The UK will resume funding to the UN Palestine relief agency Unrwa.

Britain’s foreign minister, David Lammy, who is part of the newly elected Labour government, told parliament he was reassured that the agency had taken steps to “ensure it meets the highest standards of neutrality”.

“I can confirm to the house that we are overturning the suspension of UNRWA funding, Britain will provide £21m in funds” to the agency, he said.

The US now remains the only country not to restore funding, which was withdrawn after Israel claimed in January that up to a dozen Unrwa staff had been involved in the 7 October massacre. In April, Germany, a staunch ally of Israel, resumed funding to Unrwa.

In April, it was reported that Israel was yet to provide supporting evidence of these claims, according to an independent review led by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna.

A separate investigation is being carried out into the 7 October attack by the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services. The UN said that inquiry had not yet been completed.

Famine and starvation has been documented in Gaza. Israel has barred Unrwa from making aid deliveries into northern Gaza where the threat of famine is the highest.

Good morning, I’m Sammy Gecsoyler and I’ll be with you for the next while.

The United Nations’ highest court is set to issue an advisory opinion on a pre-October 7 case regarding Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories at 1pm on Friday.

In late 2022 the General Assembly asked the court to appraise Israel’s “prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation” of Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and associated Israeli government policies.

While advisory opinions of judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are non-binding, they carry weight under international law and a clear finding that the occupation is illegal could weaken support for Israel.

The Houthi’s, who are based in Yemen, have claimed responsibility for an apparent drone attack that hit central Tel Aviv in the early hours of Friday.

The Israeli military is investigating the attack and said they are not ruling out any possibility regarding the source.

The blast hit a building in a street near an annexe of the US embassy in Israel, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist, who saw broken windows.

The military said in a statement:

An initial inquiry indicates that the explosion in Tel Aviv was caused by the falling of an aerial target, and no sirens were activated. The incident is under thorough review

It said air patrols had been increased to protect Israeli airspace but said it had not ordered new civil defence measures.

Footage from the site showed broken glass strewn across the city pavements as crowds of onlookers gathered near a building bearing blast marks. “The police, along with emergency and rescue forces, discovered a man in his 50s in a nearby building who was found dead in his apartment, with shrapnel wounds on his body,” a police statement said.

Two people were slightly injured, Zaki Heller of the Magen David Adom medical service told AFP.

Elsewhere, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited southern Gaza on Thursday, including Rafah where 2 million Palestinians were forced to flee after Israeli forces invaded in May.

Netanyahu met with with troops and commanders and said talks had made him “stronger in the understanding that our control of the Philadelphi corridor and of the Rafah crossing are essential going forward,” his office said in a statement.

Netanyahu toured the Rafah crossing with Egypt and from a viewpoint saw the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow strip running the length of the Gaza side of the border with Egypt. The prime minister’s office announced his visit to Rafah once he had left.

Here’s a summary of the latest developments:

• The poliovirus has been found in sewage samples from Gaza putting thousands of people living in crowded displaced persons’ camps at risk of contracting the highly infectious disease that can cause deformities and paralysis. The Gaza ministry said tests carried out with the UN children’s agency, Unicef, “showed the presence of poliovirus” in the territory that has endured a devastating Israeli military offensive since the 7 October Hamas attacks.

• Overnight Israeli strikes on Thursday in central Gaza killed at least 11 people, according to the city’s civil defense organisation and hospitals. At least two children and two women were killed in airstrikes on a house and a car, reports Associated Press. In recent weeks, Israel has stepped up strikes in central Gaza, where many Palestinians have fled to escape fighting in other parts of the territory. Israel’s military said it targeted a senior commander from the militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad’s naval forces in Gaza City, and another Islamic Jihad commander responsible for launches in the city of Shijaiyah.

• Israel’s extremist national security minister has visited the holiest Muslim site in Jerusalem, recording a video saying he went to pray, in a provocative move as he seeks to disrupt ceasefire talks. Itamar Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist and champion of the settler movement, recorded footage at al-Aqsa mosque compound, also known as the Temple Mount, a site holy to Muslims and Jews.

• US President Joe Biden is still expected to meet with Netanyahu when he visits Washington next week but it will depend on his recovery from Covid, the White House said Thursday, according to Agence France-Presse. “We have every expectation that the two leaders will have a chance to see each other while prime minister Netanyahu is in town,” national security council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters in a briefing. Netanyahu is set to address the US Congress on Wednesday and Israeli media had reported a meeting with Biden on Monday, but Kirby said, “I can’t tell you at this point what that exactly is going to look like.”

• The United States on Thursday reaffirmed its support for a two-state solution after Israeli lawmakers voted to oppose the creation of a Palestinian state as an “existential threat,” reports Agence France-Presse. “I think the best way I can respond to that is to just reiterate our firm belief in the power and the promise of the two-state solution,” said national security council spokesperson John Kirby. He declined to directly comment on key ally Israel’s vote, which was swiftly criticized by Palestinian leaders and the international community, including the United Nations.