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Regional powers plan to meet Sunday in Pakistan to discuss how to end the fighting in the Middle East as about 2,500 U.S. Marines arrived in the region and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels<\/a> entered the monthlong war.<\/a><\/p>\n Pakistan said Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt will send top diplomats to Islamabad for talks. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian held \u201cextensive discussions\u201d on regional hostilities.<\/p>\n The war<\/a> has threatened global supplies<\/a> of oil and natural gas, sparked fertilizer shortages<\/a> and disrupted air travel. Iran\u2019s grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz<\/a> has shaken markets and prices.<\/p>\n The United States and Israel continue to strike Iran, whose retaliatory attacks have targeted Israel and neighboring Gulf Arab states. More than 3,000 people have been killed.<\/p>\n The Houthis\u2019 entry could further hurt global shipping if they again target vessels in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Red Sea, through which about 12% of the world\u2019s trade typically passes.<\/p>\n Here is the latest:<\/p>\n The Israeli military identified the dead soldier as Sgt. Moshe Yitzchak Hacohen Katz, originally from New Haven, Connecticut.<\/p>\n Rabbi Yehoshua Hecht, a relative in Connecticut, spoke to Israel\u2019s Army Radio station, describing his great nephew as a \u201cvery special young man\u201d who was religious, a good student and \u201cenjoyed every moment of life.\u201d<\/p>\n Katz was killed in combat in southern Lebanon as Israel expands an invasion there.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s military said early Sunday that a soldier had been killed while three others were wounded in combat in southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n This brings the total to five Israeli soldiers killed in southern Lebanon since the conflict with Hezbollah reignited after the militant group fired rockets into Israel on March 2.<\/p>\n Two Israeli strikes early Sunday killed six Palestinians, including three policemen, in the Gaza Strip, hospital authorities said.<\/p>\n One strike hit a police checkpoint while another hit a group of people in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser hospital, which received the bodies.<\/p>\n The Israeli military didn\u2019t immediately comment on the strikes.<\/p>\n The people killed were the latest fatalities among Palestinians in the coastal enclave since an October ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more than two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.<\/p>\n Interceptions and drone activity were heard for hours overnight Saturday across Irbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, including drones shot down while attempting to target the U.S. consulate and nearby bases.<\/p>\n AP journalists in the area reported nonstop loud explosions and saw at least one drone headed toward American facilities, in one of the most intense days of attacks since the war began.<\/p>\n Iran-aligned militias in Iraq have stepped up repeated drone and missile attacks on U.S. bases, including in Irbil.<\/p>\n In a statement on Saturday, the U.S. condemned what it called \u201cdespicable terrorist attacks\u201d by Iran\u2019s militant groups, saying the strikes on Kurdish regional President Nechirvan Barzani\u2019s residence in Irbil earlier that day were \u201ca direct assault on Iraq\u2019s sovereignty, stability and unity.\u201d The attack caused material damage but no casualties, and the residence was empty at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n