By Jack Kim

SEOUL, April 13 (Reuters) - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has sparked a diplomatic row with Israel and criticism at home after comparing Israeli military actions against Palestinians to the Holocaust in a post on social media platform X.

The controversy began on Friday after Lee said "wartime killings" by the Israel Defense Forces were "no different from the Jewish massacre" by the Nazis in World War Two, and reposted footage with a caption that said it showed Israeli troops had tortured and thrown a Palestinian from the roof of a building.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Mahmoud Issa

CAIRO/GAZA, April 13 (Reuters) - An Israeli airstrike killed at least three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Monday, health officials said, as mediators met leaders from Hamas in an effort to shore up a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal.

Medics said the strike had hit a group of men outside a school in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military.

BEIJING, April 13 (Reuters) - China urged calm and restraint by all sides on Monday, following U.S. President Donald Trump's threat L6N40V09S to blockade the Strait of Hormuz after the failure of weekend talks in Islamabad aimed at ending the Iran war.

Before the war, most Iranian oil exports were shipped L4N40W08K to China, the top global importer of crude.

By Emily Rose

JERUSALEM, April 13 (Reuters) - Nearly two-thirds of Israelis oppose the Iran https://www.reuters.com/world/iran/ ceasefire but the public is divided over whether Israel should respect the two-week truce or resume attacks on Iran, according to a poll from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The poll was the first national survey of Israelis conducted after the U.S. and Iran agreed last week to a ceasefire brokered by Pakistan, the survey's authors said. The two sides failed to reach a broader deal to end the war in weekend talks in Islamabad.

Lebanese and Israeli representatives were set to meet Tuesday in Washington for their first direct talks in decades, but Hezbollah's opposition to the US-mediated negotiations signalled little prospect of an agreement to stop fighting.

The United States is pressing for a halt to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, fearing that it could derail a two-week ceasefire, despite talks with Tehran in Pakistan failing to achieve a breakthrough.

LONDON, April 13 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that whatever the pressure, Britain would not be dragged into the Iran war nor be involved in a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

"We're not supporting the blockade," he told BBC Radio 5 Live, adding that it was vital to get the Strait reopened.

"It is, in my view, vital that we get the Strait open and fully open, and that's where we've put all of our efforts in the last few and we'll continue to do so," Starmer said.

Iranian authorities executed at least 1,639 people in 2025 and now risks hanging more in the the wake of the war against the US and Israel, two NGOs said Monday, urging the West to put capital punishment "at the heart" of any negotiations with Tehran.

The number of executions represented an increase of 68 percent on the 975 people Iran put to death in 2024, and also included 48 women, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said in their joint annual report.

Wall Street stocks shrugged off early weakness and pushed higher Monday as oil price gains moderated amid optimism that the United States and Iran would strike a peace agreement.

Some analysts cited President Donald Trump's claim that Iranian representatives phoned him and expressed keen desire for a deal after weekend talks in Pakistan failed to yield an agreement.

Oil prices, which had surged back above $100 a barrel as the United States imposed a blockade on Iran's imports, later eased. Both major contracts ended higher but below $100 a barrel.

By Bo Erickson and Hatem Maher

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said it will begin a blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas on Monday after weekend talks failed to reach a deal to end the war with Iran https://www.reuters.com/world/iran/, jeopardizing a fragile two-week ceasefire.

A French court on Monday fined the cement group Lafarge over $1.3 million and sentenced its former boss to six years in prison for paying protection money to the Islamic State group and other jihadists to maintain its business in war-torn Syria.

The ruling follows a 2022 case in the United States in which the French firm pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to US-designated "terrorist" organisations and agreed to pay a $778 million fine, the first time a company had faced the charge.