Samy Magdy

Tens of thousands of Israelis thronged central Jerusalem on Sunday in the largest anti-government protest since the country went to war in October. Protesters urged the government to reach a cease-fire deal to free dozens of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas militants and to hold early elections.

A fire ripped through a packed Coptic Orthodox church during morning services in Egypt's capital on Aug. 14, quickly filling it with thick black smoke and killing 41 worshippers, including at least 15 children.

A court in the Egyptian city of Alexandria began the trial Saturday of a man accused of stabbing to death a Coptic Christian priest, an attack that shocked the Arab world's most populous country.

As Ramadan begins with the new moon later this week, Muslims around the world are trying to maintain the cherished rituals of Islam's holiest month without further spreading the outbreak.

An international aid group said March 25 that closures aimed at containing the coronavirus pandemic are preventing it from reaching 300,000 people in conflict zones across the Middle East, as the coronavirus arrived in war-torn Libya and three more cases were detected in Syria.