The Saudi-led coalition said on Friday it intercepted and destroyed a drone fired by Yemen's Houthis in the Mecca region, with the group later denying it targeted Islam's holiest city.

"A drone launched by the terrorist Houthi militia has been intercepted and destroyed in the Mecca region," coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki wrote in a post on X.

Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman on Thursday rejected accusations "made by certain Israeli politicians and their contacts in the media" that his country had interfered in the Israeli elections.

"We categorically deny allegations that Qatar has interfered in Israeli elections or funded any activities intended to influence their outcome," said Majed Al Ansari. "They accuse Qatar of buying off Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli political left and now, in this latest campaign, the Arab vote... These accusations are ridiculous and dangerous in equal measure."

The Houthis said on Thursday that a Saudi strike on a residential area in Yemen's western Taiz province killed 12 people, as the two sides exchange fire in the reignited conflict.

"As an initial toll, 12 citizens were killed and three others were critically injured when the Saudi enemy targeted the homes of the families of Ibrahim Saeed Mohammed Ahmed Al-Qouz and Al-Raabi Saeed Mohammed Ahmed Al-Qouz in Al-Barah, Maqbana district," the Houthi health ministry said in a statement shared by their Saba news agency.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc on Thursday piled pressure on Israeli Arab leaders over unproven accusations of foreign funding, in a push to neuter parties that could hold the key to forming a government after an inconclusive election.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called for an investigation into allegations of fraud but cautioned against stigmatizing the entire Arab Israeli community, who voted at unprecedented rates.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance has contacted Iran's security chief in a bid to revive peace talks that could head off a renewed American assault on the Islamic republic, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Vance sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, the Journal reported, in a move that one of the newspaper's sources said was directed by President Donald Trump.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said Wednesday the Iran-backed Lebanese movement was not concerned with the results of Israel's election, vowing to continue its resistance against it no matter who wins.

With 85 percent of ballots counted, the right-wing bloc of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a slight lead over the main opposition bloc, but was still short of a majority after Tuesday's election.

Israel's president voiced hope Wednesday for avoiding a second election after a hard-fought vote produced no clear winner, leaving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the opposition scrambling for options and making Israeli Arab parties possible kingmakers.

Houthi media said a Saudi strike on a petrol station Wednesday killed at least 12 people, the latest casualties since Yemen's conflict reignited this summer.

Broadcaster Al-Masirah TV reported 12 dead and 10 wounded "including women and children" in a strike blamed on Saudi Arabia that they said hit a petrol station in the city of Hazm, in the northwestern Jawf province.

A missile targeted Yemen's Aden airport for the second time on Wednesday, a police official told AFP, as the Iran-backed Houthis called for the evacuation of the facility in the seat of the Saudi-backed government.

"A Houthi missile targeted the area under Saudi forces' control inside the perimeter of Aden airport," the Aden police official told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive topics.

The leader of one of Israel's Arab-majority lists, which are projected to make strong gains in close-fought elections, called on Wednesday for a "genuine Jewish-Arab partnership" to help remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Anyone who wants to offer a substantive and genuine alternative to Netanyahu's blood-soaked government will have to talk to us to secure the path to the change that the public in Israel longs for," Yousef Jabareen, who heads the far-left Joint List, told Israeli media.