Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi did not appear on Tuesday at a summit in Ankara that Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier announced to reporters -- but which Tehran itself never officially confirmed.

The confusion around Raisi's visit underscores the tensions that linger between the two regional powers despite their shared views on the Israel-Hamas war.

The Turkish presidency told AFP that Erdogan had no meetings planned for Tuesday and did not explain whether the visit had been cancelled or postponed.

Many Gazans were hostile to Hamas ahead of the group's brutal October 7 attack on Israel, with some describing its rule as a second occupation, according to rare polling data analyzed by a US-Palestinian researcher.

The findings are striking against a backdrop of protests and counter-protests triggered by the attack, with the relationship between Hamas and ordinary Gazans often the subject of heated debate.

Hamas is willing to further extend a truce for hostage and prisoner exchanges, a source close to the militant group said Thursday, and the United States urged Israel to set up safe zones for Gaza civilians as a pause in their deadly war neared expiry.

International pressure has risen for a lasting halt to the war, sparked by deadly Hamas attacks on Israel that prompted it to mount a devastating assault on the Gaza Strip.

Injured by Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, ten-year-old Mira can no longer speak or walk, a condition her sister hopes will improve with advanced treatment in a UAE hospital.

Suffering from a brain hemorrhage and a fractured skull after a shell landed near her Gaza home last month, Mira on Sunday was stretchered aboard an Emirati evacuation plane.

She is one of 80 patients and their relatives who were airlifted to the United Arab Emirates from Egypt's El-Arish airport, near the Rafah border crossing from Gaza.

In Palestinian cities in the occupied West Bank, long the turf of president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, the green flag of Islamist rival Hamas is flying ever higher thanks to prisoner-hostage exchanges.

For three nights, Palestinians have celebrated the return of dozens of detainees freed from Israeli jails, in exchange for women and children seized during October 7 attacks by Hamas fighters.

That has seen the popularity of Hamas soar in the West Bank, run by Abbas's Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA).

Ahmed Abdelaziz, 63, joined the celebrations on Sunday.

An American man on Monday was charged with attempted murder in Vermont over the shooting of three men of Palestinian descent, in a crime authorities described as an act of hatred.

Vermont state attorney Sarah George said there was not yet sufficient evidence to support a hate crime enhancement of the charges against the suspect, identified as Jason Eaton, 48.

But "I do want to be clear," George told reporters in Burlington, the northeastern US city where the shooting occurred. "There is no question this was a hateful act."

From Lebanon, Palestinian Fatima al-Ashwah has been praying for relatives in Gaza, but received grim news that Israeli bombing killed around 12 of them days before a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas.

"They bombed their house," leaving some of them "in pieces," said Ashwah, drained by weeks of anguish and days of grief.

She is among an estimated 250,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, most of them in poverty, according to the United Nations.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson denounced the leader of the far-right party propping up his government Monday after he called for some mosques to be torn down.

Sweden Democrats (SD) leader Jimmie Akesson called for some mosques to be seized and levelled during a speech to his annual party conference on Saturday.

"We need to start confiscating and tearing down mosques where anti-democratic, anti-Swedish, homophobic, anti-Semitic propaganda or general disinformation is being spread," Akesson said.

Israel said Monday it was open to extending a truce with Hamas if the Palestinian group continues to release hostages, as international pressure mounted for a longer pause in the Gaza fighting.

If no extension is agreed the temporary truce is due to expire at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) on Tuesday, threatening a return to intense fighting in a war that has already left many thousands dead.

US President Joe Biden, top EU envoy Josep Borrell and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg have all joined a global chorus urging the parties to extend their temporary break in fighting.

The United Arab Emirates planned to exploit meetings with foreign governments arranged due to its COP28 hosting role to strike fossil fuel deals, according to leaked documents obtained by the BBC.

The leaked briefing notes, obtained by journalists at the Centre for Climate Reporting (CCR) working alongside the British broadcaster, were prepared by the UAE's COP28 team for summit president Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber ahead of meetings with foreign governments between July and October this year.