Israel loosened restrictions on fishermen off the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday by allowing them to travel up to 15 nautical miles into the Mediterranean, the largest distance in years. The decision comes after Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules Gaza, said it had been engaged in...

Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan suffered a severe setback as his ruling AK Party lost control of the capital Ankara for the first time in a local election and he appeared to concede defeat in the country’s largest city, Istanbul. Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics since coming to power 16...

Brazil opened a new trade mission to Israel in Jerusalem on Sunday, appearing to edge back from earlier signals it would follow the United States by moving its full embassy to the contested city. The announcement came during a visit by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro - an outspoken...

Israel reopened its crossings with the blockaded Gaza Strip on Sunday after having kept them closed for nearly a week following a rare long-distance rocket strike from the Palestinian enclave, an official said. The Erez crossing for people and the Kerem Shalom crossing for goods reopened...

Polling in Turkey’s local elections began on Sunday, with 57 million registered voters expected to cast their ballots in the country's 81 provinces. Voting started at 7.00 a.m local time (0400GMT) and will continue through 4.00 p.m. local time (1300GMT) in 32 out of Turkey’s 81 provinces....

Thousands of Palestinians rallied at the Gaza-Israel border on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of a surge of protests, facing off against Israeli forces massed across the frontier. Troops fired tear gas across the border and the Israeli military said some of the estimated 20,000...

Thirty men were sentenced to between 10 years to life imprisonment on Saturday for planning a suicide bombing on a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria and other charges, court official said. Authorities said at the time of their arrest that the defendants had embraced the ideas of the...

Iraq's president said Friday he does not see any "serious" opposition to the presence of American forces in Iraq, provided they continue to be there specifically to assist Iraqi forces in the fight against the Islamic State group. Barham Salih said there is "general consensus" that Iraq...

A Palestinian man was killed by Israeli fire on the Gaza border early Saturday, the territory’s health ministry said, hours ahead of planned mass protests. The ministry said Mohammed Saad, 20, died after being hit in the head with shrapnel caused by Israeli army fire east of Gaza city....

 Iran called on Friday on Palestinians to be steadfast in their resistance against U.S. President Donald Trump’s moves in support of Israel on Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Iran spoke on the eve of “Land Day”, an annual commemoration of the deaths of six Arab citizens of Israel...

Palestinians in Gaza are expected to gather in huge numbers along the fence separating them from Israel on Saturday, testing a fragile ceasefire only days after a major flareup. The demonstrations mark the first anniversary of deadly protests on the border with Israel. Days of...

The Israeli army has deployed reinforcements along fraught Gaza-Israel buffer zone in advance of anticipated Palestinian rallies on Saturday marking the first anniversary of Gaza’s “Great Return” march. Saturday’s planned demonstration will also mark Palestinian Land Day, which...

 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel is prepared to wage a broad military campaign in Gaza but only as a last resort, after a two-day flareup of cross-border fighting less than two weeks before an Israeli election. “All Israelis should know that if a...

Around 40 children have been killed and many injured in one year of demonstrations along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, the UN said Thursday, calling for an "urgent de-escalation". Thousands of Palestinians have gathered at least weekly along the border in protests that have...

Egyptian mediators are heading to Israel to discuss a potential cease-fire plan with Hamas to end hostilities in the Gaza Strip that began earlier this week. Three Hamas officials familiar with the negotiations said Thursday that the Egyptians offered Hamas a series of measures to ease the...

Palestinians in Gaza will on Saturday mark a year since mass protests and deadly clashes began along the Israeli border, with a demonstration expected to draw thousands and bring tensions to boiling point. The anniversary falls only days after another severe flare-up between Hamas and...

 Amnesty International criticized the European Union on Wednesday for a “shameful” abdication of its humanitarian responsibilities after the bloc agreed to withdraw ships patrolling the Mediterranean for migrants attempting the perilous voyage. After months of wrangling, the EU agreed...

About 150 Palestinian students threw firebombs and rocks at Israeli soldiers who responded with tear gas and rubber-coated metal bullets in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday after an Israeli raid on their university. Also on Wednesday, a 17-year-old Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli...

Schools reopened in southern Israel and traffic clogged Gaza’s streets on Wednesday in signs of a pullback from the most serious escalation of cross-border fighting in months. But while violence eased amid Egyptian mediation, Israeli forces and Palestinian militants were on hair-trigger...

Lebanon said on Wednesday it wanted to follow the example of eastern EU states that have largely rejected refuging its own refugee crisis as a way of resolvs. Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil sympathised with the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia's refusal to accept refugee...