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Food supply improving in Gaza since truce but long way to go, says UN

By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA (Reuters) -More food supplies are getting into Gaza since the October ceasefire but are still falling short of huge humanitarian needs as winter rains risk spoiling delivered foodstuffs, the U.N. World Food Programme said on Friday.

"Things are better than before the ceasefire, but we have a long way to go. Sustained support is an important endeavour to help families rebuild their health, their nutrition and their lives," WFP spokesperson Martin Penner told reporters in Geneva via video link from the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in the northern Gaza Strip, September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Two Palestinian youths killed in clashes on the fringes of Jerusalem

Israeli forces fatally shot two Palestinian teenagers on the outskirts of Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority said Friday, while the Israeli police said they had opened fire on people posing a threat.

"The young man Amr Khaled Ahmed Al-Marbou (18) and the boy Sami Ibrahim Sami Mashayekh (16) were martyred by occupation forces gunfire in the town of Kufr Aqab," the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.

Mourners carry the body of 16-year-old Palestinian Sami Mashayekh during his funeral

Gaza women, children injured by Israeli military during shaky ceasefire, MSF says

GENEVA (Reuters) -Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Friday that its medical teams in Gaza had treated Palestinian women and children this week for injuries from Israeli airstrikes and gunfire, almost six weeks into a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

Since Wednesday, medical staff in northern and southern Gaza have treated women and children with open fractures and gunshot wounds to their limbs and heads, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres, a charity also known as Doctors Without Borders.

Mourners react as they attend the funeral of Palestinians who, according to medics, were killed in overnight Israeli strikes, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, November 20, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas     TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Israeli forces kill two Palestinian teens in escalating West Bank violence

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli forces killed two Palestinian teenagers during an overnight raid on a town near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, residents said, as violence surges in the territory with a growing number of dead.

Forces shot Sami Ibrahim Mashaikha, 16, and Amr Khaled Al-Marboua, 18, in Kfar Aqab and both later died of their wounds, according to the health ministry in the Palestinian Authority that exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank.

Relatives of one of two Palestinians, who were killed in an Israeli raid, react near their body ahead of their funeral, at a hospital in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 21, 2025. REUTERS/Ismael Khader

Air cargo services between India, Afghanistan to be launched soon

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Air cargo services between India and Afghanistan will be launchedsoon, an Indian foreign ministry official said on Friday, during a visit by Afghanistan's Taliban Trade Minister Al-Haj Nooruddin Azizi to New Delhi.

"I am pleased to announce that the air freight corridor on the Kabul-Delhi sector and Kabul-Amristar routes have been activated and cargo flights on these sectors will come very soon," the official, Anand Prakash, said.

(Reporting by Nigam Prusty; Writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh)

Afghanistan's Taliban Trade Minister Nooruddin Azizi addresses a delegation during a meeting in New Delhi, India, November 21, 2025. REUTERS/Bhawika Chhabra

Iranian director Jafar Panahi ramps up French Oscars campaign

After years of being banned from leaving Iran, filmmaker Jafar Panahi is enjoying his tour of the United States -- visiting Los Angeles, New York and Telluride -- as he promotes his Oscar-hopeful "It Was Just an Accident."

The film, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, has been selected by France as its official nomination for the Academy Awards, and is widely expected to make the shortlist for the Best International Feature at the gala event in March.

Iranian director Jafar Panahi is promoting his 'It Was Just An Accident' for the Oscars

Syria sends first Swift message to New York Fed, central bank governor says

(Reuters) -The Syrian central bank on Thursday sent its first Swift message to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, central bank Governor AbdulKader Husrieh told Reuters.

"We sent (a) greeting message to all our international correspondent banks. We started with the Federal Reserve," Husrieh said. "We're telling them that ... we are back to the international financial system, and we are looking forward to long-term business relationships."

People and cars are seen in front of the Central Bank of Syria in Damascus, Syria December 11, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Ten months on, displacement feels permanent for West Bank camp residents

Ten months after he was forced out of the occupied West Bank's Tulkarem refugee camp, Hakam Irhil doesn't know if he will ever be able to return.

Irhil was displaced and his home demolished after Israel launched a major military operation in mid-January in multiple northern Palestinian refugee camps, where the army says it is seeking to root out armed groups.

Israel, which has occupied the West Bank since 1967, calls the ongoing operation "Iron Wall".

The Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem is now behind a newly-installed gate

Israel expects to keep regional military edge despite planned sale of F-35s to Saudi

TEL AVIV (Reuters) -Israel expects to maintain access to more advanced U.S. weaponry, a government spokesperson said on Thursday when asked about Washington's plan to sell F-35 warplanes to Saudi Arabia.

Israel is the only Middle East country operating the F-35, one of the most advanced warplanes ever built. U.S. law guarantees Israel a "qualitative military edge" in the region.

"The United States and Israel have a long-standing understanding, which is that Israel maintains the qualitative edge when it comes to its defense," spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian told reporters.

An F-35 jet performs performs at the Dubai Airshow in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, November 17, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky

Edgy Iran seeks Saudi leverage to revive stalled nuclear talks with US

By Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran has asked Saudi Arabia to persuade the U.S. to revive stalled nuclear talks, underlining Tehran's anxiety over a possible repeat of Israeli airstrikes and its deepening economic woes, two regional sources with knowledge of the matter said.

A day before Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to the White House earlier this week, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian sent a letter to the de facto Saudi leader, Iranian and Saudi media reported on Monday.

Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman speaks during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 18, 2025.  REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein