Irish author Sally Rooney has vowed to give fees generated by two BBC adaptations of her books to the Palestine Action group -- banned recently in the UK as a terrorist organisation -- as a government spokesperson on Monday warned anyone flouting the law risked prosecution.

The writer, whose second novel "Normal People" (2018) and its 2020 BBC television adaptation won her international acclaim, announced her plans in the Irish Times.

By Sarah El Safty and Maha El Dahan

DUBAI (Reuters) -Syria faces a potential food crisis after the worst drought in 36 years slashed wheat production by around 40%, squeezing the country's cash-strapped government, which has been unable to secure large-scale purchases.

Around three million Syrians could face severe hunger, the United Nations' World Food Programme told Reuters in written answers to questions, without giving a timeframe.

Over half of the population of about 25.6 million is currently food insecure, it added.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) -Fearing an Israeli onslaught could come soon, some Palestinian families began leaving eastern areas of Gaza City, now under constant Israeli bombardment, for points to the west and some explored evacuating further south.

Israel's plan to seize control of Gaza City has stirred alarm abroad and at home where tens of thousands of Israelis held some of the largest protests seen since the war began, urging a deal to end the fighting and free the remaining 50 hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza.

Hamas has accepted a new ceasefire proposal for Gaza, a senior member from the group said Monday, after a fresh diplomatic push to end more than 22 months of war.

Mediators Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, have struggled to secure a lasting truce in the conflict, which has triggered a dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

But after receiving a new proposal from mediators, Hamas said it was ready for talks.

By Alexander Cornwell and Alasdair Pal

TEL AVIV/SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia has cancelled the visa of an Israeli lawmaker from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition who has advocated against Palestinian statehood and called for Israel to annex the occupied West Bank.

Simcha Rothman, a Knesset member from the Religious Zionism party led by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, was scheduled to visit Sydney and Melbourne this month at the invitation of a local conservative Jewish organisation.

BEIRUT (Reuters) -Top U.S. envoy Thomas Barrack said on Monday Israel should comply with a plan under which Lebanese militant group Hezbollah would be disarmed by the end of the year in exchange for a halt to Israel's military operations in Lebanon.

The plan sets out a phased roadmap for armed groups to hand in their arsenals as Israel's military halts ground, air and sea operations and withdraws troops from Lebanon's south.

DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran will continue talks with the IAEA - the U.N. nuclear watchdog - and the two sides will probably have another round of negotiations in the coming days, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday.

(Reporting by Elwely Elwelly; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

US envoy Tom Barrack on Monday called on Israel to honour commitments under a ceasefire that ended its war with Hezbollah, after the Lebanese government launched a process to disarm the militant group.

Under the November truce, which ended more than a year of hostilities including two months of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group was to withdraw its fighters from near the Israeli border and weapons were to come under the control of the Lebanese state.

In Egypt's Wadi al-Gemal, where swimmers share a glistening bay with sea turtles, a shadowy tourism deal is threatening one of the Red Sea's last wild shores.

Off Ras Hankorab, the endangered green turtles weave between coral gardens that marine biologists call among the most resilient to climate change in the world.

By night in nesting season, they crawl ashore under the Milky Way's glow, undisturbed by artificial lights.

So when excavators rolled onto the sand in March, reserve staff and conservationists sounded the alarm.

Clutching pictures of hostages, waving yellow flags, banging on snare drums and shouting chants to bring captive Israelis home, tens of thousands took to Tel Aviv's streets Sunday to call for an end to the war in Gaza.

"We're here to make it very clear to the Israeli government that this is probably the last minute we have to save the hostages that are being held in the Hamas tunnels for almost 700 days," Ofir Penso, a 50-year-old Arabic teacher, told AFP.