Children in war-torn parts of the world are suffering more than before with violence against them reaching the highest numbers seen in almost two decades, according to Save the Children (STC). Its report has found grave violations against children in conflict-hit regions increased 15 per cent in 2023, the highest level since UN reporting of these crimes started in 2005. …

The UN Human Rights office has criticised what it called a “systematic violation” of international humanitarian law, while Israel rejected the report’s findings. The United Nations Human Rights Office has said nearly 70 per cent of the fatalities it has verified in the Gaza war were women and children, condemning what it called a “systematic violation of the fundamental principles …

Australia’s Middle Eastern trading partners say a 50-year working relationship has been “thrown out the door” by the decision to end live sheep exports by sea. Decades of exports to markets like Kuwait are set to end in 2028, after the Albanese government confirmed earlier this year the trade would cease. It came as somewhat of a surprise to Kuwaiti officials, …

Two soldiers were killed in Israeli air strikes on military installations in Iran on Saturday, according to the Iranian army. “The army of the Islamic Republic of Iran lost two of its fighters during the night when they faced projectiles from the criminal Zionist regime in defence of its territory,”  the army said in a statement carried by state television. …

Israel’s military says a Hezbollah drone killed four soldiers at one of its northern bases, as it expanded its bombardments of Lebanon and troops battled militants across the border. The attack on a military training camp in Binyamina, near Haifa, is the deadliest such assault on an Israeli base since September 23, when Israel increased its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. …

An Israeli air strike on a hospital courtyard in the Gaza Strip early on Monday killed at least four people and triggered a fire that swept through a tent camp for people displaced by the war, leaving more than two dozen with severe burns, according to Palestinian medics. The Israeli military said it targeted militants hiding out among civilians, without …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised Emmanuel Macron on Saturday after the French President called for a halt to arms sales to Israel if the weaponry is used in Gaza. Speaking at a summit on , Macron said a ceasefire is “necessary in Gaza, as in Lebanon”. “We can’t demand a ceasefire while also sending weapons,” he said. “That’s just consistency.” Separately, …

Lebanon’s civil defence department says five of its emergency workers have been killed by an Israeli air strike in the country’s south. The deaths follow a number of incidents in which Lebanese firefighters and paramedics claim they have been fired upon, or warned by the Israeli military not to rescue people or put out fires caused by bombing. Israeli and …

The potential successor to slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been out of contact since Friday, a Lebanese security source said on Saturday, after an Israeli airstrike that is reported to have targeted him. In its campaign against the Iran-backed Lebanese group, Israel carried out a large strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs late on Thursday that Axios cited three Israeli officials …

The first flight carrying Australian citizens, permanent residents and their family members out of Lebanon has landed in Cyprus. The Australian government is flying up to 500 people out of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, on two charter flights as it continues to urge citizens to leave the country. A second federal government-supported charter flight is due to depart Beirut later on …