A long line of cars, tuk-tuks, small lorries and carts stretched along Gaza's Salaheddin Road on Sunday after Israel withdrew its forces from a strategic area bisecting the territory.

The traffic crawled slowly along the road, where mounds of earth had been piled high by now-departed Israeli bulldozers, into the eastern part of the Netzarim Corridor, which separates the northern Gaza Strip from its south.

After more than 15 months of war, a fragile truce with Hamas that went into effect last month saw Israeli forces limiting their presence in the Gaza Strip.

A Thai farm worker held hostage in Gaza for more than a year said he felt "reborn" as he and four compatriots arrived home on Sunday to tears of joy from their relieved families.

The five Thais smiled as they walked into the arrivals hall at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport after being freed on January 30 as part of a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the Gaza war.

The five -- Watchara Sriaoun, Pongsak Tanna, Sathian Suwannakham, Surasak Lamnau and Bannawat Saethao -- were met by a small group of overjoyed relatives and officials before travelling on to their hometowns.

The Palestinian health ministry reported that Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank shot dead three people on Sunday, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, while the military said it had "targeted terrorists" in a raid.

It later said military police had launched an investigation into the death of the pregnant woman.

Israeli forces launched an operation in the Nur Shams refugee camp, on the outskirts of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, at dawn on Sunday, as part of an ongoing offensive in nearby camps, the military said.

Authorities in Iran ordered schools and offices in at least 10 provinces to close on Sunday to conserve energy amid a severe cold snap and heavy snowfall, state media reported.

Freezing temperatures have gripped the northern half of the country over the past few days, causing a spike in energy consumption.

"All government offices and schools are closed on Sunday, and remote learning has been arranged for students," the state news agency IRNA announced.

Among the provinces affected are Lorestan in the west, Semnan in the east and Gilan in the north.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday praised a proposal from President Donald Trump for US control of Gaza and the displacement of its population as "revolutionary", striking a triumphant tone in a statement to his cabinet following his return to Israel from Washington.

Trump set out a plan earlier this week to move the Gazans out of the territory to other countries in the region, while the United States would take charge of redeveloping it, sparking a diplomatic backlash.

The families of Thai farm workers held hostage in Gaza for over a year wept with joy and hugged their loved ones as they arrived in Bangkok on Sunday.

The five Thais smiled as they walked into the arrivals hall at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport after being freed on January 30, as part of a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the Gaza war.

He has no foreign policy experience but sports a reputation as a talented negotiator unafraid to speak his mind. And Donald Trump's special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has already made his mark.

A close friend to the US president, 67-year-old real estate magnate Witkoff is credited with playing a key role in negotiating the ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and the Hamas armed group.

The truce took effect January 19, on the eve of Trump's inauguration for a second term in the White House.

Several thousand Iranians came from across Europe to rally in Paris on Saturday, calling on world leaders to put greater pressure on the Islamic republic's ruling clerics.

"Instead of appeasing the mullahs, (the international community) should stand side by side with the Iranian people," Maryam Rajavi, president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told the rally.

The NCRI is the political wing of the People's Mujahedin of Iran, which Tehran regards as a "terrorist" group.

More than 100 Palestinians freed into Gaza on Saturday returned to the territory to find it rendered unrecognisable by 15 months of war, while for many the fate of their loved ones was unknown.

"How is my family? Are they still alive?" one prisoner asked, calling out from a bus window as prisoners arrived in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

"Have there been martyrs in my family?" he shouted again before a voice in the crowd responded.

"They are all ok," came the reply.

Fakhri Barghouti grimaced in pain as an exultant crowd lifted him onto their shoulders next to his son Shadi, released from an Israeli jail on Saturday under a Gaza ceasefire deal.

Though Barghouti, 71, shed tears of joy at seeing his son, he was also in physical pain.

The night before, Israeli forces stormed his family home in the occupied West Bank village of Kobar, warning him not to celebrate his son's release and assaulting him, he said.

"They entered after midnight, smashed everything, took me into a side room and beat me before leaving," Barghouti told AFP.