Israeli strikes in Syria reportedly killed at least nine people in the southwest of the country on Thursday, as Israel accused Turkey of trying to build a "protectorate" in Syria.

Syrian state news agency SANA said that those who died in the strikes were civilians, without giving details. Britain-based war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that they were armed residents from the Daraa province.

The Israeli military announced the launch of a new ground offensive in Gaza City on Friday to expand the security zone it has established in the Palestinian territory.

Israel has pushed since the collapse of a short-lived truce in the war with Hamas to seize territory in Gaza in what it has called a strategy to force the militants to free hostages still in captivity.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 100 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including 27 or more sheltering at a school, according to Palestinian medical authorities, in a stepped-up offensive that Israel's military said is intended to pressure Hamas and eventually expel the militant group.

The bodies of 14 children and five women were recovered from the school in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City and the death toll could rise because some of the 70 wounded sustained critical injuries, said Health Ministry spokesman Zaher al-Wahidi. More than 30 other Gaza residents were killed in strikes on homes in the nearby neighborhood of Shijaiyah, he said, citing records at Ahli Hospital.

Hungary on Thursday said it will quit the International Criminal Court, just as Prime Minister Viktor Orban hosted his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu welcomed Hungary's decision as he visited Budapest despite an ICC arrest warrant against him over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

The Israeli military said Thursday it was investigating an incident in which its troops opened fire on ambulances, claiming to have targeted "terrorists," while the U.N. reported that 15 medics and humanitarian workers were killed.

"The incident from March 23, 2025, in which IDF (military) forces opened fire targeting terrorists advancing in ambulances, has been transferred to the General Staff's fact-finding and assessment mechanism for investigation," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said in a statement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office is once again ensnared in scandal after police arrested two of his close associates this week on suspicion of accepting money from Qatar to promote a positive image of the Gulf Arab state in Israel.

The affair has gripped Israelis because Qatar, a country that many view as a patron of Hamas, and which has no formal diplomatic ties to Israel, appears to have penetrated the highest corridors of power.

Overnight strikes by Israel killed at least 55 people across the Gaza Strip, hospital officials said Thursday, a day after senior government officials said Israel would seize large areas of Gaza and establish a new security corridor across the Palestinian territory.

Israel has vowed to escalate the nearly 18-month war with Hamas until the militant group returns dozens of remaining hostages, disarms and leaves the territory. Israel has imposed a month-long halt on all imports of food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle.

Syria accused Israel on Thursday of mounting a deadly destabilization campaign after a wave of strikes hit military targets, including an airport, and ground incursions left 13 people dead.

Israel said it responded to fire from gunmen during an operation in southern Syria and warned interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa that he would face severe consequences if its security was threatened.

The head of the U.S. Central Command, General Michael Kurilla, visited Israel this week for talks with Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir on regional security issues, the military said on Thursday.

Kurilla arrived in Israel on Tuesday and held a joint meeting with Zamir and other Israeli military commanders "during which they discussed strategic security issues across the region," the military said in a statement.

Yemen's Houthis said a strike they blamed on the United States killed a guard at a communications tower on Thursday, among more than 30 strikes on rebel-held parts of the country.

There was no immediate statement from Washington, which has carried out a wave of strikes against Houthi targets in recent weeks after President Donald Trump vowed to pummel the rebels until they stop attacking commercial shipping in solidarity with Palestinian militant group Hamas.