March 31 (Reuters) - Chinese and Pakistani foreign ministers on Monday called for an immediate ceasefire and an end to war in the Gulf and Middle East regions, urging peace talks to be held as soon as possible, Pakistan's foreign ministry and China's state news agency Xinhua reported.

The diplomats also said the safety of waterways should be ensured and that of ships and crews stranded in the waters within the Strait of Hormuz, Xinhua said.

By Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM, March 31 (Reuters) - Israel will destroy all homes in Lebanese villages near the border and 600,000 people who fled the south will not be allowed home until northern Israel is secure, the defence minister said on Tuesday, vowing to inflict Gaza-like destruction in the area.

Israel Katz reiterated Israeli plans to establish a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, saying that it would maintain control over a swathe of territory up to the Litani River once the war with Iran-backed Hezbollah group ended.

LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed migration and closer cooperation on returns, border security and tackling people smuggling networks in a meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in London, said Starmer's office on Tuesday.

Starmer welcomed steps taken by the Syrian government against the Islamic State and progress on UK-Syria counter-terrorism cooperation, while also addressing wider regional stability and economic issues, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

(Reporting by Sarah Young, writing by Sam Tabahriti)

By Saurabh Sharma

NEW DELHI, March 31 (Reuters) - A day before Israel and the United States attacked Iran on February 28, the Indian‑flagged LPG tanker Pine Gas loaded cargo at the United Arab Emirates’ Ruwais port, hoping to reach home within a week.

However, it would be nearly three weeks before the vessel safely transited the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran began selectively allowing ships through the narrow waterway.

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - The next few days in the Middle East conflict will be decisive, U.S. DefenseSecretary Pete Hegseth told a briefing on Tuesday, saying there had been major desertions from the Iranian armed forces.

"We have more and more options, and they have less ... in only one month we set the terms, the upcoming days will be decisive," Hegseth said. "Iran knows that, and there's almost nothing they can militarily do about it."

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that the next days of the Iran war will be "decisive" while refusing to rule out US ground forces playing a role in the conflict.

Hegseth also revealed during a news conference -- his first in nearly two weeks -- that he had visited US troops in the Middle East over the weekend, and said that talks on ending the conflict were "gaining strength."

"The upcoming days will be decisive. Iran knows that, and there's almost nothing they can militarily do about it," Hegseth said.

CAIRO, March 31 (Reuters) - Israeli strikes killed at least five people in the Gaza Strip in two separate attacks on Tuesday, health officials said, in the latest violence overshadowing a fragile five-months-old U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal.

Medics said an Israeli airstrike in Jabalia, north of the enclave, killed at least three people earlier in the day, while another airstrike killed two others in Khan Younis, in the south.

There was no Israeli comment on either of the two incidents.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that US forces would end operations in Iran "very soon," evoking a timeline of two to three weeks as his administration pursues talks with Iranian authorities while continuing its aerial campaign.

Asked during a White House event about the impact of high fuel prices since the start of the war on February 28, Trump said that "All I have to do is leave Iran, and we'll be doing that very soon, and they'll become tumbling down."

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump urged countries who did not help the U.S. in its coordinated strikes against Iran and are now unable to get jet fuel to buy American oil and go to the Strait of Hormuz and "just TAKE it."

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Susan Heavey; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

By Raghed Waked and Thomas Suen

BEIRUT, March 31 (Reuters) - A month ago, Nariman al-Issa's life was like any 12-year-old's: she played with toys and rode her bicycle in Beirut's southern suburbs. Her childhood was turned upside down when an Israeli strike killed her parents and siblings and destroyed their home.

Now the young Syrian is out of school and barely surviving with her extended family out on the street in the Lebanese capital - among the 1 million displaced by the Israeli military's expanding air strikes and mass evacuation orders.