U.S. denies Iranian claim of strike on unmanned vessel as violence continues

The U.S. military denied Iran’s claim that it struck an unmanned American military vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, calling the Iranian state-media report “a total lie.” Iranian media said the vessel had tried to enter an area Iran considers restricted. Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command, rejected that account.

The claim followed a U.S. statement that it had struck Iranian oil tankers in retaliation for Iranian ballistic-missile launches at Navy warships. Attacks resumed last week after about a month of quiet. The war began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, and intermittent fighting has continued since a ceasefire was announced in June. Iranian parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Iran’s future retaliation would be faster, heavier and more painful.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least four people Sunday and wounded at least 20 others, including three children and five women. Two people were killed in Arabsalim and two in Nabatiyeh, near a strategic hill Israel said its forces took control of Thursday. The ministry said an empty hospital was destroyed. Israel said the strikes responded to a Hezbollah drone attack on Israeli troops and alleged Hezbollah used the hospital as a command centre.

Yemen’s internationally recognized government said its forces retook territory in the western-coast provinces of Hodeida and Taiz from Iran-backed Houthi rebels. SABA news agency reported the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles at Taiz on Saturday, landing near civilian and police facilities.

In Gaza City, mourners held a mass funeral for more than 110 Palestinians, including at least 70 children, whose remains were recovered from rubble in the Zeitoun neighbourhood. Rescue crews said the dead were from three families whose homes had been flattened by Israeli strikes earlier in the war. Gaza’s Health Ministry says the nearly three-year Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 73,650 Palestinians. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, does not distinguish civilians from militants, but says women and children account for about half the deaths.

Foreign ministers from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and five other governments said any Israeli plan or action to remove Palestinians from Gaza would violate international law and undermine a U.S.-backed plan to wind down the war. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir published a plan last week encouraging Palestinian migration from Gaza, while Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel was prepared to facilitate departures by sea, air or other means. The governments called the statements inflammatory and warned of grave consequences.