Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end Gaza ceasefire negotiations and to “wipe out” the Palestinian group Hamas.

In a post on X, Ben-Gvir, leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) Party, said “reckless deals” only motivate Hamas to carry out further abductions.

“It cost us the life of a soldier last night who was killed during a kidnapping attempt,” he claimed.

Ben-Gvir said that the lives of Israeli soldiers and illegal settlers “are more important than any normalisation or economic interests.”

A man was killed in an Israeli drone strike on southern Lebanon, the health ministry has said, after Israel claimed it was carrying out "special, targeted operations" against Hezbollah.

Despite a November truce that ended a war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has kept up its strikes on Lebanon, targeting the group's sites and operatives but also occasionally members of their Palestinian ally Hamas.

"One man was killed and two others wounded in an Israeli enemy drone strike that targeted a motorcycle in the village of Mansouri" near the coastal city of Tyre, the ministry said.

The head of the UN Human Rights Council has criticised the US decision to impose sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory.

In a statement, Jurg Lauber highlighted the importance of special rapporteurs in advancing the council's mandate and urged all UN member states to cooperate with them and avoid any form of intimidation or retaliation.

“I regret the decision of the United States Government to impose sanctions on Ms. Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967,” Lauber said.

China has urged the Yemeni Houthi group to “respect” the navigation rights of commercial vessels of all countries in the Red Sea.

Beijing also expresses its “deep concern” over the recent armed attacks on two commercial vessels in the Red Sea, Chinese Ambassador Geng Shuang told the UN Security Council, according to an official statement.

Geng was addressing the Security Council following a briefing on Yemen by UN special envoy Hans Grundberg and Under-Secretary-General Tom Fletcher.

At least 36 civilians have been killed and dozens wounded in new Israeli strikes in Gaza, according to medical sources.

Three people lost their lives and several others were injured when fighter jets struck a residential apartment in western Gaza City, a medical source said.

In the Zeitoun neighbourhood of the same city, four more people were killed in another Israeli strike.

Israeli forces shelled a group of civilians waiting near a medical care site for food delivery in the central Deir al-Balah city, killing 14 people, mostly women and children, and injuring others, medics said.

Separately, four people from the same family were killed in an Israeli strike targeting their home in the Bureij refugee camp in Gaza.

Two Palestinians were also killed and 10 were injured in Israeli drone strikes in the central Nuseirat refugee camp.

In southern Gaza, the Israeli army killed five people, including two children, and injured 20 others in strikes on tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis.

A mother and three of her children were also killed when the Israeli army struck their home in Khan Younis. More than 20 people were injured in the same attack.

The European Council of Imams has strongly condemned a recent visit by a group of individuals described as “so-called imams” to Israel, calling the act a betrayal of basic Islamic principles and solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The council said in a statement that the delegation met with "criminal figures" in the occupying Israeli state amid a global outcry over the ongoing military assault on Gaza.

"We were shocked by media outbursts of a visit by so-called imams to the occupying Israeli state and their meeting with its criminal figures," the council said, adding that the act "is in stark contradiction to any human or moral sensibility."

It emphasised that the individuals involved in the visit are "unknown among European Muslims" and have no affiliation with any "reputable religious institutions or trusted Islamic organisations."

Israel has agreed to allow third countries to fund the reconstruction of the war-torn Gaza under a ceasefire deal, Israeli media said.

According to the Yedioth Ahronoth daily, Israel permitted funding and resources from Qatar and other countries to be used to rebuild the Palestinian enclave.

“For Hamas, this would mark a critical signal to Gaza’s Palestinian population that the war is concluding,” the newspaper said.

According to the daily, Israel has demanded contributions from other countries to the funding process to prevent Qatari domination, which initially suggested the plan during talks in Washington this week.

Palestinian authorities have said Israeli troops killed a 55-year-old man in the north of the occupied West Bank — an incident the Israeli army claimed involved a stabbing attack.

The Ramallah-based health ministry said the body in charge of coordination with Israel informed it that soldiers "shot and killed" the man in Rummanah, near Jenin, in the morning.

Yemen's Houthis have claimed responsibility for a missile attack targeting Israel's Ben Gurion airport, after the Israeli military said it had intercepted the strike.

The Houthis "carried out a qualitative military operation" using a ballistic missile, military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement.

Israel launches a missile at Palestinians walking on a Gaza street, CCTV footage shows.