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80% of Gazans now displaced: UN humanitarian coordinator

The UN humanitarian coordinator for Gaza said Tuesday that 1.9 million people -- 80 percent of the territory's population -- were now displaced, adding she was "deeply concerned" by reports of new evacuation orders for Khan Yunis.

The United Nations has estimated that up to 250,000 people are impacted by the Israeli military order for civilians to leave parts of Khan Yunis and Rafah in Gaza, which has a total population of 2.4 million.

The United Nations has estimated that up to 250,000 people are impacted by the Israeli military order for civilians to leave

Desperate Gazans sleep outside after new Israeli evacuation order

Tens of thousands of Palestinians fled a southern Gaza district on Tuesday, forced to forage for food and water in blistering heat after an Israeli evacuation order set off fears of a major new battle in its war on Hamas.

The United Nations estimated that up to 250,000 people are impacted by the Israeli military order for civilians to leave Al-Qarara, Bani Suhaila and other localities near the territory's second city of Khan Yunis.

Before the latest evacuation, Israeli forces withdrew from Khan Yunis in early April after a devastating months-long battle

Seven protesters killed in north Syria clashes with Turkish forces: new toll

Clashes between armed protesters and guards of Turkish positions in Syria's north killed seven people, a medical source and a war monitor said Tuesday in a revised toll.

The protests Monday in the Turkish-controlled border strip followed a rampage a day earlier against Syrian businesses and properties in central Turkey, where a Syrian man had been accused of harassing a child.

"Seven protesters have been killed... during exchanges of fire with people guarding Turkish positions," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Syrian demonstrators vandalise a Turkish army observation point during a protest in Ibbin Samaan in northern Syria

Lebanon says Israeli GPS jamming confounding ground, air traffic

Uber driver Hussein Khalil was battling traffic in Beirut when he found himself in the Gaza Strip -- according to his online map, anyway -- as location jamming blamed on Israel disrupts life in Lebanon.

"We've been dealing with this problem a lot for around five months," said Khalil, 36.

"Sometimes we can't work at all," the disgruntled driver told AFP on Beirut's chaotic, car-choked streets.

"Of course, we are losing money."

Whacky location data on apps have caused confusion in Lebanon, as fears have grown of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah

Thousands of Palestinians flee as Israel pounds Gaza

Palestinians fled parts of southern Gaza in droves on Tuesday as Israeli forces launched deadly strikes and clashed with militants after issuing an evacuation order.

The Israeli army on Monday ordered the evacuation for most areas east of Khan Yunis and Rafah along the Egyptian border. It did not explicitly announce a military operation, but such orders have typically preceded major offensives.

Displaced Palestinians leave east Khan Yunis after the Israeli army issued a new evacuation order in Gaza

Slow art: the master illuminator of Tehran

Iranian artist Mohammad Hossein Aghamiri sometimes labours for six months on a single design, very carefully -- he knows a single crooked line could ruin his entire artwork.

In the age of AI-assisted graphic design on computer screens, the centuries-old tradition of Persian illumination offers an antidote to rushing the creative process.

Aghamiri's fine brush moves natural pigments onto the paper with deliberate precision as he creates intricate floral patterns, religious motifs and elegantly flowing calligraphy.

Mohammad Hossein Aghamiri, an artist who specialises in Persian miniatures, uses a magnifying glass as he works on one of his pieces depicting al-Fatiha, the first chapter of the Koran

Taliban told to 'include women' in public life at UN talks

Taliban authorities were told women must be included in public life, UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo said on Monday as she defended a decision to sideline civil society groups at official talks in Doha.

Rights organisations have strongly criticised the controversial UN move to exclude the groups, including women's rights activists, from the two-day meeting on Afghanistan as the price for the Taliban government's participation.

A Taliban spokesman addresses a press conference in Kabul on June 29, 2024

First Palestinian Olympic boxer fights hurdles before history

Every morning Palestinian boxer Waseem Abu Sal checks texts from his Cairo-based coach -- a Gazan who cannot travel to him in the occupied West Bank -- to see his daily Olympics training schedule as he prepares to make history.

The 20-year-old will be the first Palestinian boxer to participate in the Olympics after he bagged a wildcard spot and now dreams of delivering the first-ever medal for the Palestinians when he competes in Paris.

"This has been my dream since I was 10 years old," he told AFP the day after receiving the invitation last week.

Palestinian boxer Waseem Abu will make history at the Paris Olympics

Palestinian ministry says Israeli raid kills woman and child in West Bank

Palestinian officials said an Israeli raid Monday killed a woman and a child in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, where a militant was killed the day before.

The Israeli military, whose forces struck the same refugee camp on Sunday, did not immediately comment on the latest deaths.

The Palestinian health ministry said in a statement that the woman and the child were killed in Nur Shams camp, near the northern West Bank town of Tulkarm.

Four other people were wounded by Israeli "live fire", it said.

People inspect a building that was heavily damaged during an Israeli army raid on the Nur Shams camp for Palestinian refugees, east of Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank

Four dead as armed protesters, Turkish forces clash in north Syria: monitor

Four people were killed after armed protesters and Turkish forces clashed in Syria's Ankara-controlled northwest Monday, a war monitor said, in demonstrations sparked by violence against Syrians in Turkey a day earlier.

Hundreds demonstrated throughout the territory, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, following a rampage against Syrian businesses and properties in central Turkey where a Syrian man had been accused of harassing a child.

A protester stands in front a burning Turkish truck during protests against Turkey in a Syrian opposition-held area north of Aleppo