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Today

Israel's domestic security chief says he will step down in June, defusing battle with Netanyahu

The head of Israel’s internal security service says he will resign in June over the failure of his agency to warn of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks — defusing an escalating battle with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar announced h

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Death toll rises to 70 in Iran port explosion as interior minister blames 'negligence'

The death toll from a massive explosion in Iran's largest commercial port Bandar Abbas has risen to at least 70, the Iranian state media reported Monday, as firefighters extinguished Saturday's blaze two days later. Iran's interior minister has blamed th

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Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad: 'I never wanted to be an activist'

A winner of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize has spoken to FRANCE 24 about how she wanted to be a makeup artist in her small village in northern Iraq before her life was nearly destroyed by the Islamic State group. In 2014, when Nadia Murad was just 21 years o

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US military hits over 800 targets in Yemen since March, hundreds of Houthi rebels killed

The US military said Sunday it has struck more than 800 Houthi targets in Yemen since mid-March, killing hundreds of fighters, including leaders. Near-daily air raids under "Operation Rough Rider" aim to halt attacks on Red Sea shipping and restore US "d

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Yesterday

Israel strikes south Beirut for third time since ceasefire began

An Israeli strike hit south Beirut on Sunday for the third time since a fragile November 27 ceasefire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the strike targeted a building used by Hezbollah to store "precision-guided missiles".

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Abbas appoints first PLO vice president, signals potential succession plan

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas on Saturday appointed longtime aide Hussein al-Sheikh as the first-ever vice president of the PLO, a position created two days prior. Seen as paving the way for a leadership transition, the move came amid mounting inter

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Iran's Khamenei orders probe into port blast that killed 40, injured 1000

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei ordered an investigation Sunday into the causes of a major blast at a strategic southern port that killed at least 40 people and injured more than 1,000. The deadly blast occurred as Iran began a third round of nuclear

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Qatari prime minister reports 'a bit of progress' in Gaza ceasefire talks

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, representing Gaza mediator Qatar said on Sunday that there was "a bit of progress" in talks in Doha this week aimed at securing a new truce in the Israel-Hamas war.

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Saturday, april 26, 2025

Abbas appoints first PLO vice president, signals potential succession plan

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas on Saturday appointed longtime aide Hussein al-Sheikh as the first-ever vice president of the PLO, a position created two days prior. Seen as paving the way for a leadership transition, the move came amid mounting inter

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Blast kills at least four, injures over 500 in southern Iran

At least four people were killed and 516 people injured Saturday following a massive explosion and fire at the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas. Hours later, authorities had still not offered a cause for the explosion. France 24 correspondent S

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Several killed, more than 700 injured in massive blast in Iranian port city

At least eight people were killed and 700 people injured Saturday following a massive explosion and fire at the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas. According to local authorities, the blast was linked to a fire that broke out in the port’s storag

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Hamas is open to freeing hostages, five-year truce in Gaza, official says

Hamas is willing to discuss a deal to end the Gaza war that would involve the release of all Israeli hostages and a five-year truce, an official from the Palestinian group said on Saturday. Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes have claimed at least 35 lives in

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Dozens killed by Israeli strike in Gaza in last 24 hours

At least 49 people were killed and more than 30 were feared buried under rubble following an Israeli strike early Saturday morning on Gaza City, said Gaza's civil defence agency. The Israeli military provided no immediate comment.

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Iran, US hold talks in Oman on Tehran's rapidly expanding nuclear programme

Iran and the United States held a fresh round of nuclear talks in Oman on Saturday, which likely hinged on the Islamic Republic's enrichment of uranium. The talks ran for several hours in Oman’s capital of Muscat.

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Friday, april 25, 2025

UN food agency warns food stock in Gaza has run out amid Israeli aid blockade

The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) warned Friday that it has run out of food supplies in Gaza as Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid stretches into its eighth week. The UN says the territory is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since the

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Palestinian officials create vice president position under leader Mahmoud Abbas

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Thursday voted in favour of creating a vice president position under Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. It is the fist time the organisation has ever opened a number two role, a move that may pave the way for

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US envoy to hold third meeting with Iran over nuclear deal

US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Iranian officials for a third round of talks on a nuclear deal this month, the US said on Thursday, as the businessman pursues a new agreement that would appease both Israel and the West.

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Iraq’s drought-doomed farmers turn to groundwater to boost agriculture

Iraqi farmers facing scarce rainfall and repeated droughts are drilling wells in the desert to reach groundwater sources and sustain their irrigation systems. While the underground reservoirs help mitigate agricultural losses, it is a risky move as aquif

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Thursday, april 24, 2025

Israel warns of 'larger' Gaza assault as air strikes kill at least 55

Israeli air strikes on Gaza Thursday killed at least 55 people as the military warned of a wider assault if the remaining hostages seized during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel were not released. The strikes came amid mounting pressure from Isra

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Filmmaker Sepideh Farsi on documenting life of slain Gaza photojournalist Fatma Hassona

An Iranian filmmaker who has been documenting the life of a woman in Gaza for her film that has been accepted for the Cannes Film Festival has told FRANCE 24 how she continues to send her messages, even though she knows she was killed in an Israeli air s

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Wednesday, april 23, 2025

Gaza: How safe is the Al-Mawasi evacuation zone?

Since Israel’s breach of the ceasefire on March 18, the Al-Mawasi zone in southern Gaza, home to at least one million displaced Palestinians, is no longer designated as a ‘humanitarian zone’ by the Israeli army. Nonetheless, they continue to direct civil

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Two for one? Trump eyes deal with Russia ally Iran

It took years of painstaking negotiations to reach the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. So can Washington and Tehran now really do a deal in weeks?

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Jordan outlaws Muslim Brotherhood group and confiscates its assets

Jordan announced a sweeping ban on the Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday after accusing the Islamist group of planning attacks and stockpiling weapons. The crackdown included a raid of their offices and the removal of documents, a security source said.

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In Syria, fate of French families in IS group camps remains uncertain

Six years after the fall of the Islamic State group's self-proclaimed caliphate, thousands of women and children linked to IS group fighters remain detained in camps across northeastern Syria. Managed by Kurdish authorities since 2019, these detainees fa

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Abbas urges Hamas to free hostages as Israeli strikes kill at least 36 in Gaza

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday urged Hamas to release all hostages, claiming their captivity provides Israel with justification for its attacks in Gaza, as Israeli strikes killed at least 36 people across the besieged territor

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Tuesday, april 22, 2025

Hamas delegation head to Egypt to discuss Gaza truce as Israeli strikes continue

A Hamas official said on Tuesday that a delegation from the Palestinian militant group had departed for Cairo to discuss "new ideas" for achieving a ceasefire with Israel. The announcement came after Gaza's civil defence agency said that a spate of Israe

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More than 100,000 Afghans left Pakistan in April, amid eviction campaign

Since April 1, more than 100,000 Afghans have been sent back to their country of origin, according to the Pakistani interior ministry, out of the some three million the United Nations says are living in Pakistan. The figure comes after Islamabad ramped u

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Monday, april 21, 2025

Shin Bet intel chief accuses Netanyahu of demanding personal loyalty

Israel’s internal security chief, Ronen Bar, has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of demanding his personal loyalty and ordering surveillance on anti-government demonstrators. In a sworn statement to the Supreme Court, Bar detailed pressure to i

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Sunday, april 20, 2025

Israel cancels visas for 27 French left-wing lawmakers ahead of visit

Israel cancelled visas for 27 French left-wing lawmakers and officials days before their planned Sunday visit to Israel and Palestinian territories, the group said. The move comes days after Israel barred two UK Labour MPs from entering the country and a

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Israeli military admits 'professional failures' in killings of Palestinian medics in Gaza

An investigation into the killings of 15 Palestinian medics last month in Rafah found that Israeli forces committed “professional failures”, which would lead to the dismissal of a deputy commander. Israel initially alleged that the medics' vehicles did n

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Saturday, april 19, 2025

Israeli strikes on Gaza kill more than 90 people in two days

Israel’s army killed more than 90 people in the past 48 hours, including women and children, the healthy ministry in Gaza said on Saturday. Many of those killed were sheltering in areas designated as humanitarian zones by Israel.

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Second round of US-Iran nuclear talks end, third round set for next week

Representatives from the US and Iran met in Rome on Saturday for the second round of negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme. The mediated talks were held in a “constructive atmosphere” and ended after about four hours, Iranian sta

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Friday, april 18, 2025

Israeli strikes kill two in Lebanon, Hezbollah chief says 'will not let anyone disarm' it

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said on Friday that it "will not let anyone disarm" it, despite pressure that the Iran-backed movement hand over its weapons. Earlier in the day, Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli air strikes killed two people in souther

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Is Israel's partition of Gaza a prelude to total control of the enclave?

The Israeli military is tightening its hold on the Gaza Strip, expanding buffer zones and security corridors and keeping border crossings closed. Since the end of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire on March 18, the partition of the Gaza Strip has accelerated, pe

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'We aren't scared': Meet the Turkish students defying Erdogan

The first trials of those arrested during recent anti-government protests in Turkey are expected to open this Friday. The rallies were sparked by the arrest one month ago of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, seen as a key rival of President Recep Tayyip Erd

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Scores killed in US strikes on Yemen fuel port, Houthis say

At least 74 people have been killed and 171 were wounded in a series of US air strikes on the key Yemeni fuel port of Ras Issa, the country's Houthi rebels said early Friday. It is one of the highest reported death tolls so far from US President Donald T

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Hamas rejects Israel's latest ceasefire proposal, calls for comprehensive deal

Hamas on Thursday rejected Israel's latest truce offer, demanding a "comprehensive" deal to end the 18-month war. The group's chief negotiator spoke after Gaza rescuers said Israeli strikes killed at least 40 people, mostly women and children, in renewed

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Thursday, april 17, 2025

'Trump doesn't want to go to war with Iran,' former top White House adviser says

FRANCE 24 spoke to Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. Abrams, who served as Special Representative for Iran from 2020 to 2021 in the first Trump administration, discussed the ongo

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Russian court removes Taliban's 'terrorist organisation' designation

Russia on Thursday removed the Taliban's label as a "terrorist organisation" in a symbolic gesture aimed at building friendly ties with Afghanistan's rulers. The decision does not amount to formal recognition for the Taliban authorities, who are seeking

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Reportage: Autopsies reveal Gaza medics shot in head and chest

Autopsy reports have revealed that some of the Gaza medics allegedly killed by Israeli troops last month were shot in the head and chest, FRANCE 24’s Noga Tarnopolsky reports from Jerusalem.

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At least 37 people killed in Israeli strikes, most in displacement camps, Gaza rescuers say

Gaza rescuers said Thursday that Israeli air strikes on Gaza had killed at least 37 people, mostly women and children sheltering in displacement camps, as Israel pressed its military offensive amid stalled ceasefire talks.

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Iran 'not far' from nuclear bomb, IAEA chief warns ahead of critical talks

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi warned that Tehran is dangerously close to building a nuclear bomb before his visit to Iran on Wednesday. Grossi is expected to meet with senior Iranian officials ahead of a second round o

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Israel says troops to remain indefinitely in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria

Israel's defence minister said on Wednesday troops would stay in "security zones" in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, potentially complicating ceasefire and hostage talks with Hamas. Israeli forces, having retaken over half of Gaza, resumed operatio

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Wednesday, april 16, 2025

Israeli Defense Minister vows to use humanitarian aid to pressure Hamas

The Israeli government confirmed Wednesday that it has no plans to ease the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that Israel will continue blocking aid from entering the territory, with no changes to this policy in the

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Israeli army faces growing dissent: ‘I will never again serve under this government’

Israeli media have reported a marked increase in the number of reservists refusing to show up for army duty, pointing to rapidly declining support for a war that critics – including within the military – say is no longer motivated by Israel’s security in

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How Gaza is becoming the deadliest conflict zone for journalists

Gaza has become one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists, with over 170 media workers killed since the war began. Foreign reporters are banned, making it increasingly difficult for Palestinians to gather information. In France, journalist

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Being a Palestinian journalist in Gaza has become increasingly difficult

Gaza has become one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. With foreign reporters banned from entering, it is increasingly difficult—and deadly—for Palestinians to simply gather information about what is happening. A press freedom

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Perimeter probe describes harrowing policy of creating veritable 'kill zone between Israel and Gaza'

In early spring 2025, Israel’s defense minister warned that parts of Gaza would be annexed if Hamas didn’t release Israeli hostages. Two weeks later, over half the territory reportedly became inaccessible to Palestinians as the military created a “buffer

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‘No humanitarian aid will enter Gaza,’ Israel defence minister says

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that Israel will keep blocking aid to Gaza to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages, even as the UN warned of the enclave’s worst crisis since the war began and Doctors Without Borders de

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Hamas says ‘lost contact’ with captors of Israeli-American hostage key to Gaza truce proposal

Hamas’s military wing on Tuesday said it had “lost contact” with the captors holding the Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander after a direct Israeli strike on their location. Alexander is reportedly central to a 45-day ceasefire proposal put forward b

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Majority of Israelis support ending war in Gaza, peace activist Itamar Avneri says

A leading Israeli peace activist has spoken to FRANCE 24 about how people need to pick a side in the Middle East conflict. But he says those sides are the right-wing Israeli government and Hamas, as opposed to the Israeli people and the Palestinian peopl

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Tuesday, april 15, 2025

Hamas says ‘lost contact’ with captors of Israeli-American hostage key to Gaza truce proposal

Hamas’s military wing on Tuesday said it had “lost contact” with the captors holding the Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander after a direct Israeli strike on their location. Alexander is reportedly central to a 45-day ceasefire proposal put forward b

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'Trump tore up nuclear deal: Ironically, Iran's nuclear programme among most advanced in the world'

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday voiced satisfaction with recent talks with the United States, expressing confidence in the Islamic Republic's position but casting doubt on US intentions. For in-depth analysis and a deeper peerspec

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Israeli military, academics and civilians unite in challenging Netanyahu's war strategy

More than 6,500 Israeli academics and teachers, along with students' parents, signed a petition on Monday evening demanding that the Israeli government ensure the return of hostages in Gaza, even at the cost of ending the fighting. France 24's Kethevane

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Netanyahu tells Macron that establishment of Palestinian state will ‘reward’ terrorism

Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday told French President Emmanuel Macron in a phonecall that the creation of a Palestinian state would “be a huge reward” for terrorism. Macron, who last week said his country may recognise such a state,

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Israeli reservists condemn Netanyahu’s leadership for return to Gaza war

Thousands of Israeli reservists are condemning Benjamin Netanyahu's war in Gaza. The movement, which began last week with a group of Air Force pilots, has since gained support from paratroopers, tank corps reservists, physicians, academics, and former Mo

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Gaza humanitarian crisis deepens amid longest Israeli aid blockade

As Israel's blockade on critical aid flowing into Gaza continues halfway into its second month, the humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave has reached its lowest point since the war began in October 2023, according to the UN. Palestinian Authority c

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Israel requests hostage return for ceasefire amid spiralling Gaza humanitarian crisis

Israel has offered a 45-day ceasefire if Hamas releases half of the hostages still held in Gaza, Hamas said Monday, adding that it had refused Israel's request for the Palestinian militants' disarmament. The UN said that, a month into Israel's blockade o

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What do we know about Israel's latest Gaza ceasefire proposal?

Senior Hamas officials have said that Israel has delivered a new ceasefire proposal to the Palestinian militant group nearly one month after Israel's renewed bombardment and ground assault on Gaza broke the previous truce. Here's what we know so far.

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Monday, april 14, 2025

Lebanon, 50 years on: Anatomy of a civil war

How to truly reconcile a nation with itself? Perhaps a first step is to examine the path that was taken. Lebanon is marking 50 years since the first shots of a civil war fuelled by sea change in the wider region. Today, with Assad out in Syria, Iran on t

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