The UN nuclear watchdog's chief Rafael Grossi warned that Iran was "not far" from possessing a nuclear bomb, shortly before he arrived in Tehran on Wednesday for talks.

Western countries including the United States have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons -- an allegation Tehran has consistently denied, insisting that its programme is for peaceful civilian purposes.

"It's like a puzzle. They have the pieces, and one day they could eventually put them together," Grossi told French newspaper Le Monde in an interview published on Wednesday.

Israel announced Wednesday it had converted 30 percent of Gaza into a buffer zone as it pressed its unrelenting military offensive, vowing to maintain its blockade on humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged territory.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered security chiefs and negotiators to keep pressing for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, where Israel resumed air and ground attacks on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire.

In the mainly Christian Palestinian town of Zababdeh, the runup to Easter has been overshadowed by nearby Israeli military operations, which have proliferated in the occupied West Bank alongside the Gaza war.

This year unusually Easter falls on the same weekend for all of the town's main Christian communities -- Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican --- and residents have attempted to busy themselves with holiday traditions like making date cakes or getting ready for the scout parade.

But their minds have been elsewhere.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday that Iran's enrichment of uranium as part of its nuclear programme was "non-negotiable" after US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff called for a halt.

"Iran's enrichment is a real, accepted matter. We are ready to build confidence in response to possible concerns, but the issue of enrichment is non-negotiable," Araghchi told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

The director of Gaza's Kamal Adwan hospital who was detained by Israeli forces in December is being held in "inhumane" conditions by Israel and subjected to "physical and psychological intimidation", his lawyer told AFP.

Hussam Abu Safiya, a 52-year-old paediatrician, rose to prominence last year by posting about the dire conditions in his besieged hospital in Beit Lahia during a major Israeli offensive.

On December 27, Israeli forces began an assault on the facility which they labelled a Hamas "terrorist centre", and arrested dozens of medical staff including Abu Safiya.

Hamas said Tuesday that after an Israeli strike it had "lost contact" with the captors of an Israeli-American hostage in Gaza, whose release reportedly takes centre stage in Israel's latest proposal for a renewed ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited northern Gaza Tuesday, his office announced, as the military kept up the offensive it resumed on March 18, effectively ending a two-month ceasefire.

Speaking to troops, he said Hamas would continue to "suffer blow after blow".

France on Tuesday ordered the expulsion of 12 Algerian diplomats and consular officials and recalled its ambassador in the latest escalation between the two countries.

The measure, announced by President Emmanuel Macron's office, came after Algeria on Sunday ordered 12 French officials to leave within 48 hours in response to the arrest of an Algerian official in France.

The Algerian officials in France have also been given 48 hours to leave.

Amna Hussein didn't stop when the bullet hit her hand. She kept on running as paramilitaries attacked Zamzam displacement camp in Sudan's western Darfur region in the dead of night.

"They entered Zamzam and started shooting at us," she told AFP in the small town of Tawila, 60 kilometres (37 miles) west of the huge famine-stricken camp, which by Sunday had fallen to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

"I tied my hand with a cloth to stop the blood and we kept running," the 36-year-old said, her hand swollen and body weak after a three-day trek on foot.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday he was satisfied with talks with arch-foe the United States but warned they could ultimately prove fruitless.

Tehran and Washington are due to meet again in Muscat on Saturday, a week after top officials held the highest-level talks since the landmark 2015 nuclear accord collapsed.

US President Donald Trump, who pulled out of the deal during his first term, revived his "maximum pressure" sanctions campaign after returning to office in January.

An island in the middle of Sudan's capital that used to draw crowds to its Nile River farms now stands nearly deserted after two years of war, its homes ransacked and once-lush fields left fallow.

Nestled at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers, Tuti Island has been devastated by two years of war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with residents subjected to violence and looting.

When fighting broke out on April 15, 2023, RSF fighters swiftly captured the crescent-shaped island, forcing residents to flee in panic.