Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel must keep open-ended control of Gaza's border with Egypt, digging in on his stance on an issue that has threatened to derail cease-fire efforts. Netanyahu's comments came as the United States is developing a new proposal for a cease-fire and hostage release, hoping to break a long deadlock and bring an end to the nearly 11-month-old war. The question of Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor -- a narrow strip of land along Gaza's border with Egypt, seized by troops in May -- has become a central obstacle in the talks.

Hamas has demanded an eventual full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in the multi-phase truce deal. Egypt, a mediator in the talks along with the U.S. and Qatar, has also demanded a concrete timeline for Israeli troops to leave the Philadelphi corridor. And on Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates, which established formal ties with Israel in the 2020 Abraham Accords, also criticised the Israeli stance.

A global human rights watchdog implicated Venezuelan security forces and pro-government armed groups in killings that occurred during the protests that followed the country's disputed July presidential election. Human Rights Watch, in a report detailing repressive measures the government unleashed after the vote, asserted that credible evidence gathered and analysed by researchers, forensic pathologists and arms experts ties Venezuela's national guard and national police to some of the 24 killings that took place as people protested the outcome of the election.

The organisation also concluded that violent gangs aligned with the ruling party also "appear to be responsible" in some of the deaths. Twenty-three of those killed were protesters or bystanders and one was a member of the Bolivarian National Guard. "The repression we are seeing in Venezuela is shockingly brutal," Juanita Goebertus, the organisation's director for the Americas, said in a statement. "Concerned governments need to take urgent steps to ensure that people are able to peacefully protest and that their vote is respected."

The United Nations children's agency said that a polio vaccination campaign to inoculate more than 640,000 children in Gaza is surpassing expectations at the end of the first phase of the programme. Describing the campaign as a "rare bright spot" in almost 11 months of war, Unicef said that 189,000 children had been reached so far as more than 500 teams were deployed across central Gaza this week. It said Israel and Hamas observed limited pauses in the fighting to facilitate the campaign, with UN agencies involved now hoping to expand the campaign to the harder-hit north and south of the territory for the next two phases.

The campaign was launched after Gaza had its first reported polio case in 25 years - a 10-month-old boy, now paralysed in the leg. Health experts have warned of disease outbreaks in the territory, where the vast majority of people have been displaced, often multiple times, and where hunger is widespread.

Moscow will target US media in response to the United States actions against Russian state broadcaster RT, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday (Sep. 5). The US Justice Department on Wednesday filed money-laundering charges against two RT employees for what was described as a scheme to hire a U.S. company to produce online content to influence the November presidential election. Zakharova described the move as a "witch hunt" and said it was aimed at scaring the U.S. population.

"There will be a response to the actions of the United States authorities which directly contradict their obligations in the areas of providing free access to information and media pluralism," Zakharova said. Moscow's measures could mirror those of Washington or take some other form, she added.