Fatma Tanis

Friction between Palestinians, Jewish activists and police over Jerusalem's religious sites are a flashpoint of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The war in Gaza has brought the tensions to the fore.

Palestinians in Gaza tell NPR they've resorted to boiling weeds in seawater, eating animal feed and grinding date pits. "If the bombs don't kill us, the hunger will," a teenage girl says.

An Israeli strike hit a food distribution center, killing a U.N. relief worker — a sign of the heightened dangers and challenges of bringing much-needed aid into Gaza during the war.

Questions remain about access to the main Islamic congregational mosque in the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem's Old City as Palestinians see the site as essential to their identity.

Nearly 1 in 5 Israeli casualties since the invasion of Gaza were caused by friendly fire or accidents. Experts say it's one of the highest such percentages in recent military history.

Historically, efforts to tighten gun laws in Maine have been ignored by lawmakers. But after a mass shooting last year left 18 people dead, activists say renewed calls for reform now have greater traction.

The conflict is expected to escalate even further in the coming days. But for now, Hamas sees itself with the upper hand.

Peace talks and diplomatic progress have raised hopes of an end to the war. But has there been any progress in addressing the country's devastating degree of hunger?

Even though the fighting in the long civil war has decreased, millions of women and children in Yemen face severe malnutrition amid a lack of aid.

Shaimaa Ali Ahmed lost her leg at age 6 after happening upon an unexploded rocket. Children like her bear an outsized burden from the civil war, where land mines and ordnance litter the landscape.