JABALYA CAMP, Gaza Strip  – Five-year-old Mohammed al-Najjar lets his mind wander as he puts crayon to paper in an effort to depict an Israeli air strike inside a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. “This is the plane and those are two missiles it fired. They hit a house and the house was damaged […]

CAIRO – A Hamas leader on Sunday played down reports that his group wanted to establish a new umbrella body to replace the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole representative of the Palestinians. Mahmoud al-Zahar told Al Jazeera television that remarks by Hamas’s leader in exile, Khaled Meshaal, that some Palestinian groups were discussing the […]

JERUSALEM/GAZA  – An Egyptian proposal to stabilize post-war Gaza calls for an extended truce between Israel and Hamas, a prisoner exchange and the initial opening of at least two of the enclave’s border crossings, diplomats said. Ahead of an Israeli election on Tuesday, negotiations in Cairo have grown increasingly intense and complex. Western diplomats briefed […]

TEHRAN (FNA)- Developments in Gaza have created a wide gap among the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states, an official in the council’s secretariat told FNA on Sunday. “The Palestine issue has divided council’s members into two groups,” Media Affairs Official in PGCC’s secretariat Salim Al Alavi said. Reminding the gap created among the […]

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran delivered message of friendship and peace to the oppressed Gaza people by its humanitarian aids sent to the area via Lebanon. Iran delivered the humanitarian aids to Lebanon after it was denied entry by Egypt, Head of Iranian Red Crescent Society team to Gaza Ahmad Navab said on Thursday. Lebanon’s Red Crescent […]

JERUSALEM – The Israeli navy intercepted and boarded a freighter trying to break the blockade of Gaza on Thursday and ordered it to make for Israel’s nearest Mediterranean port, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said. “The navy boarded the vessel, stopped it and it is now bringing it to Ashdod,” Barak said in broadcast remarks. Two […]

CAIRO  – The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas is expected to give Egypt its response to proposals to reach a truce with Israel Saturday, Egypt’s state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported Thursday. Talks between Egyptian intelligence officials and a Hamas delegation ended Wednesday without a deal. Hamas said Israeli proposals for an agreement, carried through […]

JERUSALEM  – Israel admitted Wednesday that one of its tanks killed three girls whose father’s cries on live television shocked viewers in the final days of the Gaza offensive, but said the action was “reasonable.” An Israeli army (IDF) investigation found that two tank shells were fired at a building housing the apartment of Izz […]

RAMALLAH, West Bank  – The government of Western-back Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced on Wednesday a $600 million reconstruction program for the war-battered Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who heads Abbas’s West Bank-based government, said the program would cover all Palestinian houses destroyed or damaged during Israel’s 22-day military offensive in the Hamas-ruled enclave. […]

TEHRAN (FNA)- Muslims are set to support goals of Palestine and the holy Quds, said Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement representative to Tehran Abu Sharif here on Monday. Speaking in a ceremony on resistance victory at Tehran University, Abu Sharif said Islamic states will never permit Israel to attack and gain victory over an Islamic country […]

THERAN (FNA)- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei urged the Palestinian people to be alert to any possibility. Praising Palestinians’ victory in the 22-day war against Israel, Ayatollah Khamenei said in a meeting with Hamas politburo chief Khalid Meshaal on Sunday that Iran is prepared to help the oppressed people of […]

GAZA  – An Israeli air strike on a car in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday wounded four militants, Palestinian medical workers said. They had earlier said that one militant had been killed in the attack. The Israeli army said it targeted gunmen who had fired two mortar bombs that landed in Israel. An Israeli […]

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran Played an active role in the Doha summit which created a new beam of hope among the people of Gaza, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said in a letter to Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad put forward 7 demands during the Qatar summit […]

TEHRAN (FNA)- Hamas politburo chief Khalid Meshaal is due to participate in a Tuesday session of the Iranian parliament, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani announced on Sunday. Meshaal will brief the Iranian lawmakers about the latest developments in the region and Gaza Strip, Larijani added speaking to an open session of parliament. Meanwhile, he lauded Prime […]

TEHRAN (FNA)- An Iranian aid ship carrying medical supplies for Gaza arrived in Beirut after its organizers said Friday it was denied entry by Egypt. “The ship was forced to change course after Egypt denied it entry,” Ghazanfar Rokn-Abadi, spokesman for the Gaza Reconstruction Committee of Iran, said. “We waited 24 hours and then decided […]

UNITED NATIONS  – Israel must investigate allegations that its army violated international law during its three-week war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, the new U.S. envoy to the United Nations said on Thursday. “We expect Israel will meet its international obligations to investigate and we also call upon all members of the international […]

RAMALLAH, West Bank  – U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell called on Thursday for an opening of trade crossings into the Gaza Strip with the involvement of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. Following talks in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is at odds with Gaza’s ruling Islamist movement Hamas, Mitchell told reporters: “To be […]

GAZA  – Whole streets lie in ruins, many thousands of Palestinians are homeless after weeks of Israeli bombing and foreign aid cash is piling up. As a builder in the Gaza Strip, this should be Anwar al-Sahabani’s big moment. Instead, though, he sits at home, angry and sad, not just at the wounds he suffered […]

GAZA  – Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli air strikes threatened on Thursday to undermine efforts by U.S. President Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy to reinforce a fragile Gaza ceasefire. Palestinian militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip launched one rocket into Israel late on Wednesday — the first since the January 18 ceasefire — and another […]

JERUSALEM  – The Israeli military said on Wednesday it had reprimanded an officer behind the distribution of a booklet during the Gaza war that advised soldiers against showing any mercy to enemies. An Israeli rights group, Yesh Din, called Monday for the dismissal of the chief military rabbi, Brigadier-General Avichai Rontzki, saying he had authorized […]

RAFAH, Gaza Strip  – Smugglers were back at work in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip Wednesday repairing tunnels running under the border with Egypt only hours after Israeli aircraft bombed the underground network. “They dropped two or three bombs. But look, everybody is still working,” said a 30-year-old digger who gave only his nickname, Abu Ali. […]

CAIRO  – The U.S. Middle East envoy, dispatched by President Barack Obama with orders to “start by listening,” said on Wednesday it was critical to consolidate a Gaza ceasefire after Israel’s offensive. Former Senator George Mitchell met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during the first leg of his week-long tour as the new administration tries to […]

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt has proposed February 22 as the date for the start of a dialogue between Palestinian groups, several of the groups said in reports published Tuesday. Foreign Minister Ahmed Abou Gheit of Egypt, which has been mediating between the groups, told reporters: “We will invite the Palestinian groups. We hope we will […]

GAZA (Reuters) – An Israeli soldier was killed and three were wounded in a blast near the border with the Gaza Strip, Al Arabiya television said on Tuesday, in the deadliest incident for Israel since it declared a ceasefire 10 days ago. Palestinians living near the Kissufim border crossing told Reuters they had seen a […]

TEHRAN (FNA)- Thousands of Gazans remain homeless and hospitals still have a large number of intensive care patients, UN Information Center said on Tuesday. “At this stage, the initial response is focusing on the re-establishment of basic services to the population of Gaza, including water, health, food, cash assistance, education and psychosocial support,” the UN […]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – War ends in the Gaza Strip, a new U.S. president is sworn in, and suddenly this week there is new talk about talks between sworn enemies Israel and Hamas. But talk may be as far as it goes. Neither the contenders in Israel’s election nor Barack Obama seem to share a view […]

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian political leaders said on Wednesday any resumption of peace talks with Israel would require the Jewish state to commit to withdraw from land occupied in 1967 and freeze all settlement activity. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) issued a statement in the West Bank city of Ramallah after new U.S. […]

DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal urged the West Wednesday to lift its boycott of the Palestinian Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip. “I tell European nations … three years of trying to eliminate Hamas is enough. It is time for you to deal with Hamas, which has gained legitimacy through struggle,” Meshaal […]

MUGHRAQA, Gaza Strip (Reuters) – It is hard to believe that the empty sea washing the shore of the battered Gaza Strip is the same Mediterranean of European pleasure yachts and bathing beaches. For 1.5 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza, the westward sea is like the fourth wall of a crumbling prison bounded to the […]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An Israeli army investigation into its use of white phosphorus munitions in Gaza is focusing on an incident in which 20 shells containing the substance were fired into a populated area, a newspaper said on Wednesday. The Haaretz daily said the incident occurred in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya. White […]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel denied on Wednesday its armed forces used ordnance with depleted uranium during the Gaza Strip offensive, and said that could be proven by any U.N. investigation. Responding to a letter from Arab envoys, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Tuesday it would consult with member states on the diplomats’ demand […]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel is preventing the Western-backed Palestinian Authority from transferring cash to the Gaza Strip to pay its workers and others hard-hit by war, Western and Palestinian officials said on Wednesday. The restrictions threatened to undercut the ability of President Mahmoud Abbas’s West Bank-based government to reassert a presence in the Hamas-ruled territory […]

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran believes that the presidency term of Mahmoud Abbas in the Palestinian self-rule government is over and that new parliamentary elections should be held in Palestine, said Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki here on Wednesday. “We think Mahmoud Abbas’ term in the self-rule government is over and new elections should be held”, Mottaki […]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel said it completed a troop pullout from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Wednesday, starting its relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama by quitting Palestinian land devastated by its 22-day offensive. “As of this morning, the last of the Israel Defense Forces soldiers have left the Gaza Strip and the forces have […]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israelis and Palestinians could all be twice as rich as they are today if conflict had not continued throughout the peace process of the past two decades, an international think tank said on Wednesday. The Strategic Foresight Group, an India-based body that says it has advised governments, said Israel’s offensive in the […]