Israeli strikes tore a huge crater, set tents ablaze and buried Palestinian families alive under sand in a supposedly safe zone of southern Gaza before dawn yesterday, killing or wounding scores of people, according to Palestinian officials.

The new school year in the Palestinian territories officially began yesterday, with all schools in Gaza shut after 11 months of war and no sign of a ceasefire.

A truck driver shot dead three Israeli guards at a border crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan yesterday before being “eliminated”, Israel’s military said, as it pounded Gaza with new strikes.

Hamas yesterday accused Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to “thwart” a Gaza truce deal, after the Israeli premier said the Palestinian militant group has “rejected everything” in negotiations.

At least 41 people were killed and more than 180 wounded yesterday when Russia struck a military institute in the central town of Poltava with two missiles, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, the war’s deadliest single attack so far this year.

UN experts voiced alarm Monday at a surge in executions in Iran last month that pushed the total in the country so far this year to over 400

Israeli forces killed at least 48 Palestinians in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip as they battled Hamas-led militants, Palestinian officials said yesterday, while medics conducted a second day of polio vaccinations for children in the enclave.

Israel yesterday announced its troops had found six dead hostages in a Gaza tunnel, as Israeli police said a “shooting attack” in the occupied West Bank killed three officers.

A joint operation by US and Iraqi forces killed 15 Islamic State group fighters in Iraq’s western desert, with seven US troops hurt during the operation, US Central Command said.

Israeli strikes yesterday killed at least 48 people in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian health authorities said, as clashes took place in central and southern areas of the enclave ahead of the planned start of a polio vaccination campaign.

Palestinians displaced by fighting in the Gaza Strip crowded onto the seashore as Israeli forces continued to battle Hamas fighters in central and southern areas, with health officials reporting at least 22 people killed in strikes yesterday.

Israel issued new evacuation orders for Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip early yesterday, forcing more families to flee, saying forces intended to act against Hamas and others operating in the area.

Negotiators geared up for a crucial weekend of Gaza ceasefire talks yesterday, as Hamas said it was sending delegates to Cairo but would not participate in the discussions, and fighting raged in the Palestinian territory.

Iran’s new government will seek to “manage tensions” with its arch-enemy the United States to help reduce pressure and neutralise crippling sanctions, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.

The United Arab Emirates has accepted the credentials of an ambassador from Afghanistan’s Taliban government, officials said, becoming just the second country after China to do so.

Lebanon’s health ministry said yesterday Israeli strikes killed seven people including a child in different parts of the south, with Hezbollah saying three of its fighters were among the dead.

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and accompanying destroyers have arrived in the Middle East, the US military said Wednesday, after the country's defense secretary ordered the strike group to accelerate its speed

A bus carrying Pakistani pilgrims overturned in central Iran, killing 28 passengers and injuring another 23 people, state media reported yesterday.

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken headed home yesterday after failing to secure a Gaza ceasefire, warning both Israel and Hamas his plan may be the last chance to avert a broader war.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said an Israeli strike hit a school in Gaza City yesterday, killing at least 12 people, while top US diplomat Antony Blinken was in Egypt for talks on a Gaza ceasefire.