Live Updates
Relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and supporters rally in Tel Aviv to call for their release.
AFP
It’s Day 124 of the war in Gaza, and Israel is reeling from news that more than a fifth of 136 remaining hostages in the war-torn enclave are dead. Tensions continue to climb in the Middle East as Iranian-backed Houthis conducted multiple missile attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has confirmed that Yemeni rebel Houthis attacked two commercial ships after the pro-Iran group claimed to have attacked vessels it said were from the U.S. and United Kingdom.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel for truce talks following news that there are at least 20 other hostages who may also be dead in Hamas captivity.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is expecting a preliminary report into Israel’s allegations that a dozen of its staffers participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre to be ready by March.
Saudi Arabia reiterated that there won’t be diplomatic ties with Israel unless a Palestinian state is established. The Kingdom’s stance draws from decades of violence in the Israel-Palestine conflict that led to the Oct. 7 murders of more than 1,200 Israelis and foreigners and the abduction of over 240 hostages by Hamas.
In the heated Israel-Lebanon border, Iran-backed Hezbollah claims to have conducted nine operations against the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on the last day.
Over in Iraq, where tensions have also risen in the past weeks due to attacks by Iran-backed militias in Syria and Iraq toward American military assets, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said Washington and Baghdad should get back to negotiations over the future of a U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.
