Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem reiterated the militant group’s refusal to lay down its weapons before Israel withdraws from all of southern Lebanon and stops its airstrikes.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 38 Palestinians in Gaza, hospital officials said, as Israel was sending a ceasefire negotiating team to Qatar ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘s White House visit for talks toward a deal.

Crew members aboard a Liberian-flagged ship set ablaze by a series of attacks in the Red Sea abandoned the vessel Sunday night as it took on water, marking the first serious assault in the vital corridor for trade after a monthslong campaign by Yemen’s Houthi rebels there.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made his first public appearance since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran began, attending a mourning ceremony on the eve of Ashoura.

Hamas says it has given a “positive” response to the latest proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza but says further talks are needed on implementation.

Russia has become the first country to formally recognize the Taliban’s government in Afghanistan since it seized power in 2021, after Moscow removed the group from its list of outlawed organizations.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, says its fighters in northern Iraq will begin handing over their weapons next week a ceremony in Iraq’s Kurdish region. It is the first concrete step toward disarmament after decades of conflict.

Israeli airstrikes and shootings killed 94 Palestinians in Gaza late Wednesday and Thursday, including 45 who were attempting to get much-needed humanitarian aid, hospitals and the Health Ministry said Thursday.

Defense Department civilian workers and contractors stationed overseas can once again undergo rape kit exams at U.S. military medical facilities.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Wednesday that the Pentagon still maintains the strikes left Iranian nuclear facilities “completely obliterated.”