Tens of thousands of members of Iraqi religious minority groups driven from their homes for fear of the jihadist group Islamic State are dying of thirst and heat on a desert mountainside.

Once again, Israel may have bought itself a respite from rockets and other incursions from Palestinian territory, but nobody expects it will be a lasting peace.

The first full day of peace reveals the massive reconstruction task ahead.

Google is facing criticism for continuing to allow Android mobile users to download a game called "Bomb Gaza".

Memories of his service along the Gaza border two years ago have been streaming through the mind of Shai Davidovich this week.

Prime Minister John Key is rejecting claims the Government is too soft on Israel and should expel the Israeli Ambassador.

The birth of Palestinian quadruplets has brought some optimism to the horrific and ongoing bloodshed in conflict-stricken Gaza.

Israeli aircraft, tanks and gunboats pounded symbols of Hamas control in Gaza City in the heaviest night of bombardment in three weeks of fighting.

Crowds gathered again in Auckland to protest Israel's ground offensive in Gaza.

Crowds gathered in Auckland again today to protest Israel's ground offensive in Gaza.

At least 15 Palestinians have been killed after Israeli tanks shelled a UN-run school in Gaza.

Despite the danger of daily rocket fire, life carries on as normal under the Iron Dome, writes Rhys Davies.

The Palestinian death toll in Gaza rose to 508 last night after 20 bodies were reportedly found in a home blasted in an Israeli airstrike in the south of the Gaza Strip.

The Mana Party will campaign to close down the Israeli Embassy in Wellington, according to spokesman John Minto.

Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip killed 10 people, medics say, on day 12 of a major operation against the Palestinian territory.

Crowds gathered at Auckland's Aotea Square to protest the Israeli ground invasion of Gaza have been urged to shut down the Israeli embassy in New Zealand.

Israel has resumed its air campaign against Gaza after Hamas rejected a six-hour truce and fired dozens of rockets over the border.

Social media has become one of the weapons of war. The Israeli army, which has been on Twitter since 2009, now has 286,000 followers.

Washington has warned Israel against any ground invasion of Gaza, as the UN says more than 40 of the 176 dead were children.

The residents of the Mobarat Felestin centre for the disabled had just finished suhoor, the early morning meal before a long day of fasting during Ramadan, when the first missile hit the roof.

Israeli-Palestinian relations in new crisis with violent clashes following the discovery of body of a Palestinian teenager apparently abducted in revenge attack.

To some, they are heroes ready to trade their personal liberty for the sake of high principle. To others, they are spoiled rich children, shirking their national duty on the backs of the less fortunate.

Ramping up a campaign to paint the Palestinians as the rejectionists in the troubled United States-brokered Middle-East peace efforts.

A new finding about the domestication of camels in Israel casts doubt on the historical accuracy of some Bible stories.

Scarlett Johansson hit back at critics in a new version of the controversial SodaStream commercial in last night's Super Bowl.