Feb 14 (Reuters) - Medecins Sans Frontieres has halted "non-critical" medical activities at a major hospital in southern Gaza following reports from patients and its own staff of armed men inside the facility and concerns over the movement of weapons within it.

MSF's statement appeared to mark the first time that an international humanitarian group in Gaza has publicly reported the presence of armed men in a hospital or the possible use of such a facility for moving weapons.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas called on Saturday for the removal of "all obstacles" he said Israel has imposed on implementing phase two of the Gaza ceasefire.

"We emphasise the need to lift all obstacles imposed by the Israeli occupation on the implementation of the provisions related to the second phase of the agreement," Abbas said, in a speech read by his prime minister Mohammed Mustafa at an African Union summit in Ethiopia.

This included the work of a technocratic committee established to oversee the daily governance of Gaza, he added.

PALM BEACH, Florida, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Two sets of diplomatic negotiations, on Ukraine and Iran, are set to take place in Geneva on Tuesday, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters on Friday.

A U.S. delegation including envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will meet with the Iranians on Tuesday morning, the source said. Representatives from Oman will be on hand and mediate the U.S.-Iran contacts, the source said.

Witkoff and Kushner will then participate in trilateral talks with representatives from Russia and Ukraine in the afternoon, the source said.

Award-winning Indian writer Arundhati Roy said Friday she was withdrawing from the Berlin Film Festival over jury president Wim Wenders's comments that cinema should "stay out of politics" when asked about Gaza.

Roy said in a statement sent to AFP that she was "shocked and disgusted" by responses from Wenders and other jury members to a question about the Palestinian territory at a press conference on Thursday.

By Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt

FORT BRAGG, North Carolina, Feb 13 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump told U.S. troops on Friday that Iran has been “difficult” in nuclear negotiations and suggested that instilling fear in Tehran may be necessary to resolve the standoff peacefully.

"They've been difficult to make a deal," Trump said of the Iranians before an audience of active-duty soldiers at Fort Bragg Army base in North Carolina after U.S. officials said they were sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East.

By Feras Dalatey , Suleiman Al-Khalidi, Orhan Qereman and Jonathan Spicer

Feb 13 (Reuters) - A U.S.-backed ceasefire agreement in northeastern Syria leaves thorny questions unresolved, as Kurds seek to retain some authority despite a much weakened hand following the rapid advance of central government forces.

The progress of the deal tests the ability of Syria's new leaders to stabilise a nation fractured by 14 years of war, following several bouts of violence pitting it against minority groups who are suspicious of the Islamist-led government.

KYIV, Feb 13 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he held a meeting with Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran's last shah and a prominent voice in the opposition, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

"We discussed the importance of strengthening sanctions against the Iranian regime and any other dictatorial regimes," he said on X, adding that they both condemned cooperation between Russia and Iran.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Sharon Singleton)

Feb 13 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has ended temporary protected status for Yemen, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said on Friday, the latest move targeting immigrants.

The decision to end humanitarian protections that grant deportation relief and work permits to more than a thousand Yemeni nationals was taken after determining that it was against the U.S. "national interest", Noem said.

US President Donald Trump said Friday that a change of government in Iran would be the "best thing that could happen," as he sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East to ratchet up military pressure on the Islamic republic.

Trump's comments were his most overt call yet for the toppling of Iran's clerical establishment, and came as he pushes on Washington's arch-foe Tehran to make a deal to limit its nuclear program.

In the Moroccan village of Ouled Salama, 63-year-old farmer Mohamed Reouani waded through his crops, now submerged by floodwaters after days of heavy downpours.

Farmers in the North African kingdom have for the past few years endured severe drought.

But floods have now swamped more than 100,000 hectares of land, wiping out key crops and forcing farmers in the country's northwest to flee with their livestock.

"I have about four or five hectares" of crops, Reouani said. "All of it is gone now."