media and police sources told AFP Tuesday. "Interior ministry forces fully shut down Al-Dijla's offices in Baghdad last night and...

A motion for Iran to quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was introduced in parliament on Tuesday, the assembly’s news site ICANA reported, in a move that appears to raise the stakes in Tehran’s confrontation with the West. The report did not say when parliament might vote on the...

The Israeli army said Tuesday it was beefing up forces in the Jordan Valley, a swathe of the occupied West Bank expected to feature in US President Donald Trump's long-awaited peace plan. "Following the ongoing situation assessment conducted in the IDF (Israel Defence Forces), it has been...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called Tuesday for a massive turnout in next month's parliamentary election, which look set to be challenging for the coalition government. "We hope that all our people will come to the polls and participate because these elections will have consequences for...