In 21 months of war in Gaza, the destruction and damage of 70 percent of buildings has buried the Palestinian territory under millions of tonnes of debris and plunged it into darkness, according to data from the UN and NASA analysed by AFP.

The Israeli army has relentlessly pounded the densely populated territory of 365 square kilometres (141 square miles) in retaliation for Hamas's 2023 attack, which sparked the war and resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

ATHENS (Reuters) -Greece will deploy a salvage vessel in the Red Sea to assist in maritime accidents and protect seafarers and global shipping, the shipping minister said on Thursday, following attacks on two Greek vessels by Yemen's Houthi militants this month.

Two Liberia-flagged, Greek-operated cargo ships, Magic Seas and Eternity C, sank off Yemen after repeated attacks by the Iran-aligned militant group.

ATHENS (Reuters) -Greece has invited Libya's internationally recognised government in Tripoli to start talks on demarcating exclusive economic zones in the Mediterranean Sea, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said late on Wednesday.

The move is aimed at mending relations between the two neighbours, strained by a controversial maritime deal signed in 2019 between the Libyan government and Turkey, Greece's long-standing foe, which mapped out a sea area close to the Greek island of Crete.

International news agencies Agence France-Presse (AFP), Associated Press (AP) and Reuters as well as the BBC on Thursday called on Israel to allow journalists in and out of Gaza, which is subject to a strict blockade.

"We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families," the media groups said in a joint statement.

They added that "journalists endure many deprivations and hardships in war zones. We are deeply alarmed that the threat of starvation is now one of them."

The Israeli military said eight soldiers were wounded on Thursday when a driver deliberately rammed his car into a bus stop in what police called a "terror attack".

The army said two soldiers were "moderately injured" and six "lightly injured" in the attack at the Beit Lid junction near Kfar Yona in central Israel.

"The soldiers were evacuated to a hospital to receive medical treatment and their families have been notified," it said in a statement.

The United States joined Israel on Thursday in pulling its negotiators from Gaza ceasefire talks, with special envoy Steve Witkoff blaming Hamas for failing to reach a deal and saying Washington would "consider alternative options".

France meanwhile announced it would formally recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, a move President Emmanuel Macron said can "contribute to the security of all in the Middle East".

(Reuters) -Israel is examining Hamas's response to a Gaza ceasefire proposal, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.

Hamas said on Wednesday it had submitted its response to mediators but did not disclose the content.

(Reporting by Ahmed Elimam and Maayan Lubell; Writing by Tala Ramadan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

NICOSIA (Reuters) -Two people were killed and hundreds evacuated as a massive wildfire tore through southern Cyprus, destroying homes and threatening communities amid an intense heatwave.

Firefighters were struggling to contain the blaze after it erupted in mountainous terrain north of the southern city of Limassol midday Wednesday, driven by strong winds and searing temperatures.

By Christine Chen

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Five Australian women who say they were pulled from a Qatar Airways flight by armed guards and strip-searched have won the right to sue the airline, after a court on Thursday overturned an earlier decision to throw out the case.

Women on 10 Qatar Airways flights, including 13 Australians, were subjected to invasive examinations to see if they had recently given birth after a newborn baby was found abandoned at Doha's Hamad Airport in October 2020.

Resurgent jihadist attacks, huge cuts in foreign aid and a spiralling cost of living: hunger is looming in northeastern Nigeria, where more than a million people face starvation.

Before insurgency upended daily life, Damboa was a regional farming hub. Today it stands on the frontline of survival.

Located around 90 kilometres (55 miles) south of Borno state capital Maiduguri, the town lies on the fringes of the Sambisa forest, a game reserve turned jihadist enclave.