Middle East

World News

The fight between Israel and Hamas has implications for other countries.

5:07pm October 12, 2023

by Greg Myre

The latest eruption of Mideast violence is a fight between Israel and Hamas. But the U.S., Iran and Egypt are among the many countries with a major stake in the outcome.

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World News

Israel's last ground war in Gaza offers clues for what one might look like now

5:07pm October 12, 2023

An Israeli ground invasion into Gaza appears likely. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Gregg Carlstorm of The Economist, about his experience covering Israel's ground invasion in 2014.

A ball of fire erupts in Gaza City after an Israeli air strike on October 12, 2023

World News

With Gaza under siege, Palestinians caught in the destruction have nowhere to go

5:07pm October 12, 2023

by Aya Batrawy

As Israeli airstrikes continue to bombard Gaza, hospitals are at full capacity, and doctors and nurses are running on fumes.

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How the Muslim-Jewish interfaith movement is navigating these tense times

4:39pm October 12, 2023

by Jason DeRose

Muslim-Jewish interfaith relations are tested during heightened fighting in Israel and Gaza. Some groups say the groundwork they've laid over years helps them have sometimes painful conversations.

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Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, left, welcomes U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken upon arrival at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport in Lod, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, on Thursday.

World News

Blinken says U.S. will 'always be there' for Israel, urges safety for civilians

4:22pm October 12, 2023

The U.S. secretary of state's trip comes as a humanitarian crisis in Gaza mounts. Palestinian officials say at least 1,350 people have died in Israel's retaliation for the deadly Hamas attacks.

The Iron Dome intercepts rockets fired by Hamas in May 2021.

Here's how Israel's 'Iron Dome' stops rockets — and why Ukraine doesn't have it

2:43pm October 12, 2023

by Manuela López Restrepo

The highly sophisticated, multibillion-dollar defense system has been under constant redevelopment since its inception in the early 2000s. Here's how it works.

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Rockets are fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza toward Israel on Oct. 10.

World News

What did Hamas aim to gain by its brazen attack on Israel? Here's what to know

2:42pm October 12, 2023

The surprise attack on Israel has brought the militant group back into the spotlight. A Hamas official tells NPR the attack was meant in part to lead to the release of Palestinians in Israeli jails.

Children play at a kindergarten surrounded by decorated concrete blast walls designed to protect from rocket and mortar fire in 2015 in the southern Israeli Kibbutz of Nahal Oz near the border with the Gaza Strip.

What is a kibbutz? The roots of Israel's communal villages where violence raged

12:17pm October 12, 2023

by Becky Sullivan

The small, quiet enclaves have long thrived on leftist ideas about collective living. Those located near Gaza suffered some of the worst of the Hamas attacks, with hundreds reported dead.

World News

Longtime Middle East analyst weighs in on how the Israel-Gaza conflict may play out

12:12pm October 12, 2023

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Aaron David Miller, the State Department's former deputy special Middle East coordinator, about the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza and the U.S. response.

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Israeli forces strike a residential tower in Gaza City on Thursday.

World News

An overdue reunion became a nightmare for this American family now trapped in Gaza

12:10pm October 12, 2023

Wafaa Abuzayda, her husband and baby were visiting family in Gaza when the fighting broke out. Now they're trapped and running low on diapers and milk. She says the U.S. embassy isn't helping.

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