MIDDLE EAST

The current war in Gaza has set off several takes on the Ice Bucket Challenge, with several Palestinians dumping buckets of debris over themselves and an Israeli dumping a bucket of manure. The ice bucket challenge has been spreading across the internet, with people filming themselves pouring buckets of ice water over their heads to raise awareness and funds for …

Celebrations erupted across the Gaza Strip as a long-term ceasefire was agreed upon by the Palestinian and Israeli authorities on Tuesday, ending 50 days of some of the most brutal violence in over a decade. The ceasefire will come into effect at 16:00 GMT and will immediately bring the violence in Gaza to an end – from July 8th, the …

On Monday, the White House said that US President Barack Obama has not taken a decision so far on launching air strikes at Islamic State (IS) extremists in Syria. “The president has not made any decision to conduct military action in Syria”, Josh Earnest, a spokesman for the White House, said, amid increasing expectations of US actions after similar US …

Syria on Monday said that it was willing to work with the international community against “terrorism” as the United Nations accused extremists in Iraq of conducting an “ethnic and religious cleansing”. UN human rights Chief Navi Pillay leveled the accusations as Kurdish peshmerga forces forced back militants from the Islamic State (IS) northeast of Baghdad only a day after they …

On Friday, Israel removed from two government-run Twitter accounts a chilling image of US journalist James Foley just before he was beheaded, after the tweets sparked widespread controversy on the internet. The picture was taken from a video of the beheading of Foley by a masked militant belonging to the Islamic State, and was posted on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin …

Iran reportedly intends to send aid to Gaza after Egypt said that it will allow the shipment to enter the Palestinian enclave. The official IRNA news agency reported that Cairo had agreed to send humanitarian aid to Gaza, citing a source in the foreign ministry. The source added that the first Iranian Red Crescent shipment would consist almost 100 tons …

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas continued his talks with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Qatar for a second day, in what many believe is a follow up meeting to the talks on the previous day, which had lasted for three hours. The discussions, which have been taking place at Qatari ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani’s palace, started after fighting …

Over 191,000 people have been killed in Syria, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Friday before lashing out at “international paralysis” on the conflict in Syria. Pillay, who will end her six-year-stint as the UN’s humanitarian chief later this month, has called out global leaders for their lethargy on several conflicts worldwide. After admonishing the UN …

UN aid workers on Thursday called for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and warned that the violence is impeding with their ability to help the affected in the Palestinian enclave. Anne-Claire Dufay, the chief of UNICEF’s field office in Gaza, said that the renewed hostilities threatened the delivery of aid to several hundreds of thousands of children. “We urgently need …

On Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas spoke with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal as renewed fighting continued in the Gaza Strip following the failure of the Egyptian-brokered truce deal. The two spoke in Doha, where Meshaal is currently operating from, and were hosted by the Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, an important supporter of Hamas, the QNA news …