KEY POINTS
- India says it understands self-defense actions some countries take after Pakistan's strikes in Iran
- US re-designates Houthis as a terrorist entity
- Heavy political, military pressure led to Pakistan's retaliation, report says
The Israel-Hamas war is on its 104th day, and tensions in the Middle East have reached a new high as Pakistan carried out retaliatory strikes in Iran on Thursday after the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) struck Balochistan a day earlier, killing six people, including two children.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that there is "no military solution to Hamas." This comes as differences between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government over Israel's military offensive in Gaza have become more apparent in recent weeks.
- Pakistan reportedly warned Iran against taking more actions to fan flames
- 9 killed in Pakistani strikes: Iranian media
- Several Pakistani political figures defend strikes in Iran
- Youngest Oct. 7 hostage turns 1 in captivity
- China reportedly offers to mediate between Iran, Pakistan
- Hezbollah rejects Washington's ideas to reduce Israeli-Lebanese border tensions
- Hamas 'not part of the agenda' in a post-war Gaza: Herzog
- Nasrallah urges Iran, Pakistan to collaborate
U.S. forces conducted fresh strikes against Houthi assets in Yemen, specifically missiles that the American military said were ready for launching toward Red Sea merchant shipping lanes.
A political storm is brewing in Israel after senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk announced that the medicine-aid deliveries for hostages and Palestinians in Gaza will not go through Israel's convoy checking process.
IDF chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said he believes there will be higher chances of a full-blown war erupting in the northern border with Lebanon against Iran-backed Hezbollah in the coming months.
Fighting continues in southern Gaza, where the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been engaging in heavy firefights with Hamas combatants. Fighting has also resumed in parts of northern Gaza after the Israeli army reportedly returned Tuesday to the north, which it left last week.
The months-long war started on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas operatives invaded Israel, murdering more than 1,200 people and abducting around 240 others, over 130 of whom are still in captivity in Gaza.
Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre was the climax of the longstanding Israel-Palestine conflict history that some global leaders have said would conclude through a two-state solution.
Israel intercepts aerial target from Red Sea
Israel intercepted a "suspicious aerial target" from the Red Sea that was on its way to Israeli territory, the IDF said Thursday afternoon local time.
