Israel recalled its ambassador to the UN on Monday as tensions erupted over the handling of allegations of sexual assault by Hamas militants during the October 7 attacks.
Israel has accused the United Nations of taking too long to respond to the claims, a charge the UN has robustly defended itself against as it published a report detailing evidence of Hamas rapes and assaults.
US Vice President Kamala Harris expressed "deep concern" over the situation faced by Gaza's civilians in talks Monday with Benny Gantz, an Israeli war cabinet member and top rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A day after she delivered some of the most stinging US criticism of Israel since the war began, Harris called for Israel to let in more aid to the Palestinian territory, while also urging Hamas to accept a six-week ceasefire deal.
Iran's conservatives and ultra-conservatives secured a large majority in parliamentary elections, officials said Monday, in a vote marked by a turnout of 41 percent, the lowest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
"Around 25 million people participated, with a turnout of 41 precent" in Friday's elections, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi told a Tehran press conference.
Candidates categorised as conservative or ultra-conservative on pre-election lists won more than two-thirds of the seats, with around 15 percent of contests headed for a second round.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees is set to defend his organization's work Monday at the General Assembly, after crippling backlash over accusations some employees were involved in Hamas's surprise October 7 attack on Israel.
Philippe Lazzarini warned in a letter to the General Assembly's president that the UNRWA is at a "breaking point" as donors freeze funding, Israel exerts pressure to dismantle the agency and humanitarian needs soar.
A US envoy said Monday that a diplomatic solution was key to ending nearly five months of intensifying hostilities between Lebanon's Hezbollah and Israel after the eruption of the Israel-Hamas war.
Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement have been exchanging near-daily fire since October, raising fears all-out conflict could spread across the region.
Israeli troops on Monday blew up the home of a Palestinian accused of killing a British-Israeli woman and her two daughters in the occupied West Bank last year.
The apartment of Moaz al-Masry, who was killed by Israeli forces following the April 7 attack, was demolished in the early hours, Palestinian witnesses and the Israeli military told AFP.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said their medics treated about 15 people after Israeli forces fired tear gas during the raid on the West Bank city of Nablus.
Israel and the main Palestinian aid agency traded accusations Monday of "terrorism" and torture, after the United States stepped up pressure for a halt in fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants.
While mediators in Cairo persisted with efforts toward a Gaza truce, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) came under renewed attack from Israel, whose military accused it of employing "over 450 terrorists" belonging to groups including Hamas.
Tunisian civil society groups fear the government is planning to starve them of foreign funding under the pretext of fighting money laundering and terrorism.
President Kais Saied, who launched a sweeping power grab in 2021 and rules by decree, has accused many non-government organisations of serving "foreign agendas".
Under a draft law he supported, state authorities would have to approve all foreign funding for NGOs that operate in the North African country.
US Vice President Kamala Harris called Sunday for a proposed six-week ceasefire deal in the Israel-Hamas war to be accepted, while criticizing Israel over insufficient aid deliveries into Gaza.
"Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire for at least the next six weeks, which is what is currently on the table," Harris said during a speech in Selma, Alabama.
Moscow, Riyadh and several other OPEC+ members on Sunday announced extensions to oil production cuts first announced in 2023 as part of an agreement among oil producers to boost prices following economic uncertainty.
The plan to extend cuts to mid-2024 comes on top of previous cuts to both oil output and exports as some of the world's largest energy producers drive to push up market rates.
Saudi Arabia's energy ministry said it would cut its production by one million barrels per day (bpd) from April to June (Q2), while Russia announced 471,000 bpd of cuts in Q2.
