Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza near the family home of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Thursday in anticipation of two Israeli hostages being released.

Onlookers clambered over smashed concrete on the upper floors of buildings, devastated in more than 15 months of war with Israel in Gaza, hoping to catch a glimpse of Gadi Moses, an 80-year-old Israeli-German, and Arbel Yehud, a 29-year-old Israeli woman.

A record 92.3 million passengers travelled through Dubai's international airport last year, its operator said on Thursday, extending a post-pandemic tear that exemplifies the city's economic boom.

The figure surpassed the previous high of 89.1 million in 2018, Dubai Airports said, despite regional tensions caused by the Gaza war and last April's unprecedented floods that severely disrupted flights.

The United Arab Emirates city, located between Asia, Europe and Africa, has now been ranked as the world's busiest international air hub for a decade.

A man who repeatedly burnt the Koran in 2023 in Sweden, sparking outrage in Muslim countries, has been shot dead, media reported Thursday as police confirmed a man died in a shooting the day before.

A Stockholm court was due to rule on Thursday whether Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi who burned Korans at a slew of protests, was guilty of inciting ethnic hatred.

It postponed the ruling until February 3, saying that "because Salwan Momika has died, more time is needed."

Ayse Barim, a renowned manager of Turkish television stars, has always steered clear of politics, but that did not help her escape prison on charges of "attempting to overthrow the government".

Barim, put into pre-trial detention on Monday, joined a long list of personalities being prosecuted by the authorities, a move denounced by opposition parties that accuse the government of using the judiciary to intimidate dissidents.

The families of Thai farm workers held for over a year in Gaza cheered and wept with relief Thursday as they were freed in a hostage-prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas.

Five Thais were released along with three Israelis held by Hamas as part of a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the Gaza war.

When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, 31 Thais were abducted, with 23 released by the end of that year and two confirmed dead in May.

The United Nations said Thursday that its aid agency UNRWA would continue working in all Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem, even as Israel cut ties with the organisation.

After Israel accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas militants, legislation severing ties with the agency came into force on Thursday, a move likely to hamper its vital services after 15 months of war in Gaza.

The agency is banned from operating on Israeli soil, and contact between it and Israeli officials is also forbidden.

A freed ex-militant received a hero's welcome in the occupied West Bank on Thursday after chaos during a Gaza hostage release briefly delayed the third Israel-Hamas exchange under a ceasefire deal.

At around dusk, two buses carrying released inmates left from the West Bank's Ofer Prison after Israel said it had received assurances from mediators over the future "safe release" of captives.

Hundreds of joyous Palestinians greeted them when they arrived in Ramallah, an AFP correspondent said.

Weeping, Fairuz Shalish grasps the red earth at an unmarked grave in Syria that she believes may hold her son, one of tens of thousands of people who vanished under ousted president Bashar al-Assad.

Thousands poured out of the country's web of prisons in the final days of Assad's rule and after Islamist-led rebels toppled him on December 8.

But as the weeks go by, many families are still desperately searching for news of relatives who were detained or went missing during years of his iron-fisted rule.

US aid experts on Wednesday rejected Donald Trump's claim that the United States had spent $50 million to fund condoms for the war-battered Gaza Strip, which the president has sought to make a poster child for wasteful spending.

"We identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas," Trump told reporters, referring to the militant group that has ruled the Palestinian territory for nearly two decades.

"And do you know what's happened to them? They've used them as a method of making bombs."

Syria's new authorities announced Wednesday that Ahmed al-Sharaa, who took the helm after Bashar al-Assad's ouster last month, has been appointed interim president and tasked with forming a transitional legislature, state media reported.

A rebel alliance led by Sharaa's Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted Assad on December 8 after a lightning offensive, ending five decades of his family's iron-fisted rule, with a transitional government previously installed to steer the country until March 1.