Middle Orient

TEHRAN (FNA)- The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon described Israeli attacks on UN building and schools during war in Gaza outrageous. “It is an outrageous and totally unacceptable attack on the United Nations,” Ban said about the destruction of UN-run buildings and schools in Gaza during Israel’s 22-day war …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned Czech charge d’affaire in Tehran Jan Kouril, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, to criticize EU’s double-standard policy towards human rights violations in Gaza. The Ministry also criticized European Union’s fecklessness that has encouraged Israel to continue brutalities against Palestinian …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran shut its natural gas pipeline to Turkey on Tuesday for maintenance work following a technical hitch. Mahmoud Loqmani, a supervisor at one of the gas dispatching centers in Iran, said Turkey’s state gas company BOTAS was informed of the stop in gas flow. Turkish media outlets also …

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel said it completed a troop pullout from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Wednesday, starting its relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama by quitting Palestinian land devastated by its 22-day offensive. “As of this morning, the last of the Israel Defense Forces soldiers have left the Gaza …

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israelis and Palestinians could all be twice as rich as they are today if conflict had not continued throughout the peace process of the past two decades, an international think tank said on Wednesday. The Strategic Foresight Group, an India-based body that says it has advised governments, …

SALATIN, Gaza Strip (Reuters) – Palestinian families returned to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday but many found there was nothing recognizable left standing. Women and children gazed around in dismay as they came in sight of Salatin, trundling slowly along on overloaded donkey carts or packed …

KUWAIT (Reuters) – Arab leaders agreed at a summit on Tuesday to help rebuild the battered Gaza Strip, but failed to bridge differences over the three-week Israeli offensive that killed more than 1,300 people. The conflict in Gaza underscored the Arab divide between those allied to Egypt and Saudi Arabia …

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Aid agencies poured resources into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Tuesday, providing basic essentials to tens of thousands of Palestinians in need of emergency aid after three weeks of devastating conflict. Israel, which controls border entry points into Gaza, said it hoped to triple the number of …

PARIS (Reuters) – France signaled on Tuesday that it might be prepared to hold talks with Hamas even if the Palestinian Islamist group does not recognize Israel as Paris and other Western powers have demanded for years. The “Quartet” of Middle East mediators — the United States, the European Union, …

(Reuters) – Voicing shock at stark scenes of destruction, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, and Israel was poised to withdraw its troops. Here is a timeline of events since a six-month ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip ended last month. December 19, …