Live updates | US jets strike Yemen a sixth time as Israel's war in Gaza raises regional tensions

United States fighter jets struck Houthi rebel sites in Yemen for a sixth time Friday, taking out anti-ship missile launchers that were prepared to fire. The Iranian-backed Houthi militants say their attacks on global shipping in the Red Sea corridor are aimed at stopping Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Now in its fourth month, the war in Gaza is one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history and has increased tensions across the Middle East.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says nearly 25,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, and the United Nations says more than half a million people in Gaza — a quarter of the population — are starving.

In Israel, around 1,200 people were killed during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that sparked the war, which saw some 250 people taken hostage by militants. More than 100 hostages are believed to be held captive in Gaza.

Currently:

— Analysis: Simmering conflicts reach a boil as the Mideast remains unsettled by Israel’s war on Hamas.

— Biden and Netanyahu have finally talked, but their visions still clash for ending the Israel-Hamas war.

— The U.N. says women and children are the main victims of the Israel-Hamas war with 16,000 killed.

— African leaders criticize Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and call for an immediate cease-fire.

— Find more of AP's coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.

Here's the latest:

WAR IN GAZA HAS KILLED 16,000 WOMEN AND CHILDREN — ABOUT 2 MOTHERS PER HOUR — UNITED NATIONS SAYS

UNITED NATIONS — The war in Gaza has killed an estimated 16,000 women and children including about two mothers ever hour since Hamas’ surprise invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, the United Nations agency promoting gender equality says.

UN Women also estimated that at least 3,000 women may have become widows and heads of households during the more than 100-day conflict, and at least 10,000 children may have lost their fathers.

In a report released Friday on “The Gendered Impact of the Crisis in Gaza,” UN Women pointed to gender inequality and the burden on women fleeing the fighting and being displaced again and again. Of the territory’s 2.3 million population, it said, 1.9 million are displaced and “close to one million are women and girls” seeking shelter and safety in a territory where no place is safe.

UN Women’s Executive Director Sima Bahous said there is a need for much more aid to get to Gaza, especially to women and children, and for an end to the war. “This is a time for peace,” she said. “We owe this to all Israeli and Palestinian women and girls. This is not their conflict. They must no longer pay its price.”

SEVERE LACK OF WATER IN GAZA WORSENS RISK OF DISEASE, UNITED NATIONS SAYS

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations is reporting that water supplies in Gaza have dropped significantly, posing health and environmental threats and leading to 152,000 cases of diarrhea. More than half of those affected are children under the age of five.

According to the U.N.’s humanitarian partners, municipal wells that produce substandard, salty water are currently producing just one-tenth of what they did before the war began on Oct. 7, the U.N. said, which is more than 21,000 cubic meters a day compared to 255,000 cubic meters.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Friday that prior to hostilities, water from Israeli-operated lines had been the best source of safe drinking water, but at present only one of the three lines – the Bani Said point – is functional. It is producing less than half of what would have been available if all the lines had been working, he said.

The U.N. humanitarian office says Israel shut down one water line into Gaza and another one was damaged in the war, leaving only the one functioning water line.

Water from desalination plants is also currently at just 7% of pre-crisis capacity, Dujarric said, and according to U.N. partners testing kits and chlorine to treat water throughout Gaza are unavailable due to import restrictions.

The water shortage has also severely impacted sanitation, he said.

The World Health Organization reports that on average, 500 people are sharing one toilet, and more than 2,000 people sometimes are forced to use one single shower while some shelters have none, Dujarric said.

“Lack of toilets and sanitation services have forced people to resort to open air defecation, increasing concerns over disease outbreaks,” the U.N. spokesman said.

HAMAS OFFICIALS VISIT MOSCOW TO DISCUSS ENDING WAR IN GAZA

CAIRO — Hamas said that a delegation of top officials met with the Russia's Foreign Ministry in Moscow on Friday to discuss ways to end the conflict in Gaza. It's the second time a Hamas delegation has traveled to Moscow since the start of the war.

In a statement, the militant group said the delegation was headed by Moussa Abu Marzouk, the head of Hama’s office for international relations, who spoke with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, about the hostages held by the group and ways of reaching a potential cease-fire agreement with Israel.

Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim was also part of the three man delegation. No further information on the meeting was immediately available.

Russia has condemned Hamas for the Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel that triggered the conflict, but has also criticized Israel for using excessive force in its responding bombardment of Gaza. Moscow has called for an immediate cease-fire since the war broke out.

Asked about the Moscow meeting, United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters that the U.N. wasn’t involved, but has no reservations about talks through a variety of diplomatic channels. Key parties need to talk, he said, and the U.N. just hopes the discussions lead to an immediate humanitarian cease-fire and the immediate and unconditional release of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

GAZA PHONE AND INTERNET GRADUALLY COMING BACK ONLINE AFTER 8-DAY OUTAGE

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian telecoms provider, Paltel, said Friday that communication services across Gaza are gradually returning after a nearly eight-day outage, the longest of the war.

Communication services have completely dropped at least seven times since the war started on Oct. 7, according to Paltel.

The phone and internet blackouts made it nearly impossible for people in Gaza to communicate with the outside world or within the territory, hampering deliveries of humanitarian aid and first responders’ rescue efforts as Israel continues to bomb what it says are militant targets in all parts of Gaza.

Despite the restoration, Paltel said that communication services across Gaza remain basic, without elaborating.

“Our technical teams worked over the past days to repair many of the major malfunctions caused by the ongoing aggression against the Strip,” the providers said in a post on X.

The telecommunications company is used by people in both the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

FATHER OF ISRAELI HOSTAGE GOES ON HUNGER STRIKE OUTSIDE NETANYAHU'S HOME

JERUSALEM — The father of an Israel hostage held in Gaza has begun a hunger strike outside the private residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to protest the government’s lack of visible progress on a new hostage deal.

Eli Shtivi, whose 28-year-old son Idan has been held in Gaza since he was kidnapped from the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7, told Israel’s Channel 13 news that he planned to camp outside Netanyahu’s vacation home in the coastal town of Caesarea until the prime minister meets with him.

He says he will eat only a quarter of a pita bread each day, in keeping with the reported diet of hostages held in Gaza, and says other relatives of hostages will soon join him.

“We will not stop until the prime minister comes out to us,” Shtivi said. “This is what is important to me at the moment.”

Shtivi’s actions were just the latest in a string of intensifying outbursts of frustration from hostage families as the hostage crisis drags on without resolution. Dozens of relatives of hostages planned to spend the night in tents outside Netanyahu’s home to demand the government move secure a hostage deal.

Hamas has said it will not release the more than 100 hostages it is believed to be holding without an end to Israel’s devastating military offensive in Gaza.

As divisions emerge in Israel’s War Cabinet over plans to get the hostages home, some families have taken to spontaneous protest actions, fearing the lives of their loved-ones are in increasing danger.

EUROPEAN UNION SANCTIONS SIX PEOPLE ACCUSED OF FINANCING PALESTINIAN MILITANTS

BRUSSELS — The European Union on Friday imposed sanctions on six people it accuses of financing or supporting Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, including alleged backers in Algeria, Lebanon and Beirut.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the move show “we are ready to take decisive steps to react to the brutality shown by terrorists on October 7. Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live in a just, lasting, and secure peace.”

The six were named as Sudan-based financier Abdelbasit Hamza Elhassan Mohamed Khair, the owner of “Shuman for Currency Exchange SARL,” Nabil Shuman and his son Khaled, “senior Hamas financier” Rida Ali Khamis, “senior Hamas operative” Musa Dudin and Algeria-based financier Aiman Ahmad Al Duwaik.

Listing means that their assets in Europe will be frozen and EU citizens will be banned from providing them with financial support for at least a year. They are also banned from traveling to or through the 27 EU nations.

U.S. WARPLANES BOMB YEMEN'S HOUTHIS FOR A SIXTH TIME, OFFICIAL SAYS

WASHINGTON — U.S. fighter jets struck Houthi rebel sites in Yemen for the sixth time Friday, taking out anti-ship missile launchers that were prepared to fire, according to a U.S. official.

The official said the strikes were carried out by F/A-18 aircraft off the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing military operations.

Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, said Friday that there were air raids in the western port city of Hodieda on Friday, targeting the al-Jabaana neighborhood in the west of the city. The location of the U.S. strikes could not be immediately confirmed.

The strikes come as President Joe Biden acknowledged Thursday that the bombardment of Houthi sites, including last Friday’s massive array of strikes by U.S. and British forces, has yet to stop the Iranian-backed militants’ attacks on vessels in the Red Sea that have disrupted global shipping.

The Houthis say their attacks are aimed at stopping Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.