Middle East

As the Rafah crossing reopens, there are concerns over how restricted exits and particularly re-entries will be for Palestinians. Dr Mohammed Tahir, a trauma surgeon who volunteered in Gaza, says people fear that opting for medical treatment abroad may mean they will never return.

Iran has announced that it now considers all European Union militaries to be ‘terrorist groups’. This follows the EU’s terror designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) over a deadly crackdown on protesters.

Move comes after a European Union decision to label the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a ‘terrorist organisation’.

Iran has declared European armies “terrorist groups” after a European Union decision to apply the same designation to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) over a bloody crackdown on recent protests.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday the decision was made under “Article 7 of the Law on Countermeasures Against the Declaration of the IRGC as a Terrorist Organisation”.

“Europeans have in fact shot themselves in the foot and, once again, through blind obedience to the Americans, decided against the interests of their own people,” Ghalibaf said.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced the bloc’s designation of the IRGC on Thursday, saying repression could not “go unanswered”.

“Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise,” she wrote on social media.

The United States-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says it has confirmed 6,713 deaths during the nationwide protests that began on December 28 over economic grievances but soon evolved into a serious challenge to the government.

Iranian authorities have not announced any official arrest numbers, but said at least 3,117 people were killed during the protests, including 2,427 described as “innocent” protesters or security forces.

Internet and mobile access were cut off by the state across Iran on the night of January 8, during the height of the protests.

The IRGC is a branch of Iran’s military, established after the 1979 Iranian revolution. Operating alongside the regular armed forces, it answers directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and plays a central role in Iran’s defence, foreign operations, and regional influence.

Iran’s retaliatory move came amid weeks of rising tensions, with US President Donald Trump repeatedly threatening military strikes and building up its naval presence ⁠in the Middle East. Trump, however, said on Saturday that Iran was “seriously talking” with the US, hours after Iran’s top national security official said arrangements for negotiations were progressing.

Iranian officials have warned that any attack would draw a “comprehensive” response. Tehran has also planned a live-fire military drill for Sunday and Monday in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes.

Meanwhile, the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday said if ‍the US ‍attacked Iran, it would become a regional conflict.

“[Trump] regularly says that he brought ships […] The Iranian nation shall not be scared by these things, ‍the Iranian people will ⁠not be stirred by these threats,” Khamenei said.

“We are not the initiators and do not want to attack any country, but the Iranian nation will strike a strong blow against anyone who attacks and harasses them.”

US President Donald Trump says Iran is ‘seriously talking’ with the US and hopes that talks with Tehran will lead to a nuclear deal. Trump also reiterated that he’s sending ‘powerful ships’ to the Gulf.

Ali Larijani says efforts to get a framework for negotiations are advancing, as a US naval deployment in the Gulf fuels concerns.

Iran’s top security official has said progress is being made towards negotiations with the United States, even as the Iranian foreign minister again accused Washington of raising tensions between the two countries.

Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said in a social media post on Saturday that, “unlike the artificial media war atmosphere, the formation of a structure for negotiations is progressing”.

Larijani’s post did not provide further details about the purported framework for talks.

Tensions have been rising between Iran and the US for weeks amid US President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to attack the country over a crackdown on recent antigovernment protests, and his push to curtail the Iranian nuclear programme.

The Trump administration has also deployed a naval “armada” to Iran, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, escalating fears of a possible military confrontation.

Senior Iranian leaders have said they are open to negotiations with Washington, but only once Trump stops threatening to attack the country.

Earlier this week, Trump said the US vessels being sent to Iran were ready to use “violence, if necessary” if Iran refused to sit down for talks on its nuclear programme.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) also warned Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Friday over its plans to hold a two-day naval exercise in the Strait of Hormuz, a Gulf maritime passage that is critical to global trade.

“Any unsafe and unprofessional behavior near US forces, regional partners or commercial vessels increases risks of collision, escalation, and destabilization,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi hit back on Saturday, saying in a social media post that the US military, operating off Iran’s shores, “is now attempting to dictate how our Powerful Armed Forces should conduct target practice on their own turf”.

“CENTCOM is also requesting ‘professionalism’ from a national military the U.S. Government has listed as a ‘terrorist organization’, all while recognizing the right of that same ‘terrorist organization’ to conduct military drills!” Araghchi wrote.

The US designated the IRGC, an elite branch of the Iranian military, as a “terrorist” organisation in 2019, during Trump’s first term in office.

Araghchi added, “The presence of outside forces in our region has always caused the exact opposite of what is declared: promoting escalation instead of de-escalation”.

Reporting from the Iranian capital, Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi said the situation remains “quite fragile and delicate” amid the US military buildup in the region.

Still, he said that Saturday’s statement by Larijani, the Iranian security official, about progress being made on efforts to hold negotiations was a “positive” sign.

“Diplomatic [efforts] are [on]going,” Asadi said, noting that senior Iranian officials have held talks with allies in recent days amid a push to prevent a confrontation between Washington and Tehran.

The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani met with Larajani in Tehran on Saturday to discuss “efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region”.

Sheikh Mohammed reiterated Qatar’s “support for all efforts aimed at reducing tensions and achieving peaceful solutions that enhance security and stability in the region”, the ministry said of the talks in a statement.

“He also stressed the need for concerted efforts to spare the peoples of the region the consequences of escalation and to continue coordination with brotherly and friendly countries to address differences through diplomatic means,” the statement added.

The Coordination Framework said that selecting a PM is an internal constitutional matter and should take place without foreign interference.

Iraq’s main Shia alliance, which holds a parliamentary majority, has reiterated its support for reinstating Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister, despite United States President Donald Trump threatening to end US support to the country.

The Coordination Framework said in a statement on Saturday that it “reiterates its support for its nominee, Nouri Kamel al-Maliki, for the premiership.”

“Choosing the prime minister is an exclusively Iraqi constitutional matter … free from foreign interference.”

Earlier this week, Trump warned Iraq that if al-Maliki were chosen as Iraq’s next prime minister, then Washington would withdraw support, the latest in a growing list of interventions in the politics of other nations made by Trump or members of his administration.

Al-Maliki rejected Trump’s threat on Wednesday in a post on X, condemning the “blatant American interference in Iraq’s internal affairs” and insisting that he would not withdraw his candidacy for the top job.

Trump has been running a campaign to curb the influence of Iran-linked groups in Iraq, which has long walked a tightrope between its two closest allies, Washington and Tehran.

Al-Maliki, 75, is a senior figure in the Shia Islamic Dawa Party. His tenure as prime minister from 2006 to 2014 was a period marked by a power struggle with Sunni and Kurdish rivals, accusations of corruption and growing tension with the US.

He stepped down after ISIL (ISIS) seized large parts of the country in 2014, but has remained an influential political player, leading the State of Law coalition and maintaining close ties with Iran-backed factions.

The US wields key leverage over Iraq, as the country’s oil export revenue is largely held at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York in an arrangement reached after the 2003 US invasion that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Ever since the crackdown on protests in Iran between January 8 and 10, there has been contention on what the true death toll of those bloody events is. According to figures provided by the Iranian government, 3,117 people were killed, including civilians and security forces. Yet estimates from outside the country have put the number at anywhere between 5,000 and a staggering 36,500.

This wide range not only reflects the fact that it has been extremely difficult to verify these reports, but also that there has been a concerted effort to use the death count to manufacture global consent for an attack on Iran and, in a deceitful rhetoric, downplay the official death toll of the genocide in Gaza.

Since the outbreak of the protests, there has been a race to estimate and report on the casualties – something I call a “Death Toll Olympics”.

Iran-focused human rights organisations led by dissident activists have been going through all sorts of evidence and testimonies to verify the number of the dead. As of writing this piece, the US-based organisation HRANA (Human Rights Activists News Agency) has cited more than 6,000 deaths and a further 17,000-plus cases under examination.

However, there are valid doubts about the speed of the activist-led verification process.

For every reported death, multiple accounts have to be examined, possible duplications must be identified and eliminated; and dates, locations and specific circumstances must be cross-checked against the timeline of events.

Furthermore, any visual evidence has to be localised and authenticated based on open-source data or corroborated by the accounts of multiple witnesses. From an investigative standpoint, the reliability and quality of activist-led counts that increase rapidly on a daily basis, therefore warrants caution.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Mai Sato, has cited a conservative estimate of around 5,000 deaths. At the same time, she has mentioned that unverified numbers of up to 20,000 have been reported to her by medical sources.

The described obstacles, and difficulties of verification over the past weeks, have been further exacerbated by Iran’s severely restricted internet access. Despite this, major media outlets have begun distributing much higher figures, solely based on vague anonymous sources who claim privileged access within Iran’s government or health sector.

On January 25, for example, UK-based TV network Iran International published a report claiming 36,500 were killed, citing “extensive reports” allegedly obtained from the Iranian security apparatus – reports it has neither published nor otherwise made transparent.

The same day, United States news magazine Time published an article titled “Iran Protest Death Toll Could Top 30,000, According to Local Health Officials”. It claimed that “as many as 30,000 people could have been killed in the streets of Iran on Jan. 8 and 9 alone” based on the accounts of two senior officials of the country’s Ministry of Health, whose identities were not revealed for security reasons. Notably, the magazine admitted in the text that it did not possess any means to independently confirm that number.

Two days later, British newspaper The Guardian followed the same trend with an article titled “Disappeared bodies, mass burials and ‘30,000 dead’: what is the truth of Iran’s death toll?” The piece introduced the figure of 30,000 based on estimates of an anonymous doctor, who spoke to the newspaper. He and his colleagues in Iran, the outlet admitted, were actually hesitant to provide a concrete figure.

Other media – from the Sunday Times to the Pierce Morgan Uncensored show – have cited papers circulated by Germany-based ophthalmologist Amir Parasta claiming death toll numbers between 16,500 and 33,000. However, the latest available version of the paper, dating back to January 23 uses disputable extrapolation methods to reach its figures. Strikingly, Parasta does not make any secret of his affiliation with Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s ousted Shah

The exiled crown prince and his team, whose extensive social media manipulation and disinformation efforts have been exposed by recent investigations by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and University of Toronto’s The Citizen Lab, have been key actors in inciting and escalating the recent protests towards confrontation. Accordingly, the fatality numbers disseminated by Mr Parasta cannot be perceived as neutral and constitute partisan estimates at best.

Despite acknowledging their own inability to verify these estimates, the media in question nevertheless put these extreme figures in titles and subheadings. It didn’t take long for other outlets to report on these inflated numbers, referring to these major publications as primary sources. Activists and Western politicians have also used them to push their respective agendas, thereby further fuelling a spiral of disinformation campaigns on social media. – In other words, a “death toll olympics” was born.

All of this has served two ends.

First, it has supported efforts to manufacture consent for foreign military intervention and malicious political action. While the protests were still ongoing, US President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened military action against Iran in the event of a deadly crackdown. As of writing these lines, there has been a significant US military build-up around Iran, effectively thickening the war cloud.

Second, the speculation about the Iranian death toll has helped pro-Israel politicians and commentators in the West to downplay the casualties of the Israeli war on Gaza. In this way, it has become a utilitarian tool for relativising the genocide of the Palestinian people.

Confronted with mounting pressure regarding the death toll, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered the authorities to “publicly publish the names and personal data of those deceased during the recent bitter incidents”. His director of communication has even promised that a procedure has been set up to examine and verify any conflicting claims.

It remains to be seen how effective and transparent the promised procedure will turn out. It is undeniable that thousands have been killed in Iran, mostly by Iranian security forces, amid a multi-day brutal crowd and riot control effort.

Structural obscurity and the restricted access to Iran for independent experts will likely mean that the exact death toll will never be determined. However, the more transparency can be established regarding the scale of the killings, the more likely it is that the perpetrators can be held accountable.

An arduous verification process of the recent deaths is crucial not only for the sake of accountability, but also to expose the media manipulation that is once again preparing the ground for a unilateral US-led act of aggression in the Middle East. In light of this, the “Death Toll Olympics” remains an ignominious disservice to the wretched of the Earth from Palestine to Iran.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

Local fire official says gas leak likely caused blast that ripped through residential building in Iranian port city.

An explosion that rocked a residential building in the Iranian port city Bandar Abbas was likely caused by a gas leak, the local head of the fire department told Iranian media.

The Bandar Abbas fire chief said residents were evacuated from the building in the city’s Moallem Boulevard area, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.

“The initial cause of the building accident in Bandar Abbas was a gas leak and buildup, leading to an explosion. This is the initial theory,” fire chief Mohammad Amin Lyaghat said in comments broadcast on state television later.

The exact number of casualties was also not immediately clear.

Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, the head of crisis management in Hormozgan province, where Bandar Abbas is located, was quoted by the IRNA news agency as saying wounded people were being transferred to hospital, without reporting any deaths.

The Reuters news agency reported that a local official told Iranian news agencies that at least one person was killed and 14 others wounded. Al Jazeera could not independently verify that information.

State television said the explosion occurred at an eight-storey building, “destroying two floors, several vehicles, and shops” in the area.

Images carried by Press TV showed the building’s facade blown out, exposing parts of its interior, with debris scattered around.

The explosion took place amid soaring tensions between Iran and the United States and fears of a military confrontation between the two countries.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran over a recent crackdown on antigovernment protests and Washington’s push to curtail the Iranian nuclear programme.

After rumours circulated online about the Bandar Abbas explosion, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) denied that any of the buildings belonging to its naval forces in the province had been targeted, according to a statement carried by the Fars news agency.

Bandar Abbas, home to Iran’s most important container port, lies on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway between Iran and Oman that handles about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil.

The port suffered a major explosion in April of last year that killed dozens of people and injured more than 1,000 others.

Separately on Saturday, four people were killed in a gas explosion in the city of Ahvaz near the Iraqi border, according to the state-run Tehran Times.

Crews had begun clearing the debris from that blast to rescue those trapped under the rubble, Press TV reported.

The Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics open on Monday but one rapper Ghali’s inclusion draws criticism in his native Italy.

The inclusion ‌of Italian rapper Ghali in the cast of performers at the ‍opening ceremony of ‍the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics has led to a dispute in Italy.

The artist, born in Milan to Tunisian parents, has been criticised in Italy because of his comments on Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at the latest example of sport and politics colliding and why this case has hit the headlines.

Who is criticising Ghali’s inclusion at the Winter Olympics?

Members of Italy’s right-wing League party, part of Prime ⁠Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, have criticised the choice of Ghali to ‍perform at the event in the San Siro stadium on February 6.

What is Ghali criticised for saying about Israel?

Ghali was at the centre of a political spat two years ago during the popular Sanremo song contest, ‍when he ⁠called for a “stop to the genocide” in reference to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

A League party source called Ghali a “pro-Palestinian fanatic” who hated Israel and the centre-right, in comments to the Italian ​media.

Is Ghali’s Winter Olympics opening ceremony role set to be controversial?

Sport Minister Andrea Abodi said he did not ‌expect Ghali to use the Olympic stage to make a political point.

“I am not embarrassed to disagree with Ghali’s views and the messages he has sent, but I believe that ‌a country must be able to absorb the impact of an artist who has expressed an opinion that ‌we do not share, which will not be ⁠expressed on that stage,” he said.

What other names will be alongside Ghali to open the Milano Cortino Games?

Ghali, who has not commented on the dispute, is likely to appeal to a younger audience more than other performers at the opening ceremony, who will ‌include tenor Andrea Bocelli and US pop singer Mariah Carey.

Franco-Malian pop star Aya Nakamura was the target of racist abuse online when it emerged that ‍she would sing at the opening of the Summer Olympics in Paris in 2024.

Iran’s foreign minister says missile programme not up for negotiation as Trump says he’s sending more ships to the region.

Iran’s foreign minister says the country is ready for “fair and equitable” talks with the United States amid soaring tensions, as US President Donald Trump refused to rule out taking military action against Tehran.

On a visit to Turkiye on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters that, “Iran has no problem with negotiations, but negotiations cannot take place under the shadow of threats”.

“I should also state unequivocally that Iran’s defensive and missile capabilities – and Iran’s missiles – will never be the subject of any negotiations,” Araghchi said during a news conference alongside his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan.

“The security of the Iranian people is no one else’s business, and we will preserve and expand our defensive capabilities to whatever extent is necessary to defend the country.”

Tensions have been rising for weeks between Tehran and Washington amid Trump’s repeated threats to attack Iran over a recent crackdown on antigovernment protests and his push to curtail the Iranian nuclear programme.

Earlier this week, the US president said a “massive armada” – led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier – was moving towards Iran and was ready to use “violence, if necessary” if Iranian leaders did not agree to negotiate a nuclear deal.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump said his administration was sending “a larger number of ships” to Iran.

“And hopefully we’ll make a deal,” he said. “If we do make a deal, that’s good. If we don’t make a deal, we’ll see what happens.”

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett noted that Trump said he gave Iran a deadline, but “only Iran knows what that deadline is”.

“So he’s left the world in waiting, trying to determine what the next steps will be,” Halkett said.

Trump, who in 2018 unilaterally withdrew from a previous deal that saw Iran agree to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for a lifting of international sanctions, has been pressuring Iran to halt all uranium enrichment.

Washington has accused Tehran of seeking a nuclear weapon – a claim Iranian leaders have repeatedly denied.

Amid the latest tensions, senior officials in Tehran have repeatedly said they are open to negotiations, but only once Trump ends his military threats against the country.

They also have stressed that Iran’s armed forces are ready to respond if attacked.

Meanwhile, regional allies including Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have been engaging in diplomatic efforts to try to prevent a military confrontation between Washington and Tehran.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier on Friday told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in a call that Ankara was ready to play a “facilitator” role between the two sides.

Fidan, the Turkish foreign minister, also said he had long discussions on the issue with US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Thursday and would keep lines open with Washington.

Speaking alongside Araghchi on Friday, Fidan said US-Iran nuclear negotiations must restart and would pave the way to lifting sanctions on Iran.

“We call the parties to the negotiating table” to address the issues “one by one”, he said.

Israel says it will reopen the Rafah crossing on Sunday after nearly two years — but only for restricted, tightly controlled movement of people. Humanitarian aid remains barred. Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reports from Rafah as Israel retains full security control.

Two people are reported killed in a drone strike at Maghazi camp in central Gaza while three others die in Rafah.

Israeli shelling and drone strikes across Gaza have killed at least five people and injured 11 others, according to Palestinian and Israeli officials.

The deadly strikes on Friday in central Gaza’s Maghazi refugee camp and the southern city of Rafah came as Israel carried out continued targeted operations in the besieged territory, despite the ongoing ceasefire.

Two Palestinian men were killed in Maghazi after they were targeted in a drone strike, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

In Rafah, Israeli forces said in a statement that the air force had killed three “terrorists” as a group of eight had emerged from an underground location.

They said that further strikes were launched and that “soldiers continue to conduct searches in the area in order to locate and eliminate” the remaining people

Also in Rafah, Israeli naval gunboats pursued fishing boats and opened heavy machinegun fire on fishermen off the coast, according to Wafa. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Rafah is the location of a strategic border crossing to Egypt. It is the only passage between the Gaza Strip and the outside world that does not lead to Israel, and is a vital conduit for humanitarian aid.

Palestinian authorities have demanded the immediate reopening of the Rafah crossing, a stipulation of the second phase of the US-brokered ceasefire deal, saying the continued blockade has prevented the entry of necessary supplies for the tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians in the area.

Elsewhere in southern Gaza, six Palestinians were injured after Israeli forces shelled a tent sheltering displaced people in the al-Mawasi area, just west of Khan Younis, sources from al-Helal field hospital and Nasser Hospital told Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Hani al-Shaer.

Anadolu news agency reported that a pregnant woman was among those injured in the attack.

Israeli strikes and operations have killed at least 492 Palestinians and injured 1,356 since the ceasefire came into force in October, according to Palestinian authorities in Gaza.

The US-brokered ceasefire, which sought to halt the fighting between Israel and Hamas since October 7, 2023, has been in place for more than three months. Both sides accuse each other of repeated violations.

Earlier in January, Washington announced that the ceasefire had progressed to its second phase, intended to bring a definitive end to the war. However, signs of progress on the ground remain scant.

On Thursday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed the need to fully implement the ceasefire agreement, including the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.

However, the Israeli military has said its forces “remain deployed in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat”.

President Donald Trump says he is speaking to Iran’s leadership amid a significant US military build-up in the Middle East, as regional leaders push for diplomacy to avoid a new conflict.

Numerous US military assets in the Gulf region are ‘within the range of our medium-range missiles’, Iran’s military spokesman warns.

Award-winning Palestinian journalist regains account with 1.4 million followers after surprise removal from video-sharing platform.

Award-winning Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda says she has regained access to her TikTok account, one day after saying she was banned from the video-sharing platform.

Owda told Al Jazeera on Thursday that she thought that international media attention and pressure from nongovernmental organisations had helped get back her TikTok account, although now visitors and followers must type her full username to find her popular account on the site.

Owda also said that she had received a message from TikTok that many of her video posts are now “ineligible for recommendation”.

Al Jazeera was able to see Owda’s TikTok account on Friday, which has 1.4 million followers, although no new posts are visible from the Gaza-based journalist since September 2025.

Owda gained recognition internationally for posting daily videos from the war-torn Palestinian territory, where she greeted her audience in regular video diaries, saying, “It’s Bisan from Gaza – and I’m still alive” during Israel’s genocidal war on the enclave.

A contributor to Al Jazeera’s AJ+, Owda’s reporting earned her top journalism accolades, including Emmy, Peabody and Edward R Murrow awards.

Alerting followers to the removal of her account on Wednesday, Owda noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is suspected of war crimes in Gaza, had said that he hoped the purchase of TikTok “goes through, because it can be consequential”.

Despite a ceasefire in Gaza, Israeli attacks continue on the enclave, and last week, Israel’s ongoing strikes killed three Palestinian journalists in the territory.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 207 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, with the “vast majority” killed by Israeli forces.

The removal of Owda’s account also came as Israel’s top court again postponed making a decision on whether foreign journalists should be allowed to enter and report on Gaza independently of the Israeli military.

Al Jazeera contacted TikTok for comment, but a spokesperson said the company did not comment on specific accounts.

A spokesperson from TikTok told The New Arab media outlet that Owda’s account had been “temporarily restricted” in September following concerns of a potential impersonation risk.

The spokesperson said that following further review, the journalist’s account was reinstated and is now operating normally, according to The New Arab.

TikTok announced last week that a deal to establish a separate version of the platform in the United States had been completed, with the new entity controlled by investment firms, many of which are US companies, including several linked to President Donald Trump.

Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda, who’s known for sharing the realities of life in Gaza, says she’s regained access to her TikTok. On Wednesday, she shared a video explaining that her account had been deleted, days after the platform was acquired by new investors in the US.

French lawyers for suspected ISIL members transferred from Syria say the men are suffering inhumane treatment in Iraqi jails.

Lawyers for a group of French nationals accused of being part of ISIL (ISIS) and transferred by the United States from Syria to prisons in Iraq say the inmates have been subjected to “torture and inhumane treatment” there.

French media reported on Wednesday that lawyers Marie Dose and Matthieu Bagard visited the accused men in Baghdad during a recent visit and said their clients had been subjected to ill-treatment in detention in Iraq.

The abuse – including being slapped, strangled, handcuffed behind their backs “with a pulley system” and threatened with rape with iron bars – was inflicted to “make them confess to their presence in Iraq” during their alleged time in ISIL, which would give the Iraqi justice system jurisdiction to try them for their alleged crimes, the lawyers said.

The lawyers were quoted as saying the accused ISIL members “assured us that they had not been in Iraq before their arrest in Syria and their transfer to Baghdad”.

Deaths in Syrian custody

During their two-day visit, which began on Sunday, the lawyers, acting on behalf of the families of the prisoners, said they met 13 of the 47 French nationals alleged to be ISIL members who are being held in Iraq.

The 13 men said they were arrested from 2017 to March 23, 2019, the day ISIL lost control of Baghouz, Syria, ending its final hold on territory.

They said they were imprisoned in a jail in northeastern Syria under challenging conditions, in which four French inmates died due to illness and “severe deficiencies”, and they were interrogated on numerous occasions by the FBI, CIA and other agencies believed to represent France and the European Union.

US military transfers

The lawyers made the comments amid the transfer of large numbers of ISIL detainees from prisons and detention camps in Syria to Iraq on US military flights.

The wave of transfers was being carried out after a recent advance by Syrian government forces in the northeast against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which the US trained and supported to fight ISIL. The SDF has controlled camps and prisons holding suspected ISIL members for years.

The escape of ISIL detainees during the fighting in cities like al-Shaddadi sparked concerns that they could regroup and pose a renewed security threat, prompting an arrangement for the US military to run flights transferring the prisoners to Iraqi jails.

The Associated Press news agency reported on Sunday that 275 prisoners had been transferred so far while the Anadolu Agency reported that thousands were planned to be transferred under the agreement.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Sunday said the transfer of the ISIL detainees was “temporary” and urged countries to repatriate their nationals.

In a separate statement on Sunday, Iraq’s highest judicial body said it would prosecute the transferred detainees after a meeting of top security and political officials.

The US has intensified threats against Iran if it doesn’t agree to its demands, as Trump says a ‘massive armada’ is amassing in the region. Al Jazeera’s Virginia Pietromarchi answers key questions on the latest escalation.

Published On 29 Jan 202629 Jan 2026

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Interior Minister Anas Khattab’s order includes all listed as stateless and sets February 5 as deadline for its rollout.

Syria’s Ministry of Interior has ordered the immediate implementation of a new decree granting citizenship to Kurdish minorities, as government forces continue to consolidate control of the country after a rapid offensive against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the north of the country.

Interior Minister Anas Khattab issued the decision on Wednesday, mandating that the decree applies to all Kurds residing in Syria and explicitly includes those listed as stateless, the Anadolu news agency reported, citing the Syrian television station Alikhbariah.

The ministry has set a February 5 deadline for finalising the measures and their rollout, the report said.

Two weeks ago, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa had declared the recognition of Kurdish as one of the country’s national languages and the restoration of citizenship to all Kurdish Syrians, as he announced a ceasefire between Syrian and Kurdish forces.

The rapid advance of Syrian forces forced the SDF to withdraw from more cities, including Raqqa and Deir Az Zor, allowing the government in Damascus to unite the country after a nearly 14-year-long ruinous civil war.

The development has drawn praise from United States President Donald Trump, who told al-Sharaa that he was “very happy” about the Syrian army offensive despite the previous US backing of the SDF.

Still, there have been reports of Kurdish civilians facing a shortage of food and displacement as a standoff between Syrian forces and the SDF continues in the country’s northern region.

According to the Anadolu report, the authorities in charge of rolling out al-Sharaa’s order have been asked to draft instructions and guidelines for the decree’s implementation at once.

Under al-Sharaa’s decree, the state has also been instructed to safeguard the culture and language of Syrian Kurds, as well as the teaching of the Kurdish language in public and private schools in Kurdish-majority areas.

The decree has also designated March 21 as the date of the Newroz festival, a nationwide celebration welcoming spring that is widely observed, not just in Syria.

On Wednesday, al-Sharaa met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss the future of Syria and the presence of Russian troops in the country.

At the meeting, Putin praised his Syrian counterpart’s ongoing efforts to stabilise his country.

Since al-Sharaa’s forces toppled Russian ally Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Moscow has been working to build relations with him and ensure a continued military foothold in the country to bolster its influence in the Middle East.

China has told the UN Security Council that US ‘military adventurism’ in the Middle East will push the region into chaos, as President Donald Trump continues to threaten strikes on Iran if it does not submit to his demands.

Emmy-winning Owda points to changes in TikTok’s US ownership, remarks from Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu to explain ban.

Award-winning Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda has said she has been permanently banned from TikTok, days after the social media platform was acquired by new investors in the United States.

Owda, an Emmy Award-winning journalist and contributor to Al Jazeera’s AJ+ from Gaza, shared a video on her Instagram and X accounts on Wednesday, telling her followers that her TikTok account had been banned.

“TikTok deleted my account. I had 1.4 million followers there, and I have been building that platform for four years,” Owda said in the video filmed from Gaza.

“I expected that it will be restricted, like every time, not banned forever,” she added.

Al Jazeera sent a query to TikTok inquiring about Owda’s account and is waiting for a reply.

Hours after Owda shared her video, an account that appeared to have the same username was still visible on TikTok with a message that said: “Posts that some may find uncomfortable are unavailable.”

The last post visible on that account was from September 20, 2025, nearly three weeks before a ceasefire was reached in Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

In her video on Wednesday, Owda pointed to recent remarks from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Adam Presser, the new CEO of TikTok’s US arm, as a possible explanation for the ban.

Netanyahu met with pro-Israel influencers in New York in September last year, telling them that he hoped the “purchase” of TikTok “goes through”.

“We have to fight with the weapons that apply to the battlefield in which we engage, and the most important ones are social media,” Netanyahu, who is a war crimes suspect, said at the time.

“The most important purchase that is going on right now is … TikTok,” Netanyahu added. “TikTok, number one, number one, and I hope it goes through, because it can be consequential,” he said.

TikTok announced last week that a deal to establish a separate version of the platform in the US had been completed, with the new entity controlled by investment firms, many of which are American companies, including several linked to US President Donald Trump.

Owda also shared an undated video of Adam Presser, the new CEO of TikTok’s US arm.

In the video, Presser speaks about changes made at TikTok, where he previously worked as head of operations in the US, saying that “the use of the term Zionist as a proxy for a protected attribute” had been designated “as hate speech”.

“There’s no finish line to moderating hate speech, identifying hateful trends, trying to keep the platform safe,” Presser said.

Zionism is a nationalist ideology that emerged in the late 1800s in Europe, calling for the creation of a Jewish state.

Owda’s social media presence grew from posting daily videos in which she greeted her audience, saying, “It’s Bisan From Gaza – and I’m still alive.”

She made a documentary of the same name with Al Jazeera’s AJ+, which was awarded an Emmy in the Outstanding Hard News Feature Story category in 2024.

Her video on Wednesday came as Israel’s top court again postponed making a decision on whether foreign journalists should be allowed to enter and report on Gaza independently of the Israeli military.

Despite the ongoing ceasefire, an Israeli attack last week killed three Palestinian journalists in Gaza.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 207 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, with the “vast majority” killed by Israeli forces.

Court gives Israeli government until March to justify ban on foreign media from Gaza

Israel’s Supreme Court has postponed a decision on whether to allow foreign journalists independent access to Gaza, in the latest delay of a legal battle that has stretched over a year.

The court granted the government until March 31 to respond to the petition filed by the Foreign Press Association, despite state attorneys failing to provide detailed justifications beyond citing security risks.

The decision extends a policy that has barred foreign correspondents from entering Gaza to report on conditions there, unless reporters are prepared to embed with the Israeli army.

At the hearing on Wednesday, justices appeared frustrated with the government’s explanations for maintaining the blanket ban on independent press access, which has remained in place since Israel launched its genocidal war against the Palestinian people of Gaza following the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.

A ceasefire took effect in October 2025, though Israel has continued carrying out attacks, which have killed more than 400 people.

Justice Ruth Ronen rejected the state’s arguments, insisting that “it is not enough to cite ‘security risks’ without providing details” and noting there had been “a very significant change on the ground” since the ceasefire.

The FPA’s legal team was barred from attending or accessing the material presented to the judges.

The FPA, which represents 370 journalists from 130 media outlets, said it was “deeply disappointed that the Israeli Supreme Court has once again postponed ruling on our petition for free, independent press access to Gaza.”

“All the more concerning is that the court appears to have been swayed by the state’s classified security arguments,” the FPA added, calling the closed-door process one that “offers no opportunity for us to rebut these arguments and clears the way for the continued arbitrary and open-ended closure of Gaza to foreign journalists.”

This marks the ninth extension granted to the government since the petition was filed in September 2024.

Just days earlier, on January 25, Israel extended its shutdown of Al Jazeera’s operations for another 90 days, citing national security threats the network denies.

US plan for Gaza demilitarisation

The postponement comes as mediators continue to press for progress in the US-backed plan to end Israel’s war on Gaza.

At the UN Security Council, the United States said it had unveiled plans for an “internationally funded buyback” programme to disarm Hamas as part of Gaza’s demilitarisation, which is a key element in the second phase of the US-backed plan.

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz told the Security Council on Wednesday that “international, independent monitors will supervise a process of demilitarisation of Gaza to include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning”, supported by the buyback scheme.

Hamas still controls just under half of the territory in Gaza beyond the Yellow Line, where Israeli forces remain present.

The second phase of the US plan will also require the Israeli army to withdraw, though Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said demilitarisation would have to come before any further progress on the ceasefire.

Two Hamas officials told the Reuters news agency this ‌week that neither the United States nor the mediators presented the Palestinian group with any detailed or concrete disarmament proposal.