By Mussa Qawasma

MASAFER YATTA, West Bank, May 26 (Reuters) - Palestinian shepherd Sameeha Rasheed was planning for the sacred ritual of sacrificing her family's sheep for the Eid al-Adha holiday, one of the holiest occasions in Islam, but West Bank Jewish settlers stole them in a pre-dawn raid, she said.

Instead of celebrating, Rasheed has been left with nothing and has also been deprived of the income she would have received from selling the sheep not used by her family.

May 26 (Reuters) - Iranian hackers were responsible for a disruptive computer breach in March that forced Los Angeles' transit system to shut down parts of its network, Israeli researchers say.

The saboteurs stole at least 700 gigabytes of emails, backups, and other files from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), according to Gambit Security, a Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity firm that said it discovered the misappropriated data afterit was inadvertently exposed online.

Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed 31 people on Tuesday, the Lebanese health ministry said, as Israel said it was intensifying attacks despite a truce in its war with Hezbollah.

The Iran-backed group meanwhile said it faced Israeli troops entering the southern town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, as the Israeli military said it was expanding its ground operations.

In a statement, the health ministry said 31 people, including at least four children and three women, were killed in attacks and 40 wounded.

May 26 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday negotiating a deal with Iran could "take a few days," quashing hopes for an imminent end to the conflict a day after U.S. forces conducted what Washington called defensive strikes in southern Iran.

Describing the strikes against targets including boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites, Rubio said the Strait of Hormuz has to be open "one way or the other."

Wall Street stocks mostly rose Tuesday, lifting the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to fresh records on hopes for a Middle East peace deal.

The gains came despite a jump in Brent oil prices after US military strikes on Iran prompted worries about a military rebuttal from Tehran.

"Risk-on winds are dominating Wall Street today as progress on the US-Iran negotiations raises optimism concerning a sustained retreat in crude oil and yields," said Jose Torres of Interactive Brokers.

May 26 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that the Straitof Hormuz has to be open, "one way or the other", whenreferring to U.S strikes on Iran on Monday.

"The straits have to be open, they're going to be open one way or the other, so they need to be open," Rubio told reporters on his plane in India's Jaipur.

He said the negotiating language of the deal with Iran could "take a few days".

(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

Belgacem Haftar, son of eastern Libya's military chief Khalifa Haftar, touted in an interview with AFP what he called a push to make up for more than 40 "lost years" under slain ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

After Gaddafi was killed during the 2011 revolution, Libya descended into civil war, splitting the country in half as the Haftar clan took power in the east.

The field marshal exercises tight security control in the area he rules and, now Belgacem, one of his six sons, heads a reconstruction programme and appears to be seeking to restore the clan's legitimacy.

By Aftab Ahmed, Michael Martina and Saurabh Sharma

NEW DELHI, May 26 (Reuters) - Foreign ministers from Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. will meet on Tuesday in New Delhi in an effort to regain momentum in the Indo-Pacific-focused group known as the Quad that critics say has slowed under President DonaldTrump.

The meeting between the countries' top diplomats - Australia's Penny Wong, India's S Jaishankar, Japan's Toshimitsu Motegi and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio - will be the third such gathering since September 2024.

A group of seven women and 12 children linked to suspected Islamic State fighters returned to Australia on Tuesday after years in Syria, police said.

The so-called "ISIS brides" are Australian nationals. They left the Roj camp, controlled by Syrian Kurdish forces, last week and arrived in Melbourne and Sydney from Qatar.

In a statement following their landing, Australia's federal police said none of the cohort had been charged with an offence upon arrival.

Their belongings were searched and their devices were checked "for investigative purposes", police said.

SYDNEY, May 26 (Reuters) - A group of seven Australian women and 12 children linked to the Islamic State militant group have made travel plans to return home, authorities said on Tuesday, in what would be the second such Australian group to leave a Syrian refugee camp this month.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the government was not assisting their travel and that any who have committed crimes "can expect to face the full force of the law".