US President Joe Biden said Friday Israel had offered a new roadmap towards a permanent peace in Gaza, urging Hamas to accept the surprise deal as it was "time for this war to end."

In his first major address outlining a solution to the conflict, Biden said the three-phase proposal starts with a six-week complete ceasefire that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza.

"It's time for this war to end, for the day after to begin," Biden said in a televised address from the White House.

At the request of Baghdad, the UN Security Council unanimously decided Friday that the United Nations political mission in Iraq would leave the country at the end of 2025 after more than 20 years.

Earlier this month, in a letter to the council, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani called for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) to be closed.

Al-Sudani said UNAMI had overcome "great and varied challenges" and that "the grounds for having a political mission in Iraq" no longer exist.

UN Palestinian refugee agency chief Philippe Lazzarini said Friday that Israel "must stop its campaign against UNRWA" in an opinion article published by the New York Times.

"The war in Gaza has produced a blatant disregard for the mission of the United Nations, including outrageous attacks on (UNRWA) employees, facilities and operations," agency chief Lazzarini said.

"These attacks must stop and the world must act to hold the perpetrators accountable."

Hamas on Friday said it "considers positively" an Israeli roadmap towards a full Gaza ceasefire announced by US President Joe Biden, who urged an end to the almost eight-month war.

But swiftly afterwards, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu poured cold water on Biden's talk of peace, insisting the army would continue fighting until it had "eliminated" Hamas's capacity to rule Gaza and pose a military threat.

For the first time in over a decade of conflict, farmers in Syria's rebel-held northwest are irrigating their crops more easily thanks to the rehabilitation of a vital reservoir, bringing life back to parched fields.

Water from the Bala reservoir is once again flowing to a fertile plain in the Idlib area, home to several million people, many of them displaced during the country's devastating civil war.

A seemingly ordinary villa in the heart of Tripoli holds a lifetime of works by the late Libyan artist Ali Gana, whose family has turned his house into a unique museum.

In the North African country still grappling with divisions and conflict after the fall of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, "art comes last", said Hadia Gana, the youngest of the artist's four children.

Yemen's Iran-backed Huthis threatened Friday to escalate attacks on Red Sea shipping after overnight strikes by the United States and Britain that the rebels said killed 16 people.

The toll announced by the Huthis, which AFP could not independently verify, would make the strikes some of the deadliest since the US and Britain launched their campaign in January against disruption of the vital trade route.

Oil giant Saudi Aramco said on Thursday it plans to sell 1.545 billion shares worth more than $10 billion in one of the biggest such offerings in recent years.

In a statement posted to the Saudi stock exchange, Aramco announced a "secondary public offering of 1.545 billion shares", with an expected price range between 26.70 and 29 Saudi riyals ($7 to $7.70).

The sale on the local bourse, which represents approximately 0.64 percent of the company's issued shares, will commence on Sunday, Aramco said.

A Madrid court on Thursday placed former Barcelona player Gerard Pique under official investigation as part of a probe into suspected corruption in a deal to take the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.

Spanish football federation contracts signed since 2018 are being investigated, including one by disgraced former federation president Luis Rubiales to have the oil-rich Gulf state host the Spanish Super Cup.

The Super Cup contracts are worth 40 million euros a year ($43 million) with the deal brokered by Kosmos, a company owned by former Barcelona and Spain defender Pique.

Rainbows and yellow ribbons mingled at this year's Jerusalem Pride March Thursday, as marchers called for gay rights and the release of hostages held in Gaza in a less festive mood than usual.

At the head of the march, several thousands strong, hostage relatives and French ambassador to Israel Frederic Journes held a banner reading "Born to be free" in English, featuring the LGBTQ rainbow colours and a yellow ribbon representing support for hostage families.

"It's more sad than usual," said Shlomo Gedzel, a 23 year-old biology student at the Hebrew University.