Americans head to polls and Hamas rejects ceasefire - Trending

Trending Middle East brings you the latest social media and search trends from the region and around the world. 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.

Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump both approached election day with last-minute campaign promises, rallies and endorsements, in 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.

Meanwhile, US 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 US State Department quoted Mr Blinken as saying, during a call with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, that “Hamas has once again refused to release even a limited number of hostages to secure a ceasefire and relief for the people of Gaza”.

And a UN expert accused Israel of committing domicide during its war in Lebanon.

In an exclusive interview with The National, Prof Balakrishnan Rajagopal, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, said the conduct should be treated as a crime against humanity.

Domicide is defined as the systematic destruction of homes to expel civilian populations and render areas uninhabitable, but is not currently recognised as a distinct crime under international humanitarian law.