WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Unites States designated four Iran-aligned militia groups as foreign terrorist organizations on Wednesday, the State Department said.

The groups are Harakat al-Nujaba, Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya and Kata’ib al-Imam Ali, the department said in a statement. All four have been previously cited as Specially Designated Global Terrorists and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada in 2023, it said.

The European Union on Wednesday proposed curbing trade ties with Israel and sanctioning ministers in its strongest action yet over the war in Gaza, though reluctance from key member states risks blocking adoption.

The bloc's executive, however, said it would take immediate action by freezing some 20 million euros ($23.7 million) in support for Israel.

Pressure has mounted on the 27-nation bloc to act against Israel over its devastating near two-year offensive in Gaza.

DUBAI (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia on Wednesday condemned "in the strongest terms" the Israeli ground operation in Gaza City, a day after Israel unleashed a long-threatened ground assault on the enclave.

The kingdom also urged members of the U.N. Security Council to act to halt what it described as Israel's killing, starvation and forced displacement of Palestinians, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement,

Israel on Tuesday started a ground offensive to seize control of Gaza's main urban centre.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission on Wednesday proposed to suspend free-trade arrangements on Israeli goods due to the war in Gaza, even though the measure does not currently have sufficient support among the European Union's member countries to pass.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas also proposed a package of sanctions on two Israeli ministers, as well as violent settlers and Hamas members.

(Reporting by Lili Bayer, editing by Bart Meijer)

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Leo on Wednesday denounced the "unacceptable" conditions faced by Palestinians in Gaza, voicing solidarity with civilians and renewing his appeal for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.

"I express my deep closeness to the Palestinian people in Gaza, who continue to live in fear and survive in unacceptable conditions, forced once again to leave their land," the pope said in his weekly general audience at the Vatican.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Alexander Cornwell and Steven Scheer

CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -The Israeli military said on Wednesday it was opening an additional route for 48 hours that Palestinians could use to leave Gaza City as it stepped up efforts to empty the city of civilians and confront thousands of Hamas combatants.

Hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering in the city and many are reluctant to follow Israel's orders to move south because of the dangers along the way, dire conditions, a lack of food in the southern area, and fear of permanent displacement.

DUBAI/PARIS (Reuters) -Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi is set to hold a call with the British, French and German foreign ministers on Wednesday as Tehran seeks to avert the reimposition of international sanctions over its nuclear programme.

A French diplomatic source said the call was aimed at discussing the impending reimposition of U.N. sanctions by the European powers and to reaffirm conditions they have set for Tehran to enable that decision to be delayed.

By Laila Bassam and Emilie Madi

BEIRUT (Reuters) -Zainab Mustarah once spent her days running an events planning firm in Beirut. But for the last year, she has been in and out of surgery to save the remnants of her right hand and both eyes, maimed when Israel detonated booby-trapped pagers in Lebanon.

On September 17, 2024, thousands of pagers carried by members of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah exploded simultaneously, followed the next day by booby-trapped walkie-talkies.

Huge numbers of Palestinians were fleeing Gaza City by any means on Wednesday as the Israeli military pressed its ground offensive, killing dozens in strikes.

AFP images showed a steady stream of Gazans heading south on foot, by car and on donkey carts, with their few belongings piled high as Israel bombarded the city.

Israel had announced the day before that the US-backed campaign in the Gaza Strip's largest city had begun, pledging to destroy the militant group Hamas in the area.

Acclaimed Tel Aviv-based TV screenwriter Hagai Levi says many artists like him want to leave Israel because of the Gaza war, with a gathering cultural boycott of the country adding to their problems.

Levi, writer of a string of TV hits including "Scenes from a Marriage", "The Affair" and "In Treatment", is an outspoken critic of Israel's siege of Gaza and understands international anger over the issue.