Middle East & North Africa

DUBAI, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian warned on Wednesday of "harsh consequences" if attacks continue on the Gaza Strip, the latest in a series of warnings from the country, which backs Hamas in Gaza and militias elsewhere in the region.

"If an immediate ceasefire doesn't take place in Gaza Strip and the rapid attacks by U.S. and Zionist Regime continue then the consequences would be harsh," he said in Ankara.

JERUSALEM, Nov 1 (Reuters) - The Israeli military said it had deployed missile boats in the Red Sea on Wednesday as reinforcements, a day after the Iran-aligned Houthi movement said it had launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and vowed to carry out more.

Images disseminated by the military showed Saar-class corvettes patrolling near Eilat port in the Red Sea, which Israel sees as a new front as its war in Gaza draws retaliation from Iran-aligned pro-Hamas forces elsewhere in the region.

GAZA/JERUSALEM, Nov 1 (Reuters) - A first group of civilian evacuees from Gaza crossed into Egypt under a Qatari-mediated deal on Wednesday while Israeli forces bombed the Palestinian enclave from land, sea and air anew as they pressed their offensive against Hamas militants.

Another blast shook Jabalia, Gaza's largest refugee camp, on Wednesday, a day after Palestinian health officials said an Israeli air strike killed about 50 people and wounded 150 there. Israel said it had killed a Hamas commander in Tuesday's attack.

ANKARA, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Wednesday that Türkiye doesn't want the conflict in the Gaza Strip to spiral into a regional war.

"We do not want it to turn into a war that will affect the countries in the region. We call on actors to promote lasting peace," Fidan said at a joint press conference with his visiting Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian in the capital Ankara.

He said that Türkiye was ready to "take responsibility and be guarantor" if an agreement is reached to end the Israel-Hamas conflict.

TEHRAN, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said the attacks on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Syria over the past days were not related to Iran.

He made the remarks in an interview with the Iranian Students' News Agency published on Wednesday, during which he rejected the accusations by Washington that "Tehran has been behind the attacks by anti-U.S. groups on the American bases" in a number of the regional countries.

JERUSALEM, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Israel sent missile boats to the Red Sea, the army said on Wednesday after Houthi forces in Yemen fired missiles and drones toward Israel's resort city of Eilat.

"Israeli Navy missile boats arrived in the area of the Red Sea," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement, noting the move was made following a "situational assessment and as part of defensive efforts in the area."

JERUSALEM (AP) — The latest Israel-Hamas war has quickly become the deadliest and most destructive of the five wars fought between the sides since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 from the Palestinian Authority.

The fighting erupted Oct. 7 when Hamas carried out a bloody attack in southern Israel. Since then, Israel has relentlessly pounded the Gaza Strip with airstrikes that have wrought unprecedented destruction, flattening entire neighborhoods.

01 November 2023; MEMO: Israeli forces have paid a “heavy price” during their ground operation in the Gaza Strip despite making “significant” achievements, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Anadolu has reported. Gallant made his comments on Tuesday during a meeting at Palmachim Air Base in central Israel with troops of the Air Force’s elite Shaldag and 669 units, said Israeli Army Radio.

31 October 2023; MEMO: President Joe Biden’s support among Arab-Americans, who are crucial voters in battleground election states, has plunged from a comfortable majority in 2020 to just 17 per cent, a new poll shows, amid growing anger over the Democratic President’s support for Israel’s attacks on Gaza, Reuters reports.

31 October 2023; MEMO: Anadolu, on Tuesday, captured the images of the Orthodox Cultural Centre in Gaza, which was destroyed by the Israeli bombardment in the south of the blockaded enclave, Anadolu Agency reports.

Abdulmunim Al-Abesi, one of the displaced Palestinians who took shelter in the Centre in the Tel Al-Hawa neighbourhood, told Anadolu that some 500 people took shelter there.