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Israel’s uncompromising attitude and worsening situation in Gaza prompted Turkey to halt trade, minister saysDaniel Hurst is Guardian Australia’s foreign affairs and defence correspondent.The Australian government faces a decision next week on whether to support admitting Palestine as a full member of the UN and is swapping notes with allies including South Korea and Germany. Continue reading...

Ahmed Alhashimi’s seven-year-old daughter Sara was crushed to death after group of men rushed on to dinghyThe father of a seven-year-old girl crushed to death on a small boat has said they tried to cross the Channel after being informed his young family would be deported to Iraq after spending years in Europe.Ahmed Alhashimi, 41, lost grasp of his daughter, Sara, on an inflatable...

US state department says law could drive away foreign investment and David Cameron calls it ‘dangerous and worrying’Human rights groups and diplomats have criticised a law passed by the Iraqi parliament over the weekend that would impose heavy prison sentences on gay and transgender people.The US state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said in a statement that the law passed on Saturday “threatens those most...

Amendments to anti-prostitution law also enable courts to sentence trans people to three years in prisonIraq’s parliament has passed a bill making same-sex relations punishable by up to 15 years in prison, in a move condemned as an “attack on human rights”.Transgender people will also be sentenced to three years in jail under the amendments to a 1988 anti-prostitution law, which were adopted during...

Aharon Haliva has stood down over the failure to prevent the attack by Hamas inside southern Israel that day, according to Israeli media reportsHaaretz reports that Israeli security forces have arrested two people suspected of carrying out a car ramming in Jerusalem. Three people are reported to have been injured.Aharon Haliva, who was the general in command of the IDF’s military intelligence directorate on...

First attack on US forces since early February comes day after Iraq’s prime minister returns from US visitAn Iraqi militant group has said it will resume attacks on US forces in the country, as it appeared to claim responsibility for a strike on an American military base in north-eastern Syria which saw at least five rockets launched from Iraq’s town of Zummar.Sunday’s strike against...

Officials report casualties with some citing air strike on former anti-Isis unit known as Hashed al-Shaabi, which is now part of Iraq’s regular militaryAn explosion has hit an Iraqi military base housing pro-Iranian paramilitaries, according to security sources.The explosion on Friday night was at the Calso base, where former pro-Iranian paramilitary group Hashed al-Shaabi – now integrated into the regular army – is stationed,...

Democrat praised for serving with ‘immense dignity and courage’ during five-decade career while also perfecting ‘workdays’ to connect with constituentsFormer US senator and two-term Florida governor Bob Graham, who gained national prominence as chairman of the Senate intelligence committee in the aftermath of the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks and as an early critic of the Iraq war, has died aged 87.Graham’s family announced...

Israel’s prime minister has rejected Hamas’ response to a ceasefire proposal and ordered troops to enter the overcrowded city of RafahNetanyahu rejects Gaza ceasefire deal and says victory is ‘within reach’A journalist and his son have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in the central Gaza Strip, reports Al Jazeera.Nafez Abdel Jawad, who worked for Palestine TV, was killed in...

Commander of Kataib Hezbollah’s operations in Syria among dead after attack in eastern neighborhood of MashtalA US drone strike on a car in Baghdad has killed three members of the powerful Kataib Hezbollah militia, including a high-ranking commander, officials said after a string of blasts were heard in the Iraqi capital.The strike late on Wednesday came on a main thoroughfare in the Mashtal neighbourhood...

US secretary of state to fly to Cairo after meeting Saudi crown prince as UN reports increase in Israeli strikes on southern former ‘safe’ city of Rafah US-backed Kurdish fighters killed in drone strike on US base in SyriaFrench diplomat to review UNRWA after claims of staff role in Hamas attackAt least 27,585 Palestinians have been killed and 66,978 wounded in Israeli strikes on...

Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iranian-backed militia, claims attack after at least six fighters killedAt least six US-backed Kurdish fighters have been killed in a drone strike on a US base in eastern Syria. The attack was claimed by an Iranian-backed militia that was the target of US airstrikes on Friday.The deaths are the latest indicator of how conflict is seeping across the Middle...

President says ‘If you harm an American, we will respond’ as US forces strike in what is expected to be first of multiple attacksUS airstrikes in Iraq and Syria – live updatesJoe Biden has warned “if you harm an American, we will respond” as US forces attacked more than 80 targets in Iraq and Syria in a wide-ranging air assault on sites belonging to...

Strikes expected to take place in Syria and possibly Iraq, after three US soldiers were killed at a base in JordanMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe US has ordered a series of reprisal strikes to be launched over more than one day against an Iranian-backed militia, the US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, has said.Austin said all drones in the region attacking the US were...

Tehran warns Washington but regime unsure of degree of support for interventionist foreign policyIran has told the US via intermediaries that if it strikes Iranian soil directly, Tehran will itself hit back at American assets in the Middle East, drawing the two sides into a direct conflict.The warning comes as Iran waits on high alert to see how Joe Biden responds to the death...

The group that claimed responsibility for deadly attack on US military base in north-east JordanMiddle East crisis – live updatesThree US service personnel were killed and dozens wounded after a drone hit a military outpost in Jordan, known as Tower 22, which lies on the border with Iraq and Syria. The US president, Joe Biden, has blamed Iran-backed militants for the attack and said:...

Pentagon calls attacks ‘necessary and proportionate’, after US personnel were injured in a weekend attack in IraqSee all our Middle East crisis coverageThe US has carried out strikes in Iraq against three facilities linked to Iran-backed militia, the Pentagon has said, after a weekend attack on an Iraqi airbase that wounded US forces.“US military forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on three facilities used...

Whistleblowers allege large sums are being lost to corruption in Iraq as donors fail to track spending on postwar reconstructionStaff working for the UN in Iraq are allegedly demanding bribes in return for helping businessmen win contracts on postwar reconstruction projects in the country, a Guardian investigation has found.The alleged kickbacks are one of a number of claims of corruption and mismanagement the Guardian...

Two killed and five wounded, militia officials say, before US secretary of state’s tour of Middle EastMiddle East crisis – live updatesA US airstrike in Baghdad on Thursday killed the commander of an Iranian-backed Shia militia that Washington blames for attacks on American forces in the region, according to US officials.One official said that a leader of Harakat al-Nujaba, later named by the Pentagon...