Middle East Middle East news, arts, culture, and politics. Updates on Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Iran, OPEC, and the Persian Gulf states NPR streaming audio. Subscribe to the Middle East RSS feed.

Middle East

A woman carries a child as she walks through the al-Hol refugee camp in northeastern Syria in October 2023. Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images

After years in a Syrian ISIS camp, a 10-person American family is back in the U.S.

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1249463072/1249550601" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

This photo provided by the Israel Defense Forces shows a tank with an Israel flag on it entering the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing on Tuesday. AP hide caption

toggle caption
AP

Israeli forces seize the Gaza side of Rafah, as Hamas truce talks resume in Egypt

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1249550208/1249680481" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Police take demonstrators into custody on the campus of the Art Institute of Chicago after students established a protest encampment on the grounds on May 4. Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Authorities say 'outside agitators' are at Gaza war protests. We've heard this before

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198911419/1249484016" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip pack their belongings following an evacuation order by the Israeli army on Monday amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. -/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
-/AFP via Getty Images

Ammer Qudummi was arrested at a UT Austin protest on April 26, but all charges have been dropped. Michael Minasi/KUT hide caption

toggle caption
Michael Minasi/KUT

How these University of Texas-Austin students view Gaza war protests on their campus

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1249296685/1249296686" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Israeli soldiers drive a tank at a staging ground near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel on Sunday. Tsafrir Abayov/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Tsafrir Abayov/AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel on Oct. 28, 2023. Netanyahu's government has voted to shut down Israel-based offices of Al Jazeera. Abir Sultan/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Abir Sultan/AP

A relative points to a hole in the roof of Mohammed al-Hassouni's family home. It was caused by an Iranian missile fragment that injured his 7-year-old daughter on the night Iran attacked Israel. Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images

When rockets fall, Bedouin Israeli citizens have nowhere to hide

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1248915615/1249193114" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Soldiers assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade and sailors attached to the MV Roy P. Benavidez assemble a floating pier off the shore of Gaza on April 26, 2024. The U.S. expects to have on-the-ground arrangements in Gaza ready for humanitarian workers to start delivering aid this month via a new U.S.-backed sea route. U.S. Army via AP hide caption

toggle caption
U.S. Army via AP

Pro-Palestinian students protest outside the Department for Education on March 22 in London. The students called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and for an end to links between U.K. universities and Israel. Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images

Campus protests over the war in Gaza have gone international

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1248661834/1248883287" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Students and pro-Palestinian activists face police as they gather outside of Columbia University to protest the university's stance on Israel's war in Gaza. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

NYC mayor says 'outside agitators' are co-opting Columbia protests—students disagree

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1248634146/1248634147" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Columbia University professors demonstrate outside the Columbia campus demanding the release of students. Hundreds of people were arrested at pro-Palestinian protests on US campuses as police on May 1 extended a crackdown that included clearing out demonstrators occupying a building at Columbia University in New York. CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images

For weeks students have protested the war in Gaza — now things are escalating

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198911379/1248559856" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Colombian President Gustavo Petro (center right) attends an International Workers' Day rally in Bogotá, Colombia, on Wednesday. Jair F. Coll/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Jair F. Coll/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel will enter Rafah, the city in southern Gaza where more than a million displaced Palestinians have taken shelter, "with or without a deal" to free the remaining hostages. Leo Correa/Pool/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Leo Correa/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Aviva Siegel, who was held hostage in Gaza for 51 days, and whose husband Keith remains in Hamas captivity, spends time with her eight-year-old granddaughter Yali Tiv at her daughter's home on Kibbutz Gazit on March 26. Aviva has been staying with her daughter in northern Israel since being released in November. Tamir Kalifa for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Tamir Kalifa for NPR

On Monday a morgue in Rafah filled up with the bodies of 25 people killed in Israeli airstrikes. Hospital records show 15 of them women and children. Anas Baba for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Anas Baba for NPR

Presiding judge Nawaf Salam (fourth from left) arrives to read a decision at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday. Peter Dejong/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Peter Dejong/AP

An Atlanta police officer takes down tents on the campus of Emory University after a pro-Palestinian demonstration Thursday in Atlanta. Mike Stewart/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Mike Stewart/AP

As pro-Palestinian protests spread, more university leaders weigh police involvement

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1247629479/1248014502" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript