By Cassell Bryan-Low

April 16 (Reuters) - As the United States embarks on clearing mines from the Strait of Hormuz, it could draw on an arsenal of drones, explosive‑laden robots and helicopters to reduce risks, though de‑mining crews could still be vulnerable to Iranian attacks.

The U.S. is trying to secure the strait from mines as part of efforts to end Iran's disruption of shipping, which has severely curbed global energy supplies since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran at the end of February.

With local elections due next week, West Bank Palestinians are struggling to muster enthusiasm for their first ballot since the Gaza war, discouraged by limited political choice and the difficulty of voting under Israeli occupation.

On April 25, voters will choose representatives in cities, towns and villages across the West Bank, with the ballot happening in part of the Gaza Strip in the first such election since the start of the war there in October 2023.

The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Netanyahu hails Lebanon truce -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ten-day ceasefire with Lebanon offered an opportunity for a "historic peace agreement" with Beirut, but insisted that the disarmament of militant group Hezbollah remained a precondition.

US President Donald Trump earlier said that Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had agreed to a ten-day truce starting at 2100 GMT on Thursday evening.

- Iran to hand over enriched uranium? -

MADRID, April 16 (Reuters) - Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva delivered a blunt critique of U.S. President Donald Trump in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais published on Thursday, saying world leaders should seek respect rather than rule by fear.

"Trump has no right to wake up in the morning and threaten a country," Lula told El Pais, referring to the president's public threat on April 7 to wipe out Iranian civilisation as part of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

"He wasn't elected for that, and his Constitution doesn't allow it."

Mariam Zein cradled her 11-week-old son on a mattress on the floor where she and her family have sheltered near Beirut since the Israel-Hezbollah war upended her young family's life.

"I was really excited when I was in my ninth month of pregnancy... I never thought he'd be born and there'd be war," said Zein, 26, clutching baby Hussein.

"I haven't been able to enjoy my son -- my first child... to see him getting bigger in his own bed, in his own home."

ANKARA, April 16 (Reuters) - Turkey said on Thursday it would continue supporting peace talks between the United States and Iran and called on the sides to be "constructive" in negotiations to end the war.

Turkey, a NATO member and neighbour of Iran, has been in close touch with the U.S., Iran, and mediator Pakistan and has repeatedly called for fighting to stop.

BEIRUT, April 16 (Reuters) - An Israeli strike has severed the last bridge linking southern Lebanon to the rest of the country, a senior Lebanese security official told Reuters, adding that the strike "shattered" the bridge and left no possibility of repairing it.

(Reporting by Maya GebeilyEditing by Peter Graff)

ANKARA, April 16 (Reuters) - A 14-year-old student who shot at least nine people dead, including eight of his fellow pupils, at a school in southeastern Turkey had used an image referencing a 2014 U.S. mass killer, Elliot Rodger, on his WhatsApp profile, Turkish police said on Thursday.

In Turkey's second school shooting in just two days, the middle school student also wounded 20 other people in Wednesday's attack in Kahramanmaras province before taking his own life, shocking a nation where school shootings are very rare.

DUBAI, April 16 (Reuters) - Iran and the United States have made some progress as they push for an agreement under Pakistani mediation, but more than halfway through a two-week truce big splits remain including over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, a senior Iranian official said on Thursday.

"The trip of the Pakistani army chief to Tehran was effective in reducing differences in some areas, but fundamental disagreements still remain in the nuclear field.... More hopes have been created for extending the ceasefire and holding a second round of talks," the senior official said.

By Dawoud Abu Alkas , Nidal al-Mughrabi and Emma Farge

GAZA/CAIRO/GENEVA, April 16 (Reuters) - Fourteen-year-old Fadel al-Naji used to be a keen footballer but is now largely confined to his home in Gaza City since both legs were severed in an Israeli drone attack in September.

He sits sullenly on a couch with one hollow pant leg dangling and the other tucked into his waist besidehis 11-year-old brother who lost an eye in the same strike.