Mediators pushed on with efforts for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire as fighting raged on in the besieged Gaza Strip on Thursday, deepening a dire humanitarian crisis.

The Israeli military said troops had "eliminated dozens of terrorists" in the past day and destroyed a long-range missile launcher in the embattled southern city of Khan Younis.

American forces carried out strikes in Yemen against 10 attack drones and a ground control station belonging to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

A U.S. warship also shot down an anti-ship missile fired by the Houthis and later downed three Iranian drones, Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

ISRAEL IGNORES COURT RULING

South Africa's foreign minister alleged Israel is ignoring the ruling by the United Nations' top court last week, which ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, by killing hundreds more civilians in a matter of days in Gaza.

The European Union plans to launch a naval mission in the Red Sea within three weeks to help defend cargo ships against attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen that are hampering trade and driving up prices, the bloc's top diplomat said Wednesday.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he wants the mission to be up and running by Feb. 17. Officials say that seven EU countries are ready to provide ships or planes. Belgium has already committed to send a frigate. Germany is expected to do the same.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday its warplanes struck Syrian army infrastructure overnight in response to rocket fire from the country.

"Last night, a number of launches from Syria toward the southern Golan Heights were identified," the military said in a statement.

President Joe Biden has made it clear the U.S. will strike back after a deadly drone attack killed three service members and wounded more than 40 at a small base in Jordan over the weekend. What isn't yet clear is who will be hit, where, and how hard.

Biden has a wide array of options, but the U.S. must walk a fine line: A weak response will do little to deter further attacks by Iran-backed militia groups, while a major assault risks expanding the turmoil in the Middle East and drawing America into a wider conflict.

President Joe Biden has indicated he had decided how to respond after the killing of three American service members Sunday in a drone attack in Jordan that his administration has pinned on Iran-backed militia groups, saying he does not want to expand the war in the Middle East but demurring on specifics.

U.S. officials said they are still determining which of several Iran-backed groups was responsible for the first killing of American troops in a wave of attacks against U.S. forces in the region since the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel. Biden plans to attend the dignified transfer to mark the fallen troops' return to American soil on Friday and answered in the affirmative when asked by reporters if he'd decided on a response, as he indicated he was aiming to prevent further escalation.

The first United Arab Emirates ambassador to Damascus in nearly 13 years has taken up his post as Syria has been reintegrating into mainstream regional acceptance.

Syrian state media said Tuesday the country's Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad received Ambassador Hassan Ahmad al-Shihi's credentials.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected two key demands Hamas has made during indirect cease-fire talks, saying Israel will not withdraw from the Gaza Strip or release thousands of jailed militants.

During an event Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu again vowed that the war would not end without Israel's "absolute victory" over Hamas.

Yemen's Houthi rebels fired "several" missiles at a U.S. warship in the Red Sea, they said on Wednesday, hours after the U.S. military reported shooting down a missile.

"The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces, with the help of God Almighty, fired several... naval missiles at the American destroyer USS Gravely in the Red Sea," the Huthi statement said.