Israel strikes several areas of Gaza as harsh winter grips enclave

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Iran's foreign minister denounced comments on Friday by Donald Trump as "reckless and dangerous" after the US president threatened to intervene on behalf of protesters taking to the streets in the Islamic republic.

"Trump's message today, likely influenced by those who fear diplomacy or mistakenly believe it is unnecessary, is reckless and dangerous," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X, insisting the protests were mostly peaceful and pointing to the US leader's own deployment of the National Guard in US cities.

Several Palestinians have been injured after the Israeli military struck Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.

Images shared online and by local outlets showed a wounded Palestinian man on a stretcher being carried towards an ambulance.

No casualties have been reported yet.  

International charity Doctors Without Borders Friday condemned a "grave blow to humanitarian aid" after Israel revoked the status it needs to operate in Gaza for refusing to share Palestinian staff lists.

Israel on Thursday confirmed it had banned access to the Gaza Strip to 37 foreign humanitarian organisations for refusing to share lists of their Palestinian employees.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has 1,200 staff members in the Palestinian territories, the majority of them in Gaza, said in a statement that "denying medical assistance to civilians is unacceptable under any circumstances".

The medical organisation argued that it had "legitimate concerns" over new Israeli requirements for foreign NGO registration, specifically the disclosing of personal information about Palestinian staff.

It pointed to the fact that 15 MSF staff had been "killed by Israeli forces", and that access to any given territory should not be conditional on staff list disclosure.

"Demanding staff lists as a condition for access to territory is an outrageous overreach," the charity said.

Yemen's southern separatist movement said on Friday it aims to hold a referendum on independence from the north in two years following its seizure of swathes of the country last month in a move that triggered a major feud between Gulf powers.

The Southern Transitional Council (STC) is backed by the United Arab Emirates and has for years been part of Yemen's internationally recognised government which is supported by Saudi Arabia and has led the fight against the Houthi movement. 

The United Arab Emirates confirmed its last troops had left Yemen and called for de-escalation as Abu Dhabi-backed separatists were hit by deadly airstrikes on Friday.

"The UAE concluded the presence of its counterterrorism forces," a government official said, adding it "remains committed to dialogue, de-escalation, and internationally supported processes as the only sustainable path to peace".

Air strikes targeted an airport and military base in Yemen's Seiyun on Friday as a Saudi-led coalition tries to dislodge UAE-backed separatists, a source from the group and eyewitnesses said.

Seiyun airport was hit by several strikes along with the military base in the city, according to a Southern Transitional Council military source, as eyewitnesses told AFP they heard and saw attacks on both sites.

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie visited on Friday the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing into Gaza, where she spoke with members of the Red Crescent and truck drivers ferrying humanitarian aid, AFP journalists said.

According to local media, the actor and former special envoy for the UN refugee agency made the visit to see the condition of injured Palestinians transferred to Egypt and to look into aid deliveries into the devastated territory.

Yemen's separatists say they are fighting 'existential' war against Saudi-backed forces, after at least seven people have been killed in strikes on Friday as tensions grow in the Arabian peninsula's poorest country.

"This war is decisive and existential," Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Al-Naqib said in a statement, after the Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes and Saudi-backed forces began a counter-campaign following territorial sweeping advances by the separatists.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he would have a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Monday to discuss peace efforts between Ukraine and Russia as well as issues surrounding Gaza.

Speaking to reporters in Istanbul on Friday, Erdogan also said Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will attend a meeting of the "Coalition of the Willing", a group of nations backing Ukraine, in Paris in coming days. 

Several Palestinians are suffering from suffocation after settlers and soldiers attacked the area of Khalayel al-Lawz, south of Bethlehem, in another violent incident on Friday, according to Palestinian media.

Settlers hurled stones their homes with stones and sowed panic and fear in the area, while forces fired stun grenades and tear gas at the homes. The forces later sealed off the area completely.

At least seven people have been killed in Saudi coalition airstrikes on UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, an official from the separatist organisation said.

Iran on Friday warned against any US intervention in the country, vowing a response after President Donald Trump said he would come to the aid of protesters in the Islamic republic.

"Any interventionist hand that attacks Iran's security under any pretext whatsoever will be exposed to a response," Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to the supreme leader, wrote on X. "Iran's security is a red line."

Saudi airstrikes hit a UAE-backed separatist military camp in Yemen's Hadramawt province on Friday, causing deaths and injuries, a senior official for the group told AFP.

Seven air strikes hit the camp in Al-Khasah, said Mohammed Abdulmalik, head of the Southern Transitional Council in Wadi Hadramaut and Hadramaut Desert, adding that a ground attack was repelled. The number of deaths and injuries was not immediately available.

Israeli bulldozers were seen destroying Palestinian agricultural land in the town of Turmus Ayya, northeast of Ramallah, local media and footage showed on Friday.

The bulldozers also destroyed olive tree groves, amid concerns Israeli authorities were doing so in a bid to make way for a new settlement, illegal under international law.

The Israeli military said on Friday it intercepted what it described as a "false target" in the northern town of Bar’am after sirens were triggered by a suspected drone.

A source close to Lebanon's Hezbollah told Reuters the Iran-aligned group is not linked to the incident.

Lebanon has faced mounting pressure from the United States and Israel to disarm Hezbollah under a truce deal, with Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warning that Israel would "act as necessary" if Beirut fails to curb the group's arsenal.

Yemen's Hadramawt province is launching an operation to "peacefully" take back military sites after a sweeping advance by UAE-backed separatists, its governor said on Friday.

Salem Al-Khanbashi made the announcement shortly after he was also appointed to lead the Saudi-supported National Shield forces in resource-rich Hadramawt, bordering Saudi Arabia.

"This operation is not a declaration of war, nor an attempt to escalate tensions," Khanbashi was cited as saying in a statement by the official Saba Net news agency.

"This operation does not target any political or social group, nor does it target civilians," he added.

The secessionist Southern Transitional Council forces' march through Hadramawt and neighbouring Mahra, bordering Oman, has escalated tensions between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, rival powerbrokers in Yemen's government-run areas.

Israeli forces detained three Palestinians in the Hebron governorate, occupied West Bank, on Friday morning, amid raids in several homes, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

The three detained men were Fawzi Saleem Abu Sabih from the Um al-Daliya area in Hebron, and Ahmad Yaser al-Masalma from the town of Dier Samet, who were arrested while passing through the Container military checkpoint.

Ibrahim Younis al-Salameen from the town of Samu' was detained during a raid on his family home.

Israeli forces also stormed the towns of Dura and Halhul in the Hebron district, Wafa said.