Middle Orient

(Reuters) – Israeli forces pushed deeper into Gaza city Thursday and unleashed their heaviest shelling of its crowded neighborhoods in three weeks of war, stepping up pressure on Hamas as the Islamist group weighed a ceasefire. The Palestinian death toll topped 1,050, including many civilians. More than 4,000 have been …

GAZA (Reuters) – An explosion blasted a tower block in the city of Gaza that houses the offices of Reuters and other media organizations on Thursday, forcing an evacuation and disrupting coverage of increasingly fierce fighting. Colleagues said a journalist for the Abu Dhabi television channel had been wounded. Reuters …

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak apologized to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Thursday after Israeli forces shelled the main U.N. aid compound in the city of Gaza, Ban told reporters. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said its compound, where up to 700 Palestinians were being …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili arrived in Doha on Wednesday to deliver a message from President Ahmadinejad to Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani on the current conditions in the Gaza Strip. During his stay in the Qatari capital, Jalili is …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani attended a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the Gaza crisis. Larijani arrived in Turkey on Tuesday to attend an emergency meeting of the Islamic Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which will be held in Istanbul later today. At the meeting, …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran International Exhibition Company (IIEC) is taking several initiatives to encourage Iranian companies to participate in exhibitions and trade events in the United Arab Emirates after Iranian exporters showed increased willingness to expand their business in the UAE. An official from the company told Emirates business that currently …

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Iraqi transport ministry activated an agreement with Iran to operate lines for flights between the Baghdad and Najaf airports, on one hand, and the Mashhad International Airport in Iran on the other, a senior advisor for the transport minister said. “The lines between Baghdad and Najaf in …

TEHRAN (FNA)- British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in an unprecedented move wrote a letter to British Muslim leaders to placate criticism about the UK’s policy in refusing to condemn Israel’s massacre of nearly 900 Palestinians in Gaza. “I thought it would be helpful to be in touch about the extremely …

GAZA – Israeli leaders trying to find a knockout blow against Hamas militants defying a 17-day-old assault on the Gaza Strip have sent army reservists into battle. With the Palestinian death toll nearing 900 and international pressure for a ceasefire mounting, Israeli forces might launch a full-scale attack on Hamas …

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel and Hamas vowed to keep fighting on Sunday, ignoring international calls to stop the Gaza conflict which entered a 16th day with heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian guerrillas. Hamas’s leader in exile, Khaled Meshaal, said his Islamist group would not consider a truce until …