Hopes mounted Tuesday that Hamas could release dozens of hostages from war-torn Gaza after the Israeli premier said a truce deal was the "right decision" and the militant group's leader and key mediator Qatar said an agreement was in sight.

The announcements are the most optimistic yet of a potential breakthrough in the conflict, which has raged for more than six weeks and left thousands dead on both sides.

The presence of United Nations peacekeepers, whose shortcomings can frustrate local populations, is not a "magic wand" for conflict zones, said their leader Jean-Pierre Lacroix, who supports an expanded tool kit to protect civilians in increasingly complex territory.

From Lebanon to the Democratic Republican of Congo (DRC), from South Sudan to the Western Sahara, some 90,000 so-called Blue Helmets serve under the UN flag, engaged in 12 separate operations.

Climate talks often revolve around reducing the most dangerous greenhouse gas CO2.

But other powerful heat-trapping emissions -- of methane -- will be in the crosshairs at a global forum in Geneva this week.

Methane -- which is potent but relatively short-lived -- is a key target for countries wanting to slash emissions quickly and slow climate change.

That is particularly because large amounts of methane are simply leaking into the atmosphere from oil and gas projects.

US President Joe Biden said Monday he believes a deal to free hostages in Gaza is close, as hopes grew for a Qatari-brokered accord to release some captives in exchange for a pause in fighting.

"I believe so," Biden, who was taking part in a Thanksgiving turkey pardoning ceremony at the White House, said when asked whether a hostage deal was near.

Biden then crossed his fingers to signal he hoped for good luck.

His special forces reservist partner was killed in the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, two weeks before their scheduled gay "wedding".

But even though same-sex marriages are not officially recognised in Israel, Omer Ohana has since won gay soldiers' partners the same rights to a widow's pension as married couples.

His partner Sagi Golan was killed at Beeri kibbutz on the night of October 7.

Relatives of some hostages held in Gaza spoke Monday of their ongoing "nightmare", and revealed they had not been given any information about a possible imminent deal for some to be released.

Speaking at the Israeli embassy in London, several relatives of those held by Hamas in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory detailed how their lives were frozen as they await news of their loved ones.

Lebanon's Hezbollah movement said it targeted troops in northern Israel with drones, artillery and missiles on Monday, claiming a string of new attacks.

The Israel-Lebanon border has seen daily exchanges of fire since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7.

Hezbollah fighters targeted soldiers west of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel "with three attack drones", the Iran-backed group said in a statement, adding shortly after that it had also targeted troops in the area with artillery fire.

Both statements claimed the attacks were "direct hits".

Twenty-eight premature babies were evacuated from war-devastated Gaza to Egypt on Monday as the Hamas-run health ministry accused Israel of a deadly strike on the territory's Indonesian Hospital.

While fighting raged, negotiators worked to seal a deal for the release of some of the roughly 240 hostages the Islamist militants took during their unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel.

Israeli troops were "expanding" their operation in the Gaza Strip Monday, as Qatari mediators said they were inching closer to a deal to free some of the 240 hostages held by Hamas militants.

Israel has warned residents of Gaza's largest refugee camp Jabalia and a nearby coastal camp to evacuate, as the military said Sunday it was "expanding its operational activities in additional neighbourhoods... of the Gaza Strip."

After intense bombardment, an AFP journalist in Gaza saw columns of smoke rising from Jabalia on Sunday.

Emily turned nine on Friday. Like many little girls the world over, she loves to sing and to dance like Beyonce.

But unlike those other girls, Emily "spent her birthday in the Gaza tunnels", one of the scores of hostages snatched by Hamas during its deadly October 7 attack on Israel, according to her father Thomas Hand.

"She wouldn't even know it was her birthday. She doesn't know what day it is, and what date it is," Irish-born Hand told AFP Sunday, making a heart-rending appeal to the UK to bring Emily home.