As air raid sirens rang out on the morning of October 7, Bilha Inon and her husband Yakovi sheltered in the safe room of their home in Netiv Haasara in southern Israel.

An hour into the Hamas attack their son spoke to them on the phone. It was the last sign of life from Bilha, the only Israeli victim still officially unaccounted for.

While her family is convinced she died alongside her husband in the Hamas attack, Israeli officials -- who initially said she had been killed -- now say they cannot be sure.

Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians early Friday in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, but the military said it "eliminated" two militants including a Hamas member.

One man was killed when Israeli soldiers opened fire on his vehicle in the city of Tubas, Wafa reported.

Another Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli gunfire when troops raided Al-Fara refugee camp near Tubas, the agency said.

Apple on Thursday promised it would stop a Palestinian flag emoji from being suggested to some iPhone users when they type "Jerusalem" in messages.

The Silicon Valley tech titan blamed a software bug for the prompt, which sparked accusations Apple was showing anti-Israel bias amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

Apple told AFP that the predictive emoji suggestion in the iPhone keyboard was not intentional and would be fixed in the next update to its mobile operating system.

An Israeli minister said Thursday that after Hamas's October 7 attack, there was no longer a "moral" justification to exempt ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from army service, breaking a long-standing taboo within his community.

Israel's ruling coalition has been scrambling to find a compromise on drafting ultra-Orthodox men following an order last month from the country's top court, effectively striking down the decades-old exemption as of April 1.

Residents reported heavy Israeli fire in central Gaza on Friday, with regional tensions soaring after Iran threatened reprisals over a strike in Syria this month that killed two Iranian generals.

As talks for a truce and hostage release dragged on, fears that Iran could soon launch an attack on Israel prompted the United States to announce it was sending reinforcements to the Middle East as a deterrent.

Amna Ishaq can no longer feed her children "more than once a day and sometimes not at all" after nearly a year of devastating war in Sudan.

"We are all sick, along with our children. We have nothing to eat and the water we find is polluted," Ishaq told AFP at a camp for the displaced in Darfur.

The vast western region is no stranger to war, suffering devastation in a deadly conflict that began in 2003 and which also sparked a hunger crisis.

With war returning to Sudan last April, the United Nations has warned that "an entire generation could be destroyed".

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh insisted that the death of three of his sons in an Israeli air strike would not influence truce talks in Gaza, as bombardments on Thursday rocked the Palestinian territory.

Israel confirmed the killings, which came as talks in Cairo for a temporary ceasefire and hostage release deal drag on without signs of a breakthrough.

Speaking to Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, Haniyeh suggested that the strike, which also killed four of his grandchildren, was an attempt to shift Hamas's negotiating stance.

Three of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh's sons were killed Wednesday in an Israeli strike in Gaza, the Palestinian leader and Israel's military said, as war rages on after more than six months.

Haniyeh, who is based in Qatar, told Al Jazeera network that three of his sons and some of his grandchildren were killed when their car was hit.

The deadly strike came as there were no signs of progress in mediation efforts led by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, seeking a halt in the fighting.

Gaza's ancient Greek site of Anthedon has been bombed, its "Napoleon's Palace" destroyed and the only private museum burned down: the war has taken a terrible toll on the rich heritage of the Palestinian territory.

But in a strange twist of fate, some of its greatest historical treasures are safe in a warehouse in Switzerland.

And ironically, it is all thanks to the blockade that made life in the Gaza Strip such a struggle for the past 16 years.

An Israeli strike Wednesday killed three of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh's sons in Gaza, the Palestinian leader and Israel's military said, as war rages in the Palestinian territory despite ongoing truce negotiations.

Hamas said in a statement that three of Haniyeh's sons and four of his grandchildren were killed in the air strike.

Israel confirmed the killings, saying the sons were "Hamas operatives" who were "on their way to carry out terrorist activities".