At least 8,565 people died on migration routes worldwide in 2023, making it the deadliest year since records began a decade ago, the United Nations said Wednesday.

"The 2023 death toll represents a tragic increase of 20 percent compared to 2022, highlighting the urgent need for action to prevent further loss of life," the UN's International Organization for Migration said in a statement.

The IOM said last year's total surpassed the previous record reached in 2016, when 8,084 people died during migration.

So far this year, 512 deaths have already been recorded.

A probe into Israel's worst civilian disaster on Wednesday found Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "bears personal responsibility" for the 2021 stampede which killed 45 Jewish pilgrims.

Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews had converged on Mount Meron, near Israel's border with Lebanon, on April 30, 2021 for an annual pilgrimage to the tomb of a reputed second-century rabbi.

The stampede in the male section of the gender-segregated crowd is believed to have started as people moved through a narrow passageway that became a deadly chokepoint.

A surprise deal reached one year ago to mend ties with Iran has paid dividends for Saudi Arabia, largely shielding it from the Israel-Hamas war and related unrest, analysts say.

Though thorns remain in the complex relationship between the Middle East rivals, the rapprochement amounts to a signature diplomatic achievement for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's hard-charging de facto ruler.

Envoys pushed on with efforts for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal in Cairo talks Wednesday, hoping to halt nearly five months of fighting with days to go before Ramadan.

US President Joe Biden had urged Hamas to accept a ceasefire plan with Israel before the Muslim fasting month begins, which could be as early as Sunday depending on the sighting of the crescent moon.

As negotiators in Egypt sought to overcome tough stumbling blocks, deadly fighting again rocked Gaza where the UN warns famine looms and desperate crowds have stopped and looted food aid trucks.

Forced to flee her home by Israeli bombardment, Asmaa Ahmed gave birth in the middle of the night in a Gaza City school that had no electricity.

The doctor arrived just in time, working by the light of a mobile phone and clamping the umbilical cord with whatever medical staff could find.

"I was very, very afraid to lose the baby," 31-year-old Ahmed told AFP, recounting how her son Faraj came into the world four months ago.

Baraa Jaber, the nurse who assisted in the delivery, said she was scared too.

Poignant images of an anguished Shiri Bibas clutching her two red-headed boys as she was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 have turned her into the face of the Israeli hostages seized that day.

But friends and relatives of the 32-year-old say the unassuming woman they know and love would have been ill-at-ease at being thrust into the spotlight, in footage shot and aired by Hamas militants.

Five months later, Bibas's fate and those of her baby boy and young son remain unclear.

Children have begun starving to death in Gaza, where the United Nations has warned a famine is "almost inevitable."

Here's what to know about the hunger crisis engulfing the war-torn Palestinian territory.

- Emaciated children -

At least 15 children have died from starvation and dehydration in a single hospital, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Media including AFP have captured haunting images of emaciated infants with sunken eyes and gaunt faces.

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump expressed his support for Israel's war in Gaza Tuesday, in his most explicit comments yet on the fighting, as international pressure grows on the United States to rein in its ally.

"Yes," Trump responded, when asked during an interview on Fox News if he was "in Israel's camp."

The interviewer then asked if the former president was "on board" with the way Israel was executing its offensive in Gaza.

"You've got to finish the problem," Trump responded.

US President Joe Biden warned Tuesday of a "very, very dangerous" situation without a Gaza ceasefire deal by Ramadan, adding that it was up to Hamas to accept a deal as talks continue in Cairo.

As the US military made its second airdrop of aid to Gaza, Biden also told ally Israel there were "no excuses" for failing to allow more aid into the Palestinian enclave where the UN warns famine is looming.

A Lebanese couple and their son were killed Tuesday in an Israeli strike on a house in the southern border village of Hula, the Lebanese official National News Agency reported.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and Israel have traded deadly cross-border fire on a near-daily basis since war broke out in October between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers, a Hezbollah ally.

"The three civilians, Hassan Hussein, his wife, Ruwaida Mustafa, and their 25-year-old son, Ali Hussein, were killed in the enemy raid on a three-storey house in Hula," NNA said.