- UN General Assembly to vote on Jordanian-backed cease-fire resolution, as concern mounts over situation in Gaza
- Israel Defense Forces say they have conducted another overnight raid in the Gaza strip
- EU leaders meeting in Brussels called for humanitarian "pauses" in Gaza
- Palestinian, Israeli envoys address UN General Assembly
TikTok denies blocking pro-Palestinian content
Video streaming app TikTok on Friday denied allegations from the Malaysian government that it was blocking pro-Palestinian content.
"The claim is unfounded. Our community guidelines apply equally to all content on TikTok, and we're committed to consistently enforcing our policies to protect our community," a TikTok spokesperson told Reuters news agency in an email response.
On Thursday Malaysia's Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil warned both TikTok and Meta that Malaysia would take action if the social media companies were found to be blocking pro-Palestinian content.
TikTok says it has "a zero-tolerance policy for content praising violent and hateful organizations and individuals, and those organizations and individuals aren't allowed on our platform."
Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, sees the Islamist militant Hamas group as a "dangerous organization" and says it does not allow content containing praise for the group.
Israel's ground forces launch another limited incursion
The Israel Defense Forces on Friday said that ground troops, fighter jets and UAVs struck Hamas targets in Gaza over the past 24 hours.
In a short post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, the IDF said forces had targeted anti-tank missile launch sites, command and control centers, and "Hamas terrorist operatives."
The IDF said that ground troops “exited the area."
"As part of the activity, IDF aircraft and artillery struck terror targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation in the Shujaiya area and throughout the Gaza Strip," the IDF said in a statement.
The move follows Thursday's military operations which saw infantry and tanks briefly enter the Palestinian territory and conduct similar actions.
The post was accompanied with video footage showing a column of tanks and various explosions.
Missile strikes Egyptian town near Israel border
A missile struck a medical facility in an Egyptian town near the Israeli border, Egypt's state-affiliated Al Qahera News reported. The blast injured six people, it said.
The media outlet cited sources as saying the blast in the town of Taba was related to the fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.
Taba lies some 220 kilometers (136 miles) from Gaza. Reuters news reported a witness in Taba as having heard an explosion and seeing heavy smoke and dust rising.
The Israeli military said it was aware about reports of a blast. It said the situation was one "outside of our border," according to Reuters.
US strikes Iran-linked sites in Syria
The US military says it has struck two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran's Revolutionary Guard and militia it backs.
"These precision self-defense strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on October 17," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
He added that the operation was separate and distinct from Israel's war against Hamas.
A senior US defense official said the sites were chosen because Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Cors, stores the types of munitions there that were used in strikes against US bases and troops.
Read more about the air strikes here.
UN General Assembly to vote on Jordan resolution calling for cease-fire
Jordan on Friday is to put a resulution that largely condemns the humaniarian situation in Gaza to a vote before the UN General Assembly.
The draft text calls for an "immediate ceasefire" and "unhindered humanitarian access" to the Gaza Strip.
According to the Israeli UN Ambassador, the draft text makes no mention of the Hamas terror attacks of October 7 on Israeli soil when the militant group killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
Israel declared war on Hamas, which governs Gaza Strip, and has pounded the blockaded enclave with devastating airstrikes, that have killed thousands.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi accused Israel of "making Gaza perpetual hell on Earth" at an emergency session of the General Assembly convened on Thursday.
The foreign minister spoke on behalf of 22 Arab nations at the General Assembly .
Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan responded, saying: "The drafters of the resolution claim to be concerned about peace."
"Yet the depraved murderers who initiated this war are not even mentioned in the resolution," he added.
General Assembly resolutions are not binding and carry mainly symbolic weight at the UN.
The UN Security Council, meanwhile, has faced its own set of challenges, with frustration mounting over its inability to approve a legally binding resolution on the conflict.
Talks at UN General Assembly, EU summit
The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, addressed an emergency session of the UN General Assembly on Thursday, and called on the assembly to recognize the "epic suffering" of Palestinians in Gaza.
In response, Israel's UN envoy Gilad Erdan said Israel was not at war with the Palestinians but the "genocidal jihadist Hamas terror organization."
Meanwhile, European Union leaders at a summit in Brussels called for "humanitarian corridors and pauses" in Gaza to allow the safe and unhindered access of aid deliveries.
The European Council released a statement following hours of negotiations expressing "its gravest concern for the deteriorating humanitarian situation."
rm/rc (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)