Israeli strikes pounded Gaza City overnight and into Thursday as ground forces battled Hamas militants in dense urban neighborhoods from which tens of thousands have fled in recent days.

Israeli troops were around 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Shifa Hospital in the heart of downtown, the hospital's director said. Israel has been vague on troop movements, but officials say Gaza's largest city is the focus of their campaign to crush Hamas following its deadly Oct. 7 assault inside Israel.

Security forces in Brazil, in collaboration with Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and its partners within the Israeli security community, as well as other international security and law enforcement agencies, have successfully foiled a planned attack by Hezbollah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Wednesday.

For European football veterans, it was a night to savor.

As Manchester City and Leipzig reached the knockout stage of the Champions League with two matches to spare on Tuesday, two emblematic players of Europe's old guard grabbed the spotlight.

Barcelona missed its chance to reach the knockout round of the Champions League with games to spare after a 1-0 loss to Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.

It was Shakhtar's first win as a host in the group stage of the competition since it started playing away from Ukraine because of the war with Russia. A crowd of nearly 50,000 was in hand at Volksparkstadion in Hamburg.

The Champions League is European club football's most testing stage.

Try telling that to Erling Haaland.

The European Central Bank and other policymakers across Europe need to keep interest rates at current elevated levels until they're sure inflation is under control despite sluggish growth, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday, warning against "premature celebration" as inflation declines from its peak.

The Washington-based IMF said that cost of underestimating inflation's persistence could be painfully high and result in another painful round of rate hikes that could rob the economy of a large chunk of growth.

The Islamic State group ambushed pro-government militiamen in an overnight attack in eastern Syria, killing at least 21 fighters, pro-government media and an opposition war monitor said Wednesday.

Sham FM radio reported that the militiamen from the pro-government National Defense Places were ambushed in the village of al-Kawm in the central Syrian desert, between the government-held city of Homs and south of the city of Raqqa, which is under control of U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces.

A senior Chinese military official held talks in Moscow Wednesday, praising strong ties between the countries during a visit that underlined growing cooperation between them.

Gen. Zhang Youxia, China's second-ranking military official and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, said that relations between Russia and China are "at the highest level in the new epoch." He said they "invariably support each other on issues of fundamental interest and key concerns."

Southern California authorities investigating the death of a Jewish man following a confrontation with a pro-Palestinian demonstrator over the Israel-Hamas war haven't determined whether a crime occurred and on Tuesday asked for the public's help to unravel what happened.

Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said deputies determined that Paul Kessler, 69, who died early Monday at a hospital, had fallen backward and struck his head on the ground at a pro-Palestinian demonstration Sunday afternoon in Thousands Oaks, a suburb northwest of Los Angeles.

Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia received positive news on Wednesday about their quests to join the European Union but countries in the volatile Balkans region that have waited years longer to become members of the world's biggest trading bloc appeared to slip back in the queue.

In a series of reports, the EU's executive branch recommended that war-ravaged Ukraine should be permitted to open membership talks, once it's addressed some shortfalls.