Author: Arshad Shaheen

Israel says it is investigating a claim by Hamas that a female hostage has been killed during Israeli operations in northern Gaza. The woman’s identity was not revealed by Hamas, and it was unclear how or when she is said to have died. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was currently unable to “verify or refute” the claim, but that its representatives are in contact with the woman’s family. “This evening the terrorist organization Hamas released a document in which a kidnapped woman is allegedly seen killed,” the IDF said in a statement. “We are checking the information and…

Iraq on Friday welcomed the Iran-Saudi Arabia agreement to resume relations after years of hostility that fueled tensions in the Middle East. In a statement, the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said “a new page of diplomatic relations between the two neighboring countries begins.” The efforts made by the Iraqi government through hosting rounds of dialogue between the two countries in Baghdad laid a solid foundation for the agreement, “which will be reflected in the integration of relations between the two sides and give a qualitative impetus in the cooperation of the countries of the region,” it said. The ministry’s…

President Biden appointed Lise Grande as the new Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues. Lise’s decades of humanitarian experience will build on the foundation built by Ambassador David Satterfield and his team to urgently address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. President Biden created this position in the immediate aftermath of the horrific October 7th terrorist attacks to lead U.S. regional diplomacy to surge humanitarian aid to Gaza. For the past seven months David Satterfield – one of our most senior and experienced diplomats – has been leading this effort. His tireless contributions have been essential to the expansion of humanitarian aid…

The funeral has been held of an Al Jazeera cameraman who was killed by an Israeli drone strike on Gaza. Samer Abudaqa was wounded in the strike on a school in Khan Younis on Friday along with his colleague, Wael Al-Dahdouh. Al Jazeera said Abudaqa bled to death because a heavy bombardment prevented paramedics from reaching him. The Qatar-based network said it had referred the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, Al Jazeera referred to Abudaqa’s death as an “assassination”, and said that its legal filing to the ICC would include repeated…

The military correspondent of Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Yossi Yehoshua, said the Hamas movement and its leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, have been manipulating Israel in recent days with regards to the humanitarian pause. Yehoshua added that Hamas is determining the terms of the deals with Israel and the number of Palestinians released, as well as the identity of the Israeli prisoners of war it wishes to release. “Our enemies are looking at us from all sides to see how we are behaving and how we prefer a ceasefire over continuing fighting in exchange for the recovery of a small number of kidnapped…

Egypt has launched its first automated teller machine (ATM) to sell gold bullion bars to citizens. The machine will dispense one gramme bars and will be updated continuously and in real-time so that the buyer is correctly billed. The initiative, a collaboration between Banque Misr and local e-payment technology firm Finway, was inaugurated yesterday in Cairo by Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, Ali Moselhi, at the Third NEBU International Gold and Jewelry Exhibition. According to Egypt Today, citizens would be able to conveniently purchase gold bars, “democratising access to the precious metal.” The outlet noted that the minister said that there are efforts to position the North African country as an exporter of gold to the…

OPEC Secretary-General, Haitham Al Ghais, on Monday accused the International Energy Agency (IEA) of vilifying the oil and gas industry, in the latest clash between the groups over climate policy, Reuters reports. Al Ghais was referring to a note published by the West’s energy watchdog on Thursday that said the fossil fuel industry was facing a “moment of truth”, where producers had to choose between deepening the climate crisis or shifting to clean energy. “It also unjustly vilifies the industry as being behind the climate crisis.” The Organisation of the Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Paris-based IEA have repeatedly clashed in recent…

Jordan, on Monday, said that what is happening in Gaza is a “humanitarian tragedy” and Israel should be held accountable for it, Anadolu Agency reports. Addressing the 8th Regional Forum of Foreign Ministers of the Union for the Mediterranean, held on 26-27 November in Barcelona, Spain, Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, said the situation in Gaza is tragic, with massacres occurring and families dying. Israel launched a massive military campaign in the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on 7 October. It has since killed at least 14,854 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and over 4,000 women, according to health authorities…

Iranian authorities have denied a man executed for murdering a government agent and taking part in last year’s anti-government protests a burial in a Muslim cemetery, and his parents were arrested during his funeral, reports the opposition outlet, Iran International. According sources cited by BBC Persian, Milad Zohrevand, 21, was “secretly executed” on Thursday in the western city of Hamadan. He was accused of being among a group of five masked men who fatally shot Ali Nazari, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ intelligence service, amid protests following the death of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini in police custody. Hengaw, a human…

The US has expanded its military deployments across the Middle East in support of Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, even as one historian has warned that the occupation state is carrying out a “textbook case of genocide” in the besieged enclave. Israeli historian Raz Segal’s claim was reported in Jewish Currents. He condemned the latest bombing of Gaza. Open-source information gathered by Haaretz newspaper reveals that close to 80 US military and dozens of leased civilian aircraft are hauling equipment in a massive weapons airlift to Israel and Cyprus. At least 62 US and Israeli transport aircraft had landed in Israel by…