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Arab World

Israel Releases 55 Palestinians it Had Detained from Gaza, Including Hospital Director

A Palestinian man holds his children as he walks next to buildings destroyed in an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 30, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
A Palestinian man holds his children as he walks next to buildings destroyed in an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 30, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
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Israel Releases 55 Palestinians it Had Detained from Gaza, Including Hospital Director

A Palestinian man holds his children as he walks next to buildings destroyed in an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 30, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
A Palestinian man holds his children as he walks next to buildings destroyed in an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 30, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

A Palestinian health official says Israel released 55 Palestinians on Monday whom it had detained from Gaza, including the director of the territory’s main hospital, The Associated Press said.
Mohammed Abu Selmia was detained in November when Israeli forces raided Shifa Hospital.
In video comments aired by Palestinian media following his release, Abu Selmia accused Israeli authorities of subjecting Palestinian detainees to "daily physical and psychological humiliation.” Israeli authorities have denied such allegations.
Israel accuses Hamas and other militant groups of sheltering in hospitals and using them for military purposes. Palestinian health officials say Israeli raids have forced several hospitals to shut down or dramatically reduce services, recklessly endangering civilians. Hospitals can lose their protection under international law if they are used for military purposes.
The Israeli military says around 20 projectiles were fired from Gaza at communities near the border early Monday. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Israel launched the war after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250.
Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 37,700 people in Gaza, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
The war has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and basic goods to Gaza, and people there are now totally dependent on aid.
The top United Nations court has concluded there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel strongly denies.

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Arab World

Palestinian Presidency Condemns Continued Israeli Closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque

20 February 2026, Palestinian Territories, Jerusalem: Palestinians perform the Taraweeh prayers in the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the third day of Ramadan. Photo: Department Of Islamic Awqaf In J/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
20 February 2026, Palestinian Territories, Jerusalem: Palestinians perform the Taraweeh prayers in the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the third day of Ramadan. Photo: Department Of Islamic Awqaf In J/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Palestinian Presidency Condemns Continued Israeli Closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque

20 February 2026, Palestinian Territories, Jerusalem: Palestinians perform the Taraweeh prayers in the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the third day of Ramadan. Photo: Department Of Islamic Awqaf In J/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
20 February 2026, Palestinian Territories, Jerusalem: Palestinians perform the Taraweeh prayers in the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the third day of Ramadan. Photo: Department Of Islamic Awqaf In J/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

The Palestinian Presidency condemned the continued Israeli closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Occupied Jerusalem, which has prevented worshippers from performing their religious rites during the holy month of Ramadan.

In a statement, the presidency said the measures constitute a serious violation of the historical and legal status of Al-Aqsa Mosque and other religious sites, SPA reported.

The Palestinian presidency also warned against attempts by the Israeli occupation to exploit the current atmosphere of regional tension and escalation to target religious sites in Jerusalem, reaffirming that Al-Aqsa Mosque, with its entire area of 144 dunams, is an Islamic place of worship exclusively for Muslims.

The statement further stressed the importance of preserving the existing historical and legal status quo at the Al-Haram Al-Sharif.

Arab World

UN Warns Global Aid at Risk as Middle East War Spreads

A Sudanese refugee girl from al-Fashir rests next to a burnt tree in the middle of the Tine transit camp, amid the conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army, in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
A Sudanese refugee girl from al-Fashir rests next to a burnt tree in the middle of the Tine transit camp, amid the conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army, in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
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UN Warns Global Aid at Risk as Middle East War Spreads

A Sudanese refugee girl from al-Fashir rests next to a burnt tree in the middle of the Tine transit camp, amid the conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army, in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
A Sudanese refugee girl from al-Fashir rests next to a burnt tree in the middle of the Tine transit camp, amid the conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army, in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo

The United Nations aid chief warned on Wednesday that the conflict in the Middle East is straining humanitarian operations worldwide, disrupting supply chains and slowing the delivery of life-saving assistance to numerous crisis zones.

“We are in a moment of grave peril for the Middle East and, actually I believe, for the wider world,” Tom Fletcher, the UN aid chief, told Reuters.

The US-Israeli war with Iran, which has expanded to Lebanon and dragged in Gulf countries, has convulsed global markets and disrupted supply chains, with airspace closures and the halt of shipping through the critical Strait of Hormuz.

Fletcher said aid supplies to Gaza and sub-Saharan Africa are being affected by the conflict, as humanitarian relief that needs to travel through the Strait of Hormuz or through airspace in the Gulf has been largely blocked or constrained.

Conflict-ridden Somalia, which is facing a major drought, and Sudan are among a number of countries facing dire humanitarian crises.

"These (constraints) will damage our humanitarian supply chains, reduce the humanitarian supplies we can get to people who need them, but they'll also drive up energy costs and food costs across the region," Fletcher said.

"This really is a perfect storm of factors right now, and I'm seriously worried," he stated.

There is particular concern for aid supplies to sub-Saharan Africa, Flether said, which are being impacted by restricted movement through the Strait of Hormuz, with alternative routes slapped with rising freight costs.

Higher oil prices are making the UN's aid deliveries by air more expensive, at a time when UN agencies and NGOs budgets are already facing major donor cuts, Fletcher explained.

"We've just about put some money together to keep more of our UN humanitarian flights in the air, but they've suddenly, almost overnight, become much more expensive," Fletcher said.

Arab World

States Backing UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon Voice 'Deep Alarm' at Hostilities

Members of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force enter a bus at the site of an Israeli strike at the northern entrance of the southern city of Sidon, on November 7, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYAT / AFP)
Members of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force enter a bus at the site of an Israeli strike at the northern entrance of the southern city of Sidon, on November 7, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYAT / AFP)
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States Backing UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon Voice 'Deep Alarm' at Hostilities

Members of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force enter a bus at the site of an Israeli strike at the northern entrance of the southern city of Sidon, on November 7, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYAT / AFP)
Members of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force enter a bus at the site of an Israeli strike at the northern entrance of the southern city of Sidon, on November 7, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYAT / AFP)

Around 30 countries, including those with United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon, voiced concern Wednesday over renewed fighting after Israel launched strikes in retaliation for attacks by Hezbollah.

"We troop contributing countries to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, joined by several other member states, express our deep alarm at the escalation of hostilities in Lebanon," Jerome Bonnafont, the French ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters in New York, Reuters reported.

"Faced with war, Lebanon must be supported. Its sovereignty and territorial integrity must be preserved. We express our full solidarity with Lebanon and the Lebanese people," he added in the joint statement.

Bonnafont said the countries he represented, including France, Britain, Germany, India and Korea, "condemn in the strongest terms" Hezbollah's attacks.

He spoke as the Security Council was to meet at the UN headquarters to discuss the uptick in fighting in Lebanon, which has left 570 people dead, according to the country's health ministry.

Israel's UN envoy Danny Danon said Wednesday that Israeli forces will continue to operate in Lebanon "as long (as) there will be a threat against us."

"Israel does not want to be operating, but Israel will not accept rockets fired at our people, and we will do whatever is necessary to stop them," Danon told reporters.