Dubai | Iranian officials indicated they received an official US response to Tehran's proposal to end the seven-month war but did not say if it was a rejection. US President Donald Trump publicly dismissed the plan a few days ago.
The response came as oil and fuel exports neared prewar levels with alternate routes.
On an Israel-bound FlyDubai flight from Dubai on Wednesday, a copilot stabbed the pilot and then apparently tried to crash the jetliner carrying around 170 people, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Passengers and crew subdued the attacker, and the plane landed safely in Saudi Arabia.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Wednesday. Full coverage is available here.
Israeli strikes kill 5 Palestinians and wound 19 in Gaza
Israeli strikes killed five Palestinians and wounded 19 in Gaza, hospital officials said Wednesday, the latest of almost daily attacks since Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire nearly a year ago, halting the heaviest of the fighting.
Officials at Shifa Hospital said an Israeli strike killed a woman and critically wounded her husband in Gaza City, while another struck a bus, killing four and wounding at least 14. Elsewhere in the territory, a strike in Khan Younis wounded four Palestinians, officials at Nasser Hospital said.
Israel's military didn't immediately respond to questions about the bus strike, but said it was reviewing information about the strike in Khan Younis.
Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 1,400 Palestinians since the ceasefire, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which maintains detailed records that are generally seen as reliable. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed in militant attacks over the same period, while two more were killed by friendly fire.
Hundreds of mourners in Gaza City also held a vigil Wednesday for 105 people killed during the war and whose bodies were recovered in the past several days from the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes.
US troops withdraw from Iraq
The US military said Wednesday that it had completed the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, ending a 12-year mission to fight the Islamic State group.
Baghdad touted the move as a sign of the country's growing strength and sovereignty. It was also celebrated by Iran-backed groups, but raised concerns among some other Iraqis, particularly in the Kurdish region.
US President Donald Trump hailed the withdrawal in a social media post, saying it "marks the end of a very expensive excursion into Hell." "It has been a long time, with very bad decision-making that got us involved in this quagmire in the first place, but soon, that will be part of History," Trump said.
Oil and fuel exports near prewar level with alternate routes
Alternate export routes and a US-protected route through the Strait of Hormuz have helped restore oil and fuel exports from the Gulf to near prewar levels, according to figures from data firm Kpler.
Exports through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal -- along with a pipeline to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman and a US-protected route that guides tankers at night -- have been a key workaround after the threat of Iranian attacks disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, Kpler said during a Tuesday podcast.
About 21.8 million barrels per day of crude and fuel products made from crude are being shipped weekly, on average, compared to the prewar baseline of 23.3 million barrels per day, Kpler said.
"We are not at pre-conflict levels, but we are getting close to there," said Matt Smith, Kpler's director of commodity research.
Still, the workarounds are time-consuming and expensive.
Egypt's president says Suez Canal revenue down USD 20 billion
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi says that the Suez Canal has lost a cumulative USD 20 billion in revenue since the Hamas-led attack on Israel unleashed the war in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, and because of maritime navigation disruptions from the Middle East conflict.
During a televised meeting on Tuesday with Cabinet members, top military leaders and local governors, el-Sissi blamed the government's tight budget and limited education and health spending on the volatile geopolitical situation that led to increases in food and energy prices.
Traffic was significantly disrupted after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels began targeting vessels heading to Israel through the Suez Canal after the start of the war in Gaza.
Saudi Crown Prince says he is confident kingdom can deter all foes
Saudi Arabia's crown prince and de facto ruler says his kingdom is capable of deterring its enemies as the oil-rich country remains embroiled in a proxy war against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
"Your country possesses highly efficient human and military capabilities, capable -- by the grace of God Almighty -- of repelling threats and deterring them completely, regardless of their sources," Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Wednesday at the inauguration of a new session of the unelected advisory Shura council.
The Houthis recently captured the strategic port city of Mokha and several Red Sea islands, extending their reach toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a maritime route through which about 12 per cent of global trade passes. They, along with allied militias in Iraq, have also attacked Saudi oil facilities and sought to prevent Saudi tankers from using the strait, disrupting the kingdom's oil exports.
