Israeli airstrikes killed five people in Gaza and three in the West Bank on Friday, despite a fragile ceasefire brokered by the United States. Meanwhile, thousands of sailors remain stranded in the Persian Gulf by the Iran war, while Iran is touting an energy deal with Russia and the U.S. has imposed restrictions on a major Egyptian bank for its ties with Iran. Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here. Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 5 Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed five people, local hospital officials said Friday. Two brothers and another relative died in a strike on the family’s home outside Khan Younis, officials at Nasser Hospital said. Two separate Israeli strikes killed one person each in Gaza City, according to health officials at Shifa hospital. Israel’s military confirmed the Gaza strikes but said it was not aware of the one in Khan Younis. The five deaths are among more than 1,300 Palestinians killed in airstrikes since an October ceasefire deal, Gaza health officials say. Attack kills 3 in Jenin Israel’s military said it killed three Palestinians in an airstrike in the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday, describing one of the dead as a Hamas operative and the two others as accomplices. The military identified one of the targets as Qais Bitawi who was alleged to be “involved in advancing significant terrorist activity.” The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed Bitawi had been killed, along with two others. Hamas condemned the strike as a “heinous crime.” Violence has escalated in the West Bank, where at least 87 Palestinians have been killed in attacks while three Israelis have been killed by Palestinians in 2026. Iranian leader bans actions undermining national unity Iran’s leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, on Friday declared that actions undermining national unity in the political, security, cultural, social or economic spheres are prohibited. He warned that even measures with some support could ultimately be harmful if their broader social consequences are ignored. “Any statement that creates despair or weakens national and public motivation,” as well as what Khamenei called false divisions such as “war or negotiations,” “consensus or radicalism” and “compromise or warmongering,” could damage the country. U.S. diplomats return to Mideast embassies American diplomats and some of their family members are beginning to return to U.S. embassies in the Middle East after many were ordered to leave their posts during the early days of the war with Iran. On Friday, the embassies in Doha, Qatar; Kuwait City, Kuwait; and Manama, Bahrain announced they would allow some family members of diplomats to return. Similar measures were implemented earlier this week to all family members of U.S. government employees in Israel as well as those who are over 21 to Beirut, Lebanon. Iran’s president says negotiations between Iran and U.S. needed Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday that neither Tehran nor Washington can achieve all of its demands and that negotiations are needed to bring stability and calm, state television reported. Pezeshkian said Iran would remain committed to the Islamabad memorandum if the United States upheld its own commitments under the agreement, adding that negotiations could then continue toward a broader resolution. He also criticized hard-liners inside Iran who oppose an agreement, favour continuing the war and argue that sanctions have had little effect on the country. Thousands of sailors stranded by Iran war The UN’s maritime agency said Friday that 19 seafarers have been killed and at least 6,000 remain stranded on hundreds of ships unable to leave the region since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28. There have been at least 70 attacks on international shipping in the Persian Gulf, according to the International Maritime Organization. About 20 per cent of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed through the vital commercial waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf before the war. Iran and Russia look to revive energy deal Iran’s ambassador to Russia on Friday said the two countries are seeking to deepen links between their energy grids by reviving a plan that dates to 2022, according to Iranian state media. Umud Shokri, a fellow at George Mason University, said the plan calls for piping 55 billion cubic metres of Russian gas annually into Iran, via Azerbaijan. He said that would help Iran weather U.S. economic pressure by alleviating seasonal shortages of gas, though there are significant hurdles, as building out the infrastructure would be expensive and time-consuming. U.S. imposes restrictions on Egyptian bank The Trump administration is taking steps to limit an Egyptian bank’s operations in the United Arab Emirates. Banque Misr, Egypt’s second-largest bank, is accused of serving as an economic lifeline to Iran’s leadership. But under a new rule proposed by the U.S. Treasury, the bank’s Emirati branches would be severed from access to the U.S. financial system. The Central Bank of Egypt said the restrictions are limited to Banque Misr’s branches in the UAE and relate to dollar transfers only. No other Egyptian bank is affected. Iran objects to U.S. economic pressure Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned a new round of U.S. economic measures against the country, calling them “economic terrorism” and saying Tehran would use all available means to counter them. The ministry said the sanctions violated international law and called on other countries to refrain from implementing them. Earlier this week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent vowed to fully sever Iran from the global economy and threatened countries that continue to do business with Iran with secondary sanctions. Finland to stop providing UN agency aid for Palestine Finland said it will not extend an agreement to provide humanitarian aid with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA. Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which has accused the UN agency of being a “hotbed of terrorism,” welcomed the news. UNRWA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Finland provided UNRWA with five million euros (US$5.8 million) annually under a multiyear deal set to expire later this year. The country said aid to Palestinian territories would instead be provided through other channels, such as the UN’s World Food Programme. U.S. revokes visa of former Iraqi finance minister who won 2022 `International Women of Courage’ award The Trump administration has revoked the U.S. visa of a former Iraqi finance minister who was honoured in 2022 with an “International Women of Courage” award by the U.S. State Department. The department said Friday it had revoked the visa of Taif Sami Mohammed Al Shakarchi, who served as Iraq’s finance minister from 2022 until July and earlier this month when she was implicated by Iraqi authorities in a possible corruption scheme. The department said her visa was revoked after the FBI added her to its “terrorism watchlist.” It was not clear why she had been added to the watchlist but officials said she had left the United States before her visa was revoked. The Associated Press
