Israel-Hamas war latest: Palestinians flee parts of south Gaza as Israel launches a new assault

Palestinians are fleeing large areas around Khan Younis in southern Gaza where the Israeli military has begun a new assault after ordering another mass evacuation

Palestinians are fleeing large areas around Khan Younis in southern Gaza where the Israeli military began a new assault after ordering another mass evacuation.

Gaza’s second-largest city, Khan Younis, suffered widespread destruction during air and ground operations earlier in the year. The enclave faces a severe humanitarian crisis with Israeli restrictions on aid and ongoing fighting limiting access to food, medical supplies and clean water. The Health Ministry in Gaza says the death toll in the territory is nearing 40,000 in the 10 months since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

Regional tensions have soared since Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed July 31 in Iran by a presumed Israeli strike. Retaliation has been expected.

World leaders are pushing for a cease-fire in Gaza. Late Thursday, Israel confirmed it will send negotiators for indirect discussions with Hamas in response to a proposal by the United States, Egypt and Qatar to resume stalled cease-fire talks on Aug. 15.

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Some Western envoys boycott Japan's 79th anniversary of atomic bombing in solidarity with Israel, which wasn't invited

TOKYO — Nagasaki marked the 79th anniversary of its atomic bombing at the end of World War II at a ceremony Friday that was eclipsed by the absence of the American ambassador and other Western envoys in response to the city’s refusal to invite Israel.

Mayor Shiro Suzuki, in a speech at Nagasaki Peace Park, called for nuclear weapon states and those under their nuclear umbrellas, including Japan, to abolish the weapons.

He warned that the world faces “a critical situation” because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and accelerating conflicts in the Middle East.

More than 2,000 people, including representatives from 100 countries, attended Friday’s ceremony. But ambassadors from the United States and five other Group of Seven nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom — and the European Union were absent. Their countries sent lower-ranking envoys in response to Suzuki’s decision not to invite Israel.

The atomic bomb dropped by the United States on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, killed 70,000 people, three days after it bombed Hiroshima and killed 140,000. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression across Asia.

3 suspected Houthi attacks target a ship off Yemen, authorities say

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Three suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, including one that saw private security guards shoot and destroy a bomb-loaded drone boat, authorities said Friday.

The Houthis did not immediately claim the assaults, though they follow a monthslong campaign by the rebels targeting shipping through the Red Sea corridor over the war in Gaza.

After a recent two-week pause, their attacks resumed following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, amid concerns of a wider regional war. Iran backs the Houthis as part of what it calls a regional “Axis of Resistance.”

“The operations are ongoing — our operations toward occupied Palestine to target the Israeli enemy, our operations at sea, the inevitable forthcoming response,” warned Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi in a speech Thursday.

The Houthis have targeted more than 70 vessels with missiles and drones in a campaign that has killed four sailors since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The rebels maintain that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain as part of a campaign they say seeks to force an end to the war. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the war, including some bound for Iran.