Here are Thursday’s latest updates:
■ Washington approved a potential $24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, including 49 Pratt & Whitney engines, communications equipment, spare parts and other support, the State Department said.
■ Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement said that Saudi-backed forces killed three children and wounded several people in strikes in Taiz province, near the Red Sea port city of Mocha, according to the group’s Almasirah television.
■ One person was killed and two wounded in Saudi Arabia by debris from an intercepted Houthi drone, Saudi authorities said. The death was the first announced in the kingdom this month from Houthi attacks.
■ Iranian forces have downed at least two U.S. MQ-1 unmanned aircraft in recent days, U.S. officials told CBS News. At least 24 MQ-9 Reapers and an MQ-4C Triton have also been lost during the war, according to a Congressional Budget Office report.
■ China has privately asked Iran to use its influence over the Houthis to curb their activity, according to Iranian sources, after Saudi Arabia appealed to Beijing for help amid growing threats to shipping and Saudi oil exports.
■ U.S. President Donald Trump told Axios he faces a “big decision” over whether to resume major attacks against Iran, saying he must decide whether to “annihilate” his Iranian foes. Trump also said Iran is in direct contact with the U.S. and wants a deal.
■ Pakistan’s defense minister said Islamabad would invoke its defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkey following a Houthi drone attack near Mecca, while saying he did not believe Iran would support the Houthis in a way that would open another regional front.
■ The U.S. sanctioned an Iranian cryptocurrency exchange controlled by sanctioned financier Babak Zanjani, accusing it of processing payments for ships seeking safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz and routing hundreds of millions of dollars to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
■ The death toll in Gaza since the start of the war has risen to 73,821, with 174,897 people wounded, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, citing Palestinian medical sources.
■ The IDF said it killed two Hamas commanders in Gaza, including a Nukhba commander who it said infiltrated Israel during the October 7 attack. The military also said the two had recently advanced attacks and worked to restore Hamas capabilities.
■ The IDF dismissed the Gaza Division intelligence officer who served during the October 7 attack, citing “professional errors, failures and command responsibility.”
■ A Palestinian man allegedly affiliated with the Tanzim militia was shot while trying to flee arrest near Nablus, the IDF and Shin Bet said.
■ Ireland will boycott the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest in Bulgaria over the war in Gaza and Israel’s participation, and will not broadcast the competition, broadcaster RTÉ said. It also boycotted this year’s contest in Austria.