Dubai International Airport welcomed a record 46 million passengers in the first half of this year, authorities said on Tuesday, despite disruptions due to the Iran-Israel war

The facility marked its busiest first half on record with a 2.3 percent year-on-year growth, Dubai Airports said in a statement, "despite temporary regional airspace disruptions in May and June".

During the 12-day Iran-Israel war, airlines cancelled flights to many Middle East destinations as some governments closed their airspace.

By Deniz Uyar, Monica Naime and Pola Grzanka

July 29 (Reuters) - The fighters in military-style uniforms pointed their rifles at the three unarmed men and ordered them out onto a sunny balcony, before barking at them to pause. "One minute. You want to film them?" one of the attackers asked his comrade.

The unfolding horror, which was already being filmed by one gunman on his cellphone, was delayed for a few moments to allow a second fighter to start capturing the events.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -The Dutch government will summon Israel's ambassador to the Netherlands to denounce the "unbearable and indefensable" situation in Gaza and has imposed travel bans on two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers, it said in a letter published late on Monday.

Israeli government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich will no longer be allowed to enter the Netherlands, which accuses them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians and calling for an "ethnic cleansing" of the Gaza strip.

CAIRO/ATHENS (Reuters) -Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday they had rescued 10 seafarers from the Greek-operated cargo ship Eternity C which they attacked and sank in the Red Sea earlier this month.

The Liberia-flagged Eternity C was the second ship to sink off Yemen this month after repeated attacks by Houthi militants with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades. Another Greek-operated vessel, the Magic Seas, had gone down days earlier.

By Lili Bayer

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union's executive body recommended on Monday curbing Israeli access to its flagship research funding programme after calls from EU countries to increase pressure on Israel to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Multiple EU countries said last week that Israel was not living up to its commitments under an agreement with the European Union on increasing aid supplies to Gaza and asked the European Commission to put concrete options on the table.

On a sweltering Monday morning at Cairo's main railway station, hundreds of Sudanese families stood waiting, with bags piled at their feet and children in tow, to board a train bound for a homeland shattered by two years of war.

The war is not yet over, but with the army having regained control of key areas and life in Egypt often hard, many refugees have decided now is the time to head home.

"It's an indescribable feeling," said Khadija Mohamed Ali, 45, seated inside one of the train's ageing carriages, her five daughters lined beside her.

TURNBERRY, Scotland (Reuters) -President Donald Trump warned on Monday that he would order fresh U.S. attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities should Tehran try to restart facilities that the United States bombed last month.

Trump issued the threat as he held talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his Turnberry golf resort on the western coast of Scotland.

Iran, which denies seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, has insisted it will not give up domestic uranium enrichment despite the bombings of three nuclear sites.

By Charlotte Greenfield and Emily Rose

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Two Israeli human rights organisations said on Monday Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the first major voices in Israeli society to level the strongest possible accusation against the state, which vehemently denies it.

Rights group B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel released their reports at a press conference in Jerusalem, saying Israel was carrying out "coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza strip".

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The United States urged the United Nations Security Council on Monday to adjust its sanctions on Syria to help the country's government prevail in what the acting U.S. ambassador described as "the fight against terrorism."

After 13 years of civil war, Syria's President Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December in a lightning offensive by insurgent forces led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

By Sarah Marsh

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany will immediately launch an airlift to deliver humanitarian aid into Gaza as it considers stepping up pressure on Israel over the "catastrophic" situation in the enclave, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday.

As the death toll from almost two years of war in Gaza nears 60,000, a growing number of people are dying from starvation and malnutrition, Gaza health authorities say, with images of starving children shocking the world and fuelling international criticism of Israel over sharply worsening conditions.