In this special edition of Middle East Matters, we focus on the aftermath of last week's deadly earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Tens of thousands dead and millions in desperate need of basic food-stuffs, water, shelter and medical aid - frustration mounts over the response of Ankara and Damascus - both governments stand accused of a lack of leadership and accountability, and of mismanaging relief efforts.

We bring you a special programme on one of the worst natural disasters to hit the Middle East in decades. Thousands have been killed after two massive earthquakes struck south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria on Monday. Relief efforts are still underway, with a host of nations sending aid, but time is running out to save as many people as possible. For more on the challenges for the humanitarian response, we're joined by Rony Brauman, former president of Doctors Without Borders. We also speak to Ayham Taha from the international solidarity association Care, who is currently in Gaziantep, near the epicentre of the quake.

In East Jerusalem, locals are still coming to terms with the trauma of the attack that left seven people dead as they gathered to pray at a synagogue on January 27. That attack was followed by a second incident the following day, which injured two Israelis. Both attacks seem to be in retaliation for an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank earlier that week. The Israeli army says it targeted a particular house believed to be housing key members of Islamic Jihad who were planning imminent attacks in Israel.

Concern is growing for seven French nationals being held in Iran. Among them is Fariba Adelkhah, a researcher at Sciences Po university in Paris, who was arrested back in June of 2019, along with her colleague Roland Marchal. Marchal was released in 2020, but with political tensions on the rise in Iran, Adelkhah remains in jail. For more, we speak to Sandrine Perrot, a researcher at Sciences Po and a member of a group dedicated to securing Adelkhah's release.

Just weeks into the job, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's new coalition is facing a backlash over plans to overhaul the judiciary, with tens of thousands joining rallies over the past two weekends. Demonstrators say the proposed reforms, which would allow parliament to limit the power of the Supreme Court, are an attack on democracy. They're also concerned that the measures will set back minority rights. For more, we speak to Sally Abed, a member of the national leadership at Standing Together, one of the largest Arab-Jewish grassroots movement in Israel.

The UN human rights chief has accused Iran of weaponising the death penalty to frighten the public and crush dissent. The statement follows the execution of four protesters, two of whom were killed last weekend. The UN body says it has information that two more executions are imminent, with more than a dozen other people believed to be on death row. The Iranian regime is grappling to respond to months of unrest triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini following her arrest by the morality police. For more, we speak to Shaparak Saleh, a Franco-Iranian lawyer and the co-founder of the campaigning organisation Femme Azadi, which was set up in the aftermath of Amini's death.

In this special edition of Middle East Matters, we focus on the Kurds. Spread across four nations, they are the world's largest stateless ethnic group. Indigenous to the Middle East and numbering at least 35 million, the Kurds have sought to establish a homeland of their own since the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the 1920s. They have endured decades of bloodshed in Iraq and also faced state oppression in Turkey, Iran and Syria. We take a closer look at the history and location of the Kurds and speak to researcher and journalist Guney Yildiz.

A polarising new film has been released worldwide on Netflix. "Farha", by Darin J. Sallam, tells the story of a Palestinian teenager during the Nakba, or catastrophe, of 1948. Supporters say the film tells a true Palestinian story, rarely seen on a mainstream platform like Netflix. But critics say it is inflammatory and smears the Israeli military. We take a closer look and get analysis from FRANCE 24's Oliver Farry.

A three-day general strike is taking place in Iran this week. It's a show of defiance, as the anti-regime protest movement approaches its three-month mark with no sign of abating. On Monday, the strike was observed in dozens of Iranian cities, from the capital Tehran to Isfahan, Tabriz and the Kurdish regions. Facing its greatest existential challenge since the 1979 revolution, the Iranian regime has responded with a crackdown. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands more arrested, including 11 sentenced to death.

For decades, Iranian Kurdish opposition groups have sought refuge in neighbouring Iraq. But in recent weeks, they have been targeted by dozens of missile and drone attacks launched by Tehran. Authorities there accuse them of supporting anti-government protests that have swept across Iran since the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. The campaign comes as Turkey steps up its cross-border operations against Kurdish groups in both Iraq and Syria. Our correspondents Yasmine Mosimann and Marie-Charlotte Roupie have been meeting civilians caught up in the violence in Iraqi Kurdistan.