Jan 31 (Reuters) - An explosion occurred at Iran's southern port of Bandar Abbas on Saturday, Iranian media reported, without giving a cause for the blast.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency said that social media reports alleging that a Revolutionary Guard navy commander was targeted in the explosion were "completely false".

Iranian media said the blast was being investigated but gave no further information. Iranian authorities could not immediately be contacted for comment.

GAZA, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed at least 12 people, the Palestinian health ministry said, with children reported to be among the fatalities in the latest violence rattling a tenuous ceasefire.

One airstrike hit an apartment in Gaza City killing three children and two women, according to a family member and the official Palestinian news agency WAFA. Another airstrike hit a tent in Khan Younis, further south, according to WAFA.

By Muhammad Amin Afridi and Saad Sayeed

BARA/KARACHI, Pakistan, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people have fled a remote mountainous region in northwestern Pakistan in recent weeks, residents said, after warnings broadcast from mosques urged families to evacuate ahead of a possible military action against Islamist militants.

Jan 31 (Reuters) - Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that U.S., Israeli and European leaders had exploited Iran's economic problems, incited unrest and provided people with the means to "tear the nation apart” in recent protests.

The two-week long nationwide protests, which began in late December over an economic crisis marked by soaring inflation and rising living costs, have abated after a bloody crackdown by the clerical authorities that U.S.-based rights group HRANA says has killed at least 6,563, including 6,170 protesters and 214 security forces.

Israeli air strikes killed 28 people including children in Gaza on Saturday, according to the Palestinian territory's civil defence agency, as the military said it attacked in response to a Hamas ceasefire violation.

Despite a US-brokered ceasefire entering its second phase earlier this month, violence in the Palestinian territory has continued, with both Israel and Hamas accusing each other of violating the truce agreement.

TUNIS, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Tunisian President Kais Saied has extended a long-running state of emergency by 11 months until December 31, the official gazette showed on Friday.

The North African country has been under a state of emergency since 2015 after an attack in which several presidential guards were killed.

(Reporting by Tarek Amara; Editing by Chris Reese)

Jan 30 (Reuters) - Syria plans to permanently close two displacement camps in the northeast that hold civilians, including foreigners, linked to Islamic State militants, a government official said on Friday.

The al-Hol and Roj camps hold more than 28,000 people, mostly Syrians and Iraqis, according to the U.N. About 6,000 foreigners are housed in al-Hol and a further 2,000 in Roj.

A charity that has worked in both camps, the Swiss-based Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund, told Reuters it understands Damascus aims to empty and shut the sites within a year.

President Donald Trump said Thursday he believed Tehran wanted to make a deal to avoid military action, adding that the US "armada" near Iran was bigger than the one he dispatched to topple Venezuela's leader.

"We have a large armada, flotilla, call it whatever you want, heading toward Iran right now, even larger than what we had in Venezuela," the Republican president told reporters in the Oval Office.

"Hopefully we'll make a deal. If we do make a deal, that's good. If we don't make a deal, we'll see what happens."

US President Donald Trump has threatened military action against Iran over its crackdown on protesters, while still for now appearing to leave the door open for negotiations over the Islamic republic's controversial nuclear programme.

But should Trump, after weeks of American threats and counter-threats from Tehran, finally decide to order military action after already sending a US aircraft carrier to the region, he faces another dilemma over what form the intervention should take.

By Ahmed Rasheed, Maya Gebeily and John Irish

BAGHDAD Jan 30 (Reuters) - Transfers of Islamic State detainees from Syria to Iraq by the U.S. military have slowed this week, seven sources familiar with the matter said, following calls by Baghdad for other countries to repatriate thousands of foreign jihadists.