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.

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Thursday the recognition of a Palestinian state comes more at the end of the negotiations for a two-state solution but that process must begin now, warning Berlin would respond to "unilateral steps".

"A negotiated two-state solution remains the only path that can offer people on both sides a life in peace, security, and dignity," he said in a statement issued shortly before his trip on Thursday to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian warned against excessive water consumption which he said was untenable for the country and could leave Tehran facing severe shortages by September, semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday.

Faced with resource mismanagement and over-consumption, Iran has faced recurrent electricity, gas and water shortages during peak demand months.

"In Tehran, if we cannot manage and people do not cooperate in controlling consumption, there won't be any water in dams by September or October," Pezeshkian said on Thursday.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Thursday that he was determined to disarm Hezbollah, a step it has come under heavy US pressure to take, despite the group's protests that doing so would serve Israeli goals.

Hezbollah and Israel fought a two-month war last year that left the militant group badly weakened, though it retains part of its arsenal.

Israel has kept up its air strikes on Hezbollah targets despite a November ceasefire, and has threatened to continue them until the group has been disarmed.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -A Swedish man was found guilty of serious war crimes and terrorism on Thursday over his role in the murder of a Jordanian air force pilot who was burned to death in Syria a decade ago, the Stockholm district court said in a verdict.

The Swede, identified in court documents as Osama Krayem, was sentenced to life in prison for participating in the execution of Muath al-Kasasbeh, who was burned alive in a cage after being captured in Syria in December 2014.

A Stockholm court on Thursday handed down a life term to Swedish jihadist Osama Krayem over the 2015 murder of a Jordanian pilot burned alive by the Islamic State group in Syria.

The Swedish court was the first to try a person over the killing that sparked outrage around the world.

Judge Anna Liljenberg Gullesjo said "the investigation has shown that the defendant was at the execution site, uniformed and armed, and allowed himself to be filmed."

By Maayan Lubell and Nidal al-Mughrabi

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) -U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff was expected to arrive in Israel on Thursday in a bid to salvage Gaza ceasefire talks and tackle a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave, where a global hunger monitor has warned that famine was unfolding.

Indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Doha ended in deadlock last week with the sides blaming trade for the impasse and gaps remaining over issues including the extent of Israeli forces' withdrawal.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Charlotte Greenfield

GAZA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -In a makeshift tent on a Gazan beach, three-month-old Muntaha's grandmother grinds up chickpeas into the tiniest granules she can to form a paste to feed the infant, knowing it will cause her to cry in pain, in a desperate race to keep the baby from starving.

"If the baby could speak, she would scream at us, asking what we are putting into her stomach," her aunt, Abir Hamouda said.

Muntaha grimaced and squirmed as her grandmother fed her the paste with a syringe.

BEIRUT (Reuters) -Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun called on Hezbollah and other political parties on Thursday to hand over their weapons to the army, a move the powerful militant group is resisting as Washington ramps up pressures for it to remove its arsenal.

"It is the duty of all political parties... to seize this historic opportunity without hesitation and push for the exclusivity of weapons in the hands of the army and security forces and no one else," Aoun said in a televised speech in the defence ministry's headquarters.