BEIRUT (Reuters) -Lebanese authorities will on Friday release former central bank governor Riad Salameh, who posted a record-high bail after nearly 13 months in detention over alleged financial crimes committed during his tenure, a Lebanese judicial source said.

Once viewed as the linchpin of the banking system, Salameh, 74, saw his standing crumble as a 2019 meltdown of the sector he oversaw impoverished Lebanese depositors and froze most out of their accounts. He was subsequently battered by corruption allegations both in Lebanon and abroad.

By John Irish and Parisa Hafezi

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The world must not allow Iran to rebuild its nuclear and military programs, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday, a day before the United Nations is set to reimpose sanctions on Tehran.

All U.N. sanctions on Iran are due to be reimposed at 8 p.m. EDT on Saturday (0000 GMT) after European powers, known as the E3, triggered a 30-day process accusing Tehran of violating a 2015 deal meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.

Former UK prime minister Tony Blair could take a leading role in a transitional authority for Gaza under US-led peace plans, various British media reported on Friday.

It follows Blair's involvement in discussions with the administration of US President Donald Trump and others over the post-war transitional body for the Palestinian territory.

The plan could involve Blair leading the authority with the support of the UN and Gulf nations, according to the BBC and The Economist magazine.

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is close to a deal to end the war in Gaza and bring hostages home.

"It's looking like we have a deal on Gaza. I think it's a deal that gets the hostages back, it's going to be a deal that ends the war," Trump told reporters before departing the White House to attend the Ryder Cup golf tournament in New York.

He did not offer further details.

By Daren Butler

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has signalled he will soon meet with the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians globally to discuss the possible reopening of a key theological school near Istanbul that has been shut for more than 50 years.

The Halki seminary, founded in 1844, plays a central role in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Ecumenical Patriarchate's main theological school. It trained generations of Orthodox clergy, including the current patriarch Bartholomew.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Olivia Le Poidevin and Emma Farge

CAIRO/GENEVA (Reuters) -Since Israel shut a vital corridor into famine-stricken northern Gaza before escalating its ground offensive this month, community kitchens and health clinics have closed and vital flows of food have slowed, residents and U.N. agencies say.

The Zikim Crossing was shut on September 12, days ahead of an Israeli ground offensive on Gaza City in the north of the territory, prompting warnings from aid agencies.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the United Nations on Friday, vowed to continue Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and told the hostages still held by the Palestinian militants they were not forgotten.

Speaking in Hebrew, the Israeli leader said: "We've not forgotten you - not even for a second."

By Laila Bassam and Parisa Hafezi

BEIRUT/NEW YORK (Reuters) -Hezbollah's effort to blunt international pressure on Lebanon to disarm the group by appealing to Saudi Arabia last week was the result of back-channel diplomacy by Iran, two Iranian sources and a source with knowledge of Hezbollah thinking said.

By Maya Gebeily

BEIRUT (Reuters) -Efforts to reach a security pact between Syria and Israel have hit a last-minute snag over Israel's demand that it be allowed to open a "humanitarian corridor" to Syria's southern province of Sweida, four sources familiar with the talks said.

Syria and Israel had come close in recent weeks to agreeing the broad outlines of a pact after months of U.S.-brokered talks in Baku, Paris and London that accelerated in the lead-up to the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 50 people across the Palestinian territory on Friday, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed in a defiant UN address to "finish the job" against Hamas.

The Israeli military is pressing an offensive against the Palestinian Islamist movement in Gaza City, from which hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee in recent weeks.

The civil defence agency -- a rescue force operating under Hamas authority -- reported at least 50 people killed across the territory since dawn, 30 of them in Gaza City.