By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) -The Israeli military issued evacuation orders on Sunday in areas of central Gaza packed with displaced Palestinians where it hasn't operated so far in its war with Hamas, while medics said at least 30 people were killed waiting for aid as hunger mounts.

The military evacuation demand, which could signal an imminent attack on neighbourhoods in Deir al-Balah, alarmed the families of Israeli hostages, who fear their relatives are being held there.

DAMASCUS (Reuters) -Residents reported calm in the Syrian city of Sweida on Sunday after the Islamist-led government declared that Bedouin fighters had withdrawn from the predominantly Druze city and the United States stepped up calls for an end to fighting.

There was no sound of gunfire on Sunday morning, according to a resident speaking from the city outskirts, while a Druze source in the region said there was calm in most areas.

NICOSIA (Reuters) -Greek and Turkish Cypriots on Sunday marked the 51st anniversary of Turkey's 1974 invasion of Cyprus, an event that split the island and continues to shape geopolitics in the region.

Air raid sirens wailed across the southern Greek Cypriot populated parts of Cyprus at 0530 local time (0230 GMT), the hour Turkish troops landed on the northern coast in a military intervention triggered by a brief Greece-inspired coup.

Sudan's Prime Minister Kamil Idris on Saturday pledged to rebuild Khartoum, ravaged by more than two years of war, as he made his first visit to the capital since assuming office in May.

Touring Khartoum's destroyed infrastructure earlier, the new premier outlined mass repair projects in anticipation of the return of at least some of the over 3.5 million people who fled the violence.

"Khartoum will return as a proud national capital," Idris said, according to Sudan's state news agency.

Sudan's Prime Minister Kamil Idris on Saturday pledged to rebuild Khartoum on his first visit to the capital, ravaged by more than two years of war, since assuming office in May.

Touring the city's destroyed airport, bridges and water stations, the new premier outlined mass repair projects in anticipation of the return of at least some of the millions who have fled the violence.

"Khartoum will return as a proud national capital," Idris said, according to Sudan's state news agency.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) -U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called on Saturday for the perpetrators of an attack on a Palestinian church in the occupied West Bank blamed on Israeli settlers to be prosecuted, calling it an "act of terror".

Huckabee said he had visited the Christian town of Taybeh, where clerics said Israeli settlers had started a fire near a cemetery and a 5th-century church on July 8.

Dozens of Syrians from minority communities rallied on Saturday in London and Paris, calling for action to protect the Druze in their Sweida heartland, where sectarian violence has killed hundreds.

In central London, around 80 protesters chanted "God protect Druze" and "Stop supporting Jolani", referring to Syrian interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa's nom de guerre, which he had abandoned after his Islamist group seized Damascus late last year.

LONDON (Reuters) -Fifty-five people were arrested at a rally for the banned Palestine Action group outside Britain's parliament on Saturday, London's Metropolitan Police said.

The crowd in Parliament Square had been waving placards supporting the group that was banned this month under anti-terrorism legislation, the force said in a post on X.

People from the rally, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, were taken away in police vans.

Smoke rose from burning houses in south Syria's Sweida on Saturday and an Arab tribal fighter vowed to "slaughter" residents as deadly clashes with Druze fighters persisted.

Just hours earlier, Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa had announced an immediate ceasefire, but Bedouins and tribal fighters who are allied with the Syrian authorities pushed on in the west of the Druze-majority city.

"Go forward, tribes!" said fighter Abu Jassem, addressing fellow combatants in the area, where the streets were largely deserted.

GAZA (Reuters) -At least 32 people were killed by Israeli fire while they were on their way to an aid distribution site in Gaza at dawn on Saturday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

The Israeli military said it had fired warning shots at suspects who approached its troops after they did not heed calls to stop, about a kilometre away from an aid distribution site that was not active at the time.