Territorial Disputes

An "unprecedented" surprise offensive launched by a coalition of ethnic-based armies and pro-democracy fighters in Myanmar's north has some observers convinced the country's ruling junta is likely to be defeated.

The World Health Organization says that Israel's ongoing raid of Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital is "totally unacceptable", as the first fuel since October 7 begins to trickle into the enclave after Israel's grants approval. 

As a humanitarian disaster unfolds in Gaza, the United States fears a power vacuum will soon follow. But Palestinian leaders say the current ideas for post-war Gaza aren't viable. 

At least three Russian officers have been killed in the Moscow-controlled Ukrainian city of Melitopol in a blast Ukraine's intelligence says was an "act of revenge" by local resistance groups.

Hamas says it is suspending hostage talks due to Israel's attacks around Al-Shifa Hospital, as the first group of foreigners and injured Palestinians to be evacuated from Gaza after the Rafah border crossing reopened arrive in Egypt.

Dozens of Chinese coast guard and accompanying ships chase and encircle Philippine vessels in the latest confrontation in one of the most dangerous flashpoints in the South China Sea. 

Palestinian officials and humanitarian aid groups working in Gaza say patients are unable to evacuate hospitals in northern Gaza after recent bombardments, while Israel denies firing on the largest hospital, Al-Shifa, saying people can evacuate safely. 

Protesters waved flags and chanted from the shore, while others yelled from jetskis on the water, in what organisers say is the first step of the campaign against the Israeli shipping line ZIM.

Ukrainian naval drones sink two small Russian landing boats in Crimea, Ukraine's military intelligence agency says, while troops brace for further Russian assaults in the east, particularly the shattered town of Avdiivka.

Israel must stop bombing Gaza and killing civilians, French President Emmanuel Macron says, as deadly Israeli air strikes hit three Gaza hospitals and a school, according to Palestinian officials.

Gaza Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra says Israeli air strikes struck on or near at least three hospitals on Friday, amid reports that Israel would begin four-hour humanitarian pauses in northern Gaza to allow people to move south.

A senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says military plans in Gaza are a "fluid situation" while the US carries out a second round of strikes against a Syrian weapon storage facility. 

War began on October 7 when Hamas militants crossed from Gaza and killed 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians, and abducted more than 200. Since then, Israel has bombarded the Hamas-run strip, killing more than 10,000 people, around 40 per cent of them children, according to regional health officials.

The Gaza health ministry says more than 4,100 children have been killed since October 7, as the Pentagon admits to "thousands" of civilians killed.  

Former prime minister Scott Morrison visits a kibbutz in southern Israel, while a woman and three children are killed by an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon and IDF troops encircle Gaza City.

Former PM Scott Morrison flies into Israel to "demonstrate solidarity" with Israel and the Jewish community, as protesters gather outside the Israeli PM's residence to call for his resignation and the immediate release of hostages.

Israel says the ambulance strike in Gaza City was targeting Hamas militants, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects calls for a ceasefire unless hostages are released.

Israel's defence force chief of staff says forces are operating in Gaza City after encircling it from several directions, while the US calls for a series of pauses in fighting to allow aid in and foreign nationals out. 

Israeli forces claim to have killed another Hamas commander in their second strike on Gaza's largest refugee camp in two days, as a first group of civilian evacuees from Gaza — including 20 Australians — escapes into Egypt.

The self-governing island says 37 Chinese aircraft crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait, which China no longer recognises as an informal divider between the sides.

A Gaza hospital director says more than 50 Palestinians are dead and 150 wounded after Israeli air strikes on the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp.

The Israel-Gaza war and Russia's invasion of Ukraine could become "strategic distractions" for the United States, a senior US military figure warns, saying a dangerous world creates circumstances that can strain resources.

Israel says its forces have attacked Hamas gunmen inside the Islamists' vast tunnel network beneath Gaza, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed calls for a halt to fighting to ease the Palestinian enclave's humanitarian crisis.

Just 500 of the more than 15,000 Australians believed to be in Lebanon have registered with the federal government, as officials continue to urge people to get on commercial flights and leave the country as soon as possible.

After Hamas launched its deadly assault on Israel, it seemed inevitable that a ground invasion would soon follow. But there are three big reasons why the military is not yet ready to enter the enclave.