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The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned Israel's continued crimes and violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly attacks on healthcare facilities, residential areas, and shelters for displaced people in Gaza, saying the attacks had killed and injured dozens of civilians and constituted a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law.In a statement issued on Tuesday, the OIC General Secretariat also warned of escalating settlement-related crimes and organized acts of terrorism by extremist colonists under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces across the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem. It called for decisive international action to end the violations and hold those responsible accountable.The General Secretariat reiterated the need for the Israeli occupation forces to comply with their obligations under the ceasefire agreement and begin implementing the second phase of the peace plan in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2803. It said implementation should include reopening all border crossings, ensuring the adequate and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid, the complete withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces, preserving the unity of the Palestinian Territory, and enabling the Government of the State of Palestine to assume its responsibilities throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the Gaza Strip. Source link
Jordan on Tuesday endorsed the joint statement issued by the State of Qatar, the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the Republic of Turkiye, in their capacity as mediators in efforts to secure a ceasefire and preserve stability in Gaza, condemning Israel’s continued violations of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.In a statement, Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned the Israeli violations in Gaza, including attacks on healthcare facilities and the killing of innocent civilians, particularly women and children.Foreign Ministry spokesperson Fuad Al Majali said the violations constitute a flagrant breach of international law and international humanitarian law. He stressed the need to halt the Israeli attacks, ensure the sustained and unhindered delivery of adequate humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, and guarantee full protection for civilians, medical facilities, and humanitarian personnel.Al Majali also called on the international community to uphold its responsibilities by pressing Israel to fulfill its obligations under international law and ensure the implementation of all provisions of the US President’s Gaza plan, in order to preserve efforts to stabilize Gaza, achieve a comprehensive de-escalation, secure a permanent ceasefire, and end the humanitarian catastrophe in the Strip. Source link
Two tankers laden with Saudi oil crossed the Bab el-Mandeb strait over the weekend, while traffic in the Strait of Hormuz slowed following reports of vessel attacks, shipping data showed on Monday.The number of commodity vessels that passed through the Bab el-Mandeb strait fell to 18 on Sunday, from 27 on Saturday and 28 on Friday, the Kpler data showed.The Iran-aligned Houthis declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia on July 20, opening a new front against the U.S. and its allies in the Iran war and expanding attacks on tankers carrying global energy and other supplies to waters beyond the Gulf.Suezmax tanker Lesvos and Very Large Crude Carrier Desh Vaibhav exited the Red Sea with their Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) transponders switched off, the data showed.The Malta-flagged Lesvos was carrying about 1 million barrels of Saudi crude and it was not immediately clear where it was headed to.The Desh Vaibhav, carrying 2 million barrels, is heading to India’s Sikka port where Reliance Industries typically receives crude.Dynacom, the manager for the Lesvos, and the Shipping Corp of India did not respond to requests seeking comments.Separately, a Panama-flagged tanker carrying Russian naphtha has changed course to sail around Africa instead of going through the Red Sea. Source link
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a vehicle, according to medics, in Gaza City, August 2, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas Israeli airstrikes continued in Gaza for a second straight day yesterday, killing at least 13 Palestinians, despite US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a breakthrough in efforts to implement last year’s Gaza ceasefire agreement.Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said yesterday that there was no deal to halt attacks on Gaza and that he saw a need for Israel, which already controls 70% of the Strip, to take full control of it. Cohen is a member of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s security cabinet, a small circle of ministers that oversees security and diplomatic policy.Palestinian health officials said Israeli warplanes carried out separate strikes across the enclave in the northern Gaza City, central city of Deir al-Balah, and the southern area of Khan Younis.The Israeli military said the strikes in Deir al-Balah were targeting two commanders of Hamas’ elite “Nukhba” force. The Gaza City and Jabalia strikes also targeted “military operatives” but the military was still reviewing the situation, it said.At least 1,230 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since a ceasefire was reached in October. Trump said on Thursday there had been a breakthrough after Hamas agreed to disarm under a US-backed initiative to implement the ceasefire agreement reached last year in Egypt.Trump’s Board of Peace, the US-led body overseeing the ceasefire, published on Friday a 15-point roadmap setting out the final steps for implementing the agreement.The roadmap has yet to be implemented. Hamas has said it will hand over its weapons for storage only after Israel halts military operations and withdraws its forces in line with last year’s agreement. An Israeli official told Reuters there would be no withdrawal from the military’s current positions unless Hamas undergoes “genuine disarmament”.Cohen told Army Radio he did not believe Hamas would disarm, but that it would rather play games and try to hide its weaponry. Netanyahu has not commented publicly on the initiative, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called it unacceptable and said Israel should continue assassinating Hamas leaders. Former senior Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan, who is based in the UAE, said in a Facebook post that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a senior adviser involved in the US initiative, had told him he was working with the Israeli side to stop attacks on Gaza.Dahlan said contacts with the US were continuing to ensure the agreement was fully implemented, adding that its success now depended on Israel fully ending its daily attacks on Gaza. Gaza’s civil defence rescue service, which operates under Hamas authority yesterday said eight people were killed in strikes around midnight that hit multiple residential buildings, and five others were killed later in the day. In one overnight attack near the central Gaza Strip, a man and his wife were killed and several others were wounded when an Israeli military helicopter struck an apartment, a civil defence spokesman said.An elderly man and a child were killed in another attack on an apartment west of Gaza City, and three people, including a child, were killed in a strike on a residential building northwest of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. “One person was killed and four others injured in an Israeli drone strike targeting a group of civilians near a camp for displaced people in Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip,” he said.A couple and their child were killed in a strike on an apartment west of Gaza City at dawn, the spokesman said, adding that the woman was pregnant.Two others were killed in an Israeli drone strike on their vehicle in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, he said, with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospitals saying they were brothers. Authorities reported on Saturday that eight people had been killed in strikes that damaged a hospital’s medical supplies and targeted a rooftop. Source link
Iran yesterday said it was nearing a deal with Oman over a new route through the Strait of Hormuz, hours after the US called off major strikes to allow for diplomacy.US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that his country and Israel had agreed to hold off on new strikes on Iran, saying the “perimeter” of a deal was there. The foes have been at war since February 28, when the US and Israel launched surprise strikes against Iran, though months of on-off diplomacy have led to periods of relative calm.Following a return to strikes last month, fears had mounted that the fighting could escalate once again. Trump had threatened to hit Iran “very hard” and was reportedly considering renewed attacks including against energy infrastructure, with US embassies across the region on alert. But the US leader appeared to have changed course after a flurry of diplomacy, including speaking with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.Trump said “we have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to”. “Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.It was not immediately clear what the US president meant about the state of negotiations. Iranian media denied that Tehran had asked Trump not to strike.Iranian lawmaker Hassan Ghashghavi, spokesman for the parliament’s national security commission, said yesterday that mediators were trying to revive the so-called Islamabad memorandum of understanding, which was agreed in June.That memorandum was not intended as a final peace deal, but as a stepping stone to negotiations on a comprehensive agreement, though it did include provisions on Hormuz. Source link
US embassies in capitals across the Middle East yesterday warned their citizens to beware of “unforeseen escalation” in the regional conflict and urged them to be ready to leave. The warning, posted online by US embassies in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, came a day after US President Donald Trump threatened to hit Iran “very hard”.Iran and the United States have been at war since February 28. A period of calm followed a ceasefire, though that collapsed with a return of strikes.With no end in sight, the war has for months upended the lives of people across the Middle East and rattled global energy markets.“Americans in the region should consider departing, or be prepared to depart should there be escalation,” said the security alert. The messages urged citizens to check flight details and to follow safety advice from local authorities.“Americans currently in the Middle East should exercise caution and heightened vigilance and should be prepared for flight cancellations, periodic airspace closures, and potential travel disruptions,” it said. To Page 5US citizens in Jordan were told not to visit military bases in the country, which have recently come under Iranian missile attack, and in Israel they were urged to seek the location of the nearest bomb shelter. “The Iranian regime is unpredictable, as seen by its recent decisions to attack areas in the region without warning or provocations as well as to expand attacks to areas not previously targeted (such as Egypt),” said a post on the US embassy Jerusalem site.The US embassy in Beirut said the mission remained on “ordered departure status”, meaning that family members and non-essential US government personnel were still relocated outside of Lebanon.Iran’s military yesterday accused Washington of “escalating tensions” in the region. “Any country serving as defensive shield for criminal and aggressive America will be engulfed by the flames of war,” Ali Abdollahi, head of Iran’s military central command, said in a statement read on state television.Mohammad Mokhber, adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, also warned against any attacks on Iranian infrastructure. “You calculate through military equations, but we respond with the logic of history,” he wrote on X.“Attacking Iran’s infrastructure directly awakens the fault lines on which 250 years of your hegemonic architecture have been built.”Iran and the US resumed overnight exchanges of fire last month after a days-long lull in fighting, although there were no reported strikes overnight Friday to yesterday.Meanwhile an “unknown projectile” struck a tanker off the coast of Oman, a British maritime agency said yesterday, as the United States and Iran vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has effectively maintained control over navigation through Hormuz since the outbreak of the war on February 28, requiring vessels to obtain permission and pay transit fees before using the waterway. Maritime trade tracking firm Kpler said on Friday that traffic through the Hormuz strait has dropped “sharply”.“With US and Iranian public positions still at odds, operators are closely monitoring traffic volumes, routing behaviour and any diplomatic developments that could reshape risk across regional shipping lanes in the days ahead,” the firm said on X. Source link
Overnight Israeli strikes on Gaza hit multiple residential buildings and killed at least eight people, authorities said Sunday, despite Hamas saying it agreed to the latest stage of a deal to end the war.Hamas said Friday it had agreed to a plan championed by US President Donald Trump that includes provisions for handing over its weapons and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.Israel has yet to officially comment on the agreement, but a political source has told AFP “that there will be no withdrawal whatsoever” without Hamas’s “genuine disarmament”. Gaza civil defence officials said Sunday eight people were killed in strikes around midnight that hit multiple residential buildings. In one attack near the central Gaza Strip, a man and his wife were killed and several others were wounded when an Israeli military helicopter struck an apartment, a civil defence spokesman said. An elderly man and a child were killed in another attack on an apartment west of Gaza City, and three people, including a child, were targeted when a strike hit another apartment northwest of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Authorities reported earlier Saturday that eight other people had been killed in strikes that damaged a hospital’s medical supplies and targeted a rooftop. Source link
His Royal Highness Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, discussed with United States President Donald Trump in a phone call the latest regional developments and their wider implications.During the call, the Saudi Crown Prince stressed the need to prioritize dialogue to reduce escalation and the importance of making every possible effort to achieve calm that paves the way for diplomatic solutions, preserves the region's security and stability, and prevents a wider conflict whose repercussions would affect regional and international security and stability.The two sides also discussed existing areas of cooperation and ways to strengthen them further. Source link
Authorities in Gaza said Saturday that they had recovered the remains of another 112 people in rubble, part of daunting operations after more than two years of Israeli strikes.Gaza’s civil defence agency said it found the remains or body parts following 136 hours of digging, largely with bare hands, in Sabra, a neighbourhood in the south of Gaza City. The remains included those of 40 children, 38 women and seven people who had had physical disabilities, according to the agency, which serves as a rescue service under Hamas.The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it supported the operation, which took place over nearly two weeks.”For more than two and a half years, thousands of families in Gaza have lived in pain and uncertainty, waiting for the chance to recover the remains of their loved ones, mourn them and lay them to rest with dignity,” said Amani Al-Naouq, ICRC spokesperson in Gaza.”The search for missing persons and the recovery of human remains is a critically important humanitarian issue,” she told AFP.Colonel Mohammed Abu Dan, who is in charge of the site for the civil defence agency, said that the team has not yet found 157 other bodies believed to be under the rubble there. He described the search as arduous, with teams sifting by hand through destroyed concrete and twisted metal.Thousands of people’s remains are still unaccounted for in Gaza, many of them believed to have been buried under rubble from intense Israeli air strikes. Restrictions imposed on media outlets and limited access in Gaza prevent AFP from independently verifying tolls or freely covering the violence. The Hamas-run health ministry has confirmed the deaths of more than 73,300 people in the war, in figures that are considered reliable by the United Nations. The war broke out when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,221 people and dragging 251 hostages into Gaza in the deadliest attack on the Israeli population since the creation of the state in 1948. Source link
Qatar has participated in the 41st meeting of the Directors-General of Passports of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) States, held at the GCC General Secretariat headquarters in Riyadh. Qatar’s Director-General of Passports Major-General Mohammed Ahmed al-Ateeq al-Dosari led the Ministry of Interior (MoI)’s delegation to the meeting. The meeting discussed multiple topics on its agenda, which included developing passport operations and improving services, enhancing integration and co-ordination among member states, and adopted appropriate recommendations thereon. Related Story Source link