The Takeaway: Would Hamas complicate US plans for reset with Palestinians? Also: the back story on the spat between Israel and Jordan; Gulf post-COVID economic trends; Turkey’s Kurds; Egypt and Somalia; and more! Originals
Egypt sentences activist Sanaa Seif to 18 months in prison Seif, who had been in pretrial detention since June, was convicted Wednesday of spreading false news and misusing social media. Egypt
Ukraine rejects Iran's final report on downed passenger plane The Iranian government said last year's shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was the result of a human error. Iran
Palestinians receive first batch of vaccines through COVAX More than 60,000 doses of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines arrived in Ramallah on Wednesday. Palestine
Justice for genocide: Yazidis hopeful as Islamic State trial opens in Germany An Iraqi man is on trial in a German court for human trafficking and genocide against the Yazidis. Iraq
Egypt, Algeria relax coronavirus restrictions for Ramadan Egypt and Algeria are allowing greater civilian movement for the Islamic holy month, as are the United Arab Emirates and Iraq. Egypt
Netanyahu looks to boost image with COVID-19 talks with world leaders Advancing the WHO videoconference, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participated in another videoconference with six other world leaders on fighting the coronavirus. Israel
COVID-19 crisis stokes fear of food insecurity in Turkey The novel coronavirus is threatening to inflate food prices in Turkey, whose agricultural sector was already in dire straits and overly reliant on imports before the pandemic. Turkey
Four new coronavirus cases in refugee camp in Lebanon The four infected individuals are relatives of the first refugee woman who tested positive for the coronavirus in a Palestinian refugee camp this week. Lebanon
Saudi-led coalition in Yemen extends unilateral truce by one month The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi rebels in Yemen has announced it's extending a cease-fire another month to allow for UN-brokered negotiations as well as efforts to control the novel coronavirus outbreak. Yemen
Concerns over coronavirus in prisons push Israel-Hamas deal forward With Hamas concerned about a coronavirus outbreak in Gaza and Israel concerned about overcrowding in its prisons, the pandemic offers a unique opportunity to reach a prisoner exchange deal. Palestine
Israel weighs strategic implications of coronavirus crisis Israeli intelligence is unsure whether the pandemic will ease tensions with neighboring countries or do just the opposite. Palestine
Syrian Kurds investigate fate of detained, kidnapped Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria have launched an initiative to determine what has happened to the forcibly disappeared and those detained by the various parties to the conflict in Syria. Syria
Gaza farmers destroyed flowers amid lockdown The state of emergency imposed on the Gaza Strip due to the coronavirus pandemic has not spared the flower cultivation sector. Palestine
Egyptian online fact-finder investigates topics on request This engineer spends his spare time unearthing evidence while trying to put rumors to rest. Originals
Do US and Iranian navies need a hotline in the Gulf? In the absence of direct US-Iran diplomacy, a navy-to-navy communication channel might prevent an unwanted confrontation. United States
