Middle East Conflict: US Seizes Yemen-Bound Iranian Weapons Meant For Houthis

Hezbollah says 'official' killed: Arab media

Hezbollah on Thursday announced the "killing" of two of its members, including an "official named Ali Muhammad al-Debs," Sky News Arabia reported.

This comes after initial local Israeli reports that a senior Hezbollah commander was assassinated in a "targeted strike" in Lebanon.

Nasser Hospital shelled Thursday: Doctors Without Borders

Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also called Doctors Without Borders, said the Nasser Hospital was shelled early Thursday "despite Israeli Forces having told medical staff and patients they could remain in the facility."

A Feb. 13 order by the IDF supposedly asked "thousands of displaced people" to evacuate the area, MSF added.

The MSF's statement came after the IDF said its ground troops were conducting a "precise and limited" operation inside the Khan Yunis hospital amid "credible intelligence" that the bodies of some hostages may be at the facility.

The Israeli army has yet to confirm the charity's report.

US, Arab partners may unveil Palestinian state plan in coming weeks: Report

The U.S. and some of its partner Arab countries are preparing a comprehensive plan that includes a "firm timeline" for the establishment of a Palestinian state, the Washington Post reported Thursday, citing American and Arab officials.

The said Israel-Palestine peace plan is expected to be proposed sometimes in the coming weeks, as per the report.

Senior Hezbollah commander assassinated: Local media

There are initial reports that a senior Hezbollah commander has been eliminated in a "targeted strike" in Lebanon, Israeli i24 News reported Thursday local time.

The Lebanon-based militant group, which is just one of many militias backed by Iran, has yet to confirm the reports.

US seizes Iranian lethal aid meant for Houthis: CENTCOM

The U.S. Coast Guard Sentinel-class fast-response cutter USCGC Clarence Sutphin Jr seized "advanced conventional weapons and other lethal aid originating in Iran and bound to Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen" late last month, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

The said cutter located a vessel in the Arabian Sea on Jan. 28 and boarded the ship, which carried more than 200 packages containing various weapons, explosives, and other military components.

'Credible intelligence' some hostages were held at Nasser Hospital: IDF

The Israeli army has "credible intelligence" some hostages were held at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, chief of the IDF's Spokesperson's Unit, said Thursday amid an ongoing military operation at the said medical facility.

"There may be bodies of our hostages in the Nasser Hospital facility," he added, citing information from unidentified sources and from "released hostages."

Hagari said the IDF is currently conducting a "precise and limited operation inside" the facility. It was "prepared with precision," considering the possibility that Hamas may be hiding behind civilians within the hospital, he added.

He said the IDF communicated with hospital administration in recent days to reiterate that they had "no obligation" to evacuate patients or staff since a key objective of the operation is "to ensure that the Nasser Hospital continues its important functions of treating Gazan patients."

Israeli troops operating inside Khan Yunis hospital: IDF

Israeli ground troops, "at this time," are "operating inside the Nasser Hospital" in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza's main city, the IDF said Thursday. "The operation is based on intelligence information indicating terrorist activity by Hamas at the hospital," the IDF said in a series of Google-translated posts on X (formerly Twitter).

Several suspects have been detained at the health facility, the Israeli army said, adding that it has opened a "special passage" to evacuate the civilian population around the vicinity of Nasser Hospital.

It also reiterated that Israeli troops will "continue to act in accordance with international law."

US conducts fresh 'self-defense strikes' on Houthi assets

U.S. forces with the CENTCOM on Wednesday conducted a series of "self-defense strikes" against eight assets belonging to the Yemeni Houthi rebel militia, the U.S. army said Thursday.

The assets targeted were seven mobile anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM), three mobile unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and one explosive unmanned surface vessel (USV). The targets were identified in Houthi-held areas in Yemen and were ready to launch against Red Sea shipping lanes, as per CENTCOM.

Iran will retaliate if its vessels seized: Official

Iran will reciprocate if its ships are seized, Mohammad Dehghan, the legal adviser to Iran's president, told state media Thursday. "If an Iranian ship is seized, we will reciprocate and the legal way is not closed in this regard," he said.

His statement came after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said earlier this month that it seized "more than 500,000 barrels of sanctioned [Iranian] fuel."

Wounded Al Jazeera journalist a Hamas deputy company commander: IDF

Ismail Abu Omar, an Al Jazeera reporter whom the news outlet said was wounded in an Israeli strike in Gaza, is not just a mediaman, the Israeli army said Wednesday.

Omar is a "deputy commander in Hamas' Eastern Battalion of Khan Yunis," the IDF said, adding that he filmed himself during Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre in Kibbutz Nir Oz, where dozens of residents were taken hostage by Hamas operatives.

"According to @AlJazeera, he's a journalist. According to common sense, he's a terrorist," the IDF said.

White House expects Israel to get US-funded flour into Gaza

Flour that the United States funded for Gaza civilians has "not moved the way that we had expected it would move," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters during a Wednesday media briefing.

He said Washington is expecting that Israel will "follow through on its commitment to get that flour into Gaza."

The flour shipment was reportedly blocked by Israeli customs upon the orders of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who was the subject of criticism last month after he called for the voluntary exit of Palestinians from Gaza.

3 countries warn Israel against Rafah ground invasion

Australia, Canada and the New Zealand in a rare joint statement Wednesday, warned Israel "not to go down this path" as Israeli ground forces prepare to raid Rafah. "An expanded military operation would be devastating. There is simply nowhere else for civilians to go," the statement said.

The joint statement came after the Israeli prime minister pledged "powerful action" in Rafah.

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Biden-Netanyahu relations at 'boiling point' over Rafah concerns

Relations between the U.S. president and Israeli prime minister at a "boiling point" amid Washington's increasing frustration over Israel's unwavering stance regarding its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, specifically a planned ground operation in Rafah, the Wall Street Journal reported early Thursday.

This comes after the White House reiterated that the U.S. will not support a ground raid of Rafah unless the Israeli government presents a plan that includes the assurance of safety of over a million people currently sheltering in the crowded city.

Biden blocks Palestinian deportation

The U.S. president signed a memorandum that blocks the deportation of some Palestinians in the U.S., "giving them a temporary safe haven," Sullivan said in a statement Wednesday.

The move will allow "certain" Palestinians currently in the country to stay in the U.S. for 18 months, providing protections for "most Palestinians" in the United States, "with certain exceptions."

Sullivan noted that anyone who "voluntarily returns" to Palestinian territories will lose protection under the memorandum. He said the decision was made "in light of the ongoing conflict and humanitarian needs" in Gaza.

No maritime alerts for second straight day: UKMTO

There were no maritime security alerts in the disrupted Red Sea from Tuesday night through Wednesday night, marking the second consecutive day of peace in the area.

Iranian-backed Houthis have been conducting daily near-daily attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea since November. However, it is the first time calm was experienced in the area after the U.S. said the Yemeni rebel militia fired two missiles Monday toward the MV Star Iris, a merchant ship from Brazil bound for Iran.

WHO rep accuses Israel of impeding Gaza aid

Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative for occupied Palestinian territories, on Wednesday said fewer than half of its aid delivery mission requests in Gaza have been approved so far by Israel.

"Hospitals are completely overwhelmed and overflowing and undersupplied," he said, adding that the delivery mission requests have "been denied, impeded or postponed."

His remarks came amid pressure on the Netanyahu government to allow for the continuous flow of humanitarian assistance for Gaza's civilians.

Austin tells Gallant to ensure civilian safety before Rafah raid

The U.S. Secretary of Defense told Israel's defense minister in a phone call Wednesday that civilian safety should be ensured, as well as continued humanitarian aid entry into the Gaza Strip "before any operations against Hamas in Rafah" are implemented.

The defense leaders also discussed ongoing talks to secure the release of some 130 hostages still in Gaza, as per a statement from the Pentagon.

Gallant, for his part, provided an update on the IDF's operations in Khan Yunis, the known hometown of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' top leader in Gaza.

Netanyahu vows 'powerful action' in Rafah amid international calls for restraint

The Israeli prime minister on Wednesday vowed that the Israeli army will continue to fight "until complete victory, and this includes a powerful action in Rafah" after the civilian population in the overcrowded southern city are evacuated from "battle zones."

His remarks came amid increasing international scrutiny of an Israeli plan to launch a ground campaign in Rafah. More than a million civilians are believed to be sheltering in the city as thousands from northern and central Gaza moved south during the earlier weeks of the Israel-Hamas war.

12 dead, over a dozen injured in Israel-Hezbollah strikes

An Israeli soldier was killed Wednesday when Iran-backed Hezbollah launched a rocket barrage toward northern Israel. Eight others were injured after a rocket struck a building in Safed in northern Israel, the highest city in Galilee.

In retaliatory strikes toward southern Lebanon later Wednesday, eleven people were killed, Reuters reported Thursday, citing a hospital director and three Lebanese security sources. Among the dead were six children, as per the report. More than a dozen other people in Israel and Lebanon were injured in the tit-for-tat strikes.

Hezbollah vowed retribution for the casualties in Israel's retaliation. Israel previously said its army was ready to respond should the heavily armed militant group wage an all-out war in the northern front.