Heba Farouk Mahfouz

Cairo

Heba Farouk Mahfouz is a reporter/researcher in The Post’s Cairo bureau. She joined the paper in 2016 and has covered human rights, gender issues, the economy, religious minorities and the war in Gaza. Mahfouz previously reported for the Japanese News Agency in Cairo and Egypt's leading independent news website, Mada Masr. She has also worked with the German DW network and freelanced for The Times, The Guardian and PBS. She graduated from Cairo University with a Bachelor of Arts in English language and literature.
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Latest from Heba Farouk Mahfouz

Biden ‘outraged’ by U.S. activist’s death; Israel kills dozens in Gaza strikes

Israel carried out at least four airstrikes in Gaza and mounted raids in two West Bank villages.

September 11, 2024
People assess the site of Israeli strikes in Tubas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Wednesday.

U.S. insists Gaza cease-fire deal is close, but diplomats are skeptical

U.S. officials have insisted that negotiations for a cease-fire in Gaza were making headway, while glossing over intense disagreements between Israel and Hamas.

August 23, 2024
A Palestinian boy stands near a car buried in rubble after an Israeli strike Thursday in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Hamas says Biden shows ‘blind bias’ toward Israel in cease-fire talks

The row between Hamas and Biden comes as Secretary of State Antony Blinken shuttled between Israel, Egypt and Qatar on a mission to pressure all sides.

August 20, 2024
A protester holds U.S. flags during a demonstration calling for a cease-fire and hostage deal outside a news event held by Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday in Tel Aviv.

Thousands flee as Israel launches new Gaza City operation

As talks continued to sputter, Israel’s military moved into Gaza City in the north of the Strip, prompting widespread civilian displacement.

July 8, 2024
Israeli soldiers move on the top of a tank near the Israeli-Gaza border on Monday.

Hajj heat wave deaths underscore climate threat for most vulnerable

Many of those who died this month from extreme heat in Saudi Arabia were unregistered pilgrims without access to cooling facilities during the Hajj.

June 23, 2024
Muslim pilgrims arrive to perform the symbolic “stoning of the devil” ritual as part of the Hajj pilgrimage in Mina, near Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca, on June 16.

Hundreds of Hajj pilgrims reported dead amid extraordinary heat

Temperatures reached 125 degrees Fahrenheit during this year’s pilgrimage to Mecca, through the desert of Saudi Arabia.

June 19, 2024
A man affected by the scorching heat on Sunday is helped by a member of the Saudi security forces during the Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca.

Inside Israel’s hostage rescue: Secret plans and a deadly ‘wall of fire’

This account is based on more than a dozen interviews with former and current Israeli military officials, family members of hostages and Palestinian eyewitnesses.

June 9, 2024
A man walks on the rubble of destroyed buildings following an operations by the Israeli special forces in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday.

As Gaza cease-fire is debated, a vital aid route hangs in the balance

The closure of the Rafah crossing has been catastrophic, aid groups say, limiting access to food and fuel as starvation spreads across Gaza.

June 6, 2024
Palestinians gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 8.

Israel says it gained ‘tactical control’ of Philadelphi buffer zone

The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday it had gained control of a narrow strip of land separating Gaza from Egypt, a key target of Israel’s offensive.

May 29, 2024
Palestinian children carry food in Rafah, southern Gaza, on May 19.

Egypt and Israel investigate border ‘shooting incident’ in Rafah area

Details of the incident remain murky, but underscore the risk of spillover from the Gaza war and the growing strain on Cairo’s relations with Israel.

May 27, 2024
The border fence between the Gaza Strip and Egypt in Rafah, southern Gaza, on Friday.