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‘The United States has not conducted air strikes in Iraq today,’ the US military’s Central Command said Paul Scruton, Lucy Swan, Iona Serrapica and Alex Olorenshaw have created a visual guide to Friday’s events in Iran via graphics, video and satellite images.You can take a look at it here: Continue reading...

Grim milestone comes as G7 leaders urge Netanyahu not to press ahead with Rafah invasionThe death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza climbed to more than 34,000 on Saturday, with the majority of victims women and children, including at least six killed by an overnight airstrike on a house in Rafah.The latest grim milestone comes as hope of a ceasefire has dimmed, and global...

Discussion ‘leans more towards infiltration than attack’ says anonymous Iranian official as US says Israel has carried out military operationFull report: Israel has carried out airstrikes on Iran, US officials sayWhat we know so far about Israel’s strike on IranWhat’s in Isfahan? The city home to Iranian nuclear facilitiesIt’s 7:24am in Tehran and 6:54 In Tel Aviv. Let’s get a reminder of what we...

Washington blocks security council resolution supported by 12 member countries, with two abstentions including UKThe US has vetoed a Palestinian request to the United Nations security council for full UN membership, blocking the world body’s recognition of a Palestinian state.The vote in the 15-member security council was 12 in favor, the US opposed and two abstentions, the UK and Switzerland. Continue reading...

The gulf state’s prime minister said he was making the move due to ‘exploitation and abuse of the Qatari role’See all of our updates on the Israel-Gaza war and wider Middle East crisisThe EU has edged closer to calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East after a meeting of the 27 bloc leaders last night.Leaders have struggled to agree language from the...

IDF confirms buying thousands of tents for evacuation, raising fears over long-threatened attackIsrael has reportedly deployed extra artillery and armoured personnel carriers to the Gaza Strip periphery, suggesting that the military is preparing for its long-threatened ground offensive on Rafah, the only place of relative safety for at least 1.4 million displaced Palestinian civilians.Israeli daily Ma’ariv also said on Wednesday that troops had been...

UK foreign secretary is probably first non-Israeli politician to admit military reprisal is inevitable but urges Israel not to escalateDavid Cameron has said it is clear Israel is “making a decision to act” in response to last weekend’s Iranian mass drone and ballistic missile attack, as Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off calls for restraint and said his country would make its own decisions about how...

Labour shadow minister also says Israel should be held accountable before international tribunal for war conduct in GazaMiddle East crisis – live updatesLisa Nandy, the UK’s shadow minister for international development, has called for support for the UN relief agency, Unrwa, warning that “time has run out for hundreds of thousands” of people in Gaza.Nandy is in Washington this week attending the spring meetings...

David Cameron says it is hoped Israel ‘does as little to escalate as possible’ as he visits Jerusalem as west considers new sanctions on IranSee all our Middle East crisis coverageHere are some more pictures sent over the news wires from Rafah showing the aftermath of an Israeli strike there.Reuters, citing the semi-official Tasnim news agency, reports that Iran’s navy is to begin escorting...

Exclusive: Government ministries and offices behind most contentious of projects, which will create thousands of housing unitsIsrael’s government has accelerated the construction of settlements across East Jerusalem, with more than 20 projects totalling thousands of housing units having been approved or advanced since the start of the war in Gaza six months ago, planning documents show.Ministries and offices within the Israeli government are behind...

UN human rights office expresses concern over escalating violence after deaths near Nablus over weekendThe UN and the UK have voiced grave concern over escalating violence in the West Bank, demanding that Israeli security forces “immediately” stop supporting settler attacks on Palestinians in the occupied territory.The comments came hours after two Palestinian men were killed by Israeli settlers in a northern village south of...

Iran’s military spokesperson tells western allies to stop supporting Israel and warns of response to any further aggressionFull report: IDF chief of staff says Israel will respondExplainer: how will Israel respond to Iran’s attackA senior spokesperson for Iran’s military has warned the US, UK, France and Germany to stop supporting Israel, and said that there will be an even stronger response from Iran if...

Violence is reported to have escalated after a 14 year old Israeli shepherd went missing in the West Bank on Friday Israeli settlers have killed two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian officials, after a weekend of escalating violence across the territory.The Palestinian health ministry named the victims of the attack near Nablus as Abdulrahman Maher Bani Fadel, 30, and Mohammed...

Flights delayed and traffic disrupted as protesters in major US cities intensify call for ceasefire in GazaThousands of people held protests across the US on Monday condemning Israel’s attack on Gaza, shutting down airports and disrupting traffic in major cities from New York to San Francisco.A portion of the Kennedy Expressway into Chicago O’Hare international airport, one of the US’s busiest, was blocked off...

Amman and allies insist Jordanian actions were self-defence after public anger at home and across regionJordan has found itself caught in the crosshairs of the confrontation between Iran and Israel, facing public anger at home and in the region for its role in downing dozens of Iranian drones targeting Israeli territory on Saturday night.Underlying its precarious position, Amman summoned the Iranian ambassador on Sunday...

The warning from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations offered no details about the boarding See all our coverage of the Middle East crisisThe search for a missing Israeli teenager resumed on Saturday in the occupied West Bank, where settler attacks on Palestinian villages have left at least one dead and dozens injured, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP) citing sources on both sides.The Israeli army...

Few of Hamas’s senior leaders have been harmed but its ability to govern is reduced and thousands of fighters are deadSix months after the surprise attacks it launched into Israel, triggering the Gaza conflict, Hamas is weakened and divided but far from defeated, experts, officials and sources close to the militant Islamist organisation say.Hamas remains in de facto control of swaths of Gaza, including...

Israel’s defence minister says it will launch ‘appropriate’ response if Iran retaliates over embassy attack in SyriaSee all our Israel-Gaza war covergeAn assessment conducted by a UN team in Khan Younis after the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area, has reported “widespread destruction”.In an update on its website, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) wrote:Every building they visited –...

Pedro Sánchez is first foreign premier Simon Harris will meet since becoming leaderThe new Irish taoiseach is to meet the Spanish prime minister to discuss their joint plan to recognise Palestine as a nation state and their attempts to force the EU to assess Israel’s human rights obligations as a condition of their trade deal with the bloc.Pedro Sánchez, who is due to arrive...

Samantha Power becomes first US official to confirm famine, while aid workers decry continuing lack of help ‘Man-made starvation’: the obstacles to Gaza aid deliveries – visual guideA promised surge in aid into Gaza that Benjamin Netanyahu promised Joe Biden a week ago has so far failed to materialise, aid workers say, as the US aid chief confirmed that famine is beginning to take...

US-backed proposal involves women, children and elderly or sick hostages in Gaza being exchanged for 900 Palestinian prisonersMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe Palestinian militant group Hamas has indicated it does not have 40 captives who are still alive who meet the “humanitarian” criteria for a proposed hostages-for-prisoners ceasefire agreement with Israel.A senior Israeli official confirmed claims made at the weekend by Hamas during...

US president gives some of his strongest criticism of Israeli PM yet, saying he needs to ‘empower’ Israel’s negotiators to call for a truceSee all our coverage of the Israel-Gaza warUS president Joe Biden has said prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach on Gaza was a “mistake” and urged Israel to call for a ceasefire, in an interview that aired on Tuesday.Biden’s comments were some...

Foreign secretary says Britain’s position on export licences is ‘unchanged’ after reviewing latest legal adviceMiddle East crisis – live updatesDavid Cameron has confirmed the UK government will not suspend arms exports to Israel after the killing of seven aid workers in an airstrike on Gaza last week, as he insisted the UK would continue to act within international law.The foreign secretary said that he...

Nicaragua asks UN’s highest court to halt German weapons sales to Israel, alleging it is breaching obligation to prevent genocideGermany has said Israel’s security is at “the core” of its foreign policy because of the history of the Holocaust, but denied accusations at the UN’s highest court that is aiding genocide in Gaza by arming Israel.Nicaragua has brought a case against Germany at the...