Spotlight
Gaza urgently needs more aid or its desperate population will suffer widespread famine and disease, the heads of three major U.N. agencies warned Monday, as authorities in the enclave reported that the death toll in the Israel-Hamas war had surpassed 24,000.
While the U.N. agency chiefs did not directly point a finger at Israel, they said aid delivery is hobbled by the opening of too few border crossings, a slow vetting process for trucks and goods going into Gaza, and continuing fighting throughout the territory — all of which Israel plays a deciding factor in.

Houthi rebels have fired a missile that struck a U.S.-owned ship just off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden, less than a day after they launched an anti-ship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea.
The attack Monday on the Gibraltar Eagle, later claimed by the Houthis, further escalates tensions gripping the Red Sea after American-led strikes on the rebels. The Houthis' attacks have roiled global shipping, amid Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, targeting a crucial corridor linking Asian and Mideast energy and cargo shipments to the Suez Canal onward to Europe.

Israel said one of its troops was “slightly injured” in an exchange of fire along the country’s border with Egypt, which Cairo attributed to drug smuggling. One person in Egypt was killed. Ties between the two countries have been strained since the Israel-Hamas war began.
Israel’s defense minister said Monday that the intense Israeli military offensive in the southern Gaza Strip will soon be scaled back, but he is ruling out a cease-fire. More than 100 days into Israel's war against Hamas, Palestinian authorities said the death toll in the enclave passed 24,000.

Iran fired missiles late Monday at what it claimed were Israeli "spy headquarters" near the U.S. Consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, and at targets linked to the extremist group Islamic State in northern Syria.
Four civilians were killed and six injured after missiles hit an upscale area near the consulate in Irbil, the seat of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, according to the security council of the Kurdish regional government.

Iran urged Monday the United States and Britain to "stop the war against Yemen" following their recent strikes on targets of the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels.
U.S. and British forces have hit scores of targets in Yemen after weeks of Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, claiming to act in solidarity with Palestinians in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

A moment of silence was observed and then shouts of "free Palestine" rang out ahead of the Asian Cup game between Iran and the Palestinian soccer team on Sunday.
As the Israel-Hamas war reached the 100-day mark both teams lined up in the center of the field at Education City Stadium and an announcement asked for silence "in memory of the lives tragically lost as a result of the ongoing situation in Palestine."

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was due to face Parliament Monday to explain why the U.K. joined the U.S. in striking Houthi targets in Yemen — and why British lawmakers did not get a say on the military action.
Four Royal Air Force Typhoon jets took part in last week's U.S.-led strikes on sites used by the Iran-backed rebels, who have been attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea. The U.S. says Friday's strikes hit Houthi weapons depots, radar facilities and command centers.

A woman was killed and 13 people injured in a suspected car ramming in central Israel, medics said, as police arrested two Palestinians over the reported attack.
Police said the two suspects stole vehicles and ran over a number of citizens in different areas in the city of Raanana north of Tel Aviv.

Yemen's Houthi rebels fired an anti-ship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea on Sunday, but a U.S. fighter jet shot it down in the latest attack roiling global shipping amid Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, officials said.
The attack marks the first U.S.-acknowledged fire by the Houthis since America and allied nations began strikes Friday on the rebels following weeks of assaults on shipping in the Red Sea.

Now 100 days old, the latest Israel-Hamas war is by far the longest, bloodiest, and most destructive conflict between the bitter enemies.
The fighting erupted on Oct. 7 when Hamas carried out a deadly attack in southern Israel. Since then, Israel has relentlessly pounded the Gaza Strip with airstrikes and a ground offensive that have wrought unprecedented destruction, flattening entire neighborhoods. The offensive has displaced the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza, shuttered operations in more than half of Gaza's hospitals and caused widespread hunger, U.N. monitors say.
