Middle East updates: Fighting rages in Rafah, Jabaliya

• Israeli forces claim to have killed an Islamic Jihad commander said to have been the group's logistics head in Rafah
• Intense clashes were reported overnight in Rafah and Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza
• The Israeli military says the first 310 pallets of humanitarian aid have entered the Gaza Strip via a US-built pier

Here are the developments from the Israel-Hamas war and the wider Middle East region on Saturday, May 18: 

05/18/2024May 18, 2024

Aid arrives in Gaza over US-built pier

Some humanitarian supplies have entered Gaza via a temporary floating pier constructed by the US, the Israeli army said in a statement.

So far, 310 pallets began moving ashore in "the first entry of humanitarian aid through the floating pier," the statement said. 

The pier, over which some 500 tons of aid are expected to be transported in the coming days, was built to deliver supplies to the Palestinian enclave despite key land crossings being closed or operating at limited capacity.

However, aid agencies have warned that truck convoys would be by far the most efficient was to transport aid to the Gaza Strip to curb the threat of famine.

05/18/2024May 18, 2024

IDF says Islamic Jihad commander killed

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday that it killed a commander of the Islamic Jihad organization, an Iran-backed militia allied with the Palestinian militant Islamist Hamas.

The man was said to have been the head of logistics for the group in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. 

The commander was killed in an airstrike east of Rafah, the army said.

It said militants' weapons depots and rocket positions were also destroyed in airstrikes.

05/18/2024May 18, 2024

US security adviser to visit Saudi Arabia and Israel

Jake Sullivan, the security adviser to US President Joe Biden, is to travel to Saudi Arabia and Israel this weekend for talks with both countries' leaders focused on tensions in the region, US officials say.

Sullivan is to meet Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, on Saturday, then to travel on to Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby said talks with Netanyahu would center on the war and humanitarian situation in Gaza and negotiations on an agreement to release the remaining hostages.

According to Israel, the militant Palestinian Islamist group Hamas took 252 Israelis and foreigners hostage on October 7 last year in deadly raids in southern Israel in which some 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed.

Altogether 125 hostages remain unaccounted for.

05/18/2024May 18, 2024

Oil tanker attacked off Yemen

British security firm Ambrey says it has received information about an attack on a Panama-flagged crude oil tanker some 10 nautical miles (18.5 kilometers) southwest of the Red Sea port city of Mokha in Yemen. 

Ambrey said the first indications were that the ship had been hit by a missile that caused a fire.

The British navy's maritime security agency had received a report of a vessel "sustaining slight damage after being struck by an unknown object."

"The vessel and crew are safe and continuing to its next port of call," United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) added.

Although the cause of the incident has yet to be confirmed, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militia have been carrying out attacks on vessels in waters near the country for several months, saying they are doing it to show solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israeli forces in Gaza.

The string of attacks in the Red Sea has disrupted global shipping and stoked fears that the Israel-Hamas war could destabilize the wider Middle East.

The United States and Britain have targeted Houthi forces in response to the attacks on shipping.