Voting for Tunisia's first local council elections began on Sunday. Voting started at 8 a.m. local time (0700GMT) and will last for 10 hours in 4,685 election centers set up in 2,155 regions across the North African country. More than 9 million voters are expected to cast their ballots...

Some two-thirds of Israelis, or 67%, support a new deal to release Israeli hostages from Gaza in exchange for a cease-fire in the strip, says a new public opinion poll.  Only 22% of Israelis opposed a deal to return the hostages in exchange for a cease-fire, while 11% had no view, said...

Hamas demands the release of three top Palestinian leaders in any hostage swap deal with Israel, according to Israeli media on Thursday. Hamas insists Marwan Barghouti, Ahmed Saadat and Abdullah Barghouti be on the list of prisoners to be released in any new deal, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper...

The Israeli war on the Gaza Strip has left 26,700 people dead and missing since Oct. 7, the government media office in the enclave said Wednesday. “Around 20,000 dead people have been admitted to hospitals, including 8,000 children and 6,200 women,” the media office said in a statement....