Israel launched powerful airstrikes on Damascus on Wednesday, blowing up part of the defence ministry and hitting near the presidential palace, while also striking government security forces operating against militants from the country's Druze minority in the southern province of Sweida.

At least 20 people were killed in a crowd crush at an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the controversial Israeli- and US-backed organization said Wednesday, the first time it has acknowledged deaths at one of its sites.

A French court on Thursday ruled in favour of releasing Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah from prison, after he served almost 40 years of a life sentence for attacks on U.S. and Israeli diplomats in France.

The attacks are part of a sharp uptick in settler violence since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023. In the West Bank alone, nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers since then, according to United Nations figures.

Colorado prosecutors are set to lay out their evidence Tuesday against a man charged with murder, attempted murder and other crimes in a firebomb attack on demonstrators showing their support for Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Slovenia declared two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, persona non grata on Thursday, the first European Union country to do so, Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon said.

Syria TV has released footage of the moment its Damascus studio captured an Israeli strike on the Syrian Defense Ministry.