Two more major shipping firms, Mediterranean Shipping Company and CMA CGM, said Saturday they were suspending passage through a Red Sea strait vital for global trade after Yemeni rebel attacks in the area.

The announcement by Italian-Swiss giant MSC and France's CMA CGM follows a similar decision Friday by two of the world's largest shipping companies, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd.

The announcements were in response to a warning by the Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who control much of Yemen but are not recognised internationally.

A Christian mother and daughter were shot dead by an Israeli soldier on the grounds of a Catholic church in Gaza City on Saturday, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.

"Around noon (1000 GMT) today... a sniper of the IDF (Israeli army) murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza," where Christian families have been sheltering since the Israel-Hamas war broke out, the patriarchate said in a statement.

Like many other imprisoned Palestinian teenagers released as part of an exchange deal with Israel, Mohamed al-Salaymeh hoped to regain a semblance of normality after months in detention.

But he found himself in limbo yet again, unable to go back to school due to a new Israeli education ministry decision. The ruling bans students in annexed east Jerusalem from resuming classes after imprisonment.

"My dream is to return and for this gate to be opened," said Mohamed, 16, standing in front of his school in his east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Ras al-Amoud.

Two more major shipping firms, Mediterranean Shipping Company and CMA CGM, said on Saturday they were suspending passage through a Red Sea strait vital for global trade, after Yemeni rebel attacks in the area.

The announcement by Italian-Swiss giant MSC and France's CMA CGM follows a similar decision on Friday by two of the world's largest shipping companies, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, in response to a warning by the Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

The Israeli army said Saturday that a soldier was killed and two others wounded on the Lebanese border, with a spokesperson confirming the casualties were caused by a "hostile aircraft".

"Sergeant Major (reservist) Yehezkel Azaria, from Petah Tikva... fell during an operational activity in the Margaliot area, aged 53 at the time of his death," the army said in a statement.

A military spokesperson confirmed to AFP that two soldiers were also wounded in the attack, which was the result of an incursion by an unspecified "hostile aircraft".

An American destroyer on Saturday shot down more than a dozen drones in the Red Sea launched from Huthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the US military said, as the impact of the Israel-Hamas conflict spreads to global shipping lanes.

"The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS CARNEY... operating in the Red Sea, successfully engaged 14 unmanned aerial systems launched as a drone wave from Huthi-controlled areas of Yemen," US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

A section of the historic walls around the Old City of Kairouan collapsed on Saturday, killing three masons carrying out repairs on the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Tunisian authorities said.

Two workers were also injured in the accident, which saw a 30 metre (100 foot) long section of the six metre (20 foot) high walls near the Gate of the Floggers crash to the ground, the Civil Protection department said.

With nearly 130 hostages still held by Hamas 10 weeks after its unprecedented attack on Israel, AFP has taken a focused look at the lives of two women among the captives.

Both were kidnapped from the Nir Oz kibbutz, close to the Gaza border.

Hundreds of families were ripped apart when Hamas fighters streamed over the border into southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,140 people and taking some 250 hostages back to the Gaza Strip.

Dozens of journalists took part in a funeral on Saturday for an Al Jazeera cameraman killed in an Israeli strike in the south of the war-torn Gaza Strip.

Samer Abu Daqqa's body, bearing his bullet-proof vest and helmet, was carried through a crowd in the city of Khan Yunis before being buried in a grave dug by fellow journalists.

His mother Umm Maher Abu Daqqa accused Israel of targeting journalists, "especially those working for Al Jazeera".

A UK destroyer has brought down a suspected attack drone in the Red Sea, defence minister Grant Shapps said Saturday, amid rising maritime tensions in the region.

Britain announced last month that it was sending HMS Diamond, one of its most advanced naval vessels, to the Gulf to shore up its presence in the region.

"Overnight, HMS Diamond shot down a suspected attack drone which was targeting merchant shipping in the Red Sea. One Sea Viper missile was fired and successfully destroyed the target," Shapps said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter.