Israeli strikes across Gaza have killed at least 13 people, according to health officials, as U.S. President Donald Trump was expected to announce his Board of Peace to oversee the fragile ceasefire.

Health officials and family members said at least one child was among the dead in northern Gaza following several strikes there as well as east of Gaza City. All 13 people were killed on Thursday.

Pope Leo XIV on Friday lamented rising violence in the occupied West Bank and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying Palestinians had the right to live peacefully in their "own land".

"Sadly, there has been an increase in violence in the West Bank against the Palestinian civilian population, which has the right to live in peace in its own land," said the US pope, adding that civilians in Gaza also should be assured "a future of lasting peace and justice in their own land".

A delegation of Yemeni separatists in Riyadh said their group was dissolving on Friday after a failed land grab, but the announcement was dismissed by its spokesman who called it "ridiculous".

Southern Transitional Council (STC) secretary general Abdulrahman al-Subaihi appeared distracted as he read a prepared statement on a Saudi TV news channel.

Kurdish fighters rejected a call to leave Syria's Aleppo on Friday after the government announced a truce in deadly fighting that forced thousands of civilians to flee.

Since Tuesday, government forces had been fighting the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Aleppo, the country's second city.

Top officials from the European Union visited Syria for the first time Friday and met with Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, in another sign of the country's improving relations with the West.

The visit by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Council António Costa was part of a regional tour.

Saudi Arabia alleged Thursday that the United Arab Emirates smuggled a separatist leader in Yemen wanted for treason out of the country and flew him to Abu Dhabi.

The UAE had no immediate reaction to the claim, which further escalates tensions between the neighboring nations on the Arabian Peninsula as their partnership in the yearslong war in Yemen breaks down.

Yemen is threatening to fracture even further, exposing a growing rift between Middle East powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The latest friction is among members of the Saudi-led coalition based in Yemen's south that for years has been fighting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels based in the north.

Here's a look at the forces involved as Saudi Arabia pursues dialogue among all the players in the south of Yemen, the Arab world's poorest nation:

Israel on Thursday condemned the Syrian government over what it described as attacks against the Kurdish community in Aleppo, just days after the two sides agreed to establish a joint mechanism aimed at lowering bilateral tensions.

"Attacks by the Syrian regime's forces against the Kurdish minority in the city of Aleppo -- are grave and dangerous... Systematic and murderous repression of Syria's various minorities contradicts the promises of a 'new Syria'," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on X.

Turkey's military was ready to "support" Syria in its battle with Kurdish fighters in the northwestern city of Aleppo if Damascus asks for help, a defense ministry official said Thursday.

Deadly clashes erupted this week between Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) after the two sides failed to reach a year-end deadline to merge the Kurdish fighters into the main Damascus military.

Syrian authorities warned civilians to leave a contested area in the northern city of Aleppo on Thursday and opened a corridor for them to evacuate for a second day as clashes continued between government and Kurdish forces.

The government of Aleppo province gave residents until 1 p.m. local time to evacuate in coordination with the army. State news agency SANA, citing the army, said the military would begin "targeted operations" against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid half an hour after that deadline.