The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said Monday that it's vital that it receives new European Union funding within weeks because Israel appears to be readying a ground assault on Rafah, where many civilians have taken refuge.

The aid agency UNRWA is reeling from allegations that 12 of its 13,000 Gaza staff participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel.UNRWA immediately fired the staff, but more than a dozen countries suspended funding worth about $440 million, almost half of UNRWA's budget for 2024.

An appeals court ordered the Dutch government on Monday to halt the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, citing a clear risk of violations of international law.

A trio of human rights organizations brought a civil suit against the Netherlands in December, arguing authorities needed to reevaluate the export license in light of Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Monday urged Israel to "stop" its latest military action in war-torn Gaza's Rafah, after deadly overnight bombing and fears of a looming ground incursion.

"We are very concerned about the situation and we want Israel to stop and think seriously before it takes any further action," Cameron told reporters during a visit to Scotland.

Yemen's Houthi rebels said on Monday they attacked a U.S. vessel in the Red Sea, after maritime security firms reported that missiles were fired on a bulk carrier.

"The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces targeted the American ship Star Iris in the Red Sea with a number of suitable naval missiles, and the strikes were accurate and direct," Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said.

It was a warm handshake between the unlikeliest of statesmen, conducted under the beaming gaze of President Jimmy Carter. Sunlight streamed through the trees at Camp David, Maryland, as Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin solidified a landmark agreement that has allowed over 40 years of peace between Israel and Egypt. It has served as an important source of stability in a volatile region.

That peace has held through two Palestinian uprisings and a series of wars between Israel and Hamas. But now, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to send Israeli troops into Rafah, a city in Gaza on the border with Egypt, the Egyptian government is threatening to void the agreement.

Israeli forces rescued two hostages early Monday, storming a heavily guarded apartment in the southern Gaza Strip and extracting the captives under fire in a dramatic raid that was a small but symbolically significant success for Israel. The operation killed at least 50 Palestinians, including women and children, according to Palestinian health officials in the beleaguered territory.

The raid was celebrated in Israel, which has been seeking the release of more than 100 captives held by Hamas and other militant groups.

Three Emirati soldiers and a Bahraini officer were killed in an attack in Somalia, where they were training the Somali national army, the United Arab Emirates' defence ministry said Saturday.

The threat of an Israeli incursion into Gaza's southernmost town of Rafah persisted Sunday, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised "safe passage" to civilians displaced there.

Israeli air strikes that targeted a building in an upscale area near the Syrian capital killed three people early Saturday, a war monitor said.

Hamas on Saturday warned that any Israeli military operation in the Gazan city of Rafah could lead to "tens of thousands" of dead and injured.

The Palestinian militant group, at war with Israel, warned in a statement of catastrophic repercussions of going into the city, where more than one million civilians have fled to escape Israeli bombardment elsewhere in Gaza.