By Rami Ayyub, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Alexander Cornwell
JERUSALEM/CAIRO, March 9 (Reuters) - Talks to advance President Donald Trump's plan to end the Gaza war have been on hold since last week when the U.S. and Israel jointly attacked Iran, sparking a broader Middle East war, three sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations said.
As Israel's national consciousness rallies behind the country's second offensive against Iran in under a year, a small group of anti-war activists equipped with posters and loudspeakers have mobilised to voice dissent.
The vast majority of Jewish Israelis support the ongoing campaign of strikes on Iran, according to national polls published since the joint US-Israel operation began on February 28.
A broad sweep of politicians from across the spectrum have also backed the military campaign, which has now expanded with Israeli forces fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon.
PAPHOS, Cyprus, March 9 (Reuters) - France will send two frigates as part of the European Union's naval mission Aspides in the Red Sea, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.
"We are in the process of setting upa purely defensive, purely escort mission, which must be prepared together with both European and non-European states," Macron said after meeting with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Cyprus.
(Reporting by John Irish and Michele Kambas; Writing by Gianluca Lo Nostro)
KYIV, March 9 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that Ukraine had received 11 requests from countries neighboring Iran as well as European states and the United States for drone interceptors, electronic warfare systems and training.
"We also reviewed in detail requests from the states for security support from our side in countering 'Shahed' drones and other similar challenges," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app after meeting his top military and government officials.
"Some requests have already been met with concrete decisions and specific support."
France and its allies are preparing a "defensive" mission to reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, President Emmanuel Macron said Monday as the Middle East war entered its second week.
The French leader landed by helicopter on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, dispatched to the Mediterranean after US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 triggered a war that has sown regional chaos and which threatens to spill into other parts of the world.
A new investigation by the New York Times has shed more light on events surrounding a reported attack on a school in Iran at the start of the Middle East war.
Iran has accused Israel and the United States of conducting a strike on an elementary school in the southern city of Minab, which it said killed more than 150 people.
US President Donald Trump has blamed Iran, while the Pentagon has said it is investigating the incident.
AFP has been unable to access the location to independently verify the circumstances or the toll from any such incident.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that 11 countries had tapped Kyiv for help in how to counter Iranian drones being fired by Tehran in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes.
Ukraine has to fend off nightly barrages of Iranian-designed Shahed attack drones launched by Russia, an ally of Tehran.
They now being used in strikes across the Middle East.
Sri Lanka and India are providing sanctuary to 434 sailors from three Iranian naval vessels targeted or threatened by the United States, a diplomatic conundrum as the war spills into the Indian Ocean.
The ships had taken part in a naval exercise organised by India off the coast of Visakhapatnam, when the United States and Israel began bombing Iran.
For Sri Lanka and India, wary of a US response, the dilemma of what to do with the ships and crew has sent legal officials scouring conventions and the laws of the sea.
- What happened? -
March 9 (Reuters) - Kuwait held a military funeral on Monday for two interior ministry officials it said were killed "while performing their duty".
The state - which hosts U.S. military installations and has come under Iranian drone and missile fire during Tehran's war with Israel and the U.S. - said the two men died early on Sunday, but did not go into further details.
Kuwait's army separately said areas near the international airport were hit on Sunday and its forces had intercepted missiles and drones.
NATO said it shot down a second ballistic missile fired from Iran in Turkish airspace on Monday, prompting a stern warning from Turkey to Tehran not to take "provocative steps".
It was the second such incident in the skies over NATO member Turkey in five days, leading the alliance to stress its readiness "to defend all allies against any threat".
Washington meanwhile urged all American citizens to leave southeastern Turkey, where US troops are stationed at several bases.
