Palestinian teacher Iman Mussallam says she is struggling to come to terms with the Gaza war's death toll nearing 30,000 after almost five months of conflict between Israel and Hamas.

But with many victims still trapped under the rubble of flattened buildings, the displaced Gaza woman says she is certain "the real number is greater than that".

"We don't know how many martyrs there will be when the war ends," added the 30-year-old, who has taken refuge at a crowded United Nations shelter in Gaza's far-southern city of Rafah.

As Iranians head to the polls for legislative and other elections on Friday, candidates have promised them on campaign posters to "fight corruption" and "fix the economy".

In the minds of many voters, economic hardship is indeed the most burning issue as the Islamic republic suffers under punishing international sanctions and rapid inflation.

At Tehran's storied Grand Bazaar, many shoppers are simply wandering the warren of aisles without buying anything, as prices have skyrocketed in recent years.

Israeli troops killed three Palestinians in an overnight raid in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said Tuesday.

The Israeli army confirmed the deaths, saying all three were Palestinian militants, including a senior commander from the Islamic Jihad group.

The raid was the latest in a surge of violence in the Palestinian territory since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip on October 7.

Days ago, Tala Assaad could hear Israeli strikes near south Lebanon's coastal city of Sidon. Now, she's having lunch at a packed ski resort, eager to disconnect from news of war.

This winter, more well-heeled Lebanese have been hitting the slopes north of Beirut as Lebanon's Hezbollah and arch-foe Israel exchange near-daily fire in the country's south, amid fears of all-out conflict as the Gaza war rages.

The head of the World Trade Organization on Tuesday said she was "cautiously optimistic" about prospects of striking deals on fisheries and agriculture during a ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi.

The comments by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala came as tough negotiations kicked off on the second day of the WTO's 13th ministerial conference which is scheduled to run until Thursday but could go into over-time amid divisions.

"We just got started… so we are at the very beginning,” she told a press conference.

“I can say that I am cautiously optimistic."

US President Joe Biden said Monday he hoped a ceasefire in Gaza could start by the beginning of next week, adding that Israel was ready to halt operations during the Muslim month of Ramadan as part of any deal.

Amid a spiraling humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory, representatives from Egypt, Qatar, the United States, France and others have acted as go-betweens for Israel and Hamas, seeking a halt to the fighting and the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Iraq enjoys tremendous oil wealth but many hard-scrabble farmers in the north say crude spills have contaminated their lands, piling on pressure as they already battle drought.

Amid the hills of Salaheddin province, puddles of the viscous black liquid pollute the otherwise fertile and green fields, rendering vast swathes of farmland barren.

"The oil has damaged all that the land can give," said one farmer, Abdel Majid Said, 62, who owns six hectares (15 acres) in the village of Al-Meaibdi.

"Every planted seed is ruined. This land has become useless."

At a museum in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Gazan works on display are proclaimed to be an "ongoing artistic demonstration" in solidarity with the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

"This is not an exhibition", reads the sign at the entrance to the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit, near Ramallah, showcasing art and heritage from the Gaza Strip.

Alongside contemporary pieces, the works include old, traditional paintings and costumes, as well as archeological artefacts, said board member Ehab Bessaiso, a former culture minister.

Israelis voted Tuesday in twice postponed municipal elections that could offer a gauge of the public mood nearly five months into the war against Hamas in Gaza.

Soldiers had already cast their ballots over the past week at special polling stations set up in army encampments in Gaza as fighting raged.

Polls opened at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and closed at 10:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Tuesday, at which point turnout stood at around 49 percent, according to election authorities.

That was down from 59.5 percent in 2018.

Mediator Qatar expressed hopes Tuesday that a new truce between Israel and Hamas could be secured within days, after US President Joe Biden said a ceasefire could start next week and last through Ramadan.

As a dire humanitarian crisis unfolds in Gaza, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA and the United States appealed for aid to be allowed into the war-battered Palestinian territory.

Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators have been in a protracted bid to broker a ceasefire nearly five months into the devastating war.