The COP28 climate conference should aim for a complete "phaseout" of fossil fuels, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP on Wednesday, warning of "total disaster" on humanity's current trajectory.

"Obviously I am strongly in favor of language that includes (a) phaseout, even with a reasonable time framework," Guterres said in an interview before flying off to the United Arab Emirates, the oil-rich nation hosting the two-week UN climate summit beginning Thursday.

Thai hostages freed after weeks being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip spoke Thursday of their relief after returning to Bangkok, where they were welcomed home by overjoyed relatives.

Seventeen Thais flew back from Israel after Bangkok's foreign ministry and Thai Muslim groups worked to negotiate their release.

At least 32 Thais were abducted by the Palestinian militants when they attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 240, according to Israeli authorities.

A US Navy warship shot down a drone on Wednesday launched from a part of Yemen controlled by Iran-backed Huthi rebels, the American military's Central Command said.

The Huthis, who control much of Yemen and are part of an "axis of resistance" arrayed against Israel, have launched a series of drones and missiles since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last month.

Four-year-old American hostage Abigail is surrounded by family in Israel who "brought her life back" after seven weeks of captivity, her great aunt said Wednesday, as relatives stressed they will not rest until everyone held by Hamas is freed.

The young girl, whose parents were murdered in front of her on a kibbutz near Gaza as militants stormed Israel on October 7, is the first confirmed US citizen to have been freed by Hamas among the 60 hostages released during an extended truce.

The United States on Wednesday condemned an Iranian drone flight near the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier the previous day as "unsafe" and "unprofessional."

The Eisenhower is the centerpiece of one of two carrier strike groups deployed as part of US efforts to deter Iran and its proxy forces in the Middle East from escalating the Israel-Hamas war into a broader regional conflict.

Ever since Hamas's deadly October 7 attack on southern Israel, the father of 17-year-old hostage Mia Leimberg had been praying for her safe release from captivity in Gaza -- and the return of the family pet.

To Moshe Leimberg's great joy, his daughter was finally freed on Tuesday as part of a group of hostages 12 -- 10 Israelis and two Thais -- that also included her mother and aunt.

And the release of the hostages under an agreement to pause fighting between Israel and Hamas also solved the mystery of what happened to Mia's pet dog Bella.

In the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, heavily pregnant Madleen Sabbagh fears years of violence are bleeding through the generations after her husband was among the latest to be killed.

Seven months pregnant, sitting at a window overlooking the densely populated Jenin refugee camp, Sabbagh said she stopped eating after her husband was shot in the heart earlier this month.

According to the family Mohammed Sabbagh, 30, had been standing beside his brother at the very same window during a raid by Israeli forces when he was hit by a sniper.

Gazans are "in the midst of an epic humanitarian catastrophe before the eyes of the world," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday, while calling for an expansion of the current pause in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

"Intense negotiations are taking place to prolong the truce -– which we strongly welcome -- but we believe we need a true humanitarian ceasefire," he said at a United Nations Security Council meeting.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told the meeting that the Palestinian people "are faced with an existential threat" amid the conflict.

The Emirati host of the UN climate conference in Dubai denied Wednesday reports that he used his presidency of the crucial talks on global warming to pursue fossil fuels deals.

The allegations against Sultan Al Jaber, who is also CEO of his country's oil giant ADNOC, have fanned long-running suspicions over the wisdom of a petrostate hosting the COP28 talks.

But Jaber, who also chairs a UAE-owned clean energy company, strongly denied reports that he used his position as COP president to pitch new oil and gas investments to governments.

High in remote mountains in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, a new plant will soon take atmospheric CO2 and pump it into rock -- part of controversial attempts to target planet-heating emissions without abandoning fossil fuels.

Using novel technology developed by Omani start-up 44.01, the solar-powered plant will suck carbon dioxide from the air, dissolve it in seawater and inject it deep underground, where it will mineralise over a period of months.