At least five dead in shooting near Tel Aviv
CNN
Five people were killed in a shooting near Tel Aviv, according to Israeli police, marking the third such attack in Israel within a week.
The attack started in the ultra-orthodox city of Bnei Brak, just east of Tel Aviv, before continuing on and ending near the entrance to Ramat Gan.
A police spokesperson said a preliminary investigation found that at least one assailant used an assault rifle against civilians in several locations before being killed by local police forces. It is not clear whether one of the dead was an assailant.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has ordered preparations for the annexation of settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
More than 80 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon and northern Gaza since late Saturday, according to reports.
Several United Nations agencies are again sounding the alarm on the rapid deterioration of humanitarian conditions in much of Gaza and the civilian toll of more than a year of Israeli military operations.
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An Israeli airstrike on a multi-story building in northern Gaza killed at least 27 people, relief officials said, as the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders in the area – where it is mounting a major offensive.
If his first term in the White House is any indication, President-elect Donald Trump is likely to keep the Middle East high on his agenda.
Rights groups say journalist Reza Valizadeh has been detained, amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran.
A female student stripped to her underwear outside her university in Iran in what some student and rights groups say was a protest against the country’s strict Islamic dress code.
Israel is at a “high level of readiness” for a response from Iran, an Israeli military source told CNN, as US officials visited the Middle East for a renewed push to resolve the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. Follow live updates.