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Middle East

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, soldiers assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary) and sailors attached to the MV Roy P. Benavidez assemble the Roll-On, Roll-Off Distribution Facility (RRDF), or floating pier, off the shore of Gaza in the Mediterranean Sea on April 26, 2024. (U.S. Army via AP, File)

US military says Gaza Strip pier project is completed, aid to soon flow as Israel-Hamas war rages on

Officials will begin ferrying badly needed humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.
 
Palestinians walk through the debris after an Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Saher Alghorra)

The Latest | US military finishes pier for delivering aid into Gaza as Israel presses in Rafah

 
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk through a makeshift tent camp in Rafah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The top UN court is holding hearings on the Israeli military’s incursion into Rafah

 
This 2021 photo provided by Haim Parag shows David Ben-Avraham at a supermarket in the Israeli town of Beit Shamesh, where he briefly worked, in Jerusalem. Ben-Avraham, a Palestinian who was born a Muslim but made the almost unheard-of decision to convert to Judaism years earlier, was fatally shot by an Israeli soldier. (Courtesy of Haim Parag via AP)

A Palestinian converted to Judaism. An Israeli soldier saw him as a threat and opened fire

 
Palestinian Fayrouz Safi cries while she takes the last look at the body of her son Aysar Safi, 20, at the family house during his funeral in the West Bank refugee camp of Jalazoun, north of Ramallah Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Safi was killed during clashes with Israeli forces at the northern entrance of al-Bireh city, Palestinian ministry of health said. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Netanyahu fends off criticism at home and abroad over his lack of a postwar plan for Gaza

 
This is a locator map for Yemen with its capital, Sanaa. (AP Photo)

Yemen’s Houthi rebels acknowledge attacking a US destroyer that shot down missile in the Red Sea

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed targeting a U.S. Navy destroyer and a commercial ship in the Red Sea.
 
This is a locator map for Yemen with its capital, Sanaa. (AP Photo)

Yemeni security forces deploy in Aden as anger simmers over lengthy power outages

Yemeni authorities have deployed security forces and armored vehicles across the port city of Aden, in preparation for the latest in a series of protests over hours-long electricity outages caused by a shortage of fuel for power stations.
 
This is a locator map for Saudi Arabia with its capital, Riyadh. (AP Photo)

Independent UN experts say radical Saudi Arabia scholar held for years should be tried or released

A radical Sunni scholar whose criticisms of Saudi Arabia’s government and the West drew praise from the late al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden should be immediately tried or released from a yearslong arbitrary detention by the kingdom.
 
President Joe Biden speaks at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies' 30th annual gala, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Biden administration is moving ahead on new $1 billion arms sale to Israel, congressional aides say

It’s the first arms shipment to Israel to be announced by the administration since it put another arms transfer on hold earlier in the month.
 
A Palestinian woman sits in front of her makeshift tent with her grandchildren after been displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip at a camp in Deir al Balah, Monday, May 13, 2024. Palestinians on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, will mark the 76th year of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel. It's an event that is at the core of their national struggle, but in many ways pales in comparison to the calamity now unfolding in Gaza. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians mark 76 years of dispossession as a potentially even larger catastrophe unfolds in Gaza

Palestinians on Wednesday will mark the 76th year of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel. It’s an event that is at the core of their national struggle, but in many ways pales in comparison to the calamity now unfolding in Gaza.
 

PEN America, facing ongoing criticism over its response to the Mideast war, gathers for annual gala

PEN America will gather Thursday night for its annual gala, a high-profile event raised even higher because some wondered if it would be held at all.
 
Students wave Palestinian flags as they march to show solidarity with Palestinians amid the ongoing war in Gaza and to commemorate the Nakba Day, Arabic for catastrophe, in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Palestinians mark 76 years of their dispossession as more catastrophe looms in Gaza

Palestinians are marking 76 years of dispossession, commemorating their mass expulsion from what is today Israel as a potentially even larger catastrophe unfolds in Gaza.
 
People talk as they sit on sofas during Israel's Independence Day celebrations at a park in Tel Aviv, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. Israelis are marking 76 years since Israel's creation. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg).

Israelis mark a subdued Independence Day under the shadow of war in Gaza

Israel’s Independence Day is normally a raucous affair, celebrated with day parties and barbecues in parks, but this year, celebrations — from Monday evening through Tuesday — were muted.
 
FILE - Students protesting against the war in Gaza, and passersby walking through Harvard Yard, are seen at an encampment at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on April 25, 2024. Participants at the Harvard encampment protesting the war between Israel and Hamas announced they were voluntarily ending their occupation of Harvard Yard. The student protest group said in a statement that the encampment “outlasted its utility with respect to our demands,” and interim Harvard University President Alan Garber agreed to pursue a meeting between those involved in the protest and university officials. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

Harvard students end protest as university agrees to discuss Middle East conflict

Anti-war protesters have taken down their tents in Harvard Yard after the university agreed to meet to discuss their demands.
 
A Syrian refugee woman carries her child as she prepares to go back home to Syria as part of a voluntary return, in the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. Hundreds of Syrians refugees left a remote northeastern Lebanese town back to Syria in a convoy, amid a surge in anti-refugee sentiment in the small, crisis-hit country. Lebanese officials for years has urged the international community to resettle the refugees in other countries or help them return to Syria. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Hundreds of Syrian refugees head home as anti-refugee sentiment surges in Lebanon

More than 300 Syrians refugees are heading back home from northeastern Lebanon to an uncertain future in Syria as anti-refugee sentiment is surging in crisis-hit Lebanon.
 
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed during Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, next to the morgue in Deir al Balah, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The Latest | UN says over half a million people flee fighting in Gaza; Israel marks Independence Day

The United Nations says more than half a million Palestinians have been displaced in recent days by escalating Israeli military operations in both southern and northern Gaza.
 
A Houthi soldier stands on board of the Israeli Galaxy ship which was seized by the Houthis, in the port of Saleef, near Hodeidah, Yemen, Sunday, May. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

US calls on Iran to halt unprecedented weapons transfers to Yemen’s Houthis for attacks on ships

The United States is calling on Iran to halt its transfer of an “unprecedented” amount of weaponry to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, enabling their fighters to attack ships in the Red Sea and elsewhere.
 
This is a locator map for Iraq with its capital, Baghdad. (AP Photo)

Notorious people smuggler wanted in Europe arrested in northern Iraq

One of Europe’s most notorious human smugglers has been arrested in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, security officials said.
 
FILE - Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof poses during a photo call for the film "The Immigrant" at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France on May 24, 2013. Rasoulof has been sentenced to eight years in prison and lashings just ahead of his planned trip to the Cannes film festival, his lawyer told The Associated Press on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

Iranian filmmaker flees to Europe after prison sentence ahead of his Cannes premiere

After being sentenced to eight years in prison, the award-winning Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof says he’s fled to Europe shortly ahead of the Cannes Film Festival premiere of his latest film.
 
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk through a makeshift tent camp in Deir al Balah, Gaza, Sunday, May 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Misery deepens in Gaza’s Rafah as Israeli troops press operation

Aid workers are struggling to distribute dwindling food to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by what Israel says is a limited operation in Rafah.
 
FILE - An Emirates Airbus A380 jumbo jet lands at Dubai International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Sept. 9, 2022. The long-haul carrier Emirates announced Monday, May 13, 2024, it saw record profits of $4.7 billion in 2023 as the airline fully took flight after the turbulent years of the coronavirus pandemic disrupted its operations.(AP Photo/Jon Gambrell, File)

Long-haul carrier Emirates sees $4.7 billion profit in 2023 as airline takes flight after pandemic

The long-haul carrier Emirates says it saw record profits of $4.7 billion in 2023 as the airline fully took flight after the turbulent years of the coronavirus pandemic disrupted its operations.
 
This is a locator map for Sudan with its capital, Khartoum. (AP Photo)

Fires used as weapon of war in Sudan destroyed or damaged 72 villages last month, study says

A study says that fires resulting from the fighting in Sudan destroyed or damaged 72 villages last month in the country’s west — more than in any other month since the conflict erupted in mid-April last year.
 
A woman touches the wall with names of fallen soldiers during Israel's annual Memorial Day for the fallen soldiers who died in the nation's conflicts and victims of nationalistic attacks at the Armored Corps memorial site in Latrun, Israel, Monday, May 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

With the shock of Oct. 7 still raw, profound sadness and anger grip Israel on its Memorial Day

Memorial Day is always a somber occasion in Israel. But it has taken on a profound and raw sadness coupled with percolating anger in the aftermath of Oct. 7.
 
An Iranian man votes for the parliamentary runoff elections at a polling station in Tehran, Iran, Friday, May 10, 2024. Iranians voted Friday in a runoff election for the remaining seats in the country's parliament after hard-line politicians dominated March balloting. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A parliamentary election runoff puts hard-liners firmly in charge of Iran’s parliament

Iran’s hard-liners have won most of the remaining seats in an election run-off to give them full control over the country’s parliament, authorities say.
 

Kuwait’s emir dissolves parliament again, amid political gridlock in oil-rich nation

Kuwait’s emir has again dissolved the small, oil-rich country’s parliament amid continuing political deadlock.
 

Iraqi government asks the United Nations to wind down its political mission in the country

The Iraqi government has requested the United Nations end a mission set up to promote governance and human rights reforms in the country by the end of 2025, the latest in a series of international bodies operating in the country that Iraq has sought to wind down.
 
This is a locator map for Syria with its capital, Damascus. (AP Photo)

Syria’s Kurdish-led force hands over 2 IS militants suspected in 2014 mass killing of Iraqi troops

Syria’s U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led force has handed over to Baghdad two Islamic State group militants suspected of involvement in the 2014 massacre of Iraqi soldiers.
 
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at a hospital in Rafah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

The Latest | UN General Assembly votes to give Palestine more rights by a wide margin

The U.N. General Assembly has overwhelmingly passed a resolution to give Palestine more “rights and privileges.”
 
Staff members of a polling station attend to their stations during the parliamentary runoff elections in Tehran, Iran, Friday, May 10, 2024. Iranians voted Friday in a runoff election for the remaining seats in the country's parliament after hard-line politicians dominated March balloting. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranians vote in a parliamentary runoff election after hard-liners dominate initial balloting

Iranians have voted in a runoff election for the remaining seats in the country’s parliament after hard-line politicians dominated March balloting.
 
Ibrahim Dawabsha, 34, holds hands with his daughter Ghena, 3 while posing for a picture in front of his truck, at the garage of the family house, that was torched during an attack by Israel settlers last month, in the West Bank village of Duma, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Israeli settlers attacked this West Bank village in a spasm of violence after a boy’s death

Charred homes and cars dot the hilltop West Bank village of Duma, a searing reminder of Palestinians’ vulnerability to rising violence from Israeli settlers.
 
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks as he meets with President Joe Biden, Oct. 18, 2023, in Tel Aviv. Biden and Netanyahu have long managed a complicated relationship. But now they find themselves running out of space to maneuver as their interests diverge and their political futures hang in the balance. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

The Biden-Netanyahu relationship is strained like never before. Can the two leaders move forward?

President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have long managed a complicated relationship.
 
This is a locator map for Sudan with its capital, Khartoum. (AP Photo)

Sudanese paramilitary forces have carried out ethnic cleansing in Darfur, rights group says

A leading rights group says attacks by Sudanese paramilitary forces and their allied militias that killed thousands in the western region of Darfur last year constitute a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the area’s non-Arab population.
 
FILE - Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof poses during a photo call for the film "The Immigrant" at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France on May 24, 2013. Rasoulof has been sentenced to eight years in prison and lashings just ahead of his planned trip to the Cannes film festival, his lawyer told The Associated Press on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

Award-winning director Mohammad Rasoulof sentenced to prison in Iran ahead of Cannes

The award-winning Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof has been sentenced to eight years in prison and lashings ahead of his planned trip to the Cannes film festival, his lawyer tells The Associated Press.
 
A lift loads food aid for Gaza on the container ship Sagamore at Larnaca port, Cyprus, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. According to a Pentagon spokeswoman, Sabrina Singh, humanitarian aid is being loaded onto the Sagamore at Larnaca port for eventual delivery to Gaza. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Netanyahu on US threat to withhold arms: Israel will fight with its ‘fingernails’ if needed

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that a U.S. threat to withhold some arms would not prevent Israel from continuing its offensive in Gaza, indicating it might proceed with an invasion of the packed city of Rafah against the wishes of its closest ally.
 
Family members of suspected Islamic State group fighters wait to be transferred by U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters from al-Hol camp, in Hasakeh province, Syria, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. Scores of Syrian women and children linked to the Islamic State group left a sprawling camp in northeast Syria Wednesday and headed home to the eastern province of Deir el-Zour following mediation by tribal leaders. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)

Scores of Syrians return home after years at camp housing people linked to the Islamic State group

Scores of Syrian women and children linked to the Islamic State group have left a sprawling camp in northeast Syria and headed home to the eastern province of Deir el-Zour following mediation by tribal leaders.
 
Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the U.N. World Food Program (WFP), speaks during an interview with The Associated Press as he tours a WFP warehouse stocking food rations in the northern Beirut suburb of Dekwaneh, Lebanon, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. If the monthslong conflict playing out on the Lebanese-Israeli border continues to escalate, the United Nations food agency won't be ready for the spike in nutritional needs across crisis-hit Lebanon, its deputy executive director said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

UN food agency fears an escalation on the Lebanese-Israeli border can cripple aid efforts in Lebanon

The United Nations food agency’s deputy executive director says if the monthslong conflict playing out on the Lebanese-Israeli border continues to escalate, the agency won’t be ready for the spike in nutritional needs across crisis-hit Lebanon.
 
Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. The Israeli army has ordered tens of thousands of people to evacuate Rafah as it conducts a ground operation there. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The Latest | Rafah’s hospitals will run out of fuel in 3 days, WHO says

The U.N. World Health Organization says it has only three days of fuel for its medical operations in southern Gaza, and shortages have already forced one of three hospitals in the city of Rafah to shut down.The Rafah border crossing with Egypt has been closed since Israel’s military took control of
 
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks before signing a $95 billion Ukraine aid package that also includes support for Israel, Taiwan, and other allies, in the State Dining Room of the White House, April 24, 2024, in Washington. The Biden administration is due to deliver a first-of-its-kind formal verdict on whether Israel's conduct of its war in Gaza complies with international and U.S. laws. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Has Israel followed the law in its war in Gaza? The US is due to render a first-of-its-kind verdict

The Biden administration is due to deliver a first-of-its-kind verdict on whether Israel’s conduct of its war in Gaza complies with international and U.S. laws.
 
This is a locator map for Syria with its capital, Damascus. (AP Photo)

US repatriates 11 citizens from notorious camp for relatives of Islamic State militants in Syria

The United States has repatriated 11 of its citizens from sprawling camps in northeastern Syria that house tens of thousands of family members of suspected Islamic State militants.
 
International Atomic Energy Organization, IAEA, Director General Rafael Grossi, left, and head of Iran's atomic energy department Mohammad Eslami shake hands at the conclusion of their joint press conference after their meeting in the central city of Isfahan, Iran, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iran and the UN nuclear agency are still discussing how to implement a 2023 deal on inspections

Iran and the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog are still negotiating over how to implement a deal struck last year to expand inspections of the Islamic Republic’s rapidly advancing atomic program.