Thousands gathered on Sunday in front of Israel's parliament to demand the return of the hostages abducted by Hamas militants in Gaza exactly six months ago.

"Stay strong you who are still there," cried 17-year-old former hostage Agam Goldstein with tears in her eyes.

The teenager was freed in a deal with Hamas at the end of November.

About 250 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage by militants on October 7.

The army says 129 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead.

"It smells like death," said Maha Thaer, a mother of four, as she returned to the devastated southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Sunday, after Israeli troops withdrew.

"We don't have a city anymore -- only rubble. There is absolutely nothing left. I could not stop myself crying as I walked through the streets," the 38-year-old told AFP.

"All the streets have been bulldozed. And the smell... I watched people digging and bringing out the bodies," said Thaer, whose home was partially destroyed.

The United Nations and other international aid organisations on Sunday decried the devastating toll of six months of war in Gaza, warning that the Palestinian territory had become "beyond catastrophic".

"Six months is an awful milestone," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said, warning that "humanity has been all but abandoned" in the severity of the conflict.

The Gaza war broke out on October 7 with an unprecedented attack by Hamas militants that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.

A British man on a quest to run the length of Africa is set to complete his mammoth challenge later Sunday in Tunisia.

Russ Cook's epic endeavour has seen him live up to his "hardest geezer (man)" nickname with health problems, visa issues and even an armed robbery to contend with on his over 16,000 kilometre (9,900 mile) journey.

The 27-year-old set off from South Africa's most southerly point on April 22 last year.

By the time he crosses the finish line in northern Tunisia he will have taken more than 19 million steps in 16 countries.

Israeli officials said Sunday they are preparing for military operations in Gaza's southernmost point of Rafah six months into a "long war", which has shattered buildings and lives.

Israel pulled its forces out of the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday in a partial withdrawal half a year into the war sparked by the attack against Israel by Hamas militants on October 7.

But Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said troops left the city of Khan Yunis, after months of fighting, "to prepare for future missions, including... in Rafah".

The war between Israel and Hamas entered its seventh month on Sunday as US and other negotiators were expected to join the protagonists in Cairo in a renewed push for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Egypt's Al-Qahera News said CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani would join Egyptian mediators for Sunday's indirect talks between the Israeli and Hamas delegations.

Hamas confirmed ahead of the talks that its core demands were a complete ceasefire in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Algerian cinema is in search of a revival, decades after its 1970s heyday and steep decline, with authorities having blown hot and cold in their support.

Today, the country counts only a few dozen theatres against a backdrop of legal, bureaucratic and financial restraints.

"Algerian cinema is rich in its talents and poor in its means," said producer and film critic Ahmed Bedjaoui. "We need to give a little more freedom to filmmakers."

During the 1960s and 70s, the north African country was home to more than 450 cinemas and film libraries.

At the start of Israel's war with Hamas in October, Donald Trump loudly presented himself as the key US ally's ultimate champion.

But six months and more than 33,000 deaths in Gaza later, the Republican White House hopeful has become increasingly vague on the intensity of that support.

The former US president, not usually known for biting his tongue on any given topic, has only halfheartedly commented on the issue in two recent interviews.

"I'm not sure that I'm loving the way they're doing it," he told a conservative radio host Thursday about Israel's offensive.

Tens of thousands of Israelis protested against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday as Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza reaches its half-year mark.

Organisers said about 100,000 people converged at a Tel Aviv crossroads renamed "Democracy Square" since mass protests against controversial judicial reforms last year.

Chanting "elections now", protesters called for his resignation as the war in Gaza enters its seventh month on Sunday, AFP correspondents reported.

Israel's army said on Saturday its troops recovered the body of a hostage abducted by Palestinian militants during the October 7 attack and later murdered in captivity in the Gaza Strip.

The recovery of Elad Katzir's body brings to 12 the number of bodies of hostages which the army says it has brought home from Gaza during the war.

But it gave no comfort to his sister, who blamed Israeli authorities for his death.