By Daphne Psaledakis and Sonia Rolley

(Reuters) -Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo held the first meeting of a joint oversight committee on Thursday, taking a step toward implementing a peace deal agreed last month in Washington even as other commitments are yet to be fulfilled.

The African Union, Qatar and the United States joined the meeting of the committee in Washington, which was established as a forum to deal with implementation and dispute resolution of the peace agreement.

ATHENS (Reuters) -Slovenia on Thursday imposed an embargo on exports, imports and transit of arms to Israel, two weeks after it declared Israeli ministers persona non grata, the state news agency STA reported citing a government statement.

The measure was announced by Prime Minister Robert Golob after a government session. Golob said that Slovenia was the first European country to make such a move, STA reported.

Slovenia recognised a Palestinian state in June last year and has since repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Gaza and increased aid deliveries to the enclave.

By Susan Heavey and Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. imposed sanctions on Palestinian Authority officials and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization on Thursday, accusing them of undermining peace efforts with Israel even as other Western powers moved toward recognition of Palestinian statehood.

The State Department said it would deny visas for travel to the U.S. by those it was targeting, although it did not name any specific individuals.

By Jonathan Landay, Humeyra Pamuk and Daphne Psaledakis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Senior Trump administration officials told Congress this month that Israel agreed to match a U.S. award of $30 million to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, a previously unreported contribution to the controversial armed private aid operation.

Aside from the U.S. contribution, which the U.S. State Department announced in June, the sources of the foundation's funding have been opaque - GHF does not disclose its donors.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Syria's foreign minister Asaad al-Shibani in Moscow on Thursday, the first visit by a top official from Syria's new government since the toppling of longtime Russian ally Bashar al-Assad in December.

Lavrov said Moscow would like Syria's new President Ahmed al-Sharaa to attend a summit between Russia and Arab League member states in Moscow in October.

LISBON (Reuters) -Portugal's centre-right government will consult the main political parties and conservative President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa about the potential recognition of a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said on Thursday.

Unlike neighbouring Spain, whose leftist government recognised Palestinian statehood in May 2024 alongside Ireland and Norway and called on other EU countries to do the same, Portugal has taken a more cautious approach, saying it wanted to work out a common position with other EU countries first.

NICOSIA (Reuters) -France's foreign minister said on Thursday a U.S. and Israel-backed aid distribution system in Gaza had generated a "bloodbath" and had to cease activity.

"I want to call for the cessation of the activities of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the militarised distribution of humanitarian aid that has generated a bloodbath in distribution lines in Gaza, which is a scandal, which is shameful, and has to stop," Foreign and European Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters after meeting his Cyprus counterpart in Nicosia.

The Palestinian Authority said Israeli settlers set fire to homes and cars in a West Bank village on Thursday, killing one man, in the latest attack in the occupied territory.

"Forty-year-old Khamis Abdel-Latif Ayad was martyred due to smoke inhalation caused by fires set by settlers in citizens' homes and vehicles in the village of Silwad at dawn," the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.

Witnesses provided corresponding accounts of the attack on Silwad, a village in the central West Bank near several Israeli settlements.

When Mohammad Hanif heard Qatar was opening jobs to Afghans, he joined thousands of others to put his name down for a shot to make a living in the gas-rich emirate, his own country wracked by unemployment.

The Taliban authorities announced a deal with Gulf state this month to recruit 3,100 workers from Afghanistan, who started applying on Tuesday at centres across the country.

President Donald Trump's envoy met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday ahead of a visit to inspect aid distribution in Gaza, as a deadly food crisis drove mounting international pressure for a ceasefire.

Steve Witkoff, who has been involved in months of stalled negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, met Netanyahu shortly after his arrival, the Israeli leader's office said.

On Friday, he is to visit Gaza, the White House announced.