Yasmeen Altaji gives a round-up of this week's trends
Trending Middle East
Americans head to polls and Hamas rejects ceasefire
(upbeat music) - This is trending your daily rundown of news from the Middle East and around the world brought to you by The National. From Abu Dhabi, I'm Yasmine Altaji, here are today's headlines. Americans are heading to the polls on Tuesday after a long campaign season and several early voting phases across the country. - Are we ready to do this? (crowd cheering) We've been waiting for four years for this, four years. - Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump both approached election day with last-minute campaign promises, rallies and endorsements and efforts to secure crucial votes in what polls show is a close race. Both pushed for Arab-American engagement and support in the final days of the campaign, attempts to appease a key demographic and battleground state voters. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has blamed Hamas for rejecting a temporary Gaza truce. A Hamas official said on Friday that the group had received a proposal from Egypt and Qatar for a short-term truce and rejected it for not including a lasting ceasefire. The U.S. State Department quoted Mr. Blinken as saying during a call with Egyptian foreign minister, Badr Abdrati, that quote, "Hamas has once again refused to release "even a limited number of hostages to secure a ceasefire "and relief for the people of Gaza," unquote. And a U.N. expert accused Israel of committing domicide during its war in Lebanon. In an exclusive interview with the National Balakrishan Rajagopal, U.N. special rapporteur on the right to housing, said the conduct should be treated as a crime against humanity. Domicide is defined as the systemic destruction of homes to expel civilian populations and render areas uninhabitable. It's not currently recognized as a distinct crime under international humanitarian law. That's all for this morning's headlines. You can get these stories at our site and visit thenationalnews.com/podcasts for more like this. Yes, me, Naltaji, the national. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)