CAIRO/GAZA, April 23 (Reuters) - Israeli airstrikes killed at least four Palestinians in Gaza on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said.
One person was killed in a strike in southern Gaza's Khan Younis in which several others were wounded, local medics said. Israel's military said it had targeted militants transporting munitions, who it said had posed a threat to Israeli soldiers.
By Jonathan Saul, Renee Maltezou and Yannis Souliotis
LONDON/ATHENS, April 23 (Reuters) - Two container ships seized by Iran near the Strait of Hormuz with about 40 crew aboard have been taken toward the port of Bandar Abbas, sources said on Thursday, Tehran having vowed to retaliate after U.S. forces seized an Iranian vessel three days earlier.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized the ships on Wednesday, one operated by MSC, the world's biggest container shipping group, and according to three sources, the other chartered by the firm.
Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's ousted shah, argued Thursday that any negotiations with the clerical leadership in Tehran amount to "appeasement" and voiced hope that renewed street protests will topple it.
Pahlavi, 65, was speaking on a visit to Berlin, where he was greeted by some supporters but also bitter opponents -- with one activist splashing a red liquid on him before being detained by police.
By Panu Wongcha-um
BANGKOK, April 23 (Reuters) - More than 30 million people will be pushed back into poverty by the impacts of the Iran war including disruptions to fuel and fertiliser supplies just as farmers are planting crops, U.N. development chief Alexander De Croo said on Thursday.
Fertiliser shortages - worsened by the blocking of cargo vessels through the Strait of Hormuz - have already lowered agricultural productivity, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) told Reuters.
Lebanon's leaders accused Israel on Thursday of committing a war crime, after an airstrike killed a Lebanese journalist in the country's south, with the Israeli army saying it was reviewing the incident.
Rescuers and the reporter's employer on Wednesday confirmed the death of Amal Khalil, a 42-year-old journalist who worked for the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar.
The civil defence agency said she was killed in a strike on a house in the village of Al-Tiri.
By Michael Holden and Sarah Young
LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) - Britain's King Charles heads to the United States next week for the most high-profile trip of his reign so far, on a mission to shore up the future of the two allies' "special relationship" which the Iran war has plunged to its lowest point in 70 years.
The state visit marks the 250th anniversary of the U.S. declaration of independence from British rule, when the then 13 American colonies decided to split from King George III, Charles's five-times-great-grandfather.
A US naval blockade of Iranian ports is likely to squeeze Iran's oil output in the coming weeks but claims it will throw the Islamic republic into economic free fall remain premature, analysts say.
After weeks of bombing and counter-strikes, focus has shifted to the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz, which ordinarily carries around a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas.
The latest developments in the Middle East war:
- Iran gets first Hormuz toll -
A senior Iranian parliament official said on Thursday that Tehran has received the first revenue from tolls it imposed on the strategic Strait of Hormuz in its war with the United States and Israel.
"The first revenue received from the Strait of Hormuz tolls was deposited into the Central Bank account," said deputy speaker of parliament Hamidreza Hajibabaei, according to Tasnim news agency.
- Clearing Hormuz may take 6 months -
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, April 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. will host a second meeting between Lebanese and Israeli envoys on Thursday, with Beirut seeking the extension of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, a day after Israeli strikes killed at least five people including a journalist.
The U.S.-mediated ceasefire, which is set to expire on Sunday, has yielded a significant reduction in violence, but attacks have continued in southern Lebanon, where Israeli troops have seized a self-declared buffer zone.
Iran-backed Hezbollah says it has "the right to resist" occupying forces.
BANGKOK, April 23 (Reuters) - The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has forced policymakers in Asia to face questions over the security of other maritime chokepoints, including the Strait of Malacca, which is the world's busiest waterway for international trade.
WHAT IS THE MALACCA STRAIT?
The 900-km (550-mile) long Malacca Strait, bounded by Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, provides the shortest sea route from East Asia to the Middle East and Europe.
