The Saudi-led coalition said on Friday it intercepted and destroyed a drone fired by Yemen's Houthis in the Mecca region, with the group later denying it targeted Islam's holiest city.

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

Israel's final election results confirmed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc lost its majority of parliamentary seats and that weeks of difficult negotiations among very different parties, from ultra-Orthodox Jewish to secular to Arab-led, lie ahead.

The results released early Friday showed Netanyahu's bloc won 53 seats in Tuesday's elections. The main opposition bloc won 48. Arab-led parties secured the other 19, a historic showing. Now parties must meet, bargain and seek a way to team up for at least 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.

For Palestinian citizens of Israel, it was a rare moment of political triumph.

Hundreds of thousands voted in record numbers, giving two Arab-led parties their largest-ever number of seats in Israel's parliament.

Iran said three oil tankers struck mines and caught fire over the past 24 hours while attempting to exit the Strait of Hormuz through an unauthorized route, according to the state broadcaster, which cited the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The report did not identify the tankers or provide details on casualties. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the report. It came as tensions are high in the region over concerns that U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran could resume.

Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman on Thursday rejected accusations "made by certain Israeli politicians and their contacts in the media" that his country had interfered in the Israeli elections.

"We categorically deny allegations that Qatar has interfered in Israeli elections or funded any activities intended to influence their outcome," said Majed Al Ansari. "They accuse Qatar of buying off Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli political left and now, in this latest campaign, the Arab vote... These accusations are ridiculous and dangerous in equal measure."

The Houthis said on Thursday that a Saudi strike on a residential area in Yemen's western Taiz province killed 12 people, as the two sides exchange fire in the reignited conflict.

"As an initial toll, 12 citizens were killed and three others were critically injured when the Saudi enemy targeted the homes of the families of Ibrahim Saeed Mohammed Ahmed Al-Qouz and Al-Raabi Saeed Mohammed Ahmed Al-Qouz in Al-Barah, Maqbana district," the Houthi health ministry said in a statement shared by their Saba news agency.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc on Thursday piled pressure on Israeli Arab leaders over unproven accusations of foreign funding, in a push to neuter parties that could hold the key to forming a government after an inconclusive election.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called for an investigation into allegations of fraud but cautioned against stigmatizing the entire Arab Israeli community, who voted at unprecedented rates.

U.S. officials have told several Middle East countries and regional allies to be prepared for potential renewed military action against Iran after next week's midterm elections in the United States — as well as the possibility that Iran will attempt to retaliate against them, according to two diplomats briefed on the matter.

Both of the diplomats spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment about the sensitive warnings conveyed by U.S. diplomats and defense officials.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance has contacted Iran's security chief in a bid to revive peace talks that could head off a renewed American assault on the Islamic republic, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Vance sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, the Journal reported, in a move that one of the newspaper's sources said was directed by President Donald Trump.

Israelis on Thursday waited for final election results to confirm what they see taking shape: No majority of parliament seats for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies, or for the array of parties seeking to unseat him.

Difficult decisions lie in the weeks ahead, including whether some Jewish and Arab parties would team up in a historic alliance, or whether some parties that campaigned on ousting Netanyahu would toss that aside and join forces with the deeply divisive prime minister. While this plays out, Netanyahu remains in charge.