Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has called for greater coordination among "independent and free" states to put pressure on Israel to end its "crimes" against Gaza.

In a letter sent to the leaders of 50 countries, including those from China, Russia, Türkiye, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Kenya and Jordan, Raisi called on them to put Israel under "coordinated political and economic pressures" to that end, according to a statement published on the website of his office on Monday.

ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- African countries have made tangible progress in enhancing agricultural productivity, promoting sustainable farming practices and addressing food security and rural poverty, but more efforts are needed to mitigate food-related challenges, African Union (AU) Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture Josefa Sacko said.

GAZA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- At least 1.7 million people have been displaced within the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict erupted on Oct. 7, the United Nations (UN) said on Monday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs noted the continuous call by the Israeli army for the residents in Gaza City and its northern areas to evacuate and move southwards through a corridor along Salah al-Din Road, the main north-south traffic artery running the length of Gaza.

QUSRA, West Bank (AP) — When Israeli warplanes swooped over the Gaza Strip following Hamas militants’ deadly attack on southern Israel, Palestinians say a different kind of war took hold in the occupied West Bank.

Overnight, the territory was closed off. Towns were raided, curfews imposed, teenagers arrested, detainees beaten, and villages stormed by Jewish vigilantes.

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces pressed their offensive against Hamas in northern Gaza on Monday, battling militants around a hospital where thousands of patients and displaced people have been sheltering for weeks, raising Palestinian fears of another painful standoff and evacuation of a medical facility.

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Heavy fighting erupted Monday around a hospital in northern Gaza where thousands of patients and displaced people have been sheltering for weeks, as Israeli forces focus on clearing medical facilities that they say Hamas militants use for cover.

A shell struck the second floor of the Indonesian Hospital, killing at least 12 people, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza and a medical worker inside the facility. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

TEHRAN, Nov 19 (NNN-TASNIM) – Iranians held rallies across the country yesterday, to express support for the Palestinians in the war-torn Gaza Strip, and condemn Israel’s “crimes” against them.

The rallies were staged in the Iranian capital, Tehran, as well as, other cities, including Tabriz, Shiraz, Isfahan, Rasht, Bushehr, Arak, and Qazvin.

In a rally in Tehran, protesters chanted slogans against the United States and Israel, while expressing support for the Palestinians in Gaza, particularly the children.

GAZA Nov 19 (Reuters) - The head of a prominent media institution in Gaza and two other journalists were killed during the weekend in Israel's offensive in the territory, their relatives said on Sunday, adding to the dozens of reporters who have died in the six-week conflict.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the weekend deaths raised to 48 the number of journalists and media workers it had confirmed killed in the region since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli offensive.

JERUSALEM, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Israel stepped up accusations of Hamas abuses at the Gaza Strip's biggest hospital on Sunday, saying a captive soldier had been executed and two foreign hostages held at a site that has been a focus of its devastating six-week-old offensive.

At one point a shelter for tens of thousands of Palestinian war refugees, Al Shifa Hospital has been evacuating patients and staff since Israeli troops swept in last week on what they called a mission to root out hidden Hamas facilities.

JERUSALEM, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Israel published video on Sunday of what it described as a tunnel dug by Palestinian militants under the Gaza Strip's biggest hospital, a focus of its search-and-destroy missions against Hamas in a war now in its seventh week.

While acknowledging that it has a network of hundreds of kilometres of secret tunnels, bunkers and access shafts throughout the Palestinian enclave, Hamas has denied that these are located in civilian infrastructure like hospitals.