The Israeli army said Friday a civilian was killed near the country's northern border with Lebanon, as near-daily exchanges of fire with Hezbollah rage.

Both sides have stepped up attacks this week, with Hezbollah increasing rocket fire and Israel saying it had carried out "offensive action" across southern Lebanon.

The violence has fuelled fears of all-out conflict between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, which last went to war in 2006.

Criticism of Qatar over its role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas has prompted a rare pushback by the Gulf state against its detractors, analysts have said.

Qatar, which has hosted Hamas's political leadership since 2012 with the blessing of the United States, has been engaged in months of behind-the-scenes talks on a possible truce in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Columbia University backed off late Thursday from an overnight deadline for pro-Palestinian protesters to abandon an encampment there as more college campuses in the United States sought to prevent occupations from taking hold.

Police have carried out large-scale arrests in universities across the country, at times using chemical irritants and tasers to disperse protests over Israel's war with Hamas.

Saudi Arabia could have its first Miss Universe contestant this year, organisers said this week, after a fashion model and influencer claimed she had been selected.

The Miss Universe Organization "is currently undergoing a rigorous vetting process qualifying a potential candidate to be awarded the Saudi Arabia franchise", Maria Jose Unda, the organisation's coordinator of international relations, said in a statement to AFP.

A ceremony for seven aid workers of the World Central Kitchen killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza was held in Washington on Thursday.

The founder of the US-based charity, Spanish-American chef Jose Andres, attended the interdenominational "celebration of life" at the National Cathedral in the US capital.

"They risked everything to feed people they did not know," Andres said at the ceremony attended by Doug Emhoff, the husband of US Vice President Kamala Harris.

American cellist Yo-Yo Ma was expected to perform at the ceremony.

The UK on Thursday joined the United States and Canada in announcing a fresh set of sanctions against Iran's drone and missile industries after its recent attack on Israel.

Tehran launched its first direct military assault on Israeli territory nearly two weeks after an April 1 air strike -- widely blamed on Israel -- that killed seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Damascus.

Iran's large-scale attack involved more than 300 drones and missiles, most of which were shot down by Israel and its allies including Washington and London, causing little damage.

As he fed his sheep costly fodder, Palestinian farmer Talib Edais looked wistfully at the hills where his herd had grazed for free until an Israeli decision last month.

"Do you see these troughs? We had to sell some sheep to feed the others. Within a year, we will not have any sheep left," the 65-year-old told AFP at his farm near the Jordan Valley village of Jiftlik in the occupied West Bank.

Global warming caused by fossil fuel emissions "most likely" exacerbated the intense rains that lashed the UAE and Oman last week, causing deaths and widespread flooding, an expert group of scientists said Thursday.

Extreme rainfall in El Nino years has become 10-40 percent heavier in the region affected, a study published by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group found.

Climate change caused by fossil fuel emissions is the probable reason but cannot be pinpointed "with certainty", added the study compiled by 21 international researchers.

Iranian authorities on Thursday faced pressure to release and clear a prominent rapper sentenced to death in a verdict supporters say is merely revenge for his music backing anti-government protests.

Toomaj Salehi, 33, one of the best-known figures arrested in a crackdown on protests that began in 2022, risks being hanged after the conviction on the sharia charge of "corruption on Earth" by a Revolutionary Court.

Palestinians mourned people killed in Israeli bombardment of Rafah, the crowded southern Gaza city where Israel says it is advancing plans for a ground invasion.

Global concern has mounted over the looming operation against Hamas militants in Rafah, where much of Gaza's population has sought refuge from more than six months of war.

Aid groups warn any invasion would add to already-catastrophic conditions for Gaza's 2.4 million people.