Netanyahu denies Israel is to blame for conditions in Gaza camps, and other Mideast news

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected accusations that Israel has been delaying the entry of winter supplies into the Gaza Strip as severe rains flood makeshift tents, worsening conditions in the enclave this week.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said a tanker caught fire after hitting a naval mine early on Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz. And Israel struck Gaza twice, killing three Palestinians.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Wednesday. Read our full coverage here.

Israel denies blocking supplies to Gaza

Netanyahu denied that Israel was responsible for worsening conditions for Palestinians in Gaza’s tent camps, which have been hit by severe winter flooding.

He instead blamed Hamas, saying the Palestinian militant group refuses to disarm and seizes humanitarian aid for military use. He provided no evidence for the aid seizure claim.

His remarks came after the U.S.-created Board of Peace said Monday that Israel’s delays in allowing winter supplies into Gaza had “exacerbated the consequences of a foreseeable humanitarian challenge.”

The U.N. and other aid groups say more than 150,000 tents and pumps to remove floodwaters are ready to enter Gaza, but Israel has not authorized their entry.

Torrential rain has battered the war-torn enclave in recent days, damaging tens of thousands of makeshift tents. At least four people died Sunday when a large sandstone slab collapsed.

Israeli strikes kill 3 in Gaza

An Israeli strike on Wednesday morning killed one person in Gaza City, and a second later in the day killed two more people, according to Shifa Hospital, where the bodies were taken.

The Israeli military said both strikes targeted military operatives. It did not provide additional details.

Large-scale fighting has slowed since Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal in October 2025, but Israel continues to launch near-daily strikes that have killed more than 1,600 Palestinians.

Tanker strikes mine in Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said a tanker caught fire early Wednesday after striking a naval mine while traveling along an unauthorized route through the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway, Iranian state media reported.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center, a British military agency that monitors maritime safety, said a tanker was involved in an incident while transiting the strait.

The agency did not identify the tanker. Further details, including the crew’s status, were not immediately available. It was unclear whether the Iranian and UKMTO reports referred to the same incident.

Houthis launch missiles toward Saudi Arabia

Col. Turki al-Maliki, a military spokesperson for the Saudi-backed forces operating in Yemen, said in a post on X that they had intercepted three missiles that the Houthis launched toward the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Wednesday.

The interceptions were the latest announced this week as the Iran-aligned rebels continue to use parts of Yemen they control to launch attacks toward Saudi Arabia and disrupt trade through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Egyptian editor's retrial delayed

A Cairo judge postponed the retrial of the editor-in-chief of one of Egypt’s last independent news outlets for a week after her defense lawyers asked him to recuse himself, the outlet said.

Lina Attalah, a co-founder and editor-in-chief of Mada Masr, is challenging a one-year prison sentence and a fine imposed in absentia on charges of operating a website without a license and spreading false news.

Mada Masr said Wednesday that her lawyers sought the judge’s recusal because he had ordered the outlet’s closure late last month in a separate case. Attalah's retrial is now scheduled for Nov. 18 while hearings on Mada Masr’s appeal against its closure begin Nov. 25.