A missile attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels on a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday killed three of its crew members and forced survivors to abandon the vessel, the U.S. military said. It was the first fatal strike in a campaign of assaults by the Iranian-backed group over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The attack on the Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned bulk carrier True Confidence further escalates the conflict on a crucial maritime route linking Asia and the Middle East to Europe that has disrupted global shipping. The Houthis have launched attacks since November, and the U.S. began an airstrike campaign in January that so far hasn't halted their attacks.

A Cypriot government spokesman said Wednesday that European Union Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen will visit Cyprus to inspect installations at the port of Larnaca, from where it’s hoped ships loaded with humanitarian aid will soon depart for Gaza.

Spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis told reporters that that Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides will join Von der Leyen on her inspection of the port on Friday.

Canada will restore funding to the United Nations relief agency for Palestinians, a government official tells The Associated Press, weeks after the agency lost hundreds of millions of dollars in support following Israeli allegations against some of its staffers in Gaza.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation first reported that Canada will restore funding and that International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen would announce the decision Wednesday. But the government official told the AP the announcement has been delayed, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to comment on the matter.

A U.S. destroyer shot down drones and a missile launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels toward it in the Red Sea, officials said Wednesday, as the Indian navy released images of it fighting a fire aboard a container ship earlier targeted by the Houthis.

The assault Tuesday apparently targeted the USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that has been involved in the American campaign against the rebels, who have launched attacks over Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Another suspected Houthi attack on shipping was reported Wednesday.

Over the last five months, Israel has killed thousands of Hamas fighters, destroyed dozens of their tunnels and wreaked unprecedented destruction on the Gaza Strip.

But it still faces a dilemma that was clear from the start of the war and will ultimately determine its outcome: It can either try to annihilate Hamas, which would mean almost certain death for the estimated 100 hostages still held in Gaza, or it can cut a deal that would allow the militants to claim a historic victory.

International mediators were set for a fourth day of talks with Hamas in Cairo on Wednesday after U.S. President Joe Biden called on the militant group to agree a truce deal with Israel by the start of Ramadan.

Envoys have discussed plans to halt the fighting that has raged since Hamas's October 7 attack before the Muslim fasting month starts on Sunday or Monday, depending on the sighting of the full moon.

U.S. and Arab negotiators have proposed a short pause in fighting in the Gaza Strip to buy time for a longer cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, as talks appeared stuck with time running out for a deal before a Ramadan deadline, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

An Israeli airstrike killed at least 17 people in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said, adding that a total of 97 people had died in the last 24 hours.

First responders with the Civil Defense circulated footage of rescuers pulling dead and wounded people from the rubble of a house, including a child with blood on his face who was not moving. The nearby European Hospital said Tuesday that it had received 17 bodies overnight.

Turkish police on Tuesday detained seven more people suspected of selling information to the Israeli spy agency Mossad, authorities said, the latest in a wave of such arrests in Turkey.

The suspects were taken into custody during simultaneous raids in Istanbul, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. The raids were a joint operation with Turkey's National Intelligence Organization.

The top political rival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with U.S. leaders in Washington this week to discuss the war in Gaza. Benny Gantz is a key member of Israel's War Cabinet whose popularity is on the rise — and who has a pivotal role to play in the country's future.

Gantz, 64, is a centrist politician who joined Netanyahu's ultranationalist and religious government soon after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The goal was to bring a sense of national unity to the country as it wages war against Hamas in Gaza.