Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has called for members of the ultra-Orthodox community to be required to perform military service like other Israeli Jews as the Gaza war rages on.

"We must all bear the burden," Gallant said, addressing what has long been a divisive political issue in a country with mandatory military service for most citizens.

Since Israel was founded in 1948, Jewish men who study the Torah full-time in a seminary are granted an annual deferment from military service until the age of 26, at which point they become exempt.

Democracy faced sharp, widespread setbacks worldwide in 2023 with violence and manipulation marring a series of elections, Freedom House said Thursday.

In its annual report, the US-funded pro-democracy advocacy and research group switched classifications for two countries, downgrading Ecuador from free to partly free and upgrading Thailand from not free to partly free.

Israel has "more or less accepted" a proposal for a six-week ceasefire in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a US official said Saturday as Palestinian negotiators were expected in Cairo.

Mediators have been scrambling to lock in a truce before Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month which begins on March 10 or 11, eyeing an end to the almost five-month conflict that has ravaged Hamas-ruled Gaza.

In a sign of the dire humanitarian conditions as violence rages on, the besieged territory's health ministry reported more than a dozen child malnutrition deaths in recent days.

The United States on Wednesday urged Israel to allow Muslims to worship at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem during Ramadan, after a far-right minister proposed barring Palestinians from the occupied West Bank from praying there.

"As it pertains to Al-Aqsa, we continue to urge Israel to facilitate access to Temple Mount for peaceful worshippers during Ramadan consistent with past practice," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters, using the Jewish term for the site, the holiest in Judaism.

A rare reformist woman standing in Iran's legislative elections on Friday, Afifeh Abedi hopes to bolster women's place in society and add a fresh voice in a parliament dominated by male conservatives.

Women "are very active in society but hold a very small share of the power," said the 44-year-old candidate ahead of a campaign event at a mosque in southern Tehran.

"It's men who make the decisions, even when they concern women."

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) on Wednesday announced a "multi-year strategic partnership" with the ATP, the governing body of men's tennis, extending the kingdom's influence on international sport.

In a joint statement, the two bodies said that the partnership marked "a significant shared commitment to enhancing global tennis".

Since 2021, PIF has invested heavily in a number of major sports industries including setting up the LIV golf tour, a rival to the PGA, and purchasing English Premier League club Newcastle United.

Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki said Wednesday he believes Hamas understands why it should not be part of a new government in the Palestinian territories.

Maliki told a press conference that a "technocratic" government was needed, without the Islamist group which is fighting a bitter war against Israel.

"The time now is not for a national coalition government," Maliki said.

More than 50 UK-based broadcast journalists have sent an open letter to the Israeli and Egyptian embassies calling for "free and unfettered access" to Gaza for foreign media, British media reported Wednesday.

The letter, from 55 correspondents and presenters from the main broadcasting outlets based in the UK, appealed for better protection for journalists already reporting in the territory.

The mayors of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem were set to win new terms as preliminary results from Israel's delayed municipal elections trickled in on Wednesday.

The early results also showed that ultra-Orthodox parties won nearly half the vote in Jerusalem city council contests, primarily due to low turnout among other blocs.

Israel was originally scheduled to hold mayoral and municipal council elections on October 31, but postponed them after the war in Gaza erupted earlier that month.

Thousands of visitors in Israel have been flocking weekly to the site of the Supernova music festival, to pay their respects to the 364 people killed there by Hamas in the October 7 attacks.

Visitors disembark from a constant flow of buses and cars on the edge of fields and forests in the south of Israel, just a few kilometres (miles) away from the Gaza Strip.

Nearly five months ago, some 3,000 festival-goers were at this spot preparing to enjoy a two-day techno party under the desert sky.