(Reuters) -Israel has recovered the body of hostage Ilan Weiss from the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday.

The remains of a second hostage, whose name had yet to be released for publication, were also retrieved, the statement added.

Weiss, 55, a resident of Kibbutz Be'eri, in southern Israel, was kidnapped from his home and killed during the October 7, 2023, cross-border attack by Hamas, the Israeli military said.

The Israeli military declared Gaza City "a dangerous combat zone" on Friday ahead of a looming offensive to conquer the Palestinian territory's largest city after almost two years of devastating war.

Israel is under mounting pressure at home and abroad to end its offensive in Gaza, where the vast majority of the population has been displaced at least once and the United Nations has declared a famine.

The Israeli military, however, is gearing up to expand the fighting and seize Gaza City, with its Arabic-language spokesman saying on Friday: "We are not waiting.

By Leonardo Benassatto

BARCELONA (Reuters) -Pro-Palestinian activists preparing to set sail from Spain on Sunday for Gaza in dozens of boats carrying aid have called on governments to pressure Israel to allow their flotilla - the largest to date - through the naval blockade.

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and Portuguese left-wing politician Mariana Mortagua were among hundreds of people from 44 countries due to depart from several ports to Gaza as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla. Sumud means "perseverance" in Arabic.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -The Israeli military said that starting from Friday, a local humanitarian pause in military activity will not apply to the area of Gaza City, as it "constitutes a dangerous combat zone".

Israel's security cabinet had approved a plan to take control of Gaza City, a move expanding military operations in the shattered Palestinian territory that drew strong criticism at home and abroad over its pursuit of the almost two-year-old war.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia on Friday condemned a decision by Britain, Germany and France to launch a process that could reimpose U.N. sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, saying it was absurd to solely blame Tehran for the collapse of the 2015 nuclear accord.

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Lucy PapachristouEditing by Andrew Osborn)

GENEVA (Reuters) -The number of people reported missing to the Red Cross has risen by about 70% in five years, driven by rising conflicts and mass migration, the Geneva-based organisation said Friday, calling for a recommitment to the rules of war.

"...The surging number of missing persons provides a stark reminder that conflict parties and those who support them are failing to protect people during war," said Pierre Krähenbühl, Director General of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

At least 841 people have been executed in Iran since the start of the year, the UN said Friday, decrying "a systematic pattern of using the death penalty as a tool of state intimidation".

The United Nations' human rights office said there had been a "major increase in executions" by Tehran during the first half of 2025.

"Iranian authorities have executed at least 841 people since the beginning of the year," spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

"The real situation might be different," she added. "It might be worse, given the lack of transparency."

(Reuters) -Germany has told its nationals to leave Iran and refrain from travelling there to avoid getting caught in retaliatory acts by Tehran over Germany's role in triggering U.N. sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.

Britain, France and Germany on Thursday launched a 30-day process to reimpose U.N. sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, a step likely to stoke tensions two months after Israel and the United States bombed Iran.

Men sit outside shisha bars and women in hijabs push strollers past Middle Eastern restaurants and pastry shops in Berlin's Sonnenallee, a wide avenue which has become a symbol of how much Germany has changed in the last decade.

Many came during the huge migrant influx of 2015, when a million people arrived in a matter of months -- mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

For barber Moustafa Mohmmad, 26, who fled the ruins of Syria's Aleppo, it is a home from home, "a kind of Arab street" where he can find sweets from Damascus and Aleppo-style barbecue.

BEIJING (Reuters) -China's military and coast guard said they conducted patrols on Friday in the waters around the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the busy waterway of the South China Sea.

The coast guard has stepped up law enforcement patrols in the area since the beginning of August, it said in a statement, vowing to "safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests".

China sent its naval and air forces on "combat readiness" patrols in the waters and airspace around the atoll, the Southern Theatre Command said in a separate statement.