Visual analysis and interviews show how Palestinians have been forced from their homes in the north as the Israeli military cuts a new corridor through Gaza.

U.S. and Arab mediators are working around the clock to hammer out a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, sources close to the talks said, while in the Gaza Strip medics said Israeli strikes had killed 44 Palestinians on Thursday.

Rebel forces in Syria are building a transitional government after toppling the regime of President Bashar Assad in a lightning-quick advance across the country.

The rights group joins a growing chorus of critics accusing Israel of committing genocidal acts in its war in Gaza.

Israel's defense minister has vowed that it would maintain “full freedom of action” in the Gaza Strip after fighting ends in the Palestinian enclave, a day after raising hopes that a ceasefire and hostage deal was imminent.

The Israeli military has ordered another evacuation in central Gaza ahead of an offensive in the area, even as Israel and the militant group Hamas appear to inch closer to a ceasefire.

Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that Israel has killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza by denying them clean water which it says legally amounts to acts of genocide and extermination.

Israel, for the first time, publicly confirmed their involvement in the July killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. In his warning to the Houthis amid their recent attacks, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz confirmed the involvement in killing Haniyeh.

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Sunday killed at least 22 people, including five children, Palestinian medical officials said.

One of the strikes overnight and into Monday hit a tent camp in the Muwasi area, an Israel-declared humanitarian zone, killing eight people, including two children. That's according to the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis,

The Nativity Store in Manger Square has sold handmade olive wood carvings and religious items to people visiting the traditional birthplace of Jesus since 1927. But as Bethlehem prepares to mark its second Christmas under the shadow of the war in Gaza,