Skip to main content

Israeli strike destroys prestige Qatar-funded Gaza complex

At almost exactly the same time Israeli negotiators pulled out of deadlocked truce talks in Qatar on Saturday, Israeli jets sent a prestige Doha-funded housing development in the Gaza Strip up in smoke.

Hamad City is named for the former emir of the Gulf petro-state, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, who laid the foundation stone on a visit 11 years ago.

Inaugurated in 2016, it was still among the newest projects in the Gaza Strip, the housing complex in the city of Khan Yunis boasting an impressive mosque, shops and gardens.

Residents of the Qatari-funded Hamad City residential complex in the Gaza Strip sit outside after  Israeli air strikes hit the development

Makeshift bakery turns out scarce bread in Gaza City

With a metal box for an oven, planks of wood for fuel and a folded strip of cardboard for a makeshift potholder, a baker on a Gaza City street turned out tray after steaming tray of flat bread on Saturday.

A staple food before the war, bread has become rarer and rarer in the Gaza Strip, with bakeries shut across the heavily bombed north and flour in short supply after mills and storage warehouses were damaged in fighting between Israel and Hamas.

Makeshift bread ovens like this one in the central Gaza Strip have profilerated across the territory as Israel's punishing air and ground offensive has forced bakeries to close

Grim cycle of death at a hospital in Gaza

A middle-aged man with a blank, shattered expression walked slowly down a ramp at the hospital, gently cradling in his arms a tiny body wrapped in a white shroud.

After the collapse of a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas, the Nasser hospital's morgue in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, was full once again on Saturday.

A handful of women wept for their own children, while a group of men nearby prayed for the dead.

Bodies are moved at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, in a file picture taken on November 14

Erdogan weighs in on bank scam involving Turkish stars

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday urged Turks to steer clear of pyramid schemes as a scandal raged at a top bank that allegedly defrauded celebrities and football stars of millions of dollars.

Turkey's media has been filled with headlines for days about the troubles at privately-owned Denizbank.

Court documents reported by Turkish media show that one of the bank's Istanbul branch managers orchestrated a $44-million scheme that promised 250-percent returns for those willing to hand over piles of cash.

Legendary Turkish coach Fatih Terim led Galatasaray to UEFA Cup glory in 2000

Activists decry silence over evidence of sexual violence in Hamas attacks

Israeli women and legal activists have accused international rights groups of maintaining a conspiracy of silence over alleged rapes and other sexual crimes committed by Hamas militants during the October 7 attacks.

Even before forensic examinations began, an abundance of images pointed to the gruesome nature of the attacks, with pictures shared online and live footage streamed by the militants as they killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to an Israeli count.

A woman lights candles in Tel Aviv, demanding the release of Israelis held hostage in Gaza

Turkey's Erdogan rejects US pressure to cut Hamas ties

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Saturday pushed back against mounting US pressure to cut Ankara's historic ties with Hamas in the wake of the militants' unprecedented attacks on Israel.

The US Treasury's top terrorism financing official conveyed Washington's "profound" alarm about Ankara's past relations with Hamas during a visit to Turkey this week.

Under Secretary Brian Nelson said Washington has not detected any money passing through Turkey to Hamas since the Gaza war broke out eight weeks ago.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan views Hamas as the legitimately elected leaders of Gaza

Nations rally behind renewables at COP28 climate talks

Nearly 120 nations pledged to triple the world's renewable energy within seven years at UN climate talks Saturday as the United States pushed to crank up nuclear capacity and slash methane emissions.

With smoggy skies in Dubai highlighting the challenges facing the world, leaders at the COP28 conference threw their support behind voluntary pledges aimed at ramping up alternatives to fossil fuels.

More than 50 world leaders took the stage at COP28 for the second day in a row

Israel and Hamas trade strikes as Palestinian toll mounts

Israel and Hamas brushed off international calls to renew an expired truce Saturday as air strikes pounded militant targets in Gaza and Palestinian groups launched volleys of rockets.

Smoke again clouded the sky over the north of the Palestinian territory, whose Hamas government said 240 people had been killed since a pause in hostilities expired early Friday and combat resumed.

Smoke rising from buildings hit by Israeli strikes in Gaza

IMF to revise regional outlook over Israel-Hamas conflict

The IMF announced Friday that it will revise its economic outlook for the Middle East and North Africa region due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

The conflict will have wide-ranging consequences for "both people and economies" in the region, although the extent of the impact remains "highly uncertain," the International Monetary Fund staff wrote in a blog post.

It did not say if the revisions would be released ahead of its next outlook publication, which is due in January.

Israeli troops walk past destroyed buildings along the north-south Salaheddine road in Gaza

UN Security Council puts end to mission in Sudan

At the request of Sudanese authorities, the UN Security Council on Friday ended the world body's political mission in the African country ravaged by more than seven months of fighting between two rival generals.

Following a letter from Khartoum demanding an immediate end to the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), the Security Council adopted a resolution terminating its mandate as of Sunday.

The government of Sudanese leader Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan, seen here at UN headquarters in September 2023, had asked the United Nations to end its political mission in his country with immediate effect; the UN Security Council voted to do so