The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they happen.
US announces strikes on Houthi missile, drones
The US military’s Central Command says it destroyed nine anti-ship missiles and two drones in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
The army says Houthis fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles from Yemen toward the Gulf of Aden and two missiles toward the Red Sea, but there were no injuries or damage reported to US or coalition ships.
Australia ending UNRWA funding freeze
Australia will resume funding to the United Nations’ main Palestinian relief agency, Foreign Minister Penny Wong says, almost two months after it paused ties over allegations some of the agency’s employees participated in the October 7 Hamas attack.
“The best available current advice from agencies and the Australian government lawyers is that UNRWA is not a terrorist organization, and that existing additional safeguards sufficiently protect Australian taxpayer funding,” Wong says, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
She says Canberra is working on signing a new funding agreement with UNRWA, after Israel provided information that led Australia to conclude it could resume contributing some $6 million to the aid agency.
“I don’t know what I don’t know. What I do know is this, I know there’s people starving in Gaza … I know that UNRWA is critical to providing this assistance to people who are on the brink of starving,” she says.
White House welcomes new PA premier, calls on him to implement reforms
The White House says it welcomes the appointment of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, calling on him to quickly deliver credible, sweeping reforms it sees as necessary for the PA to regain control of Gaza.
“We urge the formation of a reform cabinet as soon as possible,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. “The United States will be looking for this new government to deliver on policies and implementation of credible and far-reaching reforms.”
“A reformed Palestinian Authority is essential to delivering results for the Palestinian people and establishing the conditions for stability in both the West Bank and Gaza,” the statement adds.
Mustafa, a US-educated economist, is a close ally of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, though he is politically independent. There had been questions over whether his appointment would satisfy US demands for reforms that shift power away from Abbas and toward a technocratic administration.
Missiles buzz ship off Yemen, UK marine tracker says
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organization says it has received a report that missiles passed near a ship 50 nautical miles (93 kilometers) southwest of Hudaydah, Yemen.
“The Master reported two missiles flying over the vessel and heard two loud blasts in the distance,” the UKMTO says in an advisory note, referring to the person in command of the ship.
It adds that the vessel reported no damage and that the crew are reported safe.
“The vessel is proceeding to its next port of call. Authorities are investigating,” the advisory says.
US House speaker floats standalone Israel aid bill to put Democrats in hot seat
US House Speaker Mike Johnson tells Fox News that he is considering introducing an aid package for Israel as a standalone bill, spurred on by comments by Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer calling for new elections in Israel.
“There’s discussion in the last two hours about running Israel as a separate stand-alone because of the events of today,” Johnson is quoted telling Fox. “Frankly, Leader Schumer and his comments made the situation even more urgent.”
“There’s enough members now saying let’s just get Israel done,” he adds.
The introduction of the proposal will likely put pressure on Schumer and other Democrats to show support for the Jewish state.
The Senate has already passed a bill sending some $14 billion to Israel in aid, but Johnson has refused to advance the measure due to the inclusion of around $60 billion in funding for Ukraine.
The House has already passed two standalone funding bills for Israel, but Schumer has refused to have the Senate take them up.
Johnson says that Democrats who opposed the previous attempts “might be more open to consideration of that, given where we are right now and the urgency of the moment.”
IDF denies shooting at Gazans waiting for aid
Israel Defense Forces Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee denies reports in Palestinian media that Israeli troops opened fire on people waiting for aid in Gaza City, killing at least 21.
“Reports that the IDF targeted dozens of Gazans on Thursday evening at a humanitarian aid distribution point are incorrect,” he says in a tweet on social media platform X.
Adraee says the incident is under investigation, and calls on the media to only report “reliable information.”
Gaza health ministry says 21 killed awaiting aid in Gaza City
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has raised the number of Palestinians it says were killed while awaiting aid in two separate Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday to 29.
Palestinian health officials say at least 21 people were killed and more than 150 were wounded by Israeli gunfire at a crowd awaiting aid trucks at a northern Gaza roundabout, Gaza’s health ministry said.
Earlier, eight people were killed in an airstrike on an aid distribution center in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, Hamas claims.
The tolls cannot be independently verified.
An AFP journalist on the scene in Gaza City reports seeing several bodies and people who had been shot.
Mohammed Ghurab, director of emergency services at a hospital in northern Gaza, tells AFP there were “direct shots by the occupation forces” on people waiting for a food truck.
The Israeli military has not commented on the accusations.