Hopes of Iran-US breakthrough in nuclear talks as Israel continues West Bank raids

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An Israeli strike on south Lebanon killed one person on Thursday, Lebanon's health ministry reported, while the Israeli military said it killed an alleged member of Hezbollah.

Despite a November 2024 truce that sought to end more than a year of hostilities, including two months of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon and has maintained troops in five areas it deems strategic.

In a statement, the Lebanese health ministry said that an "Israeli enemy strike" on al-Tiri, southern Lebanon, killed one person.

The Israeli military said it struck a "Hezbollah terrorist" in the area.

In January, Lebanon's army said it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah, covering the area south of the Litani river, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border.

Lebanon's government is set to meet on Monday to discuss updates on the army's disarmament plan.

Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticised the Lebanese army's progress as insufficient, while Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.

A Palestinian detainee from Gaza died in Israeli detention, the official Wafa news agency reported on Thursday evening. 

The detainee has been named as Hatem Ismail Rayan.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society said in a statement that Rayan, who worked as a paramedic, had been held at the Israeli Negev detention center since his detention on 27 December, 2024.

He was taken by Israeli forces at the Kamal Adwan Hospital alongside his injured son, Muath, who remains in detention.

US President Donald Trump said late on Thursday that a failure to reach a deal with Iran will be "very traumatic" for the country.

The speaker of Germany's lower house of parliament briefly visited the Israeli-controlled part of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the body told AFP.

Julia Kloeckner spent "about an hour in the part of Gaza controlled by Israeli army forces", parliament said, becoming the first German official to visit the territory since October 2023, when  Israel launched its brutal war on the enclave. 

Since the start of the conflict, Israel has drastically restricted access to the densely populated coastal strip.

In a statement shared by her office, Kloeckner said it was essential for politicians to have access to "reliable assessments of the situation" in Gaza.

She was only able to gain a "limited insight" into the situation on the ground during her trip, she said.

Kloeckner appealed to Israel to "continue on this path of openness" regarding allowing foreign access into Gaza, and emphasised that the so-called yellow line, which designates Israeli military zones inside the Gaza Strip, must "not become a permanent barrier".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday expressed hope that US President Donald Trump may be creating the conditions to reach a deal with Iran.

Netanyahu, in a statement before leaving Washington for Israel, said he had expressed "general scepticism" during his meeting with Trump and that if an agreement is indeed reached, it must include the elements that are very important to Israel.

They include Iran's nuclear programme, its ballistic missiles and Iran's proxies, he added.

Lebanon has secured temporary exemptions for freight vehicles hauling certain goods after a recent ban by Damascus on foreign trucks, state media reported on Thursday.

Damascus had issued a decision on Saturday stipulating that "non-Syrian trucks will not be allowed to enter" the country, and that goods being imported by road must be unloaded at specific points at border crossings.

The decision exempts trucks that are only passing through Syria to other countries.

Lebanese and Syrian will now unload and reload goods at a joint zone along the border, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said, with a temporary mechanism put in place to regulate movement over seven days.

However, goods transported in tankers, hazardous materials, cement, raw materials for cement production, as well as meat and pharmaceuticals will be exempt from these border transfers.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Thursday called for the resignation of the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, over comments she made allegedly targeting Israel at a conference.

"I respect the UN system of independent rapporteurs. However, Ms Albanese has made numerous inappropriate remarks in the past. I condemn her recent statements about Israel. She is untenable in her position," Wadephul wrote on X.

Wadephul's French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot, on Wednesday made the same call for Albanese to resign over the same comments.

The United States on Thursday confirmed its forces have departed Al-Tanf in Syria, as Damascus said its troops took control of the base near the Jordanian and Iraqi borders.

"The orderly departure of US forces from al-Tanf" was completed the previous day, US Central Command (CENTCOM) -- which is responsible for American forces in the Middle East -- said in a statement.

It described the move as being "part of a deliberate and conditions-based transition".

CENTCOM chief Admiral Brad Cooper insisted that American forces remained ready to respond to threats from the Islamic State jihadist group, saying that maintaining pressure on the militants "is essential to protecting the US homeland and strengthening regional security."

A Palestinian man, Muhammad Salim Dababish, was killed after Israeli forces opened fire in the Zarqa area of ​​the Tuffah neighbourhood, northeast of Gaza City.

At the same time, four more Palestinians were injured from Israeli gunfire in central Gaza, targeting ambulances as they tried to transport the injured near the Kuwait Roundabout, south of the Zeitoun neighbourhood, southeast of Gaza City.

Israeli settlers detained two Palestinians in a raid after Israeli settlers attacked shepherds in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, activist Osama Makhamreh told Wafa.

The activist said the settlers, who were armed, attacked and chased the shepherds, while also releasing livestock onto their fields. 

The US military has completed a withdrawal from Syria's al-Tanf garrison, turning over the strategically-located base to Syrian government forces, two US officials told Reuters on Thursday.

The al-Tanf complex is positioned at the tri-border confluence of Syria, Jordan and Iraq.

It was established during Syria's civil war in 2014 as a key hub for operations by the US-led coalition against Islamic State militants. But it became a key foothold in a battle against Iranian influence due to its position along roadways linking Damascus to Tehran.

Lebanese media is reporting continuing Israeli artillery shelling in the outskirts of Deir Mimas in southern Lebanon.

Saudi Arabia appointed Fahd bin Abduljalil bin Ali al Saif as the new investment minister, replacing Khalid Al-Falih, according to a royal decree on Thursday.

Three people died and four were missing after a migrant boat got into trouble Thursday in the Aegean Sea, the Turkish coastguard said.

Another 38 people were rescued when the inflatable rubber boat started taking on water off the coast near the western resort of Izmir, a coastguard statement said.

The accident struck off the coast of Foca, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Greek island of Lesbos, a common entry point for migrants seeking to reach the European Union.

"Search operations are ongoing to find the four irregular migrants who are missing", the coastguard said, adding it had deployed several vessels and helicopters.

At least 524 migrants have been killed or gone missing in the Mediterranean since the start of the year, according to the UN migration agency.

Last year, it recorded 1,873 missing or dead migrants who attempted the dangerous crossing.

An Israeli citizen and reserve soldier were indicted on suspicion they used classified information to place bets on military operations using the Polymarket website, authorities said on Thursday.

A statement by the Defence Ministry, Shin Bet internal security service and police after a joint operation said a number of suspects were recently arrested on suspicion of gambling on the website.

"This was allegedly based on classified information to which the reservists were exposed through their military duties," the statement said. Lawyers for those charged were not immediately able to be reached.

The statement said that after it found sufficient evidence against a civilian and a reservist, the State Prosecutor's Office decided to indict them for serious security offences, as well as on charges of bribery and obstruction of justice.

"The security establishment emphasises that engaging in such gambling activities based on confidential and classified information poses a real security risk to IDF (Israeli military) operations and to state security," it said.

Fifteen Palestinians were detained as Israeli forces conducted a large-scale raid into the town of Jayyous, east of Qalqilia, invading and ransacking several homes.

Israeli forces detained 40 Palestinians during their large-scale raid and detention campaign across the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoners Society revealed.

The detainees include four women and a child.

Five Palestinian citizens of Israel were shot dead across the country in less than 24 hours, police said on Thursday, as a surge in violent crime continues to grip the Arab community.

The deaths raise the number of Palestinian citizens of Israel killed this year to 44.

Crime and armed violence have escalated sharply among Israel's Arab minority, where criminal gangs extort residents and business owners for protection and frequently kill those who fail to pay.

Israel's ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip has now killed at least 72,049 Palestinians since October 2023, while a further 171,691 have been wounded.

Five Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours. 

The toll does not include the thousands missing or trapped beneath the rubble presumed dead.

Syria's Defence Ministry said on Thursday that Syrian army units had taken control of the al-Tanf military base vacated by US troops, following coordination between Syrian and US authorities. 

Most foreign families have fled northeast Syria's Al-Hol camp, which holds relatives of suspected Islamic State group fighters, since the departure of Kurdish forces who previously guarded it, humanitarian sources said Thursday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one source told AFP that "since last Saturday... there are no more than 20 families in the foreigners' annex", while a source from another humanitarian organisation said the section was basically empty.

Last month, the Syrian government took over the camp, which had a high-security section holding more than 6,000 foreigners from around 40 nationalities, after Kurdish forces withdrew.

The speaker of Germany's lower house of parliament briefly visited the Israeli-controlled part of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the body told AFP.

Julia Kloeckner spent "about an hour in the part of Gaza controlled by Israeli army forces," parliament said in response to an AFP query, becoming the first German official to visit Gaza since October 2023.

Iranian authorities have dismissed a provincial television director after a reporter appeared to call for the death of the country's supreme leader.

The incident happened during Wednesday's live broadcast of the 47th anniversary of the Iranian revolution in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province.

During the live feed, the reporter Musab Rasoulizad was describing the turnout at the rallies, and repeating chants heard in the crowd such as "Allahu Akbar", God is Great.

He then said "Marg bar Khamenei" (Death to Khamenei), rather than one of the chants typically heard at government-organised rallies, which include "Death to America" and "Death to Israel".

"The broadcast director of Hamoun provincial TV channel has been dismissed following an error that occurred on the provincial network," state television said on Wednesday.

"The transmission operator and broadcast supervisor were suspended. Other staff found at fault were also referred to the disciplinary committee."

It added that the decision was made in order to "maintain professional discipline and safeguard the media's reputation".

The US and Iran appeared ready to compromise to secure a nuclear deal, but broadening talks to cover Tehran's ballistic missile program would risk "nothing but another war", Turkey's foreign minister Hakan Fidan told FT in an interview on Thursday.

"It is positive that the Americans appear willing to tolerate Iranian enrichment within clearly set boundaries," Fidan said.

China said on Thursday it opposed "all attempts to annex" Palestinian territories, days after Israel's security cabinet approved measures to tighten control over the occupied West Bank.

"China has always opposed the construction of new settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory and opposed all attempts to annex or encroach upon Palestinian territory," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news conference.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog was due to end a contentious four-day visit to Australia on Thursday that brought comfort to Sydney's Jewish community which attracted large-scale demonstrations protesting Israel's genocidal war on Gaza.

Herzog has been dogged by protesters who label him a war criminal as he visited Sydney, the national capital Canberra and Melbourne in the first Australian visit by an Israeli head of state in six years.

"We came here to be with you, to look you in the eye, to embrace, to remember and weep together and we wept," Herzog told a Jewish community gathering in Melbourne on Thursday under tight police security hours before he was due to depart Australia.

"Indeed, we wept a great deal this week and still I must tell you that we return to Israel feeling empowered because we have seen firsthand the beauty and resilience of this community and its significance in the eyes of all Australians of goodwill," he added.

Herzog and the Australian government agree he was invited to support a community reeling from a 14 December attack, on a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach that left 15 people dead.