The first day of Ramadan arrived yesterday like others for Palestinians in war-ravaged Gaza: stalked by famine and disease, shivering in tents and threatened by bombs more than five months into Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory.   

Deadly fighting raged in Gaza yesterday between Israeli forces and Hamas, with no truce in sight as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan neared and a dire humanitarian crisis gripped the besieged Palestinian territory.

Tomorrow will mark the first day of Ramadan in Saudi Arabia after the crescent moon was sighted in the country this evening

The war in Gaza has “ruptured any sense of a shared humanity,” the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday.

Two young women were arrested in Tehran after the publication of a video in which they danced to celebrate the coming of the Persian New Year, Iranian media said yesterday.

An international effort led by the United States gathered pace yesterday to get desperately needed humanitarian relief into Gaza by sea, in the latest bid to counter overland access restrictions blamed on Israel as it battles Hamas militants.

Israel will push on with its offensive against Hamas, including into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, despite growing international pressure to stop, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday.

An Israeli tank crew killed a Reuters reporter in Lebanon in October by firing two shells at a clearly identified group of journalists and then “likely” opened fire on them with a heavy machine gun in an attack that lasted 1 minute and 45 seconds, according to a report into the incident published yesterday.

Talks on a ceasefire and hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas were at an impasse yesterday, as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepened and a merchant vessel was on fire after an attack in the Red Sea.

Crowds of men ran through rubble-strewn Gaza City streets past fires and bullet-riddled cars in hope of reaching a rare aid convoy, risking their lives to get food for starving families as famine looms five months into Israel’s military campaign.

Hamas negotiators stayed in Cairo for a third day of ceasefire talks yesterday after two days yielded no breakthrough, as a deadline approached to halt the fighting in time for Ramadan, free Israeli hostages and stave off famine in the Gaza Strip.

The Gaza war between Israel and Hamas is a “powder keg” with the potential to spark broader conflict in the Middle East, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said yesterday.

Iran yesterday announced a turnout of 41 percent in last week’s elections for parliament and a key clerical body -- a record low since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to voting records.

Mediators in Cairo yesterday made a renewed push for a Gaza ceasefire, but differences remained as fighting raged on in the Palestinian territory gripped by desperate food shortages.

Turnout for Iran’s parliamentary election, seen as a test of the clerical establishment’s legitimacy, appears to have hit a historic low of around 40 percent, according to unofficial reports in Iranian media yesterday. Heavyweight moderates and conservatives stayed away from Friday’s election and reformists called it unfree and unfair as it was mainly a contest between hardliners and low-key conservatives loyal to Islamic revolutionary ideals.

World leaders yesterday called for an investigation and a ceasefire nearly five months into the Gaza war, a day after dozens of desperate Palestinians were killed rushing an aid convoy.

Israeli forces shot dead 104 people when a crowd rushed towards aid trucks yesterday, the health ministry in Gaza said, in one of the worst single incidents of a nearly five-month war. 

Iran announced yesterday the launch of a remote sensing and imaging satellite into orbit from Russia, according to state media.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said yesterday he did not expect “miracles” at talks in Moscow to discuss the formation of a unified Palestinian government and the rebuilding of Gaza.

After surviving on bitter loaves made from animal feed instead of proper flour, three young brothers who fled their home in Gaza City for a tent further south were tucking into a tub of halawa, a sweet crumbly paste.