The United States unsealed a raft of "terrorism" and other charges against six Hamas leaders on Tuesday related to the armed Palestinian group's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

The charging document, dated February 1, targets six leaders of the group -- including Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and late political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in late July in Tehran.

They are accused of "conspiracy to provide material support for acts of terrorism resulting in death" along with six other counts.

The backlash to Britain's suspension of some arms exports to Israel shows the fine line the Labour government has to tread in its relations with its Middle Eastern ally.

While suggesting it will be tougher towards Israel than Conservative predecessors, the suspension also highlights Labour's difficulty in pleasing both Jewish groups with which it has worked hard to repair relations and its left-wing, largely pro-Palestinian base.

An operation to tow away a burning oil tanker attacked by Yemeni rebels in the Red Sea is too hazardous to proceed, a European Union naval mission said on Tuesday, warning of severe environmental risks.

The Greek-flagged oil tanker, Sounion, was hit by Yemen's Iran-backed Huthis off the coast of Hodeida on August 21 while carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude oil.

"The private companies responsible for the salvage operation have concluded that the conditions were not met to conduct the towing operation and that it was not safe to proceed," the mission said in a statement on X.

A war monitor said a senior commander from the security forces in northeast Syria's semi-autonomous Kurdish-led administration was killed on Tuesday in a blast near a prison in Hasakeh province.

"A commander in the Kurdish security forces was killed and another person was wounded" in an explosion near the prison in Umm Fursan on the outskirts of the city of Qamishli "at the same time that a Turkish drone was flying in the area", the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Israeli forces were operating Tuesday in the northern West Bank, a week into military raids in the occupied territory that the Palestinian health ministry said killed at least 30.

In the latest bloodshed, two Palestinian men were killed in "Israeli aggression on the Dhnaba suburb, east of Tulkarem", the Ramallah-based ministry said in a statement.

In separate violence on Tuesday, a 16-year-old girl was killed by the Israeli army in the town of Kfar Dan, in Jenin governorate, the ministry said.

The United States said Tuesday it was time to "finalise" a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the Gaza war, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to bow to pressure.

Washington would work "over the coming days" with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar "to push for a final agreement," said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

At a shop nestled in a busy, crowded Beirut district, Hasan El-Makary is weighing out containers of warm, fragrant mufataka, a traditional sweet in the Lebanese capital that is rarely found in stores.

"I've been in this shop for 50 years, but we started specialising in mufataka 30 years ago," Makary said from the humble shop with its ageing decor and low ceiling.

A kind of rice pudding made with turmeric, tahini sesame paste, sugar and pine nuts, mufataka is traditional in Beirut but less known even outside the city.

Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who assumed Algeria's presidency during mass pro-democracy protests, is touting his achievements as he seeks another term. Yet, five years after the movement faded, some say real change remains elusive.

The Hirak protests, which led to the ousting of longtime autocratic president Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2019, aimed for a comprehensive political overhaul.

Tebboune, a minister under Bouteflika, took over as president in December that year after widely boycotted elections, as the movement was stifled and its leaders were imprisoned.

The United Nations said it held talks Monday with rival powers in Libya over the country's central bank crisis which has threatened vital oil income.

The UN Support Mission in Libya hosted the two administrations separately for discussions "marked by open and candid dialogue", it said in a statement.

The "efforts to resolve the crisis" follow a series of events which the eastern administration said were attempts by the Tripoli-based, UN-backed government to seize control of the central bank.

A rescue mission was underway Monday for an oil tanker still ablaze after being attacked by Houthi rebels off the coast of Yemen last month, according to US Central Command.

The Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion was hit by the Huthis off the coast of Hodeida on August 21 while carrying 150,000 metric tons of crude oil.

In a post on X, CENTCOM said "salvage efforts are underway" in the southern Red Sea for the disabled vessel, "which is still on fire and threatens the possibility of a major environmental disaster."