US President Donald Trump on Sunday described the latest negotiations between Washington and Tehran over Iran's nuclear program as "very, very good."

Speaking on the tarmac at Morristown airport before boarding Air Force One, Trump hailed "real progress, serious progress" following a fifth round of nuclear talks, which wrapped up in Rome on Friday.

The Oman-mediated talks, which began in April, are the highest-level contact between the countries since the United States quit a landmark 2015 nuclear accord during Trump's first term as US president.

Alaa al-Najjar was tending to wounded children at a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip when the news came through: the home where her own 10 children were staying had been bombed in an Israeli air strike.

The paediatrician, with no means of transport, ran from the Nasser Hospital to the family house in the city of Khan Yunis, a relative told AFP, only to be met with every parent's worst nightmare.

"When she saw the charred bodies, she started screaming and crying," said Ali al-Najjar, the brother of Alaa's husband.

The international community should look at sanctions against Israel to stop the Gaza war, Spain's foreign minister said Sunday, as European and Arab nations gathered in Madrid to urge an end to its offensive.

Some of Israel's long-standing allies have added their voices to growing international pressure after it expanded military operations against Gaza's Hamas rulers, whose 2023 attack on Israel sparked the devastating conflict.

Syria's new authorities have agreed to help the United States locate and return Americans who went missing in the war-ravaged country, a US envoy said on Sunday, in another sign of thawing bilateral ties.

The announcement came a day after the United States formally lifted sanctions on Syria, ending more than a decade of diplomatic freeze.

Relations have steadily improved since former president Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by an Islamist-led offensive in December.

Hasan Hadi, the first filmmaker from Iraq to be selected for the prestigious Cannes Festival, on Saturday won a top prize for his childhood adventure under economic sanctions in "The President's Cake".

His first feature-length film follows nine-year-old Lamia after her school teacher picks her to bake the class a cake for President Saddam Hussein's birthday or risk being denounced for disloyalty.

It is the early 1990s, the country is under crippling UN sanctions, and she and her grandmother can barely afford to eat.

Iranian dissident director Jafar Panahi won the Palme d'Or top prize at the Cannes film festival on Saturday, using his acceptance speech to urge his country to unite for "freedom".

The latest film from the 64-year-old, "It Was Just an Accident", tells the tale of five ordinary Iranians confronting a man they believed tortured them in jail.

The core of the provocative and wry drama examines the moral dilemma faced by people if they are given an opportunity to take revenge on their oppressors.

Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who won the top prize at the Cannes film festival on Saturday, is a twice-jailed arthouse cinema veteran whose films are banned in his homeland.

The 64-year-old is a symbol of artistic defiance who repeatedly challenges his country's strict censorship laws to produce movies about Iran's social and cultural struggles.

His latest production "It Was Just an Accident" tells the story of five formerly imprisoned Iranians who are confronted with a man they believe to have been their torturer in jail.

The United Arab Emirates breached its May temperature record for the second day in a row, hitting 51.6 degrees Celsius on Saturday, within touching distance of the highest ever temperature recorded in the country.

"The highest temperature recorded over the country today is 51.6C in Sweihan (Al Ain) at 13:45 UAE local time (0945 GMT)," the National Center of Meteorology said in a post on X, just 0.4C off the overall heat record in the Gulf country.

Syrian authorities on Saturday announced an interior ministry restructuring that includes fighting cross-border drug and people smuggling as they seek to improve ties with Western nations that have lifted sanctions.

Keen to reboot and rebuild nearly 14 years after a devastating civil war broke out, the new authorities in Damascus have hailed Washington's lifting of US sanctions.

The move was formalised Friday after being announced by President Donald Trump on a Gulf tour this month during which he shook hands with Syria's jihadist-turned-interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Saturday that an Israeli strike in the southern city of Khan Yunis killed nine children of a pair of married doctors, with the Israeli army saying it was reviewing the reports.

Israel has stepped up its campaign in Gaza in recent days, drawing international criticism as well as calls to allow in more supplies after it partially eased a total blockade on aid imposed on March 2.