Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected accusations that Israel has been delaying the entry of winter supplies into the Gaza Strip as severe rains flood makeshift tents, worsening conditions in the enclave this week.
He instead blamed Hamas, saying the Palestinian militant group refuses to disarm and seizes humanitarian aid for military use. He provided no evidence for the aid seizure claim.
His remarks came after the US-created Board of Peace said Monday that Israel’s delays in allowing winter supplies into Gaza had “exacerbated the consequences of a foreseeable humanitarian challenge.” The UN and other aid groups say more than 150,000 tents and pumps to remove floodwaters are ready to enter Gaza, but Israel has not authorised their entry. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said a tanker caught fire early Wednesday after striking a naval mine while travelling along an unauthorised route through the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway, Iranian state media reported. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre, a British military agency that monitors maritime safety, said a tanker was involved in an incident while transiting the strait.
The agency did not identify the tanker. Further details, including the crew’s status, were not immediately available. It was unclear whether the Iranian and UKMTO reports referred to the same incident.
An Israeli strike on Wednesday morning killed one person in Gaza City, and a second later in the day killed two more people, according to Shifa Hospital, where the bodies were taken.
The Israeli military said both strikes targeted military operatives. It did not provide additional details. Large-scale fighting has slowed since Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal in October 2025, but Israel continues to launch near-daily strikes that have killed more than 1,600 Palestinians.
A Cairo judge postponed the retrial of the editor-in-chief of one of Egypt’s last independent news outlets for a week after her defence lawyers asked him to recuse himself, the outlet said.
Lina Attalah, a co-founder and editor-in-chief of Mada Masr, is challenging a one-year prison sentence and a fine imposed in absentia on charges of operating a website without a license and spreading false news.
Mada Masr said that her lawyers sought the judge’s recusal because he had ordered the outlet’s closure late last month in a separate case. Attalah’s retrial is now scheduled for November 18, while hearings on Mada Masr’s appeal against its closure begin November 25.