Iran met with European powers on Friday to discuss its nuclear negotiations with Washington, while US President Donald Trump issued a new threat unless the Iranians "move quickly" towards a deal.
The meeting in Istanbul followed remarks by Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warning of "irreversible" consequences if Britain, France and Germany move to reimpose United Nations sanctions that were lifted under a landmark 2015 agreement.
Only about 30 people turned up Thursday at this year's Jewish pilgrimage on Tunisia's island of Djerba amid safety concerns following a deadly 2023 attack and as the war in Gaza rages on.
The pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue, Africa's oldest, has in the past drawn thousands of pilgrims from Europe, Israel and beyond, attracting international and local tourists as well.
But after a 2023 deadly attack on the synagogue that killed two worshippers and three police officers, fewer pilgrims have been turning out to make the pilgrimage.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced openness Thursday to any new ideas to bring aid into Gaza after a US- and Israeli-backed plan was sharply criticised, expressing concern over the humanitarian situation in the territory.
A new US-backed foundation on Wednesday announced a plan to begin distributing aid later this month in Gaza, where Israel has cut off food and other humanitarian supplies for more than two months.
"We're troubled by the humanitarian situation there," Rubio told reporters after warnings of famine in war-ravaged Gaza.
Alana Hadid, the older sister of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid, has helped set up a new film streaming platform to bring Palestinian perspectives to a global audience, its founders confirmed Thursday.
Watermelon+ was launched at the Cannes film festival as more than 100 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza on Thursday. At least 80 died on Wednesday.
"Unless we get (Palestinian) voices out there, nothing's going to change," said Badie Ali, one of two US-born Palestinian brothers who founded the website, where Hadid is creative director.
Israeli troops killed five Palestinians in the occupied West Bank village of Tammun Thursday, in a raid the military described as targeting buildings suspected of being used to plan terror attacks.
"The occupation forces killed five young men after besieging a house in the centre of the village," Tammun mayor Samir Qteishat told AFP.
"The (Israeli) army took four bodies, and we found a fifth martyr, the charred body, after the (Israeli) forces left," he added.
Lasting peace in Syria depends on the country building a strong judicial system giving justice to the victims of all crimes committed during the Assad era, a prominent Syrian human rights lawyer told AFP.
"We believe that the Syrians who paid the heavy cost to reach this moment will not accept changing one dictatorship into another," Mazen Darwish said in an interview.
Palestinian rescuers reported 120 people killed on Thursday in Israeli strikes on blockaded Gaza, where a US-backed organisation said it intends to begin distributing aid by the end of the month.
Aid to Gaza has been cut off since March 2, a tactic Israel has said is intended to force concessions from Hamas, but the group insisted on Thursday that the restoration of humanitarian assistance to the war-ravaged territory was "the minimum requirement" for talks.
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival Thursday.
As the cinema lights came back on, film maker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute.
"To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable," Farsi said.
US President Donald Trump said Thursday a nuclear deal with Iran was close that would avert military action, as he toured Gulf capitals, securing $1.4 trillion in 10-year investments from Abu Dhabi.
Trump made the Iran remarks in Qatar before flying on to the United Arab Emirates for the third and final leg of the tour that began in Saudi Arabia.
The UAE vowed to invest $1.4 trillion in the US economy over 10 years, the latest in a raft of multi-billion pledges and deals secured during Trump's Gulf tour, which also saw Washington lifting decades-long sanctions on Syria.
Ben Cohen, co‑founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream and a longtime progressive activist, told AFP he was speaking for millions of Americans outraged by the "slaughter" in Gaza after his removal from a US Senate hearing on Wednesday.
Cohen, 74, was among a group of protesters who startled Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. by interrupting his testimony about his department's budget proposal.
