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Iraqi PM slams Israel's complaint over attacks by Iraqi Iran-backed militias

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has dismissed an Israeli complaint to the U.N. Security Council about strikes by Iraq's Iran-backed Shiite militias on Israel as a “pretext and argument to attack Iraq” and to “expand the war in the region.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar had earlier posted on X a letter to the Security Council saying that “Israel has the inherent right to self-defense ... and to take all necessary measures to protect itself and its citizens against the ongoing acts of hostilities by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.”

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3 Palestinians killed in Israeli West Bank raid

Three Palestinians were killed on Tuesday during an Israel military operation in the occupied West Bank near Jenin, said the governor of the region, citing local authorities.

"There are three bodies of martyrs that are now with the Israeli side, after they killed them," Kamal Abu al-Rub said, citing the District Coordination Office. The Israeli military has yet to comment on the operation.

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G20 calls for ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon

G20 leaders called for "comprehensive" ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon in a joint statement at a summit in Brazil on Monday.

The leaders of the world's biggest economies called for a U.S.-proposed permanent ceasefire in Gaza in return for the release of all hostages, as well as a Lebanon ceasefire "that enables citizens to return safely to their homes on both sides of the Blue Line."

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Netanyahu says Iran's nuclear program hit in October strike

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel's late October attack on Iran damaged "a component" of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.

"It has been published that a certain component of their nuclear program was hit in this attack", Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament, adding that "the program itself and its ability to operate here have not yet been thwarted."

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Biden urges G20 leaders to 'increase pressure' on Hamas

U.S. President Joe Biden called on G20 leaders Monday to step up pressure on Hamas for a ceasefire with Israel, as he vowed to "keep pushing" for a deal in his last weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House.

"I ask everyone here to increase their pressure on Hamas, which is currently refusing this deal," Biden said in his opening remarks to the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.

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Suspected attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels targets ship in the Red Sea

A suspected attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a commercial ship late Sunday night traveling through the southern reaches of the Red Sea, though it caused no damage nor injuries, authorities said.

The attack comes as the rebels continue their monthslong assault targeting shipping through a waterway that typically sees $1 trillion in goods pass through it a year over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Israel's ground offensive in Lebanon.

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With Trump, already small US distance with Israel to vanish

For more than a year, the United States has steadfastly backed Israel in its Gaza war while quietly counseling restraint. With Donald Trump's return, the nuance will vanish, although his hunger for deal-making makes him less predictable.

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Mushroom houses for Gaza? Arab designers offer home-grown innovations

As winter descends on Gaza's tent cities, emergency housing made from mushrooms could keep out the cold -- just one of several sustainable, home-grown innovations put forward by Arab designers at an expo in Dubai.

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Report: Israel destroyed Iranian nuclear arms research facility in October attack

The Israeli attack on Iran in late October destroyed an active top secret nuclear weapons research facility in Parchin, three U.S. officials, a current Israeli official and a former Israeli official have told U.S. news portal Axios.

The strike — which targeted a site previously reported to be inactive — significantly damaged Iran's effort over the past year to resume nuclear weapons research, Israeli and U.S. officials said.

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Second Israeli strike in two days hits Damascus

Syrian state-run media said Israel struck the upscale Mazzeh district of Damascus on Friday, the second such attack in as many days to hit the neighborhood home to embassies, security headquarters and United Nations offices.

"Israeli aggression targets Mazzeh area in Damascus," the official SANA news agency said, after reporting a deadly Israeli strike on the district a day earlier.

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