Thousands of demonstrators protested in Paris on Saturday in a banned march in "support of the Palestinian people" AFP correspondents saw.

A large contingent of police blocked marchers in a central part of the capital.

Among the protesters were elected officials wearing tricolor scarves, including a green MP and a far-left lawmaker.

"(The need for) a ceasefire is urgent, to stop killing women, children and men," said the deputy mayor of the central town of Corbeil-Essonnes, Elsa Toure.

Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched in Britain Saturday calling for a ceasefire as Israel's army intensified its assault on the Gaza Strip. Thousands more demonstrated in France and Switzerland.

As Israel's intense strikes provided cover for its ground forces to step up fighting in Gaza, the United Nations warning thousands more civilians could die.

Israel unleashed its bombing campaign after Hamas gunmen stormed across the Gaza border on October 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seizing more than 220 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched in central London on Saturday calling for an immediate ceasefire in the deadly war between Israel and Hamas.

It was the third consecutive weekend that the British capital was the venue for a large rally in support of Palestinians since the attack by Hamas on Israel earlier this month.

Israel unleashed a bombing campaign after Hamas gunmen stormed across the Gaza border on October 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seizing more than 220 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Israel said Saturday it was recalling its diplomatic staff from Turkey after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered a fierce attack on its military operation against Hamas militants in Gaza.

The announcement dealt a body blow to the sides' nascent efforts to restore political and economic relations after a decade of all but frozen ties.

Israel and Turkey -- an overwhelmingly Muslim nation that forms the bulwark of NATO defences on the edge of the Middle East -- had only just agreed to reappoint ambassadors last year.

Oil-rich Gulf states have positioned themselves as both champions of climate innovation and guardians of fossil fuel interests -- a balancing act experts warn could derail action at COP28 in Dubai.

This year's United Nations climate summit is being chaired and hosted by the United Arab Emirates, a country dubbed "an oil company with a state attached" by one observer who requested anonymity so they could speak freely about the negotiations.

According to COP28 director general Majid Al Suwadi, "the UAE has been a leader when it comes to climate change".

A sprawling network of Hamas tunnels under the Gaza Strip has become a primary target for the Israeli military in its stated mission to defeat the Palestinian militants, experts say.

The army said Saturday its forces had struck 150 "underground targets" in a night-time blitz on Gaza that destroyed "terror tunnels" and "underground combat spaces", and killed Hamas fighters.

The families of 229 hostages seized by Hamas stepped up calls Friday for Israel's government to outline plans for their rescue as troops expanded a devastating assault on the war-torn Gaza Strip.

As Israel intensified its overnight bombardment, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main group representing those abducted by militants in the October 7 attacks, sought an immediate meeting with ministers.

Mahmud al-Astal is one of many medics providing lifesaving care as casualties flood hospitals in Gaza, only to one day discover his sister and her entire family among the dead.

"I went to the morgue and found her charred and in pieces," the 34-year-old doctor told AFP from the main hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

"On the third day of the war, while I was working at the emergency unit in Nasser Hospital, I discovered my sister had been killed with her husband and children," he said.

Israel intensified its attacks on Gaza Sunday, calling for civilians to flee south where it vowed aid would increase, as the Red Cross warned of "intolerable" suffering.

The United Nations warned thousands more civilians could die in Gaza as Israel declared the war had entered a "second stage", stepping up its ground operations inside the Hamas-run territory.

Israel unleashed a massive bombing campaign after Hamas gunmen stormed across the border on October 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 230 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Hundreds of people were arrested Friday when police broke up a large demonstration of mostly Jewish New Yorkers who had taken over the main hall of Grand Central station in protest of Israel's bombardment of Gaza, police and organizers said.

The New York Police Department said at least 200 people had been arrested, while protest organizers put the number at more than 300.

Photos from the scene showed long lines of young people standing in handcuffs and wearing black sweatshirts with the words "Not In Our Name" and "Cease Fire Now" printed in white.