Israeli authorities remained short on answers Tuesday over how six Palestinian prisoners' escape from a high-security jail went unnoticed and where they could have gone, with a vast manhunt still underway.
The group's early-morning flight, through a hole made below a sink in a Gilboa prison cell to a tiny tunnel exit discovered by guards and police early Monday morning, sounds almost like a plotline from Israeli-Palestinian conflict drama "Fauda".
Full StoryAs night falls on the Gaza Strip, Palestinian protesters approach the border fence with Israel, carrying homemade stun grenades and Molotov cocktails to hurl toward the enemy soldiers.
The aim of these so-called disruption operations, sponsored by the Islamist armed group Hamas that rules Gaza, is to harass the Israeli border forces -- but analysts warn it is a dangerous game.
Full StoryGovernment shelling of rebel-held areas in northwestern Syria killed four people, including a child and a woman, and wounded more than a dozen Tuesday night, opposition activists said.
The shelling of the city of Idlib came after several airstrikes hit the region that borders Turkey earlier in the day.
Full StoryA Jordanian soldier killed in the 1967 Middle East war was given a military funeral and laid to rest in east Jerusalem on Monday, in an extraordinary scene that pointed to improved ties between Israel and Jordan after years of tensions.
The soldier's remains were discovered last month during construction work at Ammunition Hill, the site of a famous battle between Israeli and Jordanian forces. Funeral prayers were held at the Al-Aqsa mosque and a Jordanian honor guard in uniform, with red-checkered headscarves wrapped around their faces, carried the casket to a nearby Islamic cemetery.
Full StoryWith the help of the United Nations, authorities in Iraq are taking measures to prevent voter fraud in national elections next month, the U.N. envoy to Iraq said Tuesday.
However, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert stressed that Iraqi political parties and candidates must abstain from intimidation, voter suppression and bribes to ensure the October federal elections are free and fair.
Full StoryThe group Human Rights Watch accused Egypt on Tuesday of routinely killing opponents in "unlawful extrajudicial executions" made to look like shootouts and urged international sanctions against Cairo.
Citing interior ministry figures, the New York-based rights group found that at least 755 people were killed in 143 alleged shootouts -- with only one suspect arrested.
Full StoryLibyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi was ousted and killed in the 2011 uprising, but several of his family members survived. Nearly a decade on from the dictator's gruesome slaying, what has happened to them?
On Sunday, Gadhafi's third son, Saadi, was released from a prison in Tripoli, three years after he was acquitted over the murder of a football coach while still accused of shooting protesters during the revolution.
Full StoryWith Morocco going to the polls on Wednesday, here are some milestones in the more than two-decade reign of King Mohammed VI.
- 1999: Breaks with father -
Full StoryAlgeria's football team arrived in Morocco on Monday on the eve of their African World Cup qualifier against Burkina Faso, against a backdrop of diplomatic tensions between the North African neighbors.
The Algerian delegation "was received by Moroccan football federation officials at Marrakesh airport", said Mohamed Makrouf, an official from the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF).
Full StoryQatar's envoy to Gaza said Monday that aid from his country will be distributed soon in the Palestinian enclave, including to employees of the Hamas government.
Qatari support is considered a crucial lifeline for impoverished Palestinians living in Gaza, which has been under Israeli blockade since 2007, the year Hamas Islamists took power.
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