One of the five children who were hospitalized in Cyprus after being rescued from a rickety boat along with 55 other Syrian migrants has died, an official said Thursday.

The migrants, who were rescued early Wednesday by Cyprus police, apparently ran out of food and water after sailing on the boat from Lebanon for six days, officials said.

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday accused Qatar, a key mediator in efforts to free its hostages, of being responsible for the October 7 Hamas attack.

His comments came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was caught on tape allegedly telling hostages' families this week that Qatar's mediation was "problematic" when it came to resolving the hostage crisis.

The fatal shooting of an American-Palestinian teen driving a pickup truck in the occupied West Bank was unprovoked, the sole passenger told The Associated Press, describing apparent Israeli fire hitting the back of the vehicle before it overturned several times on a dirt road.

At least 10 bullets struck the truck, which was seen by The Associated Press after Israeli investigators examined it. Most hit the back windshield and truck bed, supporting 16-year-old Mohammed Salameh's account of the incident that killed his friend, Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, 17, a Louisiana native.

Israeli troops on Wednesday blew up the home of a Palestinian accused of assisting in the killing of four Israelis near a settlement in the occupied West Bank in June, witnesses said.

Basil Shehadeh was arrested on suspicion of helping two other Palestinians carry out the deadly shooting at a petrol station near Eli settlement in the northern West Bank.

China, the world's biggest exporter, says it is deeply concerned about tensions in the Red Sea that have upended global trade by forcing many shippers to avoid the Suez Canal.

China has been in "close communication with all parties concerned and making positive efforts to de-escalate" the situation in which Iran-backed Houthi rebels have attacked international ships with missiles, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing on Wednesday.

Heavy Israeli bombardment of Gaza overnight killed at least 125 people, the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said Wednesday, against the backdrop of talks in Cairo aimed at reaching a truce.

As the fighting raged, the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said Israeli forces had issued fresh evacuation orders for a section of Khan Younis housing an estimated half a million residents and displaced people.

By Sara Harmouch, American University and Nakissa Jahanbani, United States Military Academy West Point

From attacks by rebels in the Red Sea to raids in northern Israel and the Oct. 7, 2023, assault by Hamas, Western analysts have pointed a finger of blame toward Iran.

American forces destroyed two Houthi anti-ship missiles in Yemen that posed an imminent threat to ships in the area, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

The United States and Britain have carried out two rounds of joint strikes aimed at reducing the Houthis' ability to target shipping, while Washington has also launched a series of unilateral air raids on the Iran-backed rebels' missiles.

Iraq accused the United States of contributing to a "reckless escalation" of violence in the region after American airstrikes targeted Iran-backed groups in the country on Wednesday.

The pre-dawn air raid came against an already explosive regional backdrop, fuelled by the war in Gaza between Washington's ally Israel and the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

A senior Egyptian official says Israel has proposed a two-month cease-fire in which Hamas would release Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Under the proposal, Yehya Sinwar and other top Hamas leaders in Gaza would be allowed to relocate to other countries.