Israel strikes Khan Younis and Rafah, kills 3 Palestinians near Yellow Line

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Turkey - a close ally of Somalia - on Friday criticised Israel's recognition of the breakaway territory of Somaliland as an independent state as "interference" in Somali matters.

"This initiative by Israel, which aligns with its expansionist policy and its efforts to do everything to prevent the recognition of a Palestinian state, constitutes overt interference in Somalia's domestic affairs," said a Turkish foreign ministry statement.

The death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 70,945, medical sources told Palestinian media on Friday.

The number of injuries has also risen to 171,211. Three Palestinians have been reported killed in the past 24 hours, along with 16 injuries.

An Islamist militant group claimed responsibility for the bombing of a mosque in an Alawite-majority area of Syria's Homs on Friday, which killed at least eight people.

In a statement on Telegram, the Saraya Ansar al-Sunna said its fighters "detonated a number of explosive devices" in the Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque, which is located in an Alawite area.

The group was formed after the ouster of ruler Bashar al-Assad, who is a member of the Alawite community. The militant group had claimed responsibility for a Damascus church bombing in June.

Israel on Friday formally recognised Somaliland as an "independent and sovereign state" and signed an agreement to establish diplomatic ties between the two countries, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

"The prime minister announced today the official recognition of the Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state," his office said, making Israel the first country to officially recognise Somaliland as a country.

"The declaration is in the spirit of the Abraham Accords," Netanyahu's office said, referring to several agreements between Israel and Arab countries brokered by US President Donald Trump during his first presidency.

The president of Somaliland, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, hailed the recognition move, saying it marked the beginning of a "strategic partnership".

Yemeni separatists said on Friday that they would not be deterred by strikes on their positions that they blamed on Saudi Arabia, but that they were nonetheless open to working with Riyadh.

"The Council affirms that such actions will not serve any path of understanding and will not deter the people of the South from continuing to move forward toward restoring their full rights," the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) said.

Still, the group "affirms its openness to any coordination or arrangements based on guaranteeing the protection of the security, unity and integrity of the South and ensuring that security threats do not return, in a way that meets the aspirations and will of our Southern people and the common interests with our brothers in the kingdom," they added, referring to Saudi Arabia.

 The Lebanese cabinet on Friday passed a draft law that aims to address a financial crisis that crippled the economy for six years, despite significant opposition to the legislation from political parties, depositors and commercial banks. The legislation, known as the "financial gap" law, is part of a series of reform measures required by the International Monetary Fund in order to access funding from the lender.

It aims to distribute the massive losses from Lebanon's 2019 financial collapse between the state, the central bank, commercial banks and depositors, and allow depositors who have been frozen out of their savings to gradually recover their money. In 2022, the government put losses from the crisis at about $70 billion, a figure that is now likely higher.

Cabinet passed the law on Friday with a vote of 13 to 9, facing opposition from ministers across Lebanon's divided political scene. Dozens of people protested near the government headquarters as cabinet met, saying the law did not protect their deposits. The Association of Banks in Lebanon, which represents commercial banks in the country, has also criticized the draft.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam defended the law on Friday as a "realistic step," saying he hoped it would restore trust in the banking system not just among Lebanese, but among Gulf countries who could invest once reforms were in place.

"For the first time, this is a law with accountability," Salam told reporters.

Defence Minister Israel Katz on Friday ordered the military to launch an operation in the village of Qabatiya in the occupied West Bank after it emerged that a Palestinian who killed two people came from there.

"Defence Minister Israel Katz instructed the IDF to act forcefully and immediately against the village of Qabatiya, from which the murderous terrorist emerged, in order to locate and thwart every terrorist and strike the village's terror infrastructure," Katz's office said in a statement.

The death toll in the Syrian city of Homs has risen to eight after an explosive device detonated at the Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi al-Dahab neighbourhood.

Syria's interior ministry said in a statement that "a terrorist explosion" targeted the mosque "during Friday prayers".

The ministry imposed a security cordon around the mosque, saying that authorities "have begun investigating and collecting evidence to pursue the perpetrators of this criminal act".

SANA quoted a security source as saying "initial investigations indicate that the explosion... was caused by explosive devices planted inside the mosque".

A Palestinian child has been killed in the Shujaiya area east of Gaza City, The New Arab's Arabic-language site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said on Friday.

Another child has been inured in the same area, Al-Araby added.

Two people were killed in a stabbing and ramming attack in northern Israel, Israeli authorities said on Friday.

Israel's emergency services said one man, aged around 68, had been run over and had died. Israel's public broadcaster said a woman, aged around 20, had been stabbed to death. A further two people suffered mild injuries, it said.

Israeli police said the alleged attacker was a Palestinian resident of the occupied West Bank.

An explosion in a mosque in a predominantly Alawite area of Syria's Homs killed five people on Friday, state media reported, citing a preliminary toll.

State news agency SANA reported "an explosion inside the Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi al-Dahab neighbourhood, the nature of which is being investigated" adding that it had "initial information on the death of five people and the wounding of 21 others".

This is a developing story...

An Israeli settlers and military reservist has been placed under house arrest after he ran over a Palestinian man praying in the West Bank in an incident on Thursday, Israeli media reported.

The suspect has been reportedly been placed under house arrest for five days after he was arrested on Thursday night, the Times of Israel said.

The incident took place in the West Bank village of Deir Jarir, near Ramallah.

Footage shared online showed the settler run over the man, who was praying on the side of the road, while driving an ATV.

The Palestinian man then fell over and laid on the ground, after which the settler, armed with semi-automatic rifle slung on his back, went up to him and yelled a him to leave the area.

The Israeli military announced a series of strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Friday, including weapons depots and a training complex.

"A number of weapons storage facilities and terrorist infrastructure sites were struck, which were used by Hezbollah to advance terror attacks against the state of Israel," the military said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia, the main backer of Yemen's internationally-recognised government, conducted air strikes on separatist positions in Hadhramaut on Friday, according to local media and the UAE-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council.

"The Saudi Air Force bombed positions of the Hadhrami Elite Forces in Wadi Nahb in Hadhramaut," the separatist-linked Aden Independent Channel said in a social media post. Saudi officials would not immediately confirm the operation.

Israeli settlers attacked two Palestinians in the early hours of Friday in the town of Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah, stealing around 150 sheep in the process.

The settlers raided a sheep farm owned by Hassan Mohammad Ghannam in the Khallet al-Louz area east of the town, beating two Palestinian workers before stealing the livestock, the Palestinian Wafa agency said.

The town of Deir Dibwan has witnessed a noticeable escalation in settler attacks in recent weeks, particularly targeting farms, grazing lands and property, and repeated thefts of livestock. 

Germany will not participate in an International Stabilization Force (ISF) intended to implement Donald Trump's in Gaza peace plan "in the foreseeable future," Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Friday.

German troops would not be part of a force required to "provide concrete security in case of doubt," he said, adding that "many people cannot imagine German soldiers doing this in this particular region".

Wadephul stressed that Germany is prepared to contribute constructively to the structures outlined in the UN Security Council resolution, such as a peace council, noting that Berlin has not yet received a formal invitation to participate in such.