Palestinian health officials say at least 18 people were killed, including children, in Israeli airstrikes overnight across Central Gaza.

Strikes hit the Nuseirat and Maghazi refugee camps and Deir al-Balah and Zawaiyda towns, they said Friday. The bodies were taken to the al-Aqsa hospital where an Associated Press journalist counted them.

A senior Hamas official has said that U.S. President Joe Biden's proposed Gaza ceasefire deal was "just words" and the Palestinian militant group had not received any written commitments related to a truce.

Biden presented last week what he labelled an Israeli three-phase plan that would end the conflict, free all hostages and lead to the reconstruction of the devastated Palestinian territory without Hamas in power.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to address a joint meeting of Congress on July 24, setting the stage for what is expected to be a contentious speech at a crucial moment for the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Congressional leaders confirmed the date of the address late Thursday after formally inviting Netanyahu to come speak before lawmakers last week. It is the most recent show of wartime support for the longtime ally despite mounting political divisions over Israel's military assault on Hamas in Gaza.

A dozen masked men jump out of two SUVs and a white pickup and storm a KFC in Baghdad, smashing everything in sight before fleeing the scene. A few days earlier, similar violence played out at Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken and Chili House — all American brands popular in the Iraqi capital.

Though no one was seriously hurt, the recent attacks — apparently orchestrated by supporters of Iran-backed, anti-American militias in Iraq — reflect surging anger against the United States, Israel's top ally, over the war in Gaza.

Egypt has received "positive signs" from Hamas over a proposed Gaza truce and hostage release deal, state-linked Al-Qahera News said Thursday citing a high-level source.

"Hamas leaders have informed us that they are studying the truce proposal seriously and positively," it quoted the unnamed source as saying, adding that Hamas was expected to provide a response "in the coming days".

Syria's Kurdish authorities said Thursday they were delaying controversial municipal elections which prompted threats from arch-foe Turkey and concerns from their main ally the United States.

The elections, originally scheduled for June 11 and now postponed "until at least August", would be the first to extend to all seven regions under the semi-autonomous region's control, home to both Arabs and Kurds, since Syria's fragmentation during its civil war.

Leaders in many conflict areas are more interested in power and political rivalries than in listening to the needs of their people, improving their lives and ending the fighting, the United Nations humanitarian chief told The Associated Press.

In an interview Wednesday, Martin Griffiths said humanitarian workers in conflict-torn countries see the consequences of this failure every day when they often put their lives on the line to help millions of people who are hungry, displaced and caught in violence. That has been brought into sharp relief in Gaza, where over 200 relief workers have been killed.

Spain will join South Africa's case at the U.N.'s top court in which Pretoria has accused Israel of "genocide" in Gaza, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Thursday.

"Our sole goal is to put an end to the war and to advance on the road of applying the two-state solution", Albares said. His statement came a week after Spain, along with Ireland and Norway, recognised the state of Palestine, sparking Israeli fury.

The image shows tents in a camp, highlighted to spell out one single phrase: "All Eyes on Rafah." It has been shared more than 50 million times.

A single image, not even an authentic photograph, is the focus of a singular campaign on Instagram that has caught the attention of the algorithm and captured the imaginations of users across national borders — a show of support for the Palestinian movement as the war between Israel and Hamas enters its eighth month.

Yemen's Houthi rebels have unveiled a new, solid-fuel missile in their arsenal that resembles aspects of one earlier displayed by Iran that Tehran described as flying at hypersonic speeds.

The rebels fired its new "Palestine" missile, complete with a warhead painted like a Palestinian keffiyeh checkered scarf, at the southern Gulf of Aqaba port of Eilat in Israel on Monday. The attack set off air raid sirens but caused no reported damage or injuries.