Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told his US counterpart Donald Trump on Saturday that the world was relying on him "to reach a permanent and historic peace agreement" to end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Saturday's phone call was the first between the two leaders since Trump repeatedly floated a plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza into Jordan and Egypt, which Sisi and other Arab leaders have strongly rejected.

Three buses carrying Palestinian prisoners released by Israel as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal arrived to a cheerful crowd in the territory's southern city of Khan Yunis on Saturday.

The prisoners, many wearing grey prison uniforms, were greeted by hundreds of Gazans who gathered around the buses as they approached the city's European Hospital, an AFP journalist reported.

Rabi al-Kharoubi, 40, who came to see their arrival said he felt "indescribable joy" at seeing them freed. "We are proud of them."

Stepping off a bus with two dozen other released Palestinian prisoners on Saturday after 23 years imprisonment in Israel, Ata Abdelghani had more than his freedom to look forward to.

The 55-year-old was also able to hug his twin sons, Zain and Zaid, for the first time.

The encounter was made possible by his release in an ongoing hostage-prisoner exchange as part of a January ceasefire deal for the Gaza Strip agreed by Israel and Hamas.

The twins, now 10 years old, were conceived while Abdelghani was incarcerated after his sperm was smuggled out of his prison.

Artillery shelling and air strikes killed at least 56 people across greater Khartoum on Saturday, according to a medical source and activists, the latest bloodshed in Sudan's devastating war.

Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a battle for power since April 2023 that has intensified this month with the army fighting to take back control of the capital.

Pictures of Ofer Kalderon, Keith Siegel and Yarden Bibas were everywhere on Saturday at "Hostages Square" in Tel Aviv as the three Israeli captives were released by Gaza militants.

Sighs of relief ran through onlookers gathered to watch a live transmission of the three being handed over to the Red Cross in the Palestinian territory before being brought home to Israel.

"It's a good feeling, it makes us stronger," Miki Pnini, a 67-year-old Israeli from the outlying suburb of Pardesiya west of Tel Aviv, told AFP.

Ranks of Hamas fighters formed up on Gaza's beachfront on Saturday for the handover of an Israeli-American hostage in a show of force against the dramatic backdrop of breaking waves.

In Gaza City a stage had been erected at a harbour for the handover of Keith Siegel.

Green Hamas and Palestinian flags flapped in a strong sea breeze near a fisherman's wharf.

Earlier, Israeli Yarden Bibas and Franco-Israeli Ofer Kalderon were handed over in a swift and organised ceremony in the war-battered city of Khan Yunis to the south.

Half a century after her death, Umm Kulthum's singular voice still echoes through busy streets in Egypt, across time-worn cafes in Iraq, and in millions of homes from Morocco to Oman.

"As long as people listen to music, there will be Umm Kulthum," said Abu Ahmed, the manager of a Cairo cafe named after the Arab world's most revered singer.

"She still lives in every song and every note," he told AFP, adjusting the volume on an antique recorder as visitors to the historic bazaar the cafe is housed in peered in from outside.

The Red Cross, accused of not doing enough to help hostages in Gaza or Palestinian detainees in Israel, has defended itself in a rare statement outlining the limits of its role.

Insisting on its neutrality, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the escalation of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories has triggered "a proliferation of dehumanising language and of false and misleading information about the ICRC and our work in the current conflict".

- Hostages -

Hamas and Israel will conduct their fourth swap of the Gaza ceasefire on Saturday, with militants releasing three Israelis including the father of the two youngest hostages, in exchange for 183 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

Since the truce took effect on January 19, Gaza militants have released 15 hostages after holding them in captivity since their attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Despite concerns about the destruction of documents and other indications of serious crimes committed in Syria under Bashar al-Assad's rule, UN investigators said Friday that plenty of evidence remained unspoiled.

"The country is rich in evidence, and we won't have huge difficulty in pursuing accountability, criminal justice," said Hanny Megally of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria.