Mena Today

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met the head of Egyptian intelligence in Jerusalem on Tuesday, the prime minister's office said.

Numerous U.S. allies have said they would welcome the opportunity to go into Gaza and straighten out Hamas with "heavy force," but there is no need for that yet, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday.

Syria hopes that U.S. sanctions against the country will be formally lifted in the coming months and has started the process of restructuring its debt, the country's Economy Minister Mohammad Nidal al-Shaar told Reuters on Tuesday.

The Tel Aviv District Planning and Building Committee has approved for deposit a plan to build the permanent embassy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Herzliya, signaling a significant step forward in the normalization and strengthening of ties between the two countries.

President Trump deserves credit for doing what others could not, helping bring calm to Gaza and pushing for a broader peace in the Middle East. His instincts for deal-making, for cutting through diplomatic fog, have always been his greatest asset.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday, as Washington tries to stabilise the first, shaky, phase of the Gaza ceasefire and push Israel and Hamas towards the harder concessions asked of each side in coming talks.

Turkey’s ties to Hamas, once a liability in Washington, have turned into a geopolitical asset. By persuading Hamas to accept Donald Trump’s Gaza deal, Ankara has reasserted itself on the Middle East chessboard, to the dismay of Israel and Arab rivals.

The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, strongly criticized Israel on Tuesday, accusing it of repeated violations of the current ceasefire in Gaza, following a series of Israeli airstrikes that reportedly targeted Hamas infrastructure in the enclave.

Fifteen international staff with the United Nations have been confined to the U.N. compound in the Yemen’s capital Sanaa since an incursion by the Houthi authorities on Saturday, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.

Iran has scrapped a cooperation deal that it signed with the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA in September, its Supreme National Security Council Secretary said on Monday, according to state media.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Monday in Tel Aviv with U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, amid renewed tensions in Gaza that have strained the fragile ceasefire in place since October 10.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to start a five-year prison sentence on Tuesday after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy in a case related to efforts to obtain campaign financing from Libya during Muammar Gaddafi's rule.