Japanese warships docked in New Zealand 's capital Friday for the first time in almost 90 years amid efforts by Tokyo to deepen its strategic ties in the South Pacific Ocean.

Two destroyers with more than 500 crew on board sailed into Wellington harbor accompanied by the New Zealand navy ship HMNZS Canterbury. The JS Ise and destroyer JS Suzunami were on an Indo-Pacific deployment and arrived from Sydney, where Japan's military took part this month in war games involving New Zealand, Australia and other countries.

Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield expressed little hope for a diplomatic solution to the war with Russia, as U.S. President Donald Trump's Friday deadline for the Kremlin to stop the killing arrived and he eyed a possible summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the conflict.

Trump's efforts to pressure Putin have so far delivered no progress. Russia's bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armor while it relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities. Russia and Ukraine are far apart on their terms for peace.

Mediators from Egypt and Qatar are working on a new framework which will include the release of all hostages — dead and alive — in one go in return for an end of the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip, according to two Arab officials who spoke to The Associated Press anonymously due to the sensitivity of the discussions. One is involved directly in the deliberations and the second was briefed on the efforts.

The efforts have the backing of major Arab Gulf monarchies, the officials said, as they are concerned about further regional destabilization if Israel’s government proceeds with a full reoccupation of Gaza, two decades after Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the strip.

Germany will not authorize any exports of military equipment that could be used in Gaza "until further notice," Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced Friday, in a strikingly quick response by one of Israel's strongest international backers to a decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Cabinet to take over Gaza City.

The move by Germany, which has previously stopped short of tougher lines against Israel's government taken by some of its European Union allies, appeared likely to further isolate Israel in the wake of the controversial military takeover plan that has been decried by the United Nations and supporters of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.

An Israeli airstrike on eastern Lebanon killed six people, including a senior member of a Palestinian group and his bodyguard as they were on their way to Syria, news reports and his group said Friday.

The Thursday afternoon airstrike near the Lebanese border crossing of Masnaa killed Mohammed Wishah, a member of the central committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the group said in a statement.

President Donald Trump began imposing higher import taxes on dozens of countries Thursday just as the economic fallout of his monthslong tariff threats has begun to cause visible damage to the U.S. economy.

Just after midnight, goods from more than 60 countries and the European Union became subject to tariff rates of 10% or higher. Products from the EU, Japan and South Korea are taxed at 15%, while imports from Taiwan, Vietnam and Bangladesh are taxed at 20%. Trump also expects the EU, Japan and South Korea to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States.

Israel said early Friday that it plans to take over Gaza City, in another escalation of its 22-month war with Hamas. The decision, made after a late-night meeting of top officials, drew Palestinian rejection, fueled mounting international calls to end the war and provoked worries in Israel over the fate of hostages still held by Hamas.

Israel's air and ground war has already killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza, displaced most of the population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine. Another major ground operation would almost certainly exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe.

A U.S. congress member said Thursday that Washington will push Israel to withdraw from all of southern Lebanon if the Lebanese Army asserts full control over the country.

"We will push hard to make sure that there is — and this is something that I will work with the Israelis on — a complete withdrawal in return for the Lebanese Armed Forces showing its ability to secure all Lebanon," California Republican U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa said.

Shiite members of Lebanon's Cabinet walked out of a government meeting on Thursday in protest of the government's approval of the objectives of U.S. envoy Tom Barrack's paper.

The rest of the Cabinet then voted in favor of the U.S.-backed plan to disarm Hezbollah and implement a ceasefire with Israel.

A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump has been agreed, a Kremlin official said Thursday, and it could possibly take place next week at a venue that has been decided "in principle."

"At the suggestion of the American side, it has been agreed in principle to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days, Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters.