Iran fired at Kuwait on Thursday as part of its retaliation for U.S. bombardments earlier in the week. Meanwhile, Israeli police said they arrested a settler allegedly involved in an attack on Palestinians last week.
Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.
Iran fires at Kuwait
Sirens sounded in Kuwait early Thursday, where air defenses intercepted missiles and drones during a “blatant Iranian aggression,” the Defense Ministry said on X.
It came after U.S. allies Bahrain and Jordan said their air defense systems also intercepted several Iranian air attacks Wednesday.
Fighting between the U.S. and Iran has increased this week after the U.S. hit Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, saying Iran was planning to use them to shoot mines into the waterway.
Israeli attacks kill three Palestinians in Gaza, hospital officials say
Israeli attacks killed three Palestinians, including a 15-year-old child, in northern Gaza and Gaza City on Thursday, according to officials at the Shifa hospital, where the casualties were taken.
When asked about the incident in northern Gaza, the Israeli military said that it “identified two terrorists who crossed the Yellow Line and approached the troops in a manner that posed an immediate threat.”
However, officials at the Shifa hospital said the two Palestinians were killed in a “safe area” west of the so-called yellow line, which delineates the part of the Gaza Strip that the Israeli military controls, hemming the territory’s 2 million Palestinians into a narrow coastal zone.
Another strike later in the day killed one Palestinian in Gaza City and critically wounded two others, the hospital added. Israel’s military confirmed striking the area but did not elaborate.
Iran holds funeral for victims of strike on wedding
Hundreds of people participated in the funeral of four victims, including two women and two children, who were killed in an airstrike at a wedding in southern Iran, state TV reported.
Mourners carried caskets wrapped in the Iranian flag as families, relatives, soldiers and others accompanied the coffins in the streets of the port town of Kuhestak, located about 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) southeast of Iran’s capital Tehran.
A U.S. missile hit a home in the town where dozens were gathered to celebrate the wedding of a fisherman’s daughter on Tuesday night, according to a rights group and Iranian media.
Iranian state TV said Thursday that a person injured in the attack had died, increasing the death toll to five.
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Ship traffic through Strait of Hormuz remains below pre-war levels
Ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains well below pre-war levels due to the risk of Iranian attack if ships do not comply with an Iranian vetting regime. The decline is in sharp contrast to the unhindered navigation before the war.
Last week there were 102 transits and 126 the week before, according to shipping data company Lloyd’s List Intelligence. That compares with 130 or more per day before the war.
Significant amounts of oil, however, continue to flow through the strait due to a shuttle trade in which tanker operators risk going through a southern route near the coast of Oman under the guidance of U.S. forces.
Over the past 28 days, 5 million barrels a day have exited the strait on average, according to TankerTrackers.com.
Israeli police make rare arrest of settler over attack on Palestinians
Authorities in Israel arrested an Israeli settler for his suspected role in an attack on a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank, according to a police statement Thursday.
The statement did not identify the suspect but said he was being held for questioning and that police would request to extend his detention.
The 19-year-old man is believed to have participated in a violent riot in the Palestinian village of Qusra on Saturday, in which settlers threw stones and barricaded themselves inside the home of one of the villagers.
Lebanese man held prisoner in Israel released
A Lebanese man who had been held prisoner in Israel was released Thursday, the first such handover since the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war six months ago, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Lebanese officials said.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel had agreed to release five Lebanese civilians detained by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.
They were detained after Lebanon provided assistance in searching for the bodies of Lebanese Jewish leaders who were “abducted and murdered by terrorist organizations” in the 1980s, during Lebanon’s civil war.
Iran state media says US strikes on Iran killed three pilots
A report by Mizanonline.ir, affiliated with Iran’s judiciary, said that U.S. strikes on Tuesday killed one navy and two air force pilots. It also reported that three other members of the navy were killed during the attacks.
The U.S. Central Command said Tuesday’s strikes focused on Iranian military targets, including air defense sites, radar systems and maritime assets.
Mourners attend the funeral of 2 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces
Mourners attended the funeral on Thursday of two Palestinians, aged 16 and 19, who were killed by Israeli forces the night before in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli troops fired on them while accompanying settlers into the village of Al-Mughayyir. Amin Abu Aliya, a local official, told the Palestinian news agency Wafa that settlers and Israeli soldiers entered the village, attacked two homes and stole sheep. Residents confronted the settlers and the military responded by firing on them.
Netanyahu tries to unite the right ahead of elections
With his legacy on the line, Netanyahu is imploring his erstwhile allies to unite into larger parties that have a better chance of entering parliament.
A series of small, pro-Netanyahu parties are competing in the run-up to the Oct. 27 vote. But instead of strengthening the Israeli leader, these parties — including hard-line blocs led by polarizing Cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich — risk weakening his chances for reelection by splitting the vote among Netanyahu’s base.
This piece will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
