German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict involving Iran amid reports that the US and Israel could launch renewed military operations against Tehran.

"I can only appeal to all parties to the conflict: This conflict cannot be resolved by military means," Merz said in the South Korean capital Seoul, according to German news agency dpa.

"We are working through many channels to coordinate and intensify our diplomatic efforts so that this conflict can be brought to an end as quickly as possible," he added.

Merz also stressed Germany's strong economic interest in ending the hostilities.

Qatari mediators returned to Tehran in an effort to negotiate an agreement to end the US-Iran conflict, with the diplomatic initiative coordinated with Washington, Al Jazeera reported.

The latest push follows a report Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal that US Vice President JD Vance had sent a letter to Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei in an attempt to revive stalled negotiations.

Tehran received the message but had yet to respond, a senior Iranian official told the semi-official Fars News Agency on Thursday.

The Israeli army continued its military incursions in Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank, for the eighth consecutive day, carrying out raids and tightening restrictions on the city, local sources told Anadolu.

Israeli forces raided the Jilada and Ain Deir Baha neighborhoods, deploying large numbers of soldiers and military vehicles, according to the sources.

The military also forced dozens of Palestinians in the Ain Deir Baha neighborhood to evacuate their homes, they said.

Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tarik Al Said will pay a two-day state visit to China starting Sunday, Beijing announced.

The November 1-2 visit comes at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The trip comes as the US and Iran remain locked in a conflict that began in February, when Washington and Israel launched a war against Tehran.

At least two Palestinians were injured in an Israeli air strike that targeted a residential apartment in Gaza City, medical and local sources told Anadolu.

The casualties come as the Israeli military continues its attacks on Gaza in violation of a ceasefire agreement that has been in effect since October 2025.

US vice president says Trump will not allow an open-ended conflict, as tensions with Tehran continue over the Strait of Hormuz and stalled negotiations.

The tanker was approached by a small boat that attached two explosive devices to its hull, causing blasts that sparked an engine-room fire, which has since been extinguished, UKMTO says.

The Saudi-led coalition has said it intercepted and destroyed a drone fired by Yemen's Houthi militia in the Mecca region.

"A drone launched by the terrorist Houthi militia has been intercepted and destroyed in the Mecca region," the coalition wrote in a post on X.

Palestinians have gathered at the fishermen’s port west of Gaza City in solidarity with a planned global strike by port workers and against the use of supply chains to support Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

The gathering came ahead of labour actions scheduled for Friday involving more than 25 unions representing workers at 113 ports across 22 countries and territories, according to estimates by the strike organisers.

The planned actions include work stoppages and demonstrations of varying durations calling for an end to the transportation of weapons and military equipment through civilian ports to conflict zones.

Participants in the Gaza rally carried messages of solidarity with port workers and seafarers in recognition of their actions against the use of civilian facilities to support Israeli military operations.

US Vice President JD Vance has ruled out the prospect of an endless war in Iran, expressing confidence that President Donald Trump would achieve the administration's objectives.

"There's a lot more we need to work on, but the one thing I'll tell you is, if you're worried about another forever war, Donald Trump is never going to let this be a forever war," Vance told Fox News.

He pointed to the difference between criticising foreign military misadventures and "saying that you can never ever use the American military."

"He's going to accomplish America's objectives, and then we're going to focus on the other things that we're doing," Vance added.

Yemen's armed forces said that they were investigating reports that the Houthi militia had used projectiles suspected of containing toxic substances in the southwestern province of Taiz, resulting in suspected cases of poisoning and suffocation among civilians.

In a statement, the Defence Ministry said it was taking field reports seriously from the Taiz fronts concerning the alleged use of toxic materials.

The ministry called for an urgent investigation to determine the nature of the substances, document their effects and identify those responsible for supplying them.

Four tankers caught fire after hitting mines while attempting to navigate the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's armed forces said, a day after the US military said it cleared key routes through the waterway.

"Over the past 24 hours, three violating oil tankers exploded and caught fire after striking mines while attempting to pass through the unauthorised southern route of the Strait of Hormuz," Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement.

Later, Iran's army reported that another tanker had caught fire east of the strait, after hitting mines while "operating in a restricted and dangerous area".

The US has transferred 10 military cargo aircraft to Israeli air bases in the southern Negev region amid preparations for a possible military strike against Iran, the Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported.

The broadcaster said the aircraft landed at Ovda and Nevatim air bases, while additional US military planes were reportedly dispatched to bases in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

According to KAN, the planes departed from Fort Bliss in the US state of Texas, which houses one of the US military's largest air defence centres, including facilities associated with interceptor missiles and air defence batteries.

The Israeli army has destroyed two homes in the northern and central besieged Gaza, displacing dozens of Palestinian families, according to sources and witnesses.

The strikes came amid continued Israeli violations of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, which has been in effect since October 10, 2025.

Sources and witnesses told Anadolu Agency that two air strikes targeted homes in the Safatawi neighbourhood north of Gaza City and the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said that its air defences intercepted and destroyed a cruise missile launched by the Houthi militia toward western Saudi Arabia.

Coalition spokesperson Major General Turki al-Maliki announced the interception in a statement.

The incident comes amid escalating hostilities between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi militia.

Yemen's armed forces said that they had neutralised 324 Houthi militias in 982 military operations over the past 24 hours as part of the ongoing Dawn of Yemen operation.

In a statement posted on X, military spokesperson Colonel Majid Abdullah al-Nuzaili said the operations involved warplanes, drones, field artillery and rocket launchers that are targeting Houthi reinforcements, command centres and supply routes.

The operations also destroyed or damaged 108 military vehicles and medium and heavy weapons, he added.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force intercepted a "hostile" fighter jet near Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian media has reported, amid reports of explosions and possible air defence activity.

Iran's Tasnim and Mehr news agencies, citing sources, reported that the Aerospace Force intercepted the aircraft and forced it to withdraw from the area.

The agencies did not disclose the aircraft's origin or model, noting that no official announcement had been issued regarding the reported incident.

A Saudi citizen sustained minor injuries after debris from two Houthi militia ballistic missiles intercepted over Riyadh fell in the capital, Saudi Civil Defence said.

The falling debris also caused material damage to a home and a vehicle, according to the statement.

A Civil Defence spokesperson said authorities in Riyadh responded after intercepting and destroying two ballistic missiles launched by Yemen's Houthi militia.

The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission documented 12 attacks by Israeli illegal settlers and the army against olive farmers and their property across five governorates in the occupied West Bank within a 12-hour period, it said.

The incidents included the abduction of 14 foreign solidarity activists, injuries to farmers from beatings and pepper spray, as well as the theft of olive harvests, damage to trees, and the bulldozing of agricultural land, according to the commission.

"The incidents were recorded between 6 am and 6 pm local time on Wednesday during the olive harvest season," the commission said.

"They occurred in the governorates of Ramallah and Al-Bireh, Hebron, Nablus, Salfit and Jenin," it added.

The UN has said that 3,000 Palestinians remain displaced from two neighbourhoods in the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

In a news conference, UN spokesperson Shirin Yaseen, citing humanitarian partners, said that "about 3,000 Palestinians remain displaced from two neighbourhoods in Hebron city, according to the latest figures provided by the municipality."

"Israeli forces are still operating in these neighbourhoods, blocking the way in, and imposing tight movement restrictions across the governorate," she said.

US President Donald Trump said that Vice President JD Vance's outreach to Iran was about helping the country get medical supplies, after US media reported Vance had written to Tehran's top security official to revive peace talks.

Tehran has received a letter from Vance, but it has not responded to it yet, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Vance sent the letter to Iranian Security Council chief Mohsen Rezaei in a bid to revive peace negotiations, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing US officials and people familiar with the matter.

UN special rapporteurs have warned of the systematic destruction of education and the media in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

During a briefing by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People at UN headquarters in New York, Farida Shaheed, the rapporteur on the right to education, said the world continues to witness "scholasticide, the systematic and systematic obliteration of education, which has been horrendous in Gaza."

She said that "98 percent of the schools and all 13 universities have been destroyed," adding, "Almost 21,000 Palestinian students have been killed. A classroom of children every day during the war on Gaza."

Saying that the destruction aims to uproot Palestinian society, Shaheed said, "Scholasticide is multigenerational; it aims to dismantle the very foundation of Palestinian society, erase their history and destroy a sense of collective self."

An Israeli soldier has been charged with spying for Iran and providing sensitive military information in exchange for cryptocurrency, The Times of Israel reported, citing Israeli security authorities.

A statement from Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet, police and the military said the soldier was arrested in September following an investigation into suspected espionage activities on behalf of Iranian intelligence operatives.

Prosecutors filed an indictment Thursday, charging the soldier with passing information to an enemy with intent to harm state security and maintaining contact with a foreign agent.

The Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government has announced that its air defences had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi militia toward the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Coalition spokesperson Turki al-Maliki said air defence systems intercepted and destroyed the two missiles targeting Riyadh.

Iran's parliament speaker has said that Tehran's conditions have been repeatedly and clearly communicated to mediators and that progress can only be achieved if Iran's seven conditions are met.

"The carrot-and-stick approach has no effect on Iran," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf added.

The UN has reported that a UN warehouse in Khan Younis, inside Gaza, sustained damage from flying debris following a nearby Israeli air strike.

UN spokesperson Shirin Yaseen said during a news conference, citing humanitarian colleagues, that "a UN warehouse sustained damage from flying debris following an Israeli airstrike nearby."

"Thankfully, no UN staff were injured. This is based on information received from our safety and security partners," she said.

"To scale up services, we once more call for the lifting of restrictions on the entry of humanitarian supplies, specialised equipment, engine oil, spare parts, and other supplies," she said. "We also urge member states to provide additional funding for aid efforts."

Saudi civil defence has said danger has passed in Najran, Al Kharj and Riyadh after it issued three separate emergency warnings for the regions, urging residents to follow safety instructions.

The agency said in statements on X that it issued the alerts through the National Early Warning Platform to warn residents of potential danger.

Al-Kharj is located southeast of Riyadh, while Najran lies in southern Saudi Arabia near the border with Yemen.

A traditional wooden vessel caught fire and sank in the Strait of Hormuz, 9 nautical miles north of Khasab, Oman, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).

The agency said the master of a third-party vessel initially reported seeing another vessel on fire in the area.

UKMTO later said regional authorities identified the vessel as a dhow that had been involved in a maritime security incident, triggering a large fire onboard.

The fire caused the vessel to list and subsequently sink, it added.

Local authorities confirmed that the crew had been evacuated.

Saudi authorities warned that the capital, Riyadh, was "under a hostile aerial threat" in a phone alert, as media reported having heard at least eight explosions.

"Warning: the city of Riyadh is under a hostile aerial threat," the alert read, while civil defence issued warnings for "potential danger" in Riyadh, Kharj and the southern city of Najran.

The warnings have often preceded Houthi militia attacks in recent weeks.