A ship carrying 200 tons of aid approached the coast of Gaza on Friday in a mission to inaugurate a sea route from Cyprus that was intended to bring more assistance to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the enclave five months into the war between Israel and Hamas.

The ship, manned by the Spanish aid group Open Arms, left Cyprus on Tuesday towing a barge laden with food sent by World Central Kitchen, the charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés. It could be seen off Gaza's coast Friday morning.

A suspected attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels struck a ship in the Red Sea early Friday, causing damage to the vessel, authorities said.

The attack off the port city of Hodeida comes as part of the rebels' campaign against shipping over Israel's ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has called on Israel to hold new elections, saying he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has "lost his way" and is an obstacle to peace in the region amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Schumer, the first Jewish majority leader in the Senate and the highest-ranking Jewish official in the U.S., strongly criticized Netanyahu in a 40-minute speech Thursday morning on the Senate floor. Schumer said the prime minister has put himself in a coalition of far-right extremists and "as a result, he has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows."

The longer the war in Gaza goes on and Yemen's Houthi rebels keep attacking ships in the Red Sea the greater the risk that Yemen could be propelled back into war, the U.N. special envoy for the poorest Arab nation warned Thursday.

Hans Grundberg told the U.N. Security Council it has been impossible to shield his promising efforts to restore peace to Yemen because the reality is, "what happens regionally impacts Yemen – and what happens in Yemen can impact the region."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has appointed his longtime economic adviser to be the next prime minister in the face of U.S. pressure to reform the Palestinian Authority as part of Washington's postwar vision for Gaza.

Mohammad Mustafa, a U.S.-educated economist and political independent, will head a technocratic government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that could potentially administer Gaza ahead of eventual statehood. But those plans face major obstacles, including strong opposition from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Israel-Hamas war that is still grinding on with no end in sight.

Egypt’s top diplomat has made an emotional appeal for an urgent increase in humanitarian aid going into Gaza by land, even as an aid ship loaded with some 200 tons of food was on its way to the enclave, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are on the brink of starvation.

The push to get food in by sea — along with a recent campaign of airdrops into isolated northern Gaza — highlighted the international community’s frustration with the growing humanitarian crisis and with Israel's restrictions that have prevented more aid getting in by land. Australia announced early Friday it would funding to the United Nations relief agency for Palestinians and pledged additional money to UNICEF to provide urgent services in Gaza.

The United States circulated the final draft of a United Nations Security Council resolution late Thursday that would support international efforts to establish "an immediate and sustained cease-fire" in Gaza as part of a deal to release hostages taken captive during Hamas' surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.

No time has been set for a vote, and the draft, obtained by The Associated Press, could still be changed.

Australia will restore funding to the United Nations relief agency for Palestinians, weeks after the agency lost hundreds of millions of dollars in support following Israeli allegations that some of its Gaza-based staff participated in the Oct. 7 attack.

The Australian government also pledged Friday to increase aid for the besieged enclave, with Foreign Minister Penny Wong expressing horror at the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza accused Israeli forces of launching an attack near an aid distribution point in war-wracked northern Gaza, killing 20 people and wounding 155 others. The Israeli military said those reports “are false,” adding it was assessing the event “with the thoroughness that it deserves.”

The violence occurred late Thursday near the Kuwaiti Roundabout, which has been a point for the distribution of aid in north Gaza over the past weeks. The health ministry said a group waiting there for aid was hit by Israeli shelling.

Medics said on Thursday that a man in his 50s was "seriously injured" in a stabbing attack in central Israel, and police said the assailant was "neutralised".

The Magen David Adom emergency service said the attack occurred outside Beit Kama kibbutz roughly 55 kilometers southwest of Jerusalem.