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Arab World

Israeli Fire Kills Four in Gaza and the West Bank

Relatives mourn the death of a loved one who was reportedly killed in an overnight Israeli strike, during the funeral of several victims at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 29, 2026. (Photo by Bashar Taleb / AFP)
Relatives mourn the death of a loved one who was reportedly killed in an overnight Israeli strike, during the funeral of several victims at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 29, 2026. (Photo by Bashar Taleb / AFP)
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Israeli Fire Kills Four in Gaza and the West Bank

Relatives mourn the death of a loved one who was reportedly killed in an overnight Israeli strike, during the funeral of several victims at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 29, 2026. (Photo by Bashar Taleb / AFP)
Relatives mourn the death of a loved one who was reportedly killed in an overnight Israeli strike, during the funeral of several victims at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 29, 2026. (Photo by Bashar Taleb / AFP)

An Israeli air strike killed at least three people in the Gaza Strip on Monday, local health officials said, in the latest round of violence since a US-brokered ceasefire took effect more than five months ago.

Medics said three people were killed and two others wounded when an Israeli plane fired a missile at a group of Palestinians near the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City. There was no immediate Israeli comment.

More than 72,000 ‌people have been ‌killed since the war started in ‌October ⁠2023. Israel is now ⁠also waging a war, alongside the US, against Iran, and is carrying out a new campaign against Hezbollah in which Israeli forces have invaded southern Lebanon.

Violence in Gaza has persisted despite the ceasefire and amid Israel's war with Iran. Health officials in the ⁠territory say at least 50 Palestinians have ‌been killed by Israeli ‌forces since the Iran conflict began a month ago. In the Israeli-occupied ‌West Bank, health officials said Israeli forces shot ‌and killed a 22-year-old man near the city of Hebron. They added that soldiers took the body away.

Palestinian security sources identified the dead man as Ramzi Awawada and accused ‌Israeli soldiers of leaving him to bleed to death and preventing rescuers from reaching ⁠him.

The Israeli ⁠military said forces shot and killed a Palestinian who ran towards them holding a knife. Rights groups and medics say Israeli settlers are taking advantage of curbs on movement imposed during the Iran war to attack Palestinians in the West Bank, with military roadblocks preventing ambulances from reaching victims quickly.

Settlers have killed at least five Palestinians in the West Bank since the conflict began on February 28, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

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Arab World

Lebanon Judge Completes Investigation into Port Blast

A view shows the partially collapsed grain silos, damaged in the August 4, 2020 Beirut port blast as Lebanon marks third anniversary of the explosion on Friday, in Beirut Lebanon August 2, 2023. REUTERS/Issam Abdallah
A view shows the partially collapsed grain silos, damaged in the August 4, 2020 Beirut port blast as Lebanon marks third anniversary of the explosion on Friday, in Beirut Lebanon August 2, 2023. REUTERS/Issam Abdallah
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Lebanon Judge Completes Investigation into Port Blast

A view shows the partially collapsed grain silos, damaged in the August 4, 2020 Beirut port blast as Lebanon marks third anniversary of the explosion on Friday, in Beirut Lebanon August 2, 2023. REUTERS/Issam Abdallah
A view shows the partially collapsed grain silos, damaged in the August 4, 2020 Beirut port blast as Lebanon marks third anniversary of the explosion on Friday, in Beirut Lebanon August 2, 2023. REUTERS/Issam Abdallah

Lebanese judge Tarek Bitar has completed his investigation into the 2020 Beirut port blast, a years-long case that involves possible charges against dozens of people, a judicial official told AFP on Monday.

Since 2023, the investigation into the massive Beirut port explosion, which killed more than 220 people on August 4, 2020, has been in jeopardy after Hezbollah led a campaign demanding the removal of Bitar, who was later hit with dozens of lawsuits to remove him from the case.

Bitar resumed his investigation last year as Lebanon's balance of power shifted following a 2023-2024 war between Israel and Hezbollah that weakened the Iran-backed militant group.

"The investigating judge in the Beirut port explosion case, Tarek Bitar, decided to conclude his investigations into the case and referred the entire file to public prosecutor Jamal Hajjar," the official told AFP.

The number of defendants in the case reached around 70 people, including politicians, security and military officials and civil servants, according to the official.

The prosecutor will study the file and present his opinion and then refer it again to Bitar "who will issue his indictment and determine the responsibility for each of the defendants".

Bitar is supposed to "make a decision regarding about 20 defendants who appeared before him since the beginning of 2025" on whether to "detain them, set them free or conditionally release them", the official said.

Bitar has already made his decision regarding the remaining 50, including politicians and judges who refused to appear before him for questioning, according to the official.

No one is currently detained in relation to the port blast.

Lebanese authorities say the explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser had been stored haphazardly for years, despite repeated warnings to senior officials.

Arab World

Egypt Says Only Trump Can Stop War, Warns Oil Could Top $200

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during a bilateral meeting at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2026. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during a bilateral meeting at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2026. (Reuters)
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Egypt Says Only Trump Can Stop War, Warns Oil Could Top $200

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during a bilateral meeting at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2026. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during a bilateral meeting at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2026. (Reuters)

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged US President Donald Trump on Monday to stop the Iran war and said fears of the oil price going above $200 were not exaggerated.

"I tell President Trump: nobody can stop the war in our region in the Gulf but you," Sisi said at the Egypt Energy Show 2026 energy conference in Cairo.

Noting ‌the impact ‌of supply shortages and price ‌rises, ⁠Sisi cited analysts' concerns ⁠that "the price of a barrel of oil could reach more than $200, and this is not an exaggeration."

Egypt has condemned Iranian attacks on Gulf Arab ⁠states and pushed diplomatic efforts ‌to avoid a wider regional ‌war.

The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council ‌bloc, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, urged the international community ‌to protect vital maritime corridors, condemning Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz and its attacks on regional energy infrastructure.

Addressing the conference virtually, he said Iranian aggression ‌was a threat to the world.

"The brutal Iranian threats against energy ⁠facilities ⁠and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz constitute not only a blatant violation of international law but also a direct threat to global energy," he said.

The GCC, grouping Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, has faced drone and missile attacks. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has choked off a crucial route that previously handled about a fifth of global oil supplies.

Arab World

Rocket Attack Targets Baghdad Army Base

Iraqi soldiers inspect the site of a destroyed healthcare center in the Habbaniyah military base, which was targeted by in an airstrike killing seven security personnel and wounding 13 others, in Habbaniyah, west of Baghdad on March 26, 2026. (AFP)
Iraqi soldiers inspect the site of a destroyed healthcare center in the Habbaniyah military base, which was targeted by in an airstrike killing seven security personnel and wounding 13 others, in Habbaniyah, west of Baghdad on March 26, 2026. (AFP)
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Rocket Attack Targets Baghdad Army Base

Iraqi soldiers inspect the site of a destroyed healthcare center in the Habbaniyah military base, which was targeted by in an airstrike killing seven security personnel and wounding 13 others, in Habbaniyah, west of Baghdad on March 26, 2026. (AFP)
Iraqi soldiers inspect the site of a destroyed healthcare center in the Habbaniyah military base, which was targeted by in an airstrike killing seven security personnel and wounding 13 others, in Habbaniyah, west of Baghdad on March 26, 2026. (AFP)

Rockets fired overnight targeted an Iraqi military base inside the Baghdad airport complex, which also houses a support center for the US embassy, Iraq's defense ministry said Monday.

The base is near a US diplomatic and logistics hub in the airport complex, which has been repeatedly targeted since the start of the war in the Middle East on February 28.

Iraq has been drawn into the conflict despite seeking to avoid it at all costs. Pro-Iran armed groups have claimed responsibility for attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region, while strikes have also targeted these groups.

Early on Monday morning "an air base was targeted by 122mm Grad rockets launched from the outskirts of Baghdad", a statement from the ministry said.

"This attack resulted in the destruction of an Antonov-132 aircraft belonging to the Iraqi Air Force. No casualties were reported," it added.

A military official told AFP that "rockets fell inside the diplomatic support center early Monday morning, causing a fire".

Earlier this month, a security official told AFP that the US diplomatic hub had evacuated much of its personnel.

Since the outbreak of war, pro-Iran factions -- which have repeatedly claimed attacks against US interests -- have also been targeted by strikes they blame on the US or Israel.

Monday's incident comes after Washington and Baghdad said last week they would "intensify cooperation" to prevent attacks and ensure Iraqi territory is not used to launch assaults against US facilities.

For the first time in 10 days, two drones targeted the US embassy over the weekend but did not hit their targets.

The influential pro-Iran armed group Kataib Hezbollah said on March 19 it would pause such attacks for five days, twice extending.