BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany is not planning to recognise a Palestinian state in the short term and said its priority now is to make "long-overdue progress" towards a two-state solution, a German government spokesperson said on Friday.

"Israel's security is of paramount importance to the German government," said the spokesperson. "The German government therefore has no plans to recognise a Palestinian state in the short term."

By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA (Reuters) -The main hospital in the southern Syrian city of Sweida is overwhelmed with trauma patients and working without adequate power or water after the local Druze minority clashed almost two weeks ago with Bedouin and government forces.

"Inside of Sweida, it's a grim picture, with the health facilities under immense strain," the World Health Organization's Christina Bethke told reporters in Geneva via video link from Damascus.

"Electricity and water are cut off, and essential medicine supplies are running out."

The United Nations rights chief on Friday slammed Britain's ban on activist group Palestine Action as a "disturbing" misuse of UK counter-terrorism legislation and urged the government to rescind its move.

"The decision appears disproportionate and unnecessary," Volker Turk said in a statement.

The ban, introduced under Britain's Terrorism Act 2000, took effect earlier this month after activists from the group broke into an air force base in southern England.

Two aircraft were sprayed with red paint, causing an estimated £7.0 million ($9.55 million) in damage.

France defended its decision to recognise Palestinian statehood amid domestic and international criticism on Friday, including against the charge that the move plays into the hands of militant group Hamas.

President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that his country would formally recognise a Palestinian state during a UN meeting in September, the most powerful European nation to announce such a move.

PARIS (Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron has announced he will recognise Palestinian statehood, drawing angry rebukes from Israel and the United States and opening the door for other major nations to potentially like Britain and Canada to perhaps follow suit.

Below are some details about Macron's announcement, driven by a rising global outcry over starvation and devastation in Gaza amid Israel's war against Hamas militants, as well as other nations' push to have Palestinian statehood recognised.

WHAT DID MACRON SAY?

US President Donald Trump accused Hamas on Friday of not wanting to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza as Israel said it would explore "alternative options" to rescue hostages after negotiations collapsed.

An Israeli official meanwhile told AFP air drops of aid would resume soon over the Gaza Strip, where aid groups warned of surging numbers of malnourished children after more than 21 months of war.

After US and Israeli negotiators quit indirect talks with Hamas in Qatar, Trump said that "it was was too bad. Hamas didn't really want to make a deal. I think they want to die."

By Andrea Shalal and Andrew MacAskill

EDINBURGH/LONDON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump, dogged by questions about his ties to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, heads to Scotland on Friday for a trip that will mix golf with politics mostly out of public view.

Trump plans to visit his golf resort in Turnberry on Scotland's east coast, where he will meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, before heading to his sprawling golf property 200 miles (320 km) away near Aberdeen in the west.

By Olivia Le Poidevin, Charlotte Greenfield and Jennifer Rigby

GENEVA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Gaza is on the brink of running out of the specialised therapeutic food needed to save the lives of severely malnourished children, United Nations and humanitarian agencies say.

"We are now facing a dire situation, that we are running out of therapeutic supplies," said Salim Oweis, a spokesperson for UNICEF in Amman, Jordan told Reuters on Thursday, saying supplies of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), a crucial treatment, would be depleted by mid-August if nothing changed.

A Russian rocket put an Iranian communications satellite into space on Friday, Iranian state media reported, the latest achievement for an aerospace programme that has long concerned Western governments.

"The Nahid-2 communications satellite was launched from Russia's Vostochny Cosmodrome using a Soyuz rocket," state television said.

Weighing 110 kilograms (over 240 pounds), the satellite was designed and manufactured by Iranian engineers, the broadcaster added.

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain supports eventual recognition of a Palestinian state, but the immediate priority should be alleviating the suffering in Gaza and securing a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, a British cabinet minister said on Friday.

Successive British governments have said they would formally recognise a Palestinian state at the right time, without ever setting a timetable or specifying the conditions for it to happen.