An Israeli drone strike on a car in eastern Lebanon killed two people Friday, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said.

The Israeli military said it targeted an official with Lebanon’s al-Jamaa al-Islamiya that is allied with Hezbollah.

The military said the man killed was Musab Khalaf. It added that Khalaf was behind attacks on Israeli troops in the disputed Shebaa Farms area.

An official with al-Jamaa al-Islamiya refused to confirm NNA's report when contacted by The Associated Press. The attack occurred on a road near the eastern village of Maydoun, NNA said without identifying the two killed.

The strike came after Hezbollah carried out an attack along the border that killed an Israeli civilian.

Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire on a near-daily basis along the border since the start of Israel-Hamas war nearly seven months ago.

Hamas said it had received on Saturday Israel's official response to its latest ceasefire proposal and will study it before submitting its reply, the group's deputy Gaza chief said in a statement.

"Hamas has received today the official response of the Zionist occupation to the proposal presented to the Egyptian and the Qatari mediators on April 13," Khalil Al-Hayya, who is currently based in Qatar, said in a statement published by the group.

After more than six months of war with Israel in Gaza, the negotiations remain deadlocked, with Hamas sticking to its demands that any agreement must end the war, Reuters reported.

An Egyptian delegation visited Israel for discussion with Israeli officials on Friday, looking for a way to restart talks to end the conflict and return remaining hostages taken when Hamas fighters stormed into Israeli towns on Oct. 7, an official briefed on the meetings said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israel had no new proposals to make, although it was willing to consider a limited truce in which 33 hostages would be released by Hamas, instead of the 40 previously under discussion.

On Thursday, the United States and 17 other countries appealed to Hamas to release all of its hostages as a pathway to end the crisis.

Hamas has vowed not to relent to international pressure but in a statement it issued on Friday it said it was "open to any ideas or proposals that take into account the needs and rights of our people".

However, it stuck to its key demands that Israel has rejected, and criticized the joint statement issued by the US and others for not calling for a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

A drone attack Friday on a gas field in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq killed four Yemeni workers and wounded three others, the regional government said.

The government’s statement called it a “terrorist attack” without blaming a specific group. No group claimed responsibility.

The attack happened on the Khor Mor gas field in Sulaymaniyah. The regional government’s electricity ministry announced the suspension of gas production and a loss of 2,500 megawatts of power production.

A rocket attack on the same gas field in January caused infrastructure damage and widespread power outages. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered an investigation, but the government has not announced any results.

The US military said on Friday that Iran-backed Houthis launched three anti-ship ballistic missiles into the Red Sea from Yemen causing minor damage to one ship, the UK-owned MV Andromeda Star.

A missile landed in the vicinity of a second vessel, the MV Maisha, but it was not damaged, US Central Command said on the social media site X.

The Houthis said Saturday their missiles hit the Andromeda Star oil tanker in the Red Sea, as they continue attacking commercial ships in the area in a show of support for Palestinians fighting Israel in the Gaza war.

The ship's master reported damage to the vessel, British maritime security firm Ambrey said.

Houthi spokesman Yahya Sarea said the Panama-flagged Andromeda Star was British owned, but shipping data shows it was recently sold, according to LSEG data and Ambrey.

Its current owner is Seychelles-registered. The tanker is engaged in Russia-linked trade. It was en route from Primorsk, Russia, to Vadinar, India, Ambrey said.

UN investigators examining Israeli accusations that 12 staff from the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA took part in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks have closed one case due to a lack of evidence from Israel and suspended three more, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.

He said the inquiry by the Office for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) continues into the remaining eight cases.

In the closed case, Dujarric said "no evidence was provided by Israel to support the allegations against the staff member" and that the UN is "exploring corrective administrative action to be taken in that person's case."

He said three cases were suspended "as the information provided by Israel is not sufficient for OIOS to proceed with an investigation." He said UNRWA is considering what administrative action to take.

After an initial 12 cases were raised by the Israeli government in late January, a further seven cases were brought to the attention of the United Nations in March and April, Dujarric said. One of those cases was suspended pending receipt of additional supporting evidence, he said, and the remaining six investigations continue.

UNRWA provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described the agency as "the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza" and pledged to act immediately on any new information from Israel related to "infiltration of Hamas" among its workers.

The accusations became public in January when UNRWA, which employs some 13,000 people in Gaza, announced that it had fired some staff and been briefed by Israel. Of the initial 12 accused by Israel, UNRWA fired 10 people and said the remaining two are dead. It was not immediately clear how they died.

OIOS immediately began its investigation into the accusations against the dozen staff, and the United Nations separately appointed former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna in February to lead a review of UNRWA's ability to ensure neutrality and respond to allegations of breaches.

Colonna's findings were released on Monday and noted that UNRWA has "a more developed approach" to neutrality than other similar UN or aid groups. "Despite this robust framework, neutrality-related issues persist," her report found.

Israel's allegations against the dozen UNRWA staff led 16 states to pause or suspend funding of $450 million to UNRWA, a blow to an agency grappling with the humanitarian crisis that has swept Gaza since Israel launched its offensive there.

UNRWA said 10 of those countries had resumed funding, but the United States, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria and Lithuania had not. A UN spokesperson said UNRWA currently had enough funding to pay for operations until June.

After the US, UNRWA's biggest donor at $300-400 million a year, paused funding, the US Congress then suspended contributions until at least March 2025.

Israel says about 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 people taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attacks. Gaza health authorities say Israel has killed 34,000 people in its offensive in the enclave since then.

A baby girl who was delivered from her dying mother's womb in a Gaza hospital following an Israeli airstrike has herself died after just a few days of life, the doctor who was caring for her said on Friday.

The baby had been named Sabreen al-Rouh. The second name means "soul" in Arabic.

Her mother, Sabreen al-Sakani (al-Sheikh), was seriously injured when the Israeli strike hit the family home in Rafah, the southernmost city in the besieged Gaza Strip, on Saturday night.

Her husband Shukri and their three-year-old daughter Malak were killed.

Sabreen al-Sakani (al-Sheikh), who was 30-weeks pregnant, was rushed to the Emirati hospital in Rafah. She died of her wounds, but doctors were able to save the baby, delivering her by Caesarean section.

However, the baby suffered respiratory problems and a weak immune system, said Doctor Mohammad Salama, head of the emergency neo-natal unit at Emirati Hospital, who had been caring for Sabreen al-Rouh.

She died on Thursday and her tiny body was buried in a sandy graveyard in Rafah.

"I and other doctors tried to save her, but she died. For me personally, it was a very difficult and painful day," he told Reuters by phone.

"She was born while her respiratory system wasn't mature, and her immune system was very weak and that is what led to her death. She joined her family as a martyr," Salama said.

More than 34,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, have been killed in the six-month-old war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, according to the Gaza health ministry. Israel denies deliberately targeting civilians in its campaign to eradicate Hamas.

Much of Gaza has been laid to waste by Israeli bombardments and most of the enclave's hospitals have been badly damaged, while those still operating are short of electricity, medicine sterilization equipment and other supplies.

"(Sabreen al-Rouh's) grandmother urged me and the doctors to take care of her because she would be someone that would keep the memory of her mother, father and sister alive, but it was God's will that she died," Salama said.

Her uncle, Rami al-Sheikh Jouda, sat by her grave on Friday lamenting the loss of the infant and the others in the family.

He said he had visited the hospital every day to check on Sabreen al-Rouh's health. Doctors told him she had a respiratory problem, but he did not think it was bad until he got a call from the hospital telling him the baby had died.

"Rouh is gone, my brother, his wife and daughter are gone, his brother-in-law and the house that used to bring us together are gone," he told Reuters.

"We are left with no memories of my brother, his daughter, or his wife. Everything was gone, even their pictures, their mobile phones, we couldn't find them," the uncle said.

An Egyptian delegation met Israeli counterparts on Friday, looking for a way to restart talks to end the war in Gaza and return the remaining Israeli hostages, an official briefed on the meetings said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israel had no new proposals to make, although it was willing to consider a limited truce in which 33 hostages would be released by the movement Hamas, instead of the 40 previously under discussion.

"There are no current hostage talks between Israel and Hamas, nor is there a new Israeli offer in that regard," the official said. "What there is, is an attempt by Egypt to restart the talks with an Egyptian proposal that would entail the release of 33 hostages - women, elderly and infirm."

According to Israeli media reports, Israeli intelligence officials believe there are 33 female, elderly and sick hostages left alive in Gaza, out of a total of 133 still being held by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups.

There was no decision on how long any truce would last but if such an exchange were agreed, the pause in fighting would be "definitely less than six weeks", the official said.

The visit by the Egyptian delegation came a day after the United States and 17 other countries appealed to Hamas to release all of its hostages as a pathway to end the crisis in Gaza. Hamas vowed not to relent to international pressure.

Hamas said it was "open to any ideas or proposals that take into account the needs and rights of our people". However, it stuck to central demands Israel has rejected, and said it criticized the statement for not calling for a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The visit by the Egyptian delegation followed Israeli media reports of a visit to Cairo on Thursday by the Israeli army chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, and Ronen Bar, the head of Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence service.

Egypt, concerned about a potential influx of Palestinian refugees from neighboring Gaza if the war continues with the long-promised Israeli offensive into the southern city of Rafah, has taken an increasingly active role in the negotiations.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles and artillery shells at an Israeli military convoy in a disputed area along the border, killing an Israeli civilian, the group and Israel’s military said Friday.

Iran-backed Hezbollah said that its fighters ambushed the convoy shortly before midnight Thursday, destroying two vehicles. The Israeli military said the ambush wounded an Israeli civilian doing infrastructure work, and that he later died of his wounds.

Low-intensity fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border has repeatedly threatened to boil over as Israel has targeted senior Hezbollah fighters in recent months.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the border. On the Israeli side, the cross-border fighting has killed 10 civilians and 12 soldiers, while in Lebanon, more than 350 people have been killed, including 50 civilians and 271 Hezbollah members.

On Thursday, Palestinian hospital officials said Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip killed at least five people.

More than half of the territory’s population of 2.3 million have sought refuge in Rafah, where Israel has conducted near-daily raids as it prepares for an offensive in the city. The Israeli military has massed dozens of tanks and armored vehicles in the area in what appears to be preparations for an invasion of Rafah.

In central Gaza, four people were killed in Israeli tank shelling.

The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which gunmen killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says the gunmen are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

The war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, around two-thirds of them children and women.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said on Thursday that Syria has become a "sort of free-for-all space for settling scores," warning that each month, trends are moving further in the wrong direction.
In a briefing to the Security Council, the UN envoy noted that this last month, the grim specter of regional conflict loomed over Syria once again after the April 1 strikes on Iranian diplomatic premises in Damascus, Iran’s 13 April strikes on Israel, attacks in Iran, Iraq and Syria, and others on US bases in northeast Syria.
“I remain extremely alarmed at this dangerous and escalatory spiral. I have long warned that Syria is treated by many as a sort of free-for-all space for settling scores,” Pedersen told the Security Council.
Also, the UN envoy said he is not only worried about these regional spillover effects and the grave dangers of miscalculation and escalation. “I am also deeply worried about the conflict in Syria itself, which continues to blight the lives of the long-suffering Syrian people,” he said. “Any temptation to ignore or merely contain the Syrian conflict itself would be a mistake.”
Pedersen then spoke about the situation in the northwest of Syria, where Security Council-listed terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched multiple crossline attacks.
In the northeast, he said there were reports of Turkish drone-strikes, exchanges of fire between armed opposition groups and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), alongside a growing insurgency by some tribal elements against the SDF.
Pedersen then said that in the southwest, security incidents remain at elevated levels with reports of open clashes between former armed opposition groups and Syrian government forces, as well as incidents related to criminal activities on the border.
“We need regional de-escalation, starting with an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza,” he said, adding that all players must work towards a nationwide ceasefire in Syria too.
Tackling the humanitarian situation, Pedersen said, “it is as bleak as ever.”
As for the economic situation, the UN envoy said it remains perilous. “The WFP says that the cost of a food basket doubled within a year, while the cost of living increased by 104%. The Syrian pound has reached around 15,000 per US dollar on the parallel market,” he noted.
Pedersen stressed the need to move forward on the safe, calm and neutral environment that is necessary for a political process to unfold, and also for safe, dignified and voluntary returns.
He then noted that “a mix of de-escalation, containment and humanitarian assistance – brokered through partial arrangements and piecemeal formats – is what we are seeing in practice.”
Without this the situation would be even worse, Pedersen stressed.

A recent UN report has revealed that climate change provokes displacement in Yemen and contributes to poverty, conflict, violence, and exploitation, putting children at risk.
“Children are most at risk due to exposure to climate and environmental shocks and their vulnerability to those shocks because of limited access to essential water and sanitation, education and health services,” UNICEF revealed in a report on landscape analysis for children in Yemen.
It said that the national climate policies and strategies that guide the climate, environment and energy agenda in Yemen are not child-sensitive, sometimes lacking any reference to children and youth.
Similarly, the report found that child-relevant sectoral strategies make weak connections with climate challenges and how they affect their sectors.
It said rising temperatures will intensify and extend heatwaves and droughts, exacerbating land degradation and water scarcity, and damage coastal ecosystems. Also, annual rainfall is decreasing while becoming more variable and unpredictable.
“Water scarcity coupled with flood events endanger livelihoods, trigger conflicts over land and water resources, and provoke greater displacement and urban migration,” UNICEF said in the report.
It added that Yemen’s agriculture is under duress leading to reduced food security.
Also, the report found that water is a key factor, either due to erratic rains or to flood damage. “The agricultural sector consumes 91% of water in Yemen, contributing to depleted groundwater resources,” it said, adding that urban encroachment, coastal groundwater salinity, overgrazing, soil erosion, droughts and desert locusts all impact the struggling sector.
As for the energy sector, the report said it depends on petroleum products, with the largest consumers being transportation, households and electricity production.
“Domestic oil production has plummeted since 2015, and fuel prices have soared. Even prior to the conflict, Yemen had the lowest installed electricity generation capacity as well as the lowest electricity access rate in the region,” it said.
Heavy Burden
The report said Yemen contributes a tiny portion of global CO2 emissions, noting that solar photovoltaic energy continues to gain ground as Yemenis seek reliable off-grid alternatives, and farmers have adopted solar for irrigation, placing additional pressure on fragile aquifers.
While wind and geothermal energy potential are largely untapped, the report said they remain promising.
Of the global burden of disease attributable to climate change, the report said 88% is borne by children. “Children are most at risk of the impacts of extreme weather events and heatwaves, aggravated by malnutrition and scarcity of clean water,” it noted.
The report then anticipated increases in water and vector-borne diseases in Yemen, as well as heightened child deprivation due to repeated climate shocks that overwhelm traditional coping mechanisms.
It said that when urgent care for children is required, access to health services is a challenge for many Yemeni families.
Meanwhile, UNICEF said land degradation and food and water insecurity provoke displacement and contribute to poverty, conflict, violence, and exploitation, putting children at risk.
It said climate-driven humanitarian disasters drive large-scale displacement and require responsive child protection services – psychosocial support, prevention of gender-based violence, and family reunification – to meet the challenge.
Damage to Health, Education
UNICEF’s report then predicted that population growth coupled with more frequent droughts will lead to greater competition for water for domestic uses, irrigation and industry.
“Water supply coverage in Yemen is dangerously low, and 39% of the population have limited access or unsafe drinking water,” it said.
Also, climate and environmental threats exacerbate poor access, poor retention and poor learning outcomes for Yemen’s school children. Floods damage poorly designed or situated schools, and heatwaves call for investment in school ventilation and more greenspaces.
In urban environments, the report noted that air pollution threatens children’s health, raising their risk for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease later in life.
Yemen is a sub-tropical, largely arid country. It is hot and humid along the west coast, temperate in the western mountains, and hot, harsh desert in the east.
Temperatures range widely depending on elevation or, in the coastal areas, distance from the sea. Mean temperatures in the highlands range from below 15°C in winter to 25°C in summer, and in the coastal lowlands from 22.5°C in winter to 35°C in the summer.
The annual mean temperature has increased at a rate of approximately 0.39˚C per decade since 1960, more rapidly than the global average.
The increase has been faster in summer (Jun-Aug) at an average rate of 0.56˚C per decade and slower in winter (Dec-Feb) at 0.21˚C per decade.
The 120-year record of average annual mean temperature shows this increasing trend and greater variability.