A Jerusalem Magistrate's Court judge acquitted a man accused of attacking a Catholic nun based on his insanity defense, but ordered him committed to psychiatric hospitalization for up to six years.

The violent assault in April on a nun walking in her habit in Jerusalem's Old City sent shock waves across Israel and its many Christian communities.

Pakistan said Thursday it was continuing diplomatic efforts to help resolve the crisis between the United States and Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said at a news briefing that Field Marshal Asim Munir’s recent visit to Tehran was aimed at reviving the June memorandum of understanding to reopen the strait.

Some parents said children in Gaza are dismantling their kites after Israel threatened to ramp up strikes as the toys keep flying into southern Israel.

In the past, kites and balloons have been set aflame and launched across the Gaza border, igniting fields and property in Israeli communities. The Palestinian militant group Hamas has downplayed the danger the kites pose.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani is expected in Tehran on Thursday for talks with Iranian officials on “ways to de-escalate tensions & create the conditions conducive to dialogue,” Qatar's Foreign Ministry said on X.

The discussions, confirmed by Tehran, will also address “freedom of navigation” in the Strait of Hormuz and the need to return to the pre-war status quo, according to Majed Al Ansari, an agency spokesperson.

When President Donald Trump launched the war with Iran in late February, he initially forecast it would last four to five weeks. Six months later, there's still no off-ramp in sight despite Trump's repeated assertions that the war has been won or a deal to resolve it was nearly complete.

A June memorandum of understanding designed to pave the way to end the war has fallen by the wayside. U.S. stockpiles of key weapons have diminished and the Trump administration has pivoted to pressuring Iran economically rather than launching more strikes.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday discussed strengthening ties, the Syrian presidency said, their first call since reaching an agreement over Moscow's military bases in the country.

The Syrian presidency said the two leaders discussed "bilateral relations and regional developments", as well as "strengthening cooperation in areas of shared interest".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday they had agreed with Oman to share any revenues earned from transit fees in the Strait of Hormuz.

"During negotiations with Oman, some agreements were made regarding the share of each country in the waters of the Strait and the share of Iran and Oman in its revenues," said Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi, adding that the US was "obstructing work" to finalize a deal.

Germany has ended the military mission of its advisers in Iraq’s semiautonomous northern Kurdish region after years of supporting the U.S.-led coalition’s efforts against Islamic State militants, the Kurdish region’s Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs said Wednesday.

The ministry said it held an official ceremony at Camp Stephan at Irbil International Airport to mark the mission’s end. Germany had already reduced its footprint in Iraq but had maintained a small contingent at the base.

An Israeli strike on a tent for displaced people Wednesday in southern Gaza killed one person and wounded at least four others, according to officials at the territory’s Health Ministry. The Israeli military said it struck a “military operative,” without elaborating.

Even as U.S. efforts to advance the fragile ceasefire in the nearly three-year Israel-Hamas war continue, Palestinians in the strip have reported a surge in deadly Israeli strikes.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday said that the "United States will achieve nothing" with its new round of economic sanctions, local media reported.

"Given the measures the government has undertaken, America will not achieve anything with economic pressure at this stage, just as it was unable to achieve anything in the war," Pezeshkian said, according to ISNA news agency.