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CAIRO — With no sign of progress in mediators' efforts to reach a cease-fire in the Gaza war, Israeli forces pounded Rafah from the air and ground overnight as tanks tried to advance further west, residents said. Fierce gun battles between Israeli troops and Hamas-led Palestinian fighters were also taking place. Residents said tanks that have taken control along the border with Egypt made several raids towards the west and the center of the southern city, wounding several residents who had been trapped inside their homes and were taken by surprise. "I think the occupation forces are trying to reach the beach area of Rafah, the raids and the bombing overnight were tactical, they entered under heavy fire before they retreated," said one Palestinian man. "It was one of the worst nights, some people were wounded inside their homes, before being evacuated this morning," he told Reuters via a chat app. Israeli forces have also operated inside the Al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip on the ground, while it kept two other camps and a city nearby under heavy bombardment from planes and tanks, killing and wounding several Palestinians, medics said. The armed wings of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and smaller other groups reported their fighters carried out attacks against invading Israeli forces in several areas in central and southern the enclave. Qatari and Egyptian mediators, backed by the United States, have stepped up efforts to reach a cease-fire deal, that will halt hostilities and see the release of Israeli hostages and a number of Palestinians jailed by Israel, but sources close to the talks said there were no signs of a breakthrough. Since a brief weeklong truce in November, all attempts to arrange a cease-fire have failed, with Hamas insisting on its demand for a permanent end to the conflict. Israel says it is prepared to discuss only temporary pauses until the militant group is defeated. "We have shown all the flexibility needed to reach a deal, but the Israeli occupation continues to refuse any commitment to end the aggression and pull its forces from the Gaza Strip," a Hamas official told Reuters. "The occupation and the Americans are to blame for the absence of a deal so far because they don't want this war on our people to end," he said. Hamas precipitated the war by attacking Israeli territory last October 7, killing around 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. About half the hostages were freed in the November truce. Israel's military assault on Gaza has killed more than 36,000 people, according to health officials in the territory, who say thousands more dead are feared buried under the rubble. U.S. and Israeli officials have told Reuters about half of Hamas's forces have been killed in the conflict. Hamas does not disclose fatalities among its fighters and some officials say Israel exaggerated the figures. Israel's own military death toll is almost 300.

PARIS — U.S. President Joe Biden will meet Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris on Friday with a package of $225 million in weapons on the sidelines of D-Day anniversary events. It will be their first face-to-face talks since Zelenskyy visited Washington in December, when the two wrestled with Republican opposition to more Ukraine aid. They will meet again next week at a G7 summit in Italy, as rich nations discuss using Russian assets frozen after the Ukraine invasion to provide $50 billion for Ukraine. Zelenskyy told Reuters last month that Western countries are taking too long to make decisions about aid. Biden in remarks in Normandy, France, on Thursday drew a link between the World War Two battle against tyranny and Ukraine's war with Russia, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a "dictator." The $225 million in new weaponry includes artillery rounds and air defense interceptors, among other items, sources said. Ukraine has struggled to defend the Kharkiv region after an offensive launched by Moscow on May 10 has overrun some villages. Biden last week shifted his position and decided Ukraine could launch U.S.-supplied weapons at military targets inside Russia that are supporting the Kharkiv offensive. The United States is trying to catch up with Ukraine's weaponry needs, deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said in Washington on Thursday. "If there were two things that we could provide an infinite number of to the Ukrainians to try to turn the tide in this war, it would be artillery munitions and air defense interceptors," but the U.S. lacked supply, Finer told a forum by the Center for a New American Security. Outside the physical battlefield, the Russia-Ukraine war is "also a competition that takes place in our factories, the factories in Europe, the factories in Ukraine," he said. Reaching consensus on the frozen assets has been complicated, Daleep Singh, deputy national security adviser for international economics, told the same group. "We're waist-deep in the sausage-making of trying to strike a deal," said Singh, who said he was heading back to Italy on Friday to continue the negotiations.

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian air force shot down all five missiles and 48 out of 53 drones over nine regions during Russia's overnight attack, Ukrainian military said on Friday. The Russian forces attacked Kyiv region with drones and Kh-101/Kh-555 missiles, causing a fire at one of the industrial facilities, according to the governor. Emergency services worked to put out the fire on Friday morning with no casualties reported. Kharkiv region governor Oleh Syniehubov said the drone attack knocked out windows in at least three residential buildings, damaging a store and a post office, among other local infrastructure. Three drones were destroyed over Dnipropetrovsk region, the governor said. Kirovohrad governor said the attack caused no damage in his region after military reported shooting down one drone. Khmelnytskyi governor also reported no damage, saying the air force shot down 11 targets over his region. Ukrainian military said seven drones were shot down over the southern Odesa region with three more downed in Kherson region and two more in Mykolaiv region. The attack did not damage any energy infrastructure, Ukraine's Deputy Energy Minister Mykola Kolisnyk said on national television. Russia has increasingly targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure this spring in combined attacks which dealt damage to its generation capacity, causing power cuts across the country.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

President Joe Biden has marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day by pledging during a ceremony at the American cemetery in Normandy that “we will not walk away” from Ukraine. He's drawing a direct line from the fight to liberate Europe from Nazi domination to today’s war against Russian aggression. We talk to Jesse Driscoll, a professor of political science and chair of the Global Leadership Institute at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UC San Diego. Hamas rejects cease-fire deal. A teacher changing lives in the Northern Mariana Islands. And soy sauce flavored ice cream!

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

WASHINGTON — The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday elected Somalia to the 15-member U.N. Security Council for a two-year term starting in 2025. The tiny Horn of Africa nation was among five countries that received the winning votes, alongside Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, and Panama. "It is both symbolic and strong diplomatic status for Somalia to appear among the Security Council members and this will help Somalia to have a better access for member nations," said Somalia analyst Abdiqafar Abdi Wardhere, who is based in Virginia. For the first time in more than 50 years, he said, Somalia will have a vote on decisions regarding world conflicts. "The Security Council is the only U.N. body that can make legally binding decisions such as imposing sanctions and authorizing use of force. Therefore, Somalia would get a vote that determines the world issues and resolutions," Wardhere said. Announcing the elections’ results, the U.N. General Assembly President Dennis Francis, said, "In a secret ballot, the elected countries secured the required two-thirds majority of Member States present and voting in the 193-member General Assembly." Following the news, the United Nations in Somalia congratulated the Somali government and its people "on their country's election today to a seat on the UN Security Council for 2025-2026." "Somalia has come a long way over the past three decades on its path to peace, prosperity, and security," said the UN Secretary-General’s Acting Special Representative for Somalia James Swan. "Election to a seat on the Security Council is recognition of that commendable progress." "Somalia’s experiences place it in a unique position to contribute to Council deliberations on international peace and security," Swan added. The Security Council’s five permanent veto-wielding members are Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. The five countries that got elected Thursday will replace Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland, whose terms end December 31. Somali and the other elected new members will join existing non-permanent members Algeria, Guyana, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone and Slovenia, whose terms started in January. According to United Nations, the 10 non-permanent seats on the Security Council are distributed according to four regional groupings: Africa and Asia; Eastern Europe; Latin America and the Caribbean; and the Western European and other States group. The newly elected members were endorsed by their respective regional groups and ran largely uncontested. Margaret Besheer contributed this report from New York. 

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

While marking the 80th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy, France, during World War II, U.S. President Joe Biden says global challenges are still present and urged unity in resisting Russian aggression today. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Omaha Beach, Normandy.