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.”

“China is the only one capable of influencing Iran,” Ravit Baer, Israel’s Consul General in Shanghai, told reporters in the Chinese metropolis. “Iran would collapse if China didn’t buy its oil.”

Hamas and Israel staked out their positions ahead of expected talks on a Washington-backed ceasefire proposal, with the militant group suggesting it was open to an agreement while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that “there will be no Hamas” in postwar Gaza.

President Donald Trump says Israel has agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and warned Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen.