The EU on Thursday struck a deal with Israel to increase aid access to Gaza that should see more food trucks entering and the opening of additional crossing points, the bloc's top diplomat said.

"Today, we reached an agreement with Israel to expand humanitarian access to Gaza," EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas wrote on X.

The U.S. embassy accused Yemen's Houthi rebels Wednesday of kidnapping crew members from the Eternity C during their deadly attack on the cargo vessel in the Red Sea earlier this week.

"After killing their shipmates, sinking their ship and hampering rescue efforts, the Houthi terrorists have kidnapped many surviving crew members of the Eternity C. We call for their immediate and unconditional safe release," the embassy said in a statement on X.

Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed responsibility on Thursday for a missile attack targeting Israel's Ben Gurion airport, after the Israeli military said it had intercepted the strike.

The Iran-backed Houthis "carried out a qualitative military operation" using a ballistic missile, military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement.

Israel's foreign minister expressed optimism on Wednesday about reaching a ceasefire and hostage-release deal in Gaza, saying that if a temporary truce was sealed, Israel would negotiate on a permanent end to the hostilities.

"Israel is serious in its will to reach a hostage deal and a ceasefire. I believe it's achievable. If a temporary ceasefire is achieved, we will negotiate on a permanent ceasefire," Gideon Saar told a press conference in Bratislava with his Slovakian counterpart.

When the onetime director of a Gaza Strip hospital was killed by an Israeli airstrike last week, he joined a growing list of prominent Palestinian doctors who have died during 21 months of war that has devastated the territory's health system.

The death of Dr. Marwan al-Sultan, a 49-year-old cardiologist, was described by colleagues as a major blow personally and professionally, leaving another void in Gaza's medical establishment that will not be easily replaced.

The jailed leader of a Kurdish militant group renewed Wednesday a call for his fighters to lay down their arms, days before a symbolic disarmament ceremony is expected to take place as a first concrete step in a peace process with the Turkish state.

In a seven-minute video message broadcast on pro-Kurdish Medya Haber's YouTube channel, Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, declared that the peace initiative had reached a stage that required practical steps.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been nominated again for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Trump on Monday that he recommended him for the prestigious award, handing the American leader the letter he said he sent the Nobel committee.

Five Israeli soldiers were killed in an attack in the northern Gaza Strip, Israel's military said Tuesday, while health officials in the Palestinian territory said that 51 people were killed in Israeli strikes.

The bloodshed came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting the White House for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump about a ceasefire plan to pause the Gaza fighting. While there was no announcement of a breakthrough, there were signs of progress toward a deal.

Rescuers launched a search Wednesday for survivors of a Liberian-flagged cargo ship that came under attack from Yemen's Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, authorities said. At least three mariners were killed and two were wounded.

The attack on the Greek-owned Eternity C follows the Iranian-backed Houthis attacking another vessel, the bulk carrier Magic Seas, on Sunday in the Red Sea, which they subsequently sank. The assaults are the first Houthi attacks on shipping since late 2024 in the waterway that had begun to see more ships pass through in recent weeks.

Syria's minister of emergencies and disaster management on Tuesday requested support from the European Union to battle wildfires that have swept through a vast stretch of forested land.