On a sailing boat anchored off Oman's pristine Daymaniyat Islands, volunteer divers pull on wetsuits, check their scuba tanks and then take turns plunging into the clear turquoise water.

They are diving for a reason: to remove the massive fishing nets damaging an unusually resilient coral reef system that is seen as more likely than most to survive rising sea temperatures.

The clean-up is one example of how divers and Omani authorities are joining forces to protect the reefs -- which are critical for marine wildlife -- from man-made damage.

Ilham Majid was praying when bombs fell on her Gaza house, and her husband only found her hours later under the rubble, alive but seriously wounded.

She was one of the luckier ones -- 17 other family members, including two of her children, were killed in that fateful October 31 raid in the Jabalia refugee camp of northern Gaza, where Israel has been fighting Hamas militants following deadly attacks earlier that month.

Now, like several other Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, Majid is receiving medical treatment in Egypt.

Patients lie on cold, bloodstained floors in hospitals filled to overflowing. Some scream in pain, but others lie silently, deathly white, too weak even to cry out.

Hospitals in the southern Gaza Strip have descended into chaos since the resumption of the war between the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel.

After eight weeks of war, interrupted only by one seven-day pause that ended on Friday, the doctors are exhausted.

Teary-eyed, keffiyeh-wearing activists protested Israel's bombardment of Gaza at the UN climate talks in the UAE Sunday -- a tame but rare display in a country where demonstrations are banned.

Hindered by UN restrictions preventing them from raising Palestinian flags or chanting certain slogans, more than 100 activists in a COP28 "Blue Zone" venue, managed by the world body and not local authorities, demanded a Gaza ceasefire.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court vowed Sunday to step up efforts to investigate alleged war crimes, as he wrapped up a visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

Karim Khan stressed his visit was "not investigative in nature" but said he was able to speak to victims on both sides of the conflict.

More than 15,200 people have been killed in the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza, according to Islamist group Hamas, in more than eight weeks of combat and heavy bombardment.

Israel struck Gaza targets Sunday in its war on Hamas sparked by the October 7 attacks, as international concern deepened over mounting civilian deaths on the third day of fighting after a truce ended.

More than 15,500 people have been killed in the besieged Palestinian territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, in more than eight weeks of combat and heavy bombardment.

Israeli air and artillery strikes hit Gaza's northern frontier with Israel, throwing thick clouds of smoke and dust into the sky.

Dubai's glitzy skyline was obscured by a blanket of smog rated as "unhealthy" on Sunday as thousands of delegates attended a COP28 conference dedicated to the harmful effects of air pollution.

The air quality index reached 155 micrograms per cubic metre of PM2.5 pollution -- the fine particulate matter that is most harmful, as it can enter the bloodstream -- according to WAQI.info, a real-time pollution tracker.

Within a flat in northern Tehran, concealed from the public eye, Sean proudly showcases the tattoo motifs crafted by his students, each meticulously etched onto silicon canvases.

The 34-year-old opened the studio only eight months ago, aspiring to share the art of tattooing that over the years has largely thrived underground in the Islamic republic.

"All tattoo artists in Iran usually work at home," Sean, using his artistic nickname, told AFP in his studio.

"We risked a lot this year by opening this place and turning it into an academy."

Israel struck Gaza targets Sunday in its war on Hamas sparked by the October 7 attacks as international concern mounted over the spiralling civilian death toll on the third day after the end of a week-long truce.

More than 15,200 people have been killed in the besieged Palestinian territory, according to Hamas, in more than eight weeks of fighting that resumed after the ceasefire ended early Friday.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday urged Israel to protect civilians as it battles Hamas in Gaza, saying that shielding noncombatants is necessary for victory in the urban fight against the Palestinian militant group.

Fighting between Israel and Hamas resumed the day before after a week-long truce between the two sides collapsed, with both sides blaming the other for the breakdown of the deal and the resumption of violence.